Support Program and Printing System

Abstract

To provide a technique capable of executing print restriction and reducing labor and time in temporarily permitting the release of the print restriction in an information processor with a general-purpose printing program of OS standard built in.SOLUTION: By using an auxiliary program 42 started from a standard general-purpose printing program 41 on an OS 21, a PC 1 receives an input of a release instruction for instructing the release of print restriction when an applicable condition of the print restriction is satisfied, transmits request information requiring the release of the print restriction using destination information showing an electronic device 3 of an administrator, and receives response information against the transmitted request information. The electronic device 3 can reply response information showing whether or not the release of the print restriction is permitted. The PC 1 executes processing by applying the print restriction when the release instruction is not input, and executes processing for transmitting print data based on print setting of a print instruction to a printer 2 when response information of permitting the release of the print restriction is received,.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program for supporting printer control and a printing system.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, a technology for controlling a printer by a printing program incorporated as a standard in an operating system (OS) without using the aforementioned printer driver has been put into practical use. In this technology, the OS associates the printer with the OS-standard printing program, and thereafter, when a printing instruction for the printer is received, printing can be performed by the OS-standard printing program without using the printer driver.

[0003] Further, as a technology for controlling a printer from an information processing device such as a personal computer, a configuration is known in which a printing restriction function for restricting printing to printing based on a predetermined printing setting is provided to achieve operation with the same printing setting. For example, in Patent Document 1, a system administrator describes the printing setting to be enforced in an installation setting file, provides the user with an installation package in which the installation setting file is included, and the user installs a printer driver using the installation package, whereby a print queue corresponding to the printer driver in which the printing setting to be enforced is reflected is generated in the information processing device.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] As described above, there is a technology that forces the use with the same printing settings by the printer driver. However, even in such a case, the user may sometimes desire to print with different printing settings temporarily. In that case, the user needs to contact the administrator and request the release of the printing restriction, and the administrator needs to perform the operation to release the printing restriction and the subsequent operation to restore it, so both are time-consuming. Even when attempting to implement printing restrictions using the above-described OS-standard general-purpose printing program, there are similar issues and room for improvement.

[0006] This specification discloses a technique for reducing the effort required when it is possible to impose printing restrictions in an information processing apparatus incorporating an OS-standard general-purpose printing program and further allowing the temporary release of the printing restrictions.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0007] A support program made for the purpose of solving the above-described problems is executable by a computer of an information processing apparatus, corresponds to a printer connected to the information processing apparatus, and supports a general-purpose printing program pre-installed in the operating system of the information processing apparatus. The computer is provided with a print instruction output from an editing application program incorporated in the information processing apparatus, the print instruction causing the general-purpose printing program to perform image printing on the printer. When the computer further satisfies the application conditions of a print restriction that restricts printing based on the print settings specified in the print instruction, the computer performs a destination acquisition process of acquiring destination information indicating a destination receivable by a specific device that is an administrator's device, a reception process of receiving an input of a release instruction for instructing the release of the print restriction via a user interface of the information processing apparatus, a transmission process of transmitting, when the input of the release instruction is received in the reception process, a request information for requesting the release of the print restriction using the destination information acquired in the destination acquisition process, and a reception process of receiving response information indicating a response to the request information transmitted in the transmission process. In the specific device that has received the request information, it is possible to return the response information indicating whether or not to permit the release of the print restriction. Further, when the release instruction is not input, the computer is caused to perform a process of applying the print restriction, and when the response information indicating permission to release the print restriction is received in the reception process, the computer is caused to perform a process of not applying the print restriction and transmitting print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction to the printer. This is the gist of the invention.

[0008] According to the support program disclosed in this specification, when an information processing apparatus satisfies the application conditions of print restrictions, it accepts the input of a release instruction by the user, and when the release instruction is accepted, it requests the administrator to release the print restrictions from the support program. When the information processing apparatus receives response information indicating permission to release for that request, the print restrictions are not applied, and print data based on the print settings of the print instruction is transmitted to the printer. That is, there is a possibility that the user can release the print restrictions simply by inputting a release instruction. On the other hand, in the administrator's device, it is possible to return response information indicating permission or non - permission to release in response to the request received from the support program. The administrator can also temporarily release the print restrictions for that information processing apparatus simply by responding to the request transmitted from the user's information processing apparatus. Therefore, for both the user and the administrator, the operation for temporarily releasing the print restrictions is simple, and the trouble when temporarily permitting printing with print settings other than the automatic print settings can be reduced.

[0009] A printing system including the above - mentioned support program, an information processing apparatus in which the support program is incorporated, a computer - readable storage medium storing the support program, and a control method for realizing the functions of the support program are also novel and useful.

Advantages of the Invention

[0010] According to the technology disclosed in this specification, in an information processing apparatus in which a general - purpose printing program compliant with the OS standard is incorporated, it is possible to impose print restrictions, and furthermore, a technology is realized that reduces the trouble when temporarily permitting the release of print restrictions.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011]

Figure 1

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments in which the support program is embodied will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment discloses a printing system 100 including a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") 1 that uses a support program, a printer 2 having a printing function, and an electronic device 3.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment 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. Further, the PC 1 includes a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as "communication IF") 14, and these are electrically connected to the controller 10. Note that the controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a general term for the hardware and software used for the control of the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware actually existing in the PC 1.

