JP2020119263A - Information processor, method for controlling same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mechanism of favorably setting a predetermined print setting item and generating print data of a print job without depending on capability of a printer.SOLUTION: This information processor acquires capability information of a communicable printer. Then based on the acquired capability information, this information processor generates and displays, for a predetermined print item related to a corresponding printer, a print setting screen having selection items permitting selection of automatic setting regardless of whether or not the automatic setting is permitted in the corresponding printer. Moreover, this information processor generates print data of a pint job reflecting contents of the setting made via the print setting screen, and transmits the generated print data to the corresponding printer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a control method thereof, and a program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a printing apparatus that receives print data from an information processing apparatus via a network and forms an image on a sheet based on the received print data. It is also conventionally known that an information processing apparatus uses a printer driver (or print application) designed to use each printing apparatus to generate print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus.

Further, in recent years, it is known to generate print data without using a printer driver (or print application) designed to use each printing device. Patent Document 1 proposes a print client that performs printing based on a network protocol (IPP: Internet Printing Protocol) for causing a printing apparatus to perform printing. The print client realizes the print processing by the communication between the printing apparatus and the information processing apparatus according to the IPP communication procedure.

JP, 2017-113904, A

However, the above-mentioned conventional techniques have the following problems. In the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the information processing apparatus generates print data by a general-purpose print service such as IPP, the information processing apparatus generates the print setting screen based on the capability information of the printing apparatus. For example, in the case of a printing device capable of printing by selecting a paper type such as plain paper, thin paper and thick paper, the information processing device displays a setting screen for selecting the paper type according to the capability information of the printing device. Display and allow user selection.

On the other hand, the use cases of printing include not only the case of specifying the paper type for printing, but also the case of not using the paper type and wanting to perform printing with the paper supplied in advance to the printing apparatus. In the IPP paper type specification (media-type) used as the capability information of the printing apparatus, there is an attribute value “auto (automatic setting)” that is an attribute value that leaves the paper type selection to the printing apparatus without specifying the paper type. When receiving a print job in which “auto” is designated, many printing apparatuses perform printing using the paper supplied to the paper supply unit regardless of the paper type. Further, in order to specify this "auto" in the print job, it is necessary to specify an option (for example, "automatic") corresponding to "auto" on the paper type selection screen on the print setting screen of the information processing apparatus. is there.

However, there are printers that do not support “auto” in the IPP capability information, that is, printers that cannot be automatically set, even if the printers support paper types. In that case, since the option of “automatic” is not displayed on the print setting screen, there is no choice but to select some kind of paper such as “plain paper”. In this case, if a paper other than plain paper is supplied to the printing apparatus, a printing error will occur, which may be troublesome for the user.

The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the problems described above, and appropriately sets predetermined print setting items and generates print data of a print job without depending on the capability of the printing apparatus. The purpose is to provide a mechanism.

The present invention is, for example, an information processing apparatus, an acquisition unit that acquires capability information of a communicable printing apparatus, and based on the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit, for predetermined print items related to the corresponding printing apparatus, Regardless of whether or not the automatic setting is possible in the corresponding printing apparatus, a display unit that generates and displays a print setting screen having selection items that can select the automatic setting, and the setting made via the print setting screen The present invention is characterized by including a generating unit that generates print data of a print job that reflects the setting content, and a transmitting unit that transmits the print data generated by the generating unit to the corresponding printing apparatus.

According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately set predetermined print setting items and generate print data of a print job without depending on the capability of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a hardware block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. 3 is a software block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a hardware block diagram of an information processing device according to an embodiment. 1 is a software block diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram from printing device search to printing according to an embodiment. , FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of notification of capability information and a print job according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a print screen according to an embodiment. 3 is a flowchart of an information processing device according to an embodiment. 3 is a flowchart of an information processing device according to an embodiment. 3 is a flowchart of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. 3 is a correspondence table of display items of paper types and IPPs according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a default paper type setting screen of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment. 3 is a flowchart of an information processing device according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a print screen according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although a plurality of features are described in the embodiment, not all of the plurality of features are essential to the invention, and the plurality of features may be arbitrarily combined. Further, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar components are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicated description will be omitted.

The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is, for example, an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet by an electrophotographic method, such as a printing apparatus (printer), a copying machine, a multifunction machine (MFP), or a facsimile apparatus, or an image processing apparatus. Alternatively, it can be applied as an information processing device. The multifunction device is a device having at least two or more functions out of a plurality of types of functions including, for example, a print function, a scan function, a copying function, and a facsimile function. Here, a case where the printing apparatus is a multifunction peripheral (MFP) will be described. Further, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be applied to an apparatus such as a personal computer (PC), a tablet, or a smartphone that can directly or indirectly communicate with the printing apparatus.

