JP2007042062A - Information processing apparatus, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize proper print or image processing software by utilizing print history information. <P>SOLUTION: The print history information is called and a screen for introducing recommended software is displayed based on the called print history information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for performing print processing.

  Currently, as software related to a printer, there are a printer driver for enabling a printer to be handled on a computer system and application software for a user to perform various printing. Here, the application software that specializes in the purpose of printing and provides a convenient printing method to the user is referred to as printing-specific application software (hereinafter, printing application).

  In order to allow the user to use the printer on his / her computer system, it is common to use an integrated installer that installs a plurality of printing applications at the same time as the printer driver.

Further, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention in which an application usage history is stored, and a computer system with a small number of uses is deleted when the storage capacity of the computer system decreases.
JP-A-10-260873

  However, the problem with the integrated installer is that many users are left without touching the app because it installs without knowing what functions each app has. It is that. Therefore, for example, there is considered a means of introducing an currently installed application by letting a user recognize the application by playing an animation during installation.

  In addition, when installing the application at once with the integrated installer, even applications that are completely unnecessary for the user are installed, and as a result, the storage area of the computer system is wasted. It was.

  Therefore, a method is considered in which a certain test period is provided and an application to be actually installed at the time of actual installation is determined depending on how much application software the user has used within the certain test period.

  The present invention has been made to solve at least one of the above-described problems, and one aspect of the present invention is to allow a user to use appropriate printing or image processing software.

  Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention is to utilize convenient printing or image processing software by presenting appropriate printing or image processing software to a user by utilizing print history information.

  Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention is to erase unnecessary software to improve the usage efficiency of the memory and to keep appropriate software in a usable state for the user.

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus of the present invention provides:
The information processing apparatus of the present invention
Storage means for storing print history information;
And display means for displaying a recommended software introduction screen based on the print history information stored in the storage unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to make effective use of appropriate printing or image processing software by utilizing print history information.

(Example)
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the application is introduced to the user after the printer driver has processed the print job.

  FIG. 1 shows the module configuration of the first embodiment.

  A computer system (100) in FIG. 1 shows a computer system in which the printing system of this embodiment operates. The computer system (100) has an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) that manages applications, drivers, and peripheral devices on the computer system.

  The application software (101) has a function for creating print data. The printer driver (107) has a function for calling a print setting screen for determining a paper size and the like for printing, and a function for sending print data to the OS (102) after performing print settings.

  The input device (103) is a device for the user to operate, and the input result is notified to the software on the computer system through the OS (102). The monitor driver (105) receives a drawing command issued to the OS (102), and performs processing for displaying on the monitor (104). The monitor (104) receives a command from the monitor driver (105) and displays data on the screen.

  The integrated application installer (108) has a function of installing a plurality of application software (101) and an application uninstaller (112) in the computer system (100), an application installed in the application information DB (109), and the application Has a function to register uninstaller information.

  The application information DB (109) manages application software (101) information on printing applications installed in the OS. Details will be described with reference to FIG.

  The print history DB (110) in FIG. 12 is a database that stores the history of printing that has occurred on the computer system (100).

  The printer driver (107) is a driver that processes a print job by being called by the OS (102) and issues a print command to the printer (106).

  The printer driver (107) has a function of storing print information in the print history DB (110) when performing print processing. In addition, by using information in the print history DB (110) and the application information DB (109), the application introduction program (111) is called.

  The application introduction program (111) has a function of instructing the OS to display an application introduction dialog on the monitor (104). Also, it has a function that allows the user to input an uninstall command for the application software (101) through the input device (103). Further, when an uninstall command is received, a function for calling the application uninstaller (112) of the corresponding application software (101) and a function for describing information indicating that the uninstallation has been performed in the application information DB have.

  The application uninstaller (112) has a function of uninstalling the application software (101). The printer (106) has a function of performing printing based on the print command received from the printer driver (107).

  FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a client configuration showing the first embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that a predetermined peripheral device can communicate with another data processing apparatus locally connected via a communication medium (not shown), for example, a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark), using a predetermined protocol. The predetermined peripheral devices include an ink jet printer, a laser printer, a scanner, a modem, a composite image processing apparatus, and the like.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a system bus, and each part described below is connected to the system bus 1. Reference numeral 2 denotes a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

  Reference numeral 3 denotes a program memory (referred to as PMEM). A program for this processing is appropriately selected / read from the hard disk 10 and executed by the CPU 2. The data input from the keyboard 12 is stored as code information in the PMEM 3 which is also a text memory.

