Information processing device, method of controlling information processing device and program

Abstract

To provide an application that allows a user to select whether or not to compress printing data and a degree of compression depending on a purpose.SOLUTION: An application in an embodiment is a program of an application that extends a function of software for generating printing data that can be printed by image forming devices provided by a plurality of vendors. The application causes a computer to acquire capability information of an image forming device to which the printing data is to be output. A setting screen on which set values for setting items included in the capability information can be changed is displayed, where the setting items include a setting item relating to compression of the printing data to be output to the image forming device to which the printing data is output.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, a control method for an information processing device, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, standard drivers using industry-standard protocols such as the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) have been considered. Standard drivers include local printer drivers that directly connect to a printer and cloud printer drivers that send print data to a cloud print service.

[0003] The standard driver can communicate with printers from multiple printer vendors, so by using the standard driver, users can send print data to image forming devices and cloud print services without having to install a vendor-specific printer driver.

[0004] The above standard drivers handle print jobs to be printed by printers from various vendors, so the items and functions that can be set as print settings are limited. Therefore, as in Patent Document 1, it has been considered to expand the print queue linked to the printer driver by using the identification information of the printer linked to the printer driver. This makes it possible to realize a vendor-specific print setting screen and print job editing function.

[0005] Also, as described in Patent Document 2, a compression function can be provided as one of the print job editing functions. The print data is compressed using a compression method supported by the image forming device to reduce the data size. This reduces the communication load and shortens the delay until the image forming device starts printing. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2021-124791 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2023-49478 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In printing using a standard driver, the standard driver generates intermediate data, performs layout editing, and compresses it into PDF or PWG-RASTER format using the compression function of the OS (Operating System) of the client terminal. On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, a print setting extension application is used in addition to the standard driver to compress the intermediate data received from the standard driver.

[0008] In Patent Document 2, the environment is one in which the compression function of the OS and the compression function of the print setting extension application are mixed, but the print setting extension application makes all compression-related decisions and processes. Specifically, the print setting extension application determines whether compression is necessary to reduce communication load and delays in the start of printing based on the data to be printed, the print settings, and the capability information of the image forming processing device. If the print setting extension application determines that compression is necessary, it compresses the data using a compression method supported by the image forming processing device and transmits the compressed data to the image forming processing device.

[0009] However, there may be cases where it is desired to print an image at high image quality rather than reducing the time required for communication.

[0010] The present application is an invention made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to enable users to select whether or not to compress print data and the compression method depending on the application in an environment where compression functions provided by the OS and compression functions provided by print setting extension applications are mixed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] An application of one embodiment of the present invention is an application program that extends the functionality of software that generates print data that can be printed on image forming devices provided by multiple vendors, and is characterized in that it causes a computer to obtain capability information of the image forming device to which the print data is to be output, and displays a setting screen on which the setting values ​​of setting items contained in the capability information can be changed, and the setting items include setting items related to the compression of print data to be output to the image forming device to which the print data is to be output. Effect of the Invention

[0012] The application described in this specification allows the user to select whether or not to compress print data and the compression method depending on the application. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] 6 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence from installation of a print setting extension application to printing in the present embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a client terminal according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5] 4 is a diagram showing an example of information constituting device capability information in the embodiment; [Figure 6(a)] 4 is a diagram showing an example of device capability information included in the OS in the present embodiment. [Figure 6(b)] 11 is a diagram showing an example of extended device capability information according to the embodiment; [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence between each piece of software and service up to printing in the present embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an initial print setting screen for selecting a print queue according to the embodiment. [Figure 9]11 is a diagram showing an example of a print setting screen displayed when a print setting extension application according to the embodiment is installed. [Figure 10] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a general-purpose print setting screen displayed by the OS in the embodiment. [Figure 11] 6 is a diagram showing a flow of compression by a print setting expanding application in the present embodiment. [Figure 12] 6 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence for changing print settings from a remote UI according to the embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a print setting screen in a remote UI according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0015] <First embodiment> 1 shows the configuration of a printing system according to this embodiment. A client terminal 101, a cloud print server 102, an application management server 103, a cloud print-compatible printer 104, an online support server 105, and a printer 106 are connected via a network 107.

[0016] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one client terminal 101 and one cloud print-compatible printer 104, there may be a plurality of client terminals 101 and a plurality of cloud print-compatible printers 104.

[0017] Furthermore, the cloud print server 102, the application management server 103, and the online support server 105 may be a server system configured with a plurality of information processing devices. By configuring each server as a server system configured with a plurality of information processing devices, it is possible to distribute the load to a plurality of information processing devices.

[0018] Furthermore, the cloud print server 102, the application management server 103, and the online support server 105 may be virtually configured within one physical information processing apparatus.

[0019] The network 107 is assumed to be a WAN such as the Internet for connecting to cloud services, but may be a closed environment such as an in-house LAN.

[0020] The client terminal 101 is an information processing device such as a PC, a tablet, a smartphone, etc., and is a terminal operated by a user. On the client terminal 101, any application software can be executed.

[0021] The OS 310 of the client terminal 101 has a function as software that generates print data that can be printed by printers provided by a plurality of vendors.

[0022] The cloud print-compatible printer 104 and printer 106 are devices that actually print on a recording medium such as paper, and are image forming devices that convert print data received via a network 107 into image data and print it. The hardware configuration of both devices may be the same. The cloud print-compatible printer 104 and printer 106 are also examples of image forming devices that are the output destination of print data.

[0023] The printer 106 is communicably connected to the client terminal 101 without going through a cloud print service 321. Print data to be sent to the printer 106 is generated by a local printer driver 313.

