Information processing device, control method, program, storage medium

Abstract

This invention provides an information processing device that allows users to print desired file sets with simpler operations. [Solution] The information processing device displays an item selection screen on the display unit, which includes a first item indicating that an item has been assigned, a second item indicating that an item has been submitted, and a third item indicating that an item has been graded. The display unit also displays a file selection screen on the display unit, which allows the user to select a file to print from among files managed by a cloud service for sharing files between teachers and students that correspond to the item selected on the item selection screen. The device includes a display control means that controls the display unit to switch from the file selection screen to display a predetermined screen in response to user operations on the file selection screen, which displays display elements indicating the paper size settings set as print settings. The device also includes a reception means that, while the predetermined screen is displayed, receives an instruction operation to print the file selected on the file selection screen.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method, a program, and a storage medium that acquire a file from a network and print it.

Background Art

[0002] In the field of education, it is known that a Learning Management System (hereinafter referred to as LMS) is a learning support system that can be used on the web. Generally, for homework assigned online by a school teacher, students can often create submissions and teachers can grade them (Non-Patent Document 1). Also, in LMS, it is possible to generate shared files on the Internet in cooperation with other web storage services and exchange homework and submissions as files via a network (Non-Patent Document 2).

[0003] In a school class environment, a teacher (privileged user) can generate homework as a shared file for the class. A student (general user) can have the teacher of their own class share or copy the file to their own network storage. There is known a control method of LMS in which when a teacher assigns homework, a homework file is generated and the homework file is copied so that students can refer to it (Patent Document 1). Thus, it is desirable to change the permission settings for shared files stored in a storage service on the Internet depending on the user types of teachers and students. By adding access permission settings according to the user type to the homework, security can be ensured so that users unintended by the teacher cannot access it arbitrarily.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Documents

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] Google Classroom (trademark) [online], [searched April 17, 2020], Internet URL: http: / / edu.google.com / intl / products / classroom / [Non-Patent Document 2] Google Drive (trademark) [online], [searched April 17, 2020], Internet URL: https: / / www.google.com / drive / [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] However, in systems that retrieve and print homework assignments posted on the Learning Management System (LMS) and student submissions, the set of shared files that can be printed in bulk differs depending on the user's account type (teacher, student, etc.). Even in such cases, there is a need for technology that allows for printing the desired set of files with simpler operations.

[0007] The present invention aims to provide an information processing device, control method, program, and storage medium that enable printing of desired file sets with simpler operations. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To solve the above problems, the information processing device according to the present invention is characterized by having a display unit that displays an item selection screen including a first item indicating that it has been assigned, a second item indicating that it has been submitted, and a third item indicating that it has been graded; a display unit that displays a file selection screen for selecting a file to print from among files managed by a cloud service for sharing files between teachers and students, which correspond to the item selected on the item selection screen; a display control means that controls the display unit to switch from the file selection screen to display a predetermined screen in response to user operation on the file selection screen, which displays a display element indicating the settings of the paper size set as the print setting; and a reception means that receives an instruction operation to print the file selected on the file selection screen while the predetermined screen is displayed. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, a desired set of files can be printed with simpler operations. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing system. [Figure 2] This diagram shows the printer configuration. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart illustrating the process of user authentication across multiple services. [Figure 4] This flowchart shows the process for determining the account type. [Figure 5] This is a diagram showing the service selection screen. [Figure 6] This diagram shows the user authentication screen. [Figure 7] This diagram shows the class selection screen. [Figure 8] This diagram shows the teacher's homework selection screen. [Figure 9] This diagram shows the homework status selection screen. [Figure 10] This is a diagram showing the teacher's user selection screen. [Figure 11] It is a diagram showing a student's homework selection screen. [Figure 12] It is a diagram showing a print settings screen. [Figure 13] It is a flowchart showing the processing until print execution. [Figure 14] It is a diagram showing a communication sequence between multiple servers.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically and in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although a plurality of features are described in the embodiments, not all of these plurality of features are essential for the invention, and the plurality of features may be arbitrarily combined. Further, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar configurations are given the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations are omitted.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration for performing printing from an LMS (Learning Management System) via a network in the present embodiment. A user who uses the printing system of FIG. 1 acquires a file on the network via the Internet 104 from a printer 105 in a home or a school classroom and performs printing. An LMS service, which is a form of web service, can be used from the Internet 104.

