Support program, information processing device, and printing method

Abstract

To provide technology that reduces a random variation in print quality due to a printer's specific characteristic in an information processing device in which an OS-standard general-purpose printing program is installed.SOLUTION: According to an auxiliary program 42 which is used for printing by a printer 2 connected to a PC 1, the PC 1 acquires characteristic data from the printer 2 that indicates the characteristic specific to the printer 2 and stores the acquired characteristic data in a memory 12. Furthermore, when a print indication for causing image printing to be performed by the printer 2 is made to a general-purpose printing program 41 previously installed in an OS 21, the PC 1 generates, for the image that is the object to be printed by the print indication, correction print data having been corrected on the basis of the characteristic data stored in the memory 12 and outputs the generated correction print data so as to be transmitted from the PC 1 designating the printer 2 as the destination.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program that supports control of a printer, an information processing device, and a printing method. [Background technology]

[0002] As a technology for controlling a printer from an information processing device such as a personal computer, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a configuration is known in which a printer driver sends a calibration command to an image forming device, and the image of the print data is adjusted using the results of the calibration process performed by the image forming device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-243089 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, a technology has been put into practical use that controls printers using a general-purpose print program that is built into the operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") as standard, without using the printer driver mentioned above. With this technology, when the OS detects a printer, it associates it with the OS's standard general-purpose print program, and thereafter, when a print instruction for that printer is received, printing can be performed using the OS's standard general-purpose print program without using a printer driver.

[0005] However, printing using the OS's standard general-purpose printing program does not allow printing that takes into account the printer's unique characteristics. While it is possible to address printer-specific characteristics through image processing on the printer side, there are concerns that this could lead to increased printer costs and problems with processing speed, and there is room for improvement.

[0006] This specification discloses a technique for reducing variations in print quality due to printer-specific characteristics in an information processing apparatus that incorporates a general-purpose print program that is standard for the OS. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A support program made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device, and is a support program used for printing on a printer connected to the information processing device, and causes the computer to execute an acquisition process to acquire characteristic data indicating characteristics unique to the printer from the printer, and a storage process to store the characteristic data acquired in the acquisition process in a memory of the information processing device, and further causes the computer to execute a corrected print data generation process to generate corrected print data for the image to be printed by the print instruction, when a print instruction is given to a general-purpose print program pre-installed in the operating system of the information processing device to have the printer print an image, based on the characteristic data stored in the memory, and an output process to output the corrected print data generated by the corrected print data generation process so that it is sent from the information processing device to the printer as a destination.

[0008] According to the support program disclosed in this specification, the information processing device acquires printer-specific characteristic data from the printer, and when a print instruction for the general-purpose printing program 41 is received, the information processing device generates corrected print data corrected based on the acquired characteristic data. When the printer executes printing based on this corrected print data, an image is printed in which the printer-specific characteristics have been corrected. As a result, even when a print instruction is received for the general-purpose printing program 41, variations in print quality due to printer-specific characteristics can be suppressed.

[0009] An information processing device incorporating the program, a computer-readable storage medium storing the program, and a control method for realizing the functions of the program are also novel and useful. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technology that reduces variations in print quality due to printer-specific characteristics in an information processing device that has an OS-standard general-purpose printing program installed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration of a PC. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for characteristic data acquisition operations by each program. [Figure 3] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for a printing operation by each program. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for characteristic data acquisition operations by each program in the second embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the procedure of a characteristic data acquisition operation and a printing operation by each program in the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") using the program of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment discloses an embodiment in which a program executed by a PC connected to a printer having a printing function is embodied.

[0013] As shown in Fig. 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment includes a controller 10, a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "UI") 20, and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as "communication IF") 30. The UI 20 and communication IF 30 are electrically connected to the controller 10. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The printer 2 is a device with a printing function, and is connected to the PC 1 via local communication or network communication.

[0014] The UI 20 includes hardware that displays various types of information and accepts user input instructions. The UI 20 may be a touch panel having both a display function and an input reception function, or may be a combination of a display having a display function and a keyboard, mouse, or the like having an input reception function.

