Support programs and printing systems

Abstract

To provide a technology for reducing unintended printing by a user based in terms of usage of a sheet in an information processing device in which an OS-standard general-use printing program is implemented.SOLUTION: An auxiliary program 42 causes a CPU 11 of a personal computer 1 to display a setting screen for receiving an input operation of print settings on a user IF 13, and on the basis of display of a setting screen, acquire sheet information representing information, which is information on a sheet to be used for printing from a printer 2. Further, when there is a print instruction output from an editing application 43 and instructing a general-use printing program 41 implemented in advance in an OS 21, to perform printing of an image by the printer 2, the CPU 11 acquires sheet information included in the print settings for the print instruction and determining suitability of a sheet by comparing the sheet information acquired from the printer 2 with the sheet information of the print settings. The CPU 11 displays a warning message by means of the user IF 13 when it is determined that the sheet is unsuitable.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 the control of a printer. [Background technology]

[0002] A well-known technique for controlling a printer from an information processing device such as a personal computer is to acquire print settings using a printer driver and generate print data based on the acquired print settings. Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a printer driver technique for comparing a paper size detected by a printer with a paper size set in an application to detect a mismatch in paper size. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-11946 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, a technology has been put into practical use that controls printers using a print program that is built into the operating system (OS) as standard, without using the printer driver mentioned above. With this technology, the OS associates the printer with the OS's standard print program, and after that, when a print command for that printer is received, printing can be performed using the OS's standard print program without using a printer driver.

[0005] When using the OS-standard general-purpose printing program described above for printing, conventional printer drivers cannot be used for printing. As a result, some of the functions provided by printer drivers are no longer supported. For example, the OS-standard general-purpose printing program does not support the function described above for detecting whether the paper information on the information processing device matches the paper information on the printer, making it difficult to take appropriate action in the event of a mismatch in paper information. As a result, users may find that the print results are not what they intended, such as the image extending off the edge of the paper, after printing.

[0006] This specification discloses a technique for reducing paper-based printing that is not intended by a user in an information processing apparatus that has an OS-standard general-purpose printing program installed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A support program made to solve the above-mentioned problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device, and is a support program corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device, and causes the computer to execute: a setting screen display process that displays a setting screen that accepts input operations for print settings using a user interface of the information processing device; and a first acquisition process that acquires first paper information, which is information about the paper to be used for printing, from the printer in conjunction with displaying the setting screen by the setting screen display process; and further causes the computer to execute: a second acquisition process that, when a print instruction is output from an application program built into the information processing device and the print instruction causes the printer to print an image using a general-purpose print program pre-built into the operating system of the information processing device, acquires second paper information, which is information about the paper included in the print settings for the print instruction; a determination process that determines whether the paper is suitable by comparing the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process with the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process; and a warning process that performs processing to issue a warning using the user interface if the determination process determines that the paper is unsuitable.

[0008] According to the support program disclosed in this specification, an information processing device acquires first paper information, which is information about the paper stock of the printer, from the printer when a settings screen that can be displayed before a print instruction is issued is displayed. Then, when a print instruction is issued for a general-purpose print program, the information processing device compares the first paper information with second paper information, which is information about the paper included in the print settings for the print instruction, to determine whether the first paper information is appropriate. Furthermore, if the information processing device determines that the paper is inappropriate, it issues a warning before sending the print data. This is expected to encourage the user to make an input to avoid printing the print data, thereby increasing the likelihood that unintended printing by the user can be avoided.

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

[0010] The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technology that reduces printing on paper that is not intended by the user in an information processing device that has an OS-standard general-purpose printing program installed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration of a PC. [Figure 2] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for a printing operation by each program. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for a paper determination process. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a warning message. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a warning message. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") that uses the support program of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This specification discloses a printing system that includes a printer with a printing function and a support program that is executed on a PC connected to the printer.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system 100 of this embodiment includes a PC 1 and a printer 2. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The printer 2 is a device with a printing function. The PC 1 and the printer 2 are connected so that they can communicate with each other. The printer 2 of this embodiment receives print data from the PC 1 or the like, for example, and executes printing based on the received print data.