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

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

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

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the memory 12 of the PC 1 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") 21 including a general-purpose printing program 41, an auxiliary program 42, an editing app 43, and restriction information 44. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing app 43 is an example of an editing application program. The OS 21 is a multitasking OS that can manage and switch between a plurality of tasks to process the plurality of tasks in parallel, and is, for example, any one of Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), and Android (registered trademark).

[0018] The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS-standard program for causing various printers such as printer 2 to execute printing based on a user's instruction. The general-purpose printing program 41 in this embodiment is a program including a function of generating intermediate image data based on the image data to be printed. The intermediate image data is, for example, XPS data.

[0019] The general-purpose printing program 41 supports functions that can be commonly used by a plurality of types of printers models provided by various printer vendors. The general-purpose printing program 41 does not correspond to all the functions that each type of printer uniquely has, and the supported functions are limited to general-purpose ones.

[0020] The auxiliary program 42 is a program or a group of programs that execute processing based on an instruction from the OS 21 accompanying 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, for example, when receiving an instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the general-purpose printing program 41. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviation, HSA).

[0021] The auxiliary program 42 can receive a plurality of types of instructions from the general-purpose printing program 41 and execute various processes based on the received instructions. Note that the auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of a plurality of programs each of which receives an execution instruction, or may be a single program that can execute different processes according to instructions.

[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 respectively. When a new printer is connected to the PC1, the OS 21 of the PC1 downloads an appropriate auxiliary program from the server of the printer vendor etc. according to the type of the connected printer and incorporates it into the PC1. Then, the OS 21 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 an auxiliary program prepared not only for each type of printer but also for each model of the printer or for each series of printer models.

[0023] The editing application 43 is an application for creating and editing, for example, image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, Word (registered trademark) or PowerPoint (registered trademark) manufactured by Microsoft (registered trademark), or may be an application provided by the vendor of the printer 2. The editing application 43 receives a print execution instruction to execute printing on the printer 2, for example, via the user IF 13.

[0024] The restriction information 44 is information indicating print restrictions applied when printing on the printer 2 using the general-purpose print program 41, and is set, for example, by the administrator of the printing system 100. The print restriction in this embodiment is a restriction on the print settings specified in the print instruction for printing on the printer 2, and the restriction information 44 is information that limits the allowable setting values for a predetermined item of the print settings, for example.

[0025] The restriction information 44 of this embodiment is set for each user who uses the printing system 100. In the restriction information 44, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the per-user restriction setting 441 and the automatic process 442 are stored in association with the user ID that identifies the user. The restriction setting 441 is a set value whose use is restricted by a print instruction from the user. The automatic process 442 is information on a process that the auxiliary program 42 automatically performs when the set value corresponding to the restriction setting 441 is included in the print settings specified by the received print instruction. The automatic process 442 is a process for changing print settings or a print prohibition process. Note that the PC1 of this embodiment is a device shared by a plurality of users, and identifies the user in use by accepting the user's login. Details of the restriction information 44 will be described later.

[0026] The printer 2 of this embodiment is a device having a printing function. The PC1 can communicate with the printer 2 via the communication IF14. The printer 2 can execute printing based on the received print data, for example, when receiving print data from the PC1 or the like.

[0027] The electronic device 3 of this embodiment is, for example, a portable device, has a communication function for communicating with the PC1, and is a device used by an administrator who manages print restrictions in the printing system 100. The electronic device 3 is an example of a specific device. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 3 includes a controller 30 including a CPU and a memory, and a response program 31 is incorporated in the controller 30. Further, the electronic device 3 includes a user IF33 and a communication IF34, and these are electrically connected to the controller 30. The electronic device 3 can communicate with the PC1 via the communication IF34. The electronic device 3 and the printer 2 may or may not be able to communicate with each other.

[0028] Next, the printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 in this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows the operations of each program when the editing application 43 or the like receives a print instruction to cause the general-purpose printing program 41 to perform printing on the printer 2.

[0029] Note that each processing step of the processing and flowchart in this embodiment basically shows the processing of the CPU 11 according to the instructions described in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. The processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the detailed description of the OS 21 is omitted and the operations of each program are described. Also, "acquisition" is used as a concept that does not require a request.

[0030] The editing application 43 receives creation and editing of text, charts, etc. based on a user's instruction. Then, when the editing application 43 receives a print execution instruction to cause the general-purpose printing program 41 to perform printing of an image based on the selected text, etc. on the printer 2 (A11), it passes the print instruction to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A12). The general-purpose printing program 41 acquires information indicating the image data of the image to be printed and information indicating the print settings in the print instruction.

[0031] The general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the received print instruction into the format of the intermediate image data (A13), and generates a print job including the intermediate image data. The image data included in the editing application 43 is of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. If the image data included in the print instruction is data suitable for generating print data, the generation of the intermediate image data may be omitted and it may be used as the intermediate image data as it is.

[0032] The general-purpose printing program 41 further outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 (A14) and operates the auxiliary program 42. In the execution instruction, the intermediate image data generated at A13 and the information on the printing settings specified by the user in the printing instruction received at A11 are passed to the auxiliary program 42. That is, the auxiliary program 42 acquires, at A14, the image data indicating the image to be printed and the information on the printing settings specified in the printing instruction from the OS 21. A14 is an example of the image acquisition process.