[0015] The communication IF 30 includes hardware for communicating with external devices such as the printer 2 and hardware for accessing the Internet. The communication IF 30 may include multiple interfaces with different communication methods. Examples of communication methods include network communication and USB communication. The communication method may also be wired or wireless.

[0016] The controller 10 includes a CPU 11 and a memory 12. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The memory 12 includes a ROM, a RAM, and a non-volatile memory, and stores programs such as various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "apps") and various data. An example of the memory 12 may be a computer-readable storage medium. The CPU 11 executes various processes in accordance with the programs read from the memory 12 and based on user instructions. Note that the controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a collective term for hardware and software used to control the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware actually present in the PC 1.

[0017] 1, the memory 12 stores an OS 21 including a general-purpose printing program 41, an auxiliary program 42, and an editing application 43. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. The OS 21 is, for example, Microsoft Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), or Linux (registered trademark). In addition to the items shown in the figure, the memory 12 also stores various data including information about the connected printer 2, and various programs such as a browser.

[0018] The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS standard program that causes various printers, such as the printer 2, to execute printing in response to instructions from the PC 1. The general-purpose printing program 41 of this embodiment is a program that includes a function for generating print data to be used by the corresponding printer for printing, based on image data to be printed.

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

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

[0021] The auxiliary program 42 receives a variety of commands from the general-purpose printing program 41 and executes various processes based on the received commands. The auxiliary program 42 can execute different processes depending on the content of the execution command from the general-purpose printing program 41. The auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of multiple programs that each receive an execution command, or may be a single program that can execute different processes depending on the command.

[0022] The auxiliary program may be a program prepared by the printer vendor for each printer type. For example, an auxiliary program for an inkjet printer and an auxiliary program for a laser printer are prepared. The printer vendor registers the auxiliary program in the platform provided by the OS21 vendor according to a procedure specified by the OS21 vendor. When a new printer is connected to PC1 and an auxiliary program corresponding to that printer is registered in the platform, OS21 downloads the auxiliary program from the server where it is stored and installs it in PC1. Then, OS21 associates the identification information of the installed auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in memory 12. There may be auxiliary programs prepared not only for each printer type, but also for each printer model or each printer model series.

[0023] The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data, such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. The editing application 43 may be an application provided by a vendor of the printer 2 or the like. The editing application 43 accepts user operations including instructions to cause the printer 2 to perform a predetermined operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 accepts, via the UI 20, for example, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing.

[0024] The printer 2 connected to the PC 1 in this embodiment has its own characteristic data. The characteristic data is a value unique to each printer and is stored in advance in the printer 2. If the printer 2 is an inkjet printer, the characteristic data may be, for example, a head characteristic value. The head characteristic value is a value based on mechanical positional deviations and ejection variations (e.g., variations in ejection speed and ejection direction) of the multiple ink ejection orifices provided in the head of the printer 2. Mechanical positional deviations and ejection variations of the multiple ink ejection orifices may affect the print results. The printer 2 acquires its own characteristic data, for example, through inspection before shipping, and stores it in its memory.

[0025] While the head characteristic values are values that do not change after shipment, the characteristic data may be values that change after shipment due to environmental changes or deterioration over time. For example, if the printer 2 is a laser printer, the characteristic data may include, for example, a gamma correction value, a color misalignment correction value, and a color correction value. These correction values are values that adjust the placement and hue balance of each color when printing a color image, and are values that change after shipment due to the environment and aging.

[0026] Some printers 2 are also configured to perform a calibration process to acquire characteristic data. Such printers 2 can acquire the latest characteristic data at that time by performing the calibration process. The printer 2 performs the calibration process in response to a command received from the PC 1 or the like, and stores the acquired characteristic data in its own memory. The printer 2 may also transmit the acquired characteristic data to the PC 1 or the like that sent the command. The printer 2 may also accept manual input of characteristic data by the user and store the input characteristic data.

