Information processing device, control method thereof, program, and storage medium

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus and a method for controlling the same, and a program that, in performing application cooperation, can eliminate discomfort given to a user during switching between application screens caused by a mismatch between display languages of respective applications.SOLUTION: After installation of an application A and an application B, a portable terminal 100 can change the language settings of the applications to different ones, and when receiving an operation of an icon 609 on a UI screen 600 of the already-installed application A, starts the application B in cooperation with the application A. The portable terminal 100 stores the language setting of the application A in an information sharing area 201 that can be used in the operation of both the application A and the application B, and when starting the application B in cooperation with the application A triggered by the reception of the operation of the icon 609, acquires the language setting of the application A from the information sharing area 201 and changes the language setting of the application B to the acquired language setting of the application A.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, and a program, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus in which program cooperation is used, a control method thereof, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, in information processing devices such as mobile terminals and smartphones, program linkage has been generally used, in which installed programs such as applications work in linkage with each other. Specifically, program linkage is a technology that enables, for example, processing based on information handled in a specific program to be executed in a program other than the specific program.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a technology that allows a first application and a second application to share information by adding parameters such as print settings to the URL scheme when starting a second application from a first application using the URL scheme. Hereinafter, this technology will be referred to as application linking.

[0004] Patent Document 2 also discloses a method for suppressing the discomfort of a screen display when an application different from the application launched by the user is launched during app linkage. In this way, when multiple applications are launched through app linkage, it is important for improving usability that seamless linked operation and display are performed as if a single application was running.

[0005] Meanwhile, in recent years, the language displayed in apps running on smartphones can be set individually for each app (called app setting language) rather than the language set in the OS (called OS setting language). Such differences between the OS setting language and the app setting language can cause problems such as garbled characters in the display of programs. Patent Document 3 discloses technology to eliminate such differences in display languages. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2016-18285 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2017-10089 A [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-275071 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, when performing app linkage, if the set language of each application is different, the display language changes when the screen for the linked application is switched over to, which can be a problem for the user.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention aims to provide an information processing device, a control method thereof, and a program that can eliminate the discomfort felt by the user when switching application screens due to a mismatch in the display language of each application when performing app integration. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, the information processing device of the present invention is an information processing device that can change the language setting for each application after its installation, and is characterized in that it comprises a request receiving means for receiving a request to launch a second application on a first application already installed on the information processing device, a storage means for storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area that can be used when both the first and second applications are operating, and a change means for acquiring the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, and changing the language setting of the second application to the acquired language setting of the first application. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, when performing application linkage, it is possible to eliminate the discomfort felt by the user when switching application screens due to a mismatch in the display languages ​​of the applications. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile terminal as an information processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2A to 2C are diagrams illustrating variations of application cooperation executed by application A, application B, and a store application in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 11 is a flowchart of an application cooperation process that is executed in a mobile terminal when an operation for starting application B in cooperation with application A is performed while application A is running. [Figure 4] 13 is a flowchart of post-launch processing of application B in the mobile terminal. [Diagram 5] 2 is a diagram showing a UI screen displayed on the display unit in FIG. 1 by a store application. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a UI screen displayed on the display unit by application A. [Figure 7]1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a UI screen for changing the language setting of an application A, which is displayed on a display unit by the OS appearing in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] The information processing device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the scope of the present invention, and not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the solution of the present invention.

[0013] (First embodiment) An information processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a mobile terminal 100 is exemplified as the information processing device, but various devices in which a program can be installed may also be the information processing device according to the present invention, and are not limited to this. For example, a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, a music playback device, a television, etc. are applicable as the information processing device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a smartphone is exemplified as the mobile terminal 100. A smartphone is a multi-function mobile phone equipped with a camera function, an Internet browser function, an email function, etc. in addition to a mobile phone function.

[0014] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile terminal 100. Fig. 1(a) is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 100, and Fig. 1(b) is a diagram showing the software configuration of the mobile terminal 100.

[0015] The mobile terminal 100 includes a CPU 101, an operation unit 102, a network interface 103, a memory 104, a display unit 105, and a storage device 106, all of which are connected to each other via a system bus.

