JP2015153118A - Information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability in a print setting UI.SOLUTION: A device application comprises two kinds of print setting UIs suitable for different operations such as a simple setting UI suitable for a touch panel operation and a full-function setting UI suitable for a mouse operation, and displays, when the device application is started, the print setting UI previously displayed.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing method and program for a print setting user interface.

  Conventionally, when printing a file such as a document or a diagram created on a computer from an application, drawing data is generally converted into a page description language using a printer driver and transmitted to a printer. Incidentally, the page description language is also referred to as Page Description Language or PDL. At that time, print settings such as paper type, double-sided, color, and paper feed method are set using a user interface for print settings provided by the application or a user interface for print settings provided by the printer driver. The user interface may also be referred to as a UI.

  By the way, in recent years, with the spread of tablet computers, a new version of Windows (registered trademark) that is easy to operate with tablet computers has been released by Microsoft Corporation. In the new version of Windows (registered trademark), in addition to the conventional desktop UI environment, a touch panel UI environment called “start screen” that is easy to operate with a touch is added. The two UI environments are exclusively displayed on the client computer display. In each UI environment, two types of applications specialized for the UI environment, a desktop application and a Windows Store application (hereinafter also referred to as a store application), operate. The UI for print settings provided by the printer driver is also switched according to each UI environment. In addition, the printer setting UI of the conventional printer driver has two types of UIs: a simple setting UI that enables easy setting even for first-time users and a full function setting UI that covers almost all printer functions. There is a driver (Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-342025 A

  However, since the print setting UI of the conventional printer driver is not a UI suitable for the touch panel, it is difficult to use on the touch panel. Further, in Patent Document 1, each time the user opens the print setting UI of the printer driver, the user has to manually select whether to open the simple setting UI or the full function setting UI, which is troublesome for the user. There is a problem.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to improve operability in the print setting UI.

The configuration of the present invention is as follows:
In a device application (1052) having two or more types of print setting UIs suitable for different operations,
Means (S801) for acquiring print setting information of an application to be printed;
Print setting screen acquisition means (S802) for acquiring the print setting screen displayed previously;
In the print setting screen acquisition unit, a print setting screen determination unit (S803) that determines whether the acquired print setting screen of the previous display is a print setting screen;
Means (S804) for displaying the print setting screen when the print setting screen is a print setting screen having a print setting screen displayed last time in the print setting screen determining means;
It is the information processing method and program characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, there are two types of print setting UIs suitable for different operations, a simple setting UI suitable for touch panel operation and a full-function setting UI suitable for mouse operation, and the print setting UI displayed at the time of startup is displayed. can do.

  As a result, it is not necessary for the user to manually open the simple setting UI or the full function setting UI every time, so that the operability in the print setting UI is improved.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network in which a client, a server, and a printer are connected as an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of hardware and software of a computer system as an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of a software module of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Printing flowchart as one embodiment of the present invention An example of a print setting screen displayed at the time of printing from the store application of the print processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention Easy setting screen in device app as one embodiment of the present invention Full function setting screen in device app as one embodiment of the present invention Flowchart of device application call processing as one embodiment of the present invention Flowchart of device application call processing considering user environment as one embodiment of the present invention

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Example 1]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a print system to which a client computer, a server, and a printing apparatus of a print processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied. The print system according to this embodiment includes one or more client computers 100 (for example, for each user), one or more servers 2000 (for example, installed for each floor), and one or more printers 2500 (for example, installed for each floor). ). Further, the client computer 100, the server 2000, and the printer 2500 are connected via a local area network 3000. The network 3000 includes small-scale to large-scale networks such as a PAN (Personal Area Network) and a LAN (Local Area Network), and these devices are connected to all the networks. Note that servers and printers such as the cloud may be connected over the Internet.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system using a general computer showing an embodiment of the present invention. The CPU 101 controls the entire computer 100 according to a program stored in the ROM 1021, the RAM 1022 of the main storage device 102 or the auxiliary storage device 105.