[0013] The LMS service is a program executed on the LMS server 101. The LMS server 101 is a core server that realizes an e-learning system. For example, it integrally manages learning materials including shared files and configuration information for each class. The LMS server 101 has a user account management service and a user authentication service to register necessary users so that they can be used. The registered user information is stored in the LMS server 101. The LMS service realizes its functions in cooperation with a storage service for storing shared files generated in a class. The shared file is a file that can be shared between teachers and students, and includes, for example, "assignments" issued from teachers to students.

[0014] The storage service is a program executed on the storage server 102. Information regarding assignment files and submissions, which are the achievements of classes generated on the LMS server 101 by user operations, is registered in the network storage on the storage server 102. The files themselves generated by teachers or edited by students and stored in the network storage become the print target files. Examples of printable file formats include document files (such as Word (trademark), PDF, etc.), slide files (such as PowerPoint (trademark), etc.), image files, and text files, and the file formats are not limited.

[0015] Note that the user authentication of the LMS service and the storage service may be managed collectively by the LMS service or individually for each service. As long as sufficient user authentication and authorization are executed for the service functions related to the individual LMS and shared files used by the user via the screen operations of the printer 105 or the client device 106, the form of security management for each service is not limited.

[0016] The cloud management server 103 mediates communication between the printer 105 and client devices 106 to the LMS server 101 and storage server 102, and provides the LMS printing service as a cloud management service. The LMS printing service is a program executed on the cloud management server 103. Through the cloud management server 103, the printer 105 can communicate with external services via the internet 104 through the cloud management server 103 without directly communicating with the LMS server 101 and storage server 102.

[0017] The printer 105 and client device 106 are connected to the Internet 104, for example, by an access point. The printer 105 and client device 106 are equipped with a web browser and can provide LMS printing services to users by displaying the web services installed by the cloud management server 103 on the browser screen. The client device 106 is, for example, a PC or a mobile terminal and has the configuration of a general information processing device, as exemplified by such devices.

[0018] Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of printer 105. Printer 105 in Figure 2 is, for example, a multifunction printer and includes a printer device and a scanner device. In this embodiment, it is sufficient to include at least a printer device, and a facsimile device may be included as a device that realizes other functions, or printer 105 may be a single-function printer.

[0019] The various parts of the printer 105 are interconnected via a bus 205 located on an electrical circuit board (controller) 201, which provides overall control of the printer 105. The printer 105 is controlled by a CPU 202, which is a central processing unit. For example, in this embodiment, the operation of the printer 105 is realized by, for example, a program stored in ROM 204 being loaded into RAM 203 and executed. The program includes applications for controlling printing and control programs for accessing external servers.

[0020] The printer 105 has a network interface (I / F) 210 and a USB interface 209 for, for example, receiving print data from an external source and transmitting scanned image data to an external source. The network interface 210 has a configuration that supports network media such as wired LAN and wireless LAN, and it is possible to connect the electrical board 201 to the internet 104 via the network interface 210. The electrical board 201 is connected to the power supply board 211 and supplies power to the printer 105 from an external source.

[0021] The electrical circuit board 201 and the printer unit 212 are connected by an engine interface 206. The printer unit 212 has a configuration that supports recording methods such as inkjet recording and electrophotography, and records images on a recording medium such as printing paper. The electrical circuit board 201 and the scanner unit 213 are connected by a scanner interface 207. The electrical circuit board 201 and the UI (user interface) unit 214 are connected by an operation unit interface 208. The UI unit 214 is configured to include, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). The configuration for accepting user operations in the UI unit 214 may be a touch panel or a button operation method independent of the LCD. In addition, the UI unit 214 may be equipped with LEDs to indicate the operating status, error status, and various setting status of the printer and scanner devices.

[0022] In this embodiment, the printer 105 is described as a user terminal utilizing the printing system shown in Figure 1. However, the operations of the printer 105 in this embodiment may be applied to the client device 106, except for the operation of recording to the recording medium.