[0016] The CPU 101 performs overall control of the mobile terminal 100. The operation unit 102 is an operation unit through which the user gives instructions to the mobile terminal 100, and includes, for example, buttons, a touch panel, and the like.

[0017] The memory 104 is a random access memory (RAM) that serves as a working area for the CPU 101, and is used as a temporary storage area for various received data and stores various setting data.

[0018] The storage device 106 is, for example, a flash memory or the like, and stores various control programs such as applications, an operating system (hereinafter, referred to as OS), and the like.

[0019] The network interface 103 is an interface for connecting to a network (not shown). The mobile terminal 100 can be connected to a network via the network interface 103, and is configured to be connectable to an external device such as a printer and the Internet via the network.

[0020] The display unit 105 is a unit that displays various information, and is composed of a liquid crystal panel or the like. In this embodiment, the operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 are integrally configured, and can both accept operations by the user and display various information. That is, the operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 are assumed to be composed of a touch display. The user can give various instructions to the mobile terminal 100 and operate the mobile terminal 100 by tracing or tapping the touch display with a finger or the like. The user can also give various instructions to the mobile terminal 100 by operating the touch display with an operator other than a finger, for example, a pen for an electrostatic touch panel such as a stylus pen. The operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 do not have to be integrally configured, and for example, the operation unit 102 may be a physical keyboard or the like equipped with physical keys.

[0021] 1(b), in this embodiment, the mobile terminal 100 includes an OS 107, a store application 108, and two or more applications (application A 109 and application B 110). Hereinafter, the applications are referred to as apps.

[0022] The store app 108 is an app for downloading apps to the mobile terminal 100. The user can select a desired app in the store app 108 and perform a predetermined operation for downloading (tapping a download button, password authentication, etc.), thereby downloading and installing the selected app to the mobile terminal 100. The user can also launch an app already installed in the mobile terminal 100 via the store app 108 by performing a predetermined operation on a screen displayed by the store app 108 (tapping an "Open" button, etc.).

[0023] 5 is a diagram showing a UI screen 500 displayed on the display unit 105 by the store application 108. The UI screen 500 is a screen for downloading the application B110 in a state in which the application B110 has already been installed in the mobile terminal 100. As described above, the application B110 is launched by tapping the "Open" button.

[0024] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a UI screen 700 for changing the language setting of the application A109, which is displayed on the display unit 105 by the OS107. Using the UI screen 700 (second UI screen), the user can select the display language of the application A109. The language setting of the application B110 is also changed by displaying a similar UI screen by the OS107. In particular, for a user who speaks multiple languages, since applications used may be divided by language community, being able to select a display language for each application is important because it leads to improved usability. In addition, when the user does not select the language setting of the application A109 or the application B110 using the UI screen 700 of FIG. 7 or the like, the language setting of the OS107 is used as the language setting of the application A109 or the application B110.

[0025] The application A109 and the application B110 are applications that are installed in the mobile terminal 100 by the store application 108 via a network or the like. The application A109 and the application B110 may not be installed via the store application 108, but may be installed from a storage medium or the like in which the applications are stored, or may be held in advance in the mobile terminal 100 at the time of arrival. In this embodiment, the application A109 and the application B110 are applications that transmit a print job to a printer having a printing function and execute printing based on the transmitted print job. The application A109 and the application B110 may have other functions in addition to the function of causing the printer to execute printing. For example, the application A109 and the application B110 may have a function of transmitting a scan job to the printer and executing scanning based on the transmitted scan job.

[0026] The store application 108, application A 109, and application B 110 operate via the OS 107. These pieces of software are stored in the storage device 106, loaded into the memory 104, and executed by the CPU 101.

[0027] In this embodiment, the application A109 and the application B110 operate in cooperation with each other. Specifically, the application B110 (second application) operates by using information generated by the application A109 (first application) already installed in the mobile terminal 100. Hereinafter, the operation of the applications in cooperation with each other will be referred to as application cooperation.

