JP2018114763A - Printing device, method for controlling printing device, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To count the number of printing for prescribed printing protocol by distinguishing software of a transmission source while counting the number of printing for each sort of printing protocol.SOLUTION: If printing protocol of a received printing job is not IPP, the number of printing is counted by classifying a sort of printing protocol. If printing protocol of a received printing job is IPP, the number of printing is counted by identifying an application of the transmission source and distinguishing the application of the transmission source.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a printing apparatus control method, and a program.

  Printing apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals and printers support various printing protocols. Printing protocols include IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), RAW, LPR, and the like. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151561 discloses a configuration for managing received print jobs by classifying them according to the type of print protocol.

JP 2003-80807 A

  The printing apparatus counts the number of times of printing for each type of printing protocol. However, the conventional printing apparatus simply counts the number of times of printing for each type of printing protocol as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-260260. Even if a plurality of software such as the first application and the second application transmit a print job to the printing apparatus, these software are not distinguished. When a plurality of software using the same printing protocol transmits a print job to the printing apparatus, these software are not distinguished, and are counted together as printing using the same printing protocol.

  Therefore, the present invention has an object of counting the number of times of printing for a specific printing protocol by distinguishing the transmission source software.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a printing apparatus provided by the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives a print job transmitted from an external device, and a printing unit that executes printing based on the print job received by the receiving unit. A first specifying unit that specifies the type of print protocol of the print job received by the receiving unit, a second specifying unit that specifies software of a transmission source of the print job received by the receiving unit, and the first When the type of the print protocol specified by the specifying means is a specific print protocol, the number of times of printing based on the print job is counted by distinguishing the transmission source software according to the specific result by the second specifying means, When the type of the printing protocol specified by the first specifying unit is not the specific printing protocol, the first specifying unit That according to a particular result, characterized in that it comprises a counting means for counting the number of times of printing based on the print job is classified into the type of printing protocol.

  According to the present invention, for a specific printing protocol, the number of times of printing can be counted by distinguishing the software of the transmission source.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows a setting screen. It is a figure explaining the other setting changed in conjunction about the changed setting. It is a figure which shows the response with respect to the search packet of mDNS. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement regarding the printing of IPP. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed when performing printing. It is a flowchart which shows an application specific process. It is a figure which shows the counter 800. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of an application specific process.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention.

(Embodiment 1)
First, the configuration of the printing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Although the printing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is assumed to be a multifunction peripheral, it may be a printer that does not have a scanner function.

  The CPU 101 reads a control program stored in the ROM 102 and executes various processes for controlling the operation of the printing apparatus 100. The ROM 102 stores a control program. The RAM 103 is used as a temporary storage area such as a main memory and a work area for the CPU 101. The HDD 104 stores various data such as a scan image and counter information described later.

  In the case of the printing apparatus 100, it is assumed that one CPU 101 executes each process shown in the flowchart described later, but other modes may be used. For example, a plurality of CPUs can cooperate to execute each process shown in a flowchart described later.

  The printer 105 executes printing on a sheet based on print data such as a print job received from an external device or a scan image generated by the scanner 106. The execution count of printing is stored in the HDD 104 as count information described later. The scanner 106 reads a document and generates a scanned image. A scan image generated by the scanner 106 is printed by the printer 105 or stored in the HDD 104.

  The operation unit 107 includes a liquid crystal display unit having a touch panel function and a keyboard, and displays various screens to be described later. A user can input instructions and information to the printing apparatus 100 via the operation unit 107.

  A network I / F 108 is connected to the network 110 and executes communication with an external device. The network I / F 108 may be a wired I / F that connects a LAN work cable, or may be a wireless I / F that performs wireless communication such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The network I / F 108 receives a print job transmitted from an external device such as a PC or a portable terminal (for example, a smartphone), and the printer 105 executes printing based on the received print job.

  Next, the print application of this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, two applications A and B are assumed as printing applications. These applications are installed in an external device such as the above-described PC or mobile terminal.

  Application A uses IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) as a print protocol, and transmits image data having a format of pwg-raster as a print job. On the other hand, the application B uses IPP as a print protocol and transmits image data having a format of PDF as a print job. As described above, the application A and the application B are different in the format of image data handled in the print job, but the print protocol to be used is IPP. In this embodiment, when a print job is received with the same print protocol, the object is to distinguish the application from which the print job is received and to count the number of executions of printing.

