Information processing device

Abstract

To solve the problem of increasingly used cloud printing for performing printing using a printing system on a cloud, the problem being that clients cannot receive notification of errors occurring at printers as the clients do not directly perform printing using the printers.SOLUTION: Use of the present invention allows for receiving notification of errors occurring at devices even in cloud printing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for notifying information in printing through a server system. [Background technology]

[0002] Cloud printing such as Google Cloud Print is known (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2013-238924 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In such a cloud printing configuration, even if a printing error occurs on the image forming apparatus side, there is no known mechanism for notifying the user of the printing error. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention relates to a method for detecting status information of a printing device. Toner out information A print setting application stored in an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a cloud print service that receives a first acquisition request for acquiring a detailed status and transmits first status information, Information on remaining amount of each toner color A sending step of sending a second acquisition request to the cloud print service, to which an additional parameter for requesting information is added; a receiving step of receiving second status information, which is more detailed than the first status information, as a response to the second acquisition request; and and the first status information Based on The toner color that has run out The present invention is characterized by having the information processing device execute a notification step of issuing a notification. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the present application, notifications can be received even in a cloud print format in which it is not possible to receive information notifications directly from a printer. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] Hardware and software block diagram of a computer system [Diagram 2] Configuration diagram of a communication environment where clients and printers are connected [Diagram 3] Cloud print service configuration diagram [Figure 4] User notification destination management information [Diagram 5] An example of how notifications appear on a computer [Figure 6] Sequence diagram of registration process for client and cloud service notifications [Figure 7] Sequence diagram of information notification processing when printing [Figure 8] An example of print job data [Figure 9] An example of a print job attribute parameter [Figure 11] An example of the printer's internal information [Figure 10] Installed printers display [Figure 12] Sequence diagram for notifying events that occur in the cloud print service [Figure 13A] Example of displaying printer status information in a print extension app [Figure 13B] Example of displaying printer status information in a print extension app [Figure 14] Sequence diagram for obtaining and displaying printer status information from a print extension app [Figure 15] An example of printer status information [Figure 16] Sequence diagram of the process in which a print extension application communicates directly with a printer to obtain status information DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. EXAMPLES

[0009] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system using a general computer (information processing device) according to an embodiment of the present invention. A central processing unit (CPU) 101 controls the entire computer 100 according to a program stored in a read only memory (ROM) 1021 of a main storage device 102, a random access memory (RAM) 1022, or an auxiliary storage device 105. The RAM 1022 is also used as a work area when the CPU 101 performs each process. The auxiliary storage device 105 stores various programs such as an application (app) 1051, a device application (device app) 1052, a generic printer driver 1053, and an operating system (OS) 1054. Input devices such as a keyboard 1031 and a pointing device 1032 represented by a mouse, a touch panel, a touch pad, etc. are connected to the computer 100 through an input interface (I / F) 103. Operations on the program from the user are accepted through these input devices. An output device such as a monitor 1041 is connected to the output I / F 104, and a UI is displayed on the monitor according to instructions from the program. In addition, some terminals, such as smartphones and tablet terminals, have a pointing device 1032 and a monitor 1041 integrated together, but here, they are simply described as being separated by role, and of course they may be considered interchangeable. The communication I / F 106 is connected to a network 1061, and can communicate with external devices of the computer 100, such as the computer 1001, computer 1002, and printer (image forming device) 202 in FIG. 2. The above modules are connected by a system bus 107, and data can be exchanged between the modules. In addition, the applications 1051 to 1054 including the processing of the present invention can be added to the auxiliary storage device 105 via a CD-ROM or USB memory (not shown). They can also be added to the auxiliary storage device 105 via the network 1061. It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to any device configuration as long as the functions of the present invention are executed, unless otherwise specified.It may be a single device, a system made up of multiple devices, or a system in which processing is performed by connecting via a local network.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of the environment of the network 1061 in the embodiment of the present invention. The computer 100 / 1001 / 1002 that creates documents and images to be printed is connected to a single network or multiple networks. Furthermore, the printer 202 may be connected to a single network or multiple networks, or may be connected to the computer 100 / 1001 / 1002 via USB. In addition, the computer 100 is connected to a cloud print service 300 on the network, and can communicate with the printer 200 and printer 201 under the management of another network through the cloud print service 300. Networks include small to large networks such as personal area networks (PANs) and LANs, and these devices are connected to all networks. Note that servers and printers such as clouds may be connected via the Internet. The communication method in this case is not limited. For example, wireless LAN communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard, Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication, etc. are possible. Alternatively, a mobile phone line conforming to the International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) standard is also possible. Furthermore, in regards to USB, in addition to direct connection, it is also acceptable for the connection to be relayed via something like a USB hub or switch.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a server system 300 which is a cloud print service on a network. The cloud print service 300 is an internet cloud print service built on multiple server systems. In this embodiment, it is possible to connect to each intranet, and is connected to the computer 100 and the printer 200 via the internet. The cloud print service 300 manages accounts using an ID (user identification information) and a PASSWORD, and a user can access the cloud print service 300 using this account. In addition, a user-managed account may be linked to a login user of the OS 1054, or the application 1051 may perform a separate login authentication and, in a case where an authentication token is held because of a login, input of a separate ID and PASSWORD is not required.

