JP7171227B2 - Information processing device, its control method and application - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, its control method and application .

2. Description of the Related Art A configuration is known in which a printer driver installed in a host computer is used as software for controlling an image forming apparatus, and printing is performed on an image forming apparatus connected to the host computer. An operating system (OS), which is basic software, is installed in the host computer, and the printer driver is configured according to the specifications defined by the OS. Vendors who provide image forming apparatuses can obtain means for instructing printing to the image forming apparatus by providing a printer driver that conforms to the specifications of the OS.

When using Microsoft (registered trademark) Windows (registered trademark) 8 or later versions as the OS of the host computer, the printer driver is configured with a new architecture called a V4 printer driver. In the architecture of the V4 printer driver, security is emphasized, so the customizability of the printer driver itself is reduced. In order to compensate for the loss of customizability, image forming device vendors can provide dedicated applications for assisting the functions of printer drivers. This application is called Windows Store Device Apps (WSDA).

In Windows (registered trademark) 10 and later, applications can be created on a new format platform called Universal Windows Platform (UWP). The applications are called UWP Device Apps. UWP Device Apps extend the functionality of WSDA and allow applications called Workflows (WF) to be added to WSDA. The WSDA WF function is executed by the OS generating a thread called a background task that does not have a UI. A background task can also call a foreground task (UI).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200013 discloses a secure print function that allows print data to be stored in the printer once it is sent to a printer with a password entered in a client computer, and can be printed only when the same password is entered in the printer. is disclosed. The V3 printer driver can display a pop-up UI for entering a password for secure printing when the printer driver prints. However, since the V4 printer driver is controlled mainly by the framework provided by the OS, the pop-up UI cannot be displayed during printing. Therefore, in the V4 printer driver, it is conceivable to use the WF function of WSDA to display a pop-up UI at the time of printing such as secure printing.

JP-A-2001-318779

However, since the WSDA WF function is executed as a background task, the WF function cannot be executed unless the background task execution is permitted in the OS settings, and there is a risk that the pop-up UI cannot be displayed during printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus that improves user convenience when background execution of an application linked to a printer driver is not permitted.

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an application associated with a printer driver, and includes determination means for determining whether or not the application can be executed in the background ; notification means for notifying execution of the application in the background when the determination means determines that execution of the application in the background is not permitted; and receiving a user operation in response to the notification. a display control means for causing a display means to display a setting screen regarding execution of the application in the background according to the above .

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that improves user convenience when background execution of an application linked to a printer driver is not permitted.

1 is a diagram showing a network configuration of a printing system; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a client; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the software configuration of an OS; FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining print processing; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI of a device application; 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating an example of a setting screen and a UI of a device application; FIG. It is a figure explaining the relationship with device ID. 10 is a flowchart showing activation processing of a device application; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a message; 10 is a flowchart showing message display processing; 10 is a flowchart showing activation processing of a device application; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a print setting screen; FIG.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the network configuration of a printing system. The printing system includes a client computer (hereinafter referred to as client) 100 , printer 200 and network 300 . The client 100 is, for example, an information processing apparatus equipped with Microsoft (registered trademark) Windows (registered trademark) 10 as an OS. The printer driver installed in the client 100 running Windows (registered trademark) 10 is the V4 printer driver. The printer 200 receives print data in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) format and performs printing. Printer 200 may be a single-function printer (SFP) with only printing capabilities, or a multi-function printer (MFP) with printing, scanning, and copying capabilities. Network 300 is, for example, a local area network (LAN), and connects client 100 and printer 200 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the client 100. As shown in FIG. The client 100 comprises a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a main storage device 102, an input I/F 103, an output I/F 104, an auxiliary storage device 105 and a communication I/F 106, which are connected via a system bus 107. there is Further, client 100 includes keyboard 108 , pointing device 109 and monitor 110 .

The CPU 101 controls the entire client 100 according to programs stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1021 of the main memory 102 or the auxiliary memory 105 . The main storage device 102 includes a ROM 1021 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1022 . The ROM 1021 stores various programs. A RAM 1022 is used as a work area when the CPU 101 performs various processes.