[0023] The following describes the screen display controls that are common to both teachers and students using the printing system, referring to Figures 3 to 7.

[0024] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the user authentication and authorization process for enabling coordinated operation across multiple services. The process in Figure 3 is an example of the initial user authentication and authorization process that occurs when the web services of both the LMS service and the cloud management service work together to implement a printing function. The cloud management service includes various services such as photo printing services and SNS printing services, but will be described below as the LMS printing service. The process in Figure 3 takes place between the printer 105, the cloud management server 103, and the LMS server 101.

[0025] The cloud management server 103 pre-registers the LMS service for inter-service usage. By registering the LMS printing service with the LMS service, the LMS service and the LMS printing service can work together.

[0026] When the LMS printing service is started by a user operation on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105, in S301, the printer 105 receives the login authentication screen for the LMS service via the internet 104 and displays it on the UI unit 214. In S302, the printer 105 accepts user account input on the login authentication screen.

[0027] In S303, user authentication and authorization for the LMS service are performed for the entered account. For user authorization and authentication, the cloud management server 103 redirects the printer 105 or client device 105 to the LMS service login authentication screen. Here, for example, OAuth authentication is used. In OAuth authentication, the cloud management server 103 acts as the client, and the LMS server 101 acts as the resource server. In S303, user authentication confirms that the user logged into the printer 105 or client device 106 is pre-registered with the LMS service and is not impersonating someone else. Also in S303, prior user authorization is obtained so that the LMS printing service can use the functions provided by the LMS service within the scope of the logged-in user's authority.

[0028] The LMS printing service obtains authorization from the LMS server 101 and the storage server 102 for the functions it uses in the LMS service and storage service. For example, user confirmation (user authorization) for allowing or denying each function is performed by displaying a screen to the user on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105. During user authorization, the cloud management server 103 pre-specifies the scope of access rights for the user who wishes to use the LMS service. The scope of access rights may include, for example, class information, personal homework, class rosters, profile icons, and shared files on the storage server 102.

[0029] The LMS service manages authorized items for the LMS printing service on a per-user basis. If a user attempts to access an item outside of their access permissions after user authentication has already been performed, an authorization screen will be displayed on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105 to allow that item. In either case, the cloud management server 103 will redirect the printer 105 or client device 106 to the LMS service authorization screen as needed. The user will then choose to allow or deny according to the displayed authorization screen. If the printer 105 encounters an LMS service authentication format that is not supported, a QR code may be displayed on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105, allowing authentication to be performed, for example, via a smartphone browser.

[0030] User authentication is performed, and the process proceeds to the next stage only if user authorization is granted. If denied, the process in Figure 3 is terminated, or the service is restricted so that only the functions within the denied range are unavailable. In other words, the LMS printing service operates within the authorized range. Alternatively, the process in Figure 3 may be terminated if all authorizations requested from the user via the UI unit 214 are not obtained. Note that in S303, user authentication and authorization for using the storage service are also performed. In this embodiment, the LMS service manages user authentication and authorization for the storage service collectively. Note that user authentication and authorization for using the LMS service and user authentication and authorization for using the storage service may be performed separately.

[0031] Once user authentication and authorization for using the LMS service are complete in S303, the cloud management server 103 obtains an access token in S304. The cloud management server 103 can then use the obtained access token to access the services that it has subsequently collaborated with the LMS server 101 and the storage server 102.

[0032] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process in a printing system for determining the user account type of the LMS service according to the class to which the user belongs. For example, if a user is registered in multiple classes, the account type (type) of teacher or student may change depending on the class. Therefore, in this embodiment, when printing is performed on printer 105, it is determined whether the user's account type for the LMS printing service is "teacher" or "student".

[0033] First, in S401, the cloud management server 103 retrieves the registered class list from the LMS server 101. Here, only the list of permitted classes is retrieved based on the access permissions set for the logged-in user account. For example, if a student attends only three classes—mathematics, Japanese language, and science—information for those classes will be retrieved. Note that for security reasons, access to shared files may not be permitted for certain classes (e.g., the English class).

