WO2022138317A1

WO2022138317A1 - Support program

Info

Publication number: WO2022138317A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/045981
Authority: WO
Inventors: 建樹成田
Original assignee: ブラザー工業株式会社
Priority date: 2020-12-24
Filing date: 2021-12-14
Publication date: 2022-06-30
Also published as: JP2022100567A

Abstract

The present invention provides an information processing device into which an OS-standard general-use printing program has been incorporated, wherein unintended paper-based printing by a user is reduced. According to an auxiliary program 42, a CPU 11 of a PC 1 acquires printing data, representing an image to be printed as a result of a printing instruction, and paper information, which is information regarding printing paper used in printing as a result of the printing instruction, when the printing instruction, which is output from an editing application 43 and causes a printer 2 to print the image, is present in a general-use printing program 41 that has been incorporated ahead of time into an OS 21. The CPU 11 additionally causes a user interface 13 to display a preview image, which indicates the layout of the image to be printed on the printing paper, on the basis of the paper information and the printing data.

Description

Support program

The technical fields disclosed herein relate to support programs that support printer control.

As a technique for controlling a printer from an information processing device such as a personal computer, a configuration in which print data is generated by a printer driver and a preview is displayed before the print data is transmitted to the printer is widely known (for example, Patent Documents). 1). The printer driver is provided by the manufacturer of the printer, supports various functions of the printer, and can fully utilize the printer.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-11149

In recent years, a technique for controlling a printer by a print program built into an operating system (OS) as a standard without using the above-mentioned printer driver has been put into practical use. In this technology, when the OS associates a printer with an OS standard print program and subsequently receives a print instruction for the printer, printing by the OS standard print program becomes possible without using a printer driver. ..

It is possible to display a preview even when printing with the OS standard general-purpose printing program described above. However, although the preview display can allow the user to confirm the image to be printed, it does not allow the user to confirm the print result in consideration of the size of the paper loaded in the printer. Therefore, it may be noticed that the printing result is not intended by the user after printing, such as the image sticking out of the paper.

This specification discloses a technique for reducing unintended printing by a user based on paper in an information processing apparatus incorporating an OS standard general-purpose printing program.

The support program made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems is a support program that can be executed by the computer of the information processing apparatus and corresponds to the printer connected to the information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus is attached to the computer. There was a print instruction output from an application program embedded in the printer, which causes the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program preliminarily incorporated in the operating system of the information processing apparatus. In this case, a paper information acquisition process for acquiring print paper information which is information on the print paper used for printing according to the print instruction, and an image data acquisition process for acquiring print image data indicating an image to be printed according to the print instruction. , A preview image showing the arrangement of the printed image on the printing paper based on the printing paper information acquired by the paper information acquisition process and the printed image data acquired by the image data acquisition process. It is characterized in that a preview process for displaying using the user interface of the information processing apparatus is executed.

According to the support program disclosed in the present specification, when a printing instruction is given to a general-purpose printing program, the information processing apparatus is printed with printing paper information which is information on the printing paper used for printing according to the printing instruction. The print image data indicating the image to be printed is acquired, and a preview image showing the arrangement of the image to be printed on the printing paper is displayed. As a result, the user can easily notice the problem of the arrangement of the paper and the image, and it can be expected that the user changes the setting of the paper. As a result, the possibility of avoiding unintended printing by the user increases.

An information processing device incorporating the above support program, a storage medium that can be read by a computer that stores the support program, and a control method for realizing the functions of the support program are also new and useful.

According to the technique disclosed in the present specification, a technique for reducing unintended printing by a user based on paper is realized in an information processing apparatus incorporating an OS standard general-purpose printing program.

It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the electric structure of a PC. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example of the procedure of the printing operation by each program. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the paper information determination processing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the preview display screen. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the preview display screen.

Hereinafter, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) that uses the support program of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. This specification discloses a support program executed by a PC connected to a printer having a printing function.

As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 1 of the present embodiment includes a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and a memory 12. PC1 is an example of an information processing device. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. Further, the PC 1 includes a user interface (hereinafter referred to as “user IF”) 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as “communication IF”) 14, which are electrically connected to the controller 10. .. The controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a general term for hardware and software used for controlling the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single hardware that actually exists in the PC 1.