The auxiliary storage device 105 stores an application (hereinafter referred to as application) 1051 , a device application (hereinafter referred to as device application) 1052 , a printer driver 1053 and an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) 1054 . The application 1051 , device application 1052 and printer driver 1053 can be added to the auxiliary storage device 105 via a CD-ROM (not shown), USB memory, or network 300 .

The application 1051 is an application such as Microsoft Word (registered trademark) or Microsoft Excel (registered trademark) that can also perform print settings. The device application 1052 is a printing application linked to the printer driver 1053 . A printer driver 1053 can issue a print instruction to a device having a print function. The OS 1054 is an operating system such as Windows (registered trademark) that controls the entire computer. Programs related to the application 1051 , the device application 1052 , the printer driver 1053 and the OS 1054 are stored in the auxiliary storage device 105 , loaded into the RAM 1022 and executed by the CPU 101 . An application 1051 , a device application 1052 and a printer driver 1053 are running on the OS 1054 . The printer driver 1053 in this embodiment is a V4 printer driver.

The input I/F 103 is an interface that receives instructions from the user to the client 100 via input devices such as a keyboard 108 and a pointing device 109 typified by a mouse/touch panel. The output I/F 104 is an interface for outputting data to the outside, and outputs data to an output device such as the monitor 110 . Communication I/F 106 is connected to network 300 and communicates with an external device such as printer 200 .

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration related to print processing of the OS 1054. As shown in FIG. A printer driver 1053 , a printer queue 1055 , a device management system 1056 and a device application 1052 operate on the OS 1054 . The printer driver 1053 and printer queue 1055 hold device IDs corresponding to the connected printers 200 .

The device management control file 1058 describes the association between the device ID, the device management system 1056 and the device application 1052 . Details of the association between the device management system 1056 and the device application 1052 will be described later using Table 1 and FIG. Note that the device management control file 1058 may be created for each model, or one file may be created for all models. The OS 1054 refers to the device management control file 1058 to determine how the printer driver 1053, printer queue 1055, device management system 1056, and device application 1052 are associated.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining print processing in the client 100. As shown in FIG. Print processing in the client 100 is executed by a driver printing system using the printer driver 1053 . The driver printing system is running on OS1054. The printer driver 1053 of this embodiment is a version 4 printer driver (V4 printer driver) that operates on the Windows (registered trademark) operating system. In print processing using the V4 printer driver, printing is performed using a file format called XML Paper Specification (hereinafter referred to as XPS) as spool data.

The print manager (spooler) 218 , port monitor 219 , GDItoXPS conversion module 207 , configuration module 208 and filter pipeline manager 212 are modules included in OS 1054 . Among these, the GDItoXPS conversion module 207 , configuration module 208 and filter pipeline manager 212 are positioned as modules dedicated to the printer driver 1053 provided by the OS 1054 .

GDI (Graphics Device Interface) is a graphics component that generates a print image for a printer. The GDI to XPS conversion module 207 has a function of converting GDI rendered data into XPS data. The filter pipeline manager 212 is a module that manages filter print processing, which is a feature of the XPS print path. The printer driver 1053 can output the file received in the XPS file format to the printer 200 by replacing it with a page description language or the like using the XPS print path. The port monitor 219 can control communication between the print manager 218 accessing the device and the driver, and the printer driver 1053 performs print processing via the port monitor 219 . Also, the print manager 218 communicates with the printer 200 through the port monitor 219 to perform AutoConfig.

Printer driver 1053 includes GDI to XPS conversion module 207 , configuration module 208 and filter pipeline manager 212 . The configuration module 208 edits print setting information using a print setting editing module 2081 provided by the printer driver 1053 . The print setting editing module 2081 is written in a script language called JavaScript (registered trademark), and uses the property bag 2061 provided by the printer driver 1053 to edit print setting information.

