JP6972884B2 - Print instruction device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a print instruction device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), a personal digital assistant, a tablet terminal, etc., which creates a print job and gives a print instruction to the printing device via a network.

When a print job is transmitted from a print instruction device consisting of a client terminal such as a personal computer, a mobile information terminal, or a tablet terminal to a printing device such as an MFP (Multi Function Perirherals), which is a multi-function digital image forming device, to execute printing. , The print driver of the specified printing device is installed in the client terminal, and the print job is created using this print driver. Then, each time the print driver is activated, the ability information (toner remaining amount, paper remaining amount, various option information) of the printing device is acquired from the client terminal to the printing device. The acquired result is displayed on the UI (user interface) on the client terminal, and the user sets print items from the print setting screen on the UI and prints.

In recent years, a technology (for example, Mopria printing) for printing from a mobile terminal to a printing device using an application or a plug-in via a wi-fi connection has been developed. These applications are upgraded several times a year, and new functions are added with each version upgrade. For example, before the version upgrade, the 4 in 1 function was supported as the N in 1 function (the function to print N sheets of materials on one sheet at once), but with the version upgrade, the 6 in 1 function and 8 in It is possible that one function will be available. In addition, printing devices are often added with printing functions that can be used by upgrading the firmware. For example, by upgrading the firmware of the printing device, the PIN print function (a function that outputs the printed paper after the password is entered on the operation panel when the user outputs the printing paper from the printing device) is used. It will be possible.

However, there is a problem that some of the functions that the user wants to use cannot be used unless the firmware of the printing device is upgraded. For example, suppose that an application installed on a mobile terminal by a user is used to print to the printing device A using the 8 in 1 function of the N in 1 function in a normal office. A user moves to a different office on a business trip, etc., and tries to print to printing device B, which is the same model as printing device A, using the 8 in 1 function of the N in 1 function, but the firmware of printing device B The version of is old, and there is a problem that only 4 in 1 functions can be used.

In Patent Document 1, when it is determined that the print setting value of the printer driver before switching is not inherited by the print setting value of the printer driver after switching for a specific print setting item, the switching acquired from the operating system is performed. A technique is disclosed in which the print setting value of the printer driver after switching is set to the default setting value of the print setting item of the printer driver after switching, ignoring the print setting value of the previous printer driver.

Further, in Patent Document 2, when the printer to be used is selected by the user from the plurality of printers via the user interface provided by the OS, the printer driver corresponding to the changed printer among the plurality of printer drivers is described. , Display a user interface that displays a message that the printer has changed. In this user interface, one of a plurality of presets held by the OS is selected. A technique is disclosed that, after selection, informs the operating system of the information of the selected preset.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-59258 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-227681

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is a technique in which setting items are classified into items to be inherited and items not to be inherited, and whether or not to be inherited can be selected, and the techniques described in Cited Document 2 are a plurality of techniques. This is a technology that saves print settings and prints by selecting from the saved print settings when trying to print with a predetermined driver. Therefore, if the above-mentioned problem, that is, even if the printing device of the same model has not been updated with firmware, the printing device is requested to set and execute the latest driver-based printing installed. It could not provide a solution to the problem of not being able to do it.

The present invention has been made in view of such a technical background, and for example, due to an old version of the firmware of a printing device for executing printing, printing settings and execution for the printing device cannot be performed. The challenge is to provide a print instruction device that can solve the problem and request the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution.

