Support Program

Abstract

To provide a technology for improving processing while preventing an error from occurring in a printer in an information processing device with an OS standard general-purpose printing program installed thereon.SOLUTION: A PC 1 includes an auxiliary program 42 embedded therein, the program being compatible with a printer 2 and supporting a general-purpose printing program 41 embedded in advance in an OS 21. The auxiliary program 42 registers, on the general-purpose printing program 41, a predetermined file format as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated. The auxiliary program 42 acquires capability information indicating capability of the printer 2 when a print instruction for causing the printer 2 to execute printing is received from an information application 43 and image data of the predetermined file format is received from the general-purpose printing program 41, and transmits a print job including the received image data to the printer 2 upon determination, on the basis of the capability information, that the printer 2 is compatible with the type of the predetermined file format of the image data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] In recent years, a technology has been put into practical use that controls printers using a general-purpose printing program that is built into the operating system (OS) as standard, without using a printer driver. With this technology, when the OS detects a printer, it associates it with the OS's standard general-purpose printing program, and thereafter, when a print instruction for that printer is received, printing can be performed using the OS's standard general-purpose printing program without using a printer driver.

[0003] Also known is a configuration in which a support program is associated with an OS-standard general-purpose printing program, and printing is achieved through cooperation between the general-purpose printing program and the support program. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which the general-purpose printing program generates intermediate data in XPS format based on image data to be printed, the support program generates print data in PDL format based on the intermediate data, and the print data is sent to a printer by the general-purpose printing program, or a configuration in which the support program edits the intermediate data, and then the general-purpose printing program generates print data in RWGraster or PDF format based on the edited intermediate data, and sends the print data to a printer. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-056755 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] For example, if a printer is a model that supports PDF, PDF data can be input to the printer. However, when printing via a general-purpose printing program, as described above, intermediate data is generated based on the image data to be printed, and print data is then generated based on that intermediate data. Therefore, if the image data to be printed is PDF data, even though the printer can handle the image data, a file format conversion is performed (PDF → intermediate data → print data), which is a redundant process. Furthermore, there is a possibility of image quality degradation when converting file formats, so it is preferable to minimize file format conversion opportunities.

[0006] Furthermore, even if the file format is the same, there may be various types depending on the version, etc. Therefore, even if a printer supports PDF, it may not be able to support certain PDF versions, and even if PDF data is sent from a general-purpose printing program or support program, the printer may encounter an error. For these reasons, there is room for improvement when printing via a general-purpose printing program. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The support program aimed at solving the above-mentioned problems is as follows: A support program that can be executed by a computer of an information processing device, corresponds to a specific printer connected to the information processing device, and supports a general-purpose printing program that is pre-installed in an operating system of the information processing device, The computer, executes a registration process for registering a predetermined file format in the general-purpose printing program as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated; Furthermore, the computer When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction being to cause the general-purpose print program to print an image on the specific printer, and processing is requested from the general-purpose print program, When the intermediate data is passed from the general-purpose printing program, the printer generates print data based on the passed intermediate data, and executes a process for transmitting a print job including the generated print data to the specific printer; when image data in the predetermined file format is passed from the general-purpose printing program, execute a first acquisition process to acquire capability information indicating the capability of the specific printer, and a first determination process to determine whether the specific printer can handle the predetermined file format of the passed image data based on the capability information acquired in the first acquisition process; and further, when it is determined in the first determination process that the specific printer can handle the predetermined file format, execute a first transmission process to send a print job including the passed image data to the specific printer. It is configured as follows.

[0008] If a specific file format is registered in the general-purpose printing program as a file format that does not generate intermediate data, and the data in the specific file format is image data to be printed, the general-purpose printing program passes the image data directly to the support program. Therefore, when image data in the specific file format that has not been converted to intermediate data is passed to the support program, if a specific printer is compatible with the specific file format of the image data, the support program executes a first transmission process to send a print job including the image data to the specific printer. As a result, if the specific printer is compatible with the type of image data to be printed, the image data to be printed is passed to the specific printer without being converted to intermediate data, thereby avoiding redundant processing and reducing degradation in image quality. On the other hand, if the specific printer is unable to support a specific file format due to its own circumstances, the first transmission process is not executed, making it less likely that an error will occur due to the specific printer being unable to support the image data.