Property bag 2061 has DriverPropertyBag 2062 and QueuePropertyBag 2063 . A DriverPropertyBag 2062 is printer model-dependent information that exists in the driver package, and is held as a read-only data group in a specific area in the OS 1054 after the printer driver is installed. A QueuePropertyBag 2063 is a data group associated with a print queue. The QueuePropertyBag 2063 can be used by registering the xml definition file of the Key-Value pair in the OS 1054, and the Value can be edited with a certain authority. Note that the definition of the QueuePropertyBag 2063 can also be described in the GPD, which is the print setting definition file.

Printer driver 1053 has a filter pipeline manager 212 . Filter pipeline manager 212 includes communication filter 213 , layout filter 214 and renderer filter 215 . The communication filter 213 , layout filter 214 and renderer filter 215 are stored as a printer driver 1053 in the auxiliary storage device 105 .

Application 1051 has desktop application 201 and UWP application 202 . A user executes print processing from a desktop application 201 or UWP application 202 displayed on a monitor 110 of an output device using an input device such as a keyboard 108 or a pointing device 109 typified by a touch panel/mouse. The printing process is executed by sequentially performing three processes of selecting a printer, creating print settings, and converting drawing data.

The flow of print processing will be described in the order of printer selection, creation of print settings, and drawing data conversion. When performing printing, first, the printer 200 to be used for printing is selected. Selecting the printer 200 is synonymous with selecting the printer driver 1053 corresponding to the printer 200 that executes printing. For example, a print queue (not shown) is used to select the printer driver 1053 .

Next, create the print settings. To create print settings, the application 1051 first secures a memory area for print settings in the RAM 1022 . The application 1051 then calls the configuration module 208 of the printer driver 1053 to create and store print setting data. The print setting data is data including setting values for each function related to print processing, and is used for print processing. The print setting data includes setting values necessary for printing, such as information on the paper size to be output (for example, "A4"), specification of double-sided printing, color/black-and-white, specification of paper feed stage, and the like.

The desktop application 201 uses binary DEVMODE 203 as print setting data. The UWP application 202 uses a PrintTicket 204 described in a markup language XML (eXtensive Markup Language) as print setting data. DEVMODE 203 includes a standard area defined by the OS 1054 and an extended area independently defined by the printer driver 1053 . The PrintTicket 204 is print setting data described in XML format. In the PrintTicket 204, descriptions of the standard area and the extension area are divided according to the namespace.

The application 1051 changes the print settings by rewriting the contents of the DEVMODE 203 or PrintTicket 204 . When the print setting data is represented by the DEVMODE 203, the specifications of the standard area of the print setting data are open to the public. Therefore, the desktop application 201 directly changes the contents of the standard area of the print setting data. The printer driver 1053 grasps the detailed specifications of the extended area of the print setting data that depends on the printer 200 . Therefore, the printer driver 1053 changes the content of the extended area of the print setting data based on the user's operation via the user interface.

When the print setting data is represented by the PrintTicket 204, the setting values are described in XML format, so the UWP application 202 can directly change all the setting values. However, the extension area of the print setting data is uniquely defined for each printer driver 1053, and the specifications differ depending on the printer 200. Therefore, the UWP application 202 does not know the detailed specifications of the extension area. Therefore, the printer driver 1053 changes the setting value of the extended area of the print setting data based on the user's operation via the user interface. Alternatively, the UWP application 202 may change settings using the extended print setting section 10522 that is the user interface of the device application 1052 .

Since the print setting data also includes information specific to the model of the printer 200, the configuration module 208 uses the model dependent file 209 to create the print setting data. The model-dependent file 209 is a print setting definition file called a GPD (Generic Printer Description), and defines information (model-dependent information) regarding settings for each model of the printer 200 . The model-dependent file 209 can describe device capability, device option configuration, definition of QueuePropertyBag linked to a print queue, setting values of each function included in print setting data, and the like.