  A communication control unit 4 controls input / output data in the communication port 5. The signal output from the communication port 5 is transmitted to the communication port of another device 7 on the network via the communication line 6.

  Exchange with a printer or an image reading device (scanner) shared on the network is performed via the communication control unit 4. Although the present embodiment describes a network such as a LAN, it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable even if the communication port and communication line connected to the communication control unit 4 are general public lines. An image read by the scanner can also be sent to the printer for printing.

  An external storage device control unit 8 controls access to a data file disk, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk (referred to as FD) 9 or a hard disk (referred to as HD) 10.

  An input control unit 11 is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 13. The operator operates the keyboard 12 to issue a system operation command or the like. Reference numeral 16 denotes a CRT device (CRT), and a pointing device (referred to as PD) is used to instruct processing of image information on the CRT 16, and the mouse 13 is used in this embodiment.

  As a result, the cursor on the CRT 16 is arbitrarily moved in the X and Y directions, a command icon on the command menu is selected and processing is instructed, as well as an editing target instruction and drawing position instruction.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a video image memory (referred to as VRAM), in which drawing data (bitmap data) to be displayed on the CRT 16 is developed, is appropriately read out via the display output control unit 15, and the contents are displayed on the CRT 16. Reference numeral 17 denotes a printer control unit which controls data output to the connected printer 18.

  Reference numeral 1A denotes an image reading device control unit that performs image reading control of the connected image reading device 1B. The external device control unit 19 controls the operation of the external device via the printer control unit 17 or the image reading device control unit 1A.

  In the client side device, the same component shared on the server side can be used via the communication control unit 4 and the communication port 5 as described above.

  Note that the program stored in the ROM in this embodiment may be stored in a storage medium such as the hard disk (HD) 10 or the floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) 9 directly connected to the apparatus. . Furthermore, it may be stored on another device connected via a network. The program of the present invention can be supplied to a system or apparatus via a storage medium such as a hard disk (HD) 10 or a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) 9 or a network. Various program groups in the computer system shown in FIG. 1 are stored in the hard disk HD. If necessary, the program group is expanded in the RAM 20 of FIG. 7 and executed by the CPU 2.

  FIG. 2 shows that an integrated installer for installing an application in the computer system (100) selects which application is to be installed, calls the application installer of the application determined to be installed, and after installation, the application information DB (109) ) Is a flowchart for registering application information. Information stored in the application information DB (109) will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows a flow of the non-installed application deletion process from the recommended print application list that is called when the integrated installer creates a list of application software (101) to be installed. Here, the application software recommended to be installed in the computer system (100) created by the integrated application installer (108) is searched for from the contents of the application information DB (109) and has been previously uninstalled. The flow of deleting the application from the list of (101) is shown.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the application software (101) when printing is performed. The application software (101) allows the user to make print settings, and then creates a document name that is a combination of the file name with extension and the application name, and performs print processing with the document name.

  The document name created here is used in print processing in a printer driver described later.

  FIG. 5 shows print processing in the printer driver. Here, after performing the printing process, it is determined whether to leave the print history and introduce the application. If the application is to be introduced, the application introduction program (111) is called. ing.

  FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of a print feature extraction process called to acquire print feature data used in the data type acquisition process in the print process of the printer driver. Here, from the file name, the extension, the print setting information (print paper size, print paper type, image processing settings, paper feed method, etc.), the print paper size (A4, postcard, etc.), and the print paper type (Glossy paper / plain paper, etc.) is acquired, combined with the extension, is used as print feature data, and the data is transferred to the printer driver (107).

  FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of print data data type determination processing called in the printer driver print processing. Here, by using the print feature data obtained by the print feature extraction process described above and referring to the print feature conversion table, whether the print data prints a photo or prints Web data. This shows the flow of acquiring the data type. Here, the print feature conversion table will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of print history storage processing for each data type that is called after printing is performed in the printer driver. Here, the print data is stored in the print history storage DB (210) based on the data type of the print data and the name of the application that performed printing.

