Information processing device and control method, control program

Abstract

The present invention provides an information processing device that allows a print extension application to perform a forbidden text determination using forbidden text information 340 at the time when forbidden text rules are required. [Solution] The information processing device includes a prohibition information presence / absence determination means 301 that determines the presence or absence of prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307, a prohibition information acquisition means 342 that acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102 via the device connection module 308, a prohibition information storage means 341 that stores the acquired prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307, and a prohibition determination means 343 that performs a prohibition determination using the prohibition information 340 stored in the application data area 307.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method for an information processing apparatus, and a control program. For example, it relates to a system capable of processing print settings and the like.

Background Art

[0002] As software for controlling an image forming apparatus, there is a configuration in which a printer driver installed in a host computer is used to perform printing on an image forming apparatus connected to the host computer. An operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS), which is basic software, is installed in the host computer, and the printer driver is configured according to the specifications defined by the OS. By providing a printer driver that conforms to the OS specifications, a vendor that provides an image forming apparatus can obtain a means for giving a print instruction to the image forming apparatus.

[0003] However, in recent years, the OS side has prepared a general-purpose printer driver and provides a means for giving a print instruction using an industry-standard protocol such as IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).

[0004] Conventionally, for a printer driver prepared by a printer vendor, prohibited information could be included inside the printer driver.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] To build a platform environment that is compatible with mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, there is a need to reduce the parts of a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver that depend on peripheral devices. In such a platform environment, there is a problem in that it is difficult to include processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device within a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver. Furthermore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to include the processing and data necessary for hyphenation and other rules in printer drivers within a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver.

[0007] This invention has been made in view of at least one of the above-mentioned problems. One objective of this embodiment is to provide a mechanism for reducing processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device from within a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver.

[0008] Another objective of this embodiment is to provide a platform environment mechanism that can also be used with mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device that generates print data by executing a printer driver based on instructions from an application running on an operating system, A means for resolving conflicts or inconsistencies in print settings, based on conflict resolution information to resolve conflicts in settings that should be input to the printer driver under the control of the application that processes print settings, An input means for inputting the print settings resolved by the aforementioned resolution means to the printer driver from the application, It is characterized by being an information processing device equipped with the following features. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for reducing processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device from within a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for a platform environment that is also compatible with mobile devices. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the system configuration. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of a client computer's hardware configuration. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of a client computer's software configuration. [Figure 4] This flowchart shows an example of processing by a general-purpose printer driver, etc., according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] This flowchart shows an example of the print setting process for a general-purpose printer driver according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] This flowchart shows an example of the processing of an extended printing application according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] This flowchart shows an example of the processing of an extended printing application according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] This flowchart shows an example of the processing of an extended printing application according to the second embodiment. [Figure 9] This flowchart shows an example of the processing of an extended printing application according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] This is a schematic diagram showing an example of the UI for a touch application and a general-purpose printer driver. [Figure 11] This is a schematic diagram showing an example of the extended print settings UI. [Figure 12] This figure shows an example of prohibited information. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings and tables.

[0014] (First Embodiment) First, the configuration of the system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram representing the outline of the system configuration according to this embodiment. The system according to this embodiment includes a client computer 101, a server 104, and a printer 102. The client computer 101 is an example of an information processing device. The server 104 distributes data to the client computer 101. The printer 102 receives print data in the form of a Page Description Language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) and performs printing. Each device can communicate with each other through a network 103 including a Wide Area Network (WAN). Note that the printer 102 may be a single-function printer having only a printing function, or may be a multi-function printer having a printing function, a scanning function, and a copying function. Also, a plurality of client computers 101 may be connected to the network 103 instead of only one.

