Applications that provide a print settings screen

Abstract

To provide an application that provides a print setting screen for a standard driver regardless of a type.SOLUTION: An application, which provides a print setting screen that allows a user to perform print settings that are used when a driver on a computer generates a print command to be provided for printing on a printer, causes the computer to perform steps of acquiring icon data representing the printer from an external device different from the computer via a network, and displaying the acquired icon on display means of the computer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an application that provides a print setting screen for a standard driver (hereinafter referred to as a standard driver) that is not dependent on the model. [Background technology]

[0002] Traditionally, printing has been performed using drivers provided by printer vendors (printer manufacturers). In recent years, an environment has been established where printing is possible without installing printer vendor drivers. This is because OS vendors provide standard drivers. For example, Windows (registered trademark) comes equipped with a standard driver called the IPP class driver. Android (registered trademark) comes equipped with a standard driver called Mopria (registered trademark). Furthermore, iOS (registered trademark) includes a standard driver called AirPrint (registered trademark) as part of its OS functionality. These standard drivers issue print commands that comply with the printing protocol known as IPP (Internet Printing Protocol). Therefore, printers that support IPP can receive these print commands and execute printing. A distinctive feature of these standard drivers is that they can print to multiple printer models from multiple printer vendors that support the printing protocol. In other words, they are compatible with multiple printer models.

[0003] In Patent Document 1, in an information processing device capable of communicating with a printer, a driver installed on the information processing device acquires icon image data representing the printer's appearance from the printer (FIG. 7). The icon image data is then provided to an OS. The OS then displays the icon on a printer management screen (e.g., a Devices and Printers screen) provided by the OS (FIG. 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-310154 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, such detailed design is only possible because the driver is a vendor-specific driver provided by the printer vendor. Standard drivers are not created by the printer vendor alone, but are created based on the wishes of the OS vendor and also the wishes of other printer vendors. Therefore, it is practically difficult to incorporate such detailed design into a standard driver. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An application according to an embodiment of the present invention is an application that is installed on a computer and provides a print setting screen for allowing a user to make print settings used when a print command that a driver in the computer provides for printing on a printer, the application comprising: From the cloud print service to which the printer is registered, Icon data representing the printer The information indicating the storage location of the print job is obtained using the operation of the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), and based on the obtained information, , the computer and the cloud print service From an external device different from data of an icon representing the printer, an acquiring step of acquiring the icon via a network; and a step of displaying the acquired icon on a display means of the computer. 、 The present invention is characterized in that the computer executes the above. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, icon data can be obtained. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] Network Diagram [Figure 2]Hardware configuration diagram of the client computer 100 [Figure 3] Functional block diagram of printer 200 [Figure 4] Cloud Print Proxy 1054 Functional Block Diagram [Figure 5] Cloud print service functional block diagram [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart showing the process of acquiring an icon of the cloud print service 500 when registering the printer 200 in the cloud print service 500. [Figure 7] An example of how to save the icon for Cloud Print Service 500 [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing the process of acquiring an icon when registering a printer 200 in a client computer 100. [Figure 9] Print common dialog screen example [Figure 10] Advanced settings screen example [Figure 11] A sequence diagram of the process in which the cloud print service 500 acquires an icon in response to an icon request from the operating system 1053. [Figure 12] Sequence diagram of the process by which the print settings extension app obtains an icon from the printer [Figure 13] Icon display example on the client computer 100 [Figure 14] Icon display example for print setting extension application 1052 [Figure 15] Cloud Print Proxy Server Icon Acquisition Process Flow [Figure 16] A sequence diagram of the process in which the cloud print service 500 acquires an icon in response to an icon request from the operating system 1053. [Figure 17] Flowchart of the process for acquiring icons [Figure 18] Sequence diagram when icon acquisition is instructed [Figure 19] Sequence diagram for directly requesting an icon from Cloud Print Service 500 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] [Embodiment 1] 1 is a simplified network configuration diagram of a network 150 environment illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. A client computer 100 is connected to the network 150 and is in a communicable state. Also present are a cloud print-compatible printer 201, a cloud print non-compatible printer 202, and a cloud print proxy server 300, which are connected to a separate intranet, and are connected via the Internet. A printer driver distribution service 600, a print setting extension app distribution service 400, and a cloud print service 500 are connected to the network 150.

[0011] The printer driver distribution service 600 executes a service that distributes printer drivers to the client computer 100 on a web basis. The client computer 100 obtains from the printer driver distribution service 600 a printer driver that corresponds to the printer identification information obtained when the client computer 100 searches for and finds a printer using a protocol such as WSD (Web Services for Devices) or IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), and installs the printer driver. Furthermore, if a printer driver with a newer version than the printer driver installed on the client computer 100 has been uploaded to the printer driver distribution service 600, the client computer 100 automatically or manually obtains the new printer driver from the printer driver distribution service 600 and updates the installed printer driver.