[0034] The registered class list contains information that makes up each class. This information includes, for example, the class name, teacher's name, student names, shared files, and their attribute information. The attribute information for shared files includes status information such as "assigned," "submitted," and "graded," as well as URL information for retrieving the shared files and the submission deadline.

[0035] After obtaining the registered class list, in S402, the cloud management server 103 displays a class selection screen on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105. On the class selection screen, the user selects the class to be printed according to the obtained registered class list.

[0036] In S403, the cloud management server 103 determines whether the logged-in user's account type is "teacher" or "student" based on the registered teacher list and registered student list included in the registered class list. However, depending on the LMS service, the registered class list may not contain a registered teacher list or a registered student list. In such cases, the logged-in user's account type may be determined by obtaining these lists again from the LMS server 101. Alternatively, if the cloud management server 103 or printer 105 has information on the logged-in user's account type, that information may be used.

[0037] Figures 5 to 11 show examples of user operation screens displayed on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105 or the display unit of the client device 106. Figures 5, 6, 7, and 9 are screens displayed to both teachers and students for narrowing down and selecting the files to print. Figures 8 and 10 are screens displayed to teachers, and Figure 11 is a screen displayed to students. Figure 12 is a print settings screen. The web browsers built into each device, the printer 105 and the client device 106, display the above screens based on the screen content sent from the cloud management server 103.

[0038] Figure 5 shows an example of the service selection screen for the LMS printing service. Items 501 to 504 are buttons for receiving instructions to start each service, and Figure 5 shows that item 501, which represents the LMS printing service, has been selected. In Figures 5 to 12, buttons are shown as UI displays for accepting user operations such as selection, but other forms of UI displays may be used. When item 501 for starting the LMS printing service is selected, the LMS printing service is executed. After the "Next" button in Figure 5 is pressed, the screen in Figure 6 is displayed.

[0039] Figure 6 shows an example of the user authentication screen for the LMS service. When the login (username) and password, which are pre-registered with the LMS service, are entered into areas 601 and 602, user authentication is performed and the user logs into the LMS service. The display of the screen in Figure 6 and the processes related to the input of the login name and password correspond to steps S301 to S303 in Figure 3. After the "Next" button in Figure 6 is pressed, the screen in Figure 7 is displayed.

[0040] Figure 7 shows an example of the class selection screen for the LMS printing service. The screen display in Figure 7 corresponds to S402 in Figure 4. Figure 7 shows an example where items 701 representing the mathematics class, 702 representing the English class, and 703 representing the science class are displayed based on the logged-in user's account and registered class list. On the screen in Figure 7, the user can select the class related to the file to be printed. Figure 7 shows that item 702, representing the English class, has been selected.

[0041] Immediately before the screen in Figure 7 is displayed, the registered class list in S401 of Figure 4 may be retrieved each time. Alternatively, if the same list has already been retrieved in the past, it may be stored in the cloud management server 103, and the screen in Figure 7 may be displayed using that list. Item 704 in Figure 7 is a button that accepts a print command for a list of all classes to which the user belongs. After the "Next" button in Figure 7 is pressed, the account type is determined in S403 of Figure 4.

[0042] Figure 8 shows an example of the homework selection screen displayed when the logged-in user's account type is "Teacher". Figure 8 shows an example where the teacher has already assigned homework items 801-804 to an English class they are in charge of.

[0043] Figure 8 shows that item 801, which represents Homework 2, has been selected. The selected item 801 is displayed as a folder icon. This is because, since multiple students belong to the class, the screen in Figure 8 has not yet been filtered to show only students, and there are multiple print files for multiple students that are subject to filtering. After the "Next" button in Figure 8 is pressed, the screen in Figure 9 is displayed.

[0044] Figure 9 shows an example of a status selection screen for narrowing down the files to be printed based on the attribute information of shared files. The attribute information of shared files includes status information such as "assigned," "submitted," and "graded," URL information for retrieving the shared file, and a submission deadline. Figure 9 shows that item 901, which represents the attribute information "assigned," item 902, which represents the attribute information "submitted," and item 903, which represents the attribute information "graded," are displayed, and item 903 is selected. Figure 9 shows an example of status information, but other attribute information may also be displayed as selection items.