  The device application 1052 and the driver 1053 that are the points of the present invention are stored in the auxiliary storage device 105, read into the RAM 1022, and executed by the CPU 101. The RAM 1022 is also used as a work area when the CPU 101 performs various processes. The auxiliary storage device 105 stores various programs such as an application (application) 1051, a device application (device application) 1052, a printer driver (driver) 1053, and an operating system (OS) 1054. An input device such as a pointing device (mouse) 109 typified by a keyboard 108 and a mouse / touch panel is connected to the computer 100 through an input I / F 103.

  An output device such as a monitor 110 is connected to the output I / F 104, and a user interface (UI) is displayed on the monitor in accordance with an instruction of the program. These input / output devices accept user operations on the program. The communication I / F 106 is connected to the network 3000 and can communicate with an external device of the computer 100, for example, the server 2000 and the printer 2500 in FIG. The above modules are connected by a common data system bus 107, and data can be exchanged between the modules. The programs 1051 to 1054 can be added to the auxiliary storage device 105 via a CD-ROM (not shown) or a USB memory.

  Further, it can be added to the auxiliary storage device 105 via the network 3000. It should be noted that the present invention can be applied regardless of the configuration of the device as long as the functions of the present invention are executed unless otherwise specified. It may be a single device, a system composed of a plurality of devices, or a system in which processing is performed through a network such as a LAN or WAN.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a software module targeted by the present invention. The basic configuration of the block diagram includes an application 1051, a printing system 10540, a printer driver 1053, a system spooler 10541, and a device application 1052. These software modules are stored in the auxiliary storage device 105, loaded from the auxiliary storage device 105 into the RAM 1022 and executed by the CPU 101 in response to a user request or another system request.

  The application 1051 is a general application such as a word processor or a browser. A UI is displayed on the monitor 110, and a user's print request is accepted by an input device such as the pointing device 109 or the keyboard 108. In response to the user's print request, the application 1051 issues a print request to the print system 10540. The printing system 10540 is a subsystem of the OS 1054. It is located between the application 1051 and the printer driver 1053, and executes common processing in print processing. Specific execution processing includes selection of a printer to be printed, generation of setting information using the selected printer driver 1053, and conversion of the standard document data that can be generally interpreted by the printer into Page Description Language (PDL).

  The printer driver 1053 is a module that is responsible for processing that depends on the print output destination printer. It is roughly divided into two submodules. One is a configuration module 10530 that creates setting-related information, and performs setting information creation processing that can be realized by the printer 2500. The other is a graphics filter 10531. Standard document data that can be generally interpreted by a printer including setting information is received from the application 1051 via the printing system 10540 and converted into PDL that can be interpreted by the printer 2500. The converted PDL is transferred to the system spooler 10541 that is a subsystem of the OS 1054 and is transmitted to the printer 2500.

  The device application 1052 is an auxiliary application for the printer driver 1053. As with the printer driver 1053, software compatible with the printer 2500 can interpret the setting list and setting items unique to each printer driver. The device application 1052 includes a detailed setting display unit 305 and a detailed setting analysis unit 306.

  Here, the outline of the printing process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This processing is started when the application 1051 first issues a print request to the printing system 10540 in response to a print request from the user.

  In step S401, a UI (not shown) indicating a list of printers that can be printed is displayed on the monitor 110 based on information of the printer driver 1053 in which the printing system 10540 is currently installed.

  In step S <b> 402, in response to the user selecting an output printer on the UI indicating the list of printers, the printing system 10540 loads the corresponding printer driver 1053 from the auxiliary storage device 105 to the RAM 1022.

  In step S403, a request is made to generate a list of items that can be set in the printer driver 1053 (hereinafter, setting list 310) and currently set information (hereinafter, setting information 311) via the printing system 10540. These pieces of information are generated by the setting generation unit 300 of the configuration module 10530. Based on the generated setting list 310 and current setting information 311, the printing system 10540 configures the print setting screen 501 of FIG. 5 and displays it on the monitor 110. In step S404, an operation from the user for the print setting screen 501 is accepted. In step S405, the printing system 10540 determines whether the “More Settings” link 502 on the print setting screen 501 has been pressed.