[0012] The print setting extension application distribution server 400 is a server that executes a service for distributing applications executed on the client computer 100. When the client computer 100 receives a user operation requesting installation of a print setting extension application, or when an application identifier is described in an information file (hereinafter, referred to as an Inf file) of the printer driver, the client computer 100 acquires the corresponding print setting extension application from the print setting extension application distribution server 400 and installs it.

[0013] The cloud print service 500 is a service for controlling printing on the Internet that is established on a cloud (i.e., on a server system) which is a server system consisting of multiple servers. In this embodiment, it is possible to connect to each intranet, and it is possible to connect directly to the client computer 100 and the cloud print compatible printer 201 via the Internet. On the other hand, in the case of a cloud print non-compatible printer 202, it is possible to connect via the cloud print proxy server 300 described below. The cloud print service 500 manages accounts using a user ID and password, and users can access the cloud print service 500 using this account.

[0014] The cloud print proxy server 300 is a computer with the same hardware configuration as the client computer 100, on which a cloud print proxy 1054 is installed. A cloud print non-compatible printer 202 can connect to the cloud print service 500 via this cloud print proxy server 300. This allows registration with the cloud print service 500 and printing even if the printer is not cloud print compatible.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram showing the internal configuration of the client computer 100 and the cloud print proxy server 300. As shown in FIG.

[0016] In the figure, a CPU 101 included in a client computer 100 controls the entire device in accordance with a program stored in a ROM 1021 or RAM 1022 of a main storage device 102 or an auxiliary storage device 105 .

[0017] The RAM 1022 is also used as a work area when the CPU 101 performs various processes. The auxiliary storage device 105 stores an operating system (OS) 1053 including a cloud printer driver 1057, applications 1051, a print setting extension application 1052, a device management system 1055, a printer driver 1056, etc. In the following description, the main storage device 102 and the auxiliary storage device 105 will be collectively referred to as the storage device.

[0018] Input devices such as a pointing device 109, such as a mouse or touch panel, and a keyboard 108 are connected via the input I / F 103 and are devices that allow the user to give various instructions to the computer.

[0019] The output I / F 104 is an interface for outputting data to the outside, and outputs data to an output device such as a monitor 110 or a panel 111 .

[0020] Connections with the printer 200 (in the embodiment of the present invention, the printer 200 is referred to as a general term for printers regardless of whether they support cloud printing) and each system are made via a communication I / F 106 and a network 150. Reference numeral 107 denotes a common data system bus, which exchanges data between the I / Fs and modules. In addition, the processing of the present invention is realized by the CPU 101 executing processing based on a program stored in a storage device.

[0021] In this embodiment, two standard drivers are assumed to be included in the operating system: a cloud printer driver 1057 and an IPP standard driver.

[0022] The cloud printer driver 1057 is a printer control program that can issue print instructions to any printer, regardless of model, as long as it is connected to the cloud print service 500. The IPP standard driver is a printer control program that can issue print instructions to any printer, regardless of model, connected to a printer connected via the IPP protocol.

[0023] Application 1051 indicates a general business application, which is a general application that can edit documents and create presentation materials, and is intended to allow printing instructions to be issued by operating a UI such as a menu.

[0024] The print setting extension application 1052 is application software that operates in conjunction with a standard printer driver, such as a cloud printer driver 1057, included in the operating system 1053, and performs detailed print settings specific to the target printer. It may also store a group of icons for each corresponding printer. The icons for the printers (i.e., printer icons) are created for each printer model, for example. The printer icons can also be considered visual information (a diagram or picture) that represents the printer.

[0025] The device management system 1055 is downloaded from the printer driver distribution service 600, similar to the printer driver 1056 described below, and is a program for managing various information related to the output target non-cloud print compatible printer 202. Furthermore, the device management system 1055 holds an icon corresponding to the output target printer as information other than the above.

[0026] The printer driver 1056 is a model-specific printer control program provided by a printer vendor, and is assumed to be obtained from the printer driver distribution service 600. The printer driver 1056 is also capable of performing detailed print settings specific to the device on its own.

[0027] On the other hand, the only difference between the cloud print proxy server 300 and the cloud print proxy server 302 is the application stored in the auxiliary storage device 1051. More specifically, a cloud print proxy 1054 is stored in place of the print setting extension application 1052. The cloud print proxy 1054 is a program for converting various communication procedures in order to provide a cloud print service to the non-cloud print compatible printer 202.