[0033] The auxiliary program 42 acquires a user ID indicating the user using the PC 1 (A15). The user ID is, for example, the user name and is identification information for identifying the user. The auxiliary program 42 may acquire, for example, the user ID of the logged-in user from the OS 21, or may inquire the user at A15 and accept the input of the user ID.

[0034] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 acquires the restriction information 44 from the memory 12 (A16). The auxiliary program 42 determines whether there are printing settings to be restricted based on the restriction information 44 (A17). Specifically, the auxiliary program 42 determines whether there is a restriction setting 441 set for the user of the user ID acquired at A15, and if so, further determines whether the setting value in the printing settings acquired from the general-purpose printing program 41 at A14 matches the setting value set in the restriction setting 441. If there is an item where the printing settings and the restriction setting 441 match, the auxiliary program 42 determines that it is a restriction target. The condition for setting the restriction information 44 corresponding to the user ID is an example of the application condition, and A17 is an example of the determination process.

[0035] For example, if the restriction information 44 is the example shown in FIG. 2, the logged-in user is user A, and the setting value of the color / grayscale item in the print settings indicates color printing, the auxiliary program 42 determines at A17 that there is a print setting to be restricted. On the other hand, even if the logged-in user is user A, if the setting value of the color / grayscale item in the print settings indicates grayscale printing, the auxiliary program 42 determines that there is no print setting to be restricted. In this case, the color / grayscale item in the print settings is an example of a predetermined item, and the setting value indicating grayscale printing is an example of a predetermined value.

[0036] If the print settings specified in the print instruction are the same as the print settings set in the restriction information 44, printing according to the user's intention will be performed even if printing is restricted, so there is no need to accept the release of the printing restriction. When the print settings and the restriction settings 441 match, it is determined that it is not a restricted target, and by omitting the input of the release instruction described later, the labor of the administrator's response is also saved, and the labor of the user and the administrator is reduced.

[0037] When it is determined that there is a print setting to be restricted (alt: [Yes]), the auxiliary program 42 executes a restriction process (A21). The restriction process is a process for notifying the user that restrictions are set on the print settings available for printing and requesting the administrator to temporarily release the restrictions according to the user's wishes. The restriction process is executed by the CPU 11 of the PC 1 based on the auxiliary program 42. The procedure of the restriction process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4.

[0038] In the restriction process, the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a warning screen and accepts the user's input to the displayed warning screen (S101). S101 is an example of a reception process. The warning screen includes information on the restricted print settings and a display asking whether to request a temporary release of the restriction, and is a screen for accepting the user's instruction input. The CPU 11 waits until the user's instruction input is received on the displayed warning screen.

[0039] An example of a warning screen is shown in FIG. 5. The warning screen 51 shown in FIG. 5 is an example in which the restriction setting 441 includes a plurality of items and there are two print settings to be restricted, and includes a check box 511 that accepts selection of an item for which cancellation is requested, a "Request" button 512 that accepts an instruction to request cancellation, a "Do not request" button 513 that accepts an instruction not to request cancellation, and a "Cancel print" button 514 that accepts an instruction to cancel printing. This warning screen 51 is displayed, for example, in the printing system 100 in which the restriction information 44 shown in FIG. 2 is set, when "User D" gives a print instruction with print settings including specification of single-sided printing and 1in1 printing.

[0040] When the CPU 11 receives the user's input, it determines whether the received input is an instruction to request cancellation (S103). In the example of FIG. 5, when the CPU 11 receives an operation on the "Request" button 512 in a state where the item of the print setting for which cancellation is requested is specified by checking the check box 511, it determines that an instruction to request cancellation has been received. The instruction to request cancellation is an example of a cancellation instruction. By being able to instruct whether to request cancellation of the automatic setting for each item of the print setting, printing with higher freedom can be performed. Note that when there is only one item of the print setting to be restricted, the check box for accepting selection may not be provided.

[0041] When it is determined that the received input is not an instruction to request cancellation (S103: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether it has received an instruction to cancel printing by an operation on the "Cancel print" button 514 (S104).

[0042] If it is determined that the operation is neither an instruction to request cancellation nor an instruction to cancel, that is, the operation to the "Do Not Request" button 513 has been received (S104: NO), the CPU 11 changes the print settings based on the automatic processing 442 of the restriction information 44 (S105). For example, when the operation to the "Do Not Request" button 513 is received on the caution screen 51 shown in FIG. 5, the CPU 11 changes single-sided printing to double-sided printing and executes an automatic setting to change 1in1 printing to 2in1 printing among the specified print settings. Then, the CPU 11 determines to print (S106). S105 and S106 in this case are an example of the process to which the print restriction is applied. By automatically setting a predetermined item of the print settings, it is possible to achieve operation with the same print settings.

[0043] On the other hand, when it is determined that the received input is an instruction to request cancellation, that is, when it is determined that the operation to the "Request" button 512 has been received (S103: YES), the CPU 11 assigns a job ID to the job being processed (S111). The job ID is an example of identification information for identifying a print instruction. Further, the CPU 11 acquires the print quantity based on the intermediate image data acquired from the general-purpose print program 41 at A14 in FIG. 3 (S112). The print quantity is information indicating the amount of consumables used for printing, and is, for example, page information such as the number of pages of an image or the number of sheets actually printed, and consumption information such as the consumption amount of coloring material and print coverage. Note that the print coverage is a value indicating the ratio of the number of dots actually printed with coloring material to the number of dots that can be printed on a sheet. Also, the print quantity may be the number of dots to be printed itself. S112 is an example of a page number acquisition process and a coloring material consumption amount acquisition process.