[0028] Next, an example of application cooperation in each use case will be described. FIG. 2(a) is a diagram showing application cooperation when application B110 is started in cooperation with application A109 and application B110 already installed in mobile terminal 100. FIG. 2(b) is a diagram showing application cooperation when application B110 is started independently with application A109 and application B110 already installed in mobile terminal 100. FIG. 2(c) is a diagram showing application cooperation when application B110 is started in cooperation with application B110 not installed in mobile terminal 100. Note that independent start refers to the application B110 being started by, for example, tapping an application icon on a home screen displayed by OS107 or by an operation on a screen displayed by store application 108. Cooperative start refers to the application B110 being started by an operation on a screen displayed by an application other than store application 108. In this embodiment, the case where application B110 is launched in cooperation refers to the case where application B110 is launched from an operation on a screen displayed by application A109. When a cooperation target application (application B) is launched in cooperation, information on the cooperation source application (application A109) is notified, so that CPU 101 can know whether application B110 has been launched in cooperation or not. Note that cooperation launch is performed to encourage the use of a cooperation target application, for example, when a function that cannot be executed by the cooperation source application is executed by the cooperation target application, or when a process executed by the cooperation source application is to be taken over by the cooperation target application.

[0029] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a UI screen 600 displayed on the display unit 105 by the application A109.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 6, icons 601 to 609 are displayed on a UI screen 600 (first UI screen).

[0031] An icon 601 indicates a printer registered in the application A 109. Registration of a printer in the application A 109 will be described later. Icons 602 and 603 are buttons for sending a print job to a printer registered in the application A 109 and printing a photo or document stored in the mobile terminal 100.

[0032] An icon 604 is a button for sending a scan job to a printer registered in the application A109 and executing a scan. An icon 605 is a button for executing a cloud print function for causing a printer registered in the application A109 to print image data stored in an external server.

[0033] Icon 606 is a button for sending a copy job to a printer registered in application A109 to create a copy of the document. Icon 607 is a button for sending a print job to a printer to execute printing on disc media. For example, to execute printing on disc media, an application other than application A109 (application for printing on disc media) may be required. In such a case, when an operation on icon 607 is received while the application for printing on disc media is installed in mobile terminal 100, CPU 101 starts the application for printing on disc media in a linked manner.

[0034] The icon 608 is a button for launching a Web page showing frequently asked questions about the application A109 and the answers thereto (for example, a method of operating the application A109, etc.). The icon 609 is a button for coordinating and starting the application B110. When the application B110 is installed in the mobile terminal 100 and the CPU 101 receives an operation on the icon 609 (coordinating and starting operation: a request to start the application B110), the CPU 101 coordinatingly starts the application B110. Note that, for example, when a printer that is not compatible with the application B110 is registered in the application A109, the CPU 101 may not accept an operation on the icon 609 (set the icon 609 in a state in which the icon 609 cannot be operated). Examples of the state in which the icon 609 cannot be operated include a state in which the icon 609 is grayed out or hidden. That is, when the application B110 and the application A109 are applications that can share information with each other, for example, when the applications are provided by the same vendor, the icon 609 is displayed in a state in which the icon 609 can be operated on the UI screen 600.

[0035] Next, a use case will be described with reference to FIG. 2(a) in which application B110 is started in a coordinated manner via application A109 in a state in which application A109 and application B110 are already installed in mobile terminal 100.

[0036] First, when an operation on the icon 609 is accepted, the CPU 101 (storage means) starts the cooperative start of the application B 110 and stores the shared information 202 in the information sharing area 201. The shared information 202 is information that the CPU 101 can use in both the operation of the application A 109 and the operation of the application B 110. The information sharing area 201 is a storage area in which the shared information 202 is stored. The information sharing area 201 may be, for example, a common folder that can be accessed in both the operation of the application A 109 and the operation of the application B 110, or may be something like a clipboard or a pasteboard managed by the OS 107. The common folder may be, for example, an area included in the memory of the mobile terminal 100 such as the storage device 106, an area included in an external storage medium such as an SD card or HDD (not shown) that can be attached to the mobile terminal 100, or an area on a network server. There is no restriction on the form as long as the form can store information that can be used in both the operation of the application A 109 and the operation of the application B 110. The shared information 202 may be deleted from the information sharing area 201, for example, when the shared information 202 is used, or when the application B 110 that has been started in cooperation with the application B 110 ends its start-up.