[0045] Thus, in this embodiment, the display of the screen is controlled so that the user selects a class on the screen shown in Figure 7 at the beginning of the screen operation flow. If the logged-in user's account type is "student," assuming that the user attends multiple classes, a "skip" button may be provided on the class selection screen in Figure 7 after obtaining the registered class list in S401 in Figure 4. This is effective, for example, in cases where a student attends multiple classes. In that case, on the screen shown in Figure 9, the system may narrow down the files to be printed from all classes the user participates in, using only the attribute information of the shared file (status information, submission deadline, etc.). After the "Next" button in Figure 9 is pressed, the screen shown in Figure 10 or Figure 11 will be displayed depending on the account type.

[0046] Figure 10 shows an example of a user selection screen displayed when the logged-in user's account type is "Teacher". As shown in Figure 10, based on the user's previous screen operation flow, the print target files have been narrowed down by attribute information "Graded", and the text display 1001 shows that "English Class / Graded" has been selected. Furthermore, the screen in Figure 10 displays items 1002 that accept instructions to print all students at once, and items 1003, 1004, and 1005 that accept instructions to print shared files for individual students at once. Thus, according to this embodiment, the user who is a teacher can be given the option to print all students at once or to print shared files for individual students at once.

[0047] Additionally, the number of files to be printed may be displayed along with each button for batch printing. Such a configuration allows the user to easily recognize the number of files to be printed in batch, even if, for example, there are many students registered in the class and the buttons for individual students do not fit on one screen. It also allows the user to easily recognize the number of files corresponding to each batch printing button. Furthermore, file types that cannot be printed by printer 105 may be acquired in advance, and the printability of the files to be printed may be determined based on their extensions, with the number of files excluded from the count of files to be printed displayed. After the "Next" button in Figure 10 is pressed, the screen in Figure 12 is displayed.

[0048] Figure 11 shows an example of a homework file selection screen displayed when the logged-in user's account type is "Student". As shown in Figure 11, based on the user's previous screen operation flow, the text display 1101 shows that "English Class / Assigned" has been selected, based on the attribute information "Assigned" narrowing down the files to be printed. Furthermore, the screen in Figure 11 displays items 1102 that accept instructions to print all homework at once, and items 1103, 1104, and 1105 that accept instructions to print shared files for individual homework as options. Thus, according to this embodiment, a student user can be given the option to print all homework at once or to print shared files for individual homework at once. In addition, the number of files to be printed may be displayed along with each button for printing at once. With such a configuration, even if there are many homework assignments and the buttons for individual homework do not fit on one screen, the user can easily recognize the number of files to be printed at once. In addition, the user can easily recognize the number of files corresponding to each button for printing at once. Alternatively, the system may pre-determine file types that cannot be printed by printer 105, determine whether printing is possible based on the file extension of the files to be printed, and display the number of files excluded from the count of files to be printed in batch. After the "Next" button in Figure 11 is pressed, the screen in Figure 12 will be displayed.

[0049] Figure 12 shows an example of a print settings screen. Figure 12 shows an example of a print settings screen that appears when the logged-in user's account type is "Student" and the files to be printed have been filtered to "English Class / Assigned / Homework 1" according to the user's prior screen operation flow. Text display 1201 indicates that the files to be printed have been filtered to "English Class / Assigned / Homework 1".

[0050] On the screen in Figure 12, the number of copies (1201), paper size (1203), and paper type (1204) are displayed, and the user can change these settings. When the print button (1205) is pressed, the print setting parameters and print data reflecting the settings on the screen are sent from the cloud management server (103) to the printer (105). The items that the user can change are not limited to those listed above; other items may also be changed.

[0051] In this embodiment, since shared files that meet the user's specified criteria are printed in bulk, the shared files may have multiple file formats. For example, they may be slide files or document files. Therefore, the number of file formats may be obtained in advance and automatically counted without user intervention, allowing for the setting of multiple print settings. For example, the print settings screen shown in Figure 12 may be displayed the same number of times as the number of file formats for setting. In that case, the file extension or format name may be displayed on the print settings screen to allow the user to recognize it.