[0012] FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the cloud print service 300. The cloud print service 300 is a service that exists on a cloud via the Internet and is capable of providing functions related to printing. In this embodiment, the cloud print service 300 has an operation control unit 301, a storage unit 302, a print processing unit 303, an image processing unit 304, an authentication control unit 305, a print service control unit 306, a user management control unit 307, and a print notification control unit 308. These functions may also be provided by other cloud print services that cooperate with the cloud print service 300. The following description will be given using the printer 200 as an example, but the same processing can also be implemented for the printers 201 and 202 that can be connected to the cloud print service 300.

[0013] Here, the operation control unit 301 displays an operation screen that can directly access the cloud environment, or an operation menu through a web browser or an application compatible with the cloud print service 300. Then, it waits for an instruction input from a user and transfers the instruction content to another control unit.

[0014] The storage unit 302 stores designated data in a storage area managed on the cloud or reads out stored data in response to an instruction from another control unit. Examples of data managed by the storage unit 302 include print data such as print jobs, user account information, and authentication information for logging in to the cloud print service 300.

[0015] A print processing unit 303 validates print settings of a print job, converts content data to be printed into a format that can be interpreted by each environment or printer, and transfers the data.

[0016] An image processing unit 304 performs processing for rendering image data or intermediate data for printing of a print job.

[0017] The authentication control unit 305 performs authentication using an ID and PASSWORD, login control using cookies in a browser, authentication processing using authentication tokens in an application, etc. Any other method may be used as long as it is a mechanism that allows sharing of a login session, such as single sign-on.

[0018] The print service control unit 306 interprets print requests received from the computer 100, stores the print job together with management data such as when and from which user the print was received, sends the print job to the printer 200, and receives notifications at that time.

[0019] The user management control unit 307 handles information for managing users. For example, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the user name being authenticated and information on the connected device are handled. The user name here refers to the ID of the user who performed the login authentication. In the case of a guest account, it may be a temporary assigned ID, a shared ID, or an ID assigned by default processing such as "Unknown". The password is described as a passphrase for the user to perform authentication, but it may be pattern authentication performed by tracing the screen with a mouse or touch operation, image authentication, biometric authentication, or data or a link corresponding to authentication token information of the target application. The group information corresponds to information on the company or department to which the user belongs. The terminal information is information that identifies the terminal that the user is accessing. In this embodiment, the MAC address of the network card used by the terminal for connection is given as an example. In addition, any type of information that can uniquely identify the terminal may be used, such as the volume serial number of the hard disk or an ID value if it can be obtained from the OS, or SIM information or terminal serial number if it is a mobile terminal. In addition, in the case of iOS, identification information such as identifierForVendor(IDFV) or AdvertisingIdentifier may be used. In this embodiment, the access destination information indicates an IP address, but the type of information may be any information such as a link or URI that can be accessed on a specific terminal.

[0020] The print notification control unit 308 performs processing to issue notifications regarding printing. It also holds information related to the communication device that has permitted notifications, such as the user ID, authentication information, the hardware ID (HWID) of the printer to be printed, the IP address of the user terminal, and application information.

[0021] In this embodiment, the computer 100 prints to the printer 200 via the cloud print service 300. Furthermore, the computer 100 receives a notification of a notification event that has occurred in the printer 200, such as an error, from the cloud print service 300, and performs display processing of the notification screen 501 in FIG.