[0027] Next, the procedure for acquiring and printing characteristic data, including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 3. Note that the processes and each processing step of the flowchart in this embodiment basically represent processing by the CPU 11 in accordance with instructions written in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. Processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the operation of each program will be described without a detailed description of the OS 21. Also, the term "acquire" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

[0028] In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 acquires the characteristic data stored in the printer 2 via the OS 21. When the conditions for acquiring the characteristic data are met, the OS 21 executes the characteristic data acquisition procedure as shown in FIG.

[0029] For example, after the auxiliary program 42 is installed on the PC 1, the OS 21 executes the characteristic data acquisition procedure when the installed auxiliary program 42 is executed for the first time. When the OS 21 detects that the auxiliary program 42 has been installed on the PC 1, the OS 21 may execute the auxiliary program 42 and execute the characteristic data acquisition procedure. Alternatively, when the auxiliary program 42 is launched from another application (not shown) or the like, the OS 21 may execute the characteristic data acquisition procedure if this is the first time the auxiliary program 42 is executed. Furthermore, even if the auxiliary program 42 has already been installed on the PC 1 and a new printer model compatible with the auxiliary program 42 is connected to the PC 1, the OS 21 may execute the characteristic data acquisition procedure for the printer. Furthermore, the OS 21 may execute the characteristic data acquisition procedure when a user's instruction to acquire characteristic data is received via the UI 20.

[0030] 2, the OS 21 passes an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 to run the auxiliary program 42 (arrow A). When the auxiliary program 42 determines that it is necessary to acquire characteristic data, it communicates with the printer 2 via the communication IF 30 and sends a signal requesting the characteristic data stored in the printer 2 (arrow B).

[0031] Based on the received signal, the printer 2 reads out the characteristic data stored in its own memory (arrow C) and returns it to the auxiliary program 42 (arrow D). The auxiliary program 42 acquires the characteristic data sent from the printer 2 at arrow D. The processing of arrow D is an example of an acquisition process.

[0032] Note that the communication between the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 at arrows B, D, etc. may be performed by the auxiliary program 42 directly communicating with the printer 2 using, for example, MIB (short for Management Information Base), or via the OS 21. When communicating via the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 communicate in accordance with a communication protocol of the OS 21, such as IPP (short for Internet Printing Protocol).

[0033] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 stores the acquired characteristic data in the memory 12 (arrow E). The processing of arrow E is an example of storage processing. The auxiliary program 42 associates the acquired characteristic data with the identification information of the printer 2 and stores it in a storage area available to the auxiliary program 42. After storing the characteristic data, the auxiliary program 42 may be temporarily terminated.

[0034] By acquiring the characteristic data when installing the auxiliary program 42 or the printer 2 and storing it in the memory 12, the PC 1 can read and use the characteristic data from the memory 12 during subsequent printing operations. In this case, there are fewer opportunities to acquire the characteristic data and the communication load is smaller than when characteristic data is received from the printer 2 every time a printing operation is performed. This is particularly suitable when the characteristic data is not dependent on environmental changes, for example, when the data is stored in the memory of the printer 2 during pre-shipment inspections such as the amount of mechanical misalignment.

[0035] Next, an example of a printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows the operation when, in a state where the characteristic data has been stored in the memory 12 by the process shown in Fig. 2, an application that accepts print instructions, such as the editing application 43, accepts a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, and when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is installed in the PC 1.

[0036] With printer 2 selected, if the editing application 43 receives a print instruction input from the user via the UI 20 (arrow F), it passes the received print instruction information to the OS 21. If the OS 21 receives a print instruction using the general-purpose print program 41, it executes the general-purpose print program 41 and passes the print instruction to the general-purpose print program 41 (arrow G). The general-purpose print program 41 can obtain various information from the print instruction, such as information indicating the printer to be used for printing, information indicating print settings set in the application, and information indicating the image data to be printed.

[0037] 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 intermediate image data, and generates a print job including the intermediate image data (arrow H). 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. Note that if the image data included in the print instruction is suitable for generating print data, the generation of intermediate image data may be omitted and the image data may be used as is as intermediate image data. The intermediate image data may be, for example, XPS data.