[0052] Furthermore, the cloud management server 103 may determine, based on the file extension, if a shared file contains a format that cannot be processed for printing, and skip it from the printing data processing. In that case, after all printable files have been printed, an error message may be displayed on the UI unit 214 of the printer 105 for any files that could not be printed due to lack of support.

[0053] Furthermore, if the data includes a format that cannot be processed by the cloud management server 103, the cloud management server 103 may request another server capable of processing the data to do so. For example, the cloud management server 103 may send a format conversion request to another server capable of processing the data, and the shared file, converted to a file format that the printer 105 can interpret (e.g., JPEG, PDF), may be sent to the printer 105.

[0054] Figure 13 is a flowchart showing the process up to printing in the printing system of this embodiment. The process in Figure 13 is realized, for example, by the CPU 202 reading a program stored in ROM 204 into RAM 203 and executing it. In this embodiment, the user selects the files to be printed (Figures 7 to 11), sets the print settings (Figure 12), and executes the print by operating on the operation screen of the printer 105 or client device 106. At the time the process in Figure 13 starts, the processes related to the screens in Figures 5 and 6 have been completed.

[0055] In S1301, the CPU 202 displays the class selection screen shown in Figure 7 on the UI unit 214 and accepts the selection of the class to be printed. In S1302, the CPU 202 determines, based on the processing shown in Figure 4, whether the account type of the logged-in user in the selected class is "teacher" or "student". If it is determined in S1302 that the account type of the logged-in user is "teacher", the process proceeds to S1303.

[0056] In S1303, the CPU 202 displays the homework selection screen shown in Figure 8 on the UI unit 214 and accepts the selection of a homework folder for the selected class. At the time the screen shown in Figure 8 is displayed, multiple students have been assigned to a single homework assignment given by the teacher, so a folder icon is displayed for each item.

[0057] In S1304, the CPU 202 displays the homework status selection screen shown in Figure 9 on the UI unit 214 and accepts the homework status selection in addition to the selected class and selected homework folder.

[0058] In S1305, the CPU 202 determines whether the attribute information "Assigned" is selected on the screen shown in Figure 9. If it is determined that the attribute information "Assigned" is selected, S1306 is skipped and the process proceeds to S1307. This is because homework assigned by a logged-in user whose account type is "Teacher" and is in the "Assigned" state is homework assigned by the teacher user themselves, and the individual / bulk user selection in S1306 described later is unnecessary. On the other hand, if it is determined that the attribute information "Assigned" is not selected, in S1306, the CPU 202 displays the user selection screen shown in Figure 10 on the UI unit 214, and accepts the selection of whether to print individual student homework or print all student homework at once, in addition to the selected class and selected state (for example, the "Graded" state).

[0059] If the user who logged in at S1302 is determined to have a "student" account type, proceed to S1311.

[0060] In S1311, the CPU 202 displays the homework status selection screen shown in Figure 9 on the UI unit 214 and accepts the homework status selection in addition to the already selected class. If the logged-in user's account type is "student", the process in S1303 is unnecessary and therefore not performed.

[0061] In S1312, the CPU 202 displays the user selection screen shown in Figure 11 on the UI unit 214, accepting the user's choice of whether to print the shared file of one homework assignment at once from the individual candidate assignments (for example, the "assigned" state) or to print all homework assignments at once. Note that the bulk printing setting by students may be disabled by default and can be enabled by changing the settings. Furthermore, the bulk printing setting function by students is not required.

[0062] As described above, when the account type is "Teacher," homework is selected on the screen shown in Figure 8 in S1303, and then the status of the homework is selected on the screen shown in Figure 9 in S1304. On the other hand, when the account type is "Student," the status of the homework is selected on the screen shown in Figure 9 in S1311, and then the homework is selected on the screen shown in Figure 11 in S1312. In other words, the display order of the homework status selection screen and the homework file selection screen is reversed for "Teacher" and "Student." Generally, the relationship between teachers and students in a class is one to many, and the teacher assigns homework. Based on this tendency, in this embodiment, by making the user operation order different for "Teacher" and "Student" as described above, it is possible to make it easier to narrow down the files to be printed.