[0022] In this case, when sending a notification on the client computer 100, accepting communication with the cloud print service 300, which is an unknown connection destination, may not be permitted by default due to security concerns. For this reason, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence for registering the client computer 100 with the cloud print service 300 and registering it so that it can accept notifications of information in order to send a notification. Note that if a mechanism for receiving notifications from the cloud print service 300 is built into the OS 1054 from the beginning, this is not necessarily required. Also, if notifications are received using the functions of a browser, a method such as "launching the browser and logging in" may be used as an alternative to waiting for notifications.

[0023] First, the computer 100 generates a URI for a notification channel (601). For example, the URI is one that can be accessed by the client computer 100, such as http: / / user01@test.pc.com:8080 / SampleService.

[0024] Next, the generated URI is registered in the computer 100 (602). At this time, if permission for notification is required for the application or service used for the notification, permission is also given. Note that this may be done at any timing, such as when a setting is made to prompt the user with a question such as "Do you want to allow the notification?" when a notification is issued.

[0025] The registered URI is transmitted from the computer 100 to the cloud print service 300 (603), and the cloud print service 300 also saves the URI and registers it (604). Through these operations, a channel for communication is established.

[0026] Thereafter, at any time, the cloud print service 300 notifies the computer 100 of the information (605).

[0027] FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a process in which the computer 100 receives an information notification during printing.

[0028] First, an example of how to hold print job data will be described with reference to FIG. 8. First, "priority" refers to the priority for scheduling a job. Here, for example, a value between 1 and 100 is specified, with 100 being the highest priority, to control the print order of each job. Details are not important as long as the operation is performed under an appropriate rule, such as "not giving a higher priority than that given." "Number of copies" refers to the number of copies of a print job. "Print settings" stores settings required for printing, such as color and double-sided designation, media information, finishing information, and image quality information such as print quality and resolution. This setting can be structured text format data such as XML format such as XPS or PrintTicket, or binary format print setting data such as Devmode. "Print content" can be Page Description Language (PDL) data such as XPS or PDF, or simple text or image data, or a form that includes a reference to document data, or it can be vendor-specific as long as it can be interpreted at the transfer destination. In addition, the "attribute parameters" are parameters that exist for the exchange of processing during printing, separate from the data required for direct printing. The attribute parameters will be described with reference to FIG. 9. These attribute parameters are sent in the form of being added to the print job together with the print data. In this embodiment, the job attribute parameters are those related to the "operation attributes" and those related to the "job object attributes". In this embodiment, the "extended attributes" are also defined in addition. The status code of the operation attributes is used for the overall exchange. For example, the operation was successfully executed (successful), further operation is required (redirection), the job cannot be executed (client-error), and the execution of a request that seems valid failed (server-error). The language code of the operation attributes indicates the language and character code used for communication. The ID of the job object attribute is a number or GUID to uniquely identify the job. The status of the job object attribute indicates the status of the object.Some specific examples are "pending", "processing", "paused but will resume once the cause is resolved" (processing-stopped), "cancelled" by a Cancel-Job operation, etc. Other examples include "ended due to a system error" (abort), "job successful" (completed), etc. The status message attribute of a job object is an area where any text data can be written and is used to describe the contents of the message.

[0029] Next, the extended attribute is related to the message notification used in this embodiment. The "extended attribute (management information)" corresponds to the client computer 100 that notifies the message, and each has been explained in the example of FIG. 4, so details will be omitted. Below, supplementary information will be given on each parameter of the "extended attribute (notification information)". The "information type" is the type of information, such as "error", "warning", and "information". The "notification message" is text data of the contents to be notified. The "notification destination" is information that specifies the notification destination, such as "user name" when specifying a user, "group information" when specifying a group, and "access destination" such as IP address when specifying a terminal. The "notification range" specifies the range to be notified, such as "terminal", "user", "group", and "all terminals". For example, by specifying the "notification range" as "user" and the "notification destination" as "user01", in the case of FIG. 4, it is specified that the message is sent to the top two terminals managed by "user01". Additionally, by setting the "Notification range" to "Group" and the "Notification destination" to "Group001," notifications will be sent to all devices logged in in the "Group001" organization.