[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 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. The memory 12 stores various programs, including various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "apps"), and various data. 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 for displaying a screen for notifying the user of information and hardware for accepting user operations. The user IF 13 may be a combination of a display capable of displaying information and a mouse or keyboard having an input acceptance function, or may be a touch panel having a display function and an input acceptance function.

[0017] The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with an external device such as the printer 2. The communication standards of the communication IF 14 include Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), USB, etc. The PC 1 may be provided with multiple communication IFs 14 that are 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 an editing application 43. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. The OS 21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark).

[0019] The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS standard program that causes various printers, such as the printer 2, to execute printing based on user instructions. The general-purpose printing program 41 in this embodiment is a program that includes a function for generating intermediate image data based on the image data to be printed.

[0020] The generic printing program 41 supports functions that can be used in common by multiple printer models provided by various printer vendors. The generic printing program 41 does not support all of the functions that are unique to each printer, and the functions it supports are limited to generic ones.

[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 an application that supports control of the target hardware. The auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment corresponds to the model of the printer 2 connected to the PC 1, and is launched from the general-purpose printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the general-purpose printing program 41 is received. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviated as HSA).

[0022] The auxiliary program 42 can receive a variety of commands from the general-purpose printing program 41 and executes various processes based on the received commands. The auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of multiple programs that each receive an execution command, or may be a single program that can execute different processes depending on the command.

[0023] The auxiliary program may be a program prepared by the printer vendor for each printer type. For example, an auxiliary program for inkjet printers and an auxiliary program for laser printers may be prepared separately. For example, when a new printer is connected to PC 1, OS 21 of PC 1 downloads an appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type of the connected printer and installs it in its own device. Then, OS 21 associates the identification information of the installed auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in memory 12. Note that auxiliary programs are not limited to those prepared for each printer type, and there may also be auxiliary programs prepared for each printer model or series of printer models.

[0024] The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, Microsoft (registered trademark) Word or PowerPoint, or an application provided by the vendor of the printer 2. The editing application 43 accepts user operations including instructions to cause the printer 2 to perform a predetermined operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 accepts, via the user IF 13, for example, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing.

[0025] Next, a printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows the operation when an application that accepts print instructions, such as the editing application 43, accepts a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, and when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is installed in the PC 1.

[0026] Note that the processes and each processing step of the flowchart in this embodiment basically represent processing by the CPU 11 in accordance with instructions written in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. The processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the operation of each program will be explained without a detailed description of the OS 21. Also, the term "obtain" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

[0027] The editing application 43 accepts creation and editing of text, charts, etc. based on user instructions. When the editing application 43 accepts an instruction to print selected text, etc. (A01), it displays a print screen for accepting instructions from the user on the user IF 13 (A02). On the print screen, the editing application 43 accepts, for example, an instruction to execute printing, an instruction for basic print settings, and an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings.

[0028] When the editing application 43 receives an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings while printer 2 is selected on the currently displayed print screen (A03), it passes information about the received detailed setting instruction to the OS 21. When the OS 21 receives an instruction for detailed settings related to printing using the general-purpose printing program 41, it executes the general-purpose printing program 41 and passes an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A04). When the general-purpose printing program 41 receives the instruction to start accepting detailed print settings, it passes an instruction to execute acceptance of detailed print settings to the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2, the currently selected printer (A05).

[0029] The auxiliary program 42 starts operation based on an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, and displays a setting screen for accepting input operations for detailed print settings on the user IF 13 (A06). A06 is an example of a setting screen display process. The auxiliary program 42 displays a screen for accepting compatible detailed settings based on, for example, model information of the printer 2, and accepts user operations.