The above problem is solved by the following means.
(1) A plurality of print job creation means for creating a print job and instructing printing based on a user's instruction to a display means and one or a plurality of printing devices connected via a network, and each printing. A first of a plurality of print job creation means, an information acquisition means for acquiring print function information of the device, a storage means for storing the print function information of each print device acquired by the information acquisition means, and a plurality of the print job creation means. A display control means for causing the display means to display a print setting screen having one or a plurality of print setting items in order for the print job creation means of 1 to create a print job for a printing device selected by the user, and the display. When the control means displays the print setting screen, the control means includes a determination means for determining whether or not a print setting item for setting a new print function is added, and the display control means is newly added by the determination means. When it is determined that a print setting item for setting various print functions is added, the print setting screen to which the print setting item is added is displayed, and the first print job creation means is set to the display means. A print instruction device characterized in that when a print job cannot be created based on the print settings instructed by the user on the displayed print setting screen, a print job is created by using another print job creation means.
(2) The printing according to item 1 above, wherein the information acquisition means also acquires model information of each printing device and firmware version information, and further includes a comparison means for comparing versions for each model of the printing device. Instruction device.
(3) As a result of comparison by the comparison means, if the printing device for executing printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved but the firmware version is old, the determination means has a new printing function. 2. The print instruction device according to item 2 above, which determines that the print setting item is not added to set the above, and the display control means displays the print setting screen without adding a new print setting item.
(4) As a result of comparison by the comparison means, if the printing device for executing printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved but the firmware version is new, the determination means has a new printing function. 2. The print instruction device according to item 2 above, which determines that a print setting item has been added to set the above, and the display control means displays a print setting screen to which a new print setting item has been added.
(5) When the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print setting instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, printing is performed according to the print setting instructed by the user. The print instruction device according to any one of the above items 1 to 4, wherein a print job is created or another print job creation means is used to create a print job so that the same print result is obtained.
(6) the first print job creation means print instruction apparatus according to any Re preceding 1-5 noise has a search function capable another print job creating means.
(7) The print instruction device according to any one of items 1 to 6 above, wherein the display control means can analyze a print job creation function possessed by another print job creation means.
(8) If the first print job creation means cannot create a print job based on the print settings instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, create another print job that can create a print job. The print instruction device according to any one of items 1 to 4 above, which requests means to create a print job and instruct the printing device to execute printing.
(9) When printing cannot be executed due to the processing capacity of the printing apparatus for executing printing, the first print job creating means is a print job so that the same print result as printing with the print settings instructed by the user is obtained. The print instruction device according to any one of the above items 1 to 8, wherein the print job is created or a print job is created by another print job creation means.
(10) The print instruction device according to any one of items 1 to 9 above, wherein the first print job creating means creates a print job while sequentially interacting with the printing device.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (1), one is used to cause the first print job execution means, which is one of the plurality of job execution means, to create a print job for the printing device selected by the user. Alternatively, the print setting screen having a plurality of print setting items is displayed on the display means, but when the print setting screen is displayed, it is determined whether or not the print setting item for setting a new print function is added. Then, when it is determined that a print setting item for setting a new print function is added, the print setting screen to which the print setting item is added is displayed, and the first print job creation means is the display means. If a print job cannot be created based on the print settings specified by the user on the print setting screen displayed in, a print job is created using another print job creation means.

Therefore, even if the print setting or execution for the printing device cannot be performed due to an old version of the firmware of the printing device that executes printing, a print job can be created by using another print job creation means. By creating it, you can request the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (2), the model information of each printing device and the version information of the firmware are acquired, and the versions are compared for each model of the printing device. Therefore, another print job creation means is used. This makes it easier to determine whether to create a print job.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (3), if the printing device for executing printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved, but the firmware version is old, a new print setting item is added. The print setting screen is displayed without any notice.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (4), if the printing device for executing printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved, but the firmware version is new, a new print setting item has been added. The print setting screen is displayed.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (5), when the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print setting instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, the user Since a print job is created or another print job creation means is used to create a print job so that the print result is the same as that of printing with the specified print settings, for example, printing to a printing device that is normally used. When a request is made to another printing device, even if that printing device cannot execute the print request, the same print result can be obtained by creating a print job by another print job creation means. realizable.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (6), since the first print job creating means has a function of searching for another print job creating means, the first print job creating means creates another print job. It is possible to determine whether or not a print job can be created by using the means.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (7), since the display control means can analyze the print job creation function possessed by the other print job creation means, the print job can be obtained by using the other print job creation means. It becomes easy to judge whether or not it can be created.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (8), when the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print setting instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, the print job Because it requests other print job creation means that can create a print job to create a print job and instruct the printing device to execute printing. Requesting the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution by creating a print job using other print job creation methods, even if print settings and execution are not possible for the printer. Is possible. Moreover, for example, when a print request for a printing device that is normally used is made to another printing device, even if the printing device cannot execute the printing request, another print job is created. By creating a print job by means, the same print result can be realized.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (9), when printing cannot be executed due to the processing capacity of the printing apparatus that executes printing, the print job is performed so that the print result is the same as the print according to the print settings instructed by the user. When a print job cannot be set or executed for the printing device due to an old version of the firmware of the printing device that executes printing because the print job is created or created by another print job creation means. Even so, by creating a print job using another print job creation means, it is possible to request the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution.