  FIG. 9 shows a flowchart when the uninstall button of the application software introduction program called when the printer driver determines that introduction of the application is necessary. Here, after the introduction screen of the application software is displayed, if the uninstall button is pressed, the uninstall process is performed and the program is terminated.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart when the OK button is pressed in the application software introduction program that is called when the printer driver determines that the introduction of the application is necessary. Here, after the application software introduction screen is displayed, if the user instructs not to display this message again, the introduction message of the corresponding application is not displayed. If the button that does not display this message is pressed again and the uninstall button or the OK button is pressed again, the screen shown in FIG. 10 is not displayed even if the condition for displaying the display screen is satisfied next time.

  FIG. 10 shows a sample application software introduction screen called from the application software introduction program. Here, in order to close the application software introduction screen, an "Uninstall button" for uninstalling, a check box for instructing the user not to introduce the application again, and the application software introduction screen Indicates that there is an “OK button”.

FIG. 11 shows a table of information of the application software (101) stored in the application information DB (109) handled in this embodiment.
Here, in the application information DB (109), the name of the currently installed application, the data type recommended for printing from the application, an explanation display flag indicating whether to display the introduction of the application, The storage location of the uninstaller for uninstalling, an uninstall flag indicating whether or not the uninstallation has been performed once, and an introduction text for introducing the application are stored.

  If the explanation display flag is 1, it indicates that it is displayed, if it is 0, it indicates that display is not performed. If the uninstall flag is 0, it has not been uninstalled. If it is not 0, it has been uninstalled. It shows that there is.

  FIG. 12 shows the print history by data type. This is a table showing how many times printing has been performed for each data type, and how many times printing has been performed from which application for that data type. For example, the data time Web data (for example, HTML or XML data) is printed 15 times with an application called simple web printing, and 5 times outside the recommended application. The data type of the photo indicates that the number of times of printing executed by the simple photo printing application is zero, and that the number of times of printing other than the recommended application is 50 times.

  FIG. 13 shows a print feature conversion table. This indicates information for determining the data type of the print data from the result of the feature extraction of the print data in the printer driver. Here, this table is a table in which the data type is uniquely determined from the file extension, the size of the printing paper, and the type of printing paper.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 2, an installation process of application software (101) (hereinafter referred to as an application) by the integrated application installer (108) (hereinafter referred to as an integrated installer) in the first embodiment will be described. Here, the integrated installer that installs multiple applications has the information necessary to determine the application to be installed and the registration of the application to be installed. It has a function of registering in the application information DB (109).

  In step S201, an installation instruction from the user is recognized. In S202, it is determined whether the user has instructed to select an automatic installation mode for installing all applications recommended by the integrated application installer (108) or a custom installation mode in which an application to be installed can be selected.

  If it is determined in the determination process of the next step S202 that the automatic installation has been selected, the process proceeds to step S203. In S203, a list of applications recommended to be installed (hereinafter, recommended application list for installation) is created. If it is determined in S202 that the custom installation process has been selected, the process proceeds to S205.

  In S204, the application information DB is searched for an application that should not be installed from the recommended installation application list created earlier, deleted from the recommended installation application list, and a list of applications that are actually installed (hereinafter referred to as an installed application list). create.

  In S205, an installation recommended application list corresponding to the custom installation is created. In next step S206, an application that should not be installed is searched from the application recommended DB created earlier from the application information DB, and is deleted from the recommended application list to be installed as an installed application list. Further, in the next step S207, the application that can be installed is presented to the user, the application to be installed is selected, and the installed application list is updated.

  In loop A shown in step S208, the following processing is repeatedly performed for all applications in the installed application list obtained as a result of steps S204 and S207. In step S209, the installer of the corresponding application is activated and the installation result is acquired. In step S210, the result returned from the installer is referred to. If it fails, the process proceeds to the next application. If the installation is successful, it is checked in step S211 whether there is an application information DB (109). If the application information DB already exists, registration in the application information DB is performed in step S213. If there is no application information DB, an application information DB is created on the computer system in step S212, and information is registered in step S213. Here, the information stored in the application information DB is as shown in FIG.

  When all the apps have been installed, the integrated installer process ends.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 3, the flowchart of the deletion process of the non-installed application from the installation recommended application list in the first embodiment is shown. This process is a process called from the integrated application installer (108), and is a process for deleting information of non-installed applications from the recommended installation application list created by the integrated installer.

  In step S701, an installation recommended application list is acquired from the integrated application installer (108). In step S702, it is checked whether the application information DB (109) exists. If the application information DB (109) does not exist, it is determined for the first time that the computer system introduces the printing system of the present invention, and the non-recommended application determination process is terminated.

