Program, information processing device, and control method

Abstract

To solve a problem in which a further improvement in convenience is demanded for a function when causing a printing device to print image data.SOLUTION: A program causes a computer to execute an acquisition step of acquiring drawing data including image data and a margin area corresponding to an area where the image data is not printed, and information on print settings including information on a sheet on which the drawing data is printed. When settings are made for first control, in the print settings, which is to change the direction of the drawing data so that the drawing data is printed on the sheet in a direction in which the downstream side in a conveyance direction when the sheet is conveyed to a printing device that executes print processing of the drawing data corresponds to a lower side of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to an upper side of the drawing data, the program executes the first control. When the settings are not made for the first control in the print settings, the program does not execute the first control.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a program, an information processing apparatus, and a control method. [Background Art]

[0002] When causing a printing apparatus to print image data, a technique for changing the layout direction of image data to be printed on a print medium depending on print settings is known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technique for rotating the layout of image data to be printed by 180 degrees for printing. [Prior Art Documents] [Patent Documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2020-95535 [Summary of the Invention] [Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

[0004] However, there is a demand for further improvement of convenience with respect to functions when causing a printing apparatus to print image data. [Means for Solving the Problems]

[0005] A program according to the present invention for solving the above-described problems is Applications that work with the IPP class driver program The information processing device is instructed to perform an update process to update the printing function information by swapping the length of the margin area on the upstream side in the paper transport direction with the length of the margin area on the downstream side in the paper transport direction, as described in the printing function information stored in the information processing device. characterized by application program. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present disclosure, further improvement of convenience can be achieved when causing a printing apparatus to print image data. [Brief Description of the Drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] It is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a system. [Figure 2] This diagram shows the configuration of each software component in the information processing device and the printing device. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart illustrating the editing process for print function information (PDC). [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of a PDC after editing. [Figure 5] This diagram shows the starting position and drawing area for a standard size 4 envelope. [Figure 6] This is a flowchart illustrating the processing of an extended application. [Figure 7] This is a flowchart illustrating the display process of the print settings screen. [Figure 8] This is an example of a print settings screen. [Figure 9] This is a flowchart illustrating the printing process. [Figure 10] This is an example of a guide screen. [Figure 11] This is an example of a printed output. [Figure 12] This is an example of a print settings screen. [Figure 13] This is a flowchart illustrating the editing process for PDC. [Figure 14] This is a flowchart illustrating the printing process. [Figure 15] This is an example of a printed output. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention also includes modifications and improvements made to the embodiments described below, without departing from the spirit of the invention, based on the ordinary knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0009] (First Embodiment) An information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus included in the printing system of the present embodiment will be described. A host computer 101 is an example of an information processing apparatus, and includes an input interface 110, a CPU 111, a ROM 112, a RAM 113, an external storage device 114, an output interface 115, and an input / output interface 116. Further, input devices such as a keyboard 118 and a pointing device 117 are connected to the input interface 110, and a display device such as a display unit 119 is connected to the output interface 115. NETIF 120 is a network interface that performs control for transferring data to and from an external device via a network.

[0010] An initialization program is stored in the ROM 112. An application program group, an operating system (OS), print data generation software, and various other data are stored in the external storage device 114. An extended application 204, which will be described later, is also stored in the ROM 112. The RAM 113 is used as a work memory or the like when executing various programs stored in the external storage device 114, and enables various programs to operate in the host computer 101.

[0011] Note that in the present embodiment, the CPU 111 executes processing in accordance with the procedure of a program stored in the ROM 112, thereby executing the functions described later and the processing according to the flowcharts described later in the host computer 101.

[0012] The printing apparatus 102 is connected to the host computer 101 via the input / output interface 116. Although the host computer 101 and the printing apparatus 102 are configured separately herein, they may be configured as a single information processing apparatus.

[0013] Although the present embodiment exemplifies a host computer 101 as the information processing apparatus 101, the information processing apparatus 101 is not limited thereto. For example, various devices such as mobile terminals, personal computers, tablet terminals, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, and the like can be applied as the information processing apparatus. Also, although the present embodiment exemplifies a printer as the printing apparatus 102, the present invention can be applied to, for example, inkjet printers, full-color laser beam printers, monochrome printers, and the like.

[0014] By the way, there is known a configuration in which a printer driver installed in a host computer 101 as control software for a printing apparatus 102 is used to issue a print instruction to the printing apparatus 102 connected to the host computer 101. An operating system (OS), which is basic software, is installed in the host computer 101, and the printer driver is configured in accordance with specifications defined by the OS, and is called by the OS to operate. A vendor that provides the printing apparatus 102 can provide a means for instructing the printing apparatus 102 to perform printing using the OS by providing a printer driver conforming to the specifications of the OS. In recent years, for Windows (registered trademark), a standard class driver (hereinafter also referred to as a "standard driver") that can be commonly used for printing apparatuses provided by a plurality of vendors has been provided. Such a standard driver is included in an OS package, and can be easily used by connecting an arbitrary printing apparatus to the host computer 101. Therefore, there is no need to separately install a model-specific printer driver suitable for the printing apparatus 102, which is highly convenient. Further, the standard driver is configured such that a printing function can be designated in accordance with PrintCapabilities generated based on information acquired from the connected printing apparatus 102. Accordingly, even though a user uses one standard driver, the user can designate a printing function corresponding to the capability of the connected printing apparatus 102. In the present embodiment, the standard driver will be described as print data generation software 202.

[0015] The extension application 204 is described here. A standard driver can be associated with an application for extending functionality (extension application 204). The extension application 204 can be provided by the vendor providing the printing device 102. By providing this extension application 204, the vendor can provide functions (extensions) that cannot be achieved with the standard driver alone.