[0030] Furthermore, after starting to display the setting screen in A06, the auxiliary program 42 sends an acquisition request to the printer 2 via the communication IF 14, requesting capability information (A11). When the printer 2 receives an acquisition request for capability information from the PC 1 or the like, it acquires capability information indicating the capabilities of its own device (A12) and responds with the acquired capability information to the device that sent the request (A13). The capability information sent from the printer 2 includes, for example, status information, information on the remaining amount of consumables, information on the installed trays, paper information for the paper set for each tray, and information on the supported print resolution.

[0031] The printer 2 receives, for example, via an operation panel, paper information about the paper stored in its paper feed tray, and stores the received paper information in its memory. At A12, the printer 2 reads the paper information from its memory. The paper information read from the printer 2's memory includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information. The printer 2 may be capable of mounting multiple paper feed trays, and if it is equipped with multiple paper feed trays, it stores paper information for each tray in association with information indicating the tray. Note that if the printer 2 has a sensor or the like that detects paper stored in a tray, it may obtain paper information based on an output signal from the sensor or the like.

[0032] The printer 2 may also have a function to perform image processing based on the received print job and print based on the data after the image processing, such as aggregate printing such as Nin1, composite printing such as watermark printing, and economical printing that saves coloring agent. If the printer 2 has an image processing function that can be executed by the printer 2, the printer 2 may pass information about that function to the auxiliary program 42 as capability information.

[0033] A13 causes the auxiliary program 42 to acquire the capability information of the printer 2. The capability information acquired by the auxiliary program 42 includes paper information of the printer 2. A13 is an example of a first acquisition process, and the paper information included in the capability information of the printer 2 is an example of first paper information. The paper information includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information.

[0034] The communication between the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 may be performed by the auxiliary program 42 directly communicating with the printer 2 using, for example, MIB (abbreviation for Management Information Base), or may be performed via the OS 21. When performing communication via the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 communicate in accordance with a communication protocol of the OS 21, such as IPP (abbreviation for Internet Printing Protocol).

[0035] The auxiliary program 42 stores paper information for the paper set for each tray in an available area in the memory 12 that can be used by the auxiliary program 42, based on the capability information acquired from the printer 2 (A14). If the paper size information included in the paper information acquired from the printer 2 indicates a standard size such as A4, the auxiliary program 42 may convert it into numerical values ​​indicating the paper length and paper width and store the converted information.

[0036] The auxiliary program 42 also receives instructions from the user on the setting screen for receiving detailed settings displayed in A06 (A22). Note that the auxiliary program 42 may determine acceptable detailed setting items, etc., based on the capability information acquired from the printer 2. When the auxiliary program 42 receives the instruction to end the detailed settings, it closes the settings screen displayed in A06 and sends a completion notification to the general-purpose printing program 41. The general-purpose printing program 41 sends a completion notification to the editing application 43.

[0037] When the editing application 43 receives a print instruction from the user on the print screen (A31), it passes the print instruction to the general-purpose print program 41 (A32). The general-purpose print program 41 acquires, from the print instruction, information indicating the image data to be printed and information indicating print settings. The print settings include paper information. The paper information included in the print settings also includes information on paper size and paper type.

[0038] The general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the received print instruction into the format of intermediate image data (A33), and generates a print job including the intermediate image data. The image data included in the editing application 43 can be of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. Note that if the image data included in the print instruction is suitable for generating print data, the generation of intermediate image data may be omitted and the image data may be used as is as intermediate image data. The intermediate image data may be, for example, XPS data.

[0039] The general-purpose printing program 41 further outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 (A34), causing the auxiliary program 42 to operate. In the execution instruction, the generated intermediate image data and print setting information are passed to the auxiliary program 42. The print settings passed to the auxiliary program 42 include paper information. The paper information included in this print setting also includes paper size information and paper type information. Note that the general-purpose printing program 41 may pass some or all of this paper information to the auxiliary program 42 by including it in the intermediate image data.

[0040] The auxiliary program 42 executes paper determination processing based on the execution instruction received from the general-purpose printing program 41 (A35). The paper determination processing is a process that determines whether the paper is appropriate by comparing the paper information received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A34 with the paper information acquired from the printer 2 in A13, and determines whether to execute or cancel printing based on the determination result. The procedure for the paper determination processing will be described later.