[0063] After S1306 and S1312, in S1307, the CPU 202 displays the print settings screen shown in Figure 12 on the UI unit 214 and accepts a change in print settings or a print command. The print settings specified here are applied to all files to be printed. For example, if the number of copies is set to 2, each file to be printed will be printed two times. For example, if the files to be printed include document files and presentation files as a result of the user's screen operations shown in Figures 7 to 11, two copies of each format file will be printed.

[0064] When the print button 1205 is pressed on the print settings screen shown in Figure 12, the CPU 202 executes the print operation in S1308.

[0065] In S1309, the CPU 202 displays a user interface screen on the UI unit 214 asking whether to terminate or continue the LMS printing service after printing is complete, and determines whether to terminate or continue the LMS printing service based on the selection result. If it is determined to terminate the LMS printing service, the process shown in Figure 13 is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined to continue the LMS printing service, the process proceeds to S1310.

[0066] In S1310, CPU202 uses the account type information obtained in S1302 to determine whether the logged-in user in the selected class is a teacher or a student. If the logged-in user is determined to be a teacher, the process from S1301 is repeated. On the other hand, if the logged-in user is determined to be a student, the process from S1312 is repeated. If a student belongs to multiple classes, the process in Figure 13 is terminated and the process in Figure 13 is performed for the other classes.

[0067] Other processes besides those shown in Figure 13 may be performed. For example, if the logged-in user is determined to be a teacher, the process from S1303 may be repeated, and if the user is determined to be a student, the process from S1301 may be repeated. In this case, if the teacher belongs to multiple classes, the process in Figure 13 may be terminated and the process in Figure 13 may be performed for the other classes. Also, if the same user is a "teacher" in one class and a "student" in another class, the process from class selection in S1301 may be repeated. Furthermore, when continuing printing in S1309 and S1310, the return destination may be changed based on the number of classes registered for the logged-in user, obtained from the registered class list information. For example, if the user is registered in multiple classes, the process from S1301 may be repeated.

[0068] Figure 14 shows the communication sequence between multiple servers in the printing system of Figure 1. In S1401, the printer 105 sends a service information acquisition request to the cloud management server 103. In S1402, the cloud management server 103 sends service information to the printer 105. In S1402, for example, the service information represented by items 501 to 504 in Figure 5 is sent. In S1403, after the printer 105 accepts the selection of the LMS printing service, it sends the selection information to the cloud management server 103. This corresponds, for example, to the case where the LMS printing service is selected as item 501 on the screen in Figure 5.

[0069] In S1404, the cloud management server 103 notifies the printer 105 of a request to access the authentication URL for the LMS service by redirecting it. In S1405, the printer 105 executes an authentication request for the LMS service to the LMS server 101. In S1406, the printer 105 receives the authentication screen sent from the LMS server 101 and displays it on the UI unit 214. This corresponds to the display of the screen in Figure 6, for example. In S1407, the printer 105 sends authentication information such as username and password to the LMS server 101. In S1408, the LMS server 101 sends a notification to the cloud management server 103 that the OAuth authentication is complete.

[0070] In S1409, the cloud management server 103 sends a request to the LMS server 101 to retrieve class information. In S1410, the LMS server 101 sends a request to the cooperating storage server 102 to retrieve shared file information and obtains shared file information from the storage server 102. In S1411, the LMS server 101 sends the class information and shared file information to the cloud management server 103. Here, the class information includes information such as the registered class list and the URL of the shared file.

[0071] In S1412, the printer 105 sends a screen display request to the cloud management server 103. In S1413, the cloud management server 103 sends operation screen data for the LMS printing service. The processes in S1412 and S1413 are performed as many times as necessary, depending on the selection results of the teacher and students, in order to perform the screen operations required to narrow down the files to be printed. For example, they are performed as many times as necessary to obtain the screens shown in Figures 7 to 11. The screen display request in S1412 includes information such as whether the "Next" button on each screen was pressed.

