Printer corresponding to cloud print service, control method and program of printer

Abstract

To solve a problem that a setting is troublesome for a user, if the user selects a protocol, when a cloud print service provides the plurality of protocols for acquiring information on a job, and solve the problem that print data cannot be acquired from a cloud printbiz, when the user mistakes the setting.SOLUTION: A printer acquires the type of a printer queue of a cloud, a user authentication setting of the cloud, and an authentication setting of the printer, and determines an acquisition method of an appropriate job, and the acquired protocol.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 12

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing device compatible with a cloud print service, and a method and program for controlling the printing device. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, cloud print services have become known in which a printer is registered with a print service provided by a server on the Internet, and the printer obtains print data output in response to an instruction from a user terminal via the cloud service and prints the data.

[0003] When using a cloud print service from a user terminal, there are two printing modes: one in which a print instruction is given by specifying a printer object associated one-to-one with a physical printer, and another in which a print instruction is given by specifying a printer object associated one-to-many with a physical printer. The former object is called a real printer object, and the latter object is called a virtual printer object. Furthermore, a temporary storage area on the cloud service for print data submitted by specifying a real printer object is called a real printer queue. A temporary storage area on the cloud service for print data submitted by specifying a virtual printer object is called a virtual printer queue. The print data saved in a virtual printer queue can be accessed and printed out by any printer associated with the virtual printer object (see Patent Document 1). This type of printing mode using a virtual printer queue is called Anywhere Print.

[0004] Cloud print services may be provided by vendors different from the printers. For example, Google provides a cloud print service called Google Cloud Print (registered trademark), and printer vendors provide printers compatible with Google Cloud Print.

[0005] In order to support each company's cloud print service, printer vendors are offering printers on the market that support multiple protocols defined by each company's cloud service. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 05843691 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, even cloud print services provided by the same vendor may offer multiple protocols depending on the printing format (real printer queue or virtual printer queue), authentication method, usage method, and the like.

[0008] Not only does the printer need to support multiple protocols, but it also needs to select the appropriate protocol from multiple protocols after understanding the settings on the cloud print service side and the user's usage scenario. If a user interface is provided to allow the user to select the protocol, there is an issue that the settings are cumbersome for the user.

[0009] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a highly available printer that acquires print data using an appropriate protocol when acquiring print data from a cloud print service. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above problem, a printing device according to the present invention comprises: A printing device compatible with a cloud print service, A means for acquiring information about a printer queue associated with a printing device (S1202), A means for acquiring user authentication setting information of the printer (S1203) is provided; Based on the acquired printer queue information and the printer user authentication setting information, A means for selecting one of a plurality of job information acquisition means (S1205 to S1214) is provided; The system is characterized by comprising a means for acquiring a list of job information from the cloud using the acquisition means for the selected job. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] When obtaining print data from a cloud print service, it is possible to provide a highly available printer that obtains print data using an appropriate protocol. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface displayed on an operation unit of the printing apparatus. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a sequence for registering a printing device in a print service. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 illustrates a user interface of a print service for approving registration. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface provided by a print service. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow when printing from a user terminal. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 illustrates a notification when logging in to the printing device. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of acquiring a print job from a real printer queue. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of obtaining a print job from a virtual printer queue. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow at the time of protocol determination. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [Example]

[0014] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a printing system including a printing device to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 101 denotes a printing device (printer) to which the present invention is applied, which is equipped with a printing function for realizing cloud printing. Reference numeral 102 denotes a cloud print service provided on the Internet and is a web server. Reference numeral 103 denotes a user's operation terminal. The printing device 101 is registered in advance with the cloud print service 102 by the printing device owner. The user selects an object associated with the printing device 101 registered with the cloud print service 102 from the user terminal 103 and sends print data to the cloud print service 102. The printing device 101 receives the print data sent by the user via the cloud print service 102 and performs printing. Although not shown, the user can use the cloud print service 102 from multiple user terminals, including not only the user terminal 103 but also general-purpose personal computers and smartphones. The printing device 101 and the user terminal 103 are connected to the cloud print service 102 via the Internet. Although not shown, a plurality of printing devices having the same configuration as the printing device 101 are connected to the user terminal 103 and the cloud print service 102 via the Internet.

[0015] <Hardware configuration of the printing device> FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printing device 101.

[0016] The CPU 201 is a central processing unit (processor) that controls the overall operation of the multifunction peripheral. The RAM (Random Access Memory) 203 is a volatile memory that is used as a work area and a temporary storage area for expanding various control programs stored in the ROM 202 and HDD 204.

[0017] The ROM 202 is a non-volatile memory that stores the boot program of the multifunction peripheral, etc. The HDD 204 is a non-volatile hard disk with a larger capacity than the RAM 203. The HDD 204 stores a control program for the multifunction peripheral. The OS (Operating System) and application programs are also stored in the HDD 204.

[0018] When the multifunction peripheral starts up, the CPU 201 executes a boot program stored in the ROM 202. This boot program reads out an OS (Operating System) program stored in the HDD 204 and loads it on the RAM 203. After executing the boot program, the CPU 201 subsequently executes the OS program loaded on the RAM 203 and controls the multifunction peripheral. The CPU 201 also stores data used for operation by the control program on the RAM 203 and reads and writes it.