<First Embodiment>
<System configuration>
Hereinafter, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, an example of the configuration of the printing system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

A printing apparatus 101 and an AP (access point) 102 are communicably connected to each other on a LAN (Local Area Network) 100. Further, as an example of the information processing device, mobile terminals (information processing devices) 103 and 104 such as tablets and notebook computers are connected to the AP 102 so that they can communicate with each other. In the following description, the tablet 103, the notebook PC 104, etc. are collectively referred to as an information processing device. This information processing apparatus can communicate with the printing apparatus 101 on the LAN 100 via the AP 102. In the present embodiment, the above configuration example is described as an example of a printing system, but the present invention is not limited to this, and at least one or more information processing devices and printing devices are connected via a network. It only needs to be communicably connected. The network may be wireless or wired.

<Hardware configuration of printing device>
The hardware configuration of the printing apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIG. The printing apparatus 101 has a printing function of printing an image on a sheet (recording medium), and executes printing processing based on print data received via a network.

The printing apparatus 101 includes a control unit 210, an operation unit 216, a printing unit 218, and a paper processing unit 220. The control unit 210 includes a CPU 211, a ROM 212, a RAM 213, a storage 214, an operation unit I/F (interface) 215, an image processing unit 222, a printing unit I/F 217, a paper processing unit I/F 219, and a communication unit I/F 221. ..

A control unit 210 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 211 centrally controls the operation of the entire printing apparatus 101. The CPU 211 loads a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 212 or a storage 214 into a RAM 213 and executes the program to control printing. The ROM 212 stores control programs and boot programs that can be executed by the CPU 211. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 213 is a main storage memory of the CPU 211 and is used as a work area or a temporary storage area for developing various control programs. The storage 214 stores print data, image data, various programs, and various setting information. In the present embodiment, the storage 214 is assumed to be an auxiliary storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), but a non-volatile memory such as SSD (Solid State Drive) may be used.

Note that in the printing apparatus 101 of the present embodiment, one CPU 211 uses one memory (RAM 213) to execute each process shown in the flowcharts described below, but other modes are also possible. For example, a plurality of CPUs, RAMs, ROMs, and storages may be made to cooperate with each other to execute each processing shown in the flowcharts described later. Further, a part of the processing may be executed by using a hardware circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

The operation unit I/F 215 is an interface that connects the operation unit 216 and the control unit 210. The operation unit 216 includes a display unit having a touch panel function and various hardware keys, and functions as a display unit that displays information and a reception unit that receives a user's instruction. The printing unit I/F 217 connects the printing unit (printer engine) 218 and the control unit 210. The image data generated by analyzing the print job received from the information processing apparatus is transferred from the control unit 210 to the printing unit 218 via the printing unit I/F 217. The printing unit 218 receives the control command and the print job to be printed via the control unit 210, and prints an image on the paper fed from the paper feed cassette based on the print job. The printing unit 218 according to this embodiment supports at least one type of paper that can be fed from the paper feed cassette. The capability information of the paper type that the printing unit 218 can feed is notified to the control unit 210 via the printing unit I/F 217 in advance (for example, when the printing apparatus 101 is activated), and is stored in the storage 214 or the RAM 213. ..

The printing method of the printing unit 218 may be an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method. Other printing methods such as a thermal transfer method can also be applied. Further, the control unit 210 is connected to the LAN 100 via the communication unit I/F 221. The communication unit I/F 221 transmits image data and information to the information processing device on the LAN 100 and receives print jobs and information from the information processing device on the LAN 100.

The image processing unit 222 has a RIP (Raster Image Processor) function of expanding a print job received via the LAN 100 and generating image data used for printing. The image processing unit 222 can also perform resolution conversion and correction processing of image data obtained by expanding a print job. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the image processing unit 222 is realized by a hardware circuit (such as ASIC or FPGA), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the printing apparatus 101 may further include a processor for image processing use, and the processor may execute an image processing program to realize image processing and print data expansion processing. In this case, the processor and the CPU 211 cooperate to realize the flowchart described later. Further, the CPU 211 may execute a program for image processing to perform image processing and print data expansion processing. Further, the image processing may be performed by any combination of these.

The paper processing unit I/F 219 connects the control unit 210 and the paper processing unit 220. The paper processing unit 220 receives a control command from the control unit 210 and performs post-processing on the paper printed by the printing unit 218 according to the control command. For example, post-processing such as aligning a plurality of sheets, punching holes in the sheets, binding a plurality of sheets, and the like are executed.

<Software configuration of printing device>
Next, the software configuration of the printing apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that, in the present embodiment, each functional block shown in FIG. 3 is realized by the CPU 211 executing a program loaded in the RAM 213.

The IPP print service control unit 301 acquires the capability information of the printing apparatus from the engine control unit 305 via the print control unit 311. In the present embodiment, the capability information of the type of paper that can be fed from the paper feed cassette of the printing apparatus 101 is acquired from the engine control unit 305. Therefore, it is desirable that the engine control unit 305 holds the capability information in advance at the time of product shipment. Note that the capability information may be updated afterwards in accordance with the connection of the optional device, software update, and the like. Details of the capability information will be described later.