  If the application information DB (109) exists, the process proceeds to step S703, and the following process is repeated for all the applications in the recommended installation application list acquired in step S701.

  In step S704, the application information DB (109) is checked to see if there is information about the corresponding application. If there is no information, continue processing for the next app.

  If recommended application information is found in the application information DB (109), the process proceeds to step S705, and the uninstall flag of the application software is viewed. If it is determined that the uninstall flag is zero, processing continues for the next application software.

  If it is determined that the uninstall flag of the corresponding application software is not 0, it is determined that the application has been uninstalled before. Therefore, it is determined that a new installation is not executed in the current installation, and the process advances to step S706 to remove the corresponding application from the recommended installation application list. After performing the above processing for all the recommended installation application lists, the list created as a result is returned to the integrated installer as an installation application list, and the non-recommended application determination process is terminated.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 4, a printing process by the application software (101) in the first embodiment will be described. In this process, the file name with extension and the application name are embedded in the document name in order to determine which application the printer driver has printed in the subsequent process.

  In step S301, print setting processing is performed before printing. In step S302, the file name with extension of the currently opened document is acquired, and in step S303, the name of the application is acquired. In step S304, a character string obtained by combining the file name with extension and the name of the application is stored as a document name. In step S305, print processing is performed using the document name created up to step S304.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 5, from the start of the printing process in the printer driver (107) to the display of the application introduction screen in the first embodiment are shown. The feature of this process is that the printer driver (107) stores the print history, determines whether or not to display the application introduction screen from the print history, and calls the application introduction program.

  First, when the printer driver (107) is called from the OS (102), print job initialization processing is performed in step S401. At that time, the output paper size (A4, L size, etc.) and the type of output paper (normal) (Such as paper, glossy paper). This print setting is used in a later step S407. In step S402, the application name and file name are extracted from the document name included in the print job and stored. In step S403, print data is created. In step S404, the print data is transmitted to the printer (206). Next, in step S405, it is determined whether the application name has been acquired in step S402. If the application name cannot be acquired, the application name is set to “unrecommended application” in step S406.

  In step S407, print feature extraction is performed, and the data type is determined in step S408 based on the result. In step S409, based on the file name, application name, and data type obtained so far, the print history by data type is stored in the print history DB (110). The print history for each data type is as shown in FIG. The print history DB is stored in the hard disk 10 of FIG. 18 and can be read and written by various program groups.

  In step S410, the contents of the print history DB (110) are called up. In step S411, it is checked whether the data type printing specified in step S408 has been performed a certain number of times or more. If the data type has been performed a certain number of times or more, the printer driver processing is terminated. If the data type has been performed more than a certain number of times, it is determined in step S412 whether the data type has been printed from a recommended application recommended for printing the data type. If the recommended application has been printed, the printer driver processing is terminated.

  If the recommended application has not been printed, application information is called from the application information DB (109) in step S413. Then, in the next step S414, the application introduction program (111) is activated and application information is passed. Thereafter, the processing of the printer driver (107) ends.

  For example, a case where photo printing is performed in the situation shown in FIG. 12 is taken as an example.

  When the process proceeds to the check in S412, the recommended application for photo printing is “simple photo printing”, but it can be seen that the “simple photo printing” application has never been printed. In that case, the process proceeds to S413.

  In step S413, an introductory sentence “simple photo printing” is called from the application information DB (109).

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to S414, and the introduction sentence called in S413 is displayed.

  As a further example, when WEB printing is performed in the situation shown in FIG. 12, simple Web printing, which is a recommended application, has been used 15 times (S412-YES), and the process ends.

  Note that the type of data such as “photograph” and “Web” mentioned here is determined by referring to the print feature conversion table in S408 based on the result obtained by the feature extraction processing in S407.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 6 of S407, the flow of the print feature extraction process performed by the printer driver (107) in the first embodiment is shown. The feature of this process is that the extension is extracted from the file name, and the print paper size and print paper type are extracted from the print setting information.

  The “extension”, “printing paper size”, “printing paper type”, and the like thus extracted are used as printing characteristic data.