According to the invention described in the preceding paragraph (10), the first print job creating means can create a print job while sequentially interacting with the printing apparatus.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the printing system which used the printing instruction apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile terminal apparatus which is a print instruction apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing sequence between the mobile terminal device 1 and the printing device when printing is instructed from the mobile terminal device to the printing device in the printing system of FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the update process of the print setting screen of a step S8 in FIG. It is a figure which shows the screen of the print instruction apparatus which displayed a plurality of print services. It shows another embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the processing sequence between a mobile terminal apparatus 1 and a printing apparatus in the case of instructing printing from a mobile terminal apparatus to a printing apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing system using the printing instruction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

This printing system includes a mobile terminal device 1 such as a tablet terminal as a printing instruction device, and one or a plurality of (two in this example) printing devices 2a and 2b, and each of these mobile terminal devices 1 The printing devices 2a and 2b are connected to each other via a network 3 by a wi-fi connection or the like.

The print instruction device is not limited to a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal, and may be a desktop type terminal device.

The mobile terminal device 1 is a portable computer device having a CPU, RAM, a fixed storage device (hard disk device, etc.), a monitor, a touch-operable liquid crystal panel, and the like. You can store and carry digitized documents for viewing and editing anywhere. Further, it has a means for wireless communication, can transmit and receive data to and from the printing devices 2a and 2b, creates a print job based on a user's instruction, and prints the created print job to the printing device 2a. It is possible to instruct printing by sending to 2b.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile terminal device 1. The mobile terminal device 1 includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102 in which a control program is stored, and a RAM 103 for work, and the ROM 102 and the RAM 103 are each connected to the CPU 101 via a bus. Further, the CPU 101, ROM 102, and RAM 103 form a control unit 100 that collectively controls the entire mobile terminal device 1. Specifically, the CPU 101 operates according to the operation program stored in the ROM 102 or the fixed storage device 104 to control the entire mobile terminal device 1. In particular, in this embodiment, when instructing the printing devices 2a and 2b to print a document or the like, a process such as creating a print job is executed, and the details will be described later.

A touch panel 105, a wireless run interface 106, and a short-range wireless interface 107 that display various information and directly touch the screen to input operations are connected to the control unit 100 via a bus. The wireless run interface 106 is used for communication with the network 3 and communication with the printing devices 2a and 2b, and the short-range wireless interface 107 is an interface for performing short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and infrared communication. Is.

Further, a fixed storage device 104 is connected to the control unit 100 via a bus. The fixed storage device 104 is, for example, a hard disk device. Various management data, application programs, documents, and the like are stored in the fixed storage device 104. In this embodiment, model information indicating the models of the printing devices 2a and 2b and firmware of the printing devices 2a and 2b are further stored. The version information indicating the version of is stored.

As the printing apparatus, the above-mentioned MFP, which is a multifunctional digital image forming apparatus having functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanning function, and a facsimile function, is used in this embodiment.

Next, in the printing system of FIG. 1, the processing in the case of instructing printing from the mobile terminal device 1 to the printing devices 2a and 2b is shown in FIG. 3 showing a processing sequence between the mobile terminal device 1 and the printing devices 2a and 2b. Will be described with reference to.

In this embodiment, the print driver 200 is installed in the mobile terminal device 1. The print driver 200 includes a display application (hereinafter, the application is also simply referred to as an application) 201 that controls the display of the print setting screen on the touch panel 105 that is the UI (user interface) of the mobile terminal device 1, and a control application that creates a print job. It is composed of 202 and 203.

For example, in order to print from the mobile terminal device 1 to the printing device 2a, the display application 201 of the print driver 200 generates the control application 202, and in order to print to the printing device 2b, the display application 201 Generates control app 203.

First, when the user starts the display application 201, accesses the printing device 2a to register the printing device 2a in the network 3 and requests additional registration (step S1), the printing device 2a is the control application 202. Requesting the creation, the display application 201 creates the control application 202 (step S2), and saves the information of the created control application 202. Further, the control application 202 acquires the ability information including the function information indicating the function of the printing device 2a, the model information indicating the model, and the version information indicating the version of the firmware (also referred to as FW) from the printing device 2a, and notifies the display application 201. (Step S3). The display application 201 saves the notified ability information of the printing device 2a.