Next, processing when a print job is received from an external device will be described. Upon receiving a print job based on the IPP standard from the information processing device (tablet 103 or notebook PC 104) via the network, the IPP print service control unit 301 passes the print job to the print job generation unit 302.

The print job generation unit 302 receives the print job received from the information processing apparatus via the IPP print service control unit 301, writes the print job in the data reception control unit 303, and registers the print job in the job control unit 306 as a new job to perform print processing. Request to start. Subsequently, the print job generation unit 302 passes the print setting information applied to the print job to the job attribute storage unit 307.

The data reception control unit 303 is a buffer area for a print job received by the print job generation unit 302, and temporarily saves each print job in the storage 214. When the job control unit 306 instructs the PDL analysis unit 304 to perform a PDL analysis process of a print job, the PDL analysis unit 304 requests the data reception control unit 303 for the print job. As a result, the data reception control unit 303 passes the data of the print job to the PDL analysis unit 304. The PDL analysis unit 304 generates intermediate drawing data and page attributes according to the PDL language specification, and saves the processing result in the page storage unit 309 and the page attribute storage unit 310. The page data created by the PDL analysis unit 304 is stored in the page storage unit 309 and the page attribute storage unit 310 for each page.

The attributes stored in the job attribute storage unit 307 include “paper type”, “number of copies”, “Nup (collective printing)”, “printing side (single side/double sided) setting”, "Color/monochrome mode" and "finishing setting" are included. All of these are managed in the job attribute storage unit 307 in association with the job ID.

The page control unit 308 controls the page analysis process of the PDL analysis unit 304, the RIP process of the RIP control unit 312, and the print control process of the print control unit 311. The print control unit 311 acquires the RIP-completed image data from the page storage unit 309, performs color separation into CMYK, and transfers it to the engine control unit 305. The engine control unit 305 receives image data for each CMYK for each page from the print control unit 311 and controls the printing unit 218 to execute print processing for each page.

<Hardware configuration of information processing device>
Next, the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus (tablet 103 or notebook PC 104) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes a control unit 400, a mouse/keyboard 409, and a touch panel 408. The control unit 400 includes a CPU 401, a ROM 402, a RAM 403, a storage 404, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) 405, a network I/F 406, and an operation unit I/F 407.

A control unit 400 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 401 centrally controls the operation of the entire information processing apparatus. The CPU 401 expands a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 402 or a storage 404 into a RAM 403, and executes the program to perform arithmetic processing. The ROM 402 stores control programs and boot programs that can be executed by the CPU 401. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 403 is a main storage memory of the CPU 401, and is used as a work area or a temporary storage area for developing various control programs. The storage 404 stores application data, print data, various programs, and various setting information. In this embodiment, SSD (Solid State Drive) is assumed as the storage 404, but an HDD or the like may be used.

The Bluetooth 405 is for connecting and using the mouse/keyboard 409, and the network I/F 406 is for connecting to a wireless LAN or the like. A touch panel 408 connected via the operation unit I/F 407 performs drawing on the liquid crystal screen and detection of user's touch input. In addition, in the information processing apparatuses 103 and 104 of the present embodiment, one CPU 401 uses one memory (RAM 403) to execute each process shown in a flowchart described later, but other modes may be used. Absent. For example, a plurality of CPUs, RAMs, ROMs, and storages may be made to cooperate with each other to execute each processing shown in the flowcharts described later. The operation unit I/F 407 connects the touch panel 408 and the control unit 400. The touch panel 408 is provided with a display portion having a touch function, and functions as a display portion for displaying information and a reception portion for receiving a user instruction. The control unit 400 also connects to the AP 102 via the network I/F 406.

<Software configuration of information processing device>
Next, the software configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that each functional block shown in FIG. 5 is realized by the CPU 401 executing a program loaded in the RAM 403.

The print application 501 is an application that operates on the information processing apparatus and provides a user with general application functions such as word processing and spreadsheet. Further, each application not only draws a GUI for user operation through the OS drawing engine 514 provided by the operating system on the information processing apparatus, but also generates data for printing.

When the user calls the print function on the application, the application calls the print screen control unit 511. The print application 501 generates page data for printing through the OS drawing engine 514, and each page data generated by the OS drawing engine 514 is passed to the preview display unit 513 before printing is started and to the page generation unit 507 after printing is started. Be done. The print screen control unit 511 includes a print setting management unit 512 and a preview display unit 513. The print setting management unit 512 acquires the capability information of each printing device from the printer information management unit 515, and generates a UI screen for print setting that matches the capability of each printing device. The capability information acquired here also includes capability information regarding the type of paper that the printing apparatus 101 can feed. When the printing apparatus 101 supports the paper type in the print settings, the UI screen for paper type setting is displayed (8200, 8300, 8400).