[0016] The extension application 204 is software that extends the functionality of the print data generation software 202, and is not pre-installed (not bundled) with the OS. Therefore, the user needs to operate the host computer 101 to download and install the extension application 204 from a server via the internet. Alternatively, it may be automatically installed based on the connection of the printer 102 to the host computer 101. Specifically, when the printer 102 is connected to the host computer 101, the OS obtains device identification information from the printer 102. The OS may download and install the extension application 204 corresponding to the obtained device identification information from a server via the internet. In other words, the print data generation software 202 and the extension application 204 are stored as separate files on the host computer 101. Note that the print data generation software 202 and the extension application 204 may be updated and upgraded, but this update process is also performed at different times. In other words, the timing at which the host computer 101 obtains the print data generation software 202 and the timing at which the extension application 204 is obtained are different. Furthermore, the triggers for acquiring the print data generation software 202 by the host computer 101 and the triggers for acquiring the extended application 204 are different. When the extended application 204 is installed, the OS associates the extended application 204 with the print data generation software 202 and the printing device 102.

[0017] The extended application 204 described in this embodiment includes a print settings screen extension unit 205, a skip control unit 206, a print function extension unit 207, a print data editing unit 208, and a notification unit 209. The extended application 204 also includes shared information 210 that can be accessed from all units. The shared information 210 is actually a file stored in the external storage device 114 or information stored on the RAM 113. The extended application 204 writes to and reads information from the shared information 210 by using the API (Application Program Interface) provided by the OS.

[0018] Figure 2 schematically shows the configuration of a printing system consisting of the host computer 101 software and the printing device 102. Here, the explanation assumes a printing system using a host computer 101 equipped with Microsoft's Windows® 11 as the operating system. Figure 2(a) shows a typical configuration when the extended application 204 is not associated with the print data generation software 202 and the printing device 102.

[0019] The drawing application 201 is software that creates drawing data (image data) to be printed. For example, word processing applications and spreadsheet applications are examples of drawing applications 201. When the drawing application 201 receives a print request from the user, it issues a print command to the OS. The print command includes print setting information to instruct the operation of the print data generation software 202 and the printing device 102. The print setting information is also called a PrintTicket (hereinafter referred to as "PT").

[0020] The drawing application 201 can display a print settings screen provided by either the print data generation software 202, the OS, or the drawing application 201 itself, in order to output print setting information. The print settings screen displays setting items indicating configurable printing functions and control items indicating the setting values ​​of the setting items, according to capability information (information on the capabilities of the printing device 102) obtained from the print data generation software 202. Capability information is also called PrintCapabilities (hereinafter, "PC"). The print data generation software 202 determines the PC based on the print function information 203. The print function information 203 is data indicating the printing function that describes all configurable printing functions and their setting values, as well as the mutual exclusion relationships between the setting values. The print function information 203 is also called PDC (Print Device Capabilities). The print function information 203 is included in the configuration file of the print data generation software 202 and is placed on the external storage device 114 as an immutable file. Alternatively, the print function information 203 can be dynamically generated by the print data generation software 202. Specifically, the print data generation software 202 or the OS can be configured to acquire attribute data of the printing device 102 from the printing device 102 and generate print function information 203 according to the attribute information in the acquired attribute data. If the print function information 203 is generated dynamically, the generated print function information 203 is editable. The attribute data of the printing device 102 acquired from the printing device 102 is a response obtained by issuing the IPP (Internet Print Protocol) Get-Printer-Attributes operation to the printing device 102. The response includes attribute information indicating the functions that the printing device 102 can operate (the capabilities of the printing device 102) and setting values ​​related to that attribute information. This response is stored in RAM 113.

[0021] With the above configuration, the print data generation software 202 can be configured to allow the user to specify the printing functions available on each printing device 102, depending on the connected printing device. In other words, even when printing devices with different functions or printing devices developed by different vendors are connected, the print data generation software 202 can be configured to allow the user to specify the printing functions available on each connected printing device. Here, we will describe a configuration using the IPP Class Driver included in Windows® 11 as the print data generation software 202. The IPP Class Driver is a printer driver that performs printing processing according to the specifications of a standard printing protocol called IPP (Internet Print Protocol), and is included in the OS package. The IPP Class Driver is not a specific printer driver for each model of printing device 102, but a standard class driver that can be used in common with multiple printing devices. Furthermore, the IPP Class Driver acquires capability information of the connected printing device 102 and generates print function information 203 based on that information, so that the user can specify the printing functions supported by the connected printing device.

[0022] Here, we will explain the process by which print data is sent to the printing device 102 and printed, as shown in Figure 2(a). The OS generates intermediate data (also called input data) based on the print instruction output from the drawing application 201 and passes it to the print data generation software 202. The drawing data output by the drawing application 201 is either Graphic Device Interface format data (GDI format data) or XML Paper Specification format data (XPS format data). When using the IPP Class Driver as the print data generation software 202, if the data output by the drawing application 201 is in GDI format, the OS converts the GDI format data output from the drawing application 201 to XPS format data. Then, the converted XPS format data is passed to the print data generation software 202 as intermediate data. If the data output by the drawing application 201 is in XPS format, the OS passes the XPS format data to the print data generation software 202 as intermediate data. The intermediate data includes drawing data, which is information about the image to be formed on the paper, and print setting information set by the user.

[0023] The print data generation software 202 converts the acquired intermediate data into print data that can be interpreted by the printing device 102 and transmits it to the printing device 102. The print data includes drawing data, which is information about the image formed on the paper, and print setting attribute information (attribute information that specifies the print settings) generated based on the print setting information set by the user. The print setting attribute information includes attribute information that indicates the functions that the printing device 102 can operate (capabilities of the printing device) and setting values ​​related to that attribute information.

[0024] The printing device 102 prints (prints) on the paper based on the print data sent from the print data generation software 202. At this time, the printing device 102 forms the drawing data contained in the print data on the paper in accordance with the print setting attribute information contained in the print data. The print setting attribute information includes information such as the type and size of the paper, the print quality (image quality priority, speed priority, etc.), the size of the drawing data, and the drawing position (paper margin area).

[0025] Figure 2(b) shows the configuration when the extended application 204 is associated with the print data generation software 202 and the printing device 102. Unless otherwise specified below, the configuration and processes are equivalent to those in Figure 2(a).

