Support programs and printing systems

Abstract

To allow the management of whether functions of a printer may be used according to a user for a print job sent from an information processor with an OS standard general printing program built in.SOLUTION: When there is an instruction to a general printing program built in a PC1 to print, an auxiliary program 42 identifies a user ID for identifying a user, relates the acquired user ID to the print job of the print instruction, and sends the user ID to a printer 2. The printer 2 determines whether printing based on the print job is to be executed on the basis of a usage condition specified by the user ID related to the print job received from the PC1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program that supports control of a printer and a printing system. [Background technology]

[0002] As a printer-related technology, a technology for managing whether or not a printer function can be used for each user is known. Furthermore, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for controlling a printer in which the use of some functions is restricted from an information processing device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-166676 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, a technology has been put into practical use that controls a printer using a print program that is built into the operating system (OS) as standard, without using a printer driver. With this technology, the OS associates the printer with the OS's standard print program, and after that, when a print instruction is received for that printer, printing can be performed using the OS's standard print program, without using a printer driver.

[0005] When managing the availability of a print job received from an information processing device in a printer, for example, the information processing device can use a printer driver to associate a print job with user identification information and transmit the print job, and the printer can determine whether or not to execute the print job based on the identification information associated with the received print job. However, the above-mentioned OS-standard general-purpose printing program does not provide a means for associating user identification information with a print job. This makes it difficult for the printer to manage availability according to the user.

[0006] This specification discloses a technique that enables management of whether or not a printer function can be used according to a user for a print job sent from an information processing device in which a general-purpose print program that is standard for an OS is installed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A support program made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device, and is a support program corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device, the printer having a restriction function that determines whether printing can be performed based on usage conditions set by a user, and when a print instruction is output from an application program built into the information processing device and is directed to a general-purpose print program pre-built into the operating system of the information processing device, the computer executes an identification information acquisition process that acquires identification information that identifies a user when the print instruction causes the printer to print an image, and a transmission process that performs processing to transmit a print job of the print instruction to the printer in association with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process, and the printer determines whether printing can be performed based on the print job based on the usage conditions of the user identified by the identification information associated with the received print job.

[0008] When a print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program, the support program in the above configuration acquires the user's identification information and associates the identification information with the print job. When the print job is sent from the information processing device to the printer, the printer can extract the usage conditions using the user ID acquired by the support program and determine whether or not to allow printing based on the extracted usage conditions. This makes it possible to manage whether or not the printer can use the print job even if it was sent via the general-purpose print program.

[0009] A system for implementing the functions of the above-mentioned device, a control method, a computer program, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program are also novel and useful. Effect of the Invention

[0010] The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technology that enables management of whether printer functions can be used according to the user for print jobs sent from an information processing device that has an OS-standard general-purpose printing program built in. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a usage condition database. [Diagram 3] 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure of a printing operation by each program. FIG. [Figure 4] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for a transmission determination process. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a user ID input screen. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a print setting screen. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a print failure notification screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] A personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as "PC") that uses the support program of the present embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This specification discloses a printing system that includes a printer and a PC in which a support program corresponding to the printer is installed.

[0013] (First embodiment) In the printing system 100 of the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a PC 1 is communicatively connected to a printer 2. The PC 1 includes a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and a memory 12. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The PC 1 also includes a user interface (hereinafter, referred to as a "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter, referred to as a "communication IF") 14, which are electrically connected to the controller 10. Note that the controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a collective term for hardware and software used to control the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware that actually exists in the PC 1.

[0014] The CPU 11 executes various processes according to the programs read from the memory 12 and based on the user's operation. The memory 12 stores various programs including various application programs (hereinafter, referred to as "apps") and various data. The memory 12 is also used as a work area when various processes are executed. The buffer provided in the CPU 11 is also an example of a memory. Note that an example of the memory 12 is not limited to a ROM, RAM, HDD, etc. built into the PC 1, but may be a storage medium that can be read and written by the CPU 11, such as a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

[0015] The user IF 13 includes hardware for displaying a screen for notifying the user of information and hardware for accepting operations by the user. The user IF 13 may be a combination of a display capable of displaying information and a mouse or keyboard having an input acceptance function, or may be a touch panel having a display function and an input acceptance function.

[0016] The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with an external device such as the printer 2. The communication standards of the communication IF 14 include Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), USB, etc. The PC 1 may be provided with a plurality of communication IFs 14 compatible with a plurality of communication standards.