The OS print framework 502 includes an IPP client control unit 503 and a print spooler 509. The IPP client control unit 503 has a print job generation unit 504 that generates print data of a print job according to an instruction from the print screen control unit 511, and a printer information management unit 515 that holds capability information of the printing apparatus 101 acquired from the printing apparatus 101. Composed of and. The print spooler 509 sequentially transfers the print jobs generated by the IPP client control unit 503 to the printing apparatus 101 via the data communication control unit 510. The printer information management unit 515 acquires printer capability information from the printing apparatus 101 through the data communication control unit. Further, the acquired information is provided to the print screen control unit 511 and the reference method conversion unit 505.

The job attribute generation unit 506 and the page generation unit 507 receive the print data generation instruction from the print screen control unit 511 and start processing. The job attribute generation unit 506 generates job setting information of the IPP job according to the instruction of the print setting management unit 512. The page generation unit 507 acquires page data generated by the OS drawing engine 514 in page order, converts the page data into a PDL language that the printing apparatus 101 can process, and transmits the PDL language. The PDL format that the printing apparatus 101 can understand is acquired from the printer information management unit 515.

<Print sequence>
Next, with reference to FIG. 6, a printing sequence from the search/registration of the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus 101 to the completion of printing in the present embodiment will be described. The processing of the information processing apparatus described below may be performed by either the tablet 103 or the notebook PC 104, or may be performed by another information processing apparatus, as described above.

In step S601, the information processing apparatus searches the printing apparatus 101 and inquires about the printing apparatus capability (capability information). Subsequently, in step S602, the printing apparatus 101 confirms the type of sheet that can be fed, and in step S603, notifies the capability information including information regarding the type of sheet. In the present embodiment, control of “paper type” as a predetermined print item will be mainly described. However, without limiting the present invention, the control described below may be applied to other print items.

Next, in step S<b>604, the information processing apparatus receives the notified capability information of the printing apparatus 101 and stores it in the printer information management unit 515. Subsequently, in step S605, when the user calls the print function from the application on the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus displays the print screen of the selected printing apparatus 101. In addition, when the information regarding the plurality of printing apparatuses is acquired, the information may be selected from the plurality of printing apparatuses. Here, when the printing apparatus 101 supports the paper type, the information processing apparatus displays a screen for selecting the paper type. In step S606, the information processing apparatus receives the print setting from the user, and when the print button is selected, the process proceeds to step S607, the IPP client control unit 503 generates print data and print job attributes, and prints the print data to the printing apparatus 101. To send. In step S608, the printing apparatus 101 analyzes the print data, and executes print processing in step S609.

<Capability request and print job>
Next, with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B, a capability request to the printing apparatus 101 and a print job by the information processing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described. Reference numeral 700 indicates an example of a capability request issued from the information processing apparatus to the printing apparatus 101 in S601. On the other hand, an example of capability information from the printing apparatus 101 to the information processing apparatus in S603 is shown in 710. Further, 720 shows an example of the job ticket of the print job of S607 generated by the information processing apparatus based on the capability notification from the printing apparatus 101. In this embodiment, a message according to the IPP protocol is described as an example, but another protocol may be used.

The capability information 710 of the printing apparatus 101 includes “media-type-supported” information, which is an example of IPP paper type support information. In 711 to 714, the supported paper types are described for each Case. Case 1 (711) is an example in the case where the supporting paper types of the printing apparatus 101 are “auto (automatic setting)”, “stationery”, “stationery-lightweight”, and “stationery-heavyweight”. Case 2 (712) is an example when the support sheet types of the printing apparatus 101 are “stationery”, “stationery-lightweight”, and “stationery-heavyweight”. Case 3 (713) is an example in which the type of support paper of the printing apparatus 101 is “auto” only. Case 4 (714) is an example in the case where the printing apparatus 101 does not support the paper type, and does not include “media-type-supported” itself. Reference numeral 715 is paper information supplied to the paper feeding cassette of the printing apparatus 101. It can be seen that the paper replenished in the paper feed cassette “tray-1” has a paper size of 210 mm×297 mm and a paper type of “stationary-lightweight” (thin paper). When the printing apparatus has a plurality of paper feed cassettes, information for each tray (each paper feed cassette) is included.

In job tickets 720 to 723, job tickets of print jobs generated by the information processing apparatus based on the capability notification from the printing apparatus 101 are described for each Case. Case A (721) is an example of the case where “stationery” is designated as the sheet type designation in the job ticket. Case B (722) is an example of the case where “auto” is designated as the sheet type designation in the job ticket. Case C 723 shows an example in which the job ticket of the print job does not include the designation of the paper type. The method of using these capability information and the operation of the printing apparatus 101 will be described later.

