JP2020149365A - Information processing apparatus, program, and electronic device registration method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus with which a user can easily set a default electronic device.SOLUTION: The present invention is directed to an information processing apparatus 10 characterized by having an image display unit 14 for displaying one or more electronic devices 30 as selection candidates, an operation receiving unit 17 for receiving selection of an electronic device, a deleting unit 19 for deleting an electronic device already registered at the information processing apparatus, and a registration unit 16 for registering, as a default electronic device, the electronic device received by the operation receiving unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 12

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a program, and an electronic device registration method.

A printing system has also been introduced into the OS (Operating System) of information processing devices such as smartphones, and users can easily print with electronic devices such as printers from the print preview screen by executing the print menu of application software. It has become possible (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, since printing is performed from an application that does not support a printing system and does not have a print application that can be used, a printing service that can add in to the printing system on the mobile OS can print data from other applications. A printing service that receives and receives print data converted to PDF by a printing system and executes printing is disclosed.

However, the conventional technique has a problem that the operation of setting the default printer first selected on the print preview screen by the user is complicated. That is, when printing using the print service, the OS side displays a list of printers supported by the print service, but the OS side displays the printer list in a predetermined order determined by the OS. The one with the first display order is displayed as the default printer. In many cases, the user wants to set a printer other than the default printer as the default printer, but it was not easy for the user to set the default printer.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device in which a user can easily set a default electronic device.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is an information processing device, which includes a screen display unit for displaying one or more electronic devices to be selected, an operation reception unit for accepting selection of electronic devices, and the information processing device. It is characterized by having a deletion unit for deleting an electronic device already registered in, and a registration unit for registering the electronic device accepted by the operation reception unit as a default electronic device.

To provide an information processing device that allows the user to easily set the default electronic device.

It is a figure which shows an example of the list screen of the print service installed in the information processing apparatus, the operation screen of an application, or the menu screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a print preview screen. It is a figure which shows an example of the All printers screen. It is a figure which shows an example of the printer list screen which is displayed when the icon of a print service is pressed on the list screen of a print service. This is an example of a schematic configuration diagram of a printer system having a printer and an information processing device. This is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of an information processing device. This is an example of the hardware configuration diagram of the printer. It is a figure which shows an example of the print execution flow of a certain OS. This is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the information processing device in a block shape. It is a figure which shows an example of the default printer selection screen which the screen display part of a print service displays. This is an example of a flowchart showing an example procedure in which a user sets a default printer. It is a flowchart of the procedure of an example in which a printing service specifies a default printer.

Hereinafter, as an example of the embodiment for carrying out the present invention, the information processing apparatus and the electronic device registration method performed by the information processing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Display example of the conventional default printer>
First, a display example of a default printer displayed by an information processing device such as a smartphone will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to 4 show some screen examples displayed by the information processing apparatus 10 at the time of printing. FIG. 1A is a list screen 101 of print services installed in the information processing apparatus 10. The printing service is software that executes printing from the menu of application software (hereinafter referred to as application). It corresponds to a printer driver of a general PC (Personal Computer).

"Default Print Service" 102 is a printing service provided by the OS, and is pre-installed together with the OS. The user can arbitrarily install the printing service developed by the printer manufacturer or the like. The installed print service is displayed on the list screen 101 of FIG. 1 (a).

FIG. 1B is an example of the operation screen 110 of the application capable of executing printing. In this example, the application displays the document P.pdf111, but the specific text is omitted ("P01" is used instead). When the user wants to print the document, the user presses (tap) the three-point menu 112 on the upper right.

FIG. 1C is an example of the menu screen 120 displayed by pressing the 3-point menu 112. Pressing the Print button (or Share button) 121 opens the screen related to printing. For example, the print preview screen opens.

FIG. 2A is an example of the print preview screen 130 displayed by the OS. The printer list 131 is displayed at the upper part of the print preview screen 130. "10.60.98.112" indicates the IP address of the printer 30. Although only one printer 30 is displayed in FIG. 2A, when the user presses the pull-down button 132, the printer list 131 shown in FIG. 2B is displayed.

