Support programs and printing systems

Abstract

To enable settings based on a function unique to a printer to be used with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: A PC 1 comprises a general-purpose print program 41 of an OS 21 standard and an auxiliary program 42. The PC 1 acquires, by means of the auxiliary program 42, specification information that specifies a selected printer and capability information that indicates capability of the printer. Furthermore, when processing is requested from the general-purpose print program 41, the PC 1 determines, on the basis of the specification information acquired by the auxiliary program 42, whether the selected printer is a virtual printer 5. When the selected printer is not the virtual printer 5, the PC displays, on a display 13a, a first print setting screen which receives print settings based on the capability information, and, when the selected printer is the virtual printer 5, the PC displays, on the display 13a, a second print setting screen which receives print settings based on common capability of the printer that is connectable to a cloud server 6.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program and a printing system that support 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, there is known a technology related to a so-called cloud print system in which a cloud server on the Internet is treated as a virtual printer, a print job is submitted to the virtual printer from a general-purpose print program standard in the OS, and a printer connected to the cloud server retrieves the print job and executes printing.As a technology of the cloud print system, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which an extended cloud print service is provided separately from a general-purpose cloud print service, and the extended cloud print service handles settings based on printer-specific functions. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-86426 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The problem with OS-standard general-purpose printing programs is that they only support standard print settings and do not support settings based on printer-specific functions. Therefore, even when printing from a general-purpose printing program via a cloud printing system, it is difficult to handle settings based on printer-specific functions. As disclosed in Patent Document 1, if a separate extended cloud printing service is provided to handle settings based on printer-specific functions, the equipment tends to become large-scale, which can easily lead to increased costs. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A support program made to solve the above-described problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device, and supports a general-purpose printing program pre-installed in an operating system of the information processing device, wherein the information processing device is connectable to a virtual printer provided on a server on a network, the server is capable of receiving and storing print jobs sent to the virtual printer, and the server is further capable of sending the stored print jobs to a printer connected to the server in response to a request from the printer, and the support program includes a first acquisition process for acquiring specific information for identifying a selected printer, and a second acquisition process for acquiring capability information indicating the capabilities of the selected printer. and further causes the computer to execute a judgment process, when a processing is requested from the general-purpose printing program, to determine whether the selected printer is the virtual printer based on the specific information acquired in the first acquisition process, and, when it is determined in the judgment process that the selected printer is not the virtual printer, to execute a first display process, to display on the display of the information processing device a first print setting screen that accepts print settings based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process, and, when it is determined in the judgment process that the selected printer is the virtual printer, to execute a second display process, to display on the display of the information processing device a second print setting screen that accepts print settings based on the common capability of printers that can be connected to a server.

[0007] When a virtual printer is selected, the support program having this configuration executes processing to display a print setting screen based on the common capabilities of printers connectable to the server. This allows the information processing device executing the auxiliary program to handle settings based on the common capabilities even when a virtual printer is selected, without having to provide a separate service that handles settings based on printer-specific functions.

[0008] A control method for realizing the functions of the above-described device, a computer program, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program are also novel and useful. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technology that enables settings based on printer-specific functions to be handled with a simple configuration when printing to a printer from an OS-standard general-purpose printing program via a cloud print system. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for storing setting data. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an initial value setting screen. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure when printing is selected. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a general-purpose print setting screen. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a general-purpose print setting screen (first print setting screen) that is displayed when no virtual printer is selected. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a general-purpose print setting screen (second print setting screen) that is displayed when a virtual printer is selected. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a procedure when a print instruction is received. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure when printing is selected. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure when detailed settings are selected. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a first detailed setting screen. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a second detailed setting screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] 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 in the OS via a cloud print system.

[0012] (First embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing system 9. The printing system 9 has a PC 1, a printer 2, and a printer 3. The printer 2 may be connected to the Internet 8 or may be directly connected to the PC 1. The PC 1 and the printer 3 can communicate with a cloud server 6 provided on the Internet 8. The cloud server 6 is provided with a virtual printer 5. The printers 2 and 3 are real physical printers, whereas the virtual printer 5 is a logical printer that is virtually treated as a single printer. For ease of explanation, the real physical printer may be referred to as a "real printer" below.

[0013] The printing system 9 is, for example, a system that uses a cloud service provided by Microsoft, and is a system that realizes universal printing that prints via a virtual printer 5. In other words, the cloud server 6 can be provided by a company other than the printer manufacturer. The Internet 8 is an example of a network. The cloud server 6 is an example of a server. The Internet 8 is an example of a network. The cloud server 6 is an example of a server.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment includes a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and a memory 12. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The PC 1 also includes a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as "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. The buffer provided in the CPU 11 is also an example of memory. Note that 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 that displays a screen for notifying the user of information and hardware that accepts user operations. The user IF 13 may be a combination of a display 13a capable of displaying information and a mouse, keyboard, or the like that has an input acceptance function, or may be a display 13a and a touch panel that has an input acceptance function. The user IF 13 includes an example of a display.

[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] 1, the memory 12 of the PC 1 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") 21 including a general-purpose printing program 41, an auxiliary program 42, 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 auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program.

[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 launched from the general-purpose printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the general-purpose printing program 41 is received. The auxiliary program 42 is, for example, called a print support app (abbreviated as PSA) or a hardware support app (abbreviated as HSA).

[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] For example, when a new printer is connected to the PC 1, the OS 21 of the PC 1 can download an appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type and model of the connected printer and install it in the PC 1. The OS 21 associates the identification information of the installed auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in the memory 12.

[0024] As shown in Fig. 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment is connected to a cloud server 6 via the Internet 8. The cloud server 6 is an information processing device equipped with a communication function. The virtual printer 5 of the cloud server 6 receives and stores a print job from the PC 1 as one of the printers, and when a request to send a print job is received from the real printer, it can send the stored print job to the real printer.

[0025] When a real printer is connected, the OS 21 registers printer information, which is information about the real printer. For example, when a new virtual printer is connected to the PC 1, the OS 21 can register the virtual printer as one of the printers that can be connected to the PC 1, just like a real printer.