The CPU 11 executes various processes according to the program read from the memory 12 and based on the user's operation. Various programs including various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "applications") and various data are stored in the memory 12. The memory 12 is also used as a work area when various processes are executed. The buffer included in the CPU 11 is also an example of the memory. An example of the memory 12 is not limited to the ROM, RAM, HDD, etc. built in the PC 1, but is a storage medium that can be read and written by the CPU 11, such as a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM. Is also good.

The user IF 13 includes hardware that displays a screen for notifying the user of information and hardware that accepts operations by the user. The user IF 13 may be a set of a display capable of displaying information and a mouse, keyboard, or the like having an input reception function, or may be a touch panel having a display function and an input reception function.

The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with an external device such as a printer 2. The communication standard of the communication IF14 is Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), USB and the like. The PC 1 may include a plurality of communication IFs 14 corresponding to a plurality of communication standards.

As shown in FIG. 1, the memory 12 of the PC 1 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as “OS”) 21 including a general-purpose printing program 41, an auxiliary program 42, and an editing application 43. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. OS21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), Android (registered trademark).

The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS standard program for causing various printers such as the printer 2 to execute printing based on a user's instruction. The general-purpose printing program 41 of the present embodiment is a program including a function of generating intermediate image data based on the image data to be printed.

The general-purpose printing program 41 supports functions that can be commonly used by printers of a plurality of types of models provided by vendors of various printers. The general-purpose printing program 41 does not correspond to all the functions unique to various printers, and the supporting functions are limited to general-purpose ones.

The auxiliary program 42 is a program or a group of programs that execute the processing based on the instruction from the OS 21 accompanying the processing of the general-purpose printing program 41, and is an application that supports the control of the target hardware. The auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment corresponds to the model of the printer 2 connected to the PC 1. For example, when the general-purpose printing program 41 is used to receive an instruction to cause the printer 2 to perform printing, the general-purpose program 42 corresponds to the general-purpose printing program 42. It is started from the print program 41. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviation, HSA).

The auxiliary program 42 can accept a plurality of types of instructions from the general-purpose printing program 41, and executes various processes based on the accepted instructions. The auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of a plurality of programs, each of which receives an execution instruction, or may be a single program that can execute different processes according to the instruction.

The auxiliary program may be a program prepared for each printer type by the printer vendor. For example, an auxiliary program for an inkjet printer and an auxiliary program for a laser printer may be prepared respectively. For example, when a new printer is connected to the PC1, the OS 21 of the PC 1 downloads an appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type of the connected printer and incorporates it into its own device. Then, the OS 21 associates the identification information of the incorporated auxiliary program with the identification information of the newly connected printer and stores it in the memory 12. It should be noted that there may be an auxiliary program prepared not only for each printer type but also for each printer model or each printer model series.

The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, a word or PowerPoint manufactured by Microsoft (registered trademark), or may be an application provided by the vendor of the printer 2. The editing application 43 accepts a user operation including an instruction to cause the printer 2 to perform a predetermined operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 receives, for example, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing via the user IF 13.

The printer 2 of this embodiment is a device having a printing function. The PC 1 can communicate with the printer 2 via the communication IF 14. The printer 2 receives print data from, for example, a PC 1 or the like, and executes printing based on the received print data.

Next, the printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. FIG. 2 shows a case where an application such as an editing application 43 that accepts a print instruction receives a print execution instruction to be printed by the printer 2 using the general-purpose print program 41, and the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 receives the print execution instruction. The operation when it is incorporated in PC1 is shown.

Note that each processing step of the processing and the flowchart in this embodiment basically indicates the processing of the CPU 11 according to the instruction described in the program such as the auxiliary program 42. The processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the operation of each program will be described by omitting the detailed description of the OS 21. In addition, "acquisition" is used as a concept that does not require a request.

The editing application 43 accepts the creation and editing of sentences, charts, etc. based on the user's instructions. When the editing application 43 receives an instruction regarding printing of the selected text or the like (A01), the editing application 43 displays a print screen for receiving the print setting or the like on the user IF 13 (A02). The editing application 43 receives, for example, a print execution instruction, a basic print setting instruction, and an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings on the print screen.