[0019] Although the multifunction peripheral is assumed to have one CPU 201 execute each process shown in the flowcharts described below, other configurations are also possible. For example, multiple CPUs or microprocessors (MPUs) may cooperate to execute each process shown in the flowcharts described below. Furthermore, some of the processes described below may be executed using hardware circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

[0020] The operation unit 205 is a touch-operable display.

[0021] The printer 206 is a printer engine that prints print data received from the outside via a communication unit 207 .

[0022] The communication unit 207 is a network interface for connecting to the Internet or an office LAN (Local Area Network).

[0023] The user terminal 103 and the cloud print service 102 also have the same hardware configuration as the CPU 201 , ROM 202 , RAM 203 , and HDD 204 .

[0024] The IC card reader 208 is a device for reading information used for user authentication from an IC card, and is a unit necessary for realizing IC card authentication.

[0025] <Software configuration> FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram showing the software configuration of the printing device 101, the cloud print service 102, and the user terminal 103.

[0026] <Software Configuration of Printing Device 101> The software configuration of the printing device 101 will now be described.

[0027] The local UI 301 of the printing device 101 uses the display of the operation unit 205 to provide a user interface that allows the user to change the settings and use the functions of the printing device. An example of the user interface provided by the local UI 301 is shown in FIG. 4. The remote UI 302 has HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) server functionality and provides the user with a user interface configured in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). The user can access the remote UI 302 using a web browser on the user terminal to change the settings and use the functions of the printing device. The cloud print application 303 is a software module that implements communication protocols and functions to support the cloud print service 102. The printing unit 304 receives print jobs from the cloud print service 102 via the cloud print application 303 and controls the printer 206 to execute print processing. The user authentication unit 305 is a software module that authenticates users who use the local UI 301 and remote UI 302 and can restrict the use of each function provided by the printing device 101. Accounts for administrators and general users can be registered in the HDD 204 via the user interfaces of the local UI 301 and remote UI 302. An example of account information stored in the HDD 204 is shown in Table 1 below. The account information that can be registered in the HDD 204 includes a user name, password, IC card ID, and role (administrator / general user). In addition, accounts for the cloud print service 102 can be managed in association with accounts for the printing device 101.

[0028] [Table 1]

[0029] The user authentication function is disabled in the factory settings of the printing device 101. When the printing device is started, the local UI 301 displays a menu screen 401. The user can display a user authentication setting screen 402 via the menu screen 401. The user authentication setting screen 402 allows the user to select whether to enable or disable the user authentication function. If the user authentication function is enabled, the user can also select the keyboard login function and the IC card login function. The settings made by the user are stored in the HDD 204 and can be referenced by the user authentication unit 305. If the keyboard login function is selected, the local UI 301 displays a keyboard login screen 403 to authenticate the user using the menu screen 401. The keyboard login screen 403 displays a soft keyboard to accept input of a user name and password from the user. The user authentication unit 305 acquires the user name and password from the screen and compares them with the account information (Table 1) registered in the HDD 204 to perform user authentication. If authentication is successful, the successfully authenticated user is allowed to log in to the printing device 101. Specifically, the user authentication unit 305 instructs the local UI 301 to close the login screen and transition to the menu screen 401. When the IC card login function is selected, the local UI 301 displays the IC card login screen 404 and authenticates the user who uses the menu screen 401. While the IC card login screen 404 is displayed, it detects an IC card held over the IC card reader 208 and reads the card ID from the IC card. The user authentication unit 305 searches the account information (Table 1) registered in the HDD 204 for an account that matches the card ID acquired from the IC card reader 208. If an account with a matching card ID is found, the user with the matching card ID is allowed to log in to the printing device 101.

[0030] The user authentication unit 305 stores information about the logged-in user in an object called a login context and transmits the login context to other software modules such as the cloud print application 303. An example of information stored in the login context is shown in Table 2 below. The login context stores the username and role of the logged-in user, which are managed in Table 1. If the user logs in using an IC card, the card ID is stored in the login context. If the user logs in using a username and password, the card ID is not stored. The account of the cloud print service 102, which is stored in association with the username in Table 1, is also stored in the login context.

[0031] [Table 2]

[0032] The user terminal 103 also has a web browser that sends an HTML request and displays a screen based on the HTML received in response. The cloud print service 102 also has a function for registering the printing device 101, a function for converting print data specified for printing from the user terminal 103 into a print job, and a function for transmitting the print job to the selected printing device 101.

[0033] The local UI 301 and the remote UI 302 provide a user interface 405 for the user to register, update, or cancel the registration of the printing device 101 in the cloud print service 102 .

[0034] <Software configuration of Cloud Print Service 102> The following describes the software configuration of the cloud print service 102. The cloud print service 102 has a website that allows an administrator to configure the service. An example of the user interface of the website provided by the cloud print service is shown in FIG.

[0035] The user management 311 has a database that manages the accounts of users who access the cloud print service, and a user interface for registering, editing, and deleting accounts. Table 3 below shows an example of user account information that the user management 311 stores and manages in the database. The database can register user account names, passwords, IC card IDs, and roles (administrator / general user) as account information.