[0030] First, a job is generated (701) to perform printing processing from the computer 100. Here, a process is performed to convert print setting information, including "double-sided" and "color" required for printing, and data to be printed into data that can be interpreted by the cloud print service 300, which is the destination, or intermediate data. The converted result is called a job. At this time, the print destination is specified for the virtual printer of the cloud print service 300. This virtual printer is one of the printing functions provided by the cloud print service 300. If a user logs into the cloud environment, it can be searched and added from the Add Printer button 1001 in FIG. 10 through a service system such as Active Directory, just like a normal printer. Also, like other printers, the virtual printer has a "device name", a "HWID" that is a unique ID that the printer has, and "connection port" information of the printer, as shown in FIG. 11. Note that in this embodiment, the "connection port" information is specified as an IP address, but a WSD port such as "WSD-12345678-abcd-efgh-ab1234567890" may be specified. The destination address may be the address of the cloud system itself or a virtually assigned address. From the computer's OS and applications, it appears in the same form as a normal physical printer, like the virtual printer 1002 in FIG. 10, and printing is performed by sending a print job to it in the same way as a normal printer. In this embodiment, a job is sent to the printer 200 by performing a print process on the virtual printer 1002 (i.e., sending the job). However, there is also another method in which a print job is temporarily saved in the cloud print service 300 and printed at a different time. When using this other method, the user logs on to the cloud print service 300 that provides the virtual printer of the printer 200 with a browser or the like, displays his or her print jobs, selects the print job he or she wants to print from the displayed print jobs, and issues a print instruction.

[0031] In step 702, user identification information is generated. This refers to information used by the user management control unit 307 of the cloud print service 300, such as group information and terminal information in FIG. 4 that are attached to the print job. Here, information such as "user name", "password", and "group information" is obtained by inquiring of the cloud print service 300 based on the registration information when logging in to the cloud print service 300. Alternatively, it is generated based on authentication information stored in the system of the computer 100 or the setting information unit of the corresponding application. In addition, information on "terminal information" and "access destination" is used from the computer 100 used to connect to the cloud print service 300. In normal cloud printing, the print session ends when printing is performed, so the cloud print service 300 cannot identify the computer 100 that printed unless a print management screen is called up separately with a browser or the like. In other words, the computer 100 was unable to obtain information such as details of the print process, including errors that occurred, from the cloud print service 300 after sending the print job. However, by using this information here, it becomes possible for the cloud print service 300 to identify the terminal to be notified, such as the computer 100.

[0032] After that, in the process of step 703, waiting for notifications is started so that notifications can be received from the cloud print service 300. In addition to waiting using the OS mechanism or service, when receiving information notifications using the functions of a browser, processing such as "launching a browser with an established login session and going into standby mode" may also be used.

[0033] After the job and user identification information are generated, the client computer 100 compiles this information and transmits it to the cloud print service 300 (704).

[0034] The cloud print service 300 that received the print job extracts print content data from the received print job and converts it into data that can be interpreted by the printer 200 that is the print destination (705). At this time, the cloud print service 300 returns a response to the print job request (706). Next, the cloud print service 300 that received the print job acquires information for identifying the client information of the notification destination, such as "group information," "terminal information," and "access destination," which correspond to the "extended information (management information)" in FIG. 9, from the attribute parameter information of the print job. The acquired information is associated with job information such as a job ID (job identification information that identifies the job) and is registered in the storage unit 302 of the cloud print service 300 (707). The print job is sent to the printer 200, and a print processing request is made (708). At this time, the terminal information and access destination that are the transmission destination of the print job are switched to the printer 200, and the job ID and status are updated to the latest ones as necessary. Furthermore, if the print content is in a format that cannot be accepted by the printer 200, the print content is converted into a format that can be interpreted by the printer 200.

[0035] The printer 200 that has received the print process request performs the print process (709), and if any notification event occurs here (710), the printer 200 notifies the cloud print service 300 of the information. An example of a notification event that occurs here is an error that occurs during printing. When a notification event occurs, the printer 200 acquires the information of the "extended attribute (notification information)" in FIG. 9 described above, and notifies the cloud print service 300 of the information (711). This notification is made as a response to a print request from the cloud print service 300. Note that the print job is held in the cloud print service 300 from the time the print process (709) is performed until printing is completed or canceled. In addition, when a completion notification is received, the print job on the cloud print service 300 is deleted.