[0024] The cloud print-compatible printer 104 is communicably connected to the client terminal 101 via a cloud print service 321 provided by the cloud print server 102. Print data to be sent to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 is generated by a cloud printer driver 311.

[0025] Note that the cloud print-compatible printer 104 may be configured to receive and print print data generated by the local printer driver 313 without going through the cloud print service 321. The printer 106 may be configured to receive print data generated by the cloud printer driver 311 via the cloud print service 321.

[0026] Here, the cloud printer driver 311 and the local printer driver 313 are standard drivers that are pre-installed in the OS 310 and can communicate with printers made by a plurality of printer vendors to perform printing.

[0027] The print setting extension application 312 is an application that supports printers provided by each printer vendor and extends the functions provided by the OS 310, and is sometimes called a PSA (Print Support Application). By using the print setting extension application 312, it becomes possible to use print functions (including post-processing functions such as stapling) that are supported by the printer but cannot be used with only the standard driver.

[0028] The document generation application 315 is software that creates content to be printed (documents, images, etc.). For example, this corresponds to a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a drawing application, etc. When the document generation application 315 receives a print request from a user, it issues a print instruction to the OS.

[0029] The cloud print server 102 receives a print instruction and print data from an external device. The cloud print server 102 then transmits the received print data to a predetermined cloud print-compatible printer 104.

[0030] The application management server 103 holds and manages various applications. The application management server 103 receives application identification information and a download request from the client terminal 101, and transmits to the client terminal 101 an application identified based on the received identification information.

[0031] The online support server 105 is a server device that provides an online support service 351. The online support service 351 is a server device that provides the client terminal 101 with a file in which information for expanding the functions of the client terminal 101 is described.

[0032] Next, the hardware configuration of the system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0033] FIG. 2A is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the client terminal 101. As shown in FIG.

[0034] The client terminal 101 includes a display unit 216 , an operation unit 217 , a storage unit 214 , a control unit 211 , and a network communication unit 215 .

[0035] The storage unit 214 refers to a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk or SSD, and is capable of storing and rewriting digital data.

[0036] The control unit 211 is a computer that includes a CPU 212 and a memory 213 and controls the overall operation of the client terminal 101. The CPU 212 loads a program stored in the storage unit 214 into the memory 213 and executes it. The memory 213 is the main storage memory of the CPU 212 and is used as a work area and a temporary storage area for loading various programs.

[0037] The network communication unit 215 is a device for communicating with the external network 107, and inputs and outputs digital data to and from external servers, client terminals, and the like via the network 107.

[0038] The display unit 216 is a device such as a liquid crystal display for displaying visual information to a user in real time. The operation unit 217 is a device for receiving input from a user via a keyboard, mouse, etc. A device having the functions of both the display unit 216 and the operation unit 217, such as a touch panel, may be used.

[0039] 2B is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the cloud print server 102. The cloud print server 102 includes a storage unit 224, a control unit 221, and a network communication unit 225.

[0040] The description of the storage unit 224, the control unit 221, and the network communication unit 225 is omitted because they are the same as those of the client terminal 101.

[0041] Although the cloud print server 102 is described as being configured with one information processing device having the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2(b), the cloud print server 102 may also be configured with multiple information processing devices as shown in FIG. 2(b).

[0042] 2C is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the application management server 103. The application management server 103 includes a display unit 236, an operation unit 237, a storage unit 234, a control unit 231, and a network communication unit 235.

[0043] The display unit 236, operation unit 237, storage unit 234, control unit 231, and network communication unit 235 are the same as those in the client terminal 101, and therefore will not be described here.

[0044] Although the application management server 103 will be described as being configured from one information processing device having the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2(c), the application management server 103 may be configured from a plurality of information processing devices.

[0045] 2D is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the cloud print-compatible printer 104. The cloud print-compatible printer 104 includes a display unit 246, an operation unit 247, a storage unit 244, a control unit 241, a network communication unit 245, and a printing unit 248.

[0046] The display unit 246 is a device, such as a touch panel or LED, provided on the cloud print-compatible printer 104, for displaying information to the user in real time.

[0047] The operation unit 247 is a device for receiving input from a user, and may include hard keys such as a numeric keypad in addition to a touch panel. The storage unit 244 and the control unit 241 are the same as those in the client terminal 101, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0048] The network communication unit 245 is a device that communicates with the external network 107, and is mainly responsible for receiving print data and transmitting information about the status of the cloud print-compatible printer 104, such as errors, to an external server or the like.

[0049] The printing unit 248 is a device that performs printing processing by carrying out a series of operations such as paper feeding, printing, and paper ejection on paper prepared in a cassette or tray. The printing method is not particularly limited, and may be an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method. Finishing devices such as a duplex unit, stapler, and puncher used when ejecting paper are also included in the printing unit 248.

[0050] In this embodiment, a single-function printer that performs only a printing function is described as an example of the cloud print-compatible printer 104, but a multifunction printer (multifunction device) that also has a scanner function and a FAX function may be used. The hardware configuration of the printer 106 shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that shown in FIG. 2(d).

[0051] 2(e) is a hardware block diagram showing details of the online support server 105. In this embodiment, the online support server 105 is described as being configured with one information processing device, but may be configured with multiple information processing devices. The online support server is configured with a display unit 256, an operation unit 257, a storage unit 254, a control unit 251, and a network communication unit 255.

[0052] The display unit 256 and the operation unit 257 are similar to the display unit 216 and the operation unit 217 of the client terminal 101, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted. The storage unit 254 is a memory device such as an HDD or SSD. The storage unit 254 stores a file in which information for extending the functions provided by the client terminal 101 is described.