[0017] 1, an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") 21 including a general-purpose print program 41, an auxiliary program 42, and an editing application 43 are stored in the memory 12 of the PC 1. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. The OS 21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark).

[0018] The general-purpose print program 41 is an OS standard program for causing various printers, such as the printer 2, to execute printing based on user instructions.

[0019] The generic print program 41 supports functions that can be used in common by multiple models of printers provided by various printer vendors. The generic print program 41 does not support all of the unique functions of various printers, and the functions it supports are limited to generic ones.

[0020] The auxiliary program 42 is a program or a group of programs that executes processing based on instructions from the OS 21 in conjunction with the processing of the general-purpose printing program 41, and is an application that supports the control of the target hardware. The auxiliary program 42 in this embodiment corresponds to the model of the printer 2 connected to the PC 1, and is started from the general-purpose printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the general-purpose printing program 41 is received. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviated as HSA).

[0021] The auxiliary program 42 can receive a variety of commands from the general-purpose printing program 41, and executes various processes based on the received commands. When the auxiliary program 42 executes a process to cause the printer 2 to print in response to an instruction to execute printing from the general-purpose printing program, the auxiliary program 42 acquires a user ID that identifies a user, associates the acquired user ID with a print job, and transmits the associated user ID to the printer 2. The auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of a number of programs that each accept execution commands, or may be a single program that can execute different processes in response to commands.

[0022] The auxiliary program may be a program prepared by the printer vendor for each type of printer. For example, an auxiliary program for an inkjet printer and an auxiliary program for a laser printer may be prepared. For example, when a new printer is connected to the PC1, the OS21 of the PC1 downloads an appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type of the connected printer and incorporates it into its own device. Then, the OS21 associates the identification information of the incorporated auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in the memory 12. Note that there may be auxiliary programs prepared not only for each type of printer, but also for each model of printer or each series of printer models.

[0023] The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, Microsoft (registered trademark) Word or PowerPoint, or may be an application provided by the vendor of the printer 2. The editing application 43 accepts user operations including instructions to cause the printer 2 to perform a predetermined operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 accepts, for example, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing via the user IF 13.

[0024] The printer 2 of this embodiment is a device having a printing function. The PC 1 can communicate with the printer 2 via the communication IF 14. The printer 2 receives print data from the PC 1 or the like, and executes printing based on the received print data. Furthermore, the printer 2 of this embodiment has a restriction function that determines whether printing can be executed based on the usage conditions set for each user. The restriction function can be enabled or disabled via the management device 3 or the operation panel of the printer 2. The memory of the printer 2 stores function information 21 indicating the validity or invalidity of the restriction function. The function information 21 may include validity or invalidity information regarding other functions such as a scan function and a FAX transmission function. Furthermore, the printer 2 of this embodiment has a usage condition DB 23 that sets the usage conditions for each user.

[0025] 2 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of the use condition DB 23. The use condition DB 23 stores a user name indicating the name of a user and a user ID identifying the user in association with a use condition. The user ID is an example of identification information.

[0026] The usage conditions are conditions that determine whether printing can be performed by the printer 2. The usage conditions of this embodiment restrict the use of specific print settings. The specific print settings are, for example, print settings that contribute to saving consumables such as toner and paper.

[0027] The usage conditions include, for example, the number of prints, color / monochrome, and toner save. The item of the number of prints is set to the upper limit of the number of prints that a user can print in one print job. The item of the number of prints may be set to "unlimited", which indicates that the number of prints is not limited. The number of prints may be the number of prints counted for each print job. It may also be the total number of prints of paper that can be printed within a predetermined period, or the total number of prints of a job. Color / monochrome indicates whether color printing is restricted or not. That is, when the use of color printing is restricted and only the use of monochrome printing is permitted, only "monochrome" is set in the item of color / monochrome, and when the use of color printing is permitted, "color" and "monochrome" are set in the item of color / monochrome. Toner save indicates whether printing without toner save is restricted or not. That is, when printing without toner save is restricted and printing with toner save is permitted, only "ON" is set in the item of toner save, and when printing without toner save is permitted, "ON" and "OFF" are set in the item of toner save.

[0028] Furthermore, the usage conditions may include single-sided / double-sided, aggregate printing (e.g., 2-in-1), printing on a specific paper type, etc. Single-sided / double-sided indicates whether single-sided printing is restricted or not. Aggregate printing indicates whether printing without aggregation is restricted or not. Whether printing on a specific paper type is permitted indicates whether printing on a specific paper type such as postcards is restricted or not.