  Next, various print settings including settings related to application A and application B will be described with reference to FIG. A setting screen 200 in FIG. 2A is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107, and is used by the user to make print settings. In the items 201 to 205, “application A setting”, “application B setting”, “IPP setting”, “HTTP setting”, and “mDNS setting” are displayed as setting items. When the user selects a predetermined item on the setting screen 200 by, for example, a touch operation, the operation unit 107 displays a screen related to the selected setting item.

  A setting screen 210 in FIG. 2B is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107 when the item 201 is selected. This setting screen 210 is used by the user to set whether or not to permit execution of printing using the application A. When “ON” is set on the setting screen 210, the printing apparatus 100 executes printing using the application A (executes printing based on the print job transmitted from the application A). On the other hand, when “OFF” is set on the setting screen 210, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute printing using the application A (does not execute printing based on the print job transmitted from the application A).

  A setting screen 220 in FIG. 2C is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107 when the item 202 is selected. This setting screen 220 is used for the user to set whether or not to permit execution of printing using the application B. When “ON” is set on the setting screen 220, the printing apparatus 100 executes printing using the application B (executes printing based on the print job transmitted from the application B). On the other hand, when “OFF” is set on the setting screen 220, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute printing using the application B (does not execute printing based on the print job transmitted from the application B).

  A setting screen 230 in FIG. 2D is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107 when the item 203 is selected. This setting screen 230 is used by the user to set whether or not to execute printing using IPP. When “ON” is set on the setting screen 230, the printing apparatus 100 executes printing using IPP (printing based on a print job received by IPP). On the other hand, when “OFF” is set on the setting screen 230, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute printing using IPP (printing based on a print job received by IPP).

  A setting screen 240 in FIG. 2E is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107 when the item 204 is selected. This setting screen 240 is used by the user to set whether or not to execute communication based on HTTP. When “ON” is set on the setting screen 240, the printing apparatus 100 executes communication based on HTTP. On the other hand, when “OFF” is set on the setting screen 240, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute communication based on HTTP.

  A setting screen 250 in FIG. 2F is a screen displayed by the operation unit 107 when the item 205 is selected. This setting screen 240 is used by the user to set whether to execute communication based on mDNS (Multicast DNS). When “ON” is set on the setting screen 250, the printing apparatus 100 executes communication based on mDNS. On the other hand, when “OFF” is set on the setting screen 250, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute communication based on mDNS.

  As described above, the user can set the printing apparatus 100 by using the setting screen described with reference to FIG. For example, the user can set whether to permit both printing using the application A and printing using the application B, or prohibiting one or both. The setting using the setting screen of FIG. 2 may be performed only by a specific user (for example, a system administrator) by introducing an authentication function into the printing apparatus 100.

  In this embodiment, in order to execute printing using the application A and the application B, it is necessary to set the IPP setting, the HTTP setting, and the mDNS setting to “ON”, respectively. If these settings are individually set by the user, the user's labor will increase, and the general user may not understand that these settings need to be set to “ON” in the first place. There is sex. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the IPP setting, the HTTP setting, and the mDNS setting are automatically set to “ON” in conjunction with the application A setting and the application B setting being “ON”. This process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the processing indicated by 301 in FIG. 3 will be described. Assume that the user sets the application A setting to “ON” on the setting screen 210. At this time, the printing apparatus 100 automatically changes the IPP setting, HTTP setting, and mDNS setting necessary to execute printing using the application A to “ON”. Thereby, the trouble of the user changing the setting individually is eliminated. Further, even if the user does not accurately grasp the settings necessary for printing using the application A, the printing apparatus 100 can automatically change to appropriate settings.

  Next, the processing described in 302 of FIG. 3 will be described. Assume that the user sets the application B setting to “ON” on the setting screen 220. At this time, the printing apparatus 100 also automatically changes the IPP setting, HTTP setting, and mDNS setting necessary for executing printing using the application B to “ON”. Thereby, the trouble of the user changing the setting individually is eliminated. Further, even if the user does not accurately grasp the settings necessary for printing using the application B, the printing apparatus 100 can automatically change to appropriate settings.