Dedicated settings dependent on the printer 200 are set using a user interface provided by the printer extension 210 or the extended print setting section 10522 of the device application 1052 . An example of a user interface provided by the extended print setting section 10522 is shown in FIG. FIG. 5A shows an example of a print setting screen 500 provided by the extended print setting section 10522. As shown in FIG. The print setting screen 500 displays basic settings such as document size, paper size, number of copies, and print orientation, as well as setting items specific to the printer 200, such as color mode and double-sided printing function. The printer driver 1053 changes the setting of the extension area of the DEVMODE 203 or PrintTicket 204 depending on the printer 200 according to the setting of the user interface.

The device application 1052 is an application for the printer vendor to extend the functions of the printer 200 and is installed as an application separate from the printer driver 1053 . The device application 1052 includes an extended print setting section 10522 , an application startup application section 10521 when printing, a tile application section 10523 , a background task determination section 10524 , and a message management section 10525 .

The printing-time activation application unit 10521 is a module called from the printing-time activation application launcher 221 at the time of printing, and implements expansion of the functions of the printer 200 . The printing start-up application unit 10521 has a secure print function that displays a user interface for setting a password each time printing, a function that displays a user interface such as a preview immediately after printing, an editing function for the XPS spool file 206, and the like. FIG. 5B shows an example of the user interface of the printing start-up application unit 10521 . FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of a password input screen 510 for the secure print function provided by the application unit 10521 to be activated when printing. The password input screen 510 is displayed as a pop-up UI when printing.

The print-time activation application unit 10521 can be activated when background task settings can be executed. In the background, a thread without a user interface called a background task is generated and executed by the OS 1054 when printing. Whether or not the background task can be executed can be set on the setting screen of the OS 1054 , and background task setting information is stored in the background task setting information 222 . Some applications installed on the client 100 operate in the background to maintain the latest state or receive update information without user's operation. On the other hand, running apps in the background drains the battery, so users can turn off apps they don't want to run in the background.

An example of the background task setting screen is shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a setting screen 600 for setting permission/prohibition of background execution of the application. A collective setting 601 and an individual setting 602 are displayed as setting items on the setting screen 600 . In the collective setting 601, it is possible to set whether background tasks can be executed for all applications installed on the client 100. FIG. In the individual settings 602, it is possible to set whether background tasks can be executed for each application. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a setting screen 610 for setting whether or not the application can be executed in the background. The setting screen 610 can be displayed on a battery-equipped computer such as a notebook PC or a tablet PC.

A tile application unit 10523 is an application that is activated from an application list such as the start menu of the OS 1054 separately from print processing, and provides functions such as guidance to a management screen of the printer 200 and a website for support information of the printer 200 . An example of the user interface of the tile application unit 10523 is shown in FIG. 6(C). FIG. 6C is a diagram showing an example of the management screen 630 of the printer 200 provided by the tile application section 10523. As shown in FIG.

The background task determination unit 10524 determines whether or not the background task is executable based on the background task setting information 222 . The message management unit 10525 has a function of displaying messages while the device application 1052 is running.

After confirming the print settings, the user executes print processing from the application. When printing from the desktop application 201, drawing data is sent to the GDI to XPS conversion module 207, which is a module of the OS 1054, and an XPS spool file 206 is created. At this time, the GDItoXPS conversion module 207 calls the configuration module 208 to convert the print settings from DEVMODE 203 to PrintTicket 204 . The GDItoXPS conversion module 207 uses the print setting editing module 2081 by the configuration module 208 when converting print settings. Since the print setting editing module 2081 can read and write the information in the property bag 2061, it can refer to the data saved by the printer driver 1053 and convert the print setting data.

There are two ways to generate the XPS spool file 206 when printing from the UWP application 202 . One is a method in which the UWP application 202 itself generates the XPS spool file 206 . The other is a method in which the OS 1054 generates the XPS spool file 206 in response to drawing commands from the UWP application 202 . Either method generates an XPS spool file 206 during printing.

When the application 1051 issues a print instruction and the XPS spool file 206 is generated, the background task determination unit 10524 refers to the background task setting information 222 and determines whether background processing can be executed. do. If background processing is executable, the OS 1054 activates the application start-up application unit 10521 via the application launcher 221 start-up when printing. When the processing in the application unit 10521 to be activated when printing ends, the processing is transferred to the print filter pipeline 211 .