[0041] If the editing application 43 does not receive an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings before receiving an instruction to execute printing from A31, the auxiliary program 42 does not execute A11 to A14 because it has not received an execution instruction from A05 from the general-purpose printing program 41. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 may execute A11 to A14 before executing A35. Alternatively, if the auxiliary program 42 receives an execution instruction from A34 and paper information is not stored in its own memory, it may execute A11 to A14 before executing A35.

[0042] If the auxiliary program 42 determines in the paper determination process of A35 that printing should be performed (alt:[Print]), it performs rasterization based on the intermediate image data received in A34 and generates print data representing the image to be printed (A41). The print data generated in A41 is data in a format that can be used for printing by the printer 2, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of the printer 2.

[0043] 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 is more likely to generate print data suitable for printing on the printer 2. Note that 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.

[0044] Instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data. In other words, when the auxiliary program 42 determines that printing is to be executed, it may pass information on the execution of printing to the general-purpose printing program 41. In this case, the general-purpose printing program 41 rasterizes the intermediate image data generated by A33 to generate print data. The general-purpose printing program 41 then passes the generated print data to the auxiliary program 42.

[0045] 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.

[0046] Furthermore, the general-purpose printing program 41 may receive the results of the paper determination process from the auxiliary program 42 without passing the intermediate image data to the auxiliary program 42. Then, if it is determined that printing is to be executed, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate print data.

[0047] After generating print data in A41, the auxiliary program 42 sends the generated print data to the printer 2 together with a print command that instructs the printer to print (A42). Furthermore, when the auxiliary program 42 receives print data from the general-purpose print program 41, it sends the print data received from the general-purpose print program 41 to the printer 2 together with the print command that instructs the printer to print. Upon receiving the print data and the print command, the printer 2 prints the image of the print data based on the received print command (A43). This results in the creation of a printed document. The auxiliary program 42 also notifies the general-purpose print program 41 that it has finished sending the print data.

[0048] The general-purpose printing program 41 may transmit the print data to the 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 transmitted from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. The general-purpose printing program 41 transmits the print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2.

[0049] On the other hand, if it is determined in the paper determination process of A35 that printing should be canceled (alt:[Cancel]), the auxiliary program 42 passes information to cancel the print job to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A44). A44 is an example of cancellation processing. As a result, the general-purpose printing program 41 cancels the print job based on the print instruction received in A32 and ends the printing process.

[0050] Next, the paper type determination process by the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 3. The paper type determination process is executed by the CPU 11 of the PC 1 at A35 in Fig. 2.

[0051] In the paper determination process, the CPU 11 reads out the paper information stored in A14 of Fig. 2 (S101). The information read out in S101 is information included in the capability information acquired from the printer 2 in A13 of Fig. 2, and is information about the paper set in each tray of the printer 2.

[0052] Then, based on the read information, the CPU 11 determines whether the paper information is a target for judgment (S102). If all the paper types set in the printer 2 are, for example, plain paper or recycled paper and standard paper sizes such as A4, even if paper is wasted due to printing of an incompatible size, the loss to the user is likely to be small. When inexpensive paper is used, it is preferable to complete printing early and output the print results, since overprinting of the image and reprinting are likely to be tolerated.

[0053] If it is determined that the current print is not a target for which judgment is to be performed (S102: NO), the CPU 11 determines "print" (S109) and ends the paper judgment process. If the paper type set in the printer 2 is plain paper or recycled paper and the paper size is a standard size such as A4 or B5, the CPU 11 determines NO in S102. If the print is not a target for judgment, it can output the print result quickly by determining "print" without performing the processes from S103 onwards.