[0053] The control unit 251 is composed of a CPU 252 and a memory 253. The CPU 252 controls the entire online support server 105. The memory 253 is used for processing executed by the CPU 252. The network communication unit 255 is an interface for the online support server 105 to communicate with the client terminal 101. The online support server 105 receives a request to acquire a file stored in the memory unit 254 via the network communication unit 255, and transmits the corresponding file to the client terminal 101.

[0054] Next, an example of a user procedure and a sequence between each piece of software and print service in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0055] First, the cloud print-compatible printer 104 accepts an operation from a user to register the cloud print-compatible printer 104 in the cloud print service 321. In accordance with the registration operation, the cloud print-compatible printer 104 transmits printer device identification information and a printer registration request to the cloud print service 321 (S3001). The device identification information may be any information that can identify the printer model, and is, for example, a HWID (hardware ID) assigned to each printer model.

[0056] When the cloud print service 321 receives the registration request, it transmits the URL of the cloud print service 321 for printer registration to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 .

[0057] The user accesses the URL from the cloud print-compatible printer 104 or an information processing device, enters a user ID and password for using the cloud print service 321 , and logs in to the cloud print service 321 .

[0058] When the user login is successful, the cloud print service 321 transmits a request for obtaining information required for printer registration to the cloud print-compatible printer 104. The cloud print-compatible printer 104 transmits printer information to the cloud print service 321 in response to the request.

[0059] Next, the cloud print service 321 registers information about the cloud print-compatible printer 104 and generates a print queue for the cloud print-compatible printer 104. At this time, the cloud print service 321 acquires capability information about the cloud print-compatible printer 104 and links it to the generated print queue.

[0060] Capability information is information that indicates the functions that a printer is equipped with, and refers to information that is necessary for the user to set as print settings when printing, such as functions related to image formation, such as double-sided printing information and color printing information, and functions related to post-processing, such as stapling information.

[0061] As a specific example, it is assumed here that IPP is used as the communication protocol. The cloud print-compatible printer 104 transmits an example of capability information consisting of item names and attribute values ​​as shown in Fig. 5 to the cloud print service 321. Note that even if the attribute inquired by the cloud print service 321 is not defined in IPP, the cloud print-compatible printer 104 notifies the cloud print service 321 of the attribute as is.

[0062] Next, the installation process of the cloud printer driver 311 and the print setting extension application 312 that is performed when the user performs a setup operation on the client terminal 101 to print with the cloud print-compatible printer 104 will be described.

[0063] The OS 310 of the client terminal 101 accepts a cloud print-compatible printer setup operation by a user. The cloud print-compatible printer setup operation is, for example, the following operation.

[0064] The OS 310 of the client terminal 101 receives an instruction to add a printer from the user (S3002).

[0065] 4 shows a screen for managing information about print queues registered in the OS 310, which is displayed by the OS 310 of the client terminal 101. When the user selects a button 401, an instruction to add a printer is input to the OS 310.

[0066] The OS 310 that has received an instruction to add a printer determines whether or not it holds a token for acquiring information from the cloud print service 321 .

[0067] If the token is not held, the OS 310 displays a screen for inputting user information (login name, password) and transmits the user information input via the screen to the cloud print service 321 to perform user authentication and request an access token (S3003).

[0068] The cloud print service 321 performs authentication processing (S3004) using the user information received from the client terminal 101. Upon completing the authentication processing, the cloud print service 321 notifies the client terminal 101 of the result of the authentication processing.

[0069] If the user authentication is successful, the OS 310 acquires an access token from the cloud print service 321 (S3005).

[0070] If the user authentication fails in S3004, the cloud print service 321 notifies the OS 310 of the client terminal 101 of an authentication error (S3006).

[0071] The OS 310 of the client terminal 101 stops the process based on the received authentication error information (S3007), and ends the process shown in FIG.

[0072] If the client terminal 101 already holds an access token or if a token was acquired in S3005, the OS 310 of the client terminal 101 advances the process to S3008. The OS 310 searches for printers registered in the cloud print service 321 and printers connected to the network 107. Then, the OS 310 attaches the access token and transmits a request to acquire information about the printers registered in the cloud print service 321 (S3008).

[0073] The cloud print service 321 identifies the tenant ID to which the user belongs, which is identified by the access token attached to the acquisition request, and generates a list of printers linked to the tenant ID to which the user belongs.

[0074] The OS 310 of the client terminal 101 acquires the printer list generated by the cloud print service 321 and printer information including the identification information of each printer (S3009).

[0075] The OS 310 displays a printer list on the client terminal 101 based on the printer information acquired from the cloud print service 321 and the printer information detected by searching the network 107. In 401 in Fig. 4, the printer information received from the cloud print service 321 and the printers searched for on the local network are displayed in a list.

[0076] Next, the user selects the printer information of the printer he / she wishes to register in the client terminal 101 from the printers displayed in 401. The OS 310 queries the cloud print service 321 for capability information of the selected cloud print-compatible printer 104 (S3010). As in the above-mentioned mechanism, the querying side, i.e., the OS 310, decides which attribute to query.

[0077] The cloud print service 321 responds to the OS 310 with the capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 (S3011). The capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 may be capability information acquired when the printer is registered, or the latest capability information may be acquired from the cloud print-compatible printer 104 when an inquiry is made from the OS 310.

[0078] If the cloud print service 321 does not store a response to the attribute inquired by the OS 310 of the client terminal 101, the cloud print service 321 does not respond to the OS 310.

[0079] Next, the OS 310 starts the installation of the cloud printer driver 311 based on the device identification information and printer name of the printer selected by the user.

[0080] The OS 310 generates a print queue for the cloud printer driver 311 that has basic device capability information included with the OS 310 (S3012). The device capability information refers to definition information required to generate print setting capability information for the printer driver, for example, information written in XML such as Print Device Capabilites (PDC). The print setting capability information (for example, called PrintCapabilities (PC)) is information used to display a print setting screen, and is generated from the device capability information.