The printer list 131 has the following rules.
(i) The printer 30 that has succeeded in printing even once in the past is saved by the OS and is displayed in the printer list 131.
(ii) Currently, the printer 30 not found by the printing service is displayed in half-brightness and cannot be selected by the user. The OS manages the printer list 131, but the printing service finds the printer. The printer 30 of 10.60.98.112 (reference numeral 134) in FIG. 2 (b) cannot be selected by the user because it has not been found by the printing service. This is also described in FIG. 2 (a) as "This printer isn't available right now."
(iii) Currently, the printer 30 found by the printing service is displayed in normal brightness and can be selected by the user.
(iv) Immediately after the print preview screen 130 of FIG. 2A is displayed, the printer 30 having the largest number of successful prints is selected as the default printer (displayed at the top). It does not matter if the printer 30 is currently found by the printing service.
(v) The printer list 131 in FIG. 2B is managed by the OS, and the user and the printing service cannot manually change the order of the printer list.

When the user presses "All printers" 133 in FIG. 2B, the All printers screen 140 in FIG. 3A is displayed. The All printers screen 140 is a screen for the user to make settings related to the printer 30. On the All printers screen 140, the user selects the printer 30 and presses and holds the target printer 30 (10.60.98.112) (reference numeral 134) to pop up the "Forget printer" button 141 as shown in FIG. 3 (b). Can be made to. By pressing the "Forget printer" button 141, the printer 30 can be deleted from the print history.

FIG. 3 (c) also shows the "Forget printer" button 141 that pops up when the printer 30 (10.60.98.102) (reference numeral 135) is pressed and held, but since this printer 30 has been found by the printing service, The "Select printer" button 142 is also displayed. The "Select printer" button 142 is a button for using this printer for printing.

The "Forget printer" button 141 can be pressed only by the printer 30 that has printed once in the past. The All printers screen 140 is the only screen on which the user can delete the printer 30 that has been printed once in the past and is managed by the OS. If the print history of the printer 30 with half-luminance display is deleted, it is completely removed from the printer list, but even if the print history of the printer 30 with brightness display is deleted, it is not deleted from the printer list.

As shown in FIG. 2A, even if the printer cannot be found by the printing service, it is displayed as the default printer, and the user needs to select another printer 30. To reduce the user's effort to select another printer 30, the default printer may be changed.

A case where the user wants to set the printer 30 of "10.60.98.102" (reference numeral 135) as the default printer on the All printers screen 140 will be described. To set the printer 30 of "10.60.98.102" (code 135) as the default printer, the order is higher than "10.60.98.102" (code 135) (the number of successful prints is large) "10.68.98.112" (code 134). ) And "10.60.98.144" (reference numeral 136) must be manually deleted by the user, and the print preview screen 130 needs to be reopened. As you can see, changing the default printer is not very intuitive and cumbersome.

FIG. 4 is a printer list screen 150 displayed when the print service icon is pressed on the print service list screen 101 of FIG. 1. Only the printer 30 supported by the pressed print service is displayed. The conventional printing service does not have a user interface for selecting a default printer or changing the priority of the printer 30.

Regarding the inconvenience that the operation of changing the default printer is not so easy, the printing service of this embodiment provides a user interface that allows the user to easily set the default printer on the printer list screen 150, so that the user can intuitively set the default printer. Can be set. Specifically, the printing service prints once in the past managed by the OS so that the printer 30 set in the user interface becomes the first printer list (selected as the default printer) displayed by the OS. Each printer that has been used is deleted once, and the printer 30 set in the user interface is first registered in the OS.

<Terminology>
The default printer is a printer that can print without selection because it is in the selected state even if the user does not select it.

The printer already registered in the information processing device is, for example, a printer that has printed even once in the past, but may be a printer manually registered by the user.

The electronic device is a type that requests processing from a service that operates in the information processing device, and may be any electronic device that is in a state selected by the concept of default. In this embodiment, a printer will be described as an example, but a fax transmission device or the like may be used.

<System configuration example>
FIG. 5 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a printer system having a printer 30 and an information processing device 10. The printer 30 is a device that forms an image on a sheet-like member such as paper. It may be called a printing device or an image forming device. For example, there are a laser printer, an inkjet printer, a thermal transfer printer, a dot impact printer and the like. Further, a handy printer in which the paper transport mechanism is omitted may be used. Further, a 3D printer for modeling a three-dimensional object may be used. The printer 30 may have a function other than printing. Such a device is called a multifunction device. A multifunction device is a device having a plurality of functions such as a scanner function, a print function, a copy function, and a fax transmission / reception function. It may be called MFP (Multi-Function Printer / Product / Peripheral), SPC (Scan Print Copy), or AIO (All In One). In the present embodiment, it is not required to have a plurality of functions, and the printer 30 may have a function of printing an image on a sheet-like member.