[0015] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the client computer 101 in Figure 1. In the client computer 101, the central processing unit (CPU 201) controls each device connected to the system bus according to the program stored in the random access memory (RAM 202). The client computer 101 is assumed to have at least one CPU 201. In addition, the CPU 201 executes processing based on the program stored in the external memory 209, thereby realizing the software configuration of the client computer 101 and the processing of each step in the flowchart described later. The RAM 202 functions as the main memory, work area, etc., of the CPU 201. The read-only memory (ROM) 203 contains various programs such as the boot program and the basic input / output system (BIOS). The operation input device interface (I / F) 204 is an interface that controls the operation input devices 205, such as a keyboard, pointing device (mouse), and touch UI (User Interface). The operation input devices 205 function as reception units that accept operations from the user. The display I / F 206 controls the screen display on the display 207. The display 207 functions as a display unit that shows information to the user. The external memory I / F 208 controls access to external memory 209, such as a hard disk (HD) or solid state disk (SSD). The external memory 209 stores the operating system program (OS) 210, as well as multiple applications 212 corresponding to the application execution environment 213, touch panel, and desktop, and various files. It functions as a storage medium that the client computer 101 can read. The network I / F 215 is connected to the printer 102 via the network 103 and performs communication control processing. The server 104 also contains the same hardware configuration as the client computer 101 and operates similarly. The multiple applications 212 in Figure 2 include at least the extended printing application 300, desktop application 302, and touch application 301 shown in Figure 3. The printer driver 211 includes a general-purpose printer driver 320.The instruction sequences of these multiple programs are read into the RAM 202 and executed under the control of the CPU 201, thus triggering the processes of the flowchart described in the figures below.

[0016] Next, FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the printing system of this embodiment. The user executes a printing process from a desktop application or a touch application. The printing process is executed by sequentially performing three processes: selection of a printer, creation of print settings, and conversion of drawing data.

[0017] In this embodiment, the software on the client computer 101 consists of various application applications such as the desktop application 302, the touch application 301, and the print extension application 300. These software programs run on the OS 210. The various configurations are described below. The OS 210 may include the print manager 331, the I / O monitor 332, the XMS spool file 330, and the registry 333. The general-purpose print management unit 321 manages the control of various modules within the general-purpose print driver, which will be described later, and the transfer of data. It also generates and modifies print setting information. The registry 323 is an area where the OS 210 settings are described. The print manager 331 manages the schedule of print processing. The I / O monitor 332 communicates with the printer 102. The general-purpose print setting UI 322 is a UI for setting and modifying print settings belonging to the general-purpose printer driver. The GDI-to-XPS conversion processing unit 328 converts the drawing data, which is the drawing data when printed from the desktop application 302, into XPS, generates an XPS spool file 330, and passes it to the spooler in the OS 3210. The rendering processing unit 329 renders the XPS spool file 330 and converts it into PDL. The touch application 301 is selected by the user and installed on the client computer 101 through an application distribution system published on the internet. The print extension application 300 is a type of touch application 301, which the OS 210 obtains from the application distribution system via the internet and installs on the client computer 101. The application data area 307 is an area for storing unique data used by each application. However, it may be configured so that it cannot be accessed by other applications. The prohibition information presence / absence determination module 301 determines whether the prohibition information 340 of the printer 102 associated with the print extension application is stored in the application data area 307. The hyphenation information storage module 342 stores the hyphenation information 340 of the printer 102 associated with the print extension application in the application data area 307.As shown in Figure 3, the printer 102 can be connected to multiple different models, in which case prohibition information 340 is stored in the application data area 307 for each printer. The tile application unit 303 displays a tile-format UI in response to a user operation such as launching the print extension application 300. The extended print setting UI unit 306 displays a UI for extended print settings in response to receiving an extended print setting event issued by the OS 210. The extended print setting UI unit 306 generates a UI for extended print settings based on the print setting information passed from the OS 210 and the print capability information obtained by independently communicating with the printer 102. After changing the values ​​of the print setting information in response to user input, the extended print setting UI unit 306 returns the print setting information to the OS 210. The print-start application 305 provides a function called Workflow (WF) that executes print-related processing in response to predetermined user operations. Furthermore, the print-start application 305 is a background task that starts the editing & preview function unit 306, which is a foreground task, when a print event is issued from the OS 210. The print-start application 305 requests the OS 210 to start the editing & preview function unit 306. The print-start application 305 also exchanges print setting information with the editing & preview function unit 306 via the application data area 307. The editing & preview function unit 306 acquires print setting information and changes the settings. In this embodiment, the editing & preview function unit 306 also acquires and saves hyphenation information 340 and executes hyphenation judgment processing. Figure 12 is an example of hyphenation information 340, which is a text file that describes the definition of the print function and invalid combinations of functions.