  In step S501, a file name and print setting information are received from the printer driver (107). In step S502, the extension is acquired from the file name. In step S503, it is determined whether the extension has been acquired. If it is determined in S503 that the extension cannot be acquired, “−” meaning that the extension cannot be acquired is set as an extension in step S504, and the process proceeds to S505. If it is determined in S503 that the extension has been acquired, the process proceeds directly to S505. In step S505, the output paper size and output paper type are acquired from the print setting information. In step S506, “extension”, “output paper size”, and “output paper type” are returned to the printer driver as print characteristic data.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 7, the flow of the data type discrimination | determination process performed by the printer driver (107) in 1st embodiment is shown. Here, the feature of the first embodiment is a print feature data conversion table that can determine the data type from the “extension”, “output paper size”, and “output paper type” that are print feature data. In addition, the data type is determined using the table. The print feature data conversion table is as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 will be described. In step S801, print feature data is acquired from the printer driver (107). Thereafter, in step S802, the print feature conversion table is read. Next, in the loop shown in step S803, the following operations are performed for each item of the print feature data “extension”, “output paper size”, and “output paper type”. The order of operations is “extension”, “output paper size”, and “output paper type”.

  First, in step S804, it is determined whether or not the corresponding item in the table is divided into a plurality of lines. If there is only one corresponding item, it is determined that the item has been selected, the process returns to the selection step S803, and the next item is determined. If the line is divided into a plurality of lines, the process advances to step S805 to refer to the print feature data of the corresponding item and select a line that matches the data. In the next step S806, it is checked whether or not there is a matching line as a result of step S805. If there is no matching line, the process proceeds to step 807 based on the determination in step S806, and “other” (in the table) is displayed. “−” Means “extension, paper size, paper type not listed”, and proceeds to the next item. If there is a matching line, select that line and go to the next item. Thereafter, the loop of step S803 is continued until the items of the extension, PAPERSIZE, and MEDIATYPE are checked. In step S809, the data type is determined from the result of loop S803, and the result is returned to the printer driver (107). Then, the data type determination process ends.

  For example, when print feature data having an extension “JPG”, a paper size “postcard”, and a paper type “postcard” is applied to the print feature conversion table of FIG. Since the extension is “JPG”, “JPG” is selected as the extension item in the table. Next, since the paper size is “postcard”, “postcard” is selected as the PAPERSIZE item. Finally, regarding the type of printing paper, when the printing paper is a postcard, “−” is selected for the MEDIATYPE item because there is no choice of media size. The item of the data type obtained as a result is “postcard”.

  For example, in the case of print feature data with an extension “JPG”, a paper size “A4”, and a paper type “glossy paper”, the data type is “photo”.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 8, the flow of the print history storage processing according to data type in the first embodiment will be described.

  The print history saving process for each data type is called from the printer driver and saves the print history for each data type.

  In step S901, the data type of the print data and the name of the application that performed printing (hereinafter referred to as the print application name) are acquired from the printer driver. In step S902, the application information DB is called. In step S903, it is checked whether the print application name exists in the application information DB. If it is determined in S903 that the print application name does not exist in the DB, the process proceeds to step S904, and the print application name is set to “unrecommended application”. If it is determined in S903 that the print application name exists, the process proceeds to S905.

  In step S905, the print history DB is called. In step S906, the total print count of the corresponding data type is incremented by one. Further, in step S907, the number of times that the corresponding data type has been printed from the current printing application is incremented by 1, and the print history saving process for each data type is terminated.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 9, the flow of receiving the uninstall command from the user from the display of the application introduction dialog and the deletion process in the display process of the application introduction dialog in the first embodiment will be shown. The application introduction dialog is as shown in FIG.

  In step S601, the application information DB (209) is opened, and in step S602, an application introduction text, a storage location of the application uninstaller (112), and an explanation display flag indicating whether to display the explanation are read. In step S603, if the explanation display flag is 0, no explanation is displayed, and therefore the application introduction dialog display processing is terminated.

  If the explanation display flag is 1, an application introduction dialog is displayed in step S604. In step S605, it is determined that the user has pressed the button.

  If it is determined in step S605 that the OK button has been pressed, the process advances to step S611 to close the application introduction dialog. If it is determined in S605 that the uninstall button 1001 in FIG. 10 has been pressed, the process proceeds to S606. When the start button 1002 of FIG. 10 is pressed in S605, the process proceeds to S612 and the recommended application is started. If print processing is performed using the application, better printing results can be obtained. For example, when the user finally prints 10 photos, the first print is first performed from an appropriate application. After the printing of the first sheet is completed, an application suitable for the data to be printed is introduced. If the user accepts the introduction, the recommended application is activated. Thereafter, the remaining nine sheets can be printed with the recommended application.