The print filter pipeline 211 takes the generated XPS spool file 206 and performs the processing of multiple filters. The number and types of filters included in the print filter pipeline 211 differ depending on the configuration of the printer driver 1053 . The print filter pipeline 211 of this embodiment performs, for example, a communication filter 213, a layout filter 214, and a renderer filter 215. FIG.

Filter configuration file 216 controls the number of filters included in print filter pipeline 211 and the order in which the filters are processed. The filter pipeline manager 212 causes each filter to perform processing in the order of the communication filter 213, the layout filter 214, and the renderer filter 215 according to the filter configuration file 216. FIG.

Communication filter 213 has a mechanism for communicating with printer 200 . A layout filter 214 performs layout-related processing such as bookbinding printing, stamping, and page aggregation. A renderer filter 215 renders the XPS spool file 206 into PDL. PDL is an abbreviation for PageDescription Language.

The PDL data is managed by a print manager 218 that manages the schedule of print processing, and print jobs are registered one after another in a queue. When the printer 200 becomes ready for printing, the print manager 218 transmits the PDL data in the order registered in the queue to the printer 200 via the port monitor 219 and instructs print processing. As described above, the main role of the printer driver 1053 is to convert print data and print setting data from the application 1051 into PDL data that can be processed by the printer 200 .

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the device ID 700 of the printer 200, the device application 1052, the device management system 1056, the printer driver 1053, and the printer queue 1055. FIG. Printer 200 has a unique device ID 700 . The device ID 700 and printer driver 1053 are uniquely associated. Note that the printer 200 may have multiple device IDs 700 . For example, if the printer 200 is an MFP, it may be configured to have a device ID 700 for each function such as scanner or printer.

As for the relationship of the printer queue 1055 to the printer driver 1053 , it is possible to associate one printer driver 1053 with multiple printer queues 1055 . Device management system 1056 and device application 1052 are associated with device ID 700 . A single device management system 1056 can be associated with multiple device IDs 700 . Similarly, one device application 1052 can be associated with multiple device IDs 700 . That is, the device application 1052 and device management system 1056 are associated with the printer driver 1053 and printer queue 1055 via the device ID 700 .

Details of the association between the device ID 700 and the device application 1052 and device management system 1056 will be described with reference to Table 1. Table 1 shows the relationship between the device ID 700 of the printer indicated by the device management control file 1058, the device management system 1056, and the device application 1052.

The device ID 700 is information indicating, for example, manufacturer (MFG), model (MDL), class (CLS), command (CMD), description (DES), and the like. For example, printer 1 shown in Table 1 has manufacturer: ABC, model: printer 1, class: PRINTER, command: PDL1 (ABC company's private print control command), description: ABC. there is The device ID 700 of printer 1 is associated with DevMg1 of the device management system 1056 and App1 of the device application 1052 .

When the printer 1 is connected to the client 100 , DevMg1 of the device management system 1056 and App1 of the device application 1052 are automatically installed on the client 100 . DevMg1 of the device management system 1056 and App1 of the device application 1052 manage the printer 1 . Note that when printer 2 is connected to client 100 to which printer 1 is connected, App1 is already installed, so App1 is not newly installed, and only DevMg2 of device management system 1056 is installed. be.

Activation processing of the tile application unit 10523 of the device application 1052 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing activation processing of the tile application unit 10523. As shown in FIG. Activation processing of the tile application unit 10523 is realized by the CPU 101 reading a program stored in the auxiliary storage device 105 to the RAM 1022 and executing the program. Activation processing of the tile application unit 10523 is started when a tile corresponding to the device application 1052 is selected on the start screen and the OS 1054 activates the device application 1052 .

