JP2018180747A - Information processing apparatus, print plug-in, printing system, and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display an error status of a printer on a screen of a printing system and notify a user of the same.SOLUTION: A print plug-in determines from an OS API whether a printing system mounts a custom text function and an information icon function, and notifies the printing system of a present status of a printer if the printing system mounts the custom text function and the information icon function. Further, if the status obtained from the printer is an error status, the plug-in notifies the printer of a message for attaching an information button to the printer, and when a user presses the information button, the web browser screen is activated to display a screen for confirming a detailed error status of the printer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a print plug-in, a printing system, and a control method.

  BACKGROUND There is a technology for transmitting print data to a printer in a mobile OS (Operating System). For example, as an OS installed in a mobile terminal such as Android (registered trademark), there is a "printing system" that provides a printing function common to each application (hereinafter referred to as an application). The printing system has a mechanism that allows each printer vendor called "print plug-in" to add in dependent processing for adapting to their own print processing apparatus in a plug-in form. For example, Canon Print Service (registered trademark) is provided as a "print plug-in" for Android, and can be downloaded from Google Play (registered trademark) and installed.

  The print plug-in displays a list of printers supported on the same network and supported by the print plug-in, and after accepting a change in print settings, sends a Printer Description Language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) to the print processing apparatus. Can be sent.

  At this time, the user makes desired settings from the print setting UI and prints. However, in the printing system of the OS standard in the mobile OS, since the I / F between the printing system and the printing plug-in is decided, the customizable property of the UI is low, and there is a problem from the viewpoint of usability.

  In addition, the Android OS has different printing system I / F depending on the version. For example, according to the printing system I / F of Android 7.0 or later, an I / F that displays a free character string in one line is installed for each printer, or an I / F that adds an information button to the printer is installed. In addition, there is an I / F that displays a free screen when the information button is pressed for each printer.

  Also, when accessing from a web browser to the IP address of a general printer, many printers have a server function called "Remote UI", and can check the detailed status of the printer via the web browser. it can.

  According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-112118, a printer driver acquires a setting condition of print setting of a user, and switches display / non-display of setting items in comparison with a predetermined condition.

JP 2007-279894 A

  As described above, the printing system of the OS standard in the mobile OS has problems in terms of usability. It is important how to display information in a limited display area in order to display information about the printer and the user in an easy-to-understand manner to the user. For example, since the printing system does not have a standard I / F for displaying the status of the printer, the user can not know what the printer is currently in. Therefore, after printing to the selected printer, the user may first know from the printing progress that the printer has made an error.

  It is an object of the present invention to display the status of the printer on the print setting screen and to display the status of the printer before printing.

  In order to solve the above problems, I / F (hereinafter, custom text function) is installed to obtain the version of Android OS equipped with the printing system, and the printing system sets a one-line character string for each printer. If the printer is equipped with an information button for the printer and an I / F (hereinafter referred to as an information icon function) for displaying a free screen, it is determined that the printer is used. The IN acquires simultaneously the printer status when searching for a printer, notifies the printing system of the status of the printer with a one-line character string, and if the status acquired from the printer is in an error state, further information to the printer Make a notification to put a button, the user If the user presses the button to launch the web browser screen, to display a screen where you can check the detailed status of the printer.

  According to the present invention, by determining the version of the mobile OS and reflecting the information acquired from the printer on the printing system UI, the status of the printer can be displayed on the printing system before the user prints. If there is an error, more detailed information can be provided to the user.

It is a whole block diagram of a present Example. It is a hardware block diagram of an information processing terminal and a printer. It is a software block diagram of an information processing terminal and a printer. It is a figure which shows UI screen of the printing system of an information processing terminal. FIG. 2 is a view showing a printer list of the printing system. It is a flow chart which shows processing of printing plug-in. This is a print setting screen in which printer information is notified by the custom text function and display is updated. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an expansion setting screen of the printing system in the second embodiment. 15 is a flowchart showing processing of a print plug-in in the second embodiment.

Example 1
First, the overall configuration of the system in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of hardware in the present embodiment. In the present system, an information processing terminal 110 and a printer A 120 are connected by a network 100. At this time, there may be a plurality of information processing terminals and printers on the network.