[0037] Then, when the CPU 101 starts up the application B 110 in a linked manner, the application B 110 refers to the information sharing area 201 to acquire the shared information 202 and executes processing based on the shared information 202.

[0038] In this embodiment, the shared information 202 includes language information (language setting) set in the application A. The language information may be a language code of an international standard specified by ISO639, or a character string or a numerical value that can be commonly understood by the applications A109 and B110. As described above, in this embodiment, the applications A109 and B110 have a print function that causes a printer with which the mobile terminal 100 can communicate to print an image. The applications A109 and B110 can execute the print function by searching for printers around the mobile terminal 100 and registering a device that will execute printing from among the searched devices. The process of registering an image forming device in an application is, in other words, a process (setting process) of setting a device that will communicate with the application. In this embodiment, for example, information about the printer registered in the application A109 (hereinafter, referred to as registration information) can be applied as the shared information 202. Specifically, the registration information is, for example, a MAC address, a Bonjour name, an IP address, or the like. Then, the CPU 101 executes a process of registering the printer registered in the application A109 in the application B110 as a process based on the shared information 202 at the time of the cooperative startup of the application B110, by the application B110. With this configuration, the CPU 101 can register a printer in the application B110, for example, without executing a process of searching for a printer by the application B110. If all of the information required to register a printer cannot be accommodated in the information sharing area 201, at least a part of the information required to register a printer may be applied as the shared information 202. Even with this configuration, for example, it is possible to achieve an effect such as reducing the time required for the process of searching for a printer. In this way, the present embodiment is characterized in that the language information of the application A109, which is the source of the cooperative process, is stored in the shared information 202 together with the printer information required for the cooperative process between the applications, and is made available for reference from the application B110.

[0039] Next, the behavior of the CPU 101 will be described with reference to FIG. 2B when the application B110 is started independently without going through the application A109 in a state where the application A109 and the application B110 have already been installed in the mobile terminal 100.

[0040] 2(a), first, when an operation on icon 609 is accepted, for example, CPU 101 starts cooperative startup of app B110 and stores shared information 202 in information sharing area 201. In this embodiment, CPU 101 also refers to information sharing area 201 when app B110 is started independently. If shared information 202 is stored in information sharing area 201, CPU 101 acquires shared information 202 and executes processing based on shared information 202.

[0041] In this manner, in this embodiment, CPU 101 refers to information sharing area 201 when app B110 is launched, regardless of whether app B110 is launched independently or in cooperation. By adopting such a configuration, app cooperation with app A109 can be executed whether app B110 is launched independently or in cooperation.

[0042] Next, using FIG. 2(c), the behavior of CPU 101 will be described when an operation for linking and launching app B110 is performed on a screen displayed by app A109 when app B110 is not installed on mobile terminal 100.

[0043] Even if an operation for linking and launching app B110 is performed on a screen displayed by app A109, if app B110 is not installed on mobile terminal 100, CPU 101 cannot naturally start app B110. Furthermore, in order to install app B110 on mobile terminal 100, it is generally necessary to use store app 108. Therefore, if an operation for linking and launching app B110 is performed on a screen displayed by app A109 when app B110 is not installed on mobile terminal 100, CPU 101 executes the following process.