The information processing device 10 may be a general-purpose device that has a communication function, a display (may be a projector or the like), and the like, and operates an application. For example, it may be a PC (Personal Computer), a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a game machine, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, a wearable PC, or the like.

In FIG. 5, the information processing device 10 and the printer 30 are connected by a communication path N. The communication path N may be wireless communication such as wireless LAN (Wi-Fi / Wi-Fi Direct / Bluetooth (registered trademark)), or may be wired such as a USB cable or a LAN cable. Generally, the information processing device 10 and the printer 30 are inside a firewall, but the information processing device 10 and the printer 30 may communicate with each other via the Internet.

<Hardware configuration example>
<< Information processing device >>
FIG. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram of the information processing device 10. In FIG. 6, a smartphone is assumed as the information processing device 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a CPU 401, a ROM 402, a RAM 403, an EEPROM 404, a CMOS sensor 405, an image sensor I / F 406, an acceleration / orientation sensor 407, a media I / F 409, and a GPS receiver 411. I have.

Of these, the CPU 401 controls the operation of the entire information processing device 10. The ROM 402 stores a program used to drive the CPU 401 such as the CPU 401 and IPL. The RAM 403 is used as a work area for the CPU 401. The EEPROM 404 reads or writes various data such as a smartphone program under the control of the CPU 401. The CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor 405 is a kind of built-in imaging means that acquires image data by imaging a subject (mainly a self-portrait) under the control of the CPU 401. Instead of a CMOS sensor, an imaging means such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor may be used. The image sensor I / F 406 is a circuit that controls the drive of the CMOS sensor 405. The acceleration / azimuth sensor 407 is a variety of sensors such as an electronic magnetic compass, a gyro compass, and an acceleration sensor that detect the geomagnetism. The media I / F 409 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a recording medium 408 such as a flash memory. The GPS receiving unit 411 receives GPS signals from GPS satellites.

Further, the information processing device 10 includes a long-distance communication circuit 412, a CMOS sensor 413, an image pickup element I / F 414, a microphone 415, a speaker 416, a sound input / output I / F 417, a display 418, and an external device connection I / F (Interface) 419. The short-range communication circuit 420, the short-range communication circuit 420 antenna 420a, and the touch panel 421 are provided.

Of these, the long-distance communication circuit 412 is a circuit that communicates with other devices via a communication network. The CMOS sensor 413 is a kind of built-in imaging means that images a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 401. The image sensor I / F414 is a circuit that controls the drive of the CMOS sensor 413. The microphone 415 is a built-in circuit that converts sound into an electric signal. The speaker 416 is a built-in circuit that converts an electric signal into physical vibration to produce sounds such as music and voice. The sound input / output I / F 417 is a circuit that processes sound signal input / output between the microphone 415 and the speaker 416 under the control of the CPU 401. The display 418 is a kind of display means such as a liquid crystal or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) for displaying an image of a subject, various icons, and the like. The external device connection I / F419 is an interface for connecting various external devices. The short-range communication circuit 420 is a communication circuit such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The touch panel 421 is a kind of input means for operating the information processing device 10 by the user pressing the display 418.

Further, the information processing device 10 includes a bus line 410. The bus line 410 is an address bus, a data bus, or the like for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 401 shown in FIG.

<< Printer >>
FIG. 7 is a hardware configuration diagram of the printer 30. In FIG. 7, an MFP is assumed as the printer 30. As shown in FIG. 7, the printer 30 includes a controller 910, a short-range communication circuit 920, an engine control unit 930, an operation panel 940, and a network I / F 950.

Of these, the controller 910 is a CPU 901, a system memory (MEM-P) 902, a north bridge (NB) 903, a south bridge (SB) 904, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 906, and a storage unit, which are the main parts of the computer. It has a local memory (MEM-C) 907, an HDD controller 908, and a storage unit HD909, and has a configuration in which the NB 903 and the ASIC 906 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921.

Of these, the CPU 901 is a control unit that controls the entire printer 30. The NB903 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 901, the MEM-P902, the SB904, and the AGP bus 921, and includes a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P902, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target. Has.