In S801, the OS 1054 determines whether the device application 1052 has been pressed from the application list such as the start menu. If it is determined that the device application 1052 has been pressed, the process advances to step S802. On the other hand, if it is determined that the device application 1052 has not been pressed, the device application 1052 is not activated and S801 is repeated. In S<b>802 , the OS 1054 launches the device application 1052 . When the device application 1052 is activated, the tile application section 10523 of the device application 1052 is also activated. In S803, the tile application unit 10523 displays the UI screen of the tile application. The UI screen of the tile application is, for example, the management screen 630 shown in FIG. 6(C).

In S<b>804 , the background task determination unit 10524 acquires the background task setting information 222 of the device application 1052 via the API of the OS 1054 . The background task setting information 222 of the device application 1052 is information as to whether background execution of the device application 1052 is permitted or not, and is set on the setting screen 600 shown in FIG.

In S805, the background task determination unit 10524 refers to the background task setting information 222 acquired in S804 and determines whether execution of the device application 1052 in the background is permitted. If execution of the device application 1052 in the background is permitted, this processing ends. On the other hand, if execution of the device application 1052 in the background is permitted, the process advances to step S806.

In S<b>806 , the message management unit 10525 acquires toast notification enable/disable information via the API of the OS 1054 . In S807, the message management unit 10525 refers to the toast notification enable/disable information acquired in S806, and determines whether or not toast notification is permitted. If toast notification is permitted, the process advances to S808. On the other hand, if the toast notification is not permitted, the process proceeds to S809.

In S809, the message management unit 10525 displays a message box to the effect that execution of the background task is not permitted on the UI screen of the tile application. FIG. 9A is a diagram showing an example of a message box indicating that background task execution is not permitted. In S808, the message management unit 10525 performs toast message display processing. Details of the toast message display processing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing toast message display processing in S808. In S1001, the message management unit 10525 refers to the background task setting information 222 acquired by the background task determination unit 10524, and determines whether or not the background task execution is not permitted due to the OS policy. When background task execution is set not to be permitted on the setting screen 600 shown in FIG. 6A, the background task setting information 222 of "not permitted" is saved. On the other hand, when background task execution is set not to be permitted on the setting screen 610 shown in FIG. If the reason for not permitting execution of the background task is due to the OS policy, the process proceeds to S1002. On the other hand, if the reason for not permitting execution of the background task is not due to the OS policy, the process advances to S1003.

In S1002, the message management unit 10525 includes the path to the background task setting screen 610 shown in FIG. 6B in the toast message displayed in S1004. In S1003, the message management unit 10525 includes the path to the background task setting screen 600 shown in FIG. 6A in the toast message displayed in S1004.

In S1004, the message management unit 10525 instructs the OS 1054 to display a toast message. An example of the toast message to be displayed is shown in FIG. 9(B). In S1005, the OS 1054 determines whether a user operation such as clicking or tapping has been performed on the toast message. If the toast message is clicked, the process proceeds to S1006. On the other hand, if the toast message has not been clicked, this processing ends.

In S1006, the OS 1054 displays the background task setting screen of Path included in the toast message, and ends this processing. If the toast message includes a path to the background task setting screen 600, the OS 1054 displays the setting screen 600 shown in FIG. 6A. On the other hand, if the path to the background task setting screen 610 is included in the toast message, the OS 1054 displays the setting screen 610 shown in FIG. 6B.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing activation processing of the extended print setting section 10522 of the device application 1052. As shown in FIG. Activation processing of the extended print setting unit 10522 is realized by the CPU 101 reading a program stored in the auxiliary storage device 105 to the RAM 1022 and executing the program. Activation processing of the extended print setting unit 10522 is started by the UWP application 202 issuing a print request to the OS 1054 when a print setting UI is displayed by pressing a print button in another application, for example. .

In S1101, the OS 1054 displays a print setting screen. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a print setting screen. On the print setting screen 1200, in addition to basic settings such as the number of copies and color mode, a link button 1201 for "other settings" for performing detailed settings is also displayed. In S<b>1102 , the OS 1054 receives an operation from the user on the print setting screen 1200 .