[0036] [Table 3]

[0037] The printer management 312 includes a database that manages information about printers registered in the cloud print service and a user interface for registering, editing, and deleting printer information. The authentication and authorization service 313 authenticates users who log in to the website provided by the cloud print service 102. It also includes a protocol for authenticating users and printers accessing the cloud print service 102 and issuing user ID tokens and access tokens. Examples of such protocols include OpenID Connect standardized by the OpenID Foundation and OAuth 2.0 defined in RFC 6749. The print service 314 communicates with the user terminal 103 and the printing device 101. The print service 314 includes a protocol for sending and receiving print jobs and for notifying settings and events related to printing. The print service also includes a user interface for creating real printer objects and virtual printer objects and publishing them on the user terminal 103.

[0038] The real printer queue 315 is also a print job storage area that temporarily stores print jobs that are sent by specifying a real printer object from the user terminal 103. The virtual printer queue 316 is a print job storage area that temporarily stores print jobs that are sent by specifying a virtual printer object from the user terminal 103. A printer queue is prepared when a print object is created, or is associated with an already prepared one.

[0039] <Software Configuration of User Terminal 103> The following describes the software configuration of the user terminal 103. The user terminal 103 is configured with software such as an operating system 321, an application 322, a web browser 323, and a print service client 324. The print service client 324 is a communication client for using the cloud print service 102.

[0040] The function of the print service client 324 may be provided in each of the application 322 and the web browser 323. Alternatively, the operating system 321 may be provided with the function of the print service client 324 and configured to provide the function to the application 322 and the web browser 323. Alternatively, a print driver (not shown) installed in the user terminal 103 may be provided with the function of the print service client 324.

[0041] <Printing Device 101 Registration Flow> The flow of registering the printing device 101 in the cloud print service 102 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0042] The user logs in to the printing device 101 from the local UI 301, and the cloud print setting screen shown in 405 is displayed. The user issues a registration instruction by pressing the registration button (S501). The cloud print application 303 of the printing device 101 detects this, generates a public key and private key pair, and generates a CSR (Certificate Signing Request). A CSR is a message format for a certificate signing request sent from an applicant to a certification authority to apply for a public key certificate. The CSR includes information that identifies the applicant and the generated public key. The information that identifies the applicant and is included in the CSR includes a common name, organization name, department name, address, and country code. The printing device 101 uses the printer name "printing device 101" as its common name. The organization name, department name, address, and country code use default values ​​that are stored in the printing device 101 at the time of shipment from the factory.

[0043] The printing device 101 sends a registration request together with the CSR to the print service 314 (S502). The registration request includes information about the printing device 101, such as the printer name, model name, installation location, attached units, and information about printing capabilities such as monochrome / color of the printing device 101. In response to receiving the registration request, the print service 314 generates a registration URL for the printing device 101 and returns this to the printing device 101 (S503). At this point, the printing device 101 has not yet been registered with the cloud print service 102. When the print service 314 receives the printer registration from the printing device 101, it issues a client certificate, which will be described later.

[0044] The information contained in the client certificate issued by the cloud print service 102 to the printing device 101 is shown in the table below.

[0045] [Table 4]

[0046] The version indicates the version of X509, which is the certificate format. The serial number is a serial number assigned to a certificate issued by the print service 314. The issuer is the identifier of the print service 314 that issued the certificate. The user identifier is the identifier of the printing device 101 that requested the certificate. The start of the validity period indicates the date and time when use of the certificate begins. The end of the validity period indicates the expiration date when the certificate usage period expires. In the following explanation, this will be simply referred to as the expiration date. The public key is the public key included in the CSR by the printing device 101. The signature algorithm is the algorithm used to sign the certificate. The signature is a digital signature assigned to the certificate by the print service 314, which is the issuer. The signature is signed using the private key held by the print service 314.

[0047] In the first embodiment, an example is described in which the print service 314 has a certificate issuing function, but the print service 314 may issue a certificate using a third-party certificate issuing service. When the print service 314 uses a third-party certificate issuing service, the issuer identifier and signature are those of the third-party certificate issuing service.

[0048] The printing device 101 displays the received URL on the local UI 301 and prompts the user to access the URL for printing device registration. A QR code (registered trademark) encoding the URL may be displayed so that it can be read by a camera such as a smartphone. Alternatively, the printing unit 304 may be instructed to print the URL and QR code, which may then be printed out on paper.

[0049] The user accesses the URL using the web browser of the user terminal 103. FIG. 6 shows an example of the website interface when the user accesses the URL using the web browser 323 of the user terminal 103. When the user accesses the URL, the authentication and authorization service 313 requests the user to log in to the website. After the user logs in by entering a login account for the website, a user interface is then displayed requesting approval for the registration of the printing device 101.

[0050] The printing device 101 periodically accesses the print service 314 to check the approval status of the registration (S504). If the registration is approved in the user interface of FIG. 6, the print service 314 returns to the printing device 101 the client certificate in X509 format issued for the printing device 101 (S505). The print service 314 also issues a client ID defined in OAuth2.0 as credentials proving that the printing device is a registered, legitimate printing device, and returns this to the printing device 101 (S506). The registration approval status confirmation process executed by the printing device 101 starts after S503 and is repeated until the client certificate is successfully obtained, a notification that approval has been canceled is received from the print service 314, or a certain period of time has passed. The print service 314 stores information about the printing device 101, the corresponding client certificate, and the client ID in the printer management 312.