The display application 201 of the mobile terminal device 1 displays a print setting screen having print setting items corresponding to the print function of the print device 2a. The user sets various print settings on the displayed print setting screen, and instructs the printing device 2a to execute printing. The data on the print setting screen having the print setting items, the contents of the print settings, and the like are saved in the display application 201.

Next, the user wants to print on another printing device 2b, and requests the printing device 2b for additional registration (step S4). The printing device 2b requests the creation of the control application 203 (which functions as the first job creation means), the display application 201 creates the control application 203 (step S5), and stores the information of the created control application 203. Further, the control application 203 acquires the ability information including the function information indicating the function of the printing device 2b, the model information indicating the model, and the version information indicating the firmware version from the printing device 2b, and notifies the display application 201 (step S6). ). The display application 201 saves the notified ability information.

The display application 201 includes the printing device 2b and another printing device (for example, the printing device 2a) registered within a certain period in the past in order to determine whether or not a print setting item for setting a new print function is added. ) And the firmware version (step S7). When the model of the printing device 2b and the printing device 2a are the same and the version of the firmware of the printing device 2b is older than the version of the firmware of the printing device 2a, that is, the printing function of the printing device 2b is higher than the printing function of the printing device 2a. If the number is small, a print setting screen having print setting items capable of printing with the printing device 2a is used. That is, the print setting screen when printing is performed using the control application 202 is used as it is without being updated, and the print setting screen (UI screen) is created and displayed in step S9. On the other hand, when the firmware version of the printing device 2b is new and the printing function of the printing device 2b is larger than that of the printing device 2a, printing is performed in addition to the print setting screen capable of printing on the printing device 2a. After newly adding and updating the setting items of the added functions based on the function information from the device 2b (step S8), the print setting screen is created and displayed (step S9). The updated print setting screen data is saved.

If the models of the printing device 2b and the printing device 2a are different, a print setting screen capable of realizing the functions of the printing device 2b is created and displayed.

When the user sets the print settings on the print setting screen created and displayed in this way, specifies the print target data, and makes a print request to the control application 203 via the display application 201 (step S10), the control application 203 determines whether or not the content of the print setting corresponds to the print function capable of creating a print job in the control application 203, and selects whether or not to create the print job by itself (step S11). If the contents of the print settings correspond to the print function that allows the print job to be created by itself, the print job is created, the print job is sent to the printing device 2b, and the print execution is instructed (step S14).

On the other hand, if the contents of the print settings do not support the print function that allows you to create a print job by yourself, another control application that can create a print job so that the print result is the same as the print with the print settings specified by the user. To explore. For example, if the control application 202 can create the print job, the job creation data including the print setting data and the print target data is transferred to the control application 202 (step S12). For example, the user inputs the print settings by the 16 in 1 function via the display application 201 and makes a print request to the control application 203, but the control application 203 cannot create a print job to realize the 16 in 1 function. , Control app 202 controls when it is possible to create a print job as one print data that aggregates 16 pages of images into one page, that is, when the same result as the print result by the 16 in 1 function can be obtained. Transfer the job creation data to the application 202.

The control application 202 creates a print job based on the received job creation data, sends the print job to the printing device 2b, and instructs the printing execution (step S13).

If the result of searching for another control application that can create a print job does not exist, for example, a message indicating that printing cannot be executed may be displayed and the user may be made to set the print again.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the firmware version of the printing device 2b is older than the firmware version of the printing device 2a that has already been saved and registered, printing having a print setting item capable of realizing printing on the printing device 2a is performed. If you use the setting screen and the firmware version of the printing device 2b is new, in addition to the print setting screen that can realize printing on the printing device 2a, the setting items of the added functions are newly added and updated. Since the print setting screen is created and displayed, the user can always be presented with the print setting screen having the latest print setting items. Moreover, if it is not possible to create a print job based on the print settings set by the user, search for other control apps that can create print jobs so that the print result is the same as the print with the print settings specified by the user. Therefore, even if the print setting or execution for the print device 2b cannot be performed due to an old version of the firmware of the print device 2b for printing, a print job using another control application 202 is used. By creating, it is possible to request the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution. Further, even if a printing request for the printing device 2a that is normally used is made to another printing device 2b and the printing device 2b cannot execute the printing request, another printing device 2b may not be executed. By creating a print job with the control application 202, the same print result can be realized.

Next, the process of updating the print setting screen by the display application 201 in step S8 will be described.