[0044] First, when an operation on the icon 609 is accepted, the CPU 101 stores the shared information 202 in the information sharing area 201 by the application A 109 before starting the store application 108. Next, the CPU 101 starts the store application 108. The CPU 101 transmits information (hereinafter, application identification information 203) capable of identifying an application to be downloaded (hereinafter, target application) to the started store application 108, thereby causing the store application 108 to install the target application on the mobile terminal 100. This makes it possible to display a UI screen for downloading the target application on the display unit 105. Therefore, in the use case of FIG. 2(c), the CPU 101 transmits application identification information 203, in which the target application is application B 110, to the started store application 108. As a result, a UI screen 500 (FIG. 5) for downloading application B 110 is displayed on the display unit 105 by the store application 108. Thereafter, the CPU 101 receives an operation from the user on the UI screen 500 and downloads application B 110. Note that when an operation on icon 609 is accepted, CPU 101 may automatically download app B110 without displaying UI screen 500 in Fig. 5 or accepting an operation from the user on UI screen 500. After that, CPU 101 accepts an operation on the app icon corresponding to app B110 on the home screen or an operation on the screen displayed by store app 108 (operation on the Open button in Fig. 5). Then, CPU 101 starts up app B110 in response to the operation and executes the same process as the process shown in Fig. 2(b). That is, CPU 101 executes the process when app B110 is started up independently.

[0045] In this manner, when an operation for cooperatively launching the app B110 is performed on the UI screen 600 of the app A109 while the app B110 is not installed on the mobile terminal 100, the CPU 101 downloads the app B110 by the store app 108. When the app B110 is launched, the CPU 101 can link the app A109 and the app B110 by using the shared information 202. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the information sharing area 201 is referenced even during independent launch, so that the app A109 and the app B110 can be linked even when the app B110 is independently launched despite the cooperative launch operation of the app B110.

[0046] 3 is a flowchart of application cooperation processing executed in mobile terminal 100 when an operation for cooperative startup of application B110 is performed while application A109 is in operation. The processing shown in this flowchart is realized, for example, by CPU 101 reading into memory 104 a program corresponding to application A109 stored in storage device 106 or the like and executing the program. The processing shown in this flowchart is started in a state in which a screen for executing the function of application A109 is displayed on display unit 105 by application A109. In addition, the "activating application" in FIG. 4 is application A in this embodiment, and the "cooperative application" in the same figure is application B in this embodiment.

[0047] First, in step S301, the CPU 101 accepts a cooperative start-up operation of the application B 110. Specifically, for example, an operation on the icon 609 from the user is accepted.

[0048] In steps S302 and S303, the CPU 101 acquires the language information (hereinafter referred to as "language setting") set in the application A109 and the language setting of the OS107. The default language setting of the application A109 and the application B110 is the same as the language setting of the OS107. As described above, the OS107 and the application A109 can be set to different languages ​​independently, so that the application A109 may be set to a language different from that of the OS107 by a user operation. Therefore, in step S304, the CPU 101 judges whether the language settings acquired in steps S302 and S303 are different. If it is judged that the language setting of the application A109 is different from the language setting of the OS107 (YES in step S304), the process proceeds to step S305. On the other hand, if it is judged that the language setting of the application A109 is the same as the language setting of the OS107 (NO in step S304), the process proceeds directly to step S306 without performing the process of step S305.

[0049] In step S305, the CPU 101 stores the language information of the application A 109 in the information sharing area 201. In this embodiment, a language code defined by ISO639-1 is stored as a character string.

[0050] On the other hand, if the language setting of the application A109 is the same as the language setting of the OS 107 (NO in step S304), the process proceeds directly to step S306 without performing the process of step S305. If the language setting of the application A109 is the same as the language setting of the OS 107, this means that no special language setting process has been performed by the user, and there is no need to perform any special process for the following processes.

[0051] Next, in step S306, as information to be used for the cooperative startup, in this embodiment, printer information is stored in the information sharing area 201. Here, a feature of this embodiment is that the printer information, which is information that is always used for the cooperative startup, and language information that may be used are stored in the information sharing area 201.

[0052] In step S307, the CPU 101 determines whether the application B110 is installed in the mobile terminal 100. If it is determined that the application B110 is installed in the mobile terminal 100 (YES in step S307), the CPU 101 starts the application B110 in step S308. Thereafter, the CPU 101 executes post-start processing of the application B110 shown in FIG. 4, which will be described later. On the other hand, if it is determined that the application B110 is not installed in the mobile terminal 100 (NO in step S307), the CPU 101 starts the store application 108 in step S309, for example, by a known method using a URL scheme. At this time, the application identification information 203 for the store application 108 to identify the application B110 is added to the URL scheme, and the store application 108 is started. As a result, a screen for downloading the application B110 is displayed together with the start of the store application 108. In this state, by accepting an operation from the user to download the application B110, the CPU 101 can execute download of the application B110 and start of the application B110. After that, the CPU 101 executes post-start processing of the application B110 shown in FIG. 4, which will be described later.