[0018] The hyphenation information acquisition module 342 acquires information such as print capability information and hyphenation information 340 from the target printer or cloud server via the device connection module 308 and the cloud connection module 309. The device connection module is a module that communicates with the printer 102. The cloud connection module is a module that communicates with a predetermined cloud server 105. The hyphenation determination module 343 uses the hyphenation information 340 to determine whether or not there is a conflict in the print settings in response to the input print settings.

[0019] Next, we will explain, using Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, how a print extension application can perform print setting prohibition detection, which is not possible with general-purpose printer drivers. CPU201 is an example of a storage control means.

[0020] Each application and module is stored in external memory 209, loaded into RAM 202 as needed, and executed by CPU 201 on client computer 101. The flow shown in Figure 4 begins when a print settings request event is generated from a predetermined application. The predetermined application includes, but is not limited to, spreadsheet, document editing, and paint applications. It may also be included in application 212 in Figure 2. The application that triggers the print settings request event may be either a touch application 301 or a desktop application 302.

[0021] In this embodiment, the explanation will be given using the touch application 301 (Figure 10). Figure 10(A) is a schematic diagram of the touch application 321 being launched. When the menu icon button 1000 is tapped, the touch application 301 displays a list of menu options. Next, when the print item 1001, which is a menu option, is selected by the user, the touch application 301 requests the OS 210 to display the UI of the general-purpose printer driver and displays the general-purpose print setting UI 327. Figure 10(B) is the general-purpose print setting UI 322 of the general-purpose printer driver generated by the OS 210. The general-purpose print setting UI 322 consists of a print setting unit 1020 and an event generation unit 1030. The print setting unit 1020 displays a list of simplified print settings. 1021 is the name of the selected print queue, and 1022 is an example of the set print settings. The general-purpose print setting UI 322 accepts user input after display. This process corresponds to S403. The print button 1032 of the print event generation unit 1030 is pressed (S406). This generates a print event. The print event triggers the process in S407. This will be explained in detail according to the following flow chart.

[0022] The flow in Figure 4 begins when the general-purpose printer driver 322 receives user instructions, for example, through an application. Specifically, S401 begins when, for example, print item 1001, which is a menu option, is selected. The flow in Figure 4 may be controlled by the general-purpose printer driver 322. User instructions may also be input to the general-purpose printer driver from OS201.

[0023] First, in step S401, the general-purpose print settings UI 327 is launched. Next, in step S402, the general-purpose print settings management unit 321 of the general-purpose printer driver 322 initializes the print settings information. Next, in step S403, the general-purpose printer driver 322 accepts print settings input from the user via the general-purpose print settings UI 322 of the general-purpose printer driver. Next, in step S404, if the general-purpose printer driver 322 detects that the "Other Settings" button 1031 has been pressed, in step S405, the extended print settings processing by the print extension application 300 is executed. This process plays an important role and will be described later in Figure 5. Next, after returning from the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension application 300 to the general-purpose print settings UI 322 of the general-purpose printer driver 322, the process proceeds to step S406. In step S406, if the general-purpose printer driver detects that the "Print" button has been pressed, in step S407, the print settings information is passed to the OS 210, and the processing of the print settings request is terminated.

[0024] Next, the operation of the extended print settings process by the print extension application 300 will be explained using Figure 5.

[0025] The flow in Figure 5 begins in step S501 when the user presses the "Other Settings" button 1031, prompting the general-purpose printer driver 322 to request the OS 210 to launch the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension application 300. The flow in Figure 5 may also be triggered under the control of the print extension application 300, which is an example of a control program.