  If it is determined that the “More Settings” link 502 has been pressed, the printing system 10540 calls the device application 1052 in step S406. The processing in step S406 at this time will be described later. If it is determined that the “More Settings” link 602 has not been pressed, the process proceeds to step S407.

  In step S407, the printing system 10540 transfers the current setting information 311 to the printer driver 1053 in response to pressing of the return button 503 on the print setting screen 501.

  In step S <b> 408, the configuration module 10530 of the printer driver 1053 verifies the setting information 311 using the setting analysis unit 301.

  Based on the result of the verification, in step S409, it is determined whether all set values are valid. If valid, the print setting screen 501 is closed, and the process proceeds to step S410. If all the settings are not valid, the process moves to step S404 and accepts a user operation.

  In step S410, the printing system 10540 creates a standard document to be printed, and adds setting information 311. The standard document here refers to a document that can be generally interpreted by a printer, for example, PDL. Then, the standard document data including the setting information 311 is output to the graphics filter 10531.

  In step S411, first, analysis is performed using the standard document data analysis unit 302 received by the graphics filter 10531. Then, the data is converted into PDL that can be interpreted by the printer 2500 using the output data generation unit 303.

  In step S412, the converted PDL is transferred to the system spooler 10541 that is a subsystem of the OS 1054 and transmitted to the printer 2500. By performing the above processing, the printing processing is executed.

  From here, the display processing of the device application 1052 will be described, but before that, the screen of the device application 1052 will be described. The device application 1052 targeted in the embodiment of the present invention has a simple setting screen 601 in FIG. 6 and a full function setting screen 701 in FIG. These two screens can be changed to each other by pressing buttons 602 and 603.

  The device application 1052 includes items for inputting parameters to the device, and each item is called a setting item here. In the example of FIG. 6, setting items 604 for setting the number of copies and setting items 605 for setting the output paper size are setting items. The parameter input to this setting item is called a setting value here. In the example of FIG. 6, in the case of the setting item 605, the parameter “A4” is the setting value. This setting item can be entered by entering text or by operating a spin button, but it can also be entered by displaying a list of settings and allowing the user to select a value.

  Next, the simple setting screen 601 and the full function setting screen 701 will be described. First, the full function setting screen 701 is a setting screen including all functions in the device application 1052, and is a screen suitable for mouse operation.

  Although not all settings are visible on the drawing of FIG. 7, other settings can also be viewed by scrolling and flicking the full function setting screen 701 left and right. Next, a simple setting screen 601 will be described. This is a UI screen that summarizes frequently used functions among the setting items of the full function setting screen 701, and is a screen suitable for touch operation. If the device application is simply set, the full function setting screen 701 is sufficient. However, for this purpose, all setting items existing on the full function setting screen 701 must be moved back and forth, which imposes a burden on the operation. In addition, in most cases there are not many parameters to be set for a single print. From this, the simple setting screen 601 is a screen suitable for touch operation by collecting frequently used functions from each category of the full function setting screen 701.

  The device application calling process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Note that the main component of the flowchart of this embodiment is the device application 1052 unless otherwise specified.

  In step S801, setting information 311 is acquired from the printer driver 1053 via the printing system 10540. Based on the acquired setting information 311, in step S <b> 802, the previously displayed screen is acquired. In this flow, this processing acquires which of the simple setting screen 601 and the full function setting screen 701 was displayed last. At that time, in the case of a mechanism that switches between multiple pages and tabs, the state of the page or tab that was closed last may be acquired, and in the case of a mechanism that involves scrolling, the scroll position may be acquired. To do.

  In step S803, based on the result obtained in the previous step, it is determined whether or not the last displayed screen is the simple setting screen. If the simple setting screen is displayed, the process proceeds to step S804, where simple setting is performed. A screen 601 is displayed. On the other hand, if the simple setting screen is not displayed in step S803, the process proceeds to step S805, where the full function setting screen 701 is displayed.