[0026] When the drawing application 201 receives a print request from the user, it issues a print command to the OS. In this configuration, as in the configuration shown in Figure 2(a), the drawing application 201 can display the print settings screen. In this configuration, the print settings screen provided by the extension application 204 is displayed. Specifically, the print settings screen provided by the print settings screen extension unit 205 of the extension application 204 is displayed. Whether or not the print settings screen provided by the print settings screen extension unit 205 is displayed depends on the user's operation.

[0027] Furthermore, when the drawing application 201 receives a print request from the user and a print command is issued to the OS, the OS activates the skip control unit 206. The skip control unit 206 controls whether or not to skip the processing of the print data generation software 202. After the skip control processing by the skip control unit 206, the OS generates intermediate data based on the print command output from the drawing application 201, and the intermediate data is passed to the print data generation software 202. If the skip control unit 206 does not perform skip control, the intermediate data is processed by the print data generation software 202 into print data that the printing device 102 can interpret, and then passed to the print data editing unit 208. On the other hand, if the print data generation software 202 performs a skip, the intermediate data is not processed by the print data generation software 202 and is passed to the print data editing unit 208. This makes it possible for the print data editing unit 208 to process the intermediate data.

[0028] The print data editing unit 208 edits intermediate data received from the print data generation software 202 or print data processed by the print data generation software 202. For example, in the case of layout printing, the print data editing unit 208 modifies the layout of the intermediate data or print data based on the layout printing settings information received from the OS. The print data editing unit 208 can also display a UI screen on the display unit 119, allowing the layout result of the intermediate data or print data to be displayed as a preview screen. Note that while the print data editing unit 208 screen is open, print data is not sent to the printing device 102; the print data transmission process is initiated when the screen is closed.

[0029] After the print data editing unit 208 edits the print data, the print data is sent to the printing device 102. The printing device 102 prints on the paper based on the received print data.

[0030] If the skip control unit 206 skips the print data generation software 202, the print data editing unit 208 may convert the received intermediate data into print data that the printing device 102 can interpret. Alternatively, the OS may be used to convert the intermediate data into print data.

[0031] The extended application 204 has a print function extension unit 207. The print function extension unit 207 can edit the print function information 203 (PDC) generated by the print data generation software 202 or the OS. This allows the print function extension unit 207 to add functions provided by the extended application 204, add functions supported by the printing device 102 but not by the print data generation software 202, add mutual exclusion relationships between print function settings, etc. The OS starts the print function extension unit 207 when the extended application 204 is first associated with the printing device 102 and the print data generation software 202. Furthermore, the OS may start the print function extension unit 207 at other times, such as when the OS starts up. In this way, in cases where optional devices (e.g., finishers) are later added to the printing device 102 and the functions related to printing are extended, the print function extension unit 207 can detect the extended functions and add them to the print function information 203.

[0032] Furthermore, the extended application 204 has a notification unit 209. The notification unit 209 can display a notification to the user in response to an error occurring in the printer 102. For example, if a no-paper error occurs in the printer 102, the print data generation software 202 detects it, and the OS uses a notification function called a toast notification, which is a function of the OS, to display a message on the display unit 119. When the user presses this toast notification, the notification unit 209 of the extended application 204 is called by the OS, and the UI screen of the notification unit 209 is displayed. The UI screen of the notification unit 209 can display, for example, a detailed message about the no-paper error or instructions on how to load paper.

[0033] The configuration of the extended application 204 for realizing this embodiment is not limited to having all of the functions (units) described above, but may have only some of the functions or other functions. Also, the extended application 204 is sometimes simply called the printing software. As described above, the extended application 204 includes at least one of the following: a function to display a settings screen (print settings screen extension unit 205), a function to control whether or not to skip the processing of the print data generation software 202 (skip control unit 206), a function to edit the print data input to the printing device (print data editing unit 208), a function to extend the functions that can be specified in the print data generation software (print function extension unit 207), and a function to display a screen in response to an error occurring in the printing device 102 (notification unit 209).

[0034] Alternatively, the extended application 204 may terminate its operation after each unit has finished processing. In that case, the OS would start the extended application 204 each time a request to use each unit is received. Another configuration is also possible. For example, the OS terminates the operation of the extended application 204 after the processing of the print settings screen extended unit 205 is completed, but the OS may keep the extended application 204 running even after the processing of the skip control unit 206 is completed.

[0035] Furthermore, the extended application 204 may cancel processing within each unit. If canceled, the OS will delete the job in progress on the print queue.

[0036] Here, the image data generated on the drawing application 201 is assumed to have top, bottom, left, and right edges. The drawing data includes the image data and the margin area described later. When the user creates image data on the drawing application 201 and displays it on the drawing application 201, the edge of the image data located on the upper side of the paper area on which the image data will be printed is defined as the top edge of the image data. Similarly, the edge of the image data located on the lower side of the paper on which the image data will be printed is defined as the bottom edge of the image data, the edge of the image data located on the right side of the paper on which the image data will be printed is defined as the right edge of the image data, and the edge of the image data located on the left side of the paper on which the image data will be printed is defined as the left edge of the image data. In normal printing, the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the top edge of the image data, and the upstream side corresponds to the bottom edge of the image data. In other words, printing of the image data is performed from the top edge side.

[0037] Incidentally, depending on the print settings specified by the user via the print settings screen, the drawing data may be printed in an orientation that is rotated (inverted) by 180 degrees compared to the correct orientation for the specified paper. For example, when printing drawing data on a long envelope, the user may feed the long envelope so that the flap of the long envelope is on the upstream side in the transport direction when the long envelope is transported inside the long envelope printer 102, in order to prevent paper jams. However, the drawing application 201 creates the drawing data in an orientation (layout) that assumes the long envelope is fed into the printer 102 so that the flap of the long envelope is on the downstream side in the transport direction when the long envelope is transported inside the long envelope printer 102. Therefore, if the user feeds the long envelope so that the flap of the long envelope is on the upstream side in the transport direction when the long envelope is transported inside the long envelope printer 102, the orientation of the drawing data printed on the long envelope may be rotated by 180 degrees compared to the orientation when it is printed in the correct orientation. In other words, printing in the correct orientation for a long envelope means printing with the top edge of the drawing data corresponding to the flap side of the long envelope. Therefore, the problem is that when printing is done with the top edge of the drawing data corresponding to the downstream side in the transport direction of the long envelope and the bottom edge corresponding to the upstream side, the drawing data ends up being printed with the bottom edge of the drawing data corresponding to the flap side of the long envelope.