[0026] First, in step S501, the extended print settings UI306 of the print extension application 300 is launched by the OS210. An example of the extended print settings UI306 is shown in the schematic diagram in Figure 11. 1101 is an example of the extended print settings UI306, 1102 and 1103 display various printing functions, and options and on / off settings are switched by toggles 1104 and 1105. 1106 is the "OK" button to return from the extended print settings UI306 to the general-purpose print settings UI322. Next, in step S502, the print extension application 300 receives print setting information set by the general-purpose printer driver from the OS210. Next, in step S503, the extended print settings UI306 of the print extension application 300 uses the prohibited information presence / absence determination module 301 to determine whether or not prohibited information 340 exists in the application data area 307. If the hyphenation information 340 is not present in the application data area 307, in step S504, the device connection module 308 of the print extension application 300 obtains the hyphenation information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S505, the hyphenation information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 saves the hyphenation information 340 obtained via the hyphenation information acquisition module 342 to the application data area 307. Next, in step S506, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 obtains the hyphenation information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Next, in step S507, the extended print setting UI 306 accepts print setting input from the user. Next, in step S508, the extended print setting UI 306 performs a hyphenation judgment process using the hyphenation information 340 on the print setting input via the hyphenation judgment module 343. Next, in step S509, the extended print setting UI 306 branches the process according to the result of the hyphenation judgment process. If a conflict occurs in the print settings, in step S510, the extended print settings UI306 reverts the print settings to their previous state. Then, in step S507, the print extension application 300 accepts print setting input from the user again via the extended print settings UI306.For example, in the schematic diagram of Figure 11, if the user selects "postcard" 1104 for the output paper size 1102 and then attempts to turn on the duplex printing setting 1103 1105, the extended print settings UI 306 uses the hyphenation detection module 343 to perform hyphenation detection. In this example, a conflict has occurred in the print settings, so the extended print settings UI 306 resets the duplex printing setting to its previous state (off) and displays a warning screen 1110. After receiving input from the user via the OK button 1111, it returns to the UI that accepts print setting input. If there is no conflict in the print settings, the process proceeds to step S511. In step S511, the extended print settings UI 306 determines whether the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed. If the print extension application 300 detects in step S511 that the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed, the print setting information is updated in step S512. Next, in step S513, the print extension application 300 passes the print settings information to the OS210, terminates the extended print settings process, and returns to the general print settings UI322.

[0027] Once the print settings in the generic printer driver are finalized, the user executes the print process from the application. When printing from the desktop application 302, the drawing data is sent to the GDItoXPS conversion processing unit 328, and an XPS spool file 330 is created. At this time, the GDItoXPS conversion processing unit 206 calls the generic print management unit 321 and converts the print setting information from the OS's proprietary format to a format for generic printing. (For example, converting from a DEVMODE structure to a PrintTicket.) When printing from the touch application 301, there are two methods: the touch application itself generates the XPS file, or the OS generates the XPS file in response to a command from the touch application, but both methods generate an XPS spool file 330.

[0028] The operation when a print request is received from the touch application 301 will be explained below using Figure 6.

[0029] In the flow shown in Figure 6, a print event is initiated when the print button 1032 is pressed as instructed by the user, and step S601 is started in response to the generation of the XPS spool file 330.

[0030] In step S601, once the XPS spool file 330 is generated, processing is handed over to the OS210, which reads the settings in registry 330. Next, in step S602, the OS210 checks whether the registry 330 is configured to launch the print-start application 305. If the registry 330 is not configured to launch the print-start application 304, the OS210 hands over processing to the generic printer driver 320. Then, it proceeds to the next rendering process in S604. If the registry 330 is configured to launch the print-start application 304, it proceeds to the editing and preview processing of the print extension application 300 in step S603. Details of the processing in step S603 will be described later using Figure 7. S603 is the processing performed by the print extension application 300. Next, in step S604, processing is handed over from the OS210 to the generic printer driver 320. This proceeds to the rendering processing unit 329. In step S604, the rendering processing unit 329 renders the XPS spool file 330 and converts it to a PDL. At this time, the print setting data is also converted from the OS's proprietary print setting information to industry-standard print setting information. Next, in step S605, the process is passed back to the OS 210. The OS 210 reads the settings in the registry 330. In step S606, the OS 210 checks whether the registry 330 is set to launch the print-start application 304. If the registry 330 is not set to launch the print-start application 304, the process proceeds to the next PDL transmission process S609. If the registry 330 is set to launch the print-start application 304, the process proceeds to the print extension application editing & preview process in step S608. Details of the process in step S603 will be described later using Figure 7. In step S609, the general-purpose print management unit passes the PDL data to the print manager 331, which manages the print processing schedule, and print jobs are registered one after another in the queue. When printer 102 is ready to print, it sends the PDL data through the I / O monitor 332 in the order it was registered in the queue.

[0031] Next, we will explain the details of the editing and preview process in the print extension application using Figure 7.

[0032] In the flow shown in Figure 7, step S701 is initiated when OS210 issues a command to start the print extension application 300. Here, OS210 determines whether or not to start the application based on the information in the registry 330, and if it determines that the print-time startup application 304 should be started, it issues a startup command.