[0029] In this embodiment, the user who is the target of the identification information is an individual, but the user who is the target of the identification information may be a group or a company (corporation). In this case, the use condition DB 23 stores the use condition in association with group identification information that identifies the group that will be the user or company identification information that identifies the company (corporation) that will be the user.

[0030] Next, a printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows the operation when a print execution instruction is received from an application that receives a print instruction, such as the editing application 43, to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, and when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is incorporated in the PC 1.

[0031] Note that the processes and each processing step of the flowchart in this embodiment basically indicate the processes of the CPU 11 according to the instructions written in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. The processes by the CPU 11 also include hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the operation of each program will be explained without a detailed description of the OS 21. Also, "obtain" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

[0032] 3, after accepting edits of characters, graphics, etc., when the editing application 43 accepts a print instruction with the printer 2 and various print settings selected on the print screen (A01), it passes information about the accepted print instruction to the OS 21. When the OS 21 accepts a print execution instruction that uses the general-purpose print program 41, it executes the general-purpose print program 41 and passes information about the print instruction, such as image data and print settings, to the general-purpose print program 41 (A02).

[0033] The general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the received information about the print instruction into the format of intermediate image data, and generates a print job including the intermediate image data (A03). Image data passed from the editing application 43 can be of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. Note that if the image data included in the print instruction is suitable for generating print data, the generation of the intermediate image data may be omitted and the image data may be used as is as intermediate image data. The intermediate image data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is, for example, XPS data.

[0034] Since the device selected in the print instruction is the printer 2 and the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is stored in the memory 12, the general-purpose print program 41 outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 (A04). The general-purpose print program 41 operates the auxiliary program 42 in response to the execution instruction, and passes the generated intermediate image data to the auxiliary program 42. Note that in A04, print setting information is also passed to the auxiliary program 42 together with the intermediate image data.

[0035] The general-purpose printing program 41 may execute the auxiliary program 42 before generating the intermediate image data. The auxiliary program 42 may receive information indicating print settings included in the print instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, edit a part of it, and return it to the general-purpose printing program 41, for example.

[0036] When the auxiliary program 42 receives an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A04, the auxiliary program 42 executes a transmission determination process (A05). The transmission determination process is a process for determining whether or not to associate a user ID with the print job to be transmitted to the printer 2.

[0037] The procedure of the transmission judgment process executed in A05 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 4. This transmission judgment process is a process of the auxiliary program 42, and is executed by the CPU 11 of the PC 1. In the transmission judgment process, the CPU 11 first acquires the function information 21 including information on the validity / invalidity of the restricted function (S1). S1 is an example of the management information acquisition process. For example, the CPU 11 requests the printer 2 selected in the print instruction to transmit the function information 21 via the communication IF 14. When the CPU 11 receives the function information 21 output by the printer 2 in response to the request via the communication IF 14, it stores it in the memory 12.

[0038] The CPU 11 determines whether or not the acquisition of the function information 21 in S1 was successful (S3). For example, a printer that does not have restricted functions does not have function information 21. If such a printer is selected, the CPU 11 fails to acquire the function information 21 (S3: NO). In such a case, since it is assumed that the printer does not impose usage restrictions and that anyone can use any function, the CPU 11 determines to send the print job without associating it with a user ID (S27) and returns to the processing of FIG. 3.

[0039] 4, when the CPU 11 has successfully acquired function information 21 (S3: YES), the CPU 11 determines whether the information indicating whether the restricted function is enabled or disabled, which is included in the function information 21 acquired in S1, indicates that the restricted function is enabled (S5). For example, when the function information 21 acquired from the printer 2 includes information indicating that the restricted function is disabled (S5: NO), the CPU 11 determines that the printer 2 does not impose usage restrictions and is highly likely to be able to print, and therefore transmits the print job without associating it with a user ID (S27), and returns to the processing of FIG.

[0040] 4, when the function information 21 acquired from the printer 2 includes information indicating that the restricted function is enabled (S5: YES), the CPU 11 inquires of the OS 21 about the user account of the logged-in user (S7) and judges whether the user account has been acquired (S9). When the CPU 11 acquires the user account (S9: YES), the CPU 11 displays the acquired user account via the user IF 13 (S11) and checks whether the user account is to be approved as a user ID (S13). When the CPU 11 accepts an instruction to approve via an input operation of the user IF 13 (S13: YES), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a print setting screen (S19) as described below. Note that a change in the user ID may be accepted in S11, and the changed user ID may be approved in S13.