[0038] Furthermore, when printing drawing data onto a long envelope, it is preferable that the margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data is small, and the margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data is large. The margin area is an area included in the drawing data, and corresponds to the margin area on the paper that is arranged around the image data and where the image data is not printed. The margin area is provided on the top, bottom, left, and right sides around the image data within the drawing data, and has a length. In other words, when printing drawing data onto a long envelope, it is preferable that the length of the margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data is short, and the length of the margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data is long. However, depending on the printing device, the downstream side in the paper output direction may correspond to the larger margin area of ​​the paper, and the upstream side in the paper output direction may correspond to the smaller margin area of ​​the paper, and the image data may be printed in the drawing area, which is an area other than the margin area. In this case, on application 201, the margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data may be displayed as large, and the margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data may be displayed as small. Therefore, because users generate image data with a large margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data and a small margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data, there is a possibility that the printed result of the drawing data on a long envelope will have a large margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data and a small margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data.

[0039] Furthermore, if drawing data is created in a way that the image data is rotated 180 degrees by drawing application 201 or the extended application 204 (described later) so that it is oriented correctly for printing on paper, the image data may be printed on the long envelope in the correct orientation. However, the display of the drawing data on application 201 and the printed result may differ, and the user may not be able to easily recognize the printed result. Moreover, manually creating drawing data in drawing application 201 to be oriented correctly for printing on paper is time-consuming for the user.

[0040] Furthermore, if the drawing data is rotated 180 degrees by the extended application 204 described later, creating drawing data that is oriented correctly for printing on paper, the image data printed on the long envelope may be oriented correctly. However, there is a risk that the image data may be misaligned from the printing area of ​​the printer, resulting in incomplete printing.

[0041] In this embodiment, the extended application 204 determines whether it is necessary to rotate the drawing data by 180 degrees based on the paper size registered (generated) in the PDC or the print settings specified by the user. In other words, the extended application 204 determines whether it is subject to control to change the orientation of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data when printed. If it is determined that it is necessary to rotate the drawing data by 180 degrees, the extended application 204 performs control to swap the lengths of the upper and lower margin areas of the paper (image data), and swap the lengths of the left and right margin areas. As a result, the drawing application 201 can display drawing data with a small margin area corresponding to the top edge of the image data and a large margin area corresponding to the bottom edge of the image data, allowing the user to easily recognize the print result. Furthermore, if it is determined that it is necessary to rotate the drawing data by 180 degrees, the extended application 204 rotates the drawing data by 180 degrees. In other words, the system controls the orientation of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data, and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data when printed. This reduces the possibility of the drawing data being printed rotated 180 degrees compared to the orientation when printed in the correct orientation relative to the paper, depending on the print settings specified by the user. It also reduces the possibility of the drawing data being cut off or misaligned when printed. Furthermore, by automatically creating drawing data rotated 180 degrees compared to the orientation when printed in the correct orientation, the user's effort is reduced.

[0042] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the editing process of the PDC by the printing function extension unit 207. The flowchart in Figure 3 begins when the OS starts the printing function extension unit 207, for example, when the extension application 204 is first associated with the print data generation software 202. Hereafter, the printing function extension unit 207 may be described as the main entity for each process, but in reality, the corresponding functions are realized by the CPU 111 executing the corresponding program.

[0043] In S301, the print function expansion unit 207 identifies a desired paper size from all paper sizes in the PDC.

[0044] In S302, the printing function extension unit 207 determines whether the specified paper size is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. In other words, it determines whether the paper size is set to be subject to control that changes the printing direction of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data. For example, if the specified paper size is a long envelope, the printing function extension unit 207 determines that it is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees, and if the specified paper size is a paper size other than a long envelope, such as A4 size, it determines that it is not a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. If the answer in S302 is YES, the printing function extension unit 207 proceeds to S303, and if the answer in S302 is NO, it proceeds to S304. In other words, if it is determined that the specified paper size is not one that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees, the control to swap the lengths of the upper and lower margins of the specified paper size, and to register a new drawing area based on the swapped lengths of the left and right margins as the drawing area for the specified paper size in the PDC is not executed.

[0045] In S303, the print function expansion unit 207 registers a value obtained by rotating the margin value of the paper size identified in S301 by 180 degrees as the new margin value for the identified paper size in the PDC. In other words, it swaps the lengths of the upper and lower margin areas of the identified paper size, and swaps the lengths of the left and right margin areas, and registers a drawing area based on this value as the new drawing area value for the identified paper size in the PDC.

[0046] In S304, the print function expansion unit 207 determines whether it has identified all paper sizes in the PDC. If the result in S304 is YES, the print function expansion unit 207 terminates the processing of this flowchart; if the result in S304 is NO, it returns to S301.