<Screen example>
Next, with reference to FIG. 8, an example of the print setting screen of the information processing apparatus 103 (tablet) in the present embodiment will be described. In other information processing devices such as the notebook PC 104, there is no intention to limit to the screen examples described below, and the screen examples described below can be suitably changed and applied according to the display area of the display. ..

When the print application 501 calls the print function, the OS displays the print setting screen 8000. The print setting screen 8000 is configured to include, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, a selection item of the printing apparatus, a selection item of the number of copies, a selection item of option setting, and a preview screen. The user can select the portion indicated by 8001 in the selection items of the printing apparatus, transition to the screen 8100, and select the printing apparatus used for printing. When the screen 8100 is displayed, the information processing apparatus searches the network for a printing apparatus, and only the responding printing apparatus is displayed in a list on the 8100. Here, the printing apparatus 101 (“Printer(1)”) selected by the user is displayed in the selection item column of the printing apparatus. At this time, the information processing apparatus inquires of the printing apparatus 101 about the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 selected by the user, and generates the setting screen 8200 of the print option 8002 in accordance with the capability information returned by the printing apparatus 101. The present invention is not limited to this, and for example, when displaying the print setting screen 8000, the capability information may be received from one or more communicable printing apparatuses. As a result, a setting screen for each selection item can be generated in advance, and a user-friendly operation system can be realized.

When the print option 8002 is selected by the user, the information processing apparatus displays the setting screen 8200. On the setting screen 8200, print setting items and current setting values according to the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 are displayed. Reference numeral 8301 denotes a color mode setting item whose setting value is color, and 8302 is a paper type setting item, which is set to “automatic”. The setting value displayed on the 8200 can be changed, and in order to change the setting value of the paper type 8302, the button of the setting change button 8303 is selected to display the paper type selection screen 8300.

On the selection screen 8300, the user can change the paper type setting by selecting one of the displayed paper type check boxes. Another sheet type selection screen 8400 is an example of a screen in the case of the printing apparatus 101 that does not support thin paper and thick paper. FIG. 12 shows the paper type support information notified by the capability information 710 of the printing apparatus 101, and the mapping of the paper type names displayed on the paper type selection screens 8300 and 8400 accordingly. Reference numeral 1201 denotes a value listed in the capability information “media-type-supported” of the sheet type notified by the capability information 710, and reference numeral 1202 denotes the sheet type displayed on the sheet type selection screen 8300 according to the notified capability information. The name. Specifically, the information processing apparatus displays “automatic” on the paper type selection screen 8300 when “auto” is notified as capability information, and displays “normal” on the selection screen 8300 when “stationery” is notified. "Paper" is displayed. Also, when "stationery-lightweight" is notified, "thin paper" is displayed on the selection screen 8300, and when "stationery-heavyweight" is notified, "thick paper" is displayed on the selection screen 8300.

<Processing procedure of information processing device>
Next, the processing procedure of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. This flowchart shows the processing until the information processing apparatus displays the print setting screen 8000 and transmits the print job. It should be noted that although the change of the print setting items described in this flowchart is limited to the paper type, the print setting items other than the above may actually be included. The processing described below is realized, for example, by the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus reading out the control program stored in the ROM 402 or the storage 404 to the RAM 403 and executing the control program.

In step S<b>901, the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus determines whether the portion 8001 for selecting the printing apparatus has been selected. If selected, the process proceeds to S902, and if not, the process proceeds to S907. In step S<b>902, the CPU 401 inquires of the printing apparatus 101 selected by the user via the printing apparatus selection screen 8100 about the capabilities of the printing apparatus 101. The inquiry about the capability is performed by the Request command of "Get-Printer-Attributes" of IPP shown in 700 of FIG. After that, the information processing apparatus receives the capability information from the printing apparatus 101 as a response to the inquiry in S902. Specifically, it is a Response command of "Get-Printer-Attributes" of IPP shown in 710 of FIG. Then, it progresses to S903.

In step S903, the CPU 401 analyzes the received capability information of the printing apparatus 101. Subsequently, in step S904, the CPU 401 determines whether the printing apparatus 101 supports the paper type based on the analyzed capability information. Here, whether or not the paper type is supported is determined by whether or not the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 includes "media-type-supported". When Case 3 (713) is received from Case 1 (711) illustrated in FIG. 7, since “media-type-supported” is included, it can be determined that the target printing apparatus 101 supports the paper type. On the other hand, when Case 4 (714) is received, “media-type-supported” is not included, so it can be determined that the target printing apparatus 101 does not support the paper type. If it is determined in S904 that the printing apparatus 101 supports the paper type, the process proceeds to S905, and if it is determined that the printing device 101 does not support the sheet type, the process proceeds to S907.

In S905, the CPU 401 additionally displays the paper type setting item 3802 on the setting screen 8200, and proceeds to S906. In S906, the CPU 401 generates a paper type list of the paper type selection screens (8300, 8400) displayed when the paper type setting change button 8303 is selected, and proceeds to S907. The display items of the paper type list change according to the capability information of the printing apparatus 101. Here, the detailed processing of S906 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing described below is realized, for example, by the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus reading out the control program stored in the ROM 402 or the storage 404 to the RAM 403 and executing the control program.