[0028] As for the cloud print proxy server 300, the functional modules other than those mentioned above are the same as those of the client computer 100, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

[0029] The cloud print proxy server 300 may be integrated with the client computer 100. In this case, the auxiliary storage device 105 stores all of the print setting extension application 1052, cloud printer driver 1057, cloud print proxy 1054, device management system 155, and printer driver 1056.

[0030] 3 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a printer 200, which is an example of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cloud print compatible printer 201 and the cloud print non-compatible printer 202 also have the same configuration as the printer 200.

[0031] A control unit 221 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 222 controls the overall operation of the printer 200. The CPU 222 reads control programs stored in a memory 223 and a storage unit 224 to perform various controls such as print control and read control. The memory 223 is used as a work area or a temporary storage area for expanding the various control programs. The storage unit 224 stores print data, image data, various programs, and various setting information. In this embodiment, an auxiliary storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is assumed as the storage unit 224, but a non-volatile memory such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) may be used instead of the HDD. In this manner, the hardware such as the CPU 222, memory 223, and storage unit 224 constitutes a so-called computer.

[0032] The processing unit 230 has the functionality of a RIP (Raster Image Processor) that expands print data received via a network and generates a print image. The processing unit also has image processing capabilities and can perform image resolution conversion and correction processing. Note that, while this embodiment assumes that the image processing unit is implemented using a hardware circuit (such as an ASIC or FPGA), this is not limited to this. For example, the printer 200 may be equipped with a processor for image processing, and the processor for image processing may execute an image processing program to perform image processing and print data expansion processing. Furthermore, the CPU 222 may be configured to execute a program for image processing, thereby performing image processing and print data expansion processing. Image processing may also be performed using any combination of these.

[0033] The operation unit 227 is equipped with a liquid crystal display unit with a touch panel function, various hard keys, and the like, and functions as a display unit 226 that displays information, a reception unit that receives user instructions, and reads a document to generate a read image. The generated read image is stored in the memory unit 224. The print image generated by the processing unit 230 analyzing the print data is transferred from the control unit 221 to the printing unit 228, which receives a control command and the print image via the control unit 221 and prints the image on a sheet fed from a paper feed cassette (not shown) based on the image.

[0034] The control unit 221 is also connected to the network 150 via a network communication unit 225. The network communication unit 225 transmits images and information to a communication device on the network 150, and receives print data and information from a communication device on the network 150.

[0035] The printer information storage unit 229 stores a hardware ID (hereinafter referred to as HWID), capability information, and an icon, which are identifiers for uniquely identifying the printer 200. The printer information storage unit 229 may be present in the storage unit 224.

[0036] FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a cloud print proxy 1054 illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

[0037] The cloud print proxy 1054 is an application with a conversion function for enabling the use of the non-cloud print compatible printer 202 in the cloud print service 500. In this embodiment, it has the functions of a driver registration unit 301, a job management unit 302, an authentication unit 303, and a registered driver list 310. The driver registration unit 301 lists the printer drivers 1056 that have been registered in advance in the cloud print proxy server 300, accepts a selection from the user, registers the corresponding printer driver 1056 in the cloud print service 500, and, if the registration is successful, registers the printer driver 1056 in the registered driver list 310.

[0038] The job management unit 302 receives a print job from the cloud print service 500 and sends the print job directly to the printer 201 depending on the situation.

[0039] The authentication unit 303 manages credential information, such as a user ID and a password, for the cloud print service 500 used by the user. This function may also exist in the cloud print service 500 that is the authentication destination.

[0040] FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a cloud print service 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] The cloud print service 500 is a service that exists on the cloud via the Internet and is capable of providing printing-related functions. In this embodiment, the cloud print service 500 has the functions of a printer registration unit 501, a print queue generation unit 502, a printer list generation unit 503, a search response unit 504, and a printer database 510. It also has the functions of a print job management unit 505, a print job generation unit 506, and a print job storage area 511. These functions may also be provided in another cloud print service 500 that cooperates with the cloud print service 500.

[0042] When a printer registration instruction is received from the cloud print-compatible printer 201, the printer registration unit 501 uses the print queue generation unit 502 to generate a print queue, and registers the generated print queue in the printer database 510 by linking it with printer identification information. The printer database 510 also stores the printer icon. For the cloud print non-compatible printer 202, the registration operation must be performed using the cloud print proxy server 300. When the printer's print queue and printer identification information are linked and registered in this way, it is called the printer being registered. Various attributes may be added to the registered printer here. For example, the printer's location.

[0043] A printer list generation unit 503 generates a list of registered printers.

[0044] A search response unit 504 responds to a printer search event from the client computer 100 to the cloud print service 500 by sending information about registered printers.