  The network 100 is a standard network, and may be in the form of either the Internet or an intranet. The connection method may be any connection form as long as the information processing terminal 110 and the printer A 120 are connected to each other on the network. For example, there is a method of forming a network via a Wi-Fi router, a method of directly connecting the information processing terminal 110 and the printer A 120 by Wi-Fi direct, and the like.

  Next, configurations of the information processing terminal 110 and the printer A 120 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing terminal 110 is a normal mobile terminal such as a PDA (Personal Data Assistant) or a smartphone, and is an information processing apparatus in which an operating system for a small terminal and a program for controlling a call and data communication are operating. The information processing terminal 110 can perform wireless communication or wired communication using the network controller 114. Each component of hardware in the information processing terminal 110 is connected to the system bus 119.

  The ROM 112 is a non-volatile storage device, and the OS in the information processing terminal 110, an application for controlling call and data communication, and various operation mode settings and operations that need to be maintained even after the information processing terminal 110 is restarted. Logs etc. are stored. Examples of the application for controlling data communication stored in the ROM 112 include Mail software and a web browser. The information stored in the ROM 112 is processed by the CPU 111. Further, the CPU 111 executes the processing based on the program stored in the ROM 112, whereby the software configuration of the information processing terminal 110 as shown in FIG. 3 and the processing of each step of the flowchart to be described later are realized.

  The RAM 113 is a work memory area for executing a program. It is also a memory for temporarily storing image information and the like generated by the application at the time of printing.

  The network controller 114 is for controlling network communication, and Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, 3G / 4G which is a public line, wired LAN connection or the like is used for communication.

  The display control unit 115 controls information output on the display 117 of the information processing terminal 110. The input control unit 116 controls information designated by the user via the button, the touch panel, or the like in the input unit 118 of the information processing terminal 110. The application of the information processing terminal 110 uses the display control unit 115 to provide the user with network communication information and various information of the information processing terminal 110.

  The printer A 120 is an example of an image processing apparatus. The network I / F 121 is used to connect to the information processing terminal 110 via the network 100. The printer A 120 can communicate with the information processing terminal 110 via the network I / F 121, and can notify the information processing terminal 110 of the information in the printer A 120.

  A system bus 126 connects each device. The CPU 122 outputs an image signal as output information to the printer engine 125 connected to the system bus 126 based on the control program stored in the ROM 124. Further, the CPU 122 executes processing based on an application program or the like stored in the ROM 124. The RAM 123 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 122. The RAM 123 is used for execution of control programs, an output information expansion area, an environmental data storage area, an NVRAM, and the like. The ROM 124 stores a control program of the CPU 122, font data used when generating the output information, information used on the printer A 120, and the like. The printer engine 125 outputs an image signal as output information.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining software configurations of the information processing terminal 110 and the printer A 120 in the present embodiment.

  First, the software configuration of the information processing terminal 110 will be described. Each module constituting the information processing terminal 110 is a program module existing as a file stored in the ROM 112. Then, it is loaded into the RAM 113 and executed by a module that uses the OS or its module at the time of execution.

  The printing system 210 provides a common printing interface to each application such as the application A 211. The application can implement the printing function provided by the printing plug-in D 213, the printing plug-in E 214, and the like by implementing the interface defined in the printing system 210. At this time, the printing system 210 instructs the print plug-in such as the print plug-in D 213 or the print plug-in E 214 to print or search.

  The application A 211 and the application B 212 are general applications that operate on the OS of the information processing terminal 110, and include applications such as a web browser, a PDF viewer, an Office viewer, a photo application, and a mail application. Also, any number of these applications may be connected to the printing system 210. The application A 211 and the application B 212 have implemented the print interface defined in the print system 210, and can use the print function using each print plug-in.

  The print plug-in D 213 and the print plug-in E 214 are examples of the print plug-in, and exist as services for providing the printing system 210 with functions such as printing and searching. The print plug-in is a mechanism that allows each printer vendor to add in dependent processes for adapting to their own print processing apparatus in a plug-in form. The functions provided by the print plug-in D 213 and the print plug-in E 214 to the print system 210 include a printer search function, a print function, a print setting function, a status notification function, etc. on the network, and multiple print plug-ins are installed. There is also.