[0038] The general-purpose printing program 41 may execute the auxiliary program 42 before generating the intermediate image data. The auxiliary program 42 may, for example, receive information indicating print settings included in the print instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, edit a part of it, and return it to the general-purpose printing program 41.

[0039] When the device selected in the print instruction is printer 2, the general-purpose print program 41 outputs an execution command for the processing of auxiliary program 42, since auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2 is stored in memory 12, operates auxiliary program 42, and passes the generated intermediate image data to auxiliary program 42 (arrow I). Note that, in arrow I, print setting information is also passed to auxiliary program 42 along with the intermediate image data. The print setting information passed to the auxiliary program in arrow I may be all of the print setting information received by general-purpose print program 41 in the print instruction of arrow G, or it may be only the information that is not supported by general-purpose print program 41.

[0040] Since the printer selected in the execution command received from the general-purpose printing program 41 is printer 2, the auxiliary program 42 reads the characteristic data of printer 2 from the memory 12 (arrow J).

[0041] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 performs rasterization based on the received intermediate image data to generate print data (arrow K). The processing of arrow K is an example of generation processing. In arrow K, the auxiliary program 42 rasterizes the intermediate image data to generate print data. The print data generated in arrow K is data in a format that can be used for printing by printer 2, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of printer 2. Rasterization by auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2 allows for greater flexibility than rasterization by general-purpose printing program 41, and there is a high possibility that print data suitable for printing by printer 2 will be generated. Note that the print data generated in arrow K may also be data in a format that can be used for printing by printers other than the model of printer 2.

[0042] Then, auxiliary program 42 corrects the print data generated at arrow K (arrow L) using the characteristic data read out at arrow J, generating corrected print data. The process at arrow L is an example of a correction process. By auxiliary program 42 performing correction using the characteristic data of printer 2, corrected print data is generated that can cancel out variations due to characteristics unique to printer 2.

[0043] The auxiliary program 42 may simultaneously execute the processing indicated by the arrow K and the processing indicated by the arrow L. In other words, when rasterizing the intermediate image data, the auxiliary program 42 may take into account corrections made using the characteristic data and generate corrected print data, which is corrected print data. In this case, the process of simultaneously executing the processing indicated by the arrow K and the processing indicated by the arrow L is an example of a corrected print data generation process.

[0044] Also, instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data as indicated by arrow K, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data. That is, the general-purpose printing program 41 rasterizes the intermediate image data generated as indicated by arrow H to generate print data, and passes the generated print data to the auxiliary program 42. The auxiliary program 42 can generate corrected print data by correcting the print data received from the general-purpose printing program 41 based on the characteristic data read out as indicated by arrow J.

[0045] The rasterization process by the general-purpose printing program 41 is different from the rasterization process by the auxiliary program. The print data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing on various printers, such as PWGRaster data or PDF data. Rasterization by the general-purpose printing program 41 reduces the processing of the auxiliary program 42 and reduces the design man-hours for the auxiliary program 42. Note that if the general-purpose printing program 41 can generate print data from the image data included in the print instruction without using intermediate image data, the process of generating intermediate image data indicated by arrow H may be unnecessary.

[0046] The auxiliary program 42 may also correct the intermediate image data. The auxiliary program 42 may correct the intermediate image data received from the general-purpose printing program 41 at arrow I based on the characteristic data read out at arrow J, and generate print data based on the corrected intermediate image data. In this way, corrected print data corrected based on the characteristic data is also generated. The corrected intermediate image data may also be passed to the general-purpose printing program 41, where it is rasterized.

[0047] The auxiliary program 42 then transmits the generated corrected print data to the printer 2 together with a print execution command (arrow M). The processing of arrow M is an example of output processing. Note that transmission to the printer 2 may also be performed by the general-purpose print program 41. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the corrected print data generated at arrow L to the general-purpose print program 41 so that it is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. The general-purpose print program 41 transmits the corrected print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2. In this case, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 passing the corrected print data to the general-purpose print program 41 is an example of output processing.