The MEM-P902 includes a ROM 902a that is a memory for storing programs and data that realizes each function of the controller 910, and a RAM 902b that is used as a memory for developing programs and data and for drawing in memory printing. The program stored in the RAM 902b is configured to be provided by recording a file in an installable format or an executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, or DVD. You may.

The SB904 is a bridge for connecting the NB903 to the PCI device and peripheral devices. The ASIC 906 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications having hardware elements for image processing, and has a role of a bridge connecting the AGP bus 921, the PCI bus 922, the HDD controller 908, and the MEM-C907, respectively. This ASIC906 is a PCI target and an AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that forms the core of the ASIC906, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C907, and a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) that rotate image data by hardware logic and the like. , And a PCI unit that transfers data between the scanner unit 931 and the printer unit 932 via the PCI bus 922. A USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface or an IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface may be connected to the ASIC 906.

The MEM-C907 is a local memory used as a copy image buffer and a code buffer. The HD909 is a storage for accumulating image data, accumulating font data used at the time of printing, and accumulating forms. The HD909 controls reading or writing of data to the HD909 according to the control of the CPU 901. The AGP bus 921 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphic processing, and the graphics accelerator card can be speeded up by directly accessing the MEM-P902 with high throughput. ..

Further, the short-distance communication circuit 920 includes a short-distance communication circuit 920a. The short-range communication circuit 920 is a communication circuit such as NFC or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

Further, the engine control unit 930 is composed of a scanner unit 931 and a printer unit 932. Further, the operation panel 940 displays the current setting value, the selection screen, and the like, and displays the panel display unit 940a such as a touch panel that receives the input from the operator, and the setting value of the image formation condition such as the density setting condition. It is provided with an operation panel 940b including a numeric keypad for receiving and a start key for receiving a copy start instruction. The controller 910 controls the entire printer 30, for example, drawing, communication, input from the operation panel 940, and the like. The scanner unit 931 or the printer unit 932 includes an image processing portion such as error diffusion and gamma conversion.

The printer 30 can sequentially switch and select the document box function, the copy function, the print function, and the facsimile function by the application switching key on the operation panel 940. When the document box function is selected, the document box mode is set, when the copy function is selected, the copy mode is set, when the print function is selected, the printer mode is set, and when the facsimile mode is selected, the facsimile mode is set.

Further, the network I / F950 is an interface for performing data communication using a communication network. The short-range communication circuit 920 and the network I / F 950 are electrically connected to the ASIC 906 via the PCI bus 922.

<Print flow>
FIG. 8 is an example of a print execution flow in the OS. In FIG. 8, Android OS (registered trademark) is assumed as the OS. In FIG. 8, PrintManager 31 and PrintJob32 are OS functions and cannot be changed by the developer or the like. The PrinterDiscoverySession class 33 and the PrintService class 34 can be arbitrarily implemented by the developer.
1. 1. The PrintManager 31 displays a print dialog according to a print instruction from the user (for example, pressing the Print button 121 in FIG. 2). In FIG. 8, the print preview screen 130 is displayed.
2. 2. The PrintService class 34 is requested by the PrintManager 31 to start a printer detection session. That is, the OS asks you to find the printer.
3. 3. PrintService class 34 creates an instance of PrinterDiscoverySession class 33 and returns it to PrintManager31.
4. The PrinterDiscoverySession class 33 updates the printer information for the PrintManager 31, such as adding the found printer 30 and deleting the missing printer 30.
5. When the user selects the printer 30 to print and presses the print button 137, the OS generates PrintJob32 and printing is started.
6. When PrintJob32 issues onPrintJobQueued, PrintJob32 is passed to PrintService class 34.
7. The PrintService class 34 performs printing processing based on the information of PrintJob32 (document data and printing settings such as paper size, color / monochrome, number of copies, printing direction, etc.).

PrintService class 34 and PrinterDiscoverySession class 33 are areas of printing services in the printing framework of the OS, and developers can freely implement them. On the other hand, PrintManager 31 and PrintJob 32 are OS areas and cannot be freely implemented by the developer. The print preview screen 130 displayed on the right side of FIG. 8 is a screen displayed by the print framework of the OS, and operates on the process of the print spooler (OS), not on the process of the print service. .. A process is a program execution unit as seen from the OS. Since the processes are located in different memories, the processes do not communicate directly with each other.