  The print plug-in E 214 includes various modules from the print job generation module 215 to the network module 218.

  The print job generation module 215 receives PDF format data from the print system 210 and generates PDL data printable by the printer A 120 from the information in the ROM 112 and the RAM 113. PDL data is an example of a file format that can be printed by the printer A 120. The UI display module 216 is for displaying a setting screen specific to the print plug-in E 214. For example, it has a screen for displaying EULA, a screen for performing extension setting, and a function for displaying a dialog. A communication management module 217 controls communication of the print plug-in E 214, and manages printer capability acquisition and status acquisition, printer search, and transmission of PDL data generated by the print job generation module 215. The network module 218 is a module for connecting the print plug-in E 214 and a printer such as the printer A 120, and provides a function of communicating with an external device using a protocol such as HTTP, SNMP, or SLP.

  Next, the software configuration of the printer A 120 will be described. The network module 200 is a module that performs communication between the printer A 120 and the information processing terminal 110, and provides a function of communicating with an external device using a protocol such as HTTP, SNMP, mDNS, or IPP. The print processing module 201 is a module for generating image data from PDL to execute printing and sending drawing data to the printer engine 125.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the screen of the printing system 210 activated from the application A 211 or the like. In FIG. 4, when the printer display area 401 is pressed, the printer list screen on the network shown in FIG. 5 is displayed, and the currently selected printer can be switched to another printer. Reference numeral 402 denotes a button for transitioning to an extension setting screen described later, and is pressed when setting other than the items that can be set in FIG. 4 is performed. Reference numeral 403 denotes a print button. When pressed, the print plug-in E 214 performs processing for transmitting a print job to the printer A 120 using the print job generation module 215 and the communication management module 217.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a printer list screen displayed when the printer display area 401 in FIG. 4 is pressed, and a list of printers on the network is displayed. When a normal broadcast search is performed, the printers found by the search are displayed in a list format, as shown at 501.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing in the present embodiment. In step S601, in response to an instruction from the printing system 210, the print plug-in E 214 starts search processing. The search process is to broadcast a packet for search from the communication management module 217 and the network module 218 to a network inside or outside the same network, and further waits for a response from the printer A 120. Unicast packets may be sent to a printer already registered in the print plug-in E 214.

  In step S602, information acquisition is performed on the printer that has responded to the search packet transmitted in step S601. By acquiring information, it is possible to acquire basic information such as the printer status, IP address, Mac address, Remote UI function, and corresponding function. It is assumed that the communication of the SNMP protocol is performed for the information acquisition, and the printer corresponds to the information acquisition of the SNMP protocol in principle.

  In S603, version information of the installed mobile OS is acquired. You can get version information by using Android SDK API. In step S604, it is determined from the OS version acquired in step S603 whether the printing system 210 has a custom text function and whether it has an information icon function. For example, in Android OS, the above-mentioned function is installed from Android 7.0.

  If the OS does not support the custom text function and the information icon function in S604, there is no I / F for the print plug-in E 214 to notify the printer system 210 of information related to the printer as a character string. Only the unique ID is notified to the printing system 210, and the search processing ends.

  If the mobile OS supports the custom text function and the information icon function in step S604, the process advances to step S606, and it is determined from the printer information acquired in step S602 whether the printer is in an error state. For example, if there is no toner, a paper jam, or any other error, it is determined that an error has occurred. If the printer is not in an error state, the process advances to step S607.

  In step S607, in addition to the printer name and the printer unique ID, the custom text function is notified of information that the printer is "ready" in the form of a character string, and the search processing is completed. As a result of this processing, the display is as shown in 502 of FIG. 5 and 701 of FIG. 7 and the user has not made an error from the printer list of the printing system 210 shown in FIG. 5 or the print setting screen of FIG. It can confirm that it is a state.

  If the printer is in error in step S606, the process advances to step S608, and it is determined from the printer information acquired in step S602 whether the printer is compatible with the remote UI.