In S1001, the CPU 401 adds “automatic” to the selection screen 8300 for selecting the paper type, and proceeds to S1002. In step S1002, the CPU 401 determines whether “stationary” is included in “media-type-supported” included in the capability information 710 of the printing apparatus 101. If it is included, the process proceeds to S1003, and if not, the process proceeds to S1004. In S1003, the CPU 401 adds “plain paper” to the selection screen 8300, and proceeds to S1004.

In step S<b>1004, the CPU 401 determines whether “stationary-lightweight” is included in “media-type-supported” included in the capability information 710 of the printing apparatus 101. If included, the process proceeds to S1005, and if not included, the process proceeds to S1006. In S1005, the CPU 401 adds “thin paper” to the selection screen 8300, and proceeds to S1006.

In step S1006, the CPU 401 determines whether “stationary-heavyweight” is included in “media-type-supported” included in the capability information 710 of the printing apparatus 101. If included, the process proceeds to S1007, and if not included, the process ends. In S1007, the CPU 401 adds “thick paper” to the selection screen 8300, and ends the processing.

As described above, on the selection screen 8300, in addition to the paper types supported by the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 being listed, “automatic” is always listed as a selection item. That is, regardless of whether or not the capability information includes information indicating "automatic", the selection item of "automatic" is set by default. For example, the capability information 711 (Case 1) and 712 (Case 2) of the printing apparatus 101 illustrated in FIG. 7A is the difference between whether auto is included. However, the sheet type selection items displayed on the information processing apparatus when these pieces of capability information are received are both 8300 including automatic. Further, when the capability information 713 (Case 3) of the printing apparatus 101 is received, the sheet type selection item displayed on the information processing apparatus is 8400 in which automatic and plain paper are displayed. In Case 4 (714), since there is no “media-type-supported”, the paper type setting item 8302 itself is not displayed. In this way, when the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 is interpreted and the print setting screen is displayed, the processing is returned to S907.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. In step S907, the CPU 401 determines whether a print setting item has been selected. If it is selected, the process proceeds to S908, and if not, the process proceeds to S909. In step S908, the CPU 401 displays a setting change screen based on the selected print setting item (for example, 8301, 8302), changes the input setting item, and proceeds to step S909.

In S909, the CPU 401 determines whether the print button 8004 has been selected. If it is not selected, the process proceeds to S917, and if it is selected, the process proceeds to S910. In step S910, the CPU 401 determines whether the paper type setting item 8302 is supported by the print settings. If the printing apparatus 101 does not support the paper type, the process proceeds to S915 without displaying the paper type setting item 8302. If the setting of the paper type is supported, the process proceeds to S911.

In step S911, the CPU 401 determines whether the set paper type is “automatic”. If it is automatic, the process proceeds to S912, and if it is not automatic, the process proceeds to S914. In S914, the CPU 401 sets a command of the paper type corresponding to the selected paper type in the job ticket, and proceeds to S915. The mapping between the paper type and the command is as shown in FIG. 12 described above. For example, when “plain paper” is selected, “stationery” is set in the job ticket as in Case A (721) of FIG. 7B.

On the other hand, in step S912, the CPU 401 checks whether the printing apparatus 101 supports “auto” in “media-type-supported”. If “auto” is supported, the process proceeds to S913, and if not, the process proceeds to S915. In S913, the CPU 401 specifies “auto” in the job ticket (CaseB (722)), and proceeds to S915. If “auto” is not supported, the process proceeds to S915 without including the paper type designation in the job ticket (CaseC (723)).

As described above, in this embodiment, regardless of whether or not the printing apparatus 101 supports “auto” in “media-type-supported”, automatic display is always displayed on the paper type selection screen. As a result, even a printing apparatus 101 that does not support “auto” can generate a job that does not specify the paper type.

Next, in step S915, the CPU 401 reflects the settings other than the relevant paper type in the job ticket. Subsequently, in step S916, the CPU 401 transmits the print job to the printing apparatus 101, and ends the processing. On the other hand, in step S917, the CPU 401 checks whether or not the cancel button 8003 has been selected, returns the process to step S901 if the cancel button 8003 has not been selected, and ends the present flowchart if selected.

<Processing procedure of printing device>
Next, the processing procedure of the printing apparatus 101 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. This flowchart shows the processing when the printing apparatus 101 receives a print job. Note that the print settings in this flowchart are limited to the paper type, but in reality, other processes may be included. The process described below is realized, for example, by the CPU 211 of the printing apparatus 101 reading out the control program stored in the ROM 212 or the storage 214 into the RAM 213 and executing the control program.