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

[0010] The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technology that prevents printer errors and improves processing in an information processing device that has a standard OS general-purpose printing program installed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure when printing is selected in the information application according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure when a print instruction is received according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a table showing whether each PDF version is supported by printer model. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure when a print instruction is received according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") that uses the support program of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This specification discloses a printing system that causes a printer to print from a general-purpose printing program that is standard for the OS.

[0013] [First embodiment] [System Configuration] As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system 100 includes a PC 1 and a printer 2. The PC 1 and the printer 2 may be connected via a network such as the Internet, or may be connected without a network. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The printer 2 is an example of a specific printer.

[0014] The PC 1 includes a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and a memory 12. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The PC 1 also includes a user interface (hereinafter referred to as a "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as a "communication IF") 14, which are electrically connected to the controller 10. Note that the controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a collective term for hardware and software used to control the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware that actually exists in the PC 1.

[0015] The CPU 11 executes various processes in accordance with programs read from the memory 12 and based on user operations. Various programs and various data are stored in the memory 12. The memory 12 is also used as a work area when various processes are executed. A buffer provided in the CPU 11 is also an example of the memory 12. Note that the example of the memory 12 is not limited to a ROM, RAM, HDD, etc. built into the PC 1, but may also be a storage medium readable and writable by the CPU 11, such as a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

[0016] The user IF 13 includes hardware for displaying a screen for notifying the user of information and hardware for accepting user operations. The user IF 13 may be a combination of a display 13a capable of displaying information and a mouse or keyboard having an input acceptance function, or may be a touch panel having the display 13a and an input acceptance function.

[0017] The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with an external device such as the printer 2. The communication IF 14 is compatible with a communication standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), or USB. The PC 1 may be connectable to the Internet via the communication IF 14. The PC 1 may be equipped with multiple communication IFs 14 compatible with multiple communication standards.

[0018] 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, and various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "apps"). The OS 21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark). The OS 21 creates a printer queue for each connected printer, manages print jobs destined for that printer, and registers printer information, which is information about each printer.

[0019] The PC 1 of this embodiment incorporates various applications, such as an information application 43. The information application 43 is, for example, a map application, a calendar application, or a browser, and has a function of displaying various information on the display 13a in response to a user request. The information application 43 is an example of an application program. Note that the information application 43 itself does not necessarily have a function of printing the displayed information.

[0020] The generic printing program 41 is an OS standard program provided together with the OS 21, and has a function for causing the printer 2 or the like to print information displayed on the display 13a by the information application 43 or the like. The generic printing program 41 of this embodiment is a program that includes a function for generating intermediate data based on image data to be printed. The generic printing program 41 supports functions that can be used in common by multiple models of printers provided by various printer vendors. Unlike printer drivers that are specific to various printers, the generic printing program 41 does not support all of the specific functions that various printers have, and the functions it supports are limited to generic ones.

[0021] 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 a program that supports the 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 started from the general-purpose printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the general-purpose printing program 41 is received. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 is registered in the general-purpose printing program 41 or the OS 21 as a program to be started based on the selection of the printer 2. The auxiliary program 42 is, for example, called a print support app (abbreviated as PSA) or a hardware support app (abbreviated as HSA). The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program.

[0022] The auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of multiple programs that each accept an execution command, or a single program that can execute different processes in response to commands. The auxiliary program 42 may also be a program prepared by a printer vendor for each printer type. For example, an auxiliary program for inkjet printers and an auxiliary program for laser printers may be prepared. A separate auxiliary program may be prepared not only for each printer type, but also for each printer model or series of printer models.

[0023] Furthermore, the general-purpose printing program 41 has a pass-through function for PDF data that passes the image data directly to the auxiliary program without generating intermediate data. PDF is an example of a predetermined file format. The general-purpose printing program 41 can register whether or not to enable the pass-through function for each auxiliary program. In this embodiment, the registration to enable the pass-through function is referred to as "pass-through registration."