  As described above, when the user sets the application A setting or the application B setting to “ON”, the printing apparatus 100 automatically changes the IPP setting, the HTTP setting, and the mDNS setting to “ON”. can do. In the case of the printing apparatus 100, even if the user changes the application A setting or the application B setting to “OFF”, the IPP setting, the HTTP setting, and the mDNS setting are not linked to “OFF” (303 in FIG. 3). 304). This is because the IPP setting, HTTP setting, and mDNS setting may be related to settings different from the application A setting and application B setting.

  Next, the relationship between the application A setting and / or the application B setting and the mDNS operation will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, mDNS is used for an external device such as a PC or a mobile terminal to search for a printing device.

  The process described in 401 of FIG. 4 will be described. When both the application A setting and the application B setting are set to “OFF”, the printing apparatus 100 does not respond to the received search packet even if it receives the mDNS search packet.

  Next, the process described at 402 in FIG. 4 will be described. If the application A setting is set to “OFF” and the application B setting is set to “ON”, the printing apparatus 100 supports the application B when receiving the mDNS search packet. respond. Since the application A setting is set to “OFF”, the printing apparatus 100 does not respond that the application A is supported.

  Next, the process described at 403 in FIG. 4 will be described. When the application A setting is set to “ON” and the application B setting is set to “OFF”, the printing apparatus 100 supports the application A when receiving the mDNS search packet. respond. Since the application B setting is set to “OFF”, the printing apparatus 100 does not respond that the application B is supported.

  Next, the process described in 404 of FIG. 4 will be described. When both the application A setting and the application B setting are set to “ON”, the printing apparatus 100 responds that it supports both the application A and the application B when receiving the mDNS search packet. .

  As described above, the printing apparatus 100 can switch processing when an mDNS search packet is received according to the application A setting and the application B setting.

  Next, processing when printing by IPP will be described with reference to FIG. When the external apparatus performs printing by IPP, the application of the external apparatus inquires of the printing apparatus 100 about a supported image format. Upon receiving the inquiry, the printing apparatus 100 responds to the inquiry according to the application A setting and the application B setting.

  First, the processing described in 501 of FIG. 5 will be described. If both the application A setting and the application B setting are set to “OFF”, the printing apparatus 100 does not respond to the inquiry even if it receives an IPP inquiry. Even if a print job is received from either application A or application B, the printing apparatus 100 does not execute printing based on the received print job. Note that it is necessary to determine whether the print job is transmitted from the application A or the application B when the print job is received by the IPP. The determination method is described in the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 to be described later. explain in detail.

  Next, the processing indicated by 502 in FIG. 5 will be described. When the application A setting is set to “OFF” and the application B setting is set to “ON”, when receiving an IPP inquiry, the printing apparatus 100 returns a PDF as a supported image format. The printing apparatus 100 executes printing based on the print job received from the application B without executing printing based on the print job received from the application A.

  Next, the process described at 503 in FIG. 5 will be described. When the application A setting is set to “ON” and the application B setting is set to “OFF”, when receiving an IPP inquiry, the printing apparatus 100 returns pwg-raster as a supported image format. To do. The printing apparatus 100 executes printing based on the print job received from the application A, and does not execute printing based on the print job received from the application B.

  Next, the process described at 504 in FIG. 5 will be described. When both the application A setting and the application B setting are set to “ON”, when receiving an IPP inquiry, the printing apparatus 100 responds with PDF and pwg-raster as supported image formats. Even if the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job from either the application A or the application B, the printing apparatus 100 executes printing based on the received print job.

  As described above, the printing apparatus 100 can switch operations related to IPP printing according to the application A setting and the application B setting.

  Next, processing executed when the printing apparatus 100 executes printing will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7. Each step shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 is processed by the CPU 101 developing and executing a control program stored in a memory such as the ROM 102 on the RAM 103.

  In the case of this embodiment, an external device such as a PC or a mobile terminal transmits a print job to the printing apparatus 100 via the network 110. An external device uses various printing protocols such as IPP, RAW, and LPR when transmitting a print job. First, in step S601, the network I / F 108 receives a print job transmitted from an external device. In step S602, the CPU 101 determines whether the print protocol of the received print job is IPP. The determination of the print protocol is performed based on the reception port number, for example. If the CPU 101 determines in step S602 that the print protocol of the received print job is IPP, the process proceeds to step S603. On the other hand, if the CPU 101 determines in step S602 that the print protocol of the received print job is not IPP, the process proceeds to step S611.