[0044] Furthermore, the CPU 11 acquires destination information indicating the destination to which the request information for requesting cancellation of the restriction is to be sent (S113). S113 is an example of a destination acquisition process. The destination information is information indicating a destination to which the electronic device 3 used by the administrator can receive, and is preset in the auxiliary program 42. The CPU 11 may acquire the destination information from an external device such as a server or a printer 2. The destination information is, for example, the email address of the administrator who is the destination of the email.

[0045] Then, the CPU 11 creates request information for requesting the release of the restriction (S115), and transmits the created request information using the destination information acquired in S113 (S116). S116 is an example of a transmission process. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the request information is an e-mail 61 in which the job ID assigned in S111 is included in the subject line, and the information on the print settings for which release is requested and the information on the print quantity acquired in S112 are included in the body text.

[0046] For example, when the auxiliary program 42 has a function of sending and receiving e-mails and acquires the administrator's e-mail address as the destination information in S113, the auxiliary program 42 transmits the e-mail 61 to the administrator's e-mail address in S116. The auxiliary program 42 may create the e-mail 61 and request the mail transmission function provided in the PC 1 to perform the transmission.

[0047] If the destination information cannot be acquired in S113, the CPU 11 does not proceed to S115. In this case, the CPU 11 may proceed to S131 to cancel the printing, or may proceed to S105 to apply the print restriction. Alternatively, the CPU 11 may cause the user IF 13 to display that the request information cannot be transmitted, ask the user to input the destination information, or inquire whether to cancel the printing.

[0048] When the request information is transmitted to the administrator's e-mail address in S116, the electronic device 3 receives the request information from the PC 1. For this purpose, the electronic device 3 is provided with a function of receiving e-mails, and the above-described administrator's e-mail address is registered as the receiving address. Then, in response to the reception of the request information, the response program 31 of the electronic device 3 executes a response process.

[0049] Note that the response program 31 of the electronic device 3 may be a program that has a function of receiving an e-mail and a function of constantly residing in the electronic device 3 to periodically monitor the reception of e-mails. Also, the response program 31 may be a program that is activated by the OS or the like of the electronic device 3 when a general e-mail program provided in the electronic device 3 receives a predetermined e-mail.

[0050] The procedure of the response process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7. The response process is executed by the controller 30 of the electronic device 3 based on the response program 31 upon receiving the request information.

[0051] In the response process, the controller 30 causes the user IF 33 of the electronic device 3 to display a request display screen indicating the received request information (S201). Then, the controller 30 accepts a selection by the administrator indicating whether to permit the release of the requested restriction on the displayed request display screen. Note that the controller 30 may prompt the administrator's attention by, for example, a voice message, a received melody, vibration, etc. together with the display of the request display screen.

[0052] An example of the request display screen is shown in FIG. 8. The request display screen 71 shown in FIG. 8 is a screen that displays request details 711 including a requested user indicating the user who made the request, a release request setting indicating the restriction for which release is requested, and the number of printed pages indicating the print volume, based on the received request information. The request display screen 71 further includes a "Permit" button 713 indicating a selection to permit the request and a "Do not permit" button 714 indicating a selection not to permit the request as buttons for accepting the administrator's operation. When the release request to be transmitted includes the print volume information and the print volume information is displayed on the user IF 33, it becomes easier for the administrator to determine whether to release the print restriction.

[0053] The controller 30 determines whether or not it has received an operation by the administrator on the currently displayed request display screen, that is, an operation on the "Permit" button 713 or the "Do not permit" button 714 (S202). If it is determined that the operation has not been received (S202: NO), the controller 30 determines whether or not a timeout has occurred (S203). The timeout time is set in advance in the response program 31. If it is determined that it is not a timeout (S203: NO), the controller 30 waits until either an operation is received or a timeout occurs.

[0054] If it is determined that the operation has been received (S202: YES), the controller 30 acquires the job ID from the received request information (S211). Then, the controller 30 generates response information (S212), and returns the generated response information to the source that sent the request information (S213). The response information is, for example, an e-mail in which the job ID is included in the subject line and information indicating the selection result by the administrator is included in the body.

[0055] Note that when receiving request information for requesting the release of restrictions on a plurality of items, the controller 30 may, for example, display a "Permit" button and a "Do not permit" button for each item, and receive a selection of whether to permit each item. In this case, the response information includes information on the selection result for each item. With this configuration, it is possible to respond as to whether or not to permit the release of the automatic setting for each item of the print settings, so that more flexible management can be performed.

[0056] After S213, or if it is determined that a timeout has occurred (S203: YES), the controller 30 ends the display of the request display screen 71 and ends the response process. The controller 30 may store the received request information and information indicating the selection result as a log.

[0057] In addition, when a timeout occurs, instead of ending without replying with response information, the controller 30 may reply as if "not permitted" has been selected, or may create and reply with response information indicating that a timeout has occurred. Further, when a timeout occurs, the controller 30 may receive the request information and cause the user IF 33 to display a notification indicating that a timeout has occurred.