[0047] Here, an example of a PDC is explained using Figure 4. PDC401 contains information about the features supported by the printer 102 and information about the settings (Options) for certain features. For example, information 402 indicates that the printer 102 supports ISOA4 and JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4) as PageMediaSize (paper size). The user can specify the paper size supported by the printer 102 as a print setting on the host computer 101. Furthermore, the drawing start position and drawing area for each paper size are indicated by PortraitImageableSize, and from left to right, the values ​​indicate the horizontal drawing start position, vertical drawing start position, horizontal drawing size, and vertical drawing size, all relative to the top left corner of the paper. Specifically, in the drawing area information 403 for JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4), as shown in Figure 5(a), it indicates that drawing can be done in a drawing area of ​​108800 (1 / 1000 mm) horizontally and 222000 (1 / 1000 mm) vertically, starting from the top left corner of a long envelope No. 4 with a paper size of 120000 (1 / 1000 mm) horizontally and 235000 (1 / 1000 mm) vertically, with a horizontal drawing start position of 5600 (1 / 1000 mm) and a vertical drawing start position of 8000 (1 / 1000 mm). Therefore, the upper margin is 8000 (1 / 1000 mm), the lower margin is 5000 (1 / 1000 mm), and the left and right margins are 5600 (1 / 1000 mm) each. Information 404 is added as a paper size with the margins of JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4) rotated by 180 degrees (JapanChou4Envelope_CN (long envelope No. 4 with the top / bottom and left / right margin values ​​swapped)). The added paper size drawing area information 405 is a drawing area based on values ​​obtained by swapping the lengths of the top and bottom margin areas and the lengths of the left and right margin areas in the drawing area information 403 of the paper size defined by the OS.Specifically, as shown in Figure 5(b), using a standard No. 4 envelope with dimensions of 120,000 (1 / 1000 mm) horizontally and 235,000 (1 / 1000 mm) vertically, drawing can be done from the top left corner of the envelope, with the horizontal drawing start position at 5600 (1 / 1000 mm) and the vertical drawing start position at 5000 (1 / 1000 mm), to a drawing area of ​​108,800 (1 / 1000 mm) horizontally and 222,000 (1 / 1000 mm) vertically. Therefore, the top margin is 5000 (1 / 1000 mm), the bottom margin is 8000 (1 / 1000 mm), and the left and right margins are 5600 (1 / 1000 mm) each. In this embodiment, since the left and right margins remain unchanged, the horizontal drawing start position is the same value as the margin of the paper size value defined by the OS without rotating it 180 degrees (5600 (1 / 1000 mm)). However, the vertical drawing start position is 5000 (1 / 1000 mm), which corresponds to the upper margin in Figure 5(b) and the lower margin in Figure 5(a). In this embodiment, an example of adding and registering margin information rotated 180 degrees to the PDC is shown, but the drawing area information of the paper size defined by the OS may be overwritten with the drawing area information of the information added as the paper size obtained by rotating the margin of the paper size defined by the OS 180 degrees. Also, if it is not possible to add a paper size of the same size due to OS constraints, it may be registered as a paper size shifted by the smallest unit, 1 / 1000 mm.

[0048] The user can set the paper size of the paper fed into the printer 102 by opening the print settings screen of the extended application 204 on the drawing application 201. Specifically, the drawing application 201 uses the OS API to instruct the display of the print settings screen of the extended application 204, and the OS calls the print settings screen extension unit 205 of the extended application 204, which then displays the print settings screen.

[0049] Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating the processes performed by the extended application 204. The flowchart in Figure 6 begins when the user performs an operation to display the print settings screen. This operation to display the print settings screen is, for example, an operation in the drawing application 201 screen where information related to the print settings screen opened by the extended application 204 is clicked. Hereafter, the extended application 204 may be described as the main entity of each process, but in reality, the corresponding functions are realized by the CPU 111 executing the corresponding program.

[0050] In S601, the extended application 204 displays the print settings screen 801 shown in Figure 8, which will be described later. Specifically, this will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 7, which will be described later.

[0051] In S602, the extended application 204 accepts user input on the print settings screen 801. Specifically, it accepts settings for various items such as paper type and paper size on the print settings screen 801 displayed in S601.

[0052] In S603, the extended application 204 executes a print operation when it receives intermediate data from the OS, and then terminates the process in this flowchart. This will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 9, which will be described later.

[0053] Figure 7, corresponding to S601 in Figure 6, is a flowchart illustrating the process of displaying the print settings screen by the print settings screen extension unit 205 in this printing system. The flowchart in Figure 7 starts based on the user performing an operation to display the print settings screen. Hereafter, the print settings screen extension unit 205 may be described as the main entity of each process, but in reality, the corresponding function is realized by the CPU 111 executing the corresponding program.

[0054] In S701, the print settings screen extension unit 205 receives PrintCapabilities (PC), which is capability information generated by the OS based on the PDC information, from the OS. Here, we show an example where PC information generated based on PDC information, with the paper size of a No. 4 long envelope with the top / bottom and left / right margin values ​​swapped as shown in Figure 4, is transmitted.

[0055] In the S702, the print settings screen extension unit 205 identifies an arbitrary paper size from the paper size information on the PC generated by the OS. The information of the identified paper size also includes information 402 and information 404 in Figure 4.

[0056] In S703, the print settings screen extension unit 205 determines whether the paper size is a predetermined size and whether it corresponds to the newly added information in the PDC. Here, a predetermined paper size is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be printed on any paper size to be rotated by 180 degrees, such as a long envelope. Among the PDC information in Figure 4, information 402 is JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4) which was originally defined by the OS. Therefore, since it is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees and the margins to be rotated by 180 degrees, it is determined that it is not a paper size that corresponds to the newly added information in the PDC (YES in S703). Also, among the PDC information in Figure 4, information 404 is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees, but it is JapanChou4Envelope_CN (long envelope No. 4 with swapped top and bottom and left and right margin values) which was newly added to the PDC as a paper size with the top and bottom and left and right margin values ​​swapped. Therefore, it is determined that the paper size corresponds to the newly added information in the PDC (NO in S703). Note that if the paper size does not require 180-degree rotation of the drawing data to be printed on any paper size (for example, A4 size), it is determined to be NO in S703. If the print settings screen extension unit 205 determines YES in S703, it proceeds to S705, and if it determines NO in S703, it proceeds to S704.

[0057] In S704, the print settings screen extension unit 205 registers the paper size specified in S702 in the options for paper size setting 802, as shown in Figure 8 later. If NO is determined in S703, the paper size specified in S702 will not be registered in the options for paper size setting 802.

[0058] In step S705, the print settings screen extension unit 205 determines whether all paper sizes on the PC have been identified in step S702. If the result in S705 is YES, the print settings screen extension unit 205 displays the print settings screen 801 in step S706 and terminates the processing of this flowchart. If the result in S705 is NO, the print settings screen extension unit 205 returns to step S702.