  If it corresponds to the Remote UI in step S608, the process advances to step S609 to notify the custom text function of the content of the printer error as a string, and further notify the user of the error details to the IP of the printer acquired in step S602. From the address, a screen for displaying the Remote UI is generated, and notification is performed so that the screen of the Remote UI can be displayed by the information icon function. Further, the printer name and the unique ID of the printer are notified to the printing system 210, and the search processing is ended. When this notification is made, an information icon is attached to the printer name as indicated by 503 in FIG. 5, and the user can confirm the details of the printer error from the Remote UI screen by tapping the icon. Also, information indicating that an error occurs is similarly displayed in 701 of FIG.

  If it does not correspond to the Remote UI in S608, the process transits to S610, and in order to notify the user that the printer is in an error state, the error content of the printer is passed as a character string to the custom text function. The unique ID is notified and the search process is ended. The display at this time is as shown at 504 in FIG. 5, and the error content is similarly displayed at 701 in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a print setting screen in which the printer information is notified by the custom text function in the present embodiment and the display is updated.

  By determining the version of the mobile OS and reflecting the information acquired from the printer on the printing system 210 UI by the above processing, the status of the printer can be displayed on the printing system 210 before the user performs printing. If there is an error, more detailed information can be provided to the user.

(Example 2)
In the first embodiment, the printer information is acquired, and if the printer is in an error state, the display is performed, and the user can confirm the detailed information of the error by the remote UI.

  In the first embodiment, the printer information can be transmitted to the user, but the information that the user wants to know is not only the printer error information. For example, the user may forget the contents set on the extended setting screen described later. At this time, the print plug-in E 214 uses the custom text function to display the contents set on the extension setting screen, thereby eliminating the need for the user to transit to the extension setting screen and check the contents of the extension setting. it can.

  In the first embodiment, when the printer does not have an error, by displaying the setting contents of the extended setting screen instead of displaying the information of preparation completion, the user can know the contents of the error when the printer has an error. If the printer is not in error, the user can know the contents set in the extended settings.

  In this embodiment, the object of the present invention is to notify the user of the content of the error when the printer has an error according to the first embodiment, and to notify the user of the items set on the extension setting screen when the printer has no error.

  FIG. 8 is an example of the extension setting screen, and transition can be made when 402 is pressed on the print setting screen of FIG. The extension setting screen can be prepared for each printer, and the settings associated with the printer can be stored. In the extended setting screen, items which can not be set in the print setting screen of FIG. 4 are often displayed.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the process in the second embodiment. Steps S901 to S906 are the same as steps S601 to S606 in the first embodiment. If it is determined in step S906 that the printer is not in the error state, the process advances to step S907 to acquire the extension setting set in the printer. The print plug-in E 214 stores the contents of the extension setting for each printer for which the extension setting has been performed, and can load the corresponding extension setting if the printer is uniquely determined.

  In step S 908, the content of the extension setting acquired in step S 907 is set in the custom text function, and the printer name and printer unique ID are notified to the printing system 210, and the search is terminated. By this processing, the contents of the extension setting are displayed as indicated by 505 in FIG. 5, and the contents of the extension setting are displayed in the form of character strings in the display area 701 in FIG.

  The processes of S909 to S911 are the same as the processes of S608 to S610 of the first embodiment.

  By the above processing, when the printer does not make an error at the time of printer search, the setting items set on the extended setting screen are displayed, and when the printer makes an error, error information and details of the error are confirmed. Can provide a Remote UI screen.

(Example 3)
In a printing environment such as an office, it is expected that a plurality of printers are connected to a network. Even if many printers are found in the printer search, it is difficult for the user to remember the printers by printer name, and often there is a problem that it is not possible to identify which printer in the printer list in which the desired printer is found. Therefore, the distance between the printer and the information processing terminal 110 is calculated and displayed using the custom text function, BlueTooth (registered trademark) Low Energy (hereinafter referred to as BLE) of the printer and the information processing terminal 110, and the GPS function. This indicates to the user what distance the printer is at roughly.

  If the printer is not in the error state in step S906 in the second embodiment, the printer and the information processing terminal 110 acquire positional information by BLE or GPS, calculate the distance from the information processing terminal 110 to the printer, and print the custom text function. The search distance is notified by a character string, the printer name and the unique ID of the printer are notified, and the search processing is terminated.