  Of course, an embodiment having a plurality of recommended applications is also conceivable, and a plurality of applications can be displayed simultaneously according to the priority.

  In step S606, the corresponding uninstaller is called from the storage location of the application uninstaller (112) received in S602, and the result is received.

  In step S607, it is checked whether or not the uninstallation is successful. If the uninstallation is successful, the uninstallation flag of the corresponding application in the application information DB (109) is set to 1 in step S608. Next, the print display flag is set to 0. If uninstallation has failed, an error dialog is displayed in step S610, the application introduction dialog is closed in step S611, and the process is terminated.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 17, processing from the display of the application introduction dialog until the user pushes the OK button and closes the dialog in the display processing of the application introduction dialog in the first embodiment will be described. The application introduction dialog is as shown in FIG.

  In step S1701, the application information DB (209) is opened, and in step S1702, an introduction text of the application, a storage location of the application uninstaller (112), and an explanation display flag indicating whether to display the explanation are read. If the explanation display flag is 0 in step S1703, no explanation is displayed, and the display processing of the application introduction dialog is terminated there.

  If the explanation display flag is 1, an application introduction dialog is displayed in step S1704. Next, when it is received in step S1705 that the user has pressed the OK button, it is checked in step S1706 that the “Don't display again” check box on the dialog is ON. If it is set not to display again, the print display flag is set to 0 in step S1707. If the check box is not set to never display in S1706, nothing is done.

  Thereafter, in step S1708, the application introduction dialog is closed, and the process ends.

  In the present embodiment, the file extension, the print paper size, and the print paper type are treated as print characteristics in this embodiment, but this is the print quality and image processing applied to the image. Other print settings such as may be employed as print features.

  In this embodiment, the integrated installer that manages a plurality of installers registers information in the application information DB. However, an installer for each application and a resident program that manages the existence of the application are provided, and the resident program Information may be registered in the application information DB.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the application is introduced after the printer driver sends a print command to the printer. However, after the print command is issued from the application, the print command is sent to the printer. In the meantime, you may introduce the application.

(Second embodiment)
In the second embodiment, there are a plurality of printing applications recommended for one data type.

  The feature of the second embodiment is that which data type is suitable for printing and the priority for the printing are set in the information stored in the application information DB. Furthermore, when the application introduced by the printer driver is determined, the priority is used to determine the application to actually introduce. Other module configurations, application installers, application software, movement of application introduction dialog, print history by data type and print feature conversion table are the same.

  Hereinafter, the flow of the printing process in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 to 16.

  FIG. 14 shows print processing in the printer driver of the second embodiment. Here, after the printing process is performed, a determination is made as to whether or not to introduce the application while leaving the print history, and if the application is to be introduced, the application introduction program (111) is called. Show.

  FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of an introduction application determination process for determining an application to be introduced. This process is called from the printer driver and determines the application to be introduced from the contents of the print history DB and the information of the application information DB.

  FIG. 16 shows information stored in the application information DB in the present embodiment.

  Here, the feature of the second embodiment is that the priority order is provided for the recommended data type of the application. Note that a priority of 5 is more recommended, and 0 is not recommended. The priority can be set in advance, but can be appropriately modified by changing this table by the user.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 14, from the start of the printing process in the printer driver (107) to the display of the application introduction screen in the first embodiment are shown.

  First, when the printer driver (107) is called from the OS (102), print job initialization processing is performed in step S1401. At that time, the output paper size (A4, L size, etc.) and the type of output paper (normal) (Such as paper, glossy paper). This print setting is used in later step S1407. In step S1402, the application name and file name are extracted from the document name included in the print job and stored. Thereafter, in step S1403, print data is created, and in step S1404, the print data is transmitted to the printer (206). In step S1405, it is determined whether the application name has been acquired in step S1402. If the application name cannot be acquired, the application name is set to “unrecommended application” in step S1406.

  In step S1407, print feature extraction is performed, and the data type is determined in step S1408 based on the result. In step S1409, based on the file name, application name, and data type obtained so far, the print history by data type is stored in the print history DB (110). The print history for each data type is as shown in FIG.