[0024] The auxiliary program 42 also has a function for setting whether or not to execute pass-through registration. When image data passed based on a print instruction is PDF, if pass-through registration has not been executed from the auxiliary program 42, the general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate data and passes the intermediate data to the auxiliary program 42. However, if pass-through registration has been executed from the auxiliary program 42, the general-purpose printing program 41 passes the PDF image data directly to the auxiliary program 42 without generating intermediate data. In this embodiment, registration availability information 46 indicating whether or not to execute pass-through registration is stored in the memory 12. The registration availability information 46 is set to ON if pass-through registration is to be executed, and is set to OFF if pass-through registration is not to be executed. The auxiliary program 42 has, for example, a setting screen for setting the registration availability information 46 to ON or OFF, and accepts settings for the registration availability information 46 via the setting screen.

[0025] The printer 2 has at least a printing function and a communication function. The printer 2 receives a print job including print data and print settings from an external device, and prints an image indicated in the print data according to the print settings.

[0026] [Procedure for selecting a printer] Next, the printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, which is the procedure performed by each program when printing is selected in the information application 43, will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of Fig. 2. Note that Fig. 2 and other sequence diagrams described later show the operation when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is installed in the PC 1.

[0027] Note that the processes, flowcharts, and sequence diagrams in the following explanation basically represent the processing of the CPU 11 in accordance with instructions written 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 operation of each program will be explained 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] At the beginning of the procedure, the user launches the information application 43 (A01). The information application 43 displays various information on the display 13a in response to user instructions (A02). If the user wants to print an image based on the displayed information, the user selects print from the menu of the information application 43 (A03). When the information application 43 accepts the print selection, it sends a request to display a print setting screen and image data to be printed to the general-purpose printing program 41 of the OS 21 (A04). The information application 43 sends the image data to be printed in a file format that suits its own capabilities. Therefore, the general-purpose printing program 41 receives the image data of the image to be printed in a file format that suits the capabilities of the data sender, such as the information application 43.

[0029] In response to the display request, the general-purpose print program 41 displays a general-purpose print setting screen on the display 13a (A06). The general-purpose print setting screen is a screen that accepts instructions for print settings and instructions for printing. The general-purpose print setting screen displays the settings of various setting items related to printing, displays a preview based on the image data received from the information application 43 in A04, and accepts various settings related to printing.

[0030] The general-purpose printing program 41 also accepts the selection of the printer to be used for printing via the general-purpose printing setting screen. When the general-purpose printing program 41 accepts the selection of printer 2 as the printer to be used for printing (A07), it starts the auxiliary program 42 and requests processing corresponding to the printer selection (A08). In A08, the general-purpose printing program 41 may pass the print setting information that was set when the printer was selected to the auxiliary program 42.

[0031] When printer 2 is set as the printer to be normally used in the OS 21, the general-purpose printing program 41 displays the general-purpose printing setting screen with printer 2 selected (A06) and starts the auxiliary program 42 (A08). That is, printer 2 is automatically selected by the OS 21, and the general-purpose printing program 41 executes A08 based on the selection of printer 2. In this case, the user does not need to operate A07.

[0032] Alternatively, instead of the general-purpose printing program 41 displaying the general-purpose printing setting screen, the information application 43 may be configured to display the general-purpose printing setting screen. In this case, the information application 43 starts the general-purpose printing program 41 in response to the selection of printing in A03, obtains data to be displayed on the general-purpose printing setting screen from the general-purpose printing program 41, and displays the general-purpose printing setting screen on the display 13a. Then, in response to the selection of printer 2 or in response to the selection of printer 2 in A07, the information application 43 passes information about the selected printer to the general-purpose printing program 41. As a result, the general-purpose printing program 41 starts the auxiliary program 42 in A08.

[0033] When the auxiliary program 42 is started, it requests the OS 21 for the capability information of the selected printer (A11). Because printer 2 has been selected, the OS 21 transmits an acquisition request to printer 2 requesting the capability information, and receives the capability information transmitted from printer 2 in response to the acquisition request, thereby acquiring the capability information from printer 2 (A12). A12 is an example of a second acquisition process. The OS 21 passes the capability information acquired from the selected printer, i.e., printer 2, to the auxiliary program 42 (A13).