When the printer 2 is selected on the print screen being displayed and the user receives a print execution instruction (A03), the editing application 43 passes the received print execution instruction information to the OS 21. When the OS 21 receives a print execution instruction using the general-purpose print program 41, the OS 21 executes the general-purpose print program 41 and passes the print instruction information to the general-purpose print program 41 (A04). The general-purpose print program 41 can acquire, for example, information indicating a printer to be printed, information indicating print settings set by an application, and information indicating image data to be printed, as information for printing instructions. The print settings include paper information. The paper information included in the print settings includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information.

The general-purpose print program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the received print instruction information into the format of the intermediate image data (A05), and generates a print job including the intermediate image data. .. The image data passed from the editing application 43 is of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. If the image data included in the print instruction is data suitable for generating the print data, the generation of the intermediate image data may be omitted and the intermediate image data may be used as it is. The intermediate image data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is, for example, XPS data.

The general-purpose print program 41 outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 because the device selected in the print instruction is the printer 2 and the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is stored in the memory 12. (A06). The general-purpose printing program 41 operates the auxiliary program 42 according to the execution instruction, and passes the generated intermediate image data to the auxiliary program 42. In A06, the print setting information is also passed to the auxiliary program 42 together with the intermediate image data. The paper information included in the print setting information received by the auxiliary program 42 from the general-purpose print program 41 is an example of the first paper information. The paper information passed to the auxiliary program in A06 includes paper size information and paper type information. The general-purpose printing program 41 may pass a part or all of this paper information to the auxiliary program 42 so as to be included in the intermediate image data.

The auxiliary program 42 temporarily stores the intermediate image data in the usable area in the memory 12 that can be used by the auxiliary program 42 based on the execution instruction received from the general-purpose print program 41 in A06 (A07). Further, the auxiliary program 42 performs rasterization based on the intermediate image data and generates print data indicating the image to be printed (A08). The print data generated by A08 is data in a format that can be used for printing by the printer 2, and is, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of the printer 2. The print data is an example of a raster image. The print data generated by A08 is an example of print image data, and A08 is an example of image data acquisition processing.

By rasterizing with the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2, the degree of freedom is larger than when rasterizing with the general-purpose printing program 41, and there is a possibility that print data suitable for printing with the printer 2 is generated. high. The print data generated by A08 may be data in a format that can be used for printing with a printer other than the model of the printer 2.

Further, the auxiliary program 42 acquires information from the printer 2 via the communication IF 14. Specifically, the auxiliary program 42 transmits an acquisition request requesting capability information to the printer 2 (A11). When the printer 2 receives the acquisition request requesting the capability information from the PC 1 or the like, the printer 2 acquires the capability information indicating the capability of its own device (A12), and responds to the acquired capability information to the device that transmitted the request (A13). ). The capability information transmitted from the printer 2 includes, for example, status information, remaining amount information of consumables, information on the installed tray, paper information on the paper set for each tray, and information on the print resolution that can be supported. , Is included.

The printer 2 receives, for example, the paper information of the paper to be stored in the paper feed tray of the own device via the operation panel, and stores the received information in the memory of the own device. In A12, the printer 2 reads the paper information from the memory of its own device. The paper information read from the memory of the printer 2 includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information.

Note that the printer 2 may be capable of mounting a plurality of paper feed trays. When the printer 2 includes a plurality of paper feed trays, the paper information is stored in association with the information indicating the tray for each tray. Then, the printer 2 responds as the capacity information with the paper information for each tray for all the trays mounted. When the printer 2 has a sensor or the like for detecting the paper size of the paper stored in the tray, the paper size information may be acquired based on the output signal of the sensor or the like.

Further, the printer 2 performs image processing based on the received print job and prints based on the data after the image processing, for example, intensive printing such as Nin1, synthetic printing such as water mark, and saving of a colorant. It may have a function to perform saving printing. When the printer 2 has an image processing function that can be executed, the printer 2 may pass the information of the function to the auxiliary program 42 as the ability information.

According to A13, the auxiliary program 42 acquires information on the tray and printing paper included in the printer 2 as the capability information of the printer 2. A13 is an example of printer information acquisition processing, and the capability information of printer 2 is an example of printer information. The capability information of the printer 2 includes paper information which is information on the paper used for printing by the printer 2. The paper information included in the capability information of the printer 2 includes, for example, paper size information and paper type information. The paper information included in the capability information of the printer 2 is an example of the second paper information.