[0081] Fig. 6(a) is a diagram showing an example of device capability information included with the OS 310. Information 601 in Fig. 6(a) shows information related to the number of copies. Here, it is shown that the minimum number of copies is 1 copy and the maximum number is 999 copies.

[0082] Information 602 is information related to paper size. "Feature" indicates the function name, and "Option" indicates information on the setting value selectable for that function. Information 602 indicates that there are two setting values, "A4" and "LETTER", for the paper size function. Device capability information is linked to the print queue and is managed by the OS 310.

[0083] The OS 310 then updates the device capability information constituting the cloud printer driver 311 using the capability information acquired from the cloud print service 321 .

[0084] 6B is a diagram showing an example of device capability information updated using capability information acquired from the cloud print service 321. Information 603 indicates the paper size after the update. For the feature (setting item) "PageMediaSize", setting values ​​(Option) other than "A4" and "LETTER" are added as paper sizes that the cloud print-compatible printer 104 can print.

[0085] Moreover, information 604 indicates the added compression function. In this manner, it is possible to add a new feature and the setting value (option) of the feature.

[0086] The OS 310 registers the printer's HWID, device capability information, and identification information of the printer driver to be used in association with the print queue.

[0087] With the above, the installation of the cloud print driver 311 is completed.

[0088] Next, the OS 310 starts the installation process of a print setting extension application 312 that is linked to the printer and that extends the cloud print driver.

[0089] First, the OS 310 performs a process of adding additional identification information to the device identification information. This process is necessary when acquiring the extended setup information file 700 from the online support server 105, and the additional identification information may be a character string different from that of normal device identification information.

[0090] In this embodiment, in order to distinguish the application from applications of other devices, the OS 310 adds additional identification information ("PrinterApp_") indicating that the application is compatible with the printer to the device identification information. Note that "PrinterApp_" is just an example and may be any other character string, number, or symbol.

[0091] As a result, for example, if the device identification information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 is device001, the device identification information after the additional identification information addition process becomes PrinterApp_device001.

[0092] Next, the OS 310 transmits a search request for the extended setup information file 700 to the online support service 351 (S3013). The OS 310 transmits to the online support service 351 the device identification information to which the additional identification information has been added.

[0093] If the search result indicates that the online support service 351 has the extended setup information file 700 including the target device identification information, the online support service 351 returns the extended setup information file 700 to the OS 310 (S3014).

[0094] The OS 310 acquires the extended setup information file 700 from the online support service 351 and installs the extended setup information (S3015). The OS 310 records the contents of the extended setup information in the registry while reading them. Furthermore, the OS 310 extracts the application ID from the installed extended setup information (S3016).

[0095] As a result of the search, the online support service 351 may not have the extended setup information file 700 including the target device identification information. In this case, the OS 310 stops the application installation process while completing the installation of the cloud print driver (S3017).

[0096] Next, the OS 310 transmits to the application management service 331 a request to acquire an application whose application ID matches the application ID extracted from the extended setup information file 700 (S3018).

[0097] If the application management service 331 holds a print setting extension application corresponding to the requested application ID, the application management service 331 returns the print setting extension application 312 (S3019).

[0098] The OS 310 installs the acquired print setting extension application 312 in association with the print queue on the client side (S3020). Specifically, an application ID is stored in the registry of the OS 310 as print queue information, and when the generated print queue is called, the OS 310 uses this information to start the installed print setting extension application 312.

[0099] There may be a case where the print setting extension application corresponding to the requested application ID is not held in the application management service 331. In this case, the OS 310 completes the installation of the cloud print driver and stops the application installation process (S3021).

[0100] Next, an example of a sequence up to printing between each piece of software and the print service in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0101] The document generation application 315 requests the OS 310 to display a print setting screen (FIG. 8). The OS 310 displays the print setting screen for selecting a print queue. In this embodiment, the OS 310 displays the print setting screen for selecting a print queue as the initial screen, but the document generation application 315 may display it. In addition to a UI 801 for selecting a print queue, the print setting screen may also display various print setting UIs 802, a print preview 803, an other settings button 804, and a print button 805.

[0102] The OS 310 receives the selection result of the UI 801 that allows the user to select a print queue, and selects a print queue (S701).

[0103] Next, the OS 310 inquires of the queue corresponding to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 on the cloud print service 321 about the capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 (S702). The capability information to be inquired is determined by the OS 310, and is similar to that described in S3010 of Fig. 3. The inquiry is made using a standard IPP protocol such as Get-printer-Attributes. When Get-printer-Attributes is used, the capability information determined by the OS 310 is inquired in list format.

[0104] Then, the cloud print service 321 returns the capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 as a response to the OS 310 using the same protocol (S703).

[0105] For example, assume that a media size attribute is specified by Get-printer-Attributes. If the cloud print service 321 has the media size attribute, the cloud print service 321 returns a value associated with the attribute (A4, B6, Letter, etc.).

[0106] Furthermore, when a compression attribute is specified by Get-printer-Attributes, the cloud print service 321 responds with a value of a compression method (gzip, deflate, compress, none, etc.) supported by the cloud print-compatible printer 104. Here, the compression method supported by the cloud print-compatible printer 104 may be a compression method that can be decompressed (decompressed) by the cloud print-compatible printer 104.

[0107] If the attribute specified by Get-printer-Attributes does not exist in the queue of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 on the cloud print service 321, the cloud print service 321 does not respond with a value.

[0108] The OS 310 updates the device capability information using the capability information acquired from the cloud print service 321 (S704). When updating the device capability information, for example, the acquired capability information is added to the device capability information generated in S3012 of FIG.