[0051] When the cloud print application 303 sends the client ID to the authentication and authorization service 313 (S507), it can obtain a printer access token that allows access to the print service 314 (S508). The cloud print application 303 stores the obtained client certificate, client ID, and printer access token in the HDD 204. The cloud print application 303 also stores the registration status 404 of the printing device as "registered," and completes the registration process.

[0052] <Creating and Publishing a Printer Object in the Cloud Print Service 102> The creation and publication of a printer object in the cloud print service 102 will be described.

[0053] 7 shows an example of a user interface of a website provided by the print service 314 for managing printer objects. A printer object is an object that can be referenced from the print service client 324 and can be specified as a print destination. A real printer object is a printer object that is associated one-to-one with a registered physical printing device, and a virtual printer object is a printer object that is associated one-to-N with multiple printing devices.

[0054] For example, it has a user interface 701 for managing a list of created printer objects. When the administrator selects to add a real printer object in 701, an add real printer object screen 702 is displayed. On the add real printer object screen 702, it is possible to select one of the registered printers to be made public to the user terminal 103 as a printer object, as a printer to associate with the printer object. In addition, users and user groups to which the real printer object is to be made public are selected. The user group "Everybody" indicates that anyone can use the real printer object.

[0055] If the administrator selects to add a virtual printer object in 701, an add virtual printer object screen 703 is displayed. On the add virtual printer object screen 703, the name of the virtual printer object to be made public can be set. In addition, a comment can be registered as a hint when the user selects a printer object when printing. In addition, multiple printers can be selected from registered printers as printers to be associated with the printer object. In addition, users and user groups to whom usage is permitted can be selected as the destinations to which the real printer object will be made public. In 703 in FIG. 7, it can be seen that three printing devices 101, 107, and 108 are associated with virtual printer 003.

[0056] The printing device associated with the printer object is notified of the type of printer object (real printer object or virtual printer object) and the name of the printer object at the time of publication. For example, the printing device 101 may display the notified information on the local UI 301 so that a user who wants to use the printing device 101 knows which printer object to select when performing a print operation from a user terminal.

[0057] <Authentication settings for Cloud Print Service 102> Screen 704 in Figure 7 is an example of a user interface provided by the print service 314 for the administrator to set optional user authentication functions. When the administrator enables the setting of 705, the authentication and authorization service 313 accepts a user authentication request using a card ID from a registered printing device. When the administrator enables the setting of 706, a user authentication request using only an account name (no password required) is accepted from a registered printing device. When the settings of 705 or 706 are changed, the print service 314 notifies the registered printing device 101 of the setting change.

[0058] <Printing flow from the user terminal 103> 8, the printing flow from the user terminal 103 will be described. When the printing device 101 is started, it connects to the print service 314.

[0059] The print service client 324 receives input of user authentication information for accessing the cloud print service 102 from the user (S802). The user authentication information is a user account name (e.g., alice@cloud.com) and password managed by the user management 311. The print service client 324 sends the user authentication information to the authentication and authorization service 313 and receives authorization to access the print service 314 (S803). Furthermore, the print service client 324 accesses the print service 314 and obtains a list of printer objects available to the authorized user (S804). The list of printer objects can be referenced from the application 322 or the web browser 323 (S805).

[0060] The user selects a desired printer object from a list of printer objects on the UI of the user terminal 103 and issues a print instruction to print a document or image displayed using the application 322, web browser 323, or the like (S806). The application 322 or web browser 323 transmits the document instructed to be printed to the print service client 324 (S807). The print service client 324 converts the document or image data received from the application 322 or web browser 323 into print data in a format that can be processed by the cloud print service 102. Furthermore, the print service client 324 generates data called a print job by adding job attributes such as a user account, user name, and document name to the print data and sends the data to the print service 314 (S808).

[0061] The user account is the user account in the cloud print service 102 used to obtain the list of printer objects. The user name is the user name of the user of the user terminal 103; for example, a personal computer can obtain the currently logged-in user name from the operating system 321. An example of information included in a print job is shown in Table 5 below.

[0062] [Table 5]

[0063] The print service 314 temporarily stores print jobs received from the user terminal 103 in a printer queue. Print data sent from the user terminal 103 specifying a real printer object is stored in a real printer queue 315. Print data sent from the user terminal 103 specifying a virtual printer object is stored in a virtual printer queue 316. The printing device associated with the printer object specified at the time of printing is notified that the job has been stored in the printer queue (S809).

[0064] <How to get a job list from Cloud Print Service 102> The cloud print service 102 provides a printing device with multiple protocols for acquiring a list of print jobs from each of the real printer queue and the virtual printer queue. The following describes the multiple protocols and flows for acquiring the list of print jobs provided.

[0065] The cloud print service 102 verifies the printer access token to confirm that the request to obtain a job list is from a printing device associated with the real printer queue. Note that when the cloud print service 102 communicates with the real printer queue, it does not need to verify a user access token, which will be described later. When a print job is submitted to the real printer queue, the cloud print service 102 immediately notifies the printing device associated with the real printer queue that the print job has been submitted. Upon receiving the notification, the printing device may acquire the print job from the cloud print service 102 and perform immediate printing without receiving a user instruction, or may acquire the print job and perform printing after receiving a print instruction from the user via the local UI of the printing device.