[0041] On the other hand, when the CPU 11 receives an instruction to not approve via an input operation of the user IF 13 (S13: NO), the CPU 11 displays a user ID input screen via the user IF 13 (S14).

[0042] 5, the user ID input screen 210 includes a first input field 211 for inputting a user ID and a second input field 215 for inputting a password, and requests input of a user ID and a password. The user ID input screen 210 also includes a confirm button 212 for accepting an instruction to confirm the user ID, and a cancel button 213 for instructing to cancel printing.

[0043] If the auxiliary program 42 has a function for registering a user ID, a selection field for displaying user IDs registered in the auxiliary program 42 in a selectable manner on the user IF 13 may be provided instead of the first input field 211, so that the user can select a user ID. In this case, S7 to S17 in FIG. 4 can be omitted, and the processing load of the auxiliary program 42 can be reduced.

[0044] When the user inputs a user ID and password into the first input field 211 and the second input field 215 via the user IF 13 and operates the Confirm button 212, the CPU 11 determines that the input of the user ID has been confirmed (S15: YES), as shown in Fig. 4. In this case, the CPU 11 performs authentication based on the input user ID and password (S16) and determines whether the user has been identified (S17). Note that the CPU 11 may also cause an external device such as a printer or authentication server to perform authentication, and determine whether the user has been identified by obtaining the result of the authentication.

[0045] If the authentication in S16 is successful and the user is identified (S17: YES), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a print setting screen (S19).

[0046] For example, the print setting screen 230 shown in FIG. 6 has a setting field 231 for setting a setting value for each item of the print setting, a confirm button 232 for confirming the print setting, and a cancel button 233 for canceling printing. The setting field 231 displays the print setting received from the general-purpose print program 41 together with the execution instruction in A04 of FIG. 3 for each item. The CPU 11 can change the setting value of each setting via the user IF 13. In addition, the print setting screen 230 can also set print settings specific to the printer 2 that cannot be handled by the general-purpose print program 41. When the confirm button 232 on the print setting screen 230 is operated via the user IF 13, the CPU 11 determines that a confirm instruction for confirming the print setting has been received (S21: confirm instruction). In this case, the CPU 11 determines that a print job is to be transmitted in association with the user ID (S23), and returns to the processing of FIG. 3.

[0047] If the CPU 11 is unable to obtain a user account from the OS 21 (S9: NO), it causes the user IF 13 to display the user ID input screen 210 shown in Fig. 5 (S14). That is, the auxiliary program 42 does not have the user input the user ID from the beginning, but rather has the user manually input the user ID via the user IF 13 if automatic acquisition of the user ID has failed. This reduces the opportunities for the user to input the user ID. The processes from S14 onwards have been described above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0048] In contrast, for example, if the user operates the cancel button 213 on the user ID input screen 210 shown in Fig. 5 via the user IF 13, the CPU 11 determines that the input of the user ID is not confirmed (S15: NO), as shown in Fig. 4. Also, if the confirm button 212 is operated after the user ID and password are input (S15: YES), but the authentication in S16 fails, the CPU 11 determines that the user cannot be identified (S17: NO). In these cases, the CPU 11 determines not to send the print job (S25), and returns to the processing in Fig. 3.

[0049] Furthermore, when the cancel button 233 on the print setting screen 230 is operated via the user IF 13, the CPU 11 determines that a cancel instruction has been received (S21: cancel instruction). In this case, the CPU 11 also determines not to transmit the print job (S25), and returns to the processing of FIG.

[0050] As shown in Fig. 3, when the auxiliary program 42 determines in the transmission determination process of A05 that a print job is to be transmitted in association with a user ID (alt: transmit print job in association with a user ID), it generates print data (A11). Specifically, the auxiliary program 42 performs rasterization based on the intermediate image data based on the execution instruction received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A04, and generates print data indicating an image to be printed. The print data is generated by rasterizing the intermediate image data using the print settings received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A04, or the print settings received via the print setting screen 230 displayed in S19 of Fig. 4. The print data generated here is data in a format that can be used for printing by the printer 2, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of the printer 2.