[0059] Next, the print settings screen 801 displayed on the display unit 119 by the print settings screen extension unit 205 will be explained using Figure 8.

[0060] The paper size setting 802 is a setting item for paper size, and it displays the paper size options that can be set based on the PC obtained from the OS in the flowchart in Figure 7. The paper size setting 802 is a combo box, and when the user clicks it with the pointing device 117, a list of configurable paper size options 803 is displayed as shown in Figure 8(b), and the user can select any paper size from the displayed options. Here, the list of options 803 displays the paper sizes registered in S704 in Figure 7. Therefore, JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4) which was originally defined by the OS in the PDC, is not displayed, and the option for JapanChou4Envelope_CN (long envelope No. 4 with swapped top and bottom and left and right margin values), which was newly added to the PDC as a paper size with the top and bottom and left and right margin values ​​swapped, is displayed as "long envelope No. 4". At this time, the names displayed in the paper size setting 802 and the paper size option list 803 may be the names generated by the OS when the PDC was created, or the names defined by the extended application 204.

[0061] Furthermore, the drawing application 201 also provides (displays) a print settings screen. The print settings screen of the drawing application 201 may display two options for paper size: JapanChou4Envelope (long envelope No. 4) which was originally defined by the OS in the PDC, and JapanChou4Envelope_CN (long envelope No. 4 with swapped top / bottom and left / right margin values), which was newly added to the PDC as a paper size with swapped top / bottom and left / right margin values. Alternatively, only one of the two paper sizes may be displayed. When an operation is performed to display the paper size settings provided by the drawing application 201, for example, the drawing application 201 requests the OS to obtain information about the paper size. The OS then obtains the paper size information from the PDC and shares it with the drawing application 201, so that the paper size settings provided by the drawing application 201 are displayed. The print settings screen displayed by the drawing application 201 may be the same as the screen shown in 801 of Figure 8, or it may be different.

[0062] When a user opens the print settings screen 801 of the extension application 204 from the drawing application 201, and sets an arbitrary paper size on the displayed print settings screen 801, the drawing application 201 can obtain margin information and drawable area for the set paper size using the OS API. Subsequently, when a print command is issued from the drawing application 201 to the print queue associated with the extension application 204, the drawing application 201 generates drawing data using the obtained margin information and drawable size.

[0063] Figure 9, corresponding to S603 in Figure 6, is a flowchart showing the printing process of the print data editing unit 208 after intermediate data, including drawing data and print settings, has been sent to the print data editing unit 208 by the OS. The process in this flowchart starts when intermediate data, including drawing data and print settings, is sent to the print data editing unit 208 by the OS. Hereafter, the extended application 204 and each unit may be described as the main entities of each process, but in reality, the corresponding functions are realized by the CPU 111 executing the corresponding programs.

[0064] In S901, the print data editing unit 208 acquires intermediate data, including drawing data and print setting information, from the print data generation software 202. The print setting information includes the settings configured by the user on the print setting screen shown in Figure 8.

[0065] In S902, the print data editing unit 208 determines, based on the print setting information acquired in S901, whether the paper size set on the print setting screen 801 is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees. In other words, it determines whether the paper size set is one that is subject to control to change the orientation of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data when printed. For example, if a long envelope is set, it is determined that it is a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees. If the print data editing unit 208 determines YES in S902, it proceeds to S903, and if the print data editing unit 208 determines NO in S902, it proceeds to S905. In other words, if a paper size other than a long envelope, such as A4 size, is set, it is determined that it is a paper size that does not require the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees, and therefore the control to change the orientation of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data when printed is not executed.

[0066] In S903, the print data editing unit 208 rotates the drawing data within the intermediate data by 180 degrees. In other words, the print data editing unit 208 controls the orientation of the drawing data so that the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data when printing. For example, if a paper size is set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees, such as a long envelope, the print data editing unit 208 rotates the drawing data within the intermediate data by 180 degrees.

[0067] In S904, the print data editing unit 208 displays a guide screen showing the paper setting procedure for the printer 102. Figure 10 shows an example of a print guide for a long envelope, where a No. 4 long envelope is set as the paper size in the print settings screen 801 and a print command is issued. The guide screen 1000 consists of a paper setting procedure 1001 and a print start button 1002. The paper setting procedure 1001 is a guide on how to set the paper into the paper feed slot, and can display the paper feed slot that matches the one set in the print settings. The print start button 1002 is a button that the user presses to start printing. When the button is pressed, a print command is sent to the printer 102, and the print data editing unit 208 closes the guide screen 1200.

[0068] In S905, the print data editing unit 208 converts the intermediate data into print data that the printing device 102 can interpret.

[0069] In S906, the print data editing unit 208 sends the print data to the printing device 102, ending the processing in this flowchart. Printing is then performed by the printing device 102.

[0070] Figure 11 shows the paper size to be printed and the actual print result, with the dashed lines in the figure indicating the drawable area on the paper. Figure 11(a) shows the print result when a paper size is set that does not require the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees. In this case, the drawing start position of the paper size originally written in the PDC is transmitted to the drawing application 201, and the drawing application 201 generates drawing data based on the drawing start position. Then, when a print command is issued, the drawing data placed in the drawing area of ​​the paper size originally written in the PDC is transmitted to the extension application 204, and the drawing data is not rotated 180 degrees by the extension application 204. Therefore, the paper margins and the drawing data are not rotated 180 degrees, and as a result of printing, the top edge of the print data is laid out in the direction of paper output.

[0071] Figure 11(b) shows the print result when a paper size is set that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees. In this case, the drawing start position is not the starting position of the paper size originally written in the PDC, but a starting position based on a value obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​and the left and right margin values ​​of the paper size written in the PDC is transmitted to the drawing application 201, and the drawing application 201 generates drawing data based on the starting position. When a print command is issued, the drawing data placed in the drawing area based on the value obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​and the left and right margin values ​​of the paper size is transmitted as intermediate data to the extension application 204, and the drawing data is rotated 180 degrees by the extension application 204. As a result of printing, the downstream side in the paper transport direction corresponds to the bottom edge of the drawing data, and the upstream side corresponds to the top edge of the drawing data.