[0066] In the former case, printing is performed in an unattended state where no user is present in front of the printing device, so a user identifier is not used to access the actual printer queue. In the latter case, where printing is not performed immediately but a print instruction from the user is awaited, multiple print jobs are held in the actual printer queue. For convenience, the cloud print service 102 provides a function for filtering a list of jobs to be returned from multiple print jobs held in the actual printer queue using a user identifier.

[0067] On the other hand, in a use case using a virtual printer queue, the user selects one of multiple printing devices and issues a print instruction, so security is enhanced by checking the user access token in addition to the printer access token. By checking the user access token, the cloud print service 102 can perform access control so that only the user who submitted the print job can obtain his or her own print job. The user access token is an access ticket to the print service 314 that the authentication and authorization service 313 issues when it authenticates a user using user authentication information and grants the authenticated user access to the print service 314. The user authentication information provided by the authentication and authorization service 313 for user authentication is a user account and password. However, when a printing device requests user authentication, authentication based on a card ID or authentication based on only the user account name is provided depending on the settings. The present invention assumes two access tokens: a user access token indicating successful user authentication to the cloud print service 102, and a printer access token indicating successful registration of the printing device.

[0068] By combining the above-mentioned methods, the printing device 101 communicates with the cloud print service 102 using one of the print job acquisition methods, Protocol 1 to Protocol 5, which will be described later. Each protocol will be described in detail below, along with the operation of the printing device 101.

[0069] <Protocol 1: Obtain a list of all print jobs from the real printer queue> The operation flow and communication protocol for acquiring a list of all print jobs from the real printer queue will be described with reference to the screen flow diagram of FIG. 9 and the sequence diagram of FIG.

[0070] The user selects the cloud print application 303 from the menu screen 910 displayed by the local UI 301 (S1001). The cloud print application 303 sends a printer access token to the print service 314 to request a list of print jobs (S1002). The print service 314 verifies that the printer access token is an access token issued to the printing device 101. Then, it obtains a list of all jobs associated with the printing device 101 from the real printer queue and returns the list to the cloud print application 303 (S1003). The cloud print application 303 displays a screen 911 including the obtained list of print jobs. The user selects a desired print job on the screen 911 and issues a print instruction (S1004). The cloud print application 303 sends the printer access token to the print service 314, obtains the selected print job, and executes printing.

[0071] The cloud print application 303 may immediately acquire a print job and execute printing without receiving instructions from a user, upon receiving a job submission notification from the cloud print service 102. In this case, upon receiving the job submission notification, the cloud print application 303 transmits a printer access token to the print service 314, acquires a list of print jobs and the print job, and executes printing.

[0072] <Protocol 2: Obtaining a list of print jobs for a specific user from the real printer queue> The operation flow and communication protocol for acquiring a list of print jobs for a specific user from a real printer queue will be described with reference to the screen flow diagram of FIG. 9 and the sequence diagram of FIG.

[0073] With the login screen 920 displayed, the user performs a login operation to log in to the printing apparatus (S1010). The user selects the cloud print application 303 from the menu screen 921 displayed by the local UI 301 (S1011).

[0074] The cloud print application 303 references the login context (Table 2) and acquires the user identifier of the logged-in user. The user identifier is the login username of the printing device 101 or an account of the cloud print service 102. The cloud print application 303 sends the printer access token and the user identifier to the print service 314 to request a list of print jobs associated with the user identifier (S1012).

[0075] The print service 314 verifies that the printer access token belongs to the printing device 101. It obtains a list of all jobs associated with the printing device 101 from the real printer queue. Furthermore, the print service 314 compares the received user identifier with the job attributes (account and user name of the cloud print service 102), generates a list of matching print jobs, and returns this to the cloud print application 303 (S1013). The cloud print application 303 displays a screen 922 containing the obtained list of print jobs. For example, if the logged-in user is "Alice," only print jobs for "Alice" are displayed on the screen 922.

[0076] <Protocol 3: Obtaining a list of print jobs from a virtual printer queue using a user account and password> The operation flow and communication protocol for obtaining a list of print jobs from a virtual printer queue using a user account and password will be described with reference to the screen flow diagram of FIG. 9 and the sequence diagram of FIG.

[0077] The user selects the cloud print application 303 from a menu (930) displayed on the local UI 301 (S1101). The cloud print application 303 displays a screen 931 for entering an account and password for accessing the cloud print service 102. The screen 931 may be configured using a WebView. If the screen 931 is configured using a WebView, a URL provided by the authentication and authorization service 313 is accessed, and HTML for entering the user account and password is obtained and displayed on the screen. When the user account and password are entered (S1102), the cloud print application 303 sends the user account and password to the authentication and authorization service 313 (S1103). The authentication and authorization service 313 performs user authentication. If the user authentication is successful, a user access token and a refresh token are issued and returned to the cloud print application 303 (S1104). A refresh token is used to reacquire an access token, and the refresh token is usually set to have a longer expiration date than the access token. If the cloud print application 303 successfully obtains the user access token, it closes the screen 931. The cloud print application 303 sends the printer access token and the user access token to the print service 314 (S1105) and requests a list of print jobs. The print service 314 verifies that the printer access token belongs to the printing device 101. It then verifies the user access token and obtains the user account associated with the user access token. The user account may be included in the user access token, or the access token may be used to obtain the user account from the authentication and authorization service 313. The print service 314 accesses the virtual printer queue associated with the printing device 101 and obtains a list of print jobs associated with the user account. The print service 314 returns the obtained list of print jobs to the cloud print application 303 (S1106).The cloud print application 303 displays a screen including a list of the acquired print jobs on the local UI, and displays a screen 932 that allows the user to select a print job that the user wants to print out.