[0109] Next, the OS 310 notifies the print setting extension application 312 of an event that allows editing of device capability information (S705). When the print setting extension application 312 receives this event, it can use an API that allows editing of device capability information. Then, the print setting extension application 312 can obtain capability information that is not supported by the OS 310 from the cloud print service 321.

[0110] When the print setting extension application 312 receives the device capability information editing event from the OS 310, it inquires about capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 via the cloud print service 321 (S706). At this time, the print setting extension application 312 inquires about its own capability information in addition to the capability information inquired by the OS 310.

[0111] Unique capability information includes, for example, the vendor's unique settings such as "stapleless binding" and "saddle fold" among the settings displayed in Figure 5. As for compression, it includes "slim compression," which compresses the print image on the host side after image processing including dithering, so that it can be printed even on printers with low processing capabilities.

[0112] The inquiry method is the same as in S702 in FIG. 7, and a query can be made by specifying "stapleless binding" or "saddle fold" using Get-printer-Attributes.

[0113] Here, the addition of a setting value to an existing function (for example, the addition of a setting value "stapleless binding" to the function "stapler") is shown as an example, but it goes without saying that the same applies to adding a new function itself. Even when adding a new function itself, it can be obtained from the cloud print-compatible printer 104 as long as the cloud print-compatible printer 104 supports the function itself.

[0114] When the cloud print-compatible printer 104 receives an inquiry about unique capability information from the print setting extension application 312, the cloud print-compatible printer 104 responds with capability information to the print setting extension application 312 via the cloud print service 312 (S707). The response method here is the same as S703 in FIG. 7 described above.

[0115] When the capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104 is registered in the cloud print service 321, the processes of S706 and S707 can be performed between the print setting extension application 312 and the cloud print service 321.

[0116] Also, for example, when a feature (Feature) itself, such as compression, is supported by the OS 310, and a setting value (Option) for "slim compression" is added, it may be possible to add it together in the processing of S702 and S703. In other words, instead of making "slim compression" an independent feature, it may be registered as an attachment to the compression Feature in the same way as other setting values ​​such as gzip, so that "slim compression" can be included in the capability information returned in S703. In this case, "slim compression" will also be included in the capability information obtained in S3011 of FIG. 3.

[0117] When the print setting extension application 312 acquires the unique capability information from the cloud print-compatible printer 104, the print setting extension application 312 edits the device capability information via the capability information object. The capability information object is a collection of data groups necessary for the print setting extension application 312 to edit the device capability information.

[0118] Since the print setting extension application 312 cannot directly edit the device capability information held by the OS 310, it uses this capability information object to make it possible to change the device capability information held by the OS 310. The print setting extension application 312 converts the capability information such as "stapleless binding" and "saddle folding" acquired in S707 of Fig. 7 into device capability information and adds it to the capability information object (S708).

[0119] Next, the print setting extension application 312 passes the edited capability information object to the OS 310 (S709). When the OS 310 receives the capability information object from the print setting extension application 312, the OS 310 reflects the contents of the capability information object in the device capability information held by the OS 310, and updates it as new device capability information.

[0120] 7 is started when printing is attempted in the document generation application 315 as shown in S701, and steps S702 to S708 are processes for obtaining the latest capability information of the cloud print-compatible printer 104. Therefore, the processes may be omitted except at the instruction of the user or at a predetermined timing (such as every Monday).

[0121] When the OS 310 updates the device capability information, a trigger is enabled to launch the detailed settings screen of the print setting extension application 312. When the OS 310 detects that the user has pressed the other settings button 804 (S710), the OS 310 requests the print setting extension application 312 to display the detailed settings screen.

[0122] When the print setting extension application 312 receives the request from the OS 310, it generates and displays a print setting screen as shown in FIG. 9 based on the print setting capability information generated by the OS 310 from the device capability information (S711).

[0123] For example, for the output paper size among the setting items in Fig. 9, the print setting extension application 312 displays print setting capability information generated from psk:PageMediaSize in Fig. 6(b). Also, the print setting extension application 312 generates and displays "A4", which is an option (setting value) for the output paper size, based on information psk:ISOA4.

[0124] 9, the print setting extension application 312 displays print setting capability information generated based on ns0002:JobCompression in Fig. 6B. The compression item 1001 is generated by acquiring a general-purpose compression method and a vendor-specific compression method.

[0125] 9, options displayed are a blank space for not specifying a compression method, "standard compression" for compression by the OS 310, and "high compression" for compression using a vendor-specific compression method by the print setting extension application 312. For example, if the printer does not support the vendor-specific compression method, "high compression" may not be displayed or may be grayed out so that it cannot be selected.

[0126] The displayed options may be specific compression methods such as "slim compression" and "gzip". For example, the displayed options may be blank, "slim compression", or "standard compression". Furthermore, the classification method of "high compression" and "standard compression" is not limited to the above, and may be classified according to the difference in data size before and after compression.

[0127] At this time, it is possible that the print setting extension application 312 does not support the acquired compression method, that the printer's compression support state is unsupported, that the compression method is blank or none and the printer does not support compression, etc. In such cases, the options may be hidden or grayed out so that the user cannot select them.

[0128] In addition, if the print setting extending application 312 is not linked to the cloud print driver 311, a print setting screen of the standard driver pre-installed in the OS 310 is displayed as shown in Fig. 10. The print setting screen in Fig. 10 does not display settings for compression that is not supported by the cloud print driver 311. As can be seen from Figs. 9 and 10, the print setting extending application 312 can extend the functions of the standard drivers (cloud print driver 311, local print driver 313).