[0053] Fig. 4 is a flowchart of post-launch processing of app B110 in mobile terminal 100. This flowchart is implemented, for example, by CPU 101 reading a program corresponding to app B110 stored in storage device 106 or the like into memory 104 and executing the program. As in Fig. 3, the "launching application" in Fig. 4 is app A in this embodiment, and the "linked application" in Fig. 4 is app B in this embodiment.

[0054] First, in step S401, the CPU 101 starts the application B 110. Note that the process of step S401 is executed with a trigger such as acceptance of a cooperative start-up operation of the application B 110 via the application A 109, acceptance of an instruction to start the application B 110 via the store application 108, acceptance of an instruction to start the application B 110 via the home screen, or the like.

[0055] In step S402, CPU 101 determines whether or not predetermined shared information 202 exists in information sharing area 201. If shared information 202 does not exist (NO in step S402), it can be determined that application B110 is not expecting a cooperative operation from application A109, and this process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined that shared information 202 exists (YES in step S402), it can be determined that application B110 is expecting a shared start from application A109, and the process proceeds to step S403 and subsequent steps.

[0056] In step S403, the CPU 101 checks the details of the shared information 202 whose existence was confirmed in step S402. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the shared information 202 includes a language setting. This language setting corresponds to the language setting of the application A109 stored in step S305 of FIG. 3. As described above, since there is a possibility that this language setting is not included in the shared information 202, the above determination is made in this step. Here, if the shared information 202 includes a language setting (YES in step S403), the process proceeds to step S404 and subsequent steps. On the other hand, if the shared information 202 does not include a language setting (NO in step S403), the process proceeds to step S407.

[0057] In step S404, the CPU 101 (acquisition means) acquires a list of language settings that can be set for the app B110. In step S405, the language settings are acquired from the shared information 202, and the list of language settings acquired in step S404 is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the acquired language settings are applicable to the app B110. This is because the language settings that can be used and displayed generally differ for each app, and therefore the language settings of the app A109 are not always available for the app B110. If it is determined that the language settings are applicable (YES in step S405), the process proceeds to step S406 and subsequent steps. On the other hand, if it is determined that the language settings are not applicable (NO in step S405), the language settings of the app B110 are left as default, that is, as the language settings of the OS 107, without being changed, and the process proceeds to step S407.

[0058] In step S406, the CPU 101 (changing means) applies the language setting acquired in step S405 to the application B 110. Through the processing up to this point, the language setting of the application A 109 is automatically applied to the application B 110, and the language setting at the time of the cooperative startup becomes the same.

[0059] After the language setting of application A is applied to application B in step S406, or if it is determined in either step S403 or S405 that the language setting of application B 110 does not need to be changed, the process proceeds to step S407 and subsequent steps.

[0060] In step S407, CPU 101 determines whether printer information exists in shared information 202. If it is determined that printer information exists (YES in step S407), the process proceeds to step S408, where the printer information is applied to application B 110. On the other hand, if it is determined that printer information does not exist (NO in step S407), this process ends.

[0061] As described above, in this embodiment, when the CPU 101 receives a cooperative startup operation for the application B110 via the application A 109 while the application B110 is not installed, the CPU 101 downloads and starts the application B110 via the store application 108. At this time, since the application B110 is started from the store application 108, the CPU 101 determines that the startup of the application B110 is an independent startup, even though the cooperative startup operation for the application B110 has been performed. In this embodiment, the CPU 101 refers to the information sharing area 201 even during independent startup. Therefore, even if the application B110 is independently started despite the cooperative startup operation for the application B110 having been performed, the language setting of the application A in the shared information 202 can be used to make the language setting of the application B the same as that of the application A.