  Next, step S603 will be described. In step S <b> 603, the CPU 101 executes an application specifying process to specify an application that is a transmission source of a print job received by IPP. This application specifying process will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a subflow for explaining the application specifying process in step S603 of FIG. In step S701, the CPU 101 analyzes the received print job and determines whether or not the format of the image data included in the print job is pwg-raster. The determination of the format of the image data is performed by analyzing header information of the image data, for example. If it is determined that the format of the image data included in the print job is pwg-raster, the process proceeds to step S702. In step S <b> 702, the CPU 101 specifies that the transmission source application is the application A.

  On the other hand, if the format of the image data included in the print job is PDF, for example, the CPU 101 determines that the format of the image data included in the print job is not pwg-raster in step S701, and the process proceeds to step S703. In step S <b> 703, the CPU 101 specifies that the transmission source application is the application B.

  As described above, by executing the application specifying process described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7, the printing apparatus 100 can specify the transmission source application of the print job received by the IPP. When the transmission source application of the print job received by IPP is specified, the process returns to FIG. 6 and proceeds to step S604.

  Next, step S604 will be described. In step S604, the CPU 101 determines whether the transmission source application is the application A according to the result of the application specifying process executed in step S603. If the CPU 101 determines that the transmission source application is the application A in step S604, the process proceeds to step S605. On the other hand, when the CPU 101 determines in step S604 that the transmission source application is not the application A, that is, the transmission source application is the application B, the process proceeds to step S608.

  Next, step S605 will be described. In step S605, the CPU 101 determines whether the application A setting is ON. If the application A setting is set to ON, the CPU 101 determines that the application A setting is ON in step S605, and the process proceeds to step S606. On the other hand, if the application A setting is set to OFF, the CPU 101 determines that the application A setting is not ON in step S605, and the process shown in the flowchart ends without executing printing based on the received print job.

  Next, step S606 will be described. In step S606, the printer 105 executes printing based on the received print job. When printing is performed in step S606, printing is performed in the image processing mode for application A. The image processing mode for application A is predetermined according to the use of application A. For example, when the application A is often used for printing an image image such as a photograph, the image processing mode for the application A is preset with an image processing mode giving priority to the image quality of the image.

  When printing is executed in step S606, the process proceeds to step S607. In step S607, the CPU 101 updates the counter 800 that counts the number of times of printing. This counter will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  A counter 800 illustrated in FIG. 8 is a counter for classifying and counting the number of times printing is performed according to a printing protocol, and is stored in the HDD 104. In the present embodiment, “RAW Print” (item 801) using RAW, “LPR Print” (item 802) using LPR, “IPP Print” (item 803) using IPP, and other printing protocols are shown. It is classified into four types of “others” (item 806) and counted. In the present embodiment, the IPP Print is characterized by further counting whether the transmission source application is the application A or the application B (item 804 and item 805).

  When the process of step S607 is executed, the received print job uses IPP, and the transmission source application is application A. Accordingly, in step S607, the value of item 803 and the value of item 804 are each incremented by one.

  Next, step S608 will be described. In step S608, the CPU 101 determines whether the application B setting is ON. If the application B setting is set to ON, the CPU 101 determines that the application B setting is ON in step S608, and the process proceeds to step S609. On the other hand, if the application B setting is set to OFF, the CPU 101 determines that the application B setting is not ON in step S608, and the process shown in the flowchart ends without executing printing based on the received print job.

  Next, step S609 will be described. In step S609, the printer 105 executes printing based on the received print job. When printing is performed in step S609, printing is performed in the image processing mode for application B. The image processing mode for application B is predetermined according to the use of application B. For example, when the application B is often used for printing business documents such as Word, the image processing mode for the application B is preset with an image processing mode giving priority to the image quality of characters.

  When printing is executed in step S609, the process proceeds to step S610. In step S610, the CPU 101 updates the counter 800. In step S610, the value of item 803 and the value of item 805 are each incremented by one.

  Next, step S611 will be described. In step S611, the printer 105 executes printing based on the received print job. At this time, the print protocol of the print job is not IPP. When printing is executed, in step S612, the CPU 101 updates the counter 800. In step S612, the value of the item corresponding to the print protocol of the print job is incremented by one. For example, if the print protocol is RAW, the value of the item 801 is increased by 1, and if the print protocol is LPR, the value of the item 802 is increased by 1.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, while counting the number of times of printing for each type of printing protocol, it is possible to count the number of times of printing with respect to IPP while distinguishing the transmission source application.