  In step S1410, an introduction application determination process for obtaining an application to be introduced is called and the result is received. In the next step S1411, it is determined whether there is an application to introduce as a result of step S1410. If there is no application to be introduced, the processing of the printer driver is ended. If an application to be introduced is found, application information is called from the application information DB (109) in step S1412. In step S1413, the application introduction program (111) is activated and application information is passed. Thereafter, the processing of the printer driver (107) ends.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 15, the flow of the introduction application determination process called from the printer driver (107) in the second embodiment is shown. Here, the feature of the second embodiment is that when there are a plurality of printing applications, it is determined whether introduction is performed in descending order of priority, and it is determined that introduction is most suitable in that scene. It is in the place where the introduced app is introduced. The application information DB is as shown in FIG.

  In step S1501, the print history DB (110) is read. In step S1502, it is checked whether there is a data type that has been printed a predetermined number of times. If there is no such data type, the process proceeds to step S1512. In S1512, the fact that there is no application to be introduced is returned to the caller, and the process is terminated. If it is determined in step S1502 that a data type that has been printed a certain number of times or more is found, the process advances to step S1503.

  If it is determined in step S1503 that there are a plurality of printing applications recommended for printing the data type, the process advances to step S1504. In step S1504, printing applications recommended for printing of the corresponding data type are listed in order of priority (hereinafter, recommended printing application list). Then, the process proceeds to S1507.

  In the next step S1507 and subsequent steps, the determination in S1508 is performed for each print application in the recommended degree order print application list. Judgments are made in order of recommendation. When the determination process is completed for all print applications, the process advances to step S1506.

  In the determination text in S1508, the print history DB (110) updated in S1409 is referred to, and it is determined whether printing of the specific data type has been performed by the print application currently being examined. When it is determined that printing has been performed from the application, the next printing application is checked. If it is determined that printing has not been performed from the application, the application is stored as an introduction candidate in S1509. This process is performed for all printing applications. Note that the determination in S1508 not only performs a determination process of whether or not printing has been performed at all (whether it is 0 times or more), but also N times or more (N is a preset value). (If it is an integer greater than or equal to 1), it may be determined as YES, and if printing has not been performed N times or more, it may be determined as NO.

  In step S1506, it is determined whether an application that is an introduction candidate in step S1509 is stored. If there is no application as an introduction candidate, the process advances to step S1511. If it is determined in S1506 that there is no application to introduce, the process proceeds to S1512, and a reply that there is no application to be introduced is returned to the caller.

  In step S1511, information on the application registered as an introduction candidate in step S1509 is returned to the caller.

  If it is determined in step S1503 that there are not a plurality of recommended printing applications for the corresponding data type, the process advances to step S1505. In step S1505, it is checked whether there is only one printing application recommended for the corresponding data type and no printing process has been performed from that application. If no printing has been performed from the application, the process advances to step S1512. If there is no recommended printing application, the process advances to step S1512. Otherwise, the process proceeds to S1506. In S1512, a reply that there is no application to be introduced is returned to the caller, and the process is terminated. In the determination of S1506, not only is the process of determining whether or not printing has been performed at all (zero or one or more times), but printing is performed N or more times (N is a preset value). It may be determined whether or not it has been performed.

  In this embodiment, only the introductory text of the application is described. However, an embodiment in which images and videos for introducing recommended software are stored and used for the introduction is also considered. It is done. In the present embodiment, the printer driver has a software deletion history, which is used when printing is performed. However, this deletion history has a deletion history storage database as an application separate from the printer driver, and it is possible to cooperate with other applications. For example, a deletion history storage database is installed on a computer, and information on an application that has been once installed but has been deleted is written therein. Here, in the integrated installer for installing a plurality of software, an embodiment may be considered in which an application that has been deleted once is not installed by referring to the deletion history storage database. Furthermore, in the integrated installer, when there are a plurality of applications having similar functions, an embodiment in which the information in the deletion history storage database is used for determining which application is to be installed is also conceivable.

  Also, in this embodiment, when there are multiple printing applications, it is automatically determined which application is introduced and only the introduction of the application is displayed. This is an introduction of multiple applications. May be done at once. For example, when it is determined that it is better to introduce some application for printing of a certain data type, a list of applications as shown in FIG. 11 may be displayed and the user may make a selection. . Here, the application displayed in this list may be displayed only when the number of uses of the application is 0 or less than N times.

  Further, in the above example, a function of uninstalling software determined to be never used by the user among a plurality of displayed software may be implemented.

  In the above-described example, a setting function may be implemented so that an application that is already understood in detail among a plurality of displayed software is not displayed again in the introduction list.