In step S1101, the CPU 211 of the printing apparatus 101 determines whether a print job has been received from an external device. If received, the process proceeds to S1102. In step S1102, the CPU 211 analyzes the received print data. Subsequently, in step S1103, the CPU 211 checks whether there is a paper type setting. If there is, the process proceeds to S1104, and if not, the process proceeds to S1107.

In step S1104, the CPU 211 determines whether the paper type set in the job ticket is “auto”. If not "auto", the CPU 211 proceeds to S1105, determines to print with the designated paper type, and proceeds to S1108. For example, as shown in Case A (721) in FIG. 7B, if “stationery” is designated, plain paper is used for printing. On the other hand, in step S1104, for example, as shown in Case A (722) in FIG. 7B, when “auto” is designated, the process proceeds to step S1106, and the CPU 211 prints on the paper supplied to the cassette regardless of the paper type. Then, the process proceeds to S1108.

On the other hand, if the paper type is not specified in the job ticket in S1103, the process proceeds to S1107, and the CPU 211 determines to perform paper feeding with the default paper type, and proceeds to S1108. The default paper type is a value referred to when there is no paper type setting in the job ticket, and is set in the printing apparatus 101 in advance. The default paper type can be set by a user input via the operation unit 216 of the printing apparatus 101, and a screen example thereof is shown in FIG. On the default paper type setting screen 1300, automatic 1301, plain paper 1302, thin paper 1303, and thick paper 1304 can be specified as default values for paper type setting. In the example of FIG. 13, since “automatic” is set as the default paper type, the printing operation is performed with the paper replenished in the paper cassette as in the case where “auto” is specified in the job ticket.

In step S1108, the CPU 211 executes print processing on the fed paper, and ends this flowchart.

As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment acquires capability information of a communicable printing apparatus. After that, the information processing apparatus selects, based on the acquired capability information, a predetermined print item related to the corresponding printing apparatus from which the automatic setting can be selected regardless of whether the corresponding printing apparatus can automatically set the setting. A print setting screen having items is generated and displayed. In addition, the information processing apparatus generates print data of a print job that reflects the setting content set via the print setting screen, and transmits the generated print data to the corresponding printing apparatus. As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the information processing apparatus, “automatic (automatic setting)” is always displayed in the paper type selection item regardless of the capability information of the printing apparatus 101. When “automatic” is selected, if the printing apparatus 101 supports “auto”, “auto” is designated in the job ticket, and printing is performed with the paper supplied to the printing apparatus 101. On the other hand, even in the case of the printing apparatus 101 that does not support “auto (automatic setting)”, it is possible to print with the default paper size of the printing apparatus by not specifying the paper type in the job ticket. Therefore, it is possible to print with the paper supplied to the printing apparatus 101 by designating the default paper setting to “auto” in advance.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the control regarding the paper type as the item of the print setting has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to various setting items that can include automatic setting as long as they are print setting items. For example, it can be applied to various print setting items such as "paper size", "collective printing", "printing direction", "paper discharge destination", "print quality", and "finishing process". The application of these is the same as in the second embodiment described later.

<Second Embodiment>
Below, the 2nd Embodiment of this invention is described. In the first embodiment, the “automatic” option that does not specify the paper type is always displayed on the selection screen 8300 for selecting the paper type, regardless of whether the printing apparatus 101 supports “auto”. The control for printing with the paper supplied to the printing apparatus 101 has been described.

When "automatic" is selected and printed for the printing apparatus 101 that does not support "auto (automatic setting)", printing is performed according to the default paper type set in the printing apparatus 101. However, if a default paper type other than “auto” is set, a printing error may occur due to a mismatch with the paper type supplied to the cassette. For example, the default paper type is “plain paper”, but the paper type supplied to the cassette is “thin paper”. In the present embodiment, in order to cope with such a problem, a process of switching the default value of the setting according to the type of the paper supplied to the printing apparatus 101 in the paper selection screen generation processing by the information processing apparatus will be described.

<Generate paper selection screen>
With reference to FIG. 14, an additional process of the process of generating the paper selection screen by the information processing apparatus shown in S906 of FIG. 9 according to the present embodiment will be described. This flowchart is executed after the flowchart shown in FIG. The processing according to the present embodiment is the same as the processing described in the first embodiment except for S906, and thus the description thereof is omitted. The processing described below is realized, for example, by the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus reading out the control program stored in the ROM 402 or the storage 404 to the RAM 403 and executing the control program.

In step S1401, the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus determines whether the printing apparatus 101 supports “auto”. If "auto" is supported, the process advances to step S1402, and the CPU 401 sets the default value of the paper type selection screen to "automatic" and ends the process. A sheet type selection screen in this case is shown at 1501 in FIG. You can see that the default value is "Automatic".