Therefore, the printer list displayed on the print preview screen 130 is the one added / deleted / updated by the print service, but the display order is managed by the print spooler, and the print service is displayed in the printer list. The order cannot be changed freely. Also, as described above, the print preview screen 130 does not provide a user interface for changing the default printer initially selected. Since the printer list displayed on the print preview screen 130 is saved in the storage area of the print spooler, it remains without being deleted even if the information processing device 10 is restarted or the print service is uninstalled. There is.

<About functions>
FIG. 9 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the information processing device 10 in a block shape. An OS is installed in the information processing device 10 in advance. Android OS (registered trademark) is assumed as the OS, but the printing system 11 has been introduced into Android OS (registered trademark) since version 4.4 (KitKat). When the information processing apparatus 10 downloads and installs the print service 12 from the program distribution server, the print system 11 and the print service cooperate with each other to print applications 1 to N (hereinafter, the code of any print application is 21 You will be able to print from.

The print application 21 is an application having a function of printing using the print service 12. The print application 21 requests the print system 11 to display a print preview, and transfers the print data supported by the print service 12 to the print service 12.

The printing system 11 manages the printing service 12. Since a plurality of print services 12 can be installed, the print system 11 can enable / disable each print service 12. The print system 11 receives a display request for the print preview screen 130 from the print application 21 or the print service 12 and displays the print preview screen. On the print preview screen 130, the printer 30 to be printed can be selected and the print settings can be changed. The printing system 11 also manages jobs during printing, and when the user starts printing, the status of the job being printed can be updated and displayed until the end of printing.

The print service 12 is software that can be installed on the information processing device 10, and is developed by a developer such as a printer manufacturer or a business partner. The print service 12 mainly has a function of accepting print settings and a function of converting data of the print application 21 into an image. The print service 12 executes printing at the request of the print application 21. The print service 12 may be referred to as a print plug-in.

The print service 12 of FIG. 9 has a print processing unit 13, a screen display unit 14, a communication processing unit 15, a registration unit 16, an operation reception unit 17, a printer list operation unit 18, and a deletion unit 19. If necessary, the print processing unit 13 converts the PDF file received from the printing system 11 into data in a printable format by the printer 30 and transmits the PDF file to the printer 30.

The screen display unit 14 displays the print setting screen when the print preview screen 130 (that is, from the OS side that manages the print preview screen) notifies the print setting change. Alternatively, the user interface for the settings of the print service 12 is displayed. One of the user interfaces is a screen for setting a default printer.

The communication processing unit 15 currently searches for a printer 30 capable of printing. For example, a MIB that broadcasts a response request to the network to which the information processing device 10 is connected and publishes it to the outside from a printer 30 that communicates by, for example, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). Get (Management Information Base). If the printer 30 is compatible with the printing service 12, MIB information can be acquired by searching.

The operation reception unit 17 receives a user's operation on the user interface displayed by the screen display unit 14.

One of the features of the present embodiment is that the print service 12 has a registration unit 16, a printer list operation unit 18, and a deletion unit 19.

The printer list operation unit 18 detects that the print preview screen 130 is displayed in the foreground. Further, the printer list operation unit 18 acquires each of the printers 30 displayed on the print preview screen 130 from the print preview screen 130 (print system 11).

The deletion unit 19 instructs the printing system 11 to delete the printer 30 for each of the printers 30 displayed on the print preview screen 130. After this is performed, the registration unit 16 registers the printer 30 in the printing system 11, so that the printer 30 selected by the user in the user interface displayed by the screen display unit 14 can be added from the state where the printer list is empty. It can be registered as the default printer at the top of the printer list. Further, the registration unit 16 registers the currently printable printer 30 with the printing system 11.

In addition, the registration unit 16 notifies the printing system 11 of the capabilities of the printer 30 currently selected on the print preview screen 130. The capabilities of the printer 30 are open to the MIB. The registration unit 16 notifies the printing system 11 of the status of the job being printed.

<Select default printer>
FIG. 10 is an example of the default printer selection screen 210 displayed by the screen display unit 14 of the print service 12. The default printer selection screen 210 is the home screen of the print service 12. For example, it is displayed when the print service 12 is selected on the list screen 101 of the installed print service 12 of FIG. The home screen is the minimum screen that is displayed after the software is started. The user can intuitively select the default printer on the home screen of the printing service.