[0048] The printer that receives the corrected print data and the print execution command prints an image of the corrected print data based on the received print execution command. Because the corrected print data is print data that has been corrected based on the characteristic data of Printer 2, correction by Printer 2 is not necessary, or the need for correction is reduced, and the printed material generated by Printer 2 has deviations due to the characteristics unique to Printer 2 canceled out.

[0049] As explained in detail above, according to the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, printer-specific characteristic data is acquired in advance from the printer 2, and when a print instruction is given to the general-purpose printing program 41, the characteristic data is used to generate corrected print data, which is then output to the printer 2. This allows an image suitable for each individual printer to be printed. As a result, variations in print quality due to printer-specific characteristics can be reduced.

[0050] Next, the characteristic data acquisition procedure, including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of the second embodiment, will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of Fig. 4. In this embodiment, the timing at which characteristic data acquisition is executed is different from that of the first embodiment. In Fig. 4 and the following description, the same processes as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

[0051] In this embodiment, the editing application 43 receives a user instruction to open a menu related to printing (arrow N). In the menu related to printing, the editing application 43 receives, for example, a printer selection, a print setting selection, a selection of image data to be printed, and an instruction to execute printing. When the editing application 43 receives a printer search instruction for selecting a printer through a user operation (arrow O), it requests information on a list of selectable printers from the general-purpose printing program 41 (arrow P). The editing application 43 obtains information on the printer list from the general-purpose printing program 41 (arrow Q) and displays the printer list on the UI 20 (arrow R).

[0052] The editing application 43 accepts the selection of a printer through a user operation in the displayed list (arrow S). The editing application 43 may also be able to accept an instruction to perform calibration in addition to an instruction to select a printer. Note that in this embodiment, a case where printer 2 is selected will be described. The editing application 43 passes information indicating that printer 2 has been selected to the general-purpose printing program 41 (arrow T).

[0053] If the selected device is printer 2, the general-purpose printing program 41 outputs an execution command for the processing of auxiliary program 42, and operates auxiliary program 42 (arrow U), since auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2 is stored in memory 12. The execution command passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 includes information indicating the selected printer.

[0054] Based on an execution command from the general-purpose printing program 41, the auxiliary program 42 communicates with the selected printer, printer 2, and sends a command to the printer 2 to instruct it to perform a calibration process (arrow V). When the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment receives information from the general-purpose printing program 41 indicating that the printer 2 has been selected, it causes the printer 2 to perform the calibration process.

[0055] When the printer 2 receives the command to execute the calibration process, it executes the calibration process (arrow W), acquires the resulting characteristic data, and stores the acquired characteristic data in its own memory (arrow X). Furthermore, the printer 2 transmits the acquired characteristic data to the PC 1 that instructed it to execute the calibration process (arrow D). In this way, the auxiliary program 42 acquires the characteristic data. The process indicated by the arrow D in Fig. 4 is an example of the acquisition process.

[0056] 2, the auxiliary program 42 stores the acquired characteristic data in the memory 12 (arrow E). The process of arrow E is an example of a storage process. After that, when an application that accepts print instructions, such as the editing application 43, accepts a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, the auxiliary program 42 corrects the print data using the stored characteristic data, as shown in FIG.

[0057] As explained in detail above, the auxiliary program 42 of the second embodiment also makes it possible to print an image suited to each individual printer by using printer-specific characteristic data, just like the first embodiment. In particular, in this embodiment, when the printer 2 is selected, the printer 2 is instructed to perform a calibration process, so that when there is an increased possibility that printing will be performed on the printer 2, the latest characteristic data at that time can be obtained. This embodiment is particularly suitable when the characteristic data is data that changes with changes in the environment or the passage of time.

[0058] In the second embodiment, the printer 2 is caused to perform the calibration process when the printer 2 is selected, but the timing of performing the calibration process is not limited to this. For example, the calibration process may be performed when the printer that performs printing is changed from another printer, or when a calibration execution instruction is received from the user. Furthermore, instead of performing the calibration process when a printer is selected, characteristic data stored in the printer 2 may be received from the printer 2.