[0058] Also, the communication between the PC 1 and the electronic device 3 is not limited to e-mail. For example, if the electronic device 3 has a function as a WEB server, the PC 1 can pass the request information to the electronic device 3 by means of an HTTP POST request. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 of the PC 1 transmits the request information to the URL of the WEB server of the electronic device 3, for example, using a Webhook function triggered by receiving a cancellation request. The electronic device 3 activates the response program 31 based on the received request information and executes the above-described response process. For example, if information indicating the e-mail address corresponding to the auxiliary program 42 that sent the request is included in the request information, the electronic device 3 can acquire the e-mail address from the request information and send the response information by e-mail to the acquired e-mail address.

[0059] Return to the description of FIG. 4. After transmitting the request information at S116, the CPU 11 of the PC 1 determines whether or not response information from the electronic device 3 has been received (S121). S121 is an example of reception processing. If it is determined that the response information has not been received (S121: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not a timeout has occurred because a predetermined time has elapsed after transmitting the request information (S122). If it is determined that there is no timeout (S122: NO), the CPU 11 further waits for the reception of the response information. The elapsed time determined to be a timeout in S122 may be the same as the time determined to be a timeout in S203 of the response processing, or may be longer. Also, these timeout times may be fixed times, or may be variable times that accept user settings. Since printing cannot be performed next while waiting for a response from the administrator, providing a timeout can avoid a state where printing cannot be performed for a long time.

[0060] If it is determined that the response information has been received (S121: YES), the CPU 11 reads out the job ID from the received response information, and determines whether or not the read job ID matches the job ID assigned at S111 (S123). If it is determined that they do not match (S123: NO), since the response information is not a response to the request information transmitted at S116, the CPU 11 waits for the response information again. By transmitting and receiving the request information with the assigned job ID and the response information, even if a plurality of request information and response information are transmitted, appropriate response information for each request information can be received.

[0061] If it is determined that the job IDs match (S123: YES), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the selection result indicated in the response information is information indicating that all requested releases are permitted (S124). If it is determined that the response information is information indicating permission (S124: YES), the CPU 11 determines not to change the print settings and to print (S106). S106 in this case is an example of processing for transmitting print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction to the printer.

[0062] When it is determined that the response information contains information indicating non - permission (S124: NO), or when it is determined that there is a timeout (S122: YES), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a response display screen indicating the response information (S125). In the case of a timeout, the CPU 11 may display information indicating that it is a timeout, or may display it as if not all requested releases were permitted.

[0063] An example of the response display screen is shown in FIG. 9. The response display screen 81 shown in FIG. 9 includes a message indicating information showing items that were not permitted, a "Print" button 811 for receiving an instruction to continue printing with restrictions, and a "Cancel Print" button 812 for receiving an instruction to cancel printing. The CPU 11 receives an operation on the "Print" button 811 or the "Cancel Print" button 812 on the displayed response display screen 81.

[0064] Then, the CPU 11 determines whether or not it has received an instruction to continue printing on the displayed response display screen 81, that is, an operation on the "Print" button 811 (S126). When it is determined that an instruction to continue printing has been received (S126: YES), the CPU 11 changes the print settings according to the print restrictions (S127) and decides to print (S106). When release is permitted for some items, the CPU 11 changes the print settings only for the items that are not permitted. Since there may be cases where printing is desired even if it is not printing according to the original intention, by accepting the user's selection, a more flexible operation can be achieved.

[0065] On the one hand, when an instruction to cancel printing without a cancellation request, that is, when an operation to the "Print Cancel" button 514 is received on the caution screen 51 shown in FIG. 5 (S104: YES), or when an instruction to cancel printing because cancellation is not permitted, that is, when an operation to the "Print Cancel" button 812 is received on the response display screen 81 (S126: NO), the CPU 11 determines to cancel printing (S131). After S106 or S131, the CPU 11 ends the restriction process and returns to the process of FIG. 3.

[0066] In addition, when there are items for which cancellation requests are not permitted, the CPU 11 may cancel printing without inquiring the user. For example, when it is determined NO at S124, or when it is determined YES at S122, the CPU 11 may notify that cancellation is not permitted and proceed to S131. When cancellation is not permitted, since the printing intended by the user cannot be performed, canceling printing can avoid wasteful printing. Alternatively, when there are items for which cancellation requests are not permitted, the CPU 11 may change the print settings and perform printing without inquiring the user.

[0067] Also, the print restriction may include prohibiting printing with a predetermined print setting as shown for "User E" in the restriction information 44 (see FIG. 2). In this case, since printing cannot be performed without requesting cancellation of the prohibition, the CPU 11 displays, for example, a caution screen 91 that does not include a "Do Not Request" button as shown in FIG. 10 at S101. The caution screen 91 shown in FIG. 10 includes a "Request" button 911 for requesting cancellation of the restriction and a "Print Cancel" button 912 for accepting cancellation of printing. The CPU 11 accepts an operation to the "Request" button 911 or the "Print Cancel" button 912 on the caution screen 91.

[0068] When the CPU 11 receives an operation on the "Request" button 911, as described above, it transmits request information (S111 to S116 of the restriction process) and waits for the reception of response information. Then, when it receives response information permitting the request, the CPU 11 determines to print without changing the print settings (S106). On the other hand, when the request is not permitted or when it receives an instruction to cancel printing, the CPU 11 determines to cancel printing (S131). The restriction information 44 that prohibits printing with a predetermined print setting is an example of restricted printing. By prohibiting printing other than the predetermined print setting, operation with the same print setting can be achieved.