The communication between the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 may be performed by the auxiliary program 42 directly communicating with the printer 2 or via the OS 21 by using, for example, a MIB (abbreviation of Management Information Base). .. When the operation is performed via the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 communicate with each other according to the communication rules of the OS 21 such as IPP (abbreviation of internet printing protocol).

The auxiliary program 42 stores the printer paper information, which is the information of the paper stored in the printer 2, in the usable area in the memory 12 that can be used by the auxiliary program 42, based on the capacity information received from the printer 2. A14). If the paper size information included in the capacity information acquired from the printer 2 is information indicating a standard size such as A4, the auxiliary program 42 may be converted into numerical values indicating the paper length and the paper width and stored.

The general-purpose printing program 41 may execute the auxiliary program 42 before generating the intermediate image data. For example, the general-purpose print program 41 may execute the auxiliary program 42 even when the editing application 43 or the like receives an editing instruction of detailed print settings by the user on the print screen displayed on the A02. The auxiliary program 42 may request the printer 2 for the capability information when it is executed in response to the editing instruction of the print setting. Further, the auxiliary program 42 may request the printer 2 for the capability information after receiving the intermediate image data and before generating the print data. In any case, the auxiliary program 42 stores the printer paper information in the memory 12 based on the capability information acquired from the printer 2.

Then, the auxiliary program 42 executes the paper information determination process (A21). In the paper information determination process, the paper information included in the print settings for the print instruction is the paper information acquired from the printer 2, or the image size information of the print image which is the print result when printing is executed based on the print data. This is a process for determining the suitability of the paper by comparing with. The procedure of the paper information determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The paper information determination process is a process by the auxiliary program 42, and is executed by the CPU 11 of the PC1.

In the paper information determination process, the CPU 11 acquires paper information which is information on paper for printing (S101). The paper information includes, for example, information such as paper size and paper type. S101 is an example of paper information acquisition processing, and the paper information acquired in S101 is an example of printing paper information. The CPU 11 reads out the printer paper information stored in, for example, A14 in FIG. 2 in S101, and acquires the paper information based on the printer paper information. In this case, the paper information acquired by the CPU 11 is the paper information set in the printer 2.

If the CPU 11 cannot acquire the paper information from the printer 2, the CPU 11 acquires the paper information included in the print settings in S101 based on the print settings received from the general-purpose print program 41 in A06 of FIG. May be. In this case, the paper information included in the print settings is an example of the print paper information.

Then, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the acquired paper information is the execution target of the determination (S102). If the paper for printing is, for example, plain paper or recycled paper and the paper size is a standard size such as A4, even if the paper is wasted due to printing that does not match the size, the user The loss is likely to be small. If it is assumed that the paper is inexpensive, it is easy to allow the image to protrude and the print to be redone. Therefore, it is preferable to complete the printing at an early stage and output the print result.

When it is determined that the current printing is not the execution target of the determination (S102: NO), the CPU 11 determines that it is "printing" (S121), and ends the paper information determination process. If the paper type is plain paper or recycled paper and the paper size is a standard size such as A4 or B5, the CPU 11 determines NO in S102. In the case of inexpensive paper, it is easy to allow image protrusion and reprinting, so it is judged that it is not a judgment target, and it is judged as "printing" without performing the processing after S103, so that the print result can be printed at an early stage. It can be output.

On the other hand, when paper that is likely to be expensive is specified as the paper for printing, it is not preferable that the paper is wasted. Therefore, for example, if the paper information is inappropriate, printing is performed as it is. Is not preferable. For example, when the paper type is thick paper, postcard, seal paper, OHP paper, cloth, etc., or when the paper size is postcard, envelope, etc., the paper is compared to plain paper or recycled paper of standard size. It is likely to be expensive. The paper size indicating a postcard or envelope is an example of a predetermined size indicating high value. Further, the paper types indicating thick paper, postcards, sticker paper, OHP paper, and cloth are examples of predetermined types showing high value. Based on the paper information acquired in S101, the CPU 11 determines YES in S102 when the paper type is neither plain paper nor recycled paper, or the paper size is neither A4, A5, B4, or B5. Judge.