  Information indicating the type of data to be printed (for example, the extension of the printing source application), output paper size information (A4, CD-R, etc.), or output recording medium as print history information Media type information (for example, glossy paper, printable CD-R, etc.) and printing application information (for example, Web, photograph, postcard, etc.) are included.

  When the information indicating the type of data to be printed (for example, JPG which is the extension of the printing source application) indicates a specific data type (photo printing), an application suitable for printing the photo printing is selected. An example simple photo printing application is specified.

  Whether or not the simple photo printing application is being used is determined using print history information information acquired separately. When it is determined that the simple photo printing application is not applied, the display unit may display a message indicating that an application suitable for image printing is not used and a use recommendation screen.

  In addition, when the media type information of the output medium is a CD-R medium that is an example of a disk-shaped recording medium, a simple CD print that is an example of software suitable for the disk-shaped recording medium is displayed as a recommended application. May be.

  If the media type information of the output medium indicates glossy paper or postcard, software suitable for photo printing may be displayed as recommended software.

  The data type may be at least one of photo, web, postcard, and CD-R.

  According to the present embodiment, when a user performs a certain type of printing at a stage at which he / she is used to printing to some extent, the user is more strongly aware of the value of the application by introducing the most suitable application to the user. It is possible to encourage a convenient printing method.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, as described above, it is unnecessary to delete a necessary application by determining whether or not to delete an application in a state where the user's judgment ability is improved. It is possible to delete a large number of applications and save the storage capacity of the computer system.

(Other embodiments)
The processing shown in each drawing in this embodiment is performed by each device by a program installed from the outside. In this case, the present invention is applied even when an information group including a program is supplied to a host computer from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or an FD, or from an external storage medium via a network. Is.

  As described above, the system or apparatus can be obtained by supplying the storage medium storing the program code of the software that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments to the system or apparatus, or downloading the storage medium from an external server (not shown). It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by the computer (or CPU or MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, DVD, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) or the like running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included. Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written to a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to effectively use appropriate printing or image processing software by utilizing printing history information.

The module block diagram of 1st embodiment of this invention is shown. The flowchart of the process of the application installer of 1st embodiment of this invention is shown. The flowchart of the non-installed application judgment process called by the application installer of 1st embodiment of this invention is shown. 2 is a flowchart of print processing from application software according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart of print processing in the printer driver according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart of print feature extraction processing called by the printer driver according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart of data type determination processing called by the printer driver according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart of a data type-specific print history storage process called by the printer driver according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of embodiment of this invention. An example of application software introduction screen according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The example of the application information of embodiment of this invention is shown. The print history discrimination processing for each data type according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. 3 shows a print feature conversion table according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart of print processing in the printer driver according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the software introduction process of embodiment of this invention. An example of application information according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. It is a figure which shows an example of the software introduction process of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of embodiment.

Claims (21)

Storage means for storing print history information;
An information processing apparatus comprising: display means for displaying an introduction screen for recommended software based on print history information stored in the storage means.   2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recommended software introduction screen includes instruction means for instructing deletion of the recommended software.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays an introduction screen for recommended software based on a file extension and print history information stored in the storage unit.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a recommended software introduction screen based on a paper size and print history information stored in the storage unit.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays software that has not been uninstalled on an introduction screen of recommended software.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing is performed a predetermined number of times or more.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing has not been performed from the recommended software. A call step to call up print history information;
A display step of displaying an introduction screen of recommended software based on the print history information called by the calling step.   9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the recommended software introduction screen includes an instruction step for instructing deletion of the recommended software.   9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the display step displays a recommended software introduction screen based on a file extension and the print history information.   9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the display step displays a recommended software introduction screen based on a paper size and the print history information.   9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the displaying step displays software that has not been uninstalled on a recommended software introduction screen.   9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing has been performed a predetermined number of times or more.   The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing has not been performed from the recommended software. A call step to call up print history information;
A program for causing a computer to execute a display step for displaying an introduction screen for recommended software based on the print history information called in the calling step.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the recommended software introduction screen includes instruction means for instructing deletion of the recommended software.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the display step displays a recommended software introduction screen based on a file extension and the print history information.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the display step displays a recommended software introduction screen based on the paper size and the print history information.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the displaying step displays software that has not been uninstalled on the recommended software introduction screen.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing has been performed a predetermined number of times or more.   16. The program according to claim 15, wherein the recommended software introduction screen is displayed when printing has not been performed from the recommended software.

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