[0034] The OS 21 communicates with the selected printer using, for example, IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) communication. Instead of requesting capability information from the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 may obtain connection information such as the IP address of the selected printer from the OS 21 and use the MIB (Management Information Base) to obtain the capability information directly from the selected printer.

[0035] The capability information acquired from the printer 2 includes information on parameters that can be set as print settings. The capability information may also include, for example, status information, information on remaining consumables, information on installed trays, paper type information for each tray, and information on supported print resolutions. The capability information may also include printer model information and firmware version information. The capability information of this embodiment includes information indicating whether PDF data is supported. The information indicating whether PDF data is supported may directly indicate whether PDF data is supported, or may be information that can be used to determine whether PDF data is supported, such as the printer model. Even if PDF is supported, if compatibility varies depending on the version, the information indicating whether PDF data is supported may include information on whether the version supports it. PDF is an example of a predetermined file format, and a PDF version is an example of a type of the predetermined file format.

[0036] The auxiliary program 42, having acquired the capability information, performs a printer determination process (A14). The printer determination process is a process for determining whether the selected printer, i.e., printer 2, is compatible with PDF based on information indicating whether the PDF data is supported, which is included in the capability information. A14 is an example of a second determination process. Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 reads the registration availability information 46 from the memory 12 (A15).

[0037] If the selected printer is PDF compatible and the registration availability information 46 is set to ON (alt: PDF compatible and registration availability information ON), the auxiliary program 42 executes pass-through registration for the general-purpose printing program 41 (A16). A16 is an example of the registration process. Pass-through registration is accepted by the general-purpose printing program 41 for each auxiliary program. Therefore, if a printer associated with the auxiliary program 42 is selected after pass-through registration by the auxiliary program 42, the pass-through registration from the auxiliary program 42 becomes valid. On the other hand, if a printer not associated with the auxiliary program 42 is selected, the pass-through registration from the auxiliary program 42 does not become valid. Note that if pass-through registration has already been completed, A16 may be omitted.

[0038] On the other hand, if the selected printer is not PDF compatible or the registration availability information 46 is set to OFF (alt: PDF incompatible or registration availability information OFF), the auxiliary program 42 does not execute pass-through registration and executes processing to cancel the pass-through registration (A17). In other words, the auxiliary program 42 restricts the execution of pass-through registration. A17 is an example of the cancellation processing. Note that if the pass-through has already been canceled or pass-through registration has not been performed, A17 may be omitted.

[0039] [Procedure for printing] Next, the procedures of each program when a print instruction is received via the general-purpose print setting screen of the general-purpose print program 41 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram in Fig. 3. The sequence diagram in Fig. 3 shows the operation when a print instruction is received with the printer 2 selected.

[0040] For example, the general-purpose print setting screen displayed by A06 in Fig. 2 has a print execution button, and an instruction to execute printing is received by operating the print execution button. Since the general-purpose print setting screen is displayed in response to a request from the information application 43, this means that operations on the general-purpose print setting screen are received by the information application 43. Therefore, in this embodiment, an instruction to execute printing is received by the information application 43 (D01), and in response to that instruction, a print instruction is output from the information application 43 to the general-purpose print program 41 (D02). Note that the information application 43 may directly receive an instruction to execute printing separately from the general-purpose print setting screen, and in that case, a print instruction is also output from the information application 43 to the general-purpose print program 41 in response to that instruction.

[0041] When the general-purpose print program 41 receives a print instruction from the information application 43, it starts the auxiliary program 42 and passes the image data passed from the information application 43 in A04 of Fig. 2 and the print settings received via the general-purpose print setting screen to the auxiliary program 42 (D03).The auxiliary program 42 then determines the file format and file format version of the passed image data (D04).

[0042] The general-purpose printing program 41 handles the image data passed from the information application 43 differently depending on whether pass-through registration is performed and the file format of the image data to be printed. That is, if pass-through registration is performed by the auxiliary program 42 at A16 in FIG. 2 and PDF image data is passed from the information application 43, the general-purpose printing program 41 passes the PDF image data to the auxiliary program 42 as is.