[0051] Note that instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data in A11, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data. That is, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data by rasterizing the intermediate image data generated in A03. The auxiliary program 42 may receive the print data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 and edit the print data based on print settings that the general-purpose printing program 41 cannot handle. If there are no print settings that the general-purpose printing program 41 cannot handle, the auxiliary program 42 does not need to edit the print data.

[0052] The print data generated by the general-purpose print program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing by various printers, such as PWGRaster data or PDF data. If rasterization is performed by the general-purpose print program 41, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 is reduced, which is expected to prevent an increase in processing and reduce the program size of the auxiliary program 42. Note that if the general-purpose print program 41 can generate print data from the image data included in the print instruction without using intermediate image data, it is not necessary to generate intermediate image data.

[0053] After generating the print data in A11, the auxiliary program 42 transmits the generated print data, a command to execute printing, the user ID, and the print settings used to generate the print data to the printer 2 (A12).

[0054] The print data may be sent to the printer 2 by the general-purpose printing program 41. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 so that the data is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 sends the print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2. In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 sending the print data to the printer 2 and the auxiliary program 42 passing the print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 to send the print data to the printer 2 are both examples of "processing for sending a print job regarding a print instruction to the printer."

[0055] The printer 2 that has received the print data from the PC 1 acquires the user ID and print settings received together with the print data (A21), and performs a determination process (A22). In A22, the printer 2 extracts the usage conditions associated with the user ID acquired in A21 from the usage conditions DB 23, compares the extracted printing conditions with the print settings acquired in A21, and determines whether printing based on the print job can be executed.

[0056] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, assume that a print job is sent from PC 1 to printer 2 by user C, who is allowed to set the number of prints to 80, to set color / monochrome to monochrome only, and to set to ON and OFF for toner save. For example, assume that user C sets the print range to "all," color / monochrome to "color," and toner save to "OFF" on print setting screen 230 as shown in FIG. 6, and then operates confirm button 232 using user IF 13 to print 100 pages. In this case, the print settings received by printer 2 from PC 1 exceed the number of prints (100 sheets) set by user C as the print limit (80 sheets) and color printing is contrary to the settings permitted to user C. In this way, when the print settings do not satisfy all of user C's usage conditions, printer 2 determines that printing cannot be executed. On the other hand, for example, assume that user C selects page specification from the print range on the print setting screen 230, sets the specified range to "1-50," sets color / monochrome to "monochrome," and then operates the confirm button 232. If the print settings received by printer 2 from PC 1 as a result of this satisfy all of user C's usage conditions, printer 2 determines that printing is permitted.

[0057] If the printer 2 determines in the determination process of A22 that the print settings acquired in A21 satisfy all the usage conditions extracted from the usage condition DB 23 based on the user ID acquired in A21 and that printing can be performed (alt: executable), it executes printing (A31). When printing by the printer 2 is completed, the auxiliary program 42 acquires this fact from the printer 2 by polling processing (A32). When the auxiliary program 42 reports that printing was successful as a processing result (A34), it passes a completion notification to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A35). The report may be made via the user IF 13, or may be made by voice or the like.

[0058] In response to this, if the printer 2 determines in the determination process of A22 that the print settings acquired in A21 do not satisfy any of the usage conditions extracted from the usage condition DB 23 based on the user ID acquired in A21 and that printing on the printer 2 cannot be executed (alt: cannot be executed), the printer 2 cancels the printing (A41). When the printer 2 cancels the printing, the auxiliary program 42 acquires this information from the printer 2 by polling (A42). When the auxiliary program 42 acquires the information that the printing has been canceled, it acquires from the printer 2 the usage conditions used in the determination process of A22 and the determination result of the determination process of A22 (A43).

[0059] When the auxiliary program 42 acquires this information, it displays a print failure notification screen on the user IF 13 as a processing result (A44), and passes print cancellation to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A45). Note that A32, A42 to A43 are examples of result acquisition processing, and A34 and A44 are examples of notification processing.

[0060] 7, the print failure notification screen 220 displayed on the user IF 13 includes a first display field 223 that displays information based on the usage conditions, and a second display field 225 that displays information about items that do not satisfy the usage conditions. Furthermore, the print failure notification screen 220 includes an OK button 227.

[0061] For example, if the print settings for printing by user C exceed the print count limit set for user C and color is set to color / monochrome, the printer 2 determines that printing cannot be executed. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 obtains a notification indicating that printing has been canceled, the usage conditions of user C, and the determination result from the printer 2. Based on this information, the auxiliary program 42 displays the print failure notification screen 220 on the user IF 13.