[0036] The cloud print service 300 that has received the information notification notifies the client computer 100 of the received information (712). At this time, the notification destination is determined based on the "notification range" and "notification destination" information stored in the printer 200 (such as "notification is sent to user01" because the "notification range" is "user" and the "notification destination" is "user01"). The physical notification destination device, such as the computer 100, is identified by comparing this information with the information in FIG. 4. At this time, if the printer 200 does not support extended attributes, the cloud print service 300 may perform the following process according to a rule that has been determined in advance. That is, the "extended attribute (notification information)" information may be stored based on print job error information or information obtained by performing a separate, unique communication process.

[0037] Based on the last received information, the computer 100 displays the notification screen 501 (713).

[0038] By carrying out the above processing, notification information is displayed when the cloud print service is executed.

[0039] As a supplementary note, the notification events that occur on printer 200 have been explained using errors during printing as an example, but even if the printing ends normally, if there is information that you want to notify the user about, such as "toner or paper is running low," that can also be used as a notification event. EXAMPLES

[0040] In the first embodiment, the notification of an error or the like that occurs in the printer 200 during printing in the cloud print service 300 has been described, but the cloud print service 300 may also need to notify some information. For example, in the first embodiment, the print settings in the print job are not changed, and a print instruction is sent to the printer 200 as is. However, there may be cases where the cloud print service 300 supports print settings with higher functionality, or has additional print services. In such cases, since the cloud print service 300 has additional print settings associated with the additional functions, there is a possibility that a conflict occurs between the settings of the existing print job and the additional print settings. Even if there are no additional functions, the cloud print service 300 may be able to verify print settings in more detail than the client computer 100 that has only standard functions. In such cases, since it is possible to predict that an error will occur without even sending a print job to the printer 200, the cloud print service 300 notifies the error information.

[0041] Fig. 12 is a sequence diagram of a process for notifying an event that occurs in the cloud print service 300. Note that the basic flow of generating a job is similar to that of the sequence in Fig. 7, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0042] If the cloud print service 300 that received the job transmission (705) has an extended function that the print job does not have, it adds the setting information (1201). Note that if the user needs to specify additional settings here, the user may launch a separate application or web browser to make the settings.

[0043] Next, the job setting information is validated (1202). At this time, the cloud print service 300 may obtain additional data for validation by communicating with a separate service or the printer 200.

[0044] If a problem occurs as a result of the verification, a notification is sent to the client computer 100 (1203). The computer 100 that receives the notification displays a notification screen 501 (1204). At this time, by clicking on the notification screen 501, a setting screen for correcting the setting where the problem occurred may be displayed.

[0045] By carrying out the above processing, it becomes possible to notify of errors detected on the cloud print service. EXAMPLES

[0046] In the first embodiment, an error that occurred in the printer 200 during printing was received via the cloud print service 300, and the error information was notified to the computer 100. However, in the first embodiment, the notification from the printer 200 could only be received at the timing of printing.

[0047] In this embodiment, a process for adding unique setting items to the standard printing function of the OS 1054 and acquiring printer status information from a print extension application that adds a notification function will be described. This print extension application will be described in the present application on the assumption that it is basically saved and operated as a device application 1052 of the computer 100. However, it may be incorporated by adding or overwriting a module of the generic printer driver 1053 of the computer 100, or it may be introduced as an application 1051 and its functions may be called via the generic printer driver.

[0048] Next, an operation of acquiring the status of the printer 200 by the print extension app of the computer 100, which is an overview of the present invention, will be described. First, the print extension app has a screen as shown in FIG. 13, and is called by operating a button or link such as "Perform detailed settings" during printing. After starting, in order for the print extension app to acquire the status of the printer 200, first, the information acquisition button 1301 in FIG. 13A is pressed to acquire the status of the printer 200 through the cloud print service 300. The acquired information is called in the form of a modal message or toast notification called from the print extension app as in message 1302 in FIG. 13A, or is notified to the user in the form of a display 1303 on the screen of the print extension app. In addition, if the setting screen is Web-based, the status may be notified by a page transition to a screen for displaying the results.