[0043] On the other hand, if pass-through registration has not been executed by the auxiliary program 42, or if pass-through registration has been cancelled by the auxiliary program 42, or if the file format of the image data passed from the information application 43 is not PDF, the general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate data from the image data passed from the information application 43. The general-purpose printing program 41 passes the generated intermediate data to the auxiliary program 42 as image data. The image data passed from the information application 43 can be of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the image data to be printed into intermediate data suitable for generating print data. The intermediate data is, for example, XPS data.

[0044] If the determination result in D04 is PDF (alt:PDF), the auxiliary program 42 acquires the printer model (D11). The printer model may be acquired based on capability information acquired from the printer, as in the steps A11, A12, and A13 of FIG. 2, or the capability information acquired in A13 may be stored in memory 12 and the stored capability information may be read out. Also, if the printer 2 has a function for responding with model information indicating the model, the auxiliary program 42 may directly request the printer 2 for that model information. D11 is an example of a first acquisition process.

[0045] The auxiliary program 42 also acquires whether the model acquired in D11 is compatible with PDF versions (D12). In D12, for example, the auxiliary program 42 has a version correspondence table 421 that associates printer models with PDF version compatibility, as shown in FIG. 4, and acquires PDF versions compatible with the printer 2 model by referencing the version correspondence table 421. If the version correspondence table 421 is on a server, the version correspondence table 421 may be acquired by accessing the server. Alternatively, the model of the printer 2 may be transmitted to the server, and information about compatible versions may be received. The version correspondence table 421 is an example of a table. By having the version correspondence table 421 in the auxiliary program 42, the printer 2 does not need to store information about compatible PDF versions, thereby reducing the burden on the printer's memory.

[0046] The auxiliary program 42 also analyzes the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose print program 41 and extracts the PDF version (D13). D12 and D13 may be performed in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0047] After D12 and D13, the auxiliary program 42 compares the version of the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 with the versions supported by the printer 2, and determines whether the printer 2 can print the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 (D14). D14 is an example of a first determination process.

[0048] In addition, if the capability information acquired from printer 2 also includes version information indicating the PDF versions that printer 2 can support, that version information can be acquired instead of D11 and D12 (an example of a first acquisition process), and the acquired version information can be used to make the determination in D14.

[0049] If D14 determines that the printer 2 cannot print the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 (alt: cannot print), the auxiliary program 42 generates print data based on the PDF image data (D15). That is, the auxiliary program 42 generates print data, which is PDL data that is compatible with the printer 2, from the PDF data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41. D15 is an example of the generation process. On the other hand, if D14 determines that the printer 2 can print the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41, the auxiliary program 42 does not generate print data.

[0050] Furthermore, if the result of determination in D04 is a file format other than PDF, i.e., intermediate data (alt: non-PDF), the auxiliary program 42 generates print data based on the intermediate data passed to it (D21). That is, the auxiliary program 42 rasterizes the intermediate data processed by the general-purpose printing program 41, and generates print data representing the image to be printed. The print data generated in D21 is, for example, PDL data that the printer 2 can handle.

[0051] The auxiliary program 42 adds information indicating print settings to the PDF image data passed in D03 or to a print job including the print data generated in D15 or D21 (D31). The added print settings are, for example, printer-specific print settings. The general-purpose printing program 41 supports general-purpose print settings, but does not support printer-specific print settings. Examples of print settings supported by the general-purpose printing program 41 include the number of copies, double-sided printing, color printing, paper tray, paper type, paper size, and layout printing (N in 1). Printer-specific print settings include, for example, print settings related to post-processing such as watermarks, economy printing, PIN settings, poster printing, booklet printing, and stapling.

[0052] The auxiliary program 42 sends the print job with the print settings to the selected printer 2 (D32) and returns a notification of completion of processing by D03 to the general-purpose printing program 41 (D33). The printer 2 that receives the print job executes printing based on the received print job (D34). This results in the creation of a printed document. Note that the printer 2 may also perform authorization authentication based on PIN information when acquiring the print job.

[0053] In this embodiment, if the printer 2 is compatible with PDF, and the image data to be printed is a PDF version compatible with the printer 2, the auxiliary program 42 will send the PDF to the printer 2 as is in D32. The process of sending this PDF as is to the printer 2 is an example of a first transmission process. When the printer 2 receives a print job including PDF image data, it can print the PDF image data as is without converting the file format. Thus, in the printing system 100 of this embodiment, if the printer 2 is compatible with the PDF version of the image data, the image data is not converted from PDF to intermediate data to PDF, eliminating unnecessary processing. Furthermore, deterioration in image quality due to file format conversion is suppressed.