[0072] As described above, the extended application 204 provides the drawing application with a starting position for drawing based on the swapped values ​​of the top and bottom margins and left and right margins of the paper size that requires a 180-degree rotation of the drawing data. This allows the drawing application to generate drawing data based on the correct orientation margins. Furthermore, by rotating the drawing data generated by the drawing application by 180 degrees, the extended application 204 enables printing of the drawing data in the correct orientation for paper sizes that require a 180-degree rotation, such as long envelopes. This reduces the possibility of the drawing data being cut off or misaligned during printing. In addition, by automatically creating drawing data that is 180 degrees rotated compared to the orientation when printed in the correct orientation, the user's effort is reduced.

[0073] In the embodiment described above, the process of adding a paper size to the PDC based on values ​​obtained by swapping the top and bottom margins and left and right margins of a paper size that requires 180-degree rotation of the drawing data was shown. However, the margins of a paper size that requires 180-degree rotation of the drawing data may not be rotated by 180 degrees. For example, even if the paper size requires 180-degree rotation of the drawing data, if the top and bottom margin values ​​and left and right margin values ​​are the same, it is not necessary to swap the top and bottom margin values ​​and left and right margin values ​​of the paper size. Furthermore, for example, if the paper size requires 180-degree rotation of the drawing data and either the top and bottom margins or the left and right margin values ​​are the same, it is not necessary to swap the top and bottom margin values ​​and left and right margin values ​​that have different values. Alternatively, the top and bottom margin values ​​and left and right margin values ​​may always be swapped regardless of whether the values ​​are the same or not.

[0074] In the embodiments described above, a long envelope was given as an example of a paper size that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention may be applied to any paper size other than a long envelope that requires the drawing data to be rotated 180 degrees.

[0075] Furthermore, the guide screen showing the paper loading procedure in Figure 10 in the above-described embodiment does not need to be displayed. Therefore, the process S904 in the flowchart of Figure 9 may be omitted.

[0076] (Second embodiment) This embodiment describes the processing of the extended application 204 when the printing device 102 is equipped with a stapling function and the user has set the position of the paper on which the stapling process of the printing device 102 is performed. Generally, stapling is performed on the rear end of the paper after it has been ejected. When stapling is set by the user in the print settings screen and the position of the paper on which the stapling process is performed is set, depending on the position of the paper on which the stapling process is performed, it may be necessary to rotate the drawing data by 180 degrees compared to the correct orientation before printing. For example, if the top edge of the drawing data corresponds to the short side of the paper, and stapling is set to be performed on the upper left of the paper, the layout must be such that the top edge of the drawing data is on the upstream side in the paper ejection direction. Therefore, the extended application 204 adds a paper size to the PDC based on a value obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​and the left and right margin values ​​of the paper set in the print settings screen, and then rotates the drawing data by 180 degrees. Configurations and processes not mentioned in the following description are the same as in the first embodiment and will therefore not be described.

[0077] Figure 12 shows the print settings screen 801 displayed by the print settings screen extension unit 205 when the user instructs the user to display the print settings screen 801 of the extension application 204 from the drawing application 201 in this embodiment. In this embodiment, the staple setting 1201 can be specified, and in the staple setting 1201 of Figure 12, "top left" is set. This indicates that stapling will be performed at the top left position of the paper size after the printing process.

[0078] Figure 13 is a flowchart illustrating the editing process of the PDC by the print function extension unit 207. The process in the flowchart of Figure 13 begins when the user sets the print settings on the print settings screen in Figure 12 and presses the OK button 1202. Hereafter, the print function extension unit 207 may be described as the main entity for each process, but in reality, the corresponding functions are realized by the CPU 111 executing the corresponding program.

[0079] In S1301, the print settings screen extension unit 205 determines whether a function is set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. In other words, it determines whether a function is set that controls the orientation of the drawing data so that it is printed with the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponding to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponding to the top edge of the drawing data. An example of a case where a function is set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees is when the staple setting 1201 in Figure 12 is set to "top left". An example of a case where a function is not set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees is when the staple setting 1201 in Figure 12 is set to "bottom right". If the print settings screen extension unit 205 determines YES in S1302, it proceeds to S1402, and if it determines NO in S1302, it terminates the processing of this flowchart.

[0080] Next, in S1302, the print settings screen extension unit 205 registers a paper size in the PDC based on values ​​obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​with the left and right margin values ​​of the paper size set in the print settings screen 801. In other words, it swaps the lengths of the top and bottom margin areas of the specified paper size, and swaps the lengths of the left and right margin areas, and registers a drawing area based on these values ​​as the drawing area value of the specified paper size in the PDC. At this time, the print settings screen extension unit 205 may overwrite the margin information of a paper size already defined in the PDC, or it may add the new margin information to the PDC as a paper size with defined margins.

[0081] In S1303, the print settings screen extension unit 205 instructs the OS to regenerate the PC based on the edited PDC, thereby reflecting the paper size with margins rotated by 180 degrees to the OS. In other words, the drawing area based on the swapped lengths of the upper and lower margin regions of the paper size, and the swapped lengths of the left and right margin regions, is reflected as the drawing area value for the paper size specified by the user. Furthermore, the drawing application 201 can obtain the paper size with margins rotated by 180 degrees via the OS API.

[0082] Subsequently, when the user issues a print command from the drawing application 201 to the print queue associated with the extension application 204, the printing process shown in Figure 14 is performed.

[0083] Figure 14 is a flowchart illustrating the printing process of the print data editing unit 208 after intermediate data has been sent to the print data editing unit 208 by the OS. The process in the flowchart of Figure 14 begins when intermediate data is sent to the print data editing unit 208 by the OS.

[0084] Since steps S901 to S906 are the same as those in Figure 9, their explanation is omitted. If the result in S902 is YES, proceed to S903; if the result in S902 is NO, proceed to S1401.