[0049] From now, the details of the entire process will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 14. First, a request to acquire status information, such as pressing the information acquisition button 1301 of FIG. 13A, is accepted on the print extension application of the computer 100 (1401). Here, a direct instruction from the user is taken as an example, but it may be called at a predetermined timing determined by the print extension application, such as when the print extension application is started or after a certain period of time has elapsed. In addition, the acquisition of status information may be triggered by an event from outside the print extension application. For example, if authentication has not been performed by the cloud print service 300 when the print extension application is started, the status may be acquired when the user is able to log in to the system of the cloud print service 300. In addition, the acquisition of status may be triggered by an event such as an information update from the cloud print service 300.

[0050] When the information acquisition button 1301 is pressed, a request to acquire status information is sent (1402). Here, a request is made to acquire status information such as "Ready" or "Stopped" of the printer 200 owned by the cloud print service 300. Note that since the cloud print service 300 only defines the status of a standard printer, it may not be possible to acquire detailed information that varies depending on the printer. The detailed information referred to here is, for example, detailed information such as "red and blue toner are out" for the status definition of "out of toner" that is standard for the cloud print service 300. Here, it is assumed that a request to acquire information including such detailed information is issued, but if the system does not implicitly support acquisition of detailed information, additional parameters may be added to the request to acquire information, or a special request for acquiring detailed information may be sent.

[0051] The cloud print service 300 that has received the request to obtain information transmits a request similar to the received request to obtain information to the printer 200 (1403). If the cloud print service 300 already has the status of the printer 200, it simply notifies the computer 100 of the status information (1406).

[0052] The printer 200 that has received the request to obtain information generates status information. The status information here refers to, for example, the standard status 1501 in FIG. 15 plus the detailed status 1502. For example, the standard status information 1501 refers to information that is generally recognized as a common standard, such as the printer status "Stopped," the cause "ink / Toner Empty," and the detailed description "ink / toner are running out." The detailed status 1502 refers to information that is not present in the standard status information 1501, including the remaining amount of each toner expressed as a percentage. In addition, details of information that would be defined as "Other" in the definition of the standard status information 1501 may be stored. In addition, in order to realize a process such as "I want to display the entire status of the printer 200 on the computer 100," the detailed status information 1502 may include statuses that are not displayed (for example, problems other than toner, such as "jam has occurred"), etc.

[0053] After generating the status information, the printer 200 notifies the cloud print service 300 of the generated information (1405), and the cloud print service 300 notifies the computer 100 of the received information (1406).

[0054] Finally, the information notified by the computer 100 is displayed in the form shown in Fig. 13. At this time, for example, the standard status information 1501 of "Toner Out" and the detailed status information 1502 of "Red Toner Remaining: 0%" and "Blue Toner Remaining: 0%" may be processed to process the information acquired by the print extension application side into "Red and blue toners are out."

[0055] By performing the above processing, the status information of the printer 200 registered in the cloud print service 300 is displayed by the print extension application.

[0056] The processing from step 1408 onwards is related to this case, so it will be described as supplementary. First, the processing up to step 1407 was a request for status information from the computer 100 on the user side, but this processing will be described with respect to the processing in which a notification is sent from the printer side. This processing is not very effective when displaying the status on a general setting screen that is only opened temporarily during printing, but it is assumed that the printing extension application operates in the background and has a mechanism for receiving a notification and displaying a message, or has a function for continuously monitoring the status. Note that, as a prerequisite for this processing, it is assumed that the printing extension application has registered a notification channel in advance by performing the same processing as in FIG. 6 so that it can receive events from the outside. Of course, it is also acceptable if notification channel information is incorporated separately in the printing extension application.

[0057] Next, specific processing will be described. First, when a change in the device state, such as an error occurring in the printer 200 or rebooting, is detected (1408), status information is generated (1409) in the same manner as in the processing in step 1404.

[0058] After that, the printer 200 notifies the cloud print service 300 of the information (1410), and the cloud print service 300 that has received the notification notifies the computer 100 of the information (1412).

[0059] The print extension application of the computer 100 that finally received the notification displays the notification information (1412).

[0060] By performing the above processing, it becomes possible to display status information on the print extension application of the computer 100 in response to the occurrence of a status update event of the printer 200.