[0069] Return to the description of FIG. 3. When the auxiliary program 42 determines to execute printing in the restriction process (alt: [Print]), it generates print data based on the intermediate image data received from the OS 21 at A14 (A31). When the print settings have been changed, the auxiliary program 42 generates the print data using the changed print settings. The print data generated at A31 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. By generating the print data with the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2, the degree of freedom in the processing of the printer 2 can be increased as compared with the case of generating the print data with the general-purpose print program 41, or the processing load on the printer 2 can be reduced.

[0070] Note that instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data, the general-purpose print program 41 may generate the print data. That is, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the intermediate image data, the information on the changed print settings if changed, and the information on the execution of printing, to the general-purpose print program 41. The general-purpose print program 41 may generate the print data based on the intermediate image data and the print settings received from the auxiliary program 42 and pass the generated print data to the auxiliary program 42.

[0071] The print data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing by various printers, for example, PWGRaster data or PDF data. If the print data is generated by the general-purpose printing program 41, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 is less, the increase in processing time can be avoided, and the program size of the auxiliary program 42 can be suppressed.

[0072] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 transmits the generated print data to the printer 2 together with a print command instructing the execution of printing (A32). The printer 2 that has received the print data and the print command executes the printing of the image of the print data based on the received print command (A33). Thereby, a printed matter is generated. After transmitting the print data to the printer 2 in A32, the auxiliary program 42 notifies the general-purpose printing program 41 that the transmission of the print data has ended (A34). Thereby, the general-purpose printing program 41 ends the processing of the print job based on the print instruction received in A12.

[0073] The communication between the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 may be performed, for example, by the auxiliary program 42 directly communicating with the printer 2 using MIB (abbreviation for Management Information Base), or via the OS 21. When performed via the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 perform communication according to the communication protocol of the OS 21, such as IPP (abbreviation for internet printing protocol).

[0074] Note that the general-purpose printing program 41 may transmit the print data and the like to the printer 2. That is, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 so that it is transmitted from the PC 1 with the printer 2 as the transmission destination. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 transmits the print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2.

[0075] Further, the printer 2 may have a function of rasterizing intermediate image data. When the printer 2 has the rasterizing function, the auxiliary program 42 may send a print command including the intermediate image data and print settings of the image to be printed to the printer 2 without generating print data of the image to be printed.

[0076] If it is determined as YES in S124 of the restriction process, the procedures of A31 and A32 are an example of the process for sending print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction to the printer. Further, the procedure for generating print data by OS21, the procedure for sending print data or intermediate image data to the printer 2 by the auxiliary program 42 or OS21, which is an alternative procedure to the procedures of A31 and A32, is included in an example of the process for sending print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction to the printer.

[0077] On the other hand, when it is determined in S131 of the restriction process to cancel the printing (alt: [Cancel]), the auxiliary program 42 passes a notification to cancel the print job to the general-purpose print program 41 (A35). A35 is an example of the process for canceling the printing based on the print instruction. Thereby, the general-purpose print program 41 cancels the print job based on the print instruction received in A12 and ends the printing process.

[0078] Also, in A17 of FIG. 3, when it is determined that there is no print setting subject to restriction in the print settings instructed by the user (alt: [None]), the auxiliary program 42 generates print data (A41) based on the intermediate image data and print settings received from OS21 in A14 and sends it to the printer 2 (A42). In this case, the auxiliary program 42 applies as it is the print settings received in A14, that is, the print settings specified by the user in the print instruction. The auxiliary program 42 may cause the general-purpose print program 41 to generate the print data and send it to the printer 2 as described above.

[0079] The printer 2 executes printing based on the received print data (A43). Also, the auxiliary program 42 notifies the general-purpose printing program 41 of the completion of the transmission of the print data (A44), and the general-purpose printing program 41 ends the processing of the print job based on the print instruction received at A12.

[0080] As described in detail above, according to the auxiliary program 42 of the present embodiment, when the PC 1 satisfies the application conditions of the print restriction, it accepts the input of the release instruction by the user. Then, when the PC 1 accepts the input of the release instruction, it transmits the request information to the administrator's electronic device 3 and receives the response information. In the electronic device 3, it is possible to return the response information indicating whether to permit the release with respect to the request information. When the PC 1 receives the response information indicating that the release is permitted, it does not apply the print restriction and transmits the print data based on the print settings of the print instruction to the printer 2. Thereby, the user of the PC 1 can release the print restriction only by inputting the release instruction. On the other hand, the administrator can also temporarily release the print restriction only by responding to the request transmitted from the PC 1. Therefore, for both the user and the administrator, the operation for temporarily releasing the print restriction is simple, and the trouble of temporarily permitting printing with print settings other than the automatic print settings can be reduced.

[0081] Note 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 naturally be variously improved and modified without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the device connected to the PC 1 is not limited to a printer, and may be any device having a printing function such as a multifunction printer, a copier, a FAX device, etc. Also, the number of each device included in the printing system 100 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be two or more.

[0082] Also, for example, the restriction information 44 may be stored in a server or the printer 2 that can communicate with the PC 1. In that case, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire and use the restriction information 44 when receiving an instruction to execute printing, or may acquire the restriction information 44 at the time of power-on or the like, store it in the memory 12, and use it.