[0062] (Other embodiments) In the above-described first embodiment, the information sharing area 201 is always referred to whether the app B110 is started in cooperation or independently, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the app A109 and the app B110 can be set to different languages. For this reason, the user may intentionally set different languages ​​in the app A109 and the app B110. In such a case, if the app A109 and the app B110 are linked and the language setting of the app A109 is registered in the app B110, there is a risk that the app B110 will be changed to a language setting that is not intended by the user.

[0063] Therefore, when the language setting of the app B110 is the default language setting of the OS 107 at the time of launching the app B110, the CPU 101 may perform control so as to adapt the language setting of the app A 109 to the app B110. In other words, when the language setting of the app B110 is a language setting other than the default language setting of the OS 107 at the time of launching the app B110, the CPU 101 may perform control so as to maintain the language setting of the app B110 without changing it. This makes it possible to prevent the language setting of the app B110 from being changed despite the user's intention.

[0064] In the above-described first embodiment, the download of the application B110 is executed by the store application 108, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the CPU 101 may download the application B110 from a Web page. In this case, in the above-described embodiment, the process of starting the store application 108 becomes the process of starting a program for displaying a Web page. When starting the program for displaying a Web page, the Web page for downloading the target application can be directly displayed by using information about the target application. After the CPU 101 downloads the application B110 by the store application 108, the CPU 101 may install the application B110 by an installer. The CPU 101 may download and install the application B110 from a personal computer.

[0065] In the above-described first embodiment, printing applications are exemplified as the application A109 and the application B110, and registration information is exemplified as the shared information 202, but the present invention is not limited to this form. That is, the application A109 and the application B110 may be applications that can share information with each other, for example, applications provided by the same vendor, and their functions are not limited. The contents of the shared information 202 are also not limited. For example, the application A109 may be a camera application, and the application B110 may be a photo album creation application. In that case, the shared information 202 may be image data that can be arranged in a photo album, for example. In that case, specific processing in the application cooperation is processing such as processing to display image data in the shared information 202 as thumbnails, processing to store the shared information 202 in an area that the application B110 can refer to, and the like.

[0066] In the first embodiment described above, the device registered in the application A109 or the application B110 is a printer, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, any device may be used as long as it can communicate with the mobile terminal 100 via the application A109 or the application B110.

[0067] In the first embodiment described above, the language setting of the app A109 is stored in the information sharing area 201 when an operation for cooperatively starting the app B110 is performed on a screen displayed by the app A109, but the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, the language setting of the app A109 may be stored in the information sharing area 201 when the CPU 101 acquires the language setting of the app A109 from the information sharing area 201 or when the language setting of the app A109 is changed in response to a user operation on the UI screen 700 of FIG. 7.

[0068] The above-mentioned embodiment can also be realized by executing the following process. That is, software (programs) that realize the functions of the above-mentioned embodiment are supplied to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and a computer (CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or device reads and executes the program. The program may be executed by one computer, or may be executed by multiple computers in cooperation with each other. It is not necessary to realize all of the above-mentioned processes by software, and some or all of the processes may be realized by hardware such as ASIC. The CPU is also not limited to one that performs all processes by one CPU, and multiple CPUs may perform processes while appropriately coordinating with each other.