[0059] Next, the procedure for acquiring characteristic data and executing printing, including the operation of auxiliary program 42 in the third embodiment, will be described with reference to the sequence diagram in Fig. 5. In this embodiment, the timing for acquiring characteristic data from printer 2 differs from that in the first and second embodiments. In Fig. 5 and the following description, the same processes as in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

[0060] In this embodiment, first, the same processes as those indicated by arrows F to I in Fig. 3 are executed. That is, the general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data upon receiving a print execution instruction input from the user via the editing application 43. The general-purpose printing program 41 outputs an execution command for the auxiliary program 42 and passes the generated intermediate image data to the auxiliary program 42.

[0061] Upon receiving the execution command of arrow I, auxiliary program 42 acquires the characteristic data in the same manner as arrows B to E shown in Fig. 2. That is, auxiliary program 42 communicates with printer 2 via communication IF 30 and requests the characteristic data stored in printer 2 (arrow B). The printer 2 reads out the characteristic data stored in its own memory (arrow C) and returns it to the auxiliary program 42 (arrow D). The auxiliary program 42 acquires the characteristic data sent from the printer 2 at arrow D and stores the acquired characteristic data in the memory 12 (arrow E). In this embodiment, the process of arrow D is also an example of an acquisition process, and the process of arrow E is an example of a storage process.

[0062] The auxiliary program 42 then performs the same processes as indicated by arrows J to M in FIG. 3. That is, the auxiliary program 42 generates corrected print data based on the received intermediate image data and transmits the generated corrected print data to the printer 2. In this embodiment, too, the processes indicated by arrows K and L are an example of corrected print data generation processing, and the process indicated by arrow M is an example of output processing. Note that correction may be performed on the intermediate image data, or on the print data after it has been generated. Note that in this embodiment, too, the printer 2 may be caused to perform a calibration process.

[0063] According to this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 acquires characteristic data from the printer 2 after receiving an execution instruction based on a print instruction from the general-purpose print program 41 and before generating corrected print data. This embodiment is particularly suitable for characteristic data that changes depending on the environment or the passage of time, since it is possible to acquire the latest characteristic data. Note that, even in this embodiment, print data may be generated by the general-purpose print program 41. In this embodiment, the timing at which the auxiliary program 42 acquires characteristic data is not limited to after receiving intermediate image data or print data, but may be after the auxiliary program 42 is executed in response to a print instruction using the general-purpose print program 41.

[0064] However, if characteristic data is acquired every time a print instruction is received, there is a concern that the time from inputting the print instruction to outputting the first page of printed material may become longer. Therefore, further conditions for acquiring characteristic data may be added. For example, the condition may be set to acquire characteristic data when a print instruction is issued if a predetermined time or more has elapsed since the previous acquisition. Alternatively, the condition may be set to acquire characteristic data when the first print instruction of the day is issued. Alternatively, if a print instruction is configured to allow an option to specify whether or not to update characteristic data, the condition may be set to acquire characteristic data when the option is added. Alternatively, the condition may be set to acquire characteristic data when memory 12 does not store characteristic data corresponding to the printer that is the target of the print instruction.

[0065] As explained in detail above, the auxiliary program 42 of the third embodiment also makes it possible to print an image suited to each printer by using printer-specific characteristic data, just like the first and second embodiments. In particular, in this embodiment, since characteristic data is obtained after a print instruction is received, there is a high possibility that the latest data can be obtained.

[0066] 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 improved and modified in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the device connected to PC1 is not limited to a printer, but may be any device with a printing function, such as a multifunction device, copier, or fax machine. Furthermore, the number of printers connected to PC1 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be two or more.

[0067] Furthermore, in the embodiment, only the printing operation using the characteristic data is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have other roles as well. The module that executes the operation of acquiring the characteristic data is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, but may be any program that receives instructions from the OS 21 or the general-purpose print program 41 when printing using the general-purpose print program 41. For example, it may be a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been made public by Microsoft.