[0062] That is, the auxiliary program 42 displays the processing result 221 indicating that the printer 2 has cancelled the printing to the user IF 13, such as "Printing has failed! Please try again."

[0063] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 displays information based on the usage conditions of the user C received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in the first display field 223, and notifies the user C of how the print settings are restricted in the printer 2. For example, the auxiliary program 42 displays the user name "C" of the user C in the login name field of the first display field 223, and notifies the user C of the usage conditions. The auxiliary program 42 then displays "ON" and "Maximum 80 sheets" in the print count limit field, and notifies the user C that the number of sheets that can be printed at one time is limited to 80 sheets. The auxiliary program 42 also displays "0 pages" in the remaining pages to be printed field, and notifies the user that the number of sheets to be printed has exceeded the limit and therefore not even one sheet can be printed. For example, when the number of sheets to be printed is limited to 80 sheets, when printing 50 pages, 30 more sheets can be printed, so the auxiliary program 42 displays "30 pages" in the remaining pages to be printed field.

[0064] In addition, for example, the auxiliary program 42 displays "Not permitted" in the color printing field to notify that color printing is not available. In addition, for example, the auxiliary program 42 displays "Permitted" in the toner save OFF printing field in the first display field 223 to notify that printing without toner save setting is available.

[0065] Additionally, the auxiliary program 42 displays the number of printed sheets and color / monochrome that do not satisfy the usage conditions in the second display field 225. For example, the second display field 225 displays a message informing the user of the items that do not satisfy the usage conditions, such as "Number of printed sheets exceeded" or "Color printing not possible."

[0066] Therefore, user C can understand the cause of the print failure from the display of print failure notification screen 220, and can use this information to adjust print settings when retrying printing.

[0067] For example, when user C operates the OK button 227 on the print failure notification screen 220 via the user IF 13, as shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary program 42 passes a print cancel command to the general-purpose printing program 41 and ends the process.

[0068] On the other hand, when the auxiliary program 42 determines in the transmission determination process of A05 that the print job is to be transmitted without being associated with the user ID (alt: transmit the print job without being associated with the user ID), it generates print data (A51). The process of A51 is the same as the process of A11, so the description is omitted. The auxiliary program 42 attaches a command for instructing the execution of printing and print settings to the print data, and transmits it to the printer 2 (A52). That is, when the auxiliary program 42 cannot acquire the function information 21 from the printer 2 (S3: NO in FIG. 4), or when the auxiliary program 42 acquires the function information 21 but the acquired function information 21 includes information for disabling the restricted function (S5: NO in FIG. 4), it does not transmit the user ID to the printer 2 as in the conventional case. The printer 2 that receives the print data without the user ID executes printing (A53). In this case, there is no risk of a malfunction occurring in the printer 2 due to the transmission of an incompatible user ID.

[0069] On the other hand, if the auxiliary program 42 determines not to send the print job in the sending decision process of A05 (alt: do not send print job), it passes information to cancel the print job to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A61). For example, if the auxiliary program 42 cannot obtain a user ID or if printing is canceled during print settings, it does not send the print job to the printer 2.

[0070] As described above in detail, when a print instruction is given to the general-purpose printing program 41, the auxiliary program 42 in the first embodiment acquires a user ID via the OS 21 or the user IF 13 and associates the user ID with a print job. When the print job is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2, the printer 2 can extract usage conditions using the user ID acquired by the auxiliary program 42 and determine whether or not printing can be performed based on the extracted usage conditions. This makes it possible to manage whether or not the printer 2 can use a print job sent via the general-purpose printing program 41.

[0071] Second embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a printing system 500 according to the second embodiment. In this embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be described, and common points will be designated by the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. The printing system 500 includes a PC 1, a printer 2, and a management device 3.

[0072] The management device 3 is a device equipped with a communication function and a data storage function. The management device 3 is communicably connected to a plurality of printers including the printer 2 having a restriction function, for example, and collectively manages these printers. The management device 3 is, for example, a PC used by an administrator, or a server provided on a network.