[0054] Furthermore, even if the image data is PDF, if the printer 2 does not support the PDF version of that image data, the auxiliary program 42 generates print data that the printer 2 can support in D15 and sends that print data to the printer 2 in D32. This process of sending print data is an example of a second transmission process. Since the printer 2 receives print data that it can support, it can perform printing based on that print data. Thus, in the printing system 100 of this embodiment, even if the printer 2 cannot support the PDF version of the image data, the data is converted into print data that the printer 2 can support and passed to the printer 2, thereby reducing the occurrence of errors in the printer 2 and increasing the likelihood that the user will obtain a printed product.

[0055] On the other hand, if printer 2 does not support PDF, auxiliary program 42 does not perform pass-through registration, and therefore receives intermediate data from general-purpose printing program 41, generates print data that printer 2 can support in D21, and sends the print data to printer 2 in D32. The intermediate data is generated by general-purpose printing program 41 in a file format that can be used by multiple models of printers provided by various printer vendors. Therefore, even if the image data output from information application 43 is in a file format that printer 2 cannot support, printer 2 can receive and print print data based on the intermediate data. In this case, printer 2 can print based on the print settings assigned to the print job, just as when executing a print job that includes PDF image data.

[0056] It should be noted that the general-purpose printing program 41 may send the print job to the printer 2, rather than the auxiliary program 42. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 so that it is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 sends the print data etc. received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2.

[0057] As described above in detail, in the general-purpose printing program 41 of the first embodiment, if PDF is registered as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated, and the image data to be printed is PDF, the general-purpose printing program 41 passes the PDF image data directly to the auxiliary program 42. Therefore, when PDF image data is passed, the auxiliary program 42 sends a print job including the image data to the printer 2 if the printer 2 is compatible with the PDF version of the passed image data. As a result, if the printer 2 is compatible with the version of the PDF image data to be printed, the image data to be printed is passed to the printer 2 without being converted into intermediate data, thereby avoiding redundant processing and suppressing degradation of image quality. On the other hand, if the printer 2 cannot support the version due to its own circumstances, the PDF image data is not sent directly, but is converted into print data and sent to the printer 2. Therefore, errors caused by the printer 2 being unable to support the image data are less likely to occur.

[0058] [Second embodiment] [Procedure for printing] Next, a second embodiment of the support program and printing system disclosed in this specification will be described. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the procedure when printing is selected. In the second embodiment, if the image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 is PDF and it is determined that the PDF cannot be printed, printing is canceled. This differs from the first embodiment in that printing is not canceled and the PDF image data is converted into print data that is compatible with the printer 2. Here, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. Note that the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment are used for configurations or processes in the second embodiment that are common to the first embodiment, and explanations will be omitted as appropriate.

[0059] In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, if the result of the determination by D04 is PDF (alt: PDF) and if D14 determines that the printer 2 cannot print the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 (alt: cannot print), the auxiliary program 42 does not generate print data and displays a cancellation message on the display 13a notifying that printing will be canceled (D16).

[0060] The auxiliary program 42 then requests the general-purpose printing program 41 to cancel printing (D17). When the cancellation is requested, the general-purpose printing program 41 cancels the processing based on the print instruction. The auxiliary program 42 also sets the registration availability information 46 to OFF (D18). The auxiliary program 42 may also request the general-purpose printing program 41 to cancel the pass-through registration in D18. The order in which the processing of D16, D17, and D18 is performed does not matter. D16 is an example of notification processing, D17 is an example of cancellation processing, and D18 is an example of cancellation processing.

[0061] After D16, D17, and D18, the auxiliary program 42 does not execute the processes from D31 onwards, and instead sends a notification of completion of the process by D03 to the general-purpose printing program 41 (D19). In other words, the auxiliary program 42 does not send the print job based on the image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41 to the printer 2.