In S1103, the OS 1054 determines whether or not the "other settings" link button 1201 on the print setting screen 1200 has been pressed. If it is determined that the link button 1201 for "other settings" has been pressed, the process advances to step S1104. On the other hand, if it is determined that the link button 1201 for "other settings" has not been pressed, this processing ends. In S<b>1104 , the OS 1054 calls the extended print setting section 10522 of the device application 1052 and displays the print setting screen 500 provided by the extended print setting section 10522 . S1105 to S1109 are the same processing as S804 to S808 in FIG. In S1110, the message management unit 10525 displays a message box on the print setting screen 500 to the effect that execution of the background task is not permitted.

With the above processing, when the execution of the background task is not permitted, a toast message or message box prompting the user to change the system settings can be displayed when the tile app or print setting UI is started, and the user can be notified. . Also, when the toast message is clicked, the background task setting screen can be displayed, saving the user the trouble of searching for the background task setting screen.

(Other examples)
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by processing to It can also be implemented by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that implements one or more functions.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist thereof.

Claims (16)

An information processing device including an application associated with a printer driver ,
determination means for determining whether or not the application can be executed in the background ;
notification means for notifying execution of the application in the background when the determination means determines that execution of the application in the background is not permitted;
and display control means for causing a display means to display a setting screen regarding execution of the application in the background in accordance with reception of a user operation for the notification . 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the notification from said notification means is display of a toast message regarding display of said setting screen. The application is an application that is launched in response to selection of a tile of the application on the start screen ,
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said determination means executes determination processing according to activation of said application corresponding to selection of said tile . The application is an application that is activated in response to a selection to display a print setting user interface on a screen displayed by another application,
4. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the determination unit executes determination processing according to activation of the application corresponding to a selection for displaying the user interface of the print settings . 5. The determination unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the determination unit acquires background task setting information and determines whether or not the application can be executed in the background based on the setting information. The information processing device according to item 1. the printer driver is a V4 printer driver ;
The application is an application for setting print settings provided to the printer driver. 6. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the application is an application for displaying an object . The application is an application that displays a user interface for print settings in response to a selection to display a user interface for print settings on a screen displayed by another application ,
7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit executes determination processing based on the selection for displaying the print setting user interface . A control method for an information processing device including an application associated with a printer driver, comprising:
a determination step of determining whether or not the application can be executed in the background in the information processing device ;
a notification step of notifying execution of the application in the background in the information processing apparatus when it is determined in the determination step that execution of the application in the background is not permitted; ,
and a display control step of causing a display unit to display a setting screen regarding execution of the application in the background in accordance with reception of a user operation in response to the notification. control method . An application associated with a printer driver,
to the computer,
a determination step of determining whether or not the application can be executed in the background ;
a notification step of notifying the execution of the application in the background when it is determined in the determination step that the application is not permitted to be executed in the background ;
and causing a display unit to display a setting screen for executing the application in the background in accordance with acceptance of the user's operation for the notification . 10. An application according to claim 9 , wherein said determining step is executed by said computer in response to said application being launched. 10. The application according to claim 9 , wherein the notification of the notification step is display of a toast message regarding display of the setting screen. The application is an application that is launched in response to selecting the tile of the application on the start screen ,
12. The application according to any one of claims 9 to 11 , wherein said determining step is executed based on said application being launched in response to selection of said tile . The application is an application that is activated in response to a selection to display a print setting user interface on a screen displayed by another application,
13. The application according to any one of claims 9 to 12 , wherein the determining step is executed based on the application being activated in response to a selection to display the print setting user interface . 14. The apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 13 , wherein in said determining step, background task setting information is obtained, and whether or not said application can be executed in the background is determined based on said setting information. Application according to item 1. the printer driver is a V4 printer driver;
The application is an application for setting print settings provided to the printer driver. 15. The application according to any one of claims 9 to 14 , wherein the application is an application for displaying objects . The application is an application that displays a user interface for print settings in response to a selection to display a user interface for print settings on a screen displayed by another application,
16. The application according to any one of claims 9 to 15 , wherein the determination step is performed based on the selection for displaying the print setting user interface .

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