[0045] The print job management unit 505 receives a print job from the client computer 100 and sends it directly to the printer 200 depending on the situation. Alternatively, the print job is temporarily stored in a print job storage area 511, and when the destination printer is determined, the print job is passed to the print job generation unit 506, which converts the print job into an appropriate format and sends it.

[0046] 6 is a flowchart of the process of acquiring an icon of the cloud print service 500 when registering a printer to the cloud print service 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the subject of the operations in this flowchart is the cloud print service 500. Also, it is assumed that the information on the icons that can be acquired in this flowchart is contained within the printer.

[0047] This flow begins with the user selecting a printer and registering it with the cloud print service 500 (S600). If the printer to be registered is a cloud print-compatible printer 201, it can also be operated from a Web UI (not shown in the present embodiment) provided in the cloud print-compatible printer 201. The cloud print service 500 accepts the device registration operation by the user (S600), and in step S601, the cloud print service 500 determines whether the printer is cloud print-compatible, and if it is determined to be the cloud print-compatible printer 201, the process proceeds to S602. In step S602, the cloud print service requests the cloud print-compatible printer 201 that was the target of registration in S600 to acquire an icon.

[0048] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S601 that there is no direct connection to the cloud print service 500, the process proceeds to step S603, which will be explained in embodiment 2 (for ease of understanding, separate embodiments will be described. However, since S602 and S603 can be performed within the same product, they are the same example). In step S604, if the icon requested in steps S602 and S603 is successfully received, the process proceeds to step S605. In step S605, the received icon is linked to the printer identification information and saved in the printer database 510. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, an icon is saved linked to the HWID, etc., for each printer. On the other hand, if the icon is not successfully received in S604, the printer identification information is used to save an appropriate generalized icon for that model in the printer database 510, linked to the identification information.

[0049] (Alternative Method A of First Embodiment) Note that in step S602, instead of simply requesting the icon, the following method may be used. That is, the printer 201 sends a request for URL information indicating the storage location of the icon to the cloud print service in advance. Specifically, the printer 201 sends a request to acquire information about the attribute printer-static-resource-directory-uri using the IPP operation Get-Printer-Attributes. Then, in step S602, it responds to the request. Specifically, the cloud print service 500 responds by sending URL information indicating the storage location of the icon to the printer 201. More specifically, when responding to the IPP operation Get-Printer-Attributes, the cloud print service 500 sets URL information in the attribute printer-static-resource-directory-uri and sends the attribute with the URL information set. Then, the printer 201 sends the icon to this URL information and saves the icon in the storage location. Specifically, the printer 201 sends the icon to the URL using the HTTP PUT method. On the other hand, in S604, rather than checking whether the icon was successfully received, it is checked whether the icon has been saved in the storage location. If the icon has been saved in the storage location, then in S605 the URL information and device information (printer identification information) are linked and saved. Also, according to this alternative method A, rather than checking whether the icon was successfully received, it is checked whether the icon has been saved in the storage location. If the icon has been saved in the storage location, then in S605 the URL information and device information (printer identification information) are linked and saved.

[0050] (Another Method B) In the embodiment described in FIG. 6, the printer 201 transmits icon data to the cloud print service 500. However, instead of transmitting the icon data itself, the printer 201 may instead notify the cloud print service 500 of information (URL information) about the location where the icon data is stored. This configuration assumes that a server on which the icon data is stored exists in the cloud and that the printer 201 holds the URL information. In this case, the icon is acquired in S602 as follows: The printer 201 transmits URL information indicating the location where the icon is stored to the cloud print service 500. Specifically, the printer 201 sets the URL information in the attribute printer-static-resource-directory-uri using the IPP operation Set-Printer-Attributes. The printer 201 then transmits the URL information by transmitting the attribute with the URL information set. Here, printer-static-resource-directory-uri is the name of an IPP attribute that can store a URI that stores static printer information such as icon information. If an icon is not stored in advance in the URL, the printer 201 may send icon information to the icon storage location using operation PUT in HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).

[0051] If the cloud print service 500 succeeds in acquiring the URL information in S604, the cloud print service 500 stores the URL information indicating the icon storage location in association with the device information in S605.

[0052] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the process by which the operating system 1053 running on the client computer 100 acquires an icon when registering a printer. Each step is executed by the operating system 1053. This flowchart begins with the operating system searching for a printer in response to a user's print operation from an application 1051. In step S800, the operating system performs a search using protocols such as WSD (Web Services for Devices) or IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) and lists the discovered printers (their names). Furthermore, in step S800, printers registered with the cloud print service 500 and for which the user has permission to print are also detected. In other words, a cloud print-compatible printer 201 or a cloud print-incompatible printer 202 that is not on the same intranet can be found by printer search if they are registered with the cloud print service 500. Here, the operating system stores detection flag information indicating whether the detected printers were detected by WSD search, IPP search, or are printers on the cloud print service.