Specifically, this update process follows the flow shown in FIG. That is, in the display application 201, the functional information sent from the newly registered printing device 2b in step S21 is the functional information of an optional function (for example, a facsimile kit or a finisher machine), or the printing device 2b. Classify whether it is the function information of the default setting function (for example, monochrome machine / color machine).

If it is the function information of the optional function (“option” in step S21), the function information is saved and updated in step S23. If it is the function information of the default function (“default” in step S21), the function information sent from the printing device 2b and the function of another printing device (for example, the printing device 2a) already registered in step S22. Comparison with the information is performed, and if it is new function information, the function information is saved so as to be reflected in the print setting item (step S23). If the functional information sent from the printing device 2b is deteriorated from the already registered functional information of the printing device, the update is not performed.

The classification and storage of the functional information is performed for all the functional information sent from the printing apparatus 2b. In step S24, it is confirmed whether there is any functional information that has not been classified and saved (YES in step S24), and if so, the process returns to step S21. If not (NO in step S24), the process returns to step S9 in FIG. 3).

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, as shown on the display screen of the touch panel 105 in the mobile terminal device 1 shown in FIG. 5, the user selects a print service in which the service is set to "ON" among a plurality of print services. It is now available. In addition, print drivers 300 and 400 are installed in the mobile terminal device 1 corresponding to each printing service that is "ON", and printing can be performed by enabling the corresponding driver. There is. For example, if both the two print drivers 300 and 400 are enabled, it is possible to instruct the same printing device to print using either print driver.

Since the configuration of the mobile terminal device 1 is the same as that shown in FIG. 2, the description thereof will be omitted. The process of instructing printing from the mobile terminal device 1 to the printing device 2a will be described with reference to FIG. 6 showing a processing sequence between the mobile terminal device 1 and the printing device 2a.

The user enables the setting of the print driver in order to print to the printing device 2a using one print driver 300. Then, when the display application 301 of the print driver 300 is started and the printing device 2a in the network 3 prints, the printing device 2a is accessed and the printing device 2a is requested to perform additional registration (step). S31), the printing device 2a requests the creation of the control application 302 (which functions as the first job creation means), the display application 301 creates the control application 302 (step S32), and the information of the created control application 302 is input. save. Further, the control application 302 acquires the ability information including the function information indicating the function of the printing device 2a, the model information indicating the model, and the version information indicating the firmware version from the printing device 2a, and notifies the display application 301 (step S33). .. The display application 301 saves the notified ability information.

The display application 301 of the print driver 300 searches for another print driver (for example, the print driver 400) installed in the mobile terminal device 1 (step S34). The print driver to be searched is the one for which the setting that allows printing using the print driver is enabled.

When the display application 401 of the other print driver 400 responds to the search by the display application 301 of the print driver 300 with the setting valid (step S35), the display application 301 of the print driver 300 that has received the response responds to the search by the display application 301 of the print driver 300. Information of print setting items stored in the display application 401 of 400 is read and analyzed, and it is confirmed whether or not printing can be executed by the print driver 300 (step S36). If there is a print item (print function) that cannot be printed by the print driver 300 (the function is available in step S36), the print setting items that can be realized by the print driver 400 can be displayed on the display application 301 of the print driver 300. After the print setting item is added and the print setting screen is updated (step S37), the print setting screen is created and displayed in step S38. If there is no function that allows printing to be executed by the other print driver 400, that is, if the print function of the driver 300 is the latest, or if the print function is the same as that of the other print driver 400 (no function in step S36), the display application 301 is used. A print setting screen is created and displayed so that the user can print using the print driver 300 without updating the print setting screen (step S38).

When the user sets the print settings on the print setting screen created and displayed in this way, specifies the print target data, and makes a print request to the control application 302 via the display application 301 (step S39), the control application 302 determines whether or not the content of the print setting corresponds to the print function that allows the control application 302 to create a print job (step S40). If the contents of the print settings correspond to the print function that allows you to create a print job by yourself (OK in step S40), create a print job and send the print job to the printing device 2b to instruct printing. (Step S43).

On the other hand, if the content of the print setting does not correspond to the print function that allows the print job to be created by itself (NG in step S40), the control application 302 will have the same print result as the print according to the print setting instructed by the user. Search for other print drivers that can create print jobs. For example, when the control application 402 of the print driver 400 can create the print job, the job creation data including the print setting data and the print target data is transferred to the control application 402 (step S41). For example, the user inputs the print setting by the 16 in 1 function by the display application 301 and makes a print request to the control application 302, but the control application 302 cannot realize it, and another control application 402 displays the image on page 16 by 1. When it is possible to create a print job as one print data aggregated on a page, the job creation data is transferred to the control application 402.