On the other hand, if it is determined in S1401 that “auto” is not supported, the process proceeds to S1403. In step S1403, the CPU 401 checks whether the paper type supplied to the printing apparatus 101 can be acquired. The check method is determined by whether or not the printing apparatus supports “media-col-ready”, which is the capability information of the paper feed cassette in the IPP. If it supports, the process advances to step S1404, the CPU 401 checks the type of paper that has been supplied to the paper feed cassette, sets the paper type to a default value, and ends the processing. Since "media-col-ready" 715 shown in FIG. 7A indicates that "stationary-lightweight" (thin paper) is supplied to the paper feed cassette, the default value of the paper type selection screen is changed to thin paper. To do. A sheet type selection screen in this case is shown at 1502 in FIG.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S1403 that the paper type supplied to the printing apparatus 101 cannot be acquired, the process proceeds to S1405. In step S1405, the CPU 401 sets the paper type listed at the head of “media-type-supported” received in the capability information of the printing apparatus 101 as the default of the paper type selection screen. When the capability information of Case 1 (711) in FIG. 7A is received, the head of the list is “auto”, so the default value is set to automatic (1501 in FIG. 15). On the other hand, when the capability information of Case 2 (712) in FIG. 7A is received, the default value is set to plain paper because the head of the list is “stationery” (1503 in FIG. 15).

As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment switches and displays default values of predetermined print items on the print setting screen according to the capability information acquired from the printing apparatus. In this way, the information processing apparatus switches the default value of the paper selection screen according to the capability information of the printing apparatus, so that it is possible to reduce the possibility that the print job and the paper type supplied to the paper feed cassette do not match. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately set predetermined print setting items and generate print data of a print job without depending on the capability of the printing apparatus.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments 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 read and execute the program. It can also be realized by the processing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the following claims are attached to open the scope of the invention.

100: LAN, 101: printing device, 102: AP, 103: information processing device (tablet), 104: information processing device (notebook PC), 211: CPU, 221: communication unit I/F

Claims (12)

An information processing device,
An acquisition unit for acquiring capability information of the printing device capable of communicating,
Based on the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit, for a predetermined print item related to a corresponding printing device, a print having a selection item that can be selected automatically regardless of whether the corresponding printing device can automatically set Display means for generating and displaying the setting screen,
Generating means for generating print data of a print job that reflects the setting contents set via the print setting screen;
An information processing apparatus, comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits the print data generated by the generating unit to the corresponding printing device. The generation means, when automatic setting is selected for the predetermined print item on the print setting screen,
When the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the corresponding printing device can automatically set the predetermined print item, the print data in which the automatic setting is set for the predetermined print item is generated. ,
If the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the corresponding printing device cannot automatically set the predetermined print item, generate print data that does not specify the predetermined print item. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The generating unit, when a predetermined selection item is selected for the predetermined print item on the print setting screen, generates the print data designating the predetermined selection item. Information processing device. The predetermined item is the type of paper used for printing,
In the print setting screen displayed by the display unit, as a selection item regarding the paper type, in addition to automatic setting, each of the paper types included in the capability information is selectably displayed. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The display means is
The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein on the print setting screen, the default value of the predetermined print item is switched and displayed according to the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit. The display means is
When the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the corresponding printing device can automatically set the predetermined print item, the default value is displayed as the automatic setting. Item 5. The information processing device according to item 5. The display means is
When the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the corresponding printing device cannot automatically set the predetermined print item, the sheet supplied with the default value to the corresponding printing device. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information processing apparatus displays the information as a type. The display means is
When the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the corresponding printing device cannot automatically set the predetermined print item, the default value is set to the capability information acquired by the acquisition unit. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the information is displayed as the leading paper type listed in (4). 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the print data to the printing apparatus according to the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol). The display means is
10. The print setting screen is displayed so that any one of the plurality of printing devices can be selected according to the capability information of each of the plurality of printing devices acquired by the acquisition unit. The information processing device according to item. A method of controlling an information processing device, comprising:
An acquisition step in which the acquisition means acquires capability information of a printing device with which communication is possible;
The display means selects, based on the capability information acquired in the acquisition step, a predetermined print item related to the corresponding printing device, the automatic setting being selectable regardless of whether the corresponding printing device can automatically set the printing item. A display process for generating and displaying a print setting screen having items,
A generating step of generating print data of a print job in which the generating means reflects the setting content set via the print setting screen;
And a transmitting step of transmitting the print data generated in the generating step to the corresponding printing device, the control method of the information processing device. A program for causing a computer to execute each step in the control method of an information processing device, wherein the control method comprises:
An acquisition step in which the acquisition means acquires capability information of a printing device with which communication is possible;
The display means selects, based on the capability information acquired in the acquisition step, a predetermined print item related to the corresponding printing device, the automatic setting being selectable regardless of whether the corresponding printing device can automatically set the printing item. A display process for generating and displaying a print setting screen having items,
A generating step of generating print data of a print job in which the generating means reflects the setting content set via the print setting screen;
And a transmitting step of transmitting the print data generated in the generating step to the corresponding printing device.

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