[0078] Screen flow 904 shows a screen flow when the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled in Protocol 3. After logging in on login screen 940, the user selects the cloud print application 303 from menu screen 941. The cloud print application 303 may display input screen 942 with an option to memorize the user account and password. If the user selects memorization, the user account and password are stored in association with the user information currently logged in to the printing device. After memorization, there is no need to display the user account / password input screen 942, and the user can use cloud print using the operation flow of screen flow 902. In addition, by storing the access token and refresh token acquired in S1104 in association with the user information currently logged in to the printing device, the display of the user account / password input screen 942 may be skipped while the token is valid.

[0079] <Protocol 4: Obtaining a list of print jobs from the virtual printer queue using the card ID> The operation flow and communication protocol for obtaining a list of print jobs from a virtual printer queue using a card ID will be described with reference to the screen flow diagram in Fig. 9 and the sequence diagram in Fig. 11. This protocol is available when setting 705 "Enable IC card authentication from registered printing devices" is enabled.

[0080] With the login screen 920 displayed, the user logs in to the printing device using an IC card (S1110). The user selects the cloud print application 303 from the menu screen 921 displayed by the local UI 301 (S1111). When the cloud print application 303 detects that the cloud print application 303 has been selected from the menu on the local UI 301, it references the login context (Table 2) and obtains the card ID of the IC card used for login. The cloud print application 303 sends the card ID to the authentication and authorization service 313 (S1112). To verify that the data was sent from a registered printing device, the cloud print application 303 also sends a digital signature and printer access token along with the card ID. The digital signature can be generated using the private key generated when the printer was registered. The digital signature may be added only to the card ID to be sent, or to the entire data to be sent. The authentication and authorization service 313 verifies that the received printer access token and digital signature belong to the registered printing device. Furthermore, the authentication and authorization service 313 performs user authentication using the received card ID. If user authentication is successful, the cloud print application 303 returns a user access token and a refresh token (S1113). If the cloud print application 303 has successfully acquired the user access token, it sends the printer access token and the user access token to the print service 314 and requests a list of print jobs (S1114). The print service 314 verifies that the printer access token belongs to the printing device 101. It also verifies the user access token and acquires the user account associated with the user access token. The print service 314 accesses the virtual printer queue associated with the printing device 101 and acquires a list of print jobs associated with the user account. The print service 314 returns the acquired list of print jobs to the cloud print application 303 (S1115). The cloud print application 303 displays the acquired list of print jobs on the local UI and displays a screen 922 that allows the user to select a print job to print out.

[0081] Note that printing using a virtual printer queue requires the user to perform user authentication with the cloud print service 102, which is a time-consuming process for the user. However, by using Protocol 4, the user can simply perform IC card authentication with the printing device 101 and also be authenticated with the cloud print service 102, making it more convenient than Protocols 3 and 5.

[0082] <Protocol 5: Obtaining a list of print jobs from a virtual printer queue using a user account> The operational flow and communication protocol for obtaining a list of print jobs from a virtual printer queue using a user account will be described with reference to the screen flow diagram in Fig. 9 and the sequence diagram in Fig. 11. This protocol is available when the setting 706 "Enable authentication of account names only from registered printing devices" is enabled. Note that, as mentioned above, the screen 704 is an example, and is not limited to the form of the setting 706.

[0083] With the login screen 920 displayed, the user performs a login operation to log in to the printing apparatus (S1120). The user selects the cloud print application 303 from the menu screen 921 displayed by the local UI 301 (S1121).

[0084] When the cloud print application 303 detects that the cloud print application 303 has been selected from the menu screen 921, it references the login context (Table 2) and acquires the user account of the cloud print service 102. The cloud print application 303 transmits the user account to the authentication and authorization service 313 (S1122).

[0085] In addition, a digital signature and printer access token are sent together with the user account to prove that the data was sent from a registered printing device. The digital signature may be added only to the sending user account, or to the entire transmission data. The authentication and authorization service 313 verifies that the received printer access token and digital signature belong to a registered printing device. Furthermore, it performs user authentication using the received user account. If user authentication is successful, it returns a user access token and a refresh token (S1123). If the cloud print application 303 successfully acquires the user access token, it sends the printer access token and the user access token to the print service 314 and requests a list of print jobs (S1124). The print service 314 verifies that the printer access token belongs to the printing device 101. It also verifies the user access token and acquires the user account associated with the user access token. The print service 314 accesses the virtual printer queue associated with the printing device 101 and acquires a list of print jobs associated with the user account. The print service 314 returns the list of acquired print jobs to the cloud print application 303 (S1125). The cloud print application 303 displays the list of acquired print jobs on the local UI, and displays a screen 922 that allows the user to select a print job to print out.