[0073] The management device 3 includes a function information management DB 31 and a usage condition management DB 33. The function information management DB 31 stores information indicating the validity / invalidity of a restricted function in association with identification information of a printer connected to the management device 3. The usage condition management DB 33 is a database for managing the usage conditions set for a user for each printer connected to the management device 3. The usage condition management DB 33 stores a usage condition DB in association with the identification information of the printer. The usage condition DB is configured in the same manner as the usage condition DB 23 shown in FIG. 1. The management device 3 performs a process similar to the determination process (A22 in FIG. 3) described in the first embodiment.

[0074] The management device 3 stores the function information and the usage condition DB in the function information management DB 31 and the usage condition management DB 33 in association with the identification information of the printer 2. Therefore, the printer 2 of this embodiment does not include the function information 21 and the usage condition DB 23, thereby reducing the memory load.

[0075] In such a printing system, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire function information including information indicating whether a restriction function is enabled or disabled from the management device 3. That is, for example, when the printer 2 is selected in the print settings, the auxiliary program 42 transmits identification information of the printer 2 to the management device 3 via the communication IF 14 of the PC 1. When the management device 3 receives the identification information of the printer 2 from the PC 1, it extracts function information associated with the identification information of the printer 2 from the function information management DB 31 and transmits it to the PC 1. The auxiliary program 42 receives the function information transmitted from the management device 3 via the communication IF 14 and stores it in the memory 12. The printing system may be configured such that the auxiliary program 42 acquires function information including information indicating whether a restriction function is enabled or disabled from the printer 2.

[0076] Using the acquired function information, the auxiliary program 42 performs the processes S3 to S27 in Fig. 4. These processes have been described above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0077] When the printer 2 receives the print data with the user ID and the print settings from the auxiliary program 42, it requests the management device 3 to perform a judgment process. That is, the printer 2 transmits the user ID and the print settings received from the auxiliary program 42 to the management device 3 together with the identification information of the printer 2. When the management device 3 receives the identification information of the printer 2, it uses the identification information to identify the use condition DB corresponding to the printer 2 from the use condition management DB 33. Then, the management device 3 extracts the use conditions associated with the user ID received from the printer 2 from the identified use condition DB. Then, the management device 3 compares the extracted use conditions with the print settings received from the printer 2, and if the print settings satisfy all the use conditions, it judges that printing on the printer 2 is executable, and if the print settings do not satisfy all the use conditions, it judges that printing on the printer 2 is not executable. The management device 3 sends this judgment result back to the printer 2. If the judgment result received from the management device 3 is executable, the printer 2 executes printing, and if it is not executable, it cancels printing.

[0078] In this way, the management device 3 can centrally manage function information, including information indicating whether restriction functions are enabled or disabled, and usage conditions set by users for the printers under its management, making it easier to use common usage conditions across multiple printers.

[0079] Therefore, the auxiliary program 42 of the second embodiment obtains function information 21 including information indicating the enable / disable status of restricted functions from the management device 3, and thereby makes it possible to manage the availability of functions of the printer 2 according to the user for print jobs sent from a PC 1 incorporating a general-purpose printing program 41 standardized by the OS, as in the first embodiment.

[0080] It should be noted that the embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples and do not limit the present invention in any way. Therefore, the technology disclosed in this specification can be naturally improved and modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the technology. For example, the device connected to PC1 is not limited to a printer, but may be any device having a printing function, such as a multifunction device, a copier, or a fax machine. Furthermore, the number of printers connected to PC1 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be two or more.

[0081] For example, in the above embodiment, either the printer 2 or the management device 3 stores the function information 21 and the usage information, but the function information 21 may be stored in one of the printer 2 or the management device 3, and the usage conditions may be stored in the other of the printer 2 or the management device 3. Also, the printer 2 and the management device 3 may store the function information 21 and the usage conditions synchronously.

[0082] For example, the processes of S7 to S13 in Fig. 4 may be omitted. The auxiliary program 42 directly requests the user to input a user ID, thereby identifying the user who input the print command, and enabling printing based on the usage conditions appropriate for that user. Also, S9 and S11 may be omitted, and the user account acquired from the OS 21 may be acquired as the user ID by obtaining prior approval from the user, without the need to obtain consent each time. This can eliminate the need to enter a user ID.

[0083] 4 may be omitted, and the auxiliary program 42 may always perform the processes from S7 onwards when it receives an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41. However, if the function information 21 including information indicating that a restricted function is enabled is not acquired, the user ID is not sent to the printer 2, thereby eliminating the risk of a malfunction caused by a user ID that is not required for use of the printer 2.