[0026] Printer 2 and printer 3 are real printers that have at least a printing function and a communication function. Printer 2 and printer 3 receive print data and print settings from an external device and perform printing according to the print settings. Printer 2 is not connected to cloud server 6. Printer 3 is communicatively connected to cloud server 6. When printer 3 is connected to cloud server 6, it receives, for example, a print job sent to virtual printer 5 from virtual printer 5 and performs printing.

[0027] The auxiliary program 42 is registered in the general-purpose printing program 41 or the OS 21 at the time of installation as a program to be started based on the selection of the virtual printer 5. The auxiliary program 42 has common capability information 45 built in.

[0028] Instead of being incorporated into the auxiliary program 42, the common capability information 45 may be downloaded by the auxiliary program 42 from a printer manufacturer's server and stored in the memory 12. The common capability information 45 may also be downloaded from the virtual printer 5 and stored in the memory 12. In this case, the virtual printer 5 may acquire the capabilities of the currently connected real printer in response to a request from the auxiliary program 42, create executable common capability information 45 based on the capabilities, and respond with the created common capability information 45 to the auxiliary program 42.

[0029] The common capability information 45 is information that indicates the common capabilities of printers that can be connected to the cloud server 6. In addition to basic data 45a in which print settings based on basic capabilities supported by the general-purpose printing program 41 are written, the common capability information 45 also contains extended data 45b based on extended capabilities not supported by the general-purpose printing program 41.

[0030] The extension data 45b includes print settings based on common extension capabilities among the extension capabilities of printer models or types that are compatible with the auxiliary program 42. Note that the common capability information 45 may include print settings that can be set by printers manufactured by different manufacturers, as long as the printers are connected to the cloud server 6.

[0031] For example, for the "paper type" item, "plain paper" and "envelope" can be set in the basic capabilities, "glossy paper" can be set in the extended capabilities of printer 3, "glossy paper" and "cloth" can be set in the extended capabilities of printer 2, and "glossy paper" can also be set in the extended capabilities of another actual printer of a different model. In this case, common capability information 45 includes "plain paper" and "envelope" as part of basic data 45a, and includes "glossy paper" as part of extended data 45b. On the other hand, "cloth" is capability information specific to printer 2 and is not included in common capability information 45.

[0032] The extended data 45b also includes print settings that can be processed by the auxiliary program 42 rather than the printer. Examples of print settings that the auxiliary program 42 can process include print settings based on image processing, such as layout printing, booklet printing, poster printing, watermark printing, and economy printing. Examples of print settings based on processing that the auxiliary program 42 can execute include print settings that the auxiliary program 42 can associate with a print job, such as a PIN setting for setting PIN information used for authorization authentication. Even if the printer does not have the function for a print setting, the extended data 45b may include the print setting if the printer can operate while ignoring the setting. For example, if a printer without a staple function can discharge paper while ignoring the staple setting, the "staple" setting may be included in the extended data 45b.

[0033] Setting data 46 is stored in the memory 12 of the PC 1. The setting data 46 is set for each setting item written in the common capability information 45 and is data indicating a setting value that is set as an initial value. In this embodiment, the setting data 46 is stored in the memory 12 by the auxiliary program 42, but it may also be stored in the memory 12 by a program separate from the auxiliary program 42. The setting data 46 may be a text file or a file in a predetermined format such as json, csv, or xml. The setting data 46 may be prepared by a printer vendor or a system administrator to customize printer operation, or may be prepared by an individual user to improve convenience.

[0034] Next, the procedure for setting initial values ​​to store the setting data 46 in the memory 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 2(a). Here, the explanation will be given assuming that the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 performs the initial value setting process shown in Fig. 2(a).

[0035] Note that the processes, flowcharts, and processing steps in the following embodiments basically represent processing by the CPU 11 in accordance with instructions written in programs such as the auxiliary program 42. Processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, detailed descriptions of the OS 21 will be omitted and the operation of each program will be explained. Also, the term "acquire" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

[0036] When the auxiliary program 42 receives an instruction to set an initial value on the utility screen of the auxiliary program 42, for example, the CPU 11 displays an initial value setting screen on the display 13a (S1). The initial value setting screen is a screen for receiving input of setting values ​​to be written to the setting data 46. S1 is an example of setting processing.

[0037] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the initial value setting screen D4. The initial value setting screen D4 includes an initial value setting area 71 and a complete button SW31. The initial value setting area 71 is an area for setting initial values ​​for each setting item of the print settings. The complete button SW31 is an operator that accepts a complete instruction to complete input of the setting values.

[0038] The initial value setting area 71 includes an item name display field 711, a write permission setting field 712, and a setting value input field 713. The item name display field 711 displays the item names of the print settings written in the common capability information 45. For example, as shown in 241 in the figure, the item name display field 711 displays the item names of setting items based on the basic data 45a, and as shown in 242 in the figure, the item name display field 711 displays the item names of setting items based on the extended data 45b.

[0039] The write permission setting field 712 is a setting field for setting whether or not to write the setting value as an initial value on the general-purpose print setting screen. In the write permission setting field 712, either "Yes" which allows writing as an initial value or "No" which does not allow writing as an initial value can be set.

[0040] The setting value input field 713 is an input field for setting a setting value to be written as an initial value. The setting value input field 713 displays configurable parameters written for each item in the common capability information 45. A check box is provided for each parameter, allowing the parameter to be set as an initial value to be selected. In addition to parameters based on the basic data 45a, the setting value input field 713 also displays parameters based on the extended data 45b of the printer 2, as shown at 261 in the figure.

[0041] 2(a), the CPU 11 determines whether the setting of the initial values ​​is complete (S2). For example, if the completion button SW31 is not operated and a completion instruction is not received, the CPU 11 determines that the setting of the initial values ​​is not complete (S2: NO) and continues to accept the setting of the initial values.