On the default printer selection screen 210, a list of printers 212 on which the print service 12 can print is displayed. Further, the printer capable of printing by the print service 12 is a printer to be selected as the default printer. The user presses the star mark 213 of the printer 30 to be set as the default printer from the printer list 212. The operation reception unit 17 receives the operation, and the screen display unit 14 changes to the ★ mark 214. In this way, the user can intuitively select the default printer.

Since the number of printers 30 that can be set as the default printer is one, the ★ mark 214 is inevitably one, and the rest are displayed with the ☆ mark 213. In the example of FIG. 10, the printer 30 of "10.60.98.102" (reference numeral 135) is selected as the default printer.

The default printer setting method is not limited to pressing the ☆ mark 213. For example, the user may drag up the favorite printer 30 and change the order of each printer 30 to change the priority of the printer 30, and set the printer 30 in the top row as the default printer.

<Operation procedure>
FIG. 11 is an example of a flowchart showing an example procedure in which a user sets a default printer. The process of FIG. 11 will be described, for example, from the state where the home screen of the print service 12 is opened.

The user opens the default printer selection screen 210 (home screen) of the print service 12 at an arbitrary timing (S1).

The communication processing unit 15 communicates with the printer 30 to acquire a list of currently printable printers (S2). Printable means that communication is possible. Further, it may be a condition that the product is not out of order or printing.

The screen display unit 14 displays a list of currently printable printers acquired by the communication processing unit 15 (S3). Steps S2 and S3 are executed in real time, and as the number of printable printers 30 increases or decreases over time, the printer list also increases or decreases accordingly.

The screen display unit 14 selects the printer 30 at the top of the printer list as the default printer when the user has not selected the default printer so far or the default printer previously selected by the user cannot be found. (S4). For example, the printer 30 with the highest number of successful prints may be used, the printer 30 with the fastest response may be used, or the IP addresses may be in ascending or descending order. If the default printer selected by the user is not found, a predetermined default printer is selected, so that printing with the default printer that the user cannot find can be suppressed.

The user selects the printer 30 to be set as the default printer from the list of currently printable printers (S5). The operation reception unit 17 receives the operation, and the screen display unit 14 changes the ☆ mark 213 to the ★ mark 214.

The screen display unit 14 stores the default printer selected by the user in the non-volatile memory (S6). Since the default printer is stored, there is no need to set the default printer once set by the user.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an example procedure in which the print service 12 specifies a default printer.

The printing system 11 calls an API (Application Interface) called PrinterDiscoverySession.onStartPrinterDiscovery () when searching for the printer 30 (S11). This API is an API that the printing service 12 must support, and is called when the printing system 11 searches for the printer 30. When this API is called, the communication processing unit 15 of the printing service 12 searches for a printer that can print at present.

In the present embodiment, the registration unit 16 temporarily saves the list of currently printable printers acquired in step S11, and displays PrinterDiscoverySession.addPrinters (), which is an API for adding the printable printer 30 to the OS. Do not use and register immediately (S12). That is, step S12 is a random process for explanation.

The printer list operation unit 18 confirms whether or not the print preview screen 130 is active (displayed in the foreground) (S13). That is, the user confirms whether or not the screen currently being operated is the print preview screen 130.

When the print preview screen 130 is not active (No in S13), the registration unit 16 registers the list of currently printable printers temporarily saved in step S12 in the OS using PrinterDiscoverySession.addPrinters () (S14). ). Since the print preview screen 130 is not in the foreground, the print service 12 does not need to instruct the print system 11 of the default printer set by the user. The printer 30 registered in the OS can be confirmed on the print preview screen 130 or the system screen of the OS.

When the print preview screen 130 is active (Yes in S13), the print service 12 can instruct the print system 11 of the default printer set by the user. Since the print preview screen 130 is active, the operation to the print preview screen 130 can be reliably performed.

The screen display unit 14 acquires the default printer selected and stored by the user from the non-volatile memory (S15).

Next, the printer list operation unit 18 acquires the printer list displayed on the print preview screen 130 from the printing system 11 (S16). The printer 30 that has printed even once in the past is displayed.