[0072] In S1414, when the user presses the print button 1205 in Figure 12, the printer 105 sends a print execution request to the cloud management server 103. In S1415, the cloud management server 103 sends a shared file retrieval request to the storage server 102, specifying the URL included in the shared file information obtained in S1411 as the destination, and retrieves the shared file (the file to be printed). Then, in S1416, the cloud management server 103 sends the retrieved shared file to the printer 105, and the printer 105 prints the received shared file according to the print settings specified on the screen in Figure 12. If there are multiple shared files narrowed down by the user's screen operation, steps S1415 to S1416 are executed repeatedly.

[0073] If a shared file contains a format that cannot be printed, the cloud management server 103 determines this based on the file extension and skips that file during the iterative processing in S1415-S1416. Alternatively, this determination process may be performed by the printer 105. After printing all printable files, an error message may be displayed on the printer 105's UI unit 214 in S1416 for any files that could not be printed due to unsupport.

[0074] In this embodiment, the processing of the printer 105 in Figure 14 may be performed by the client device 106. In that case, the description of the printer 105 is the same as the description of the printer 105, except that the destination for receiving the print data in S1416 is the printer 105.

[0075] As described above, according to this embodiment, in a system that prints via a cloud system, it is possible to easily narrow down shared files from a group of shared files spanning multiple users or multiple classes and print them all at once. For example, a teacher can print all the submitted files of students in their class at once using the screen shown in Figure 10. Similarly, a student can print all the submitted files for the group of classes they are enrolled in at once using the screen shown in Figure 11.

[0076] The effects of this embodiment are described below. When printing from an LMS, it is necessary to print multiple print target files located on network storage individually. Generally, LMS applications are often run from a web browser. Therefore, it was necessary to either call and use the default printing system built into the web browser, or to save the file as a PDF (Portable Document Format) and then call a PDF viewer application to print. Specifically, when printing is performed from the LMS web application, the web application converts the print target file, which is the application document, into a single file in the general-purpose PDF format. This converted file is then passed to the print driver that is set as the default in the operating system.

[0077] Some web applications allow outputting files in formats other than PDF, such as text and CSV. However, this requires launching a separate viewer application that supports the file format, opening the file to be printed, and then executing the print command, making the printing process more complicated. In particular, when printing multiple files at once, the print operation must be repeated for each file, resulting in a cumbersome process.

[0078] In other words, when teachers use printing services, there was a problem in that they could not print the submitted files of multiple students in their class all at once. On the other hand, according to this embodiment, it becomes easy to print the submitted files of multiple students all at once.

[0079] Furthermore, when students use the printing service, there was a problem in that they could not print homework files for multiple classes they were attending all at once. On the other hand, according to this embodiment, it becomes easy to print homework files for all classes a student is attending all at once.

[0080] Furthermore, in cases where an LMS is used in a company's training institution, for example, the same user may act as an instructor (teacher) in one class and as a student in another. When the teacher and student are the same person, there was a problem in that printing could not be done with simple operations depending on the type of user account that logged in. On the other hand, according to this embodiment, even when the teacher and student are the same person, it becomes possible to determine the class type of the logged-in user's account and print with a simple operation flow that corresponds to the user's account type.

[0081] The present invention can also be realized by supplying a program that implements one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and by having one or more processors in the computer of that system or device read and execute the program. It can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., an ASIC) that implements one or more functions.

[0082] The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, claims are attached to disclose the scope of the invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0083] 101 LMS Server: 102 Storage Server: 103 Cloud Management Server: 105 Printer: 106 Client Device: 202 CPU: 203 RAM: 204 ROM

Claims

[Claim 1] The display unit shows an item selection screen that includes the first item indicating that it has been assigned, the second item indicating that it has been submitted, and the third item indicating that it has been graded. The display unit will display a file selection screen in which the user selects a file to print from among the files managed by a cloud service for sharing files between teachers and students, which corresponds to the item selected on the aforementioned item selection screen. A predetermined screen displaying elements indicating the paper size settings configured in the print settings is switched from the file selection screen to the display unit in response to user operations on the file selection screen. A display control means that controls the display in such a way, With the aforementioned predetermined screen displayed, a receiving means receives an instruction to print the file selected on the file selection screen, An information processing device characterized by having the following features.

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