[0069] The disclosure of this embodiment includes the following configuration, method, and program. (Configuration 1) An information processing device that can change the language setting for each application after its installation, comprising: a request receiving means for receiving a request to launch a second application on a first application already installed on the information processing device; a storage means for storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area that can be used when both the first and second applications are operating; and a change means for, when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, acquiring the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area, and changing the language setting of the second application to the acquired language setting of the first application. (Configuration 2) The information processing device according to configuration 1, characterized in that the request receiving means is an icon displayed on a first UI screen, and if the second application is a specified application, the icon is made in a state capable of receiving operation on the first UI screen, and if the second application is not the specified application, the icon is made in a state not capable of receiving operation on the first UI screen. (Configuration 3) In the information processing device according to configuration 2, the predetermined application is an application that can share information with the first application. (Configuration 4) The information processing device according to configuration 3, wherein the predetermined application is an application provided by the same vendor as the first application. (Configuration 5) An information processing device described in any one of configurations 1 to 4, characterized in that when a startup request is made, if the language setting of the second application is different from the language setting of the first application, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area. (Configuration 6) An information processing device described in any one of configurations 1 to 5, wherein when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, if the language setting of the second application is a language setting other than the language setting of the OS, the change means maintains the language setting of the second application without changing it. (Configuration 7) An information processing device described in any one of configurations 1 to 6, characterized in that when the change means obtains the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area. (Configuration 8) An information processing device as described in any one of configurations 1 to 6, further comprising a second UI screen that accepts a user's change operation of the language setting of the first application, and when the language setting of the first application is changed in response to the user's change operation on the second UI screen, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area. (Configuration 9) An information processing device as described in any one of configurations 1 to 8, further comprising an acquisition means for acquiring a list of language settings that can be set in the second application, wherein the change means changes the language setting of the second application to the language setting of the acquired first application when the language setting list includes the language setting of the acquired first application. (Method 1) A control method for an information processing device that can change the language setting for each application after its installation, comprising: a request receiving step for receiving a request to launch a second application on a first application already installed on the information processing device; a storage step for storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area that can be used when both the first and second applications are operating; and a change step for, when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, obtaining the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area and changing the language setting of the second application to the obtained language setting of the first application. (Program 1) A program executable by a computer, causing the computer to function as each of the means of the information processing device according to any one of configurations 1 to 9. [Explanation of symbols]

[0070] 100 Mobile Devices 101 CPU 102 Operation section 103 Network Interface 104 Memory 105 Display section 106 Storage device 108 Store Apps 109 App A 110 App B 201 Information sharing area 202 Shared Information

Claims

1. An information processing device, a display control means for controlling a first application and a second application, each of which has a language setting changeable after installation, to display a display item for receiving a start request for the second application on a screen of the first application that has already been installed on the information processing device; a storage means for storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area accessible from the second application; an information processing device characterized by comprising a change means for changing the language setting of the second application based on the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area so that when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, the language setting of the second application is the language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area.

2. An information processing device as described in Claim 1, characterized in that when a device that is not compatible with the second application is registered in the first application as a device that can communicate with the first application, the display control means controls the display item to be in a state where it can accept operations on the screen of the first application.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first application can share with the second application information relating to devices with which the first application can communicate.

4. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second application and the first application are provided by the same vendor.

5. When a language setting of an operating system of the information processing device is different from a language setting of the first application, in response to receiving the startup request, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area; The information processing device described in claim 1, characterized in that when the language setting of the operating system of the information processing device is the same as the language setting of the first application, the storage means does not store the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area in response to accepting the startup request.

6. An information processing device as described in claim 1, wherein when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, if the language setting of the second application is a language setting other than the language setting of the operating system of the information processing device, the change means maintains the language setting of the second application without changing it.

7. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the change unit acquires the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area, the storage unit stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area.

8. The display control means further controls to display a UI screen of the first application that accepts a user's operation to change the language setting of the first application; The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the language setting of the first application is changed in response to a change operation by the user on the UI screen, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area.

9. The second application program further includes an acquisition unit for acquiring a list of language settings that can be set in the second application program, The change means is If the language setting list includes a language indicated in the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area, changing the language setting of the second application to the language indicated in the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area; The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that if the language setting list does not include the language indicated in the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area, the language setting of the second application is not changed.

10. An information processing device as described in Claim 1, characterized in that in response to receiving the startup request, the storage means stores both the language setting of the first application and shared information different from the language setting in the information sharing area.

11. An information processing device as described in Claim 10, characterized in that the shared information is at least one of information for a device that can communicate via the first application, information about a printer registered in the first application, and image data.

12. A control method for an information processing device, comprising: a display control step of controlling the display of a display item for receiving a start request for a first application and a second application, each of which can change the language setting after installation, on a screen of the first application that has already been installed on the information processing device; a storing step of storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area accessible from the second application; A control method characterized by including a change step of changing the language setting of the second application based on the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area so that when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, the language setting becomes the language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area.

13. A program for causing a computer to function as each of the means of the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as each of the means of an information processing device described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

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