The control application 402 creates a print job based on the received job creation data, sends the print job to the printing device 2b, and instructs the printing execution (step S42).

As described above, even in this embodiment, if the display application 301 of the print driver 300 has a function that cannot be executed by the print driver 300 but can be printed by another print driver 400, the print setting for realizing the function is realized. Since the print setting screen is updated by adding a new item, the user can always be presented with the print setting screen having the latest print setting item. Moreover, if it is not possible to create a print job based on the print settings set by the user, search for another print driver 400 that can create a print job so that the print result is the same as the print according to the print settings specified by the user. Therefore, even if the print setting or execution for the printing device 2a cannot be performed due to an old version of the firmware of the printing device 2a for executing printing, printing is performed using another print driver 400. By creating a job, you can request the latest installed driver-based print settings and execution.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, an example in which a print driver is installed in the mobile terminal device 1 has been described, but in the print job creating means, a print job creation unit that creates a print job while sequentially interacting with the printing device is a printing device. It may be a so-called driverless portable terminal device in which print jobs are created while sequentially interacting with each other.

Further, when printing cannot be executed due to the processing capacity of the printing devices 2a and 2b for executing printing, the control apps 203 and 302 perform a print job so that the print result is the same as the print according to the print settings instructed by the user. It may be configured to be created or to have other control applications 202 and 402 create a print job.

1 Mobile terminal device (print instruction device)
2a, 2b Printing device 3 Network 100 Control unit 101 CPU
104 Fixed storage device 105 Touch panel 200, 300, 400 Printer driver 201, 301 Display application (display control means)
203, 302 control application (first print job creation means)
202, 402 Other control apps (other print job creation means)

Claims (10)

Display means and
A plurality of print job creation means for creating a print job and instructing printing based on a user's instruction to one or a plurality of printing devices connected via a network.
Information acquisition means for acquiring print function information of each printing device,
A storage means for storing the print function information of each printing device acquired by the information acquisition means, and a storage means.
A print setting having one or a plurality of print setting items in order to cause a first print job creation means, which is one of the plurality of print job creation means, to create a print job for a printing device selected by the user. A display control means for displaying the screen on the display means and
When the display control means displays the print setting screen, a determination means for determining whether or not a print setting item for setting a new print function is added, and a determination means.
Equipped with
When the display control means determines that a print setting item for setting a new print function is added by the determination means, the display control means displays a print setting screen to which the print setting item is added.
If the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print settings instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, the first print job creating means uses another print job creating means to create a print job. A print instruction device characterized in that it is created. The information acquisition means also acquires model information and firmware version information of each printing apparatus.
The printing instruction device according to claim 1, further comprising a comparison means for comparing versions for each model of the printing device. As a result of comparison by the comparison means, if the printing device for printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved but the firmware version is old, the determination means sets a new printing function. The print instruction device according to claim 2, wherein it is determined that no print setting item is added for the purpose, and the display control means displays the print setting screen without adding a new print setting item. As a result of comparison by the comparison means, if the printing device for printing is the same model as the printing device for which the printing function has already been saved, but the firmware version is new, the determination means sets a new printing function. The print instruction device according to claim 2, wherein it is determined that there is an addition of a print setting item for the purpose, and the display control means displays a print setting screen to which a new print setting item is added. When the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print setting instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, the same print result as printing by the print setting instructed by the user is obtained. The print instruction device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a print job is created or another print job creation means is used to create a print job. The first print job creation means print instruction apparatus according to any Re claims 1-5 noise has a search function capable another print job creating means. The print instruction device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display control means can analyze a print job creation function possessed by another print job creation means. If the first print job creating means cannot create a print job based on the print settings instructed by the user on the print setting screen displayed on the display means, the other print job creating means capable of creating a print job can be used. The printing instruction device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the printing job is created and the printing device is instructed to execute printing. If printing cannot be executed due to the processing power of the printing device that executes printing, the first print job creation means creates a print job so that the print result is the same as the print according to the print settings instructed by the user. The print instruction device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the print job is created by another print job creation means. The print instruction device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first print job creating means creates a print job while sequentially interacting with the printing device.

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