  In addition, with the development of cloud services and the spread of touch printing using NFC, IPP is expected to be used for various printing services. Therefore, by counting the number of times of printing by distinguishing the transmission source application for IPP, the system administrator and the manufacturer of the printing apparatus 100 can grasp how the printing apparatus 100 is used.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 7, the transmission source application is distinguished based on the format of the image data included in the print job. However, the method of distinguishing the transmission source application is not limited to the method described in the first embodiment. A method different from the method described in the first embodiment will be described as a second embodiment.

  FIG. 9 is a sub-flow for explaining the application specifying process in step S603 in FIG. 6, and is a modification of the process explained in FIG. Each step shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is processed by the CPU 101 developing and executing a control program stored in a memory such as the ROM 102 in the RAM 103.

  When an external apparatus such as a PC or a mobile terminal transmits a print job to the printing apparatus 100 using IPP, the external apparatus first transmits an HTTP request to the printing apparatus 100. In the present embodiment, a transmission source application is specified based on the HTTP request.

  In step S901, the CPU 101 analyzes the received HTTP request and determines whether predetermined information is included in the received HTTP request. For example, if “ApplicationA” indicating application A is included in the UserAgent of the HTTP header, the CPU 101 determines that the HTTP request received in step S901 includes predetermined information, and the process proceeds to step S702. On the other hand, when “applicationA” is not included in the UserAgent of the HTTP header, the CPU 101 determines that the HTTP request received in step S901 does not include predetermined information, and the process proceeds to step S703.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the transmission source application can be distinguished based on the HTTP request for printing using IPP.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration is described in which the application of the transmission source is distinguished by the description of the User Agent of the HTTP request. However, the information may be distinguished using information other than the User Agent. For example, when attribute information indicating the application A is included in the HTTP request, it may be determined in S901 that the transmission source application is the application A.

(Other embodiments)
In each of the above-described embodiments, the configuration in which the transmission source application is specified when the print protocol of the received print job is IPP has been described, but other forms may be used. In the case of a specific printing protocol different from IPP, for example, LPR, the transmission source application may be specified.

  Moreover, although each embodiment mentioned above demonstrated the process (FIG. 7 and FIG. 9) for specifying the transmission origin application, the object to specify is not limited to an application. For example, the software of the transmission source may be specified like the type of OS and the printing function installed in the OS.

  Further, the present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus execute the program. It can also be realized by a process of reading and executing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

100 Printing apparatus 101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
104 HDD

Claims (6)

Receiving means for receiving a print job transmitted from an external device;
Printing means for executing printing based on the print job received by the receiving means;
First specifying means for specifying a print protocol type of a print job received by the receiving means;
Second specifying means for specifying the transmission source software of the print job received by the receiving means;
When the type of the print protocol specified by the first specifying unit is a specific print protocol, the number of times of printing based on the print job is determined according to the specific result by the second specifying unit, by distinguishing the source software. When the print protocol type specified by the first specifying unit is not the specific print protocol, the print job is classified into the print protocol types according to the specific result by the first specifying unit. And a counting means for counting the number of times of printing based on the printing apparatus.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second specifying unit specifies software that is a transmission source of the print job based on a type of image data included in the print job.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second specifying unit specifies software that is a transmission source of the print job based on information included in the received HTTP request.   When the printing protocol specified by the first specifying unit is IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), the counting unit distinguishes the print source software according to the specific result by the second specifying unit, and print job When the printing protocol specified by the first specifying unit is not IPP, the counting unit classifies the printing protocol according to the specific result by the first specifying unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of times of printing based on the print job is counted. A receiving step for receiving a print job transmitted from an external device;
A printing step for executing printing based on the print job received in the receiving step;
A first specifying step of specifying the type of print protocol of the print job received in the receiving step;
A second specifying step of specifying software of a transmission source of the print job received in the receiving step;
When the type of the print protocol specified in the first specific step is a specific print protocol, the number of times of printing based on the print job is distinguished according to the specific result in the second specific step and the source software is distinguished. When the print protocol type specified in the first specific step is not the specific print protocol, the print job is classified into the print protocol types according to the specific result in the first specific step. And a counting step for counting the number of times of printing based on the printing apparatus.   A program for causing a computer to execute the control method for a printing apparatus according to claim 5.

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