[0083] Also, the diagrams of each display screen are all examples and are not limited to the illustrated examples. For example, the arrangement and number of each message and each button displayed on the display screen are not limited to the illustrated examples. For example, in the embodiment, it is assumed that a selection not requiring the cancellation of restrictions is possible on the caution screen, but it may also be acceptable to accept a selection from either the request for cancellation of restrictions or the print cancellation. Also, in the embodiment, it is assumed that the caution screen is not displayed when the print settings match the restriction information 44, but it may be displayed.

[0084] Also, in the embodiment, it is assumed that item selection is possible for requests for cancellation and responses for permission, but it may not be necessary. That is, a system that collectively makes requests for cancellation and responses for permission or non - permission for all restricted items may also be acceptable. Also, for example, in the case where the restriction settings 441 of the restriction information 44 include settings for a plurality of items and the print settings do not match the automatic processing 442 for only some of the items, only the non - matching items may be displayed, or all the restriction settings 441 may be displayed.

[0085] Also, in the embodiment, it is assumed that the restriction settings 441 are stored in association with the user ID as the restriction information 44, but for example, a uniform restriction for all users may be acceptable. In this case, the acquisition of the user ID at A15 in FIG. 3 and the addition of the user ID to the request information are unnecessary. Also, for example, in a printing system including a plurality of PCs, it may be possible to set print restrictions for each PC. In that case, the auxiliary program 42 may include the identification information of the PC in the request information instead of the user ID. Also, in a printing system including a plurality of printers, it may be possible to set print restrictions for each printer.

[0086] In addition, the transmission of response information by the electronic device 3 is not limited to replying by email, and may also be by broadcast or multicast. The auxiliary program 42 of the PC that has received the response information can determine whether it is a response to the request information transmitted from its own device based on the job ID. In this case, it is desirable that the job ID includes information for identifying the PC or information for identifying the user. On the other hand, in a system configuration where an email is sent from the PC1 to the administrator and the electronic device 3 replies to the received email, it is not necessary to assign a job ID to the request information or the response information.

[0087] Also, in this embodiment, when there is a print setting to be restricted, if a request for cancellation is made and a response information of not permitted is received, it is assumed that the print setting is changed. However, it is also possible to first change the print setting based on the restriction information 44 and restore it when a response information of permitted is received. In that case, the auxiliary program 42 may temporarily save the print setting specified by the user's print instruction.

[0088] Also, for example, after the auxiliary program 42 determines that it has timed out without receiving the response information, it may accept an extension of time. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may inquire the user whether to print, cancel, or extend, apply the print restriction if printing is selected, cancel if cancellation is selected, and wait for a response for a further predetermined time if extension is selected. Alternatively, the auxiliary program 42 may accept an instruction to retransmit the cancellation information in case of timeout.

[0089] Also, 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 further have other roles. Also, the program for executing the processing of this embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, and any program that can receive an instruction from the OS 21 or the general-purpose printing program 41 when performing printing using the general-purpose printing program 41 may be used. For example, it may be a print workflow app (Print workflow) whose specifications are disclosed by Microsoft.

[0090] Also, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to the examples of the embodiments. For example, it may be directly executed upon receiving an execution instruction from the OS 21, or it may be an auxiliary program 42 that is resident. When it is resident, the auxiliary program 42 may perform the above-described operations upon receiving an execution instruction.

[0091] Also, in any flowchart disclosed in the embodiments, the plurality of processes in any plurality of steps can be arbitrarily changed in execution order or executed in parallel within a range where there is no conflict in the processing content.

[0092] Also, the processes disclosed in the embodiments may be executed by a single CPU, a plurality of CPUs, hardware such as an ASIC, or a combination thereof. Also, the processes disclosed in the embodiments can be realized in various forms such as a recording medium recording a program for executing the processes, or a method.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0093] 1 PC 2 Printer 3 Electronic device 11 CPU 13 User IF

Claims

1. A support program that is executable by a computer of an information processing apparatus, corresponds to a printer connected to the information processing apparatus, and supports a general-purpose printing program pre-installed in the operating system of the information processing apparatus, wherein the computer is caused to, when there is a print instruction output from an editing application program incorporated in the information processing apparatus, which causes the general-purpose printing program to perform printing of an image on the printer, and further when the application conditions for applying a print restriction that restricts printing based on the print settings specified in the print instruction are satisfied, before print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction is transmitted to the printer, perform a destination acquisition process of acquiring destination information indicating a receivable destination for a specific device that is an administrator's device, perform a reception process of receiving an input of a release instruction for instructing release of the print restriction via a user interface of the information processing apparatus, when the input of the release instruction is received in the reception process, perform a transmission process of transmitting request information for requesting release of the print restriction using the destination information acquired in the destination acquisition process, perform a reception process of receiving response information indicating a response to the request information transmitted in the transmission process, and cause the specific device that has received the request information to be able to return the response information indicating whether to permit release of the print restriction, further causing the computer to, when the release instruction is not input, perform a process of applying the print restriction, when the response information indicating permission to release the print restriction is received in the reception process, perform a process for transmitting the print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction without applying the print restriction to the printer. A support program characterized by the above.

2. In the support program according to Claim 1, the print restriction is an automatic setting that automatically sets a predetermined item included in the print settings specified in the print instruction to a predetermined value, when the response information indicating non-permission to release the automatic setting is received in the reception process, perform a process for transmitting print data based on the print settings to which the automatic setting has been applied to the printer. A support program characterized by the above.