[0042] For example, when the completion button SW31 is operated and a completion instruction is received (S2: YES), the CPU 11 stores the content input on the initial value setting screen D4 as setting data 46 in the memory 12 (S3) and ends the initial value setting process. For example, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the CPU 11 generates setting data 46 by associating the setting value selected in the setting value input field 713 with the setting item for which "Yes" is set in the write permission setting field 712, and stores the setting data 46 in the memory 12. The process of S3 is an example of a storage process.

[0043] For example, to promote saving of coloring agents and paper, in FIG. 3, the user sets "Yes" in the write permission setting field 712 for the items "Number of Copies," "Double-Sided Printing," "Color Printing," "Layout Printing," and "Economy Printing." Then, the user sets "Limited (1 to 10)" in the "Number of Copies" item, sets "Double-Sided Printing" as a parameter in the "Double-Sided Printing" item, sets "Monochrome" in the "Color Printing" item, sets "2 in 1" in the "Layout Printing" item, and sets "Yes" in the "Economy Printing" item. The CPU 11 stores these settings as setting data 46 in the memory 12, as shown in FIG. 2(b). That is, the CPU 11 generates setting data 46 that lists setting values ​​to be displayed as initial values, and stores the data in the memory 12.

[0044] In this embodiment, the path of the setting data 46 to be stored may be determined in advance by the auxiliary program 42, or the path of the setting data 46 to be stored may be specified and the specified path may be registered in the auxiliary program 42. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2(b), for items for which no setting value is to be written to the setting data 46, nothing is written to the setting data 46. Alternatively, information indicating that no setting value has been written may be written to the setting data 46.

[0045] 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. 4. Note that Fig. 4 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.

[0046] At the beginning of the procedure, the user launches the information application 43 (A01). The information application 43 displays an information screen containing various information on the display 13a in response to a user instruction (A02). If the user wants to print an image of the displayed information screen, the user selects print on the information screen (A03). The information application 43 sends a display request and data of the information screen to the general-purpose print program 41 of the OS 21 (A04).

[0047] In response to the display request, the general-purpose print program 41 displays the 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 execution.

[0048] For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 includes a printer selection field 51 for accepting printer selection, a notification field 52 for displaying a notification image, a print setting field 53 for accepting designation of various print settings, a preview field 54 for displaying an image of the information screen to be printed, a detailed settings button SW2 for accepting instructions to make detailed print settings, and a print button SW3 for accepting instructions to execute printing.

[0049] The printer selection field 51 displays selectable printers registered in the OS 21. For example, if the printer 2 and the virtual printer 5 are registered in the OS 21, the printer 2 and the virtual printer 5 are displayed selectable in the printer selection field 51.

[0050] The print setting field 53 displays print setting items for functions supported by the general-purpose printing program 41 and can accept print setting values. Examples of items that can be set via the print setting field 53 include the number of copies, print orientation, double-sided printing, paper size, paper tray, print range, paper type, color, borderless printing, scaling, and print quality (resolution). To make print settings easier, the print setting field 53 may display only the main items, and when other settings are operated, other items may be additionally displayed.

[0051] The notification image displayed in the notification field 52 is an image that indicates the content of the notification to be sent to the user. The notification image may include, for example, text, a still image, or a video, or may be a combination of these.

[0052] 4, the user can select a printer by operating the printer selection field 51 on the displayed general-purpose print setting screen D2 (A07). For example, if the selected printer is printer 2 or virtual printer 5, the general-purpose print program 41 starts the auxiliary program 42 and requests processing corresponding to the printer selection (A08). In A08, the general-purpose print program 41 passes information about the selected printer and information about the print settings that were set when the printer was selected to the auxiliary program 42.

[0053] When printer 2 is set as the printer to be normally used by the OS 21, the general-purpose printing program 41 displays the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 with printer 2 selected (A06), as shown in FIG. 5, 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 information of the selected printer 2. In this case, the user does not need to operate A07. The same applies when virtual printer 5 is set as the printer to be normally used.

[0054] Alternatively, instead of the general-purpose printing program 41 displaying the general-purpose printing setting screen D2, the information application 43 may be configured to display the general-purpose printing setting screen D2. 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 D2 from the general-purpose printing program 41, and displays the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 on the display 13a. Then, in response to the selection of printer 2 or virtual printer 5, or in response to the selection of printer 2 or virtual printer 5 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.

[0055] When the auxiliary program 42 is started, it requests the OS 21 for the capability information of the selected printer (A11). For example, if printer 2 is selected in A07, the OS 21 receives the request from the auxiliary program 42, sends an acquisition request for the capability information to printer 2, and acquires the capability information from printer 2 (A12). The OS 21 passes the capability information acquired from printer 2 to the auxiliary program 42 (A13).

[0056] The OS 21 communicates with the printer 2, for example, using IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) communications. Note that the auxiliary program 42 may obtain capability information directly from the printer 2, for example, using MIB (Management Information Base), instead of making a request to the OS 21.

[0057] The capability information acquired from printer 2, which is a real printer, includes information on parameters that can be set as print settings. The capability information also includes, for example, status information, information on remaining consumables, information on installed trays, paper information for each tray, and information on supported print resolutions. Printer 2 may also have a function for performing image processing based on a received print job and printing based on the processed data, such as aggregate printing (N in 1), composite printing such as watermark printing, and colorant-saving printing. If printer 2 has an image processing function that it can execute, printer 2 may pass information about that function to OS 21 as capability information.

[0058] The capability information acquired from the printer 2 may include information on functions that are not processed by the printer 2 but are processed by the auxiliary program 42. Examples of functions that are not processed by the printer 2 but are processed by the auxiliary program 42 include booklet printing and poster printing.

[0059] Furthermore, the capability information acquired from printer 2 includes specific information for identifying the printer. An example of specific information is device identification information for identifying the device. Examples of device identification information include a hardware key unique to the printer and information possessed by printers manufactured by a specific printer manufacturer.

[0060] On the other hand, the capability information acquired from the virtual printer 5 also includes specification information. However, this specification information does not include device identification information. The specification information acquired from the virtual printer 5 may include identification information for the virtual printer 5. A11 to A13 are examples of the first acquisition process and the second acquisition process.