  By the above processing, when the printer does not make an error at the time of printer search, the distance between the printer and the information processing terminal 110 can be calculated and notified to the custom text function to notify the user of the distance to the printer.

(Example 4)
Many users are expected to print the extension setting screen shown in FIG. 8 and the print setting screen shown in FIG. 4 without changing anything. For some users, it is also meaningful to indicate whether the print settings have been changed from the default. Therefore, in the second embodiment, processing of displaying whether or not the user has changed the print setting from the default instead of the contents of the extension setting screen is performed.

  If the printer is not in an error state in step S906 in the second embodiment, it is acquired whether or not the user has changed the print settings from the default, and if not changed from the default, notification that the custom text function is "default settings" The printer name and printer unique ID are notified to complete the search process. If the print setting has been changed from the default, the changed setting content is notified to the custom text function, the printer name and the printer unique ID are notified, and the search processing is completed.

(Example 5)
There is a case in which the print plug-in E 214 is directly called by the inter-application cooperation function (hereinafter referred to as Intent function) of the Android OS without using the print system 210 from another application. At this time, the print plug-in E 214 passes the print content to the print system 210 and activates the print system 210. At this time, the print plug-in E 214 may receive information on print settings from the application activated by Intent. In that case, the print plug-in E 214 passes the default value regarding the print setting when activating the printing system 210 from the received information, and reflects it on the print setting screen of FIG. 4 or the extended setting screen or custom text function of FIG. Can.

(Example 6)
What the custom text feature should display depends on the user. Therefore, it is conceivable that the user can select which item to be displayed among the first to fourth embodiments from the setting screen of the print plug-in E 214. In the setting screen of the print plug-in E 214, let the user select which item to display using the custom text function, and when the printer search processing is actually performed, acquire the setting of the item to be displayed by the user , Change the process depending on the setting. By this processing, the user can confirm the item he / she wants to display by the custom text function.

110 information processing terminals, 100 networks, 120 printers,
210 Printing system

Claims (5)

A program that operates on an information processing terminal,
Search means for searching for printers on the same network;
Acquisition means for acquiring status information from the printer;
Display means for displaying a web browser screen and displaying a response from the printer;
The printing system has a function of displaying printer information as a character string and an acquiring unit that acquires whether or not the function has the function of displaying a printer detail screen.
Search for printers on the same network,
Get status information from the discovered printer,
Acquire whether the printing system has a function to display printer information as a character string and a function to display a printer detail screen.
When the printing system has a function of displaying printer information as a character string and a function of displaying a printer detail screen:
From the status information acquired from the printer, it is determined whether the printer is in an error state;
If the printer is in an error state, notify the printing system that the printer is in error;
Generate a screen to check the details of the printer error,
A program operating on an information processing apparatus characterized in that a notification for confirming the details of the error is given to the printing system. The information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein
It has storage means for linking and storing the printer and its print settings,
Based on status information acquired from the printer, it is determined whether the printer is in an error state, and when the printer is not in an error state, information related to the print setting stored in association with the printer is read.
A program which operates on an information processing terminal, which notifies the content of an extension setting to the printing system. The information processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein
Has acquisition means to acquire location information and radio wave intensity by GPS and Bluetooth Low Energy,
It has acquisition means for acquiring position information by GPS and radio wave intensity by Bluetooth Low Energy from the printer,
If the printer is in an error state based on the status information obtained from the printer and if the printer is not in an error state:
Calculating the distance between the printer and the information processing terminal using the functions of Bluetooth Low Energy and GPS installed in the printer and the information processing terminal;
A program operating on an information processing terminal characterized by notifying the printing system of the distance between the printer and the information processing terminal. The information processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein
Has an acquisition unit for acquiring print settings that the user has set in the printing system in the past,
If the printer is in an error state based on the status information obtained from the printer and if the printer is not in an error state:
It is determined whether the user has changed print settings in the past, and if the print settings have been changed, the changed print settings are notified to the printing system,
A program operating on an information processing terminal characterized by notifying the printing system of information that "default setting" is set if the print setting has not been changed. The information processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein
Has a selection means that allows the user to select the items that they want to display on the printing system,
A program which operates on an information processing terminal characterized by acquiring an item selected by the selection means by a user and switching an item to be notified to the printing system.