[0054] On the other hand, if printer 2 is set with paper that is likely to be expensive, it is undesirable to waste paper by printing on an incompatible size. For example, if the paper type is cardboard, postcard, sticker paper, transparency paper, cloth, etc., or if the paper size is postcard, envelope, etc., the paper is likely to be expensive compared to standard-sized paper such as regular paper or recycled paper. Paper sizes indicating postcards or envelopes are examples of predetermined sizes that indicate high value. Further, paper types indicating cardboard, postcards, sticker paper, transparency paper, and cloth are examples of predetermined types indicating high value. If the paper information set in printer 2 includes at least one paper whose paper type is neither plain paper nor recycled paper, or whose paper size is neither A4, A5, B4, nor B5, CPU 11 determines YES in S102.

[0055] If it is determined that the paper information is the target for determination (S102: YES), the CPU 11 acquires the paper information included in the print settings from the execution instruction received from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A34 of FIG. 2 (S103). S103 is an example of a second acquisition process, and the paper information acquired in S103 is an example of second paper information. The paper information includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information. The print settings acquired in S103 are, for example, information on the settings specified by the user in A22 of FIG. 2.

[0056] Furthermore, based on the information acquired in S103, the CPU 11 determines whether a paper feed tray is explicitly specified in the print settings (S104). If it is determined that a paper feed tray is specified (S104: YES), the CPU 11 extracts paper information stored in association with the specified paper feed tray from the paper information read in S101. Then, the CPU 11 determines whether the extracted paper information matches the paper information acquired in S103 (S105). S105 is an example of a determination process. Note that if the printer 2 is equipped with only one paper feed tray, the CPU 11 determines YES in S104 and executes the determination of S105 for that tray.

[0057] For example, CPU 11 determines whether the paper size is appropriate by comparing the paper size included in the paper information read in S101 with the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S103. For example, if the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S103 is a standard size that is a predefined size and does not match the paper size included in the paper information read in S101, CPU 11 determines that the paper size is inappropriate in S105.

[0058] If the paper size is different, the image may overflow, increasing the possibility of printing unintended by the user. In this embodiment, the appropriateness of the paper size is determined, which makes it highly likely that unintended printing by the user can be avoided. Note that a match in paper size means a match in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the paper. Furthermore, if the difference in paper size is within a predetermined range in both the vertical and horizontal directions, for example, between A4 size and letter size, the CPU 11 may determine that the paper sizes are compatible.

[0059] Furthermore, if the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S103 is not a predetermined standard size but a user-defined size defined by the user, CPU 11 compares the paper information based on the numerical value of the defined size. Also, if the paper size included in the paper information read in S101 is expressed as a numerical value, CPU 11 compares the paper information based on the numerical value. For example, if the difference between the numerical value indicating the length and width corresponding to the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S103 and the numerical value indicating the length and width corresponding to the paper size included in the paper information read in S101 is outside a predetermined range for at least one of the length and width, CPU 11 determines that the paper size is inappropriate. Note that if the paper type is roll paper, CPU 11 only needs to determine the suitability of the horizontal size (also called paper width) of the paper size.

[0060] Furthermore, CPU 11 may determine whether the paper type is appropriate by comparing the paper type included in the paper information read in S101 with the paper type included in the paper information acquired in S103. For example, if the paper types in both pieces of paper information do not match, CPU 11 determines that the paper type is inappropriate in S105.

[0061] If it is determined that the paper information of the printer 2 and the paper information in the print settings do not match (S105: NO), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a warning message (S106). S106 is an example of warning processing. The processing of displaying a warning message is an example of processing for issuing a warning.

[0062] 4, the CPU 11 displays a warning message 50 informing the user that paper that matches the paper size selected in the print settings is not loaded in the printer 2. The warning message 50 includes a print button 51 that accepts an instruction to continue printing, and a cancel button 52 that accepts an instruction to cancel printing. The warning message 50 may also display information about the tray and paper size selected in the print settings.

[0063] Then, the CPU 11 determines whether or not an operation on the print button 51 has been accepted (S107). If it is determined that an operation on the print button 51 has not been accepted (S107: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not an operation on the cancel button 52 has been accepted (S108). If it is determined that an operation on the cancel button 52 has not been accepted (S108: NO), the CPU 11 waits until an operation on either the print button 51 or the cancel button 52 is accepted.