  In step S806, an input in accordance with the displayed UI is accepted. In step S807, the setting analysis unit 301 is used to verify the setting information 311 generated on the simple setting screen 601 or the full function setting screen 701. In this embodiment, the setting analysis unit 301 is included in the configuration module 10530 of the printer driver 1053, but the setting analysis unit 301 may be included in the device application 1052.

  In step S808, it is determined whether all settings are valid based on the result verified in step S801. If it is determined that the setting is valid, the setting information 311 related to printing and the setting related to the device application including the screen setting displayed previously are saved (S810). If the setting is not valid, the process proceeds to step S809.

  In step S809, invalid settings are resolved. This varies depending on the system and processing system. For example, processing that rounds invalid settings to default values, displays messages related to invalid settings, and displays icons that call attention to invalid settings. Is applicable.

  Through the above procedure, the device application has two types of print setting UIs suitable for different operations: a simple setting UI suitable for touch panel operation and a full function setting UI suitable for mouse operation. Is displayed.

  As a result, it is not necessary for the user to manually open the simple setting UI or the full function setting UI every time, so that the operability in the print setting UI is improved.

[Example 2]
In the second embodiment, a device application calling process considering the user environment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Note that, unless otherwise specified, the device application 1052 is the subject of the processing in this flowchart.

  Steps S901 and S904 to S910 in FIG. 9 are the same as steps S801 and S804 to S810 in FIG.

  In step S902, user environment information is acquired. In this flow, information on whether a mouse is connected to the client computer 100 is acquired. Specifically, mouse information is acquired by using an InterfaceClassGuid of Application Programming Interface (API) prepared by the OS.

  In step S903, based on the result obtained in the previous step, it is determined whether or not to display a print setting UI suitable for mouse operation. If it is determined in step S902 that the mouse information has been acquired, it is determined that the print setting UI suitable for the mouse operation is displayed, and the process proceeds to step S905, where the full function setting screen 701 is displayed.

  On the other hand, in step S903, if the mouse information is not acquired in step S902, it is determined that the print setting UI suitable for the mouse operation is not displayed, the process proceeds to step S904, and the easy setting screen 601 is displayed. .

  Through the above procedure, the device application determines whether or not to display a print setting UI suitable for mouse operation, and displays a full function setting UI suitable for mouse operation or an easy setting UI suitable for touch operation.

As a result, the print setting UI in consideration of the user environment is displayed, so that the operability of the print setting UI is improved.
[Other Examples]
In the second embodiment, information indicating whether the mouse is connected to the client computer 100 is acquired, and it is determined whether or not to display a print setting UI suitable for the mouse operation based on the information. It is also possible to store information on the mouse operation or touch operation that was last operated, and determine whether or not to display a print setting UI suitable for the mouse operation based on the information.

100 client computers, 2000 servers, 2500 printers

Claims (4)

In a device application (1052) having two or more types of print setting UIs suitable for different operations,
Means (S801) for acquiring print setting information of an application to be printed;
Print setting screen acquisition means (S802) for acquiring the print setting screen displayed previously;
In the print setting screen acquisition unit, a print setting screen determination unit (S803) that determines whether the acquired print setting screen of the previous display is a print setting screen;
Means (S804) for displaying the print setting screen when the print setting screen is a print setting screen having a print setting screen displayed last time in the print setting screen determining means;
An information processing method and program characterized by comprising: The information processing method and program according to claim 1, wherein the certain print setting screen is a print setting screen suitable for touch operation. In a device application (1052) having two or more types of print setting UIs suitable for different operations,
Means (S901) for acquiring print setting information of an application to be printed;
Environment information acquisition means (S902) for acquiring user environment information;
In the environment information acquisition means, a print setting screen determination means (S903) for determining whether or not to display a print setting screen suitable for an operation based on the acquired environment information;
Means for displaying a print setting screen suitable for the operation when the print setting screen determining means determines that the environment information is suitable for the operation (S904);
An information processing method and program characterized by comprising: 4. The information processing method and program according to claim 3, wherein the print setting screen suitable for a mouse operation is suitable for a certain operation.