[0033] In step S701, the print-start application 304 of the print extension application 300 is started by the OS 210. Next, in step S702, the print-start application receives print setting information from the OS 210. Next, in step S703, the print-start application 304 starts the edit & preview function 305 and passes the print setting information to the edit & preview function 305. Next, in step S704, the edit & preview function 305 determines whether or not there is prohibited text information 340 in the application data area 307 via the prohibited text information presence determination module 301. If there is no prohibited text information 340 in the application data area 307, in step S705, the prohibited text information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibited text information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S706, the prohibited text information storage module 341 saves the acquired prohibited text information 340 to the application data area 307. Next, in step S707, the print extension application 300 retrieves the hyphenation information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Next, in step S708, it accepts print setting input from the user via the UI of the edit & preview function 305. Next, in step S709, the print extension application 300 performs a hyphenation judgment process using the hyphenation information 343 on the print setting input. Next, in step S710, the print extension application 300 branches the process according to the result of the hyphenation judgment process. If a conflict occurs in the print settings, in step S711, the edit & preview function 305 of the print extension application 300 reverts the print settings to their previous state. Then, in step S708, it accepts print setting input from the user again via the UI of the edit & preview function 305. If no conflict occurs in the print settings, it proceeds to step S712. In step S712, the print extension application 300 determines whether the "OK" button 1106 was pressed. If, in step S712, the edit & preview function 305 of the print extension application 300 detects that the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed, the print settings information is updated in step S713.Next, in step S713, the print extension application 300 passes the print settings information to the OS210, terminates the edit & preview function, and returns to the processing flow shown in Figure 6.

[0034] As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension application 300 determines the presence or absence of hyphenation information at the following timings: for example, when the extended print settings UI 306 is launched during print setting request processing, or when the edit & preview function 305 is launched during print request processing. At this timing, the presence or absence of hyphenation information 340 in the application data area 307 is determined. If there is no hyphenation information 340, the hyphenation information 340 is obtained from the printer 102 and saved in the application data area 307. Then, the hyphenation determination process is performed using this information. Therefore, even when printing from a general-purpose printer driver, hyphenation processing specific to the printer vendor and printer is possible.

[0035] (Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the mechanism for determining the presence or absence of hyphenation information 340 and acquiring hyphenation information 340 during the print setting process and the print process, specifically when the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 is launched or when the edit & preview function 305 is launched, was explained.

[0036] In this embodiment, we will describe a mechanism in which the tile application 303, which is another function of the print extension application 300, determines whether or not there is prohibited information 340 in the application data area 307 and retrieves it from the printer 102.

[0037] The specific processing according to this embodiment will be explained with reference to Figure 8. Each application and module is stored in external memory 209, loaded into RAM 202 as needed, and executed by CPU 201 on the client computer 101. Detailed explanations of numbers already described will be omitted.

[0038] The flow in Figure 8 begins at step S901 when the user directly launches the print extension application 300.

[0039] First, in step S801, the tile application function 303 of the print extension application 300 is activated. Next, in step S802, the tile application function 303 of the print extension application 300 determines, via the prohibition information presence determination module 301, whether or not prohibition information 340 exists in the application data area 307 of the print extension application 300. If there is no prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307, in step S803, the prohibition information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S804, the prohibition information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 saves the acquired prohibition information 340 to the application data area 307.

[0040] As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension application 300 can determine the presence or absence of hyphenation information 340 in the application data area 307 and obtain the hyphenation information 340 from the printer 102, even when using the tile application 303. Therefore, when using the tile application 303, it is possible to eliminate the need to separately obtain the hyphenation information 340 from the printer 102 during print setting processing or printing processing. The processing in Figure 8 can update or add hyphenation information 340 in response to launching the print extension application 300, asynchronously or independently of the other processing described in Figure 8 of this embodiment.

[0041] (Third embodiment) In the first embodiment, a mechanism was described in which the print extension application 300 obtains prohibited information 340 from the printer 102.

[0042] This embodiment describes a mechanism for obtaining the prohibited information 340 from a location other than the printer itself. The following explanation will focus on the differences from the previously described embodiment.