3. In the support program according to Claim 1, Furthermore, when the computer receives the response information indicating that the release of the print restriction is not permitted in the reception process, the computer performs a process for canceling the print based on the print instruction. A support program characterized by the above.

4. In the support program according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, in the transmission process, the request information is transmitted in association with identification information for identifying the request information, and in the specific device that has received the request information, the response information can be returned in association with the identification information associated with the received request information. In the reception process, the response information associated with the identification information that matches the identification information associated with the request information transmitted in the transmission process is received as the response information for the request information transmitted in the transmission process. A support program characterized by the above.

5. In the support program according to Claim 1 or Claim 3, the print restriction is a restricted print that prohibits printing based on the print settings specified in the print instruction when a predetermined item included in the print settings specified in the print instruction is not a predetermined value. A support program characterized by the above.

6. In the support program according to Claim 2, the print settings can include a plurality of items to be automatically set, in the reception process, the input of the release instruction specifying the item to be released is received via the user interface, in the transmission process, when the input of the release instruction is received in the reception process, the request information specifying the item to be released is transmitted using the destination information, and in the specific device that has received the request information, the response information indicating whether to permit the release of the automatic setting for each item for which the input of the release instruction has been received can be returned. Furthermore, when the computer receives the response information in the reception process, for the items indicating that the release of the automatic setting is permitted, the automatic setting is not applied, and for the items indicating that the release of the automatic setting is not permitted, the computer performs a process for transmitting print data based on the print settings, to which the automatic setting has been applied, to the printer. A support program characterized by the above.

7. In the support program according to Claim 2 or Claim 6, When the computer has the printing instruction and further satisfies the application conditions of the printing restriction, execute a determination process to determine whether the printing settings specified by the printing instruction are the same as or different from the printing settings set by the automatic setting, Furthermore, cause the computer to when it is determined in the determination process that the printing settings specified by the printing instruction are different from the printing settings set by the automatic setting, execute the reception process, when it is determined in the determination process that the printing settings specified by the printing instruction are the same as the printing settings set by the automatic setting, do not execute the reception process, and perform a process for transmitting printing data based on the printing settings to which the automatic setting is applied to the printer, A support program characterized by the above. **Claim 8**: In the support program according to any one of claims 2, 6, and 7, Furthermore, cause the computer to when receiving the response information indicating that cancellation of the automatic setting is not permitted in the reception process, accept a selection of whether to cancel or continue printing based on the printing instruction, and when cancellation is selected, perform a process for canceling printing based on the printing instruction, and when continuation is selected, perform a process for transmitting printing data based on the printing settings to which the automatic setting is applied to the printer, A support program characterized by the above. **Claim 9** In the support program according to any one of claims 1 to 8, Furthermore, cause the computer to after transmitting the request information by the transmission process, if the response information for the request information transmitted in the transmission process is not received even after a predetermined time has elapsed, perform a process for canceling printing based on the printing instruction, A support program characterized by the above. **Claim 10** In the support program according to any one of claims 1 to 9, Cause the computer to when the computer has the printing instruction and further satisfies the application conditions of the printing restriction, an image acquisition process of acquiring image data indicating an image to be printed by the printer from the general-purpose printing program, and a page number acquisition process of acquiring the number of pages of the image based on the image data acquired in the image acquisition process, and execute In the transmission process, Transmit the request information in association with page information indicating the number of pages obtained in the page number acquisition process, and the specific device that has received the request information can display the page information transmitted in association with the request information. A support program characterized by the above.

11. In the support program according to any one of Claims 1 to 10, In the computer, When there is the print instruction and the application conditions of the print restriction are further satisfied, An image acquisition process of acquiring image data indicating an image to be printed by the printer from the general-purpose print program, A coloring material consumption amount acquisition process of acquiring the consumption amount of the coloring material in the printer based on the image data acquired in the image acquisition process, Execute, In the transmission process, Transmit the request information in association with consumption information indicating the consumption amount acquired in the coloring material consumption amount acquisition process, and the specific device that has received the request information can display the consumption information transmitted in association with the request information. A support program characterized by the above.

12. A printing system including a printer, a support program incorporated in an information processing device connected to the printer, and a response program incorporated in a specific device that is an administrator's device, The support program is A program that supports a general-purpose print program pre-incorporated in the operating system of the information processing device corresponding to the printer, Furthermore, the support program causes the computer of the information processing device to Before the print data based on the print settings specified in the print instruction is transmitted to the printer when there is a print instruction output from an editing application program incorporated in the information processing device and the print instruction causes the printer to print an image with respect to the general-purpose print program, and the application conditions of a print restriction for restricting printing based on the print settings specified in the print instruction are satisfied, Accept an input of a release instruction for instructing the release of the print restriction via the user interface of the information processing device, When the input of the release instruction is accepted, transmit a request information for requesting the release of the print restriction to the specific device as the destination. When the cancellation instruction is not input, perform the process applying the printing restriction. The response program causes the computer of the specific device to When the specific device receives the request information, accept a selection as to whether to permit cancellation of the printing restriction via the user interface of the specific device. Generate response information indicating the result of the selection, and cause the generated response information to be transmitted to the source of the request information. The support program causes the computer of the information processing apparatus to When the information processing apparatus receives, as the response information indicating a response to the request information, the response information indicating permission to cancel the printing restriction, perform a process for transmitting print data based on the print settings specified by the print instruction to the printer without applying the printing restriction. A printing system characterized by the above.

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