[0064] If it is determined that an operation on the print button 51 has been accepted (S107: YES), the CPU 11 determines that printing is to be performed (S109) and ends the paper determination process. On the other hand, if it is determined that an operation on the cancel button 52 has been accepted (S108: YES), the CPU 11 determines that cancellation is to be performed (S110) and ends the paper determination process. After the paper determination process is completed, the process proceeds to A41 or A44 based on the determination result, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0065] If the paper determination process determines that the print job should be canceled, the print job is canceled in A44 in Figure 2. By being able to cancel the print job when a warning is issued, it is possible to reliably prevent printing on the printer that the user does not intend.

[0066] Note that if the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S103 is a user-defined size, the CPU 11 may determine YES in S105 regardless of the paper size. The paper sizes that can be set on the printer 2 may not include user-defined sizes. In that case, the user will set a size on the printer 2 that is close to the user-defined size, making it difficult to accurately determine whether the size matches. If the paper size in the print settings is a user-defined size, the CPU 11 determines that it is compatible and does not issue a warning, thereby avoiding user confusion.

[0067] On the other hand, if it is determined that a paper feed tray has not been specified (S104: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not there is a tray that matches the paper information in the print settings among the paper information of the printer 2 read out in S101 (S121). If the printer 2 has multiple paper feed trays and the automatic tray selection is selected in the print settings, the CPU 11 determines in S104 that a paper feed tray has not been specified.

[0068] When a print command including print settings in which an automatic tray is selected is received, the printer 2 automatically determines which paper tray to use from among the installed paper trays based on the paper size and other settings in the print settings. The auxiliary program 42 acquires paper information for each tray in the printer 2, and can compare all acquired paper information with the paper information in the print settings to determine whether the paper is appropriate. Note that when the printer 2 receives a print command in which an automatic tray is selected, if there is no tray set with paper that matches the paper information included in the print settings, it may determine this as an error and not execute printing.

[0069] If it is determined that there is no tray that matches the paper information (S121: NO), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a warning message (S122). S122 is an example of warning processing. The processing of displaying a warning message is an example of processing for issuing a warning.

[0070] 5, the CPU 11 displays a warning message 60 informing the user that there is no tray containing paper that matches the paper size selected in the print settings. The warning message 60 includes an OK button 61 for accepting an instruction to print after changing the settings of the printer 2, and a Cancel button 62 for accepting an instruction to cancel printing. The warning message 60 may also display information about the paper size set in the print settings.

[0071] Then, the CPU 11 determines whether or not an operation on the OK button 61 has been accepted (S123). If it is determined that an operation on the OK button 61 has not been accepted (S123: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not an operation on the cancel button 62 has been accepted (S124). If it is determined that an operation on the cancel button 62 has not been accepted (S124: NO), the CPU 11 waits until an operation on either the OK button 61 or the cancel button 62 is accepted.

[0072] If it is determined that a tray matching the size is available (S121: YES), or if it is determined that operation of the OK button 61 has been accepted (S123: YES), the CPU 11 determines to print (S109) and ends the paper determination process. On the other hand, if it is determined that operation of the cancel button 62 has been accepted (S124: YES), the CPU 11 determines to cancel (S110) and ends the paper determination process. After the paper determination process is completed, the process proceeds to A41 or A44 based on the judgment result, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0073] In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 acquires the paper information set for each tray as the capability information of the printer 2, so that an appropriate warning can be issued even when the automatic tray is set as a print setting. Also, by executing a paper determination process before generating print data and issuing a warning based on the results, it is possible to cancel the print job before the print data is generated, and to avoid wasting print data generation.