[0061] In this embodiment, the timing and method of acquiring the identification information and the capability information are the same, but they may be different. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire the identification information from the printer 2 when searching for devices during installation and store it in the memory 12. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire either the identification information or the capability information directly from the selected printer 2.

[0062] The auxiliary program 42, which has acquired the capability information, performs a determination process (A15). The determination process is a process for determining whether the printer selected on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 is the virtual printer 5, based on the capability information acquired from the general-purpose print program 41 in A08.

[0063] For example, if the specific information received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A08 includes device identification information, the auxiliary program 42 determines that the selected printer is a real printer (alt: real printer). In other words, the auxiliary program 42 determines that the selected printer is not the virtual printer 5. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 generates first display data (A21) using the capability information of the printer 2 acquired in A11 to A13. The first display data is data for additionally displaying the contents of the setting items of the print settings that reflect the capability information acquired from the selected printer 2 on the general-purpose printing setting screen D2.

[0064] The auxiliary program 42 passes the generated first display data to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A22). The general-purpose printing program 41 displays a general-purpose printing setting screen D2 as shown in FIG. 6 on the display 13a in accordance with the first display data received from the auxiliary program 42 (A23). A21 and A22 are examples of the first display process. The general-purpose printing setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 6 is an example of the first printing setting screen.

[0065] For example, the capability information obtained from Printer 2 may include, as extended capabilities, information that allows the setting of "cloth" and "glossy paper" in the "paper type" field, the setting of "additional tray" in the "paper feed tray" field, and the setting of "layout printing," "poster printing," and "economy printing."

[0066] In this case, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 6 additionally displays print settings based on these expansion capabilities compared to the general-purpose print setting screen D2 based on the general-purpose print program 41 shown in Fig. 5. For example, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 6 additionally displays the items "Layout Printing," "Poster Printing," and "Economy Printing," as indicated by arrows 120, 121, and 122 in the figure. Furthermore, when the "Paper Type" list button 113 is operated, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 6 additionally displays the setting parameters "Fabric" and "Glossy Paper," as indicated by arrow 123 in the figure, in the list box 112. Furthermore, when the "Paper Tray" list button 113 is operated, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 6 additionally displays the setting parameter "Additional Tray," as indicated by arrow 124, in the list box 112.

[0067] In contrast to the above, as shown in FIG. 4, if the specific information included in the capability information of printer 2 acquired in A13 does not include device identification information or includes identification information for virtual printer 5, the auxiliary program 42 determines that the selected printer is virtual printer 5 (alt: virtual printer). In this case, the auxiliary program 42 reads common capability information 45 and setting data 46 from memory 12 (A31, A32). The auxiliary program 42 generates second display data using the read common capability information 45 and setting data 46 (A33). The second display data is data for displaying the contents of the setting items of the print settings based on the common capability information 45 on the general-purpose print setting screen D2.

[0068] The auxiliary program 42 passes the generated second display data to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A34). The general-purpose printing program 41 displays the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 on the display 13a in accordance with the received second display data (A35). A33 and A34 are examples of the second display process. The general-purpose printing setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 is an example of the second printing setting screen.

[0069] The extended data 45b of the common capability information 45 includes information that allows the setting of "glossy paper" in the "paper type" item, "layout printing," "poster printing," "booklet printing," "watermark," "economy printing," and "PIN setting."

[0070] In this case, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 7 additionally displays the items "Layout printing," "Poster printing," "Booklet printing," "Watermark," "Economy printing," and "PIN setting" compared to the general-purpose print setting screen D2 based on the general-purpose print program 41 shown in Fig. 5. Also, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 7 additionally displays "Glossy paper" in the "Paper type" list box 112 compared to the general-purpose print setting screen D2 based on the general-purpose print program 41 shown in Fig. 5.

[0071] The general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Figure 7 displays the contents of print settings based on common capability information 45 (extension data 45b) that is not supported by the general-purpose print program 41, so that print settings based on the extended capabilities of printers connected to the cloud server 6, not just printer 2, can be accepted.

[0072] 2B. The general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 displays default values ​​for each item based on the setting data 46 shown in FIG. 2B. For example, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 does not limit the number of copies. The default values ​​for the items "Paper Tray," "Color Printing," "Double-Sided Printing," and "Layout Printing" are "Auto Select," "Color," "Single-Sided Printing," and "Standard (1 in 1)." In contrast, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 limits the number of copies to "1 to 10" based on the setting data 46 shown in FIG. 2B, as indicated by arrow 141. The default values ​​for the items "Paper Tray," "Color Printing," and "Double-Sided Printing" are "Tray 2," "Monochrome," and "Double-Sided Printing," as indicated by arrows 142, 143, and 144. The default values ​​for the expansion capabilities of "Layout Printing," "Poster Printing," "Economy Printing," and "PIN Setting" are also displayed based on the setting data 46, as indicated by arrows 145, 146, 147, and 133. In the PIN setting, the PIN information entered in the PIN information setting field 715 on the initial value setting screen D4 shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

[0073] Next, the procedures performed by each program when a print instruction is received by a user operating the print button SW3 while the general-purpose print setting screen D2 is displayed will be described with reference to the sequence diagram in Fig. 8. The print instruction from the user may be input directly to the general-purpose print program 41, or may be input to the information application 43 and output from the information application 43 to the general-purpose print program 41. Fig. 8 shows the processing performed when the print button SW3 is operated on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 7, which is displayed when the virtual printer 5 is selected.

[0074] When the general-purpose print program 41 receives a print execution instruction from the user via the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 (D01), it uses the print settings received on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 to convert the format of image data representing the image to be printed into intermediate data format to generate intermediate data (D02), and passes the generated intermediate data to the auxiliary program 42 (D03). The image data contained in the information application 43 is of various types, and the general-purpose print program 41 converts the image data to be printed into intermediate data suitable for generating print data. Note that if the image data to be printed is suitable for generating print data, the generation of intermediate data may be omitted and the intermediate data may be used as is. The intermediate data may be, for example, XPS data.