When it is determined that the paper information is the execution target of the determination (S102: YES), the CPU 11 is the print result when the print based on the print data is executed based on the print data generated in A08 of FIG. The image size of a certain printed image is calculated (S103). Specifically, the CPU 11 divides the number of dots and the number of lines for one line of print data by the print resolution (for example, a value represented by dots / inch) specified in the print settings. Calculate the horizontal and vertical sizes of the printed image. The image size information of the printed image calculated in S103 is an example of the image size information. S103 is an example of the image information acquisition process.

Then, the CPU 11 compares the paper size included in the paper information acquired in S101 with the image size of the printed image calculated in S103, and determines whether the image size of the printed image is larger than the paper size. Is determined (S106). S106 is an example of the determination process. For example, when a standard size such as A4 is specified as the paper size for printing, the CPU 11 includes the horizontal and vertical sizes of the paper size and the horizontal and vertical sizes of the printed image calculated in S103. , Are compared respectively. The CPU 11 may compare the size of the printable range of the paper size with the image size of the printed image based on the margin setting. By comparing the image size of the print data with the paper size for printing and determining the suitability, it is possible to determine whether or not the image fits on the paper, and as a result, it is possible to determine the suitability for printing.

When it is determined that the image size of the printed image is not larger (S106: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the difference between the image size and the paper size is out of the predetermined range (S107). S107 is an example of the determination process. Then, when it is determined that the image size of the printed image is larger (S106: YES), or when it is determined that the difference is larger than the predetermined range even if the image size is smaller than the paper size (S106: YES). S107: YES), the CPU 11 generates a preview image showing the arrangement of the printing paper and the image, and causes the user IF 13 to perform the preview display (S111). S111 is an example of the preview process.

Figure 4 shows an example of the preview display. The preview display screen 50 shown in FIG. 4 has a preview image 51 showing a print image, a button 52 for receiving an instruction to change print settings, an OK button 53, a cancel button 54, and an indication that the paper size is inappropriate. Message 55 and is included. The CPU 11 accepts a user operation for each of the displayed buttons. The message 55 is information indicating the determination result of the determination by S106 and S107.

The preview image 51 is an image showing that the paper information included in the print settings is unsuitable for printing based on a print instruction. For example, an image showing a relative relationship between the entire paper and the image, or a paper size or an image size. The image shown with the print image is applicable. In the preview image 51 of the example of FIG. 4, for example, the frame 511 indicating the paper size of the print setting and the print image 512 of the image size are displayed in an overlapping manner, and the unprinted range of the print image 512 is displayed with diagonal lines. ing. The range that is not printed may not be displayed.

If the image size of the printed image is larger than the paper size, the image will not fit on the paper, so when printing, the image will protrude from the paper, and there is a high possibility that the printing will not be intended by the user. Further, even if the image size is smaller than the paper size, if the difference is out of the predetermined range, the margin becomes too large and there is a high possibility that the waste of paper becomes large. In these cases, the CPU 11 determines that the paper information is unsuitable for printing.

Even if the image size is larger than the paper size, if the difference is small, there is a high possibility that the effect will be small even if there are parts that are not printed. Alternatively, for example, the entire image may be printed by reducing the margins. Therefore, even if the image size is larger than the paper size, if the difference in size between the vertical size and the horizontal size is small, the CPU 11 may determine that it is appropriate.

Further, for example, when the paper type included in the print setting indicates roll paper, the auxiliary program 42 compares the vertical size (also referred to as the length in the unwinding direction of the roll paper and the paper length) among the paper sizes. You don't have to do it. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 may compare only the horizontal size (also referred to as the axial length of the roll paper and the paper width) in S106 and S107.

If the printer 2 has a plurality of paper feed trays and the paper feed trays are explicitly specified in the print settings, the CPU 11 is designated by S106 or S107. Compare with the image size using the paper information stored in association with the paper tray. When the automatic tray is specified as the paper feed tray in the print settings, the CPU 11 sets the paper information that matches the image size among the paper feed trays included in the printer 2 in S106 and S107. It may be determined whether or not there is a paper feed tray.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the image size of the print image is appropriate for the paper size (S107: NO), the CPU 11 generates a preview image showing the print image and causes the user IF 13 to perform the preview display (S112). ). S112 is an example of the preview process.