[0062] By setting the registration availability information 46 to OFF, when printer 2 is subsequently selected on the general-purpose print setting screen, pass-through registration is cancelled at A17 in FIG. 2. Then, even if a print instruction is subsequently input and the same PDF image data is passed, the general-purpose print program 41 passes image data converted into intermediate data. Therefore, print data based on the intermediate data is generated at D21, and this print data is sent to printer 2. This makes it possible to print on printer 2. Note that, since printing becomes possible with a subsequent print instruction as described above, the message notified at D16 may include guidance to operate the print button again.

[0063] If the result of the determination in D04 is PDF (alt:PDF) and D14 determines that the printer 2 can print the PDF image data passed from the general-purpose printing program 41, D16 to D19 are not executed, and as in the first embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 adds information indicating print settings to the print job including the PDF image data passed in D03 (D31 in Figure 3), sends the print job with the print settings added to the selected printer 2 (D32 in Figure 3), and returns a notification of completion of processing by D03 to the general-purpose printing program 41 (D33 in Figure 3).

[0064] As explained in detail above, in the second embodiment, if the printer 2 does not support the version of the PDF to be printed, the auxiliary program 42 cancels the printing and cancels the pass-through registration, thereby preventing image data that is not supported by the printer 2 from being sent and causing an error in the printer 2. Furthermore, when the next print instruction is given, intermediate data is passed from the general-purpose print program 41 instead of PDF image data, and print data based on that intermediate data is passed to the printer 2, making it possible for the printer 2 to print at the next print instruction.

[0065] Furthermore, in the second embodiment, compared to generating print data from PDF image data as in the first embodiment, there is no need to implement a process for generating print data from PDF, and the implementation load of the auxiliary program 42 is light. On the other hand, if print data is generated from PDF image data as in the first embodiment, there is no need to re-enter a print instruction for printing, and the possibility of quickly obtaining printed material on the printer 2 increases.

[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 present invention. For example, the device connected to PC 1 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 device connected to printer 2 is not limited to a PC, but may be any device capable of controlling a printer, such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) or smartphone.

[0067] Furthermore, in the embodiment, pass-through registration is possible for PDF, but pass-through registration may also be possible for file formats other than PDF, i.e., the general-purpose printing program 41 may not generate intermediate data. In this case, multiple file formats may be registered in the general-purpose printing program 41 as file formats for which intermediate data is not generated in one pass-through registration, or pass-through registration may be performed by specifying a file format. In other words, pass-through registration may be possible for each file format.

[0068] Furthermore, in the embodiment, pass-through registration is performed when a printer is selected, but the timing for performing pass-through registration is not limited to this. For example, pass-through registration can be performed when the auxiliary program 42 is installed, when a printer queue is created, or when a print instruction is received. For example, when a print instruction is received, if the image data to be printed passed from the general-purpose print program 41 is PDF, it can be determined that pass-through registration has not been performed. In this case, pass-through registration can be performed on the condition that the selected printer is PDF-compatible and the registration availability information 46 is set to ON. Note that if pass-through registration is performed when a print instruction is received, there is a possibility that the start of printing will be delayed. Therefore, by performing pass-through registration before the print instruction, such as when a printer is selected, it is possible to suppress delays in the start of printing due to pass-through registration.

[0069] Also, in the embodiment, the registration possibility information 46 is stored in the memory 12, and if the registration possibility information is set to OFF, the auxiliary program 42 does not perform pass-through registration, but it may perform pass-through registration if the selected printer is PDF compatible without storing the registration possibility information 46 and without making a judgment regarding the registration possibility information.

[0070] Furthermore, in the embodiment, when selecting a printer, if the selected printer is not PDF-compatible or the registration availability information 46 is set to OFF (alt in FIG. 2: PDF-compatible and registration availability information is ON), the auxiliary program 42 cancels the pass-through registration, but it is not necessary to cancel the pass-through registration. However, by canceling the pass-through registration if the selected printer is not PDF-compatible, for example, if the registration availability information 46 is changed from ON to OFF, a printing procedure appropriate for the change can be realized.

[0071] Also, in the embodiment, when a printer is selected, capability information of the selected printer is acquired, and pass-through registration is executed on the condition that the selected printer is PDF compatible, but pass-through registration may be executed regardless of whether the selected printer is PDF compatible or not. However, by executing pass-through registration on the condition that the selected printer is PDF compatible, that is, by not executing pass-through registration if the selected printer is PDF incompatible, if the image data to be printed is PDF, intermediate data will be passed from the general-purpose printing program 41, and errors due to PDF incompatibility in the selected printer will be less likely to occur.