[0129] The print setting extending application 312 provides the user with a function that enables the user to change the print settings, and when the settings are changed, the setting values ​​are saved. For example, assume that the user changes the media size from A4 to Letter on the print setting screen. In that case, the print setting information (for example, called PrintTicket (PT)) held by the print setting extending application 312 changes from A4 to Letter. Then, when the user completes the print setting operation and presses the OK button 1002 in FIG. 9, the print setting screen in FIG. 9 is closed (S712).

[0130] Then, the print setting extending application 312 acquires the print setting information processed within the control of the print setting screen from the print setting screen unit, and stores the information in a storage area of ​​the print setting extending application 312 (S713).

[0131] The OS 310 executes printing in response to a print instruction from the user via the document generation application 315 (S714).

[0132] When the OS 310 receives a print execution instruction, it generates intermediate data. The OS 310 passes the generated intermediate data and the print setting information edited on the print setting screen to the print setting extension application 312 (S715). The intermediate data is data generated before conversion to print data such as PDL, and for example, XPS. The print setting information edited in the previous step is also included in this intermediate data.

[0133] The print setting expansion application 312 checks the selection of compression items in the print setting information received from the OS 310 (S716).

[0134] If the print setting expansion application 312 confirms in S716 that the selection result of the compression item is "high compression", it checks the compression method supported by the printer from the printer capability information (S717).

[0135] The compression methods supported by the printer include printer vendor-specific compression methods such as "slim compression," and the compression methods supported by each printer model are different. If there are multiple supported compression methods, the print setting expansion application 312 selects the compression method with the highest compression efficiency (smaller data size, less information loss, etc.).

[0136] The print setting expanding application 312 generates print data based on the intermediate data received from the OS 310. Then, the print setting expanding application 312 compresses the print data using the compression method selected in S717 (S718).

[0137] The print setting extension application 312 also creates printing capability information in which the print setting information received from the OS 310 is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (S719). By describing the information as attribute values ​​defined by IPP, the information can be read by the printer 104.

[0138] At this time, in the printing capability information, for example, the attribute document-format(mimeMediaType) indicating the file format is set to the compressed file format, and the compression attribute is set to a value indicating the compression method used.

[0139] The print setting extension application 312 transmits the generated compressed print data and printing capability information to the print queue of the OS 310 (S720). Specifically, the data is transmitted to the OS 310 using an API that can add an attribute of the IPP attribute.

[0140] The OS 310 checks the compression state of the print data and whether or not to compress it using the print capability information received from the print setting extension application 312 (S721). When determining whether to compress, the OS 310 checks, for example, the document-format. If the compressed file format is set in the document-format, such as application / vnd.ms-cab-compressed, the OS 310 determines that the print data is already compressed.

[0141] If the OS 310 confirms that the print data has been compressed, it skips the compression operation and transmits the compressed print data and the printing capability information to the print queue of the cloud print service 321 (S722).

[0142] Then, the cloud print service 321 transmits the compressed print data and the printing capability information to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 via the print queue (S723).

[0143] Next, a case will be described in which the print setting expanding application 312 confirms the selection result of the compression item in S716 and confirms that "standard compression" has been selected.

[0144] The print setting extension application 321 creates printing capability information in which the print setting information is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (S724) without generating or compressing the print data. For example, in the printing capability information, the attribute document-format (mimeMediaType) indicating the file format is set to application / oxps, which is the file format of the intermediate data. Then, the compression attribute compression is set to a value of the standard compression method supported by the printer (for example, gzip, etc.).

[0145] The compression method to be set in the attribute "compression" may be selected based on compression efficiency, similarly to the case where "high compression" is selected as described above.

[0146] The print setting extension application 321 transmits the printing capability information and the intermediate data to the print queue of the OS 310 (S725). Specifically, the print setting extension application 321 transmits the information to the OS 310 using an API that can add an attribute of the IPP attribute.

[0147] The OS 310 checks the compression state of the print data described in the received print capability information (S726). The OS 310 checks the file format and compression attribute values ​​in the print capability information updated in S725 to determine whether to compress. If the OS 310 confirms that application / oxps is set in document-format(mimeMediaType) and that a value other than none is set in compression, it determines that compression is necessary.

[0148] When the OS 310 confirms that compression of the print data is necessary, it generates the print data and compresses the print data using the compression method supported by the cloud print-compatible printer 104 and described in the compression of the printing capability information (S727).

[0149] Then, the OS 310 updates the value of the file format document-format(mimeMediaType) in the print capability information to the compressed file format. If the OS 310 compresses the document using gzip as the compression method, the file format is set to application / gzip.

[0150] The compressed print data and the printing capability information are sent to the print queue of the cloud print service 321 via the print queue (S728).

[0151] The cloud print service 321 transmits the compressed print data and the printing capability information to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 via the print queue (S729).

[0152] Finally, a case will be described where the print setting expanding application 312 checks the compression item selection result in S716 and confirms that no selection has been made (a blank field has been selected).

[0153] The print setting extension application 321 creates printing capability information in which the print setting information is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (S730) without generating or compressing print data. For example, in the printing capability information, application / pdf or image / pwg-raster is set to the attribute document-format (mimeMediaType) indicating the file format. And none is set to the compression attribute compression.

[0154] The print setting extension application 321 transmits the printing capability information and the intermediate data to the print queue of the OS 310 (S731). Specifically, the print setting extension application 321 transmits the information to the OS 310 using an API that can add an attribute of the IPP attribute.

[0155] The OS 310 checks the compression state of the print data and other information contained in the received printing capability information (S732).

[0156] The OS 310 confirms that compression is none and that the file format document-format (mimeMediaType) is application / pdf or image / pwg-raster. After confirmation, the OS 310 generates print data and compresses it in PDF or Raster format (S733).

[0157] The OS 310 transmits the compressed print data and the printing capability information to the cloud print service 321 (S734).