[0053] Next, in S801, a registration operation (selection operation) of a printer (name) selected by the user from the printers listed in S800 is accepted. In S802, the printer whose selection was accepted in S801 is determined. In S803, it is determined whether the printer selected in S801 is a printer on the cloud printer service based on the detection flag information saved for that printer. If the printer is on the cloud print service 500, the process proceeds to S804. In step S804, based on the detection flag information saved in S800, the operating system 1053 identifies the driver to be installed as the cloud printer driver 1057. The identified cloud printer driver 1057 is then installed, a print queue is created, and the installed driver is linked to the print queue.

[0054] Next, in step S805, the operating system 1053 downloads the driver extension package from the printer driver distribution service 600 based on the HWID, which is information for identifying the printer.

[0055] The driver extension package is an example of a package distributed from the printer driver distribution service 600. The driver extension package is an information file that can be distributed from the printer driver distribution service, and includes information such as an HWID for identifying the printer, identifier information for the print setting extension application 1052, information indicating that the package is a driver extension package, and the version of the driver extension package.

[0056] In step S806, the operating system 1053 installs the driver extension package downloaded in step S1005, and then associates the installed driver extension package with the print queue.

[0057] Next, in step S807, the operating system 1053 searches for the print setting extension application 1052 within the print setting extension application distribution service 400 based on the identifier information of the print setting extension application 1052 described in the driver extension package. That is, the operating system 1053 searches for the print setting extension application 1052 having the same identifier information as the identification information. The operating system 1053 then downloads the print setting extension application 1052 found by the search.

[0058] In this embodiment, in the print setting extension application distribution service 400, the identifier information of the print setting extension application 1052 in the driver extension package is associated one-to-one with the print setting extension application 1052. That is, when a search is performed using the identifier information described in the driver extension package, two or more print setting extension applications are never found; only one print setting extension application is always found. Furthermore, the print setting extension application distribution service 400 may store information (hereinafter, "metadata") associating the identifier information of the print setting extension application 1052 with the HWID included in the printer information. In this case, the appropriate print setting extension application 1052 is downloaded using the metadata.

[0059] In S808, the operating system 1053 installs the print setting extension application 1052 downloaded in S807.

[0060] After the print setting extension app 1052 is installed, the operating system associates the print setting extension app 1052 with the print queue of the printer selected in step S801 on a one-to-one basis. Since the print queue holds printer model information and print setting information, the print setting extension app 1052 can acquire this information and construct and present an appropriate print setting UI based on the acquired information. Alternatively, the print setting extension app 1052 may directly communicate with the cloud print service 500 to acquire the target model information and print setting information, and use this information to construct and present a UI. In any case, once installation of the print setting extension app 1052 is complete, the user can change detailed print settings. An example of printing using the print setting extension app 1052 is described below.

[0061] When a user prints using a standard driver (a cloud printer driver or an IPP standard driver), the user issues a print instruction from an application 1051 on the client computer 100. As a specific example, the user clicks "Print" from the file menu of the application. When a print instruction from a user is received as a normal application operation, the application instructs the operating system 1053 to display the print common dialog (a print setting screen provided by the operating system) shown in FIG. 9 . The operating system 1053 receives the instruction from the application and displays the print common dialog. The print common dialog displayed by the operating system 1053 allows the user to list the printers installed on the client computer 100, specify the pages to print, and set the number of copies. The user selects the print queue of the printer they want to output to from the print common dialog and clicks the advanced settings button (object) displayed on the same screen to issue a print setting change instruction for that print queue. At this time, the operating system launches the print setting extension application 1052 associated with the print queue, and the print setting change UI shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. For example, the user can set image processing settings such as density and color, whether or not to use stamp superimposition, and settings for punch and staple positions. When a user changes the print settings on the print setting UI and issues a print instruction, the operating system 1053 that receives the instruction transmits the print setting contents to the driver associated with the print queue. The driver then sends the data to be printed to the printer or the cloud print service 500. That is, if an IPP standard driver is used, the data to be printed is sent to the printer, and if a cloud printer driver is used, the data is sent to the cloud print service 500.

[0062] In step S809, the operating system 1053 sends an icon request to the cloud print service 500 based on the HWID or the like that identifies the printer.

[0063] Upon receiving the icon request, the cloud print service 500 selects an icon that matches the received HWID from the icons stored as shown in Figure 7 and sends it to the requestor. The operating system 1053 then associates the received icon with the print queue. The icon associated with the print queue is displayed as an icon representing the print queue on the printer management screen displayed by the operating system.