[0075] The auxiliary program 42 processes the intermediate data received in D03 by reflecting the print settings set in the auxiliary program 42 (D04). For example, if there is a print setting to add a watermark, the auxiliary program 42 combines the watermark with the intermediate data.

[0076] The auxiliary program 42 rasterizes the processed intermediate data and generates print data representing the image to be printed (D05). The print data generated in D05 is, for example, PDL data that the virtual printer 5 can handle.

[0077] The auxiliary program 42 sends the print data generated in D05 to the virtual printer 5 together with a print command instructing the execution of printing (D06). At this time, if the auxiliary program 42 receives settings for PIN information or settings for performing economical printing via the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7, it attaches these settings to the print data. D06 is an example of a sending process. If the auxiliary program 42 has determined that there is image processing to be performed by the virtual printer 5, it generates a print command that also includes information about that processing. The auxiliary program 42 may further notify the general-purpose print program 41 that it has completed sending the print data (D08).

[0078] The virtual printer 5 receives the print data and the print command and accumulates and stores the print job (D07). In this case, the virtual printer 5 stores the print job in association with the PIN information attached to the print data.

[0079] When the printer 3 receives a selection of the pull print function for receiving and printing a print job from the cloud server 6 (D11), it displays a PIN entry screen and accepts input of PIN information (D12). After accepting the input of PIN information, the printer 3 obtains job registration information from the virtual printer 5 (D13). The job registration information is, for example, a list showing the job names of print jobs stored in the virtual printer 5, and is information that does not include print data, print settings, etc. In the job registration information, each job name is associated with PIN information associated with the print job.

[0080] The printer 3 extracts and displays the job name corresponding to the PIN information received in D12 from the received job registration information (D14). When the printer 3 receives a job name selection, for example, via a touch operation (D15), it acquires a print job corresponding to the selected job name by receiving it from the virtual printer 5 (D16) and executes printing based on the acquired print job (D17). For example, if the print job includes print data including a watermark and a print setting for performing economical printing, a printed material with the watermark is generated with reduced colorant usage. D16 and D17 are examples of printing processing. In this embodiment, the printer 3 receives all job names of print jobs stored in the cloud server 6 as job registration information in D13. In response, the printer 3 may request the cloud server 6 to send the job registration information along with the PIN information, and acquire and display a list of job names corresponding to the PIN information from the cloud server 6 as job registration information.

[0081] For example, when printer 2, which is a real printer, is selected and a print instruction is received via the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 6 (A08), the auxiliary program 42 executes the processes of D02 to D05 in the same way as when virtual printer 5 is selected, and sends print data and a print command to printer 2 (D06). In this case, the auxiliary program 42 generates print data in a format that can be used for printing by printer 2. For example, the auxiliary program 42 generates PDL data dedicated to printer 2. When printer 2 receives the print command and print data in D06, it executes printing.

[0082] Rasterizing with the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 allows for greater flexibility than rasterizing with the general-purpose print program 41, and there is a high possibility that print data suitable for printing on the printer 2 will be generated. The print data generated by the auxiliary program 42 may be in a format that can also be used for printing on printers other than the printer 2 model.

[0083] Note that the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data instead of the auxiliary program 42. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the intermediate data processed in D04 and print execution information to the general-purpose printing program 41, and the general-purpose printing program 41 may rasterize the intermediate data to generate the print data. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 passes the generated print data to the auxiliary program 42. Then, when the auxiliary program 42 receives print data from the general-purpose printing program 41, it sends the print data received from the general-purpose printing program 41 to the virtual printer 5 or printer 2 together with a print command instructing the execution of printing.

[0084] The print data generated by the general-purpose print program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing on various printers, such as PWGRaster data or PDF data. If the print data is rasterized by the general-purpose print program 41, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 is reduced, which is expected to prevent an increase in processing time and reduce the program size of the auxiliary program 42.

[0085] The general-purpose printing program 41 may transmit print data and print commands to the virtual printer 5 or printer 2. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 so that the data is sent from the PC 1 to the virtual printer 5 or printer 2 as the destination. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 transmits the print data, etc. received from the auxiliary program 42 to the virtual printer 5 or printer 2. In this case, the process in which the auxiliary program 42 passes the print data, etc. to the general-purpose printing program 41 is an example of a transmission process.

[0086] As described above, when a virtual printer 5 is selected, the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment executes processing to display a general-purpose print setting screen D2 (see FIG. 7) based on the common capabilities of printers connectable to the cloud server 6. This allows the PC 1 executing the auxiliary program 42 to handle settings based on the common capability information 45 (including the extension data 45b) even when a virtual printer 5 is selected, without having to provide a separate service that handles settings based on printer-specific functions. As a result, the auxiliary program 42 can demonstrate the capabilities of various models of printers connectable to the virtual printer 5, rather than being limited to a specific printer model.

[0087] In addition, when the printer is selected as shown in A08 of FIG. 4, the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment displays the general print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 if the selected printer is a virtual printer 5, thereby enabling immediate input of print settings that match the common capability information 45 of the real printer connected to the virtual printer 5.

[0088] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment provides an initial value setting screen D4 for writing initial setting values ​​to the setting data 46, thereby making it easy for printer vendors, system administrators, and individual users to edit the initial setting values ​​according to their purposes. In this embodiment, the initial value setting screen D4 is provided as a dedicated screen. However, the initial value setting screen D4 may also be provided as part of the detailed setting screen D3 (see FIGS. 11 and 12), which will be described later. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may provide an icon on the detailed setting screen D3 (see FIGS. 11 and 12), which will be described later, that instructs the display of the initial value setting screen D4, and the auxiliary program 42 may display the initial value setting screen D4 in response to an operation of the icon. Alternatively, the auxiliary program 42 may accept a setting for whether or not to write data for each item displayed on the detailed setting screen D3 (see FIGS. 11 and 12), which will be described later. On the other hand, by providing the initial value setting screen D4 as a dedicated screen separate from the detailed setting screen, the auxiliary program 42 may launch the initial value setting screen D4 at any time and edit the initial values.