An example of the preview display in this case is shown in FIG. The preview display screen 60 shown in FIG. 5 includes a preview image 51 showing a print image, a button 52 for receiving an instruction to change print settings, an OK button 53, and a cancel button 54. The preview image 51 of FIG. 5 is an image showing that the paper size and the image size match, and the preview display screen 60 does not include a message indicating that the paper size is inappropriate.

On the preview display screens 50 and 60, the CPU 11 can accept a plurality of types of instructions as the button 52. In this embodiment, the CPU 11 receives, for example, an instruction for scaling and an instruction for split printing, as shown in FIG. The print setting includes, for example, a reduction parameter for reducing the image, and an instruction for reducing the image by an instruction for scaling is a change instruction for enabling the reduction parameter. The reduction parameter includes, for example, setting the reduction ratio of the image. If the image size is larger than the paper size and the image does not fit on the paper, for example, if the image size is reduced by accepting a reduction instruction, the possibility that the image fits on the paper size for printing increases. Further, even if the image size is smaller than the paper size, if the difference is large, for example, if the image size is increased by accepting an enlargement instruction, the possibility that the margin becomes smaller increases.

In addition, the print settings include a division parameter that divides the image into multiple parts, and the instruction for division printing is a change instruction that enables the division parameter. If the image is divided by accepting the division instruction, each divided image has a smaller image size than the original image, so that the possibility that the image fits in the paper size for printing is increased. The division parameters include, for example, poster printing settings.

The CPU 11 determines whether or not the operation to the OK button 53 has been accepted (S113). When it is determined that the operation to the OK button 53 is not accepted (S113: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the instruction to cancel the printing is accepted by the operation to the cancel button 54 (S114). If it is determined that the cancellation instruction is not accepted (S114: NO), the CPU 11 waits until any instruction is accepted.

When it is determined that the operation to the OK button 53 has been accepted (S113: YES), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the instruction for change by the operation to the button 52 has been accepted (S115). The process of receiving a change instruction by operating the button 52 in S115 is an example of the change process.

It is easy for the user to change the print settings by making it possible to accept the instruction to change the print settings when the preview is displayed. Further, by accepting the instruction to cancel printing on the preview display screens 50 and 60 during the period when the preview display screens 50 and 60 are displayed, it is possible to select not to print, and the degree of freedom of the user's selection is expanded.

When it is determined that the change instruction has been accepted (S115: YES), the CPU 11 changes the print setting based on the received instruction, and generates print data again based on the changed print setting (S116). The CPU 11 reads out the intermediate image data stored in A07 of FIG. 2, and newly generates print data based on the changed print settings. The CPU 11 may delete the original print data.

Then, the CPU 11 returns to S103, calculates the image size of the print image based on the newly generated print data, and compares it with the paper size of the print setting again. Then, when it is determined that the newly generated print data is unsuitable, the CPU 11 displays the preview display screen 50 again. On the other hand, if it is determined that the product is suitable, the CPU 11 displays the preview display screen 60. The CPU 11 accepts a change instruction in any display. By making a judgment again based on the changed print setting and accepting the change of the print setting until it is judged to be appropriate, it is possible to surely avoid printing unintended by the user.

When it is determined that the instruction for change by the operation to the button 52 is not accepted when the operation to the OK button 53 is accepted (S115: NO), the CPU 11 determines that printing is performed (S121) and determines the paper information. End the process. After confirming the print image by the preview display, the print data is transmitted to the printer based on the instruction by the user, so that there is an increased possibility that printing unintended by the user can be avoided.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the cancellation instruction has been accepted by the cancel button 54 of the preview display screen 50 shown in FIG. 4 or the preview display screen 60 shown in FIG. 5 (S114: YES), the CPU 11 determines that the cancellation has been received. (S122), the paper information determination process is terminated.

Return to the explanation in Fig. 2. When the auxiliary program 42 determines that printing is performed by the paper information determination process of A21 (alt: [print]), the auxiliary program 42 transmits print data and a command instructing print execution to the printer 2 (A23). The printer 2 that has received the print data and the command instructing the print execution prints an image of the print data based on the received command (A24). This produces a printed matter. The auxiliary program 42 further notifies the general-purpose print program 41 that the transmission of print data has been completed.