The deletion unit 19 instructs the printing system 11 to delete the printer 30 for all the printers 30 in the printer list (S17). As a result, all past print histories will be deleted. Since the print service 12 (printer list operation unit 18 and deletion unit 19) and the process of displaying the print preview screen 130 (print system 11) are separate processes, the Intent mechanism of Android (registered trademark) is used for interprocess communication. To do. As a result, it is possible to issue the same command as the user manually operates the screen to the process of the print preview screen 130 different from the print service 12.

The registration unit 16 registers the default printer selected by the user in the OS using PrinterDiscoverySession.addPrinters () (S18). As a result, the default printer selected by the user is registered first from the state where the printer list is empty. Conventionally, the printing services are registered in the order in which the printers are found, but in the present embodiment, the printer selected by the user can be registered as the default printer.

Further, the registration unit 16 registers the printer 30 found other than the default printer selected by the user in the OS by using PrinterDiscoverySession.addPrinters () (S19). As a result, the printer 30 that is not the default printer can also be registered as the printer that is not the default printer, so that the user can easily change the printer 30.

<Summary>
As described above, the printing service of the present embodiment is included in the printer list owned by the OS so that the set printer 30 becomes the first printer list (selected as the default printer) displayed by the OS. Each printer 30 is deleted once, and the designated printer 30 is first registered in the OS. This allows the user to set the default printer intuitively.

<Other application examples>
Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to Examples, the present invention is not limited to these Examples, and various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. And substitutions can be made.

In the present embodiment, the printer has been described as an example, but even in the FAX service having the same function as the FAX transmission device, the user can arbitrarily select the default FAX transmission device as in the printing service. Printers and fax transmitters are referred to as electronic devices.

Further, in the present embodiment, the OS described by taking Android OS (registered trademark) as an example may be iOS (registered trademark) or the like.

Further, the configuration examples such as FIG. 9 shown in the above examples are divided according to the main functions in order to facilitate understanding of the processing of the information processing apparatus 10. However, the present invention is not limited by the method and name of division of each processing unit. The information processing device 10 can be divided into more processing units according to the processing content. Further, one processing unit can be divided so as to include more processing.

Each function of the embodiment described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the "processing circuit" in the present specification is a processor programmed to execute each function by software such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or a processor designed to execute each function described above. It shall include devices such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (digital signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array) and conventional circuit modules.

10 Information processing device 12 Printing service 16 Registration unit 18 Printer list operation unit 19 Deletion unit 30 Printer

JP-A-2017-168028

Claims (8)

It is an information processing device
A screen display that displays one or more electronic devices to be selected,
An operation reception unit that accepts the selection of electronic devices,
A deletion unit that deletes electronic devices already registered in the information processing device,
A registration unit that registers the electronic device received by the operation reception unit as a default electronic device, and a registration unit.
An information processing device characterized by having. When the screen displaying the list of electronic devices is displayed in the foreground, the deletion unit deletes the already registered electronic devices.
The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when the screen on which the list of electronic devices is displayed is not displayed in the foreground, the already registered electronic devices are not deleted. The screen according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the screen for displaying one or more electronic devices to be selected by the screen display unit is a home screen of a printing service that executes printing at a request from an application. Information processing equipment. The deletion unit and the registration unit are separate processes from the process of displaying electronic devices that have been used in the past.
The deletion unit requests the process of displaying the electronic device to delete the electronic device already registered in the information processing device.
The information processing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the registration unit requires the process of displaying the electronic device to register the electronic device selected by the user as the default electronic device. apparatus. Further, the information processing device
It functions as a communication processing unit that searches for one or more electronic devices to be selected via a communication path.
The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the registration unit registers an electronic device that has not been registered as a default electronic device after the default electronic device. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the electronic device is a printer. Information processing device,
A screen display that displays one or more electronic devices to be selected,
An operation reception unit that accepts the selection of electronic devices,
A deletion unit that deletes electronic devices already registered in the information processing device,
A registration unit that registers the electronic device received by the operation reception unit as a default electronic device,
A program characterized by functioning as. This is an electronic device registration method performed by an information processing device.
A step in which the screen display displays one or more electronic devices to be selected, and
The step in which the operation reception unit accepts the selection of electronic devices,
The step that the deletion unit deletes the electronic device already registered in the information processing device,
A step in which the registration unit registers the electronic device received by the operation reception unit as a default electronic device,
An electronic device registration method characterized by having.

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