[0084] 4 may be omitted, and the user ID may not be acquired by manual operation via the user IF 13. However, by directly requesting the user to input a user ID, the printer 2 that executes a print job associated with that user ID can execute printing based on the usage conditions according to the user who input the print instruction.

[0085] 4 may be omitted, and the user ID may be obtained only by manual operation. However, by obtaining the user account of the logged-in user from the OS 21 and using it as the user ID, the user can be saved from having to input the user ID.

[0086] 3 may be omitted so that the auxiliary program 42 does not notify the processing result of the printer 2 via the user IF 13. A34 may be omitted so that notification processing is performed only when printing has failed.

[0087] For example, the auxiliary program 42 may obtain function information for all printers connected to the PC 1, and when an execution instruction is received from the general-purpose printing program 41, the auxiliary program 42 may obtain function information corresponding to the printer selected in the print settings.

[0088] Also, for example, in the embodiment, only the printing operation is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have other roles. Also, the program that executes the process of the present embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, but may be any program that receives instructions from the OS 21 or the general-purpose print program 41 when printing is performed using the general-purpose print program 41. For example, it may be a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been made public by Microsoft.

[0089] Furthermore, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to that of the embodiment. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may receive an execution instruction directly from the OS 21, or may be a resident auxiliary program 42. If the auxiliary program 42 is resident, it is sufficient that the auxiliary program 42 performs the above-mentioned operation upon receiving an execution command.

[0090] In addition, in any of the flowcharts disclosed in the embodiments, the order of execution of multiple processes in any of the steps can be arbitrarily changed or the processes can be executed in parallel as long as no contradiction occurs in the process content.

[0091] The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be executed by a single CPU, multiple CPUs, hardware such as ASIC, or a combination of these. The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be realized in various forms, such as a recording medium having a program for executing the processes recorded thereon, or a method. [Explanation of symbols]

[0092] 1 PC 2. Printer 11 CPU 12. Memory 13 User Interface 21 OS 41 General purpose printing program 42 Support Programs 43 Editing Apps

Claims

1. A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device, the printer having a restriction function for determining whether or not printing can be performed based on usage conditions set by a user, The computer includes: executes a management information acquisition process for acquiring information indicating whether the restriction function of the printer is enabled; The computer further comprises: When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction instructs the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device, If the information indicating that the restriction function is valid is acquired in the management information acquisition process, An identification information acquisition process for acquiring identification information for identifying a user; a transmission process for performing a process of transmitting the print job of the print instruction to the printer in association with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process; the printer determines whether or not to permit printing based on the print job based on the usage conditions of the user identified by the identification information associated with the received print job; If the information indicating that the restriction function is valid is not acquired in the management information acquisition process, a process for transmitting the print job of the print instruction to the printer without executing the identification information acquisition process and the transmission process; A support program characterized by:

2. 2. A support program as claimed in claim 1, In the identification information acquisition process, displaying a screen for requesting input of the identification information using a user interface of the information processing device, and acquiring the identification information input via the user interface; A support program characterized by:

3. 2. A support program as claimed in claim 1, In the identification information acquisition process, inquiring of a login user to the operating system, and acquiring the identification information of the login user from the operating system; A support program characterized by:

4. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The computer includes: a result acquisition process for acquiring a processing result based on the print job in the printer after the print job is transmitted by the transmission process; a notification process of notifying the user of the acquired processing result using a user interface of the information processing device when the processing result is acquired in the result acquisition process; Execute the A support program characterized by:

5. A printer; a support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponding to the printer connected to the information processing device; A printing system having the printer has a restriction function that determines whether printing can be performed based on usage conditions set by a user; The support program is obtaining information indicating whether the restriction function of the printer is enabled; Furthermore, the support program When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction instructs the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device, If the information indicating that the restriction function of the printer is valid is obtained, Obtaining identification information that identifies a user; performing a process for transmitting the print job of the print instruction to the printer in association with the acquired identification information; The printer includes: determining whether or not to permit printing based on the received print job based on the usage conditions of the user identified by the identification information associated with the received print job; In addition, the support program When the print instruction is given, If the information indicating that the restriction function of the printer is valid is not obtained, not acquiring the identification information for identifying the user, not performing a process for transmitting the print job of the print instruction to the printer in association with the acquired identification information, and performing a process for transmitting the print job of the print instruction to the printer. A printing system comprising:

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