On the other hand, when it is determined to be canceled by the paper information determination process of A21 (alt: [cancel]), the auxiliary program 42 passes the information for canceling the print job to the general-purpose print program 41 (A25). A25 is an example of the cancellation process. As a result, the general-purpose print program 41 cancels the print job based on the print instruction received in A04 and ends the print process. The auxiliary program 42 may delete the generated print data. By accepting the cancellation instruction in the preview display, it is possible to surely avoid printing unintended by the user.

After A23 or A25, the auxiliary program 42 deletes the intermediate image data stored in A07 (A31). When the auxiliary program 42 finishes the paper information determination process, the intermediate image data may be deleted before A23 or A25.

As described above in detail, according to the auxiliary program 42 of the present embodiment, when the CPU 11 of the PC 1 gives a print instruction to the general-purpose print program 41, the paper information included in the print setting is given to the print instruction. Determines suitability for printing based on. If it is determined to be unsuitable, the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a preview image showing a print image indicating that the paper information of the current print setting is unsuitable for printing based on the print instruction. As a result, the user can easily notice the mismatch of the paper information, and it can be expected that the user changes the setting of the paper. As a result, the possibility of avoiding unintended printing by the user increases.

It should be noted that the embodiments disclosed in the present specification are merely examples, and do not limit the present invention in any way. Therefore, the techniques disclosed in the present specification can of course be variously improved and modified without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the device connected to the PC 1 is not limited to a printer, and may be a device having a printing function such as a multifunction device, a copying machine, or a fax machine. Further, the number of printers connected to the PC 1 is not limited to the example shown in the figure, and may be two or more.

Also, for example, the example of the illustrated display screen is an example, and is not limited to this. For example, the button for accepting printing or canceling may not be provided. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may accept only the change instruction in the preview image that is determined to be unsuitable and displayed. Alternatively, for example, when the printer 2 has a function of canceling the received print, the auxiliary program 42 determines that the printer 2 is appropriate regardless of the comparison result, displays the preview image, and then transfers the print data to the printer 2. You may send it. Even in this case, the user can cancel the printing on the printer 2 by checking the preview image.

Further, for example, instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data, the general-purpose print program 41 may generate the print data. The auxiliary program 42 may store the intermediate image data in A07 and then pass the intermediate image data to the general-purpose print program 41 to generate print data. The print data generated by the general-purpose print program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing by various printers, and is, for example, PWGRaster data or PDF data. If rasterization is performed by the general-purpose printing program 41, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 is small, the processing time is expected to be avoided, and the program size of the auxiliary program 42 can be suppressed.

Further, in this embodiment, the paper information includes the paper size information and the paper type information, but either one may be used. Further, the paper information may include information other than the paper size information and the paper type information. Further, in this embodiment, both the determination by comparing the paper information of the print setting and the paper information of the printer 2 and the determination by comparing the image size of the print data and the paper size of the print setting are performed, and both are appropriate. However, the suitability may be determined based on the comparison result of only one of them.

Further, for example, in the present embodiment, in S102 of the paper information determination process, it is determined whether or not to be the determination target depending on the paper size and the paper type, but this determination may not be performed. That is, all print instructions may be subject to determination regardless of the paper size or paper type.

Further, for example, in the present embodiment, the image size of the printed image is calculated based on the generated print data, but the image size of the assumed raster image may be obtained from the intermediate image data before rasterization. In that case, the auxiliary program 42 may generate print data when it is determined to be printed by the paper information determination process. Further, in that case, instead of the print image including the image, only the frame indicating the image size or the paper size may be displayed in the preview. Even if only the frame is displayed, the size relationship can be grasped, and the possibility of avoiding unintended printing by the user increases.

Further, in the embodiment, only the printing operation is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have another role. Further, the program that executes the processing of this embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, and may be any program that receives instructions from the OS 21 or the general-purpose printing program 41 when printing using the general-purpose printing program 41. For example, a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been released by Microsoft may be used.

Further, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to the example of the embodiment. For example, the execution instruction may be received directly from the OS 21, or the auxiliary program 42 may be resident. When resident, the auxiliary program 42 may perform the above-mentioned operation in response to the execution command.