[0064] In this flow, the operating system 1053 makes an icon acquisition request to the cloud print service 500, but the print setting extension application 1052 may make the icon acquisition request instead. In this case, the print setting extension application 1052 provides the acquired icon to the operating system 1053. Furthermore, when the print setting extension application 1052 makes an acquisition request to the cloud print service 500, the print setting extension application 1052 may be configured to make the acquisition request in response to a request from the operating system 1053.

[0065] In this embodiment, the cloud print service 500 acquires an icon from the printer in advance, and then the operating system 1053 or the print setting extension application 1052 requests the cloud print service 500 to acquire the icon. However, when the operating system 1053 or the print setting extension application 1052 sends the icon acquisition request to the cloud print service 500, the cloud print service 500, upon receiving the request, may acquire the icon from the printer at that time. Also, the print setting extension application 1052 may include icons corresponding to each model of printer supported by this application before it is installed. In this case, the icon can be acquired from the included area without having to go to the trouble of acquiring the icon from the printer or the cloud print service.

[0066] (Continued from Alternative Method A of the First Embodiment) Note that the icon request in S809 may be made in the following procedure. First, the operating system 1053 requests URL information indicating the storage location of the icon from the cloud print service 500. Specifically, the operating system 1053 sends an IPP operation Get-Printer-Attributes to the cloud print service 500. At that time, the IPP attribute printer-static-resource-directory-uri is set as an argument to this operation. By doing so, the value of printer-static-resource-directory-uri is requested. Upon receiving this request, the cloud print service 500 responds to the operating system 1053 with the value of printer-static-resource-directory-uri. As described above, this value stores URL information indicating the storage location of the icon (this may be the URL information previously received from the printer, or if the icon has been replaced with another location, this URL information may be used). Therefore, this URL information is sent to the operating system 1053. Thereafter, the operating system 1053 sends an icon request to the acquired URL information. As a result, the icon is sent from the storage location and received by the operating system 1053. Note that the operation in this step in the above-described further alternative method B is the same as that in the alternative method A.

[0067] 11 is a sequence diagram of a process in which the cloud print service 500 acquires an icon in response to an icon request from the operating system 1053. This sequence diagram shows an example of the sequence included in step S809 in FIG.

[0068] This sequence diagram begins with processing (S1100) in which the operating system 1053 makes an icon request to the cloud print-compatible printer 201 of the print queue linked to the cloud print service 500. As described above, the icon request here may be made by another method using URL information. In that case, as described above, the icon response in S1103 also involves acquisition of an icon using URL information. Thereafter, upon receiving the icon acquisition request in step S1101, the cloud print service 500 sends an icon acquisition request to the requested cloud print-compatible printer 201. As described above, this icon acquisition request may be made by another method using URL information. In that case, as described above, the icon response in S1102 also involves acquisition of an icon using URL information.

[0069] Then, in step S1102, the cloud print-compatible printer 201 receives the icon acquisition request and transmits the icon stored in the printer information storage unit 229 to the requesting cloud print service 500. In step S1103, the cloud print service 500 receives the icon transmitted in step S1102 and transmits the icon to the requesting operating system 1053. After that, in step S1104, the operating system 1053 receives the icon and links the icon to a print queue.

[0070] In step S1103, the icon received by the cloud print service 500 may be stored in association with printer information as shown in FIG. 7, or may be stored temporarily.

[0071] In addition, although the present embodiment has described a method of acquiring an icon from the cloud print service 500, the operating system 1053 may determine and acquire an appropriate icon based on the HWID from among the icons stored in the print setting extension application 1052. In addition, the icon may be linked to a print queue.

[0072] On the other hand, if it is determined in S803 that the printer selected by the user in the registration operation is not a printer on the cloud print service 500 based on the detection flag information created in S800, the process proceeds to S810. In step S810, if the printer selected by the user in S801 is a printer found by a method other than IPP search based on the detection flag information created in S800, the process proceeds to S811. In step S811, based on the detection flag information, the corresponding driver is downloaded from the printer driver distribution service 600 by HWID, installed, and a print queue is created. The HWID is used to identify the corresponding driver. Then, in step S812, the device management system 1055 corresponding to the printer is downloaded. In step S813, the operating system 1053 obtains the icon present in the device management system 1055 downloaded in S812 and associates it with the created print queue.

[0073] On the other hand, if it is determined in S810 that the printer selected by the user in S801 is a printer found in the IPP search based on the detection flag information created in S800, the process proceeds to S814. In step S814, the IPP standard driver defined in the operating system 1053 communicates with the printer as determined by the standard and generates a print queue that reflects the required capability information.