[0086] <Protocol selection flow> As explained above, any of the above protocols 1 to 5 can be used, depending on the combination of the printer queue type (real printer queue / virtual printer queue), cloud print service settings, and whether the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled or disabled.

[0087] However, it is troublesome for the user to take the above combinations into consideration and set one of Protocols 1 to 5. Furthermore, if the user makes a mistake in the setting, there is a risk that the print job will not be acquired correctly.

[0088] Therefore, a printing device embodying the present invention acquires the necessary setting information without bothering the user, and selects an appropriate protocol from Protocol 1 to Protocol 5. The flow for selecting a protocol will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0089] The flow for selecting a protocol is executed by the cloud print application 303 executed by the CPU 201.

[0090] In order to select a protocol, the cloud print application 303 sends a printer access token to the cloud print service 102 and acquires the type of printer queue (real printer queue / virtual printer queue) associated with the printing device 101 (S1201). Furthermore, the cloud print application 303 acquires the user authentication settings (705 and 706) of the cloud print service from the cloud print service 102 (S1202). Furthermore, the cloud print application 303 acquires the user authentication settings of the printing device itself from the user authentication unit 305 (S1203).

[0091] The cloud print application 303 temporarily stores the acquired information in the RAM 203 or HDD 204 and refers to it when selecting a protocol. Table 6 shows an example of temporarily stored information that the cloud print application 303 uses to determine the protocol.

[0092] [Table 6]

[0093] The cloud print application 303 starts a determination to select one of protocols 1 to 5 based on the acquired information (S1204). The cloud print application 303 determines whether the type of printer queue associated with the printing device 101 is a real printer queue or a virtual printer queue (S1205).

[0094] If it is associated with a real printer queue, it next determines whether the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled or disabled (S1206). If the user authentication function of the printing device is disabled, the user currently using the printing device cannot be identified, so protocol 1 is selected (S1207). If the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled, the login context can be referenced to identify the user currently using the printing device, so protocol 2 is selected (S1208).

[0095] If it is associated with a virtual printer queue, it is next determined whether the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled or disabled (S1209). If the user authentication function of the printing device is disabled, the user currently using the printing device cannot be identified. However, to identify the user's jobs saved in the virtual printer queue, a user interface is displayed to prompt the user to enter the user account and password. For this reason, protocol 3 is selected (S1210).

[0096] If the user authentication function of the printing device is enabled, it is next determined whether the IC card authentication function is enabled for both the printing device 101 and the cloud print service 102 (S1211). The enablement of the IC card authentication function of the printing device 101 is confirmed by checking the setting on the screen 402, and the enablement of the IC card authentication function of the cloud print service 102 is confirmed by checking the setting on the screen 706. If the IC card authentication function is enabled in both, protocol 4 is selected (S1212). If the IC card authentication function is disabled in both or one of the printing device 101 and the cloud print service 102, it is determined whether the cloud print service 102 has a function for authentication based on user account name only enabled (S1213). If the function for authentication based on user account name only enabled, protocol 5 is selected (S1214). If the function for authentication based on user account name only disabled, protocol 3 is selected (S1210).

[0097] The protocol determination is performed every time the cloud print application 303 is selected from the menu screen displayed by the local UI 301. Alternatively, the determination may be performed only once when the printing device is started, and the determination result may be temporarily stored in the RAM 203 or HDD 204 and referenced. Also, upon receiving a notification that the settings have been changed (S1215), the information shown in Table 6 may be updated with the new settings and the protocol determination may be performed again. Also, the protocol determination process may be performed upon receiving a notification from the print service 314 that a job has been stored in the printer queue.

[0098] <Behavior when changing a printer object> For example, an administrator may change the printer object to which the printing device 101 belongs from a real printer object to a virtual printer object using the UI of the print service 314 shown in Fig. 7. In this case, the print service 314 notifies the printing device 101 of a change in the printer queue type. The cloud print application 303 detects and recognizes the change in the printer queue type (S1215), updates the temporarily stored information (Table 6) with the new information, and performs protocol determination again. There may also be a case where a virtual printer object is changed to a real printer object, but there is no difference in the execution of the processing of S1215.

[0099] <When belonging to both a real printer object and a virtual printer object> Also, a case can be considered in which an administrator associates a printer object belonging to the printing device 101 with both a real printer object and a virtual printer object using the UI of the print service 314 shown in FIG. 7. In this case, the administrator may select either protocol 1 or protocol 2, which is a method for retrieving jobs from a real printer queue, or one of protocols 3 to 5, which is a method for retrieving jobs from a virtual printer queue, and obtain a list of jobs from both the real printer queue and the virtual printer queue. Furthermore, the printing device 101 can receive notification from the print service 314 that a job has been stored in a printer queue and determine in which real printer queue or virtual printer queue the print job is stored. For this reason, the printing device 101 may access only the queue in which the print job is stored.

[0100] As described above, the printing device of the present invention acquires the cloud printer queue type, the cloud user authentication settings, and the printing device authentication settings, and determines the appropriate job acquisition method and acquisition protocol. This allows the print data to be acquired using the appropriate protocol without requiring the user to select a protocol for acquiring print data from the cloud print service. This prevents the problem of being unable to acquire print data from the cloud print service if the user makes a mistake in the settings.