[0061] In the above process, the status information of the printer 200 is obtained from the cloud print service 300, but there are cases where the status information cannot be obtained because the printer 200 does not support communication of status information using a communication method defined by the cloud print service 300. Therefore, in FIG. 16, a process for obtaining status information by having the print extension application of the computer 100 directly communicate with the printer 200 will be described.

[0062] First, the print extension application of the computer 100 issues a request to the cloud print service 300 to obtain information including connection destination information for communicating with the printer 200, such as the IP address, URI, and device name of the printer 200 (1601).

[0063] Upon receiving the request, the cloud print service 300 transmits information about the printer 200 to the computer 100 (1602).

[0064] The print extension application, having acquired the printer information, acquires from there information required for connecting to the printer (1603), and based on that information issues a request to acquire status information to the printer 200 (1604).

[0065] Upon receiving the request to obtain status information, the printer 200 generates status information (1605). This process is the same as step 1404 in Fig. 14, so details are omitted.

[0066] After that, the printer 200 transmits (1606) the generated status information to the computer 100. Note that the data transmitted at this time may be data conforming to a vendor-specific standard other than the data described in this application.

[0067] Finally, the print extension application that has acquired the status information displays the notification information in the same manner as in step 1407 in FIG. 14 (1607).

[0068] By performing the above processing, the print extension application can directly communicate with the printer 200 and display the status information of the printer 200.

[0069] (Other Examples) The present invention can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more of the functions.

Claims

1. A print setting application stored in an information processing device capable of communicating with a cloud print service that receives a first acquisition request for acquiring information on a toner shortage, which is status information of a printing device, and transmits the first status information, a transmission step of transmitting a second acquisition request to the cloud print service, the second acquisition request being the first acquisition request to which an additional parameter for requesting detailed status information, i.e., remaining amount information of each toner color, is added; a receiving step of receiving second status information, the second status information being more detailed than the first status information, as a response to the second acquisition request; a notification step of notifying the user of the toner color that has run out of toner based on the second status information and the first status information received in the receiving step; and an application that is executed by the information processing device.

2. the first status information is information regarding a remaining amount of recording material of the printing device registered in the cloud print service, 2. The application according to claim 1, wherein the second status information is information about a color of a recording material corresponding to the first status information.

3. The application according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cloud print service receives the second acquisition request, transmits the second acquisition request to the printing device, and transmits a response to the second acquisition request to the information processing device.

4. A display step of displaying a print setting screen including a predetermined object is further included, 4. The application according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting step transmits the second acquisition request based on the selection of the predetermined object.

5. A method for controlling an information processing device, the method being realized by executing a print setting application stored in the information processing device, the information processing device being capable of transmitting print data to a cloud print service that receives a first request for acquiring information on a toner shortage, which is status information of a printing device, and transmits the first status information, the method comprising: a transmission step of transmitting a second acquisition request to the cloud print service, the second acquisition request being the first acquisition request to which an additional parameter for requesting the remaining amount of each toner color, which is detailed status information, has been added; a receiving step of receiving second status information, the second status information being more detailed than the first status information, as a response to the second acquisition request; a notification step of notifying a user of a toner color that has run out of toner based on the second status information and the first status information received in the receiving step.

6. the first status information is information regarding a remaining amount of recording material of the printing device registered in the cloud print service, 6. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the second status information is information about a color of a recording material corresponding to the first status information.

7. The control method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the cloud print service receives the second acquisition request, transmits the second acquisition request to the printing device, and transmits a response to the second acquisition request to the information processing device.

8. A display step of displaying a print setting screen including a predetermined object is further included, 8. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the transmission step transmits the second acquisition request based on the selection of the predetermined object.

9. An information processing device capable of transmitting print data to a cloud print service, a transmission means for transmitting a first request to the cloud print service to acquire information on toner shortage, which is status information of a printing device; a receiving means for receiving first status information from the cloud print service as a response to the first acquisition request; a notification means for performing a notification based on the received first status information, The transmission means transmits a second acquisition request to the cloud print service, the second acquisition request being the first acquisition request to which an additional parameter is added for requesting remaining amount information of each toner color, which is detailed status information, in accordance with control of a print setting application stored in the information processing device; the receiving means receives second status information, which is more detailed than the first status information, in response to the second acquisition request; The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification means notifies the user of the toner color that has run out based on the received second status information and the received first status information.

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