[0089] (Second embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the support program and printing system disclosed in this specification will be described. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the procedure when printing is selected. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that when a virtual printer 5 is selected, a detailed setting screen reflecting the common capability information 45 is displayed on the display 13a. 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 this embodiment that are common to the first embodiment, and descriptions thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0090] 9, for example, when the general-purpose printing program 41 starts the auxiliary program 42A with the virtual printer 5 selected on the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 in FIG. 4 (A07, A08), the auxiliary program 42A acquires capability information from the virtual printer 5 (A11 to A13). The auxiliary program 42A stores the capability information acquired from the virtual printer 5 in the memory 12 (A51). The capability information stored in A51 includes, for example, information indicating an appropriate combination of print settings.

[0091] When the auxiliary program 42A responds to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A52), the general-purpose printing program 41 displays general initial values ​​for the general-purpose printing program 41 on the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 (A53). On the general-purpose printing setting screen D2, as shown in FIG. 5, an instruction for detailed setting can be received by the detailed setting button SW2.

[0092] 10, the general-purpose printing program 41 starts the auxiliary program 42A (B02) based on a detailed setting instruction from the user (B01). The general-purpose printing program 41 passes the print settings set in the print setting field 53 of the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 of FIG. 4 to the auxiliary program 42A and requests processing.

[0093] The auxiliary program 42A reads the capability information from the memory 12 (B04) and performs a determination process (B05). The determination process of B05 is performed in the same manner as A15 in FIG. 4. If the auxiliary program 42A determines that the selected printer is the virtual printer 5 (alt: virtual printer), it reads the common capability information 45 from the memory 12 (B31) and displays the detailed setting screen D3 based on the common capability information 45 shown in FIG. 12 on the display 13a (B32). The detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 12 reflects the common capability information 45 in the same way as the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. B32 is an example of a reception process.

[0094] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42A reads the setting data 46 from the memory 12 (B33) and reflects the setting data 46 on the detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 12 (B34). The reflection of the setting data 46 is similar to the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7, so a detailed explanation will be omitted. The processing of B32 is an example of a second display processing. The detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 12 is an example of a second print setting screen.

[0095] When the apply button SW22 in FIG. 12 is operated (B41), the auxiliary program 42A receives an instruction to complete the detailed settings (B42). The auxiliary program 42A reflects the detailed print settings received via the detailed settings screen D3 in the print settings received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in B02, thereby editing the print settings (B43). The auxiliary program 42A passes the edited print settings to the general-purpose printing program 41 (B44). The general-purpose printing program 41 reflects the edited print settings in the general-purpose printing settings screen D2 in FIG. 4 (B45).

[0096] The auxiliary program 42A may read only the extension data 45b of the common capability information 45 from the memory 12 in step B31, and display the detailed settings screen D3 based on only the extension data 45b in step B33. In this case, the print settings based on the basic capabilities that overlap with the general-purpose print settings screen D2 will not be displayed on the detailed settings screen D3, making the detailed settings screen D3 easier to view. On the other hand, as described above, when the auxiliary program 42A displays the detailed settings screen D3 based on the common capability information 45 on the display 13a, it is convenient to make print settings based on both the basic data 45a and the extension data 45b on a single detailed settings screen D3.

[0097] 9, when the auxiliary program 42A is started with the general-purpose printing program 41 selecting printer 2 on the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 (A07, A08), the auxiliary program 42A acquires capability information from printer 2 (A11-A13) and stores it in memory 12 (A51). The processing of A52 and A53 has been described above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0098] As shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 10, when the auxiliary program 42A receives a processing request from the general-purpose printing program 41 with the printer 2 selected (B01, B02), the auxiliary program 42A reads the capability information corresponding to the printer 2 from the memory 12 (B04) and performs a determination process (B05). If the auxiliary program 42A determines that the selected printer is not the virtual printer 5 but a real printer (alt: real printer), the auxiliary program 42A displays the detailed setting screen D3 based on the capability information of the printer 2 shown in FIG. 11 on the display 13a (B11). The detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 11 reflects the capability information of the printer 2, similar to the general-purpose printing setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 6, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The process of B11 is an example of a first display process. The detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 11 is an example of a first printing setting screen. Note that FIG. 11 shows the detailed setting screen D3 in a state in which the restriction process (described later) has not been executed.

[0099] The auxiliary program 42A accepts parameter settings for each item via the user IF 13 (B13). In this embodiment, as described above, information indicating an appropriate combination of print settings is included in the capability information acquired from the printer 2. When the virtual printer 5 is not set as the printer to be selected and the advanced settings screen D3 reflecting the capability information shown in FIG. 11 is displayed, the auxiliary program 42A can restrict the acceptance of print settings based on the information indicating an appropriate combination of print settings (B14 in FIG. 10).

[0100] For example, suppose printer 2 has tray 1 and tray 2, and can feed envelopes from tray 1, but cannot feed envelopes from tray 2. In this case, when "envelope" is set in the "paper type" item indicated by arrow 321 on detailed setting screen D3 in Fig. 11, auxiliary program 42A hides "tray 2" indicated by arrow 322 in the figure in the "paper feed tray" item, and does not accept the setting of tray 2.

[0101] Such limitations also apply to print settings that can be processed by the auxiliary program 42. For example, poster printing is a printing method in which an image to be printed is divided and printed on paper. Therefore, when "Yes" is set in the "Poster Printing" item indicated by arrow 323 on the detailed setting screen D3 in FIG. 11, the auxiliary program 42A displays only "Single-Sided Printing" in the "Double-Sided Printing" item indicated by arrow 324 in the figure, and does not accept the setting of "Double-Sided Printing" as a parameter. Note that the mode of restricting acceptance of settings may be grayed out instead of not displaying the item.