[0158] Then, the cloud print service 321 transmits the print data and the printing capability information to the cloud print-compatible printer 104 (S735).

[0159] As described above, when the cloud print-compatible printer 104 receives the print data and the printing capability information, it decompresses (decompresses) the compressed data in an appropriate manner based on the printing capability information and executes printing (S736).

[0160] Hereinafter, the compression determination and processing flow by the print setting expanding application 312 will be described with reference to Fig. 11. The flow shown in Fig. 11 starts when a print execution instruction is issued in the document generation application 315 (S714 in Fig. 7). Each process shown in the flow in Fig. 11 is realized by the CPU 212 executing a program provided by the print setting expanding application 312.

[0161] First, the print setting extension application 312 acquires intermediate data, print setting information, and printer capability information from the OS 310 (S1101, acquisition step).

[0162] Then, the print setting extending application 312 checks the selected compression setting from the acquired print setting information (S1102). After that, the process branches depending on the selected compression setting level (S1103).

[0163] First, if "high compression" is selected as the compression setting, the print setting extension application 312 checks the compression method supported by the printer from the printer capability information (S1104). If the printer supports multiple compression methods, the compression method with the highest compression efficiency is selected as described above (an example of a selection process).

[0164] In this embodiment, "high compression" is a compression method unique to the printer vendor. Therefore, the print setting extension application 312 generates print data and compresses it (S1105).

[0165] The print setting extension application 312 creates printing capability information in which the print setting information received from the OS 310 is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP.

[0166] For example, the print setting extending application 312 sets the compressed file format to the attribute document-format(mimeMediaType) indicating the file format in the print capability information. Also, the print setting extending application 312 sets a value indicating the compression method used to the compression attribute in the print capability information (S1106). This allows the OS 310 to determine that the print data has been compressed. S1105 and S1106 are an example of a first generation step.

[0167] Then, the print setting extending application 312 transmits the generated compressed print data and the printing capability information to a print queue of the OS 310 (S1110, an example of a first output step).

[0168] If "standard compression" is selected as the compression setting in S1103, the print setting expansion application 312 checks the compression method supported by the printer from the printer capability information (S1107). If the printer supports multiple compression methods, the compression method with the highest compression efficiency is selected as described above (an example of a selection process).

[0169] In the case of standard compression, compression is possible in the OS 310, so the print setting expansion application 312 does not generate or compress the print data.

[0170] The print setting extension application 321 creates printing capability information in which the print setting information is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (S1108, an example of a second generation step). For example, in the printing capability information, the attribute document-format (mimeMediaType) indicating the file format is set to application / oxps, which is the file format of the intermediate data. Then, the value of the standard compression method supported by the printer (for example, gzip, etc.) is set to the compression attribute compression. This enables the OS 310 to determine the generation of print data, whether compression is necessary, and the compression method to be used.

[0171] Then, the print setting extension application 321 transmits the printing capability information and the intermediate data to the print queue of the OS 310 (S1110, an example of a second output step).

[0172] If no compression setting is specified in S1103, the print setting extension application 321 does not generate or compress print data, but creates printing capability information in which the print setting information is described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (S1109).

[0173] For example, the print setting extension application 312 sets the attribute document-format (mimeMediaType) indicating the file format in the print capability information to application / pdf or image / pwg-raster. The print setting extension application 312 sets the attribute compression to none. This enables the OS 310 to determine whether print data needs to be generated and compressed in PDF or Raster format.

[0174] The print setting extension application 321 sends the printing capability information and the intermediate data to the print queue of the OS 310 (S1110).

[0175] The sequence described in the first embodiment is the same in the printer 106. Each piece of software acquires capability information from the printer 106 and transmits print data without going through the cloud print service 321.

[0176] In the first embodiment, "high compression" and "standard compression" are classified according to whether compression is performed by the print setting extending application 312 or by the OS 310, but as described above, they may also be classified according to the difference in data size before and after compression. In this way, when a printer vendor's proprietary compression method, a standard compression method, and the like are available as options, the printer vendor's proprietary compression method may be selected with priority.

[0177] <Second embodiment> In the second embodiment, a case where an administrator controls compression will be described with reference to FIG.

[0178] The administrator inputs the IP address of the printer 106 into the browser of the client terminal 101 and instructs the client terminal 101 to search (S1201). Here, a method of accessing the printer 106 using the IP address is described, but the printer may be accessed by other methods. For example, the administrator may access the printer 106 through the operation unit from the display unit of the printer 106.

[0179] The client terminal 101 accesses the input IP address and transmits a request to acquire a screen for the remote UI to the input IP address (S1202).

[0180] In response to the request from the client terminal 101, the printer 106 transmits a screen for the remote UI and causes the remote UI screen to be displayed on the browser of the client terminal 101 (S1203). The remote UI screen displayed on the client terminal 101 here is a screen for entering a user ID and a password.

[0181] The administrator inputs a user ID and password on the screen displayed on the client terminal 101 and issues a login instruction. The client terminal 101 notifies the printer 106 of the input user ID and password, and the printer 106 performs user authentication. If the user authentication is successful, the printer 106 sends a setting screen to the client terminal 101.

[0182] After logging in, the administrator selects an item related to print settings on the remote UI screen (S1204).

[0183] The client terminal 101 transmits a request to change the print settings to the printer 106 (S1205).

[0184] When the printer 106 receives the request, it displays a print setting screen linked to the printer capability information as a print setting form such as 1301 in FIG. 13 (S1206).

[0185] The administrator can change the print settings to enabled or disabled in the print settings form, thereby reflecting the change in the printer's capabilities information and restricting the settings (S1207). For example, if the administrator disables compression (selects "un-supported") in the setting UI 1302 on the setting form, the printer will not support compression. The compression-supported item in the IPP attributes related to compression will be set to a value such as "none" or "un-supported," indicating non-support.