[0074] That is, an IPP standard driver with the function of printing to multiple printer models from multiple printer vendors is installed. After installation, connection to the printer is made via a print queue, so print instructions can be sent only to the connected printer. In S814, a print queue associated with the installed IPP standard driver is created in the operating system. Since S815 to S818 are the same as the processes in S805 to S808, a description thereof will be omitted. In S819, the operating system 1053 selects an appropriate icon from the group of icons of the print setting extension application 1052 installed in S818 based on information such as the printer's HWID, and acquires the icon. The acquired icon may also be linked to the print queue created in S814.

[0075] 12, the print setting extending application 1052 may obtain an icon from the printer 200. Alternatively, the print setting extending application 1052 may obtain an icon that matches the printer determined in S802 from among a plurality of icons that the print setting extending application 1052 previously includes. In S1200, the print setting extending application 1052 requests an icon from the printer 200. In S1201, the printer 200 returns the icon stored in the printer information storage unit 229 to the request source. In S1202, the print setting extending application 1052 receives the returned icon and saves it. This icon may also be linked to a print queue. Note that, as shown in FIG. 16, which will be described later, the print setting extending application 1052 may obtain, from the printer 200, access information (link) for accessing a server storing the icon, access the server based on the link, and obtain the icon from the server.

[0076] The icon acquired in Fig. 8 is displayed by the operating system 1053, for example, on a screen system that displays a list of peripheral devices of the operating system 1053 (i.e., a printer management screen that manages devices such as printers) as shown in Fig. 13. In addition, in the print setting extension application 1052 that is installed in association with the printer driver 1056 when it is installed, the icon corresponding to the print setting extension application 1052 may be pressed on a screen that displays a list of applications 1051 installed on the client computer 100, and the icon may be displayed on the print setting extension application screen that is opened (Fig. 14).

[0077] Using the above procedure, an icon can be obtained for a printer on the cloud print service 500, and the user can easily identify the printer to which they are connected by viewing the icon on the screen of the operating system 1053 that lists peripheral devices (Figure 13) or the screen of the print setting extension application 1052 (Figure 14).

[0078] [Embodiment 2] In the first embodiment, the cloud print service 500 acquires an icon from the printer 200 or cloud-compatible printer 201, and the operating system 1053 or print setting extension application 1052 acquires the icon and displays it on the screen. However, when the cloud print service 500 uses a non-cloud print compatible printer 202, the non-cloud print compatible printer 202 is connected to the cloud print service 500 via the cloud print proxy server 300, and therefore the method of the first embodiment cannot be implemented.

[0079] Therefore, in this embodiment, a means for realizing icon acquisition even from a cloud print non-compatible printer 202 when using the cloud print service 500 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0080] This flow begins in step S600 of Fig. 6, where the cloud print service 500 accepts a user's registration operation of the non-cloud print compatible printer 202 using the cloud print proxy 1054. If it is determined in step S601 that the registered printer is not directly connected, the flow proceeds to step S603. In step S603, a request to obtain an icon is made to the cloud print proxy server 300. The flow that follows is the same as in embodiment 1, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0081] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the process in which the cloud print proxy server 300, having received the icon acquisition request in step S603 of FIG. 6, acquires the icon of the cloud print non-compatible printer 202 and returns the request.

[0082] This flow begins with receiving an icon request from the cloud print service 500 and determining whether the requested printer icon is in the device management system 1055.

[0083] Here, the device management system 1055 is assumed to be something like Microsoft's Device Stage. More specifically, it is a mechanism for extending the functions of various peripheral devices, and is activated by the device management system 1055 incorporated in the operating system 1053. The device management system 1055 detects that a peripheral device has been selected by the user, and automatically downloads the necessary control software (driver) and application for extending the functions from a server on the Internet (printer driver distribution service 600 in this embodiment). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the icon of the corresponding printer is also stored on this server.

[0084] In step S1500, if the device management system 1055 of the requested printer exists in the cloud print proxy server, the process proceeds to step S1501. In step S1501, an icon existing in the main storage device 102 or the auxiliary storage device 105 is acquired. Then, in step S1602, the icon acquired in step S1501 is sent to the cloud print service 500 that is the request source. In step S1500, if the device management system 1055 of the requested printer does not exist, a message indicating that the icon acquisition failed is sent to the request source.

[0085] Using the above procedure, an icon can be obtained even for a printer 202 that does not support cloud printing on the cloud printing service 500, and the user can easily identify the printer to which they are connected by the printer icon displayed on the screen that lists peripheral devices of the operating system 1053 (Figure 13) or the screen of the print setting extension application 1052 (Figure 14).

[0086] [Embodiment 3] FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram of a process in which the operating system 1053 acquires an icon when the cloud print service 500 manages the location (URL) where the icon data is stored, rather than the icon data itself.