[0102] On the other hand, the auxiliary program 42A does not perform the restriction process shown in B14 of Fig. 10 on the detailed settings screen D3 shown in Fig. 12, which is displayed when virtual printer 5 is selected. That is, even if "Envelope" is set in the "Paper Type" setting, as shown by arrow 341 in Fig. 12, "Tray 2" is displayed as a configurable option in the "Paper Tray" item, as shown by arrow 342 in Fig. 12. Also, even if "Yes" is set in the "Poster Printing" setting, as shown by arrow 343 in Fig. 12, "Double-Sided Printing" can be set as a parameter in the "Double-Sided Printing" item, as shown by arrow 344 in Fig. 12.

[0103] As described above, when a virtual printer 5 is selected, the auxiliary program 42A of this embodiment executes processing for displaying a detailed settings screen D3 (see FIG. 12) based on the common capabilities of printers that can be connected to the cloud server 6. As a result, even when a virtual printer 5 is selected, the PC 1 executing the auxiliary program 42A can handle settings based on the common capability information 45 or the extended data 45b without having to provide a separate service that handles settings based on printer-specific functions.

[0104] Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42A of the present embodiment operates the detail setting button SW2 on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 and, in response to receiving an instruction to display the detail setting screen D3, displays the detail setting screen D3 based on the common capability information 45 shown in Fig. 12. Therefore, the user can display the detail setting screen D3 based on the common capability information 45 shown in Fig. 12 on the display 13a at a timing when the user wants to handle settings based on the common capability information 45.

[0105] The embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples and do not limit the present invention in any way. Therefore, the technology disclosed in this specification can naturally be improved and modified in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the device connected to PC1 is not limited to a printer, but may be any device with a printing function, such as a multifunction device, copier, or fax machine. Furthermore, the number of printers connected to PC1 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be two or more.

[0106] Furthermore, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 5 may accept a display instruction to display the detailed setting screen D3 by an object such as a link instead of the detailed setting button SW2.

[0107] 10 may be omitted. However, if printer 2, which is a real printer, is selected, errors on printer 2 can be reduced by restricting the acceptance of print settings for settings that cannot be set based on the capability information. On the other hand, if virtual printer 5 is selected, it is unknown which printer will ultimately be used for printing, and it is not possible to determine whether the settings are acceptable, so the restriction process is not executed. This reduces the processing load on auxiliary program 42A.

[0108] 4 and B33 and B34 in FIG. 10 may be omitted, and the setting values ​​of the setting data 46 may not be set as initial values ​​on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in FIG. 7 or the detailed setting screen D3 shown in FIG. 12, which are displayed when the virtual printer 5 is selected. However, when the virtual printer 5 is selected by the general-purpose print program 41, the general-purpose print setting screen D2 or the detailed setting screen D3 not only display the items and parameters corresponding to the extended data 45b, but also set the setting data 46 as the initial value, thereby enabling operation with common setting values ​​when using the virtual printer 5.

[0109] Furthermore, the selection of whether to write the setting value to the setting data 46 may be made all at once, rather than for each print setting item. For example, the write permission setting field 712 shown in Fig. 3 may be omitted, and a single write permission setting button may be provided on the initial value setting screen D4. However, by being able to select whether to write the setting value to the setting data 46 for each print setting item, it becomes possible to distinguish in the setting data 46 between items that are used in common when the virtual printer 5 is selected and items that are not used in common, thereby increasing the flexibility of operation.

[0110] 4 includes an appropriate combination of print settings, the auxiliary program 42 may include information for not accepting print settings that are not an appropriate combination in the first display data in A21, and pass the first display data to the general-purpose print program 41 in A22. This enables the general-purpose print program 41 to restrict the acceptance of print settings that are not an appropriate combination, for example, on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 shown in Fig. 6, in the same way as on the detailed setting screen D3 shown in Fig. 11. On the other hand, when the virtual printer 5 is selected, the auxiliary program 42 may not include information for not accepting print settings that are not an appropriate combination in the second display data in A33 of Fig. 4, and may not impose such restrictions on the general-purpose print setting screen D2 of Fig. 7.

[0111] Furthermore, even when the auxiliary program 42 displays the common capabilities when selecting a printer as shown in Fig. 4, it may also execute processing to reflect the common capabilities on the detailed setting screen D3 when performing detailed setting as shown in Fig. 10. The cloud server 6 on which the virtual printer 5 is provided may be a server connected to a LAN or WAN.

[0112] Furthermore, cloud server 6 may be a server installed on the Internet 8 by a manufacturer that provides auxiliary program 42, or may be a commercial server such as OneDrive (registered trademark) or DropBox (registered trademark). Instead of registration availability information 46, memory 12 may store registration availability information only when pass-through registration is set to be performed in the setting process.

[0113] In the embodiment, only the printing operation is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have other roles as well. The program that executes the processing of this embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, and may be any program that receives instructions from the OS 21 or the general-purpose print program 41 when printing using the general-purpose print program 41. For example, it may be a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been made public by Microsoft.

[0114] Furthermore, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to that of the embodiment. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may be executed in response to a direct execution instruction from the OS 21, or may be a resident auxiliary program 42. If the auxiliary program 42 is resident, it may simply receive an execution command and perform the above-described operation.

[0115] 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.

[0116] 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]

[0117] 1...PC, 2...printer, 11...CPU, 13a...display, 21...OS, 41...general-purpose printing program, 42...auxiliary program

Claims

1. A support program that can be executed by a computer of an information processing device and supports a general-purpose printing program that is pre-installed in an operating system of the information processing device, wherein the information processing device can be connected to a virtual printer provided on a server on a network, the server can receive and store print jobs sent to the virtual printer, and the server can send the stored print jobs to a printer connected to the server based on a request from the printer, The computer, a first acquisition process for acquiring identification information for identifying the selected printer; a second acquisition process for acquiring capability information indicating the capability of the selected printer; Execute Furthermore, the computer When a process is requested from the general-purpose printing program, executes a determination process to determine that the selected printer is not the virtual printer if the specific information acquired in the first acquisition process includes device identification information, and to determine that the selected printer is the virtual printer if the specific information does not include device identification information; If it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is not the virtual printer, executes a first display process to display a first print setting screen that accepts print settings based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process on a display of the information processing device; If it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is the virtual printer, executes a second display process for displaying, on the display of the information processing device, a second print setting screen for accepting print settings based on common capabilities of printers connectable to the server; A support program configured to:

2. 2. The support program according to claim 1, The computer, When a process is requested by the general-purpose printing program due to the selection of a printer, the determination process is executed. A support program configured to:

3. 3. The support program according to claim 2, the general-purpose printing program has a function of displaying a general-purpose printing setting screen on the display of the information processing device, In the first display process, generating first display data for additionally displaying the contents of the setting items of the print settings that reflect the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process on the general-purpose print setting screen, and passing the generated first display data to the general-purpose print program, so that the general-purpose print setting screen in accordance with the first display data is displayed on the display of the information processing device by the general-purpose print program; In the second display process, generating second display data for displaying the contents of the setting items of the print settings based on the common capability on the general-purpose print setting screen, and passing the generated second display data to the general-purpose print program, so that the general-purpose print setting screen according to the second display data is displayed on the display of the information processing device by the general-purpose print program. A support program configured to:

4. 2. The support program according to claim 1, the support program has a function of displaying a detailed setting screen that accepts print settings that can be supported by the printer on the display of the information processing device, and the general-purpose printing program is capable of accepting an instruction to display the detailed setting screen; The computer, When the general-purpose printing program receives the display instruction and requests a process, the general-purpose printing program executes the determination process; When it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is not the virtual printer, the first display process is executed, and in the first display process, the detailed setting screen that accepts print settings based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process is set as a first print setting screen; When it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is the virtual printer, the second display process is executed, and in the second display process, the detailed setting screen that accepts print settings based on the common capabilities is set as a second print setting screen. A support program configured to:

5. 5. The support program according to claim 4, The computer, Execute a reception process for receiving the print settings on the detailed setting screen; Furthermore, the computer When the detailed setting screen is displayed by the first display process, executes a restriction process for restricting the acceptance of the print settings in the acceptance process for settings that cannot be set based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process; When the detailed setting screen is displayed by the second display process, Do not execute the restriction process. A support program configured to:

6. 6. The support program according to claim 1, the common capabilities include extended capabilities not supported by the general-purpose printing program; A support program configured to:

7. 7. The support program according to claim 6, In the second display process, reading extension data into which setting contents based on the extension capability are written and setting data into which setting values ​​for each print setting item are written, and displaying the second print setting screen, which accepts print settings based on the read extension data, on the display of the information processing device, and setting the setting values ​​written in the read setting data as initial values ​​on the second print setting screen; A support program configured to:

8. 8. The support program according to claim 7, The computer, a setting process for displaying an initial value setting screen on the display of the information processing device, the initial value setting screen receiving input of the setting values ​​to be written into the setting data; a storage process of storing the setting data into which the setting values ​​input on the initial value setting screen are written in a memory of the information processing device; Execute In the second display process, reading the extension data and the setting data stored in the storage process, and displaying the second print setting screen, which accepts print settings based on the read extension data, on the display of the information processing device, and setting the setting values ​​written in the read setting data as initial values ​​on the second print setting screen. A support program configured to:

9. 9. The support program according to claim 8, In the setting process, displaying, on the display of the information processing device, the initial value setting screen that accepts a selection of whether or not to write the setting value into the setting data for each item of the print setting and an input of the setting value; In the storage process, writing the setting value inputted on the initial value setting screen into the setting data for the item of the print settings for which the selection of writing the setting value into the setting data has been accepted; A support program configured to:

10. 10. The support program according to claim 1, 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 virtual printer, and processing is requested from the general-purpose print program, acquiring image data representing the image from the general-purpose printing program, and executing a transmission process for transmitting a print job for printing the image data to the virtual printer; A support program configured to:

11. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 10, In the second display process, reading common capability information stored in a memory of the information processing device from the memory before a processing request is made, and displaying the second print setting screen, which accepts print settings based on the common capability indicated in the common capability information, on the display of the information processing device; A support program configured to:

12. In the support program according to claim 11, The common capability information includes basic data indicating print settings based on basic capabilities supported by the general-purpose printing program, and extended data indicating print settings based on extended capabilities not supported by the general-purpose printing program, and the extended data includes print settings based on the extended capabilities that are common among printers that can be supported by the support program. A support program configured to:

13. The support program according to claim 11, The common capability information includes basic data indicating print settings based on basic capabilities supported by the general-purpose print program, and extended data indicating print settings based on extended capabilities not supported by the general-purpose print program, and the extended data includes print settings that can be processed by the support program. A support program configured to:

14. A support program installed in an information processing device, a printer connected to a server, A printing system comprising: the support program is executable by a computer of the information processing device and is a program that supports a general-purpose printing program that is pre-installed in an operating system of the information processing device, and the information processing device is connectable to a virtual printer provided in the server on a network; The support program is installed in the computer of the information processing device. When a process is requested from the general-purpose printing program due to a print instruction output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction being to cause the virtual printer to print an image, image data representing the image is acquired from the general-purpose printing program, and a transmission process is executed to transmit a print job for printing the image data to the virtual printer; The server receiving and storing the print job sent to the virtual printer; The printer transmitting a transmission request for the print job stored in the server to the server, receiving the print job transmitted based on the transmission request, and executing a print process based on the received print job; Furthermore, the support program is configured to: a first acquisition process for acquiring specific information for identifying the selected printer from the general-purpose printing program; a second acquisition process for acquiring capability information indicating the capability of the selected printer; Execute Furthermore, the support program is configured to: When a process is requested from the general-purpose printing program, executes a determination process to determine that the selected printer is not the virtual printer if the specific information acquired in the first acquisition process includes device identification information, and to determine that the selected printer is the virtual printer if the specific information does not include device identification information; If it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is not the virtual printer, executes a first display process to display a first print setting screen that accepts print settings based on the capability information acquired in the second acquisition process on a display of the information processing device; If it is determined in the determination process that the selected printer is the virtual printer, executes a second display process for displaying, on the display of the information processing device, a second print setting screen for accepting print settings based on common capabilities of printers connectable to the server; A printing system configured to:

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