[0101] Other Examples In the first embodiment, a determination method based on three pieces of information was shown: printer queue information, authentication settings of the cloud print service 102, and authentication settings of the printing device 101. However, the number of pieces of information is not limited to three. For example, the protocol may be determined based only on printer queue information and authentication settings of the printing device 101. In that case, protocols 3 to 5 may be determined in accordance with the settings of protocols 3 to 5 that have been set in advance. Also, more than three pieces of information may be acquired.

[0102] The present invention can also be realized by executing the following process: software (programs) that realize the functions of the above-described embodiments are supplied to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or device reads and executes the programs. [Explanation of symbols]

[0103] 101 Printing device 102 Print Service 103 User terminal 301 Local UI of Printing Device 101 302 Remote UI of printing device 101 303 Cloud Print Application for Printing Device 101 304 Printing unit of printing device 101 305 User authentication unit of printing device 101

Claims

1. A server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to a plurality of printing devices, and provides the print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the print jobs stored in the second printer queue to printing devices, a providing means for providing a print job stored in the first printer queue to the printing device that requests the print job by using a token of the printing device issued by an authentication / authorization service to permit access to the cloud print service; A server system characterized in that when the printing device acquires a print job that has been instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service, out of multiple print jobs stored in the second printer queue of the cloud print service, the token used to acquire the print job stored in the first printer queue is also used.

2. A server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to a plurality of printing devices, and provides the print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the print jobs stored in the second printer queue to printing devices, a receiving means for receiving a token issued by an authentication / authorization service for the printing device to permit access to the cloud print service, the token being transmitted from the printing device; a providing unit that provides a print job that has been sent by a user to the cloud print service so that the print job can be printed by the one printing device and that is stored in the first printer queue of the cloud print service; the providing unit is capable of providing a print job that is sent by a user to the cloud print service so that it can be printed on any one of the plurality of printing devices and that is stored in the second printer queue of the cloud print service and that is instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service; A server system characterized by using the token to provide print jobs sent by a user to the cloud print service so that they can be printed on the single printing device, both print jobs stored in the first printer queue and print jobs instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service.

3. 3. The server system according to claim 1, wherein the authentication and authorization service is a service that performs authentication and authorization.

4. A control method for controlling a server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to a plurality of printing devices, and provides print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the second printer queue to printing devices, comprising: a providing step of providing the print job stored in the first printer queue to the printing device that requests the print job by using a token of the printing device issued by an authentication / authorization service to permit access to the cloud print service; A control method characterized in that when the printing device acquires a print job that has been instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service, out of multiple print jobs stored in the second printer queue of the cloud print service, the token used to acquire the print job stored in the first printer queue is also used.

5. A control method for a server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to a plurality of printing devices, and provides print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the second printer queue to printing devices, comprising: a receiving step of receiving a token issued by an authentication / authorization service for the printing device to permit access to the cloud print service, the token being transmitted by the printing device; providing a print job that has been submitted by a user to the cloud print service and that is stored in the first printer queue of the cloud print service so that it can be printed by the one printing device; In the providing step, it is possible to provide a print job that is sent by a user to the cloud print service so that it can be printed by any one of the plurality of printing devices and saved in the second printer queue of the cloud print service, and that is instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service; A control method characterized by using the token to provide print jobs sent by a user to the cloud print service so that they can be printed on the single printing device, both print jobs stored in the first printer queue and print jobs instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service.

6. 6. A program for causing an information processing device to execute the control method according to claim 4.

7. A server system as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that there are multiple printing devices that can acquire multiple print jobs stored in the second printer queue, and the server system provides a print job in response to a print job request from one of the printing devices.

8. A system including a printing device; and a server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to multiple printing devices, and provides the print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the second printer queue to the printing device, a providing means for providing a print job stored in the first printer queue to the printing device that requests a print job by using a token of the printing device issued by an authentication / authorization service to permit access to the cloud print service, A system characterized in that when the printing device acquires a print job that has been instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service, out of multiple print jobs stored in the second printer queue of the cloud print service, the token used to acquire the print job stored in the first printer queue is also used.

9. A system including a printing device; and a server system having a cloud print service that uses a first printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to one printing device and a second printer queue that stores print jobs that can be provided to multiple printing devices, and provides the print jobs stored in the first printer queue and the second printer queue to the printing device, a receiving means for receiving a token issued by an authentication / authorization service for the printing device to permit access to the cloud print service, the token being transmitted from the printing device; a providing unit that provides a print job that has been sent by a user to the cloud print service so that the print job can be printed by the one printing device and that is stored in the first printer queue of the cloud print service; the providing unit is capable of providing a print job that is sent by a user to the cloud print service so that it can be printed on any one of the plurality of printing devices and that is stored in the second printer queue of the cloud print service and that is instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service; A system characterized by using the token to provide print jobs sent by a user to the cloud print service so that they can be printed on the single printing device, both print jobs stored in the first printer queue and print jobs instructed to be printed by a user authenticated by the authentication / authorization service.

10. The system described in claim 8 or 9, characterized in that there are multiple printing devices that can acquire multiple print jobs stored in the second printer queue, and the system provides a print job in response to a print job request from one of the printing devices.

11. 11. The system according to claim 8, further comprising a printing unit that prints the print job provided by the providing unit.

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