[0087] The operating system 1053 sends an icon storage location request S1602 together with the HWID to the cloud print service 500. The cloud print service 500 acquires the icon storage location (URL) corresponding to the sent HWID from the printer database 510 and sends it to the operating system 1053 as an icon storage location response S1603. The operating system 1053 sends an icon request S1604 to the icon data storage server 1601 indicated by the icon storage location (URL) notified in S1603. The icon data storage server 1601 sends icon data to the operating system 1053 in S1605.

[0088] [Embodiment 4] In the first and second embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, a method for acquiring an icon in the process of searching for a printer and then installing the driver for the selected printer has been described.

[0089] In the fourth embodiment, a method for acquiring an icon when the print setting extension application 1052 is started will be described.

[0090] 17 is a flowchart of the process of acquiring an icon when the user launches the print setting extension application 1052. This flowchart begins when the user launches the print setting extension application 1052.

[0091] In step S1700, the print setting extension application 1052 that has received the startup instruction acquires a list of printers associated with itself. The print setting extension application may be linked to all printers listed in the driver extension package. Therefore, in step S1701, it is necessary to check whether an icon exists for each printer in the list acquired in step S1700. Here, it is checked whether the relevant printer is linked to an icon. If a printer without an icon is found, the process proceeds to step S1702. The icon acquisition in step S1702 follows the process flow shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 18. At this time, in step S1800, the print setting extension application 1052 issues an icon request instruction to the operating system 1053. Steps S1801 to S1805 are the same as those described in FIG. 11, which was used as an example of step S809 in FIG. 8, and therefore will not be described again. In step S1806, the operating system passes the icon received in step S1804 to the print setting extension application 1052.

[0092] 18 shows a sequence diagram in which the print setting extension application 1052 initiates an instruction to acquire an icon to the operating system 1053. On the other hand, it is also possible for the print setting extension application 1052 to directly request an icon from the cloud print service 500 without going through the operating system 1053, as shown in FIG.

[0093] In this case, in S1900, the print setting extension application 1052 makes an icon request to the cloud print service 500. S1901 and S1902 are the same as S1101 and S1102 in FIG. 11 , and therefore description thereof will be omitted. Next, in S1903, the cloud print service 500 passes the acquired icon to the print setting extension application 1052. In S1904, the icon received in S1903 is associated with the corresponding printer and saved. In S1905, the print setting extension application passes the icon received in S1903 to the operating system 1053. In S1906, the operating system 1053 associates the received icon with the corresponding printer queue and saves it. Also, in either case of FIGS. 18 and 19 , the icon may be requested from the cloud print server as described above, or URL information indicating the storage location of the icon may be requested as described in the third embodiment, and then the print setting extension application 1052 may make an icon acquisition request to obtain icon information from the URL. Alternatively, the print setting extension application 1052 may hold URL information in which an icon is stored in advance, send an icon request to the URL in which the icon is stored using the HWID of the connected printer as a query parameter, and receive the corresponding icon.

[0094] In S1703, if an icon cannot be received in S1702, the process proceeds to S1704. In S1704, the attributes of the printer, such as whether it is for personal use or office use, may be determined based on information acquired in a procedure not shown, such as the HWID or marker-type, and a default icon may be associated with and saved according to the determined attributes. In S1703, if an icon can be received in S1702, the icon is associated with the device and saved. In S1705, the launched UI is displayed after all printers associated with the launched print setting extension application 1052 have been associated with icons. The icons saved in steps S1702 and S1704 may also be displayed as part of the display content.

[0095] (Other Examples) The present invention can also be realized by supplying a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and having one or more processors in the computer of the system or device read and execute the program.The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

Claims

1. An application that is installed on a computer and provides a print setting screen for allowing a user to make print settings used when a driver in the computer generates a print command to be provided for printing on a printer, an acquisition step of acquiring information indicating a storage location of data of an icon indicating the registered printer from a cloud print service in which the cloud print-compatible printer is registered, using an IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) operation, and acquiring data of the icon indicating the printer from an external device different from the computer and the cloud print service via a network based on the acquired information; and displaying the acquired icon on a display means of the computer.

2. 2. The application according to claim 1, wherein the driver is a standard driver provided as a function of an operating system.

3. 3. The application according to claim 2, wherein the standard driver is a driver compatible with a plurality of printer models from a plurality of vendors.

4. 4. The application according to claim 1, wherein the driver provides the print command via a print server system that exists between the printer and the computer.

5. An application according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the application causes the computer to execute a receiving step of receiving a link for obtaining data of an icon representing the printer, and in the obtaining step, the icon data is obtained by accessing the link.

6. The driver provides the print command via a print server system that exists between the printer and the computer; 6. The application according to claim 5, wherein the link is a link sent from the printer via the print server system.

7. 7. The application according to claim 6, wherein the link is a link sent using an attribute printer-static-resource-directory-uri in the Internet Printing Protocol.

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