Further, in any flowchart disclosed in the embodiment, the plurality of processes in any plurality of steps can be arbitrarily changed in the execution order or executed in parallel as long as the processing contents do not conflict with each other.

Further, the process disclosed in the embodiment may be executed by a single CPU, a plurality of CPUs, hardware such as an ASIC, or a combination thereof. Further, the process disclosed in the embodiment can be realized in various aspects such as a recording medium or a method in which a program for executing the process is recorded.

1 PC
2 Printer 11 CPU
13 User IF

Claims

It is a support program that can be executed by the computer of the information processing device and corresponds to the printer connected to the information processing device.
To the computer
The printing instruction output from the application program incorporated in the information processing apparatus, which causes the printer to print an image on a general-purpose printing program preliminarily incorporated in the operating system of the information processing apparatus. When instructed
Paper information acquisition processing for acquiring printing paper information, which is information on printing paper used for printing according to the printing instruction, and
An image data acquisition process for acquiring print image data indicating an image to be printed according to the print instruction, and
Based on the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process and the print image data acquired in the image data acquisition process, a preview image showing the arrangement of the printed image on the print paper is displayed. Preview processing to be displayed using the user interface of the information processing device, and
To execute,
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 1.
In the form information acquisition process,
Acquiring the printing paper information from the printer,
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 2.
In the form information acquisition process,
When the printing paper information cannot be acquired from the printer, the printing paper information included in the print settings for the printing instruction is acquired.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
To the computer
When the printing instruction is given,
With respect to the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process, a determination process for determining suitability for printing based on the print instruction is executed.
When it is determined that the determination process is inappropriate, the preview process is executed.
In the preview process, the preview image and the determination result in the determination process are displayed.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 4.
The printing paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process is paper size information.
To the computer
When the printing instruction is given,
Image information acquisition that acquires image size information, which is image size information of a raster image indicating an image to be printed according to the print instruction, based on the number of dots in the vertical direction, the number of dots in the horizontal direction, and the resolution of the raster image. Execute the process,
In the determination process,
By comparing the image size shown in the image size information acquired in the image information acquisition process with the paper size shown in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process, it is based on the print instruction. Judging the suitability for printing,
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 5.
In the determination process,
If the image size shown in the image size information acquired in the image information acquisition process does not fit in the paper size indicated in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process, it is determined to be unsuitable.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 6.
In the determination process,
Even if the image size shown in the image size information acquired in the image information acquisition process falls within the paper size indicated in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process, the paper information acquisition If the difference between the paper size shown in the printing paper information acquired in the process and the image size shown in the image size information acquired in the image information acquisition process is out of the predetermined range, it is considered unsuitable. judge,
A support program that features that.
The support program according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
To the computer
When the user interface is used to accept the selection of whether or not to cancel the print job based on the print instruction during the period in which the preview image is displayed in the preview process, and the cancellation selection is accepted, the above. Cancel the print job Execute the cancel process,
A support program that features that.
The support program according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
To the computer
During the period in which the preview image is displayed in the preview process, the change process for accepting the change of the print setting for the print instruction by using the user interface is executed.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 9.
The print setting includes a reduction parameter for reducing the image to be printed according to the print instruction.
In the change process,
It also accepts changes that enable the reduction parameters included in the print settings.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to claim 9 or 10.
The print setting includes a division parameter for dividing the image to be printed according to the print instruction.
In the change process,
It also accepts changes that enable the split parameters included in the print settings.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The printing paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process includes paper size information.
The paper size included in the printing paper information includes a predetermined size showing high value.
If the paper size shown in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process is the predetermined size, the computer is made to execute the preview process.
If the paper size shown in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process is not the predetermined size, the computer is not allowed to execute the preview process.
A support program that features that.
The support program according to any one of claims 1 to 12.
The printing paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process includes information on the paper type, and includes information on the paper type.
The paper types included in the printing paper information include predetermined types showing high value.
If the paper type shown in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process is the predetermined type, the computer is made to execute the preview process.
If the paper type shown in the print paper information acquired in the paper information acquisition process is not the predetermined type, the computer is not allowed to execute the preview process.
A support program that features that.