[0043] The specific processing according to this embodiment will be explained with reference to Figure 9. Each application and module is stored in external memory 209, loaded into RAM 202 as needed, and executed by CPU 201 on the client computer 101. Detailed explanations of numbers already explained will be omitted. In this embodiment, examples of the extended print settings UI 306 and the edit & preview function 305 are shown, but as shown in the second embodiment, a similar mechanism is possible with the tile application 303. The processing in the general-purpose printer driver 322 before and after performing extended print settings in the print extension application 300 is the same as the processing in steps S401 to S407 shown in Figure 4, so a detailed explanation will be omitted. In the flow of Figure 9, when the user presses the "Other Settings" button 1031, step S901 begins in response to the general-purpose printer driver 322 requesting the OS 210 to start the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension application 300.

[0044] First, in step S901, the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension application is launched by the OS 210. Next, in step S902, the application launched when the print settings UI function is activated receives print setting information from the OS 210. Next, in step S903, the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension application 300 determines whether or not there is prohibited information 340 in the application data area 307 of the print extension application 300 via the prohibited information presence determination module 301. If there is no prohibited information 340 in the application data area 307, in step S904, the prohibited information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibited information 340 from the printer 102. Next, in step S905, the prohibited information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 determines whether or not it succeeded in acquiring the prohibited information 340 from the printer 102. If obtaining the hyphenation information 340 fails, in step S906, the hyphenation information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 obtains the hyphenation information 340 corresponding to the printer 102 from a predetermined cloud server. Then, in step S907, the hyphenation information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 saves the obtained hyphenation information 340 to the application data area 307. Next, in step S908, the print extension application 300 obtains the hyphenation information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Note that the processing in steps S909 to S915 is the same as the processing in steps S507 to S513 shown in Figure 5, so a detailed explanation is omitted.

[0045] As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension application 300 can obtain the hyphenation information 340 from a location other than the printer itself. Therefore, even when the printer itself does not have the hyphenation information 340, such as when the printer is an older model or an inexpensive version, the hyphenation information 340 can be obtained and hyphenation processing can be performed.

[0046] In this embodiment, the following was described: An information processing device that executes a printer driver and generates print data based on instructions from an application running on an operating system was described. An example of an information processing device is a client computer 101.

[0047] An example of an application that processes print settings is the extended print application 300. For example, it was shown that under the control of 301, conflicts or inconsistencies in print settings are resolved based on prohibition information 340 for resolving conflicts in settings that should be input to the printer driver. An example of conflict resolution information is prohibition information 340. It was also explained that the resolved print settings are input to the printer driver from 310. An example of a printer driver is the general-purpose printer driver 320.

[0048] The documentation also explains how to determine the presence or absence of conflict resolution information in the application data area 307. An example of an image forming apparatus is a printer 102. 308 obtains conflict resolution information from the printer. The CPU 201 then stores the conflict resolution information obtained by 308 into the application data area.

[0049] For example, 300 resolves conflicts in print settings using the hyphenation information 340 stored in the application data area.

[0050] The 300 process may be executed at the following times, for example: when a tile application is launched, when a user interface program for extended print settings is launched, or when a preview or editing function is launched.

[0051] If the denial information cannot be obtained from the printer 102, conflict resolution information may be obtained from a predetermined external information processing device. An example of an external information processing device is the cloud server 105.

[0052] An example of an operating system is OS201. Alternatively, a general-purpose printer driver may be executed based on instructions from a document editing application running on OS201 to generate print data. Then, 300 receives predetermined events caused by the general-purpose printer driver. After the receiving means receives the predetermined events caused by the general-purpose printer driver, 300 performs the following processing. That is, 300 is executed by CPU201. Then, under the control of 300, conflicts or inconsistencies in print settings are resolved based on conflict resolution information for resolving conflicts in settings that should be input to the general-purpose printer driver. 300 is an example of an application that processes predetermined extended print settings. Then, the resolved print settings can be input from 300 to the printer driver.

Claims

[Claim 1] In an information processing device that generates print data by executing a printer driver based on instructions from an application running on an operating system, A means for resolving conflicts or inconsistencies in print settings, based on conflict resolution information to resolve conflicts in settings that should be input to the printer driver under the control of the application that processes print settings, An input means for inputting the print settings resolved by the aforementioned resolution means to the printer driver from the application, An information processing device equipped with the following features.

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