[0186] The administrator presses the OK button to complete the setting change (S1208). The client terminal 101 transmits to the printer 106 a notification that the setting change has been completed and the details of the change (S1209). The printer 106 updates its capability information based on the received print setting details (S1210). In this manner, the capability information of the printer 106 may be editable by the administrator.

[0187] In this state, when capability information is acquired in the same manner as in steps S702 and S706 in the first embodiment, the OS 310 and the print setting extension application 321 acquire capability information in a state in which compression is restricted. Then, when the detailed setting screen of step S711 is called up, the compression item 1001 is hidden or grayed out, and cannot be selected by the user.

[0188] Here, restrictions may be imposed on each set value relating to compression, and some set values ​​of the compression item 1001 may be restricted and made unselectable depending on the restrictions of the capability information.

[0189] As for the processing from S717 onwards, printing can be performed by controlling the compression processing in the print setting extension application 321 or the OS 310 in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

[0190] It should be noted that for the cloud print-compatible printer 104, a similar method may be used to set whether or not compression and each setting value related to compression is to be used from the printer.

[0191] <Other embodiments> The present invention can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more of the functions.

Claims

1. An application program that extends the functionality of software that generates print data that can be printed on image forming devices provided by multiple vendors, The method includes the steps of: causing a computer to acquire capability information of an image forming device that is to be an output destination of print data; A setting screen is displayed on which the setting values ​​of the setting items included in the capability information can be changed. The program, wherein the setting items include a setting item related to compression of print data to be output to an image forming apparatus that is a destination of the print data.

2. The computer includes: Select a compression method according to a setting value of the compression-related setting item designated on the setting screen; When a compression method specific to the vendor of the image forming device to which the print data is output is selected, generating print data compressed using the selected compression method and printing capability information indicating that the print data has been compressed; 2. The program according to claim 1, further comprising causing said software to output said compressed print data and said printing capability information.

3. The computer includes: Select a compression method according to a setting value of the compression-related setting item designated on the setting screen; When a compression method executable by said software is selected, generating print capability information including the selection; 2. The program according to claim 1, further comprising causing the software to output the printing capability information.

4. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the setting values ​​of the items relating to compression are displayed on the setting screen after classifying the plurality of compression methods according to the magnitude of the difference in data size before and after compression.

5. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 4. The program according to claim 2, wherein a vendor-specific compression method is selected with priority from among the plurality of compression methods.

6. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 4. The program according to claim 2, further comprising a step of selecting a compression method having a large difference in data size before and after compression from among the plurality of compression methods.

7. 2. The program according to claim 1, further comprising acquiring the capability information from an image forming apparatus that is an output destination of the print data.

8. The print data is transmitted from the computer to the image forming apparatus via a print server, 2. The program according to claim 1, further comprising acquiring the capability information from the print server.

9. 4. The program according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the printing capability information is printing setting information including information on setting values ​​specified on the setting screen, described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).

10. 10. The program according to claim 9, wherein the print setting information is a PT (PrintTicket).

11. 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the capability information can be edited by an administrator of the image forming apparatus to which the print data is to be output.

12. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus that has software for generating print data that can be printed by image forming apparatuses provided by a plurality of vendors, and an application program for expanding a function of the software, and that can communicate with the image forming apparatus, comprising: An acquisition step of acquiring capability information of an image forming device which is a destination of print data, A setting screen is displayed on which the setting values ​​of the setting items included in the capability information can be changed. The method for controlling an information processing apparatus, wherein the setting items include a setting item related to compression of print data to be output to an image forming apparatus that is a destination of the print data.

13. a selection step of selecting a compression method according to a setting value of the setting item related to compression specified on the setting screen; When a compression method specific to a vendor of an image forming device to which the print data is to be output is selected in the selection step, a first generating step of generating print data compressed by the selected compression method and printing capability information indicating that the print data has been compressed; a first output step of outputting the compressed print data and the printing capability information to the software; 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

14. a selection step of selecting a compression method according to a setting value of the setting item related to compression specified on the setting screen; When a compression method executable by the software is selected in the selection step, a second generating step of generating printing capability information including the selection content in the selecting step; a second output step of outputting the printing capability information to the software; 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

15. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein the setting values ​​of the items relating to compression are displayed on the setting screen by classifying the plurality of compression methods according to the magnitude of the difference in data size before and after compression.

16. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 15. The control method according to claim 13, wherein a vendor-specific compression method is preferentially selected from among the plurality of compression methods.

17. the capability information includes information corresponding to a plurality of compression methods; 15. The control method according to claim 13, wherein a compression method having a large difference in data size before and after compression is selected from among the plurality of compression methods.

18. The control method according to claim 12 , further comprising acquiring the capability information from an image forming apparatus that is an output destination of the print data.

19. The print data is transmitted from the information processing device to the image forming device via a print server, 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein the capability information is obtained from the print server.

20. The control method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the printing capability information is printing setting information including information of setting values ​​specified on the setting screen, described as attribute values ​​defined by IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).

21. 21. The control method according to claim 20, wherein the print setting information is a PT (PrintTicket).

22. 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein the capability information can be edited by an administrator of the image forming apparatus that is the output destination of the print data.

23. An information processing device capable of communicating with a printing device, Software for generating print data that can be printed on image forming devices provided by multiple vendors, and an application program for expanding the functions of the software; An acquisition unit for acquiring capability information of an image forming device that is a destination of print data; a display means for displaying a setting screen on which a setting value of a setting item included in the capability information can be changed; The information processing apparatus, wherein the setting items include a setting item related to compression of print data to be output to an image forming apparatus that is a destination of the print data.

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