[0074] In addition, in S106 or S122, instead of displaying the warning messages 50 and 60 by itself, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the warning information to the OS 21 or the general-purpose printing program 41 and instruct the OS 21 or the general-purpose printing program 41 to issue a warning. In this case, the process of passing the warning information is an example of a process for issuing a warning. Note that the warning is not limited to the display of the warning message 50, 60, etc., but may be an audio warning, or a combination of a visual and an audio warning.

[0075] As described above in detail, according to the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, the PC 1 acquires information about the paper held by the printer 2 when displaying a settings screen that accepts information about detailed settings. Furthermore, when a print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program 41, the PC 1 compares the paper information acquired from the printer 2 with the paper information included in the print settings for the print instruction to determine whether the paper is appropriate. Furthermore, if the auxiliary program 42 determines that the paper is inappropriate, it issues a warning before sending the print data, so that the user can be expected to make an input to avoid printing the print data, and as a result, it is more likely that printing that the user does not intend can be avoided.

[0076] In addition, the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment obtains paper information from the printer 2 when displaying the detailed setting screen, which can be displayed before a print instruction is given, so that processing after receiving a print instruction can be expected to be completed more quickly than when paper information is obtained from the printer 2 when a print instruction is received.

[0077] 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.

[0078] Also, for example, the illustrated warning messages are merely examples and are not limiting. For example, buttons for accepting printing or cancellation may not be present. For example, if the auxiliary program 42 determines that printing is inappropriate, it may display a warning message and then cancel the printing. Alternatively, even if it determines that printing is inappropriate, if the auxiliary program 42 has a function that allows the printer 2 to cancel printing received, it may display a warning message and then send the print data to the printer 2. However, accepting a user's instruction via a warning message is more likely to reflect the user's intentions than simply canceling or sending the data.

[0079] Also, for example, the warning message may accept changes to print settings, and the warning message may not display paper information, and may also display information about the paper type.

[0080] In addition, although the paper information in this embodiment includes information on paper size and information on paper type, it may include only one of them. Furthermore, the paper information may include information other than information on paper size and information on paper type.

[0081] Also, for example, in this embodiment, whether or not to make a print command a target for judgment is determined based on the paper size and paper type in S102 of the paper judgment process, but this determination does not have to be made. In other words, all print commands may be made a target for judgment, regardless of the paper size and paper type.

[0082] Also, for example, in this embodiment, if the paper size does not match, it is determined to be inappropriate, but it may be determined to be appropriate if the difference in paper size is within a predetermined range, or it may be determined to be appropriate if the paper size of the printer 2 is larger than the paper size in the print settings. Also, the determination based on the paper type does not have to be made. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may determine that the paper size is appropriate if it is appropriate. Also, for example, in this embodiment, if the paper size in the print settings is a user-defined size, it is determined to be appropriate even if it does not match, but this is not limited to this.

[0083] Also, for example, in this embodiment, the paper type determination process is executed before the print data is generated, but it may be executed after the print data is generated. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may perform the paper type determination process after the print data is generated and before the print data is sent to the printer 2. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 may compare the size of the print data in addition to comparing the paper information of the printer 2 with the paper information in the print settings during the paper type determination process.

[0084] Furthermore, when the auxiliary program 42 acquires paper information from the printer 2 based on a previous print instruction or the like, the auxiliary program 42 may leave the acquired paper information stored in the memory 12. In other words, if paper information is already stored in the memory 12 when an instruction for detailed settings is received, that information may be used.

[0085] 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 process 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.

[0086] 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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]

[0089] 1 PC 2. Printer 11 CPU 13 User Interface 100 Printing Systems

Claims

1. A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device, the support program corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device, The computer, a print instruction output from an application program installed in the information processing device, in which, before a print instruction to cause the printer to print an image is issued to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in the operating system of the information processing device, an execution instruction regarding acceptance of print settings is issued from the general-purpose print program in response to the application program accepting an instruction operation for print settings; a setting screen display process for displaying a setting screen for receiving input operations for print settings using a user interface of the information processing device; a first acquisition process for acquiring first paper information, which is information about paper to be used for printing, in association with displaying the setting screen by the setting screen display process; Execute Furthermore, the computer a second acquisition process for acquiring second paper information, which is information about paper included in the print settings set on the setting screen; a determination process for determining whether the paper is appropriate by comparing the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process with the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process; a notification process for notifying the user that the paper is not suitable using the user interface when the paper is determined to be unsuitable in the determination process; Execute A support program characterized by:

2. 2. A support program according to claim 1, the first paper information and the second paper information include predetermined information, In the determination process, determining that the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is inappropriate when the predetermined information included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process does not match the predetermined information included in the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process; A support program characterized by:

3. A support program according to claim 1 or claim 2, The computer, When the notification process is executed, a decision as to whether or not to cancel the print job based on the print settings is accepted using the user interface, and when the decision to cancel is accepted, a cancellation process is executed to cancel the print job. A support program characterized by:

4. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The computer, When the notification process is executed, a change process is executed to accept a change to the print settings using the user interface. A support program characterized by:

5. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the first paper information and the second paper information include paper size information, In the determination process, determining whether the paper size is appropriate by comparing the paper size included in the first paper information with the paper size included in the second paper information; A support program characterized by:

6. 6. A support program according to claim 5, The paper sizes that can be set as the paper sizes included in the print settings include standard sizes that are predefined, and user-defined sizes that are defined by the user. If the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is the standard size, and if the paper size is determined to be inappropriate in the determination process, the computer is caused to execute the notification process. If the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is the user-defined size, the computer is not caused to execute the notification process. A support program characterized by:

7. 6. A support program according to claim 5, The paper sizes that can be set as the paper sizes included in the print settings include standard sizes that are predefined, and user-defined sizes that are defined by the user. If the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is the standard size, in the determination process, if the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process does not match the paper size included in the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process, it is determined to be inappropriate; If the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is the user-defined size, in the determination process, if the difference between the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process and the paper size included in the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process is outside a predetermined range, the paper size is determined to be inappropriate. A support program characterized by:

8. A support program according to any one of claims 5 to 7, The print settings include information about a paper feed tray, and the printer is capable of mounting multiple paper feed trays; The trays that can be set in the paper feed tray information include each tray installed in the printer and an automatic tray that is automatically determined by the printer based on the paper size included in the print settings, In the first acquisition process, the first paper information is acquired for each tray installed in the printer; If the paper feed tray included in the print settings is a tray attached to the printer, in the determination process, if the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process does not match the paper size included in the first paper information corresponding to the paper feed tray indicated in the paper feed tray information included in the print settings among the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process, the determination is made inappropriate, If the paper feed tray included in the print settings is the automatic tray, in the determination process, if the paper size included in the second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process does not match any of the paper sizes included in the first paper information corresponding to each paper feed tray acquired in the first acquisition process, it is determined to be inappropriate. A support program characterized by:

9. A support program according to any one of claims 5 to 8, The paper size included in the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process includes a predetermined size that indicates high value, If the paper size included in the first paper information is the predetermined size, when the paper size is determined to be inappropriate in the determination process, the computer is caused to execute the notification process; If the paper size included in the first paper information is not the predetermined size, the computer is not caused to execute the notification process. A support program characterized by:

10. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 9, the first paper information and the second paper information include information on paper type, In the determination process, determining whether the paper type is appropriate by comparing the paper type included in the first paper information with the paper type included in the second paper information; A support program characterized by:

11. 11. A support program according to claim 10, The paper type included in the first paper information acquired in the first acquisition process includes a predetermined type that indicates high value, If the paper type included in the first paper information is the predetermined type, and if the paper type is determined to be inappropriate in the determination process, the computer is caused to execute the notification process; If the paper type included in the first paper information is not the predetermined type, the computer is not caused to execute the notification process. A support program characterized by:

12. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 11, In the notification process, The second paper information acquired in the second acquisition process is notified using the user interface. A support program characterized by:

13. A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 12, In the first acquisition process, the first paper information stored in a memory of the information processing device is acquired. A support program characterized by:

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