[0068] Furthermore, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to that of the embodiment. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may be executed in response to a direct execution instruction from the OS 21, or may be a resident auxiliary program 42. If the auxiliary program 42 is resident, it may simply receive an execution command and perform the above-described operation.

[0069] Furthermore, in any flowchart disclosed in the embodiments, the execution order of multiple processes in any multiple steps can be changed or they can be executed in parallel as long as no contradiction occurs in the processing content.

[0070] The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be executed by hardware such as a single CPU, multiple CPUs, or ASIC, or a combination thereof. The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be realized in various ways, such as a recording medium on which a program for executing the processes is recorded, or a method. [Explanation of symbols]

[0071] 1 PC 2. Printer 11 CPU 12 Memory 21 OS 41 General-purpose printing program 42 Subsidy Programs 43 Editing Apps

Claims

1. A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and used for printing on a printer connected to the information processing device, The computer, When the printer is selected by a user through a user interface of the information processing device, an acquisition process is executed to acquire characteristic data indicating characteristics unique to the printer from the printer; Furthermore, the computer When a print instruction to cause the printer to print an image is given to a general-purpose print program pre-installed in the operating system of the information processing device, a corrected print data generation process for generating corrected print data for the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction, the corrected print data being corrected based on the characteristic data acquired in the acquisition process; an output process for outputting the corrected print data generated by the corrected print data generation process so that the corrected print data is transmitted from the information processing device to the printer as a transmission destination; Execute A support program characterized by:

2. 2. The support program according to claim 1, In the corrected print data generation process, a generation process of acquiring intermediate image data indicating the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction from the general-purpose print program and generating print data based on the intermediate image data; a correction process for correcting the print data generated in the generation process based on the characteristic data; and the print data corrected by the correction process is designated as the corrected print data. A support program characterized by:

3. 2. The support program according to claim 1, In the corrected print data generation process, acquiring print data generated by the general-purpose print program from the general-purpose print program, and correcting the acquired print data based on the characteristic data to generate the corrected print data. A support program characterized by:

4. 4. The support program according to claim 1, In the acquisition process, transmitting a command to the printer to cause the printer to execute a calibration process to acquire the characteristic data, and receiving the characteristic data that is a result of the calibration process transmitted from the printer, thereby acquiring the characteristic data; A support program characterized by:

5. 4. The support program according to claim 1, In the acquisition process, acquiring the characteristic data by receiving the characteristic data stored in the printer from the printer; A support program characterized by:

6. 6. The support program according to claim 1, The acquisition process includes: When the printer is selected by the operating system or an application program installed in the information processing device, the program is called from the operating system and executed by the computer. A support program characterized by:

7. An information processing device including a computer, the operating system of the information processing device has a general-purpose printing program that is a pre-installed program; a support program used for printing on a printer connected to the information processing device is installed in the information processing device; The computer When the printer is selected by a user on a user interface of the information processing device, an acquisition process is executed to acquire characteristic data indicating characteristics unique to the printer from the printer; Furthermore, the computer When a print instruction to cause the printer to print an image is given to the general-purpose print program, a corrected print data generation process for generating corrected print data for the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction, the corrected print data being corrected based on the characteristic data acquired in the acquisition process; an output process for outputting the corrected print data generated by the corrected print data generation process so that the corrected print data is transmitted from the information processing device to the printer as a transmission destination; To execute 1. An information processing device comprising:

8. A printer is connected to the information processing device, the operating system of the information processing device has a general-purpose printing program that is a pre-installed program; a support program used for printing by the printer connected to the information processing device is installed in the information processing device; A printing method for causing the printer to execute printing based on print data generated by the information processing device, comprising: When the printer is selected by a user on a user interface of the information processing device, characteristic data indicating characteristics unique to the printer is acquired from the printer; moreover, When a print instruction to cause the printer to print an image is given to the general-purpose print program, generating corrected print data by correcting print data rasterized based on the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction based on the acquired characteristic data; outputting the corrected print data so that the corrected print data is transmitted from the information processing device to the printer as a transmission destination; A printing method characterized by:

Images