[0072] 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.

[0073] 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]

[0074] 1 PC 2. Printer 21 OS 41 General-purpose printing program 42 Subsidy Programs 43 Information App

Claims

1. A support program that can be executed by a computer of an information processing device, corresponds to a specific printer connected to the information processing device, and supports a general-purpose printing program that is pre-installed in an operating system of the information processing device, The computer, executes a registration process for registering a predetermined file format in the general-purpose printing program as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated; Furthermore, the computer When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction being to cause the general-purpose print program to print an image on the specific printer, and processing is requested from the general-purpose print program, When the intermediate data is passed from the general-purpose printing program, the printer generates print data based on the passed intermediate data, and executes a process for transmitting a print job including the generated print data to the specific printer; When image data in the predetermined file format is passed from the general-purpose printing program, the program executes a first acquisition process to acquire capability information indicating the capability of the specific printer, and a first determination process to determine whether the specific printer can handle the predetermined file format of the passed image data based on the capability information acquired in the first acquisition process, and further executes a first transmission process to transmit a print job including the passed image data to the specific printer when it is determined in the first determination process that the specific printer can handle the file format. A support program configured to:

2. 2. The support program according to claim 1, In the registration process, The PDF is set as the predetermined file format, and the PDF is registered in the general-purpose printing program as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated. A support program configured to:

3. The support program according to claim 1 or 2, The computer, executes the registration process when a process is requested by the general-purpose printing program as a result of the specific printer being selected; A support program configured to:

4. 4. The support program according to claim 1, The computer, before executing the registration process, a second acquisition process is executed to acquire capability information indicating the capability of the specific printer, and a second determination process is executed to determine whether the specific printer is compatible with the predetermined file format based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process; If it is determined in the second determination process that the specific printer is compatible, the registration process is executed; If it is determined in the second determination process that the specific printer is not compatible, the registration process is not executed. A support program configured to:

5. 5. The support program according to claim 4, The computer, If it is determined in the second determination process that the specific printer is not compatible, the registration process is not executed, and a cancellation process is executed to cancel the registration of the specific file format as a file format for which the intermediate data is not generated. A support program configured to:

6. 6. The support program according to claim 1, It is possible to set whether or not to execute the registration process, The computer, If it is set that the registration process is not to be executed, the execution of the registration process is restricted. A support program configured to:

7. 7. The support program according to claim 1, The computer, When a print instruction is output from the application program incorporated in the information processing device, and the print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program to cause the specific printer to print an image, and processing is requested from the general-purpose print program, and image data in the predetermined file format is passed from the general-purpose print program, the information processing device executes the first acquisition process and the first determination process, and further, when it is determined in the first determination process that the predetermined file format is not supported, the information processing device executes a generation process for generating print data based on the passed image data, and a second transmission process for transmitting a print job including the print data generated in the generation process to the specific printer. A support program configured to:

8. 7. The support program according to claim 1, The computer, When a print instruction is output from the application program incorporated in the information processing device, and the print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program to cause the specific printer to print an image, and processing is requested from the general-purpose print program, and image data in the predetermined file format is passed from the general-purpose print program, the information processing device executes the first acquisition process and the first determination process, and further, when it is determined in the first determination process that the predetermined file format is not compatible, the information processing device executes a cancellation process for canceling printing based on the print instruction, a cancellation process for canceling registration of the predetermined file format as a file format for which intermediate data is not generated, and a notification process for notifying that printing has been canceled. A support program configured to:

9. 9. The support program according to claim 1, a table that associates printer models with the types of the predetermined file formats that the printer can support; In the first acquisition process, As the capability information, model information for identifying the model of the specific printer is acquired; In the first determination process, using the table, identifying the type of the predetermined file format associated with the model indicated in the model information acquired in the first acquisition process, and if the type of the predetermined file format of the transferred image data is included in the identified type of predetermined file format, determining that the specific printer can support the type of predetermined file format; A support program configured to:

Images