[0085] In S1401, the print data editing unit 208 determines from the acquired print setting information whether a function is set in the print setting screen 801 that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. In other words, it determines whether a function is set that controls the orientation of the drawing data so that it is printed with the downstream side of the paper transport direction corresponding to the bottom edge of the drawing data and the upstream side corresponding to the top edge of the drawing data. Specifically, if the staple setting 1201 is set to "top left" in the print setting screen 801 in Figure 13, it is determined that a function is set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. In other words, the paper size registered in the PDC in S1302 in Figure 13 and reflected in the OS in S1303 is determined in S1401 to have a function set that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees. If YES is determined in S1402, the process proceeds to S903; if NO is determined in S1401, the process proceeds to S905.

[0086] Figure 16 shows the print result when a function is set to rotate drawing data by 180 degrees and printing is performed. The dashed lines in the figure indicate the drawable area on the paper. In this embodiment, the stapling process that the printer 102 can perform is on the rear end of the paper output side, and this is an example of the print result when the position where the stapling process is performed is set to the "upper left" of the paper in the print settings. When a function that requires the drawing data to be rotated by 180 degrees is set in the print settings screen 801, the drawing start position is not the drawing start position of the paper size originally written in the PDC, but rather a drawing start position based on a value obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​and the left and right margin values ​​of the paper size written in the PDC. The drawing application 201 then generates drawing data based on this information, and when a print command is given, the drawing data placed in the drawing area based on the value obtained by swapping the top and bottom margin values ​​and the left and right margin values ​​is transmitted as intermediate data to the extended application 204, and the drawing data is rotated by 180 degrees by the extended application 204. Therefore, as a result of printing, the bottom edge of the print data is laid out in the paper output direction and printed. In other words, the layout is such that the top edge of the drawing data is on the back edge of the paper's output, so stapling is performed on the top left of the drawing data printed on the paper.

[0087] As described above, when the extended application 204 is configured to perform functions that require 180-degree rotation of drawing data, such as stapling, it provides the drawing application with a paper size based on swapped values ​​for the top / bottom margins and left / right margins, respectively. This allows the drawing application to generate drawing data based on accurate margins. Furthermore, the extended application 204 rotates the drawing data generated by the drawing application by 180 degrees, enabling printing of the drawing data in the correct orientation. This allows stapling to be performed at the paper position specified by the user.

[0088] In the embodiments described above, the example given is when the staple setting 1201 in Figure 12 is set to "upper left" as an example of a case where a function requiring a 180-degree rotation of drawing data is set, but the invention is not limited to this. If the stapling process is performed on the upstream side in the paper output direction, the present invention may also be applied when the staple setting 1201 in Figure 12 is set to "upper right". Furthermore, depending on the layout of the drawing data on the paper, the upper edge of the drawing data may correspond to the long side of the paper. In this case, if the position where the stapling process is performed is set to a position that does not correspond to the upstream side in the paper output direction, it is determined that a function requiring a 180-degree rotation of drawing data is set. For example, this occurs when the upstream side in the paper output direction corresponds to the "upper right" or "lower right" of the paper, and the position where the stapling process is performed is set to "upper left" or "lower left".

[0089] (Other embodiments) The embodiments described above can also be realized by performing the following process: supplying software (programs) that realize the functions of the embodiments described above to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and having the computer (CPU, MPU, etc.) of that system or device read and execute the program. The program may be executed on a single computer or executed in conjunction with multiple computers. Furthermore, it is not necessary to realize all of the above processes in software; some or all of the processes may be realized in hardware such as ASICs. Also, the CPU is not limited to one CPU that performs all the processing; multiple CPUs may perform the processing in coordination as appropriate.

[0090] Furthermore, the functionality of the aforementioned embodiment is not only realized by the execution of program code read by the computer. It also includes cases where the operating system running on the computer performs some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of that program code, and the functionality of the aforementioned embodiment is realized through that processing. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0091] 101 Host computer 102 Printing device 201 Drawing Applications 202 Print Data Generation Software 203 Print Function Information 204 Extended Applications

Claims

1. An application program that cooperates with an IPP class driver, In an information processing device, The information processing device is instructed to perform an update process to update the printing function information by swapping the length of the margin area on the upstream side in the paper transport direction with the length of the margin area on the downstream side in the paper transport direction, in relation to the length of the margin area of ​​a predetermined paper contained in the printing function information stored in the information processing device. An application program characterized by the following features.

2. The application program according to Claim 1, wherein the update step further updates the print function information by swapping the length value of the margin area on the left side in the paper transport direction with the length value of the margin area on the right side in the paper transport direction, with respect to the length value of the margin area of ​​a predetermined paper included in the print function information.

3. The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the predetermined paper is an envelope.

4. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the information processing device further performs a receiving step of receiving print settings from a user.

5. The application program according to claim 4, characterized in that it causes the update step to be executed in accordance with whether the first setting value was included in the print settings.

6. The application program according to claim 5, characterized in that the first setting value is a setting value related to stapling.

7. The application program according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the information processing device further causes the information processing device to perform a modification step of changing the orientation of the data to be printed in accordance with the fact that a second setting value was included in the print settings.

8. The application program according to claim 7, characterized in that the second setting value is at least one of a setting value indicating that the paper to be printed on by the printing device is an envelope, or a setting value relating to stapling.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized in that the setting value for the stapling process is a setting value for performing the stapling process on the upper side of the paper.

10. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the printing function information is information generated based on the capability information of the printing device obtained from the printing device.

11. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the printing function information is PrintDeviceCapabilities.

12. A control method for an information processing device having an IPP class driver and an application program that cooperates with the IPP class driver, By executing the aforementioned application program, The printing function information stored in the information processing device is updated by swapping the length of the margin area on the upstream side in the paper transport direction with the length of the margin area on the downstream side in the paper transport direction, as described in the printing function information. A control method characterized by the following:

13. An information processing apparatus having an IPP class driver and an application program that cooperates with the IPP class driver, By executing the aforementioned application program, The printing function information stored in the information processing device is updated by swapping the length of the margin area on the upstream side in the paper transport direction with the length of the margin area on the downstream side in the paper transport direction, as described in the printing function information. An information processing device characterized by the following:

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