NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS

A non-transitory computer readable medium stores a print control program causing a computer to function as a designation information acquisition unit, a paper feed information acquisition unit, and a designation information changing unit. The designation information acquisition unit acquires designation information indicating a paper feed designation of recording paper and a paper designation from print data that is generated by a printer driver based on the paper feed designation and the paper designation. The paper feed information acquisition unit acquires paper feed information indicating paper information of the recording paper and paper feed configuration of the recording paper mounted on a printing device, from the printing device before the print data is transmitted to the printing device. The designation information changing unit compares the designation information and the paper feed information and changes the designation information when a certain condition is met.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-037353 filed Feb. 29, 2016.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a non-transitory computer readable medium, an information processing method, and an information processing apparatus.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, a non-transitory computer readable medium stores a print control program causing a computer to function as a designation information acquisition unit, a paper feed information acquisition unit, and a designation information changing unit. The designation information acquisition unit acquires designation information indicating a paper feed designation of recording paper and a paper designation from print data that is generated by a printer driver based on the paper feed designation and the paper designation. The paper feed information acquisition unit acquires paper feed information indicating paper information of the recording paper and paper feed configuration of the recording paper mounted on a printing device, from the printing device before the print data is transmitted to the printing device. The designation information changing unit compares the designation information and the paper feed information. The designation information changing unit changes the designation information when the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed and the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper mounted on the printing device do not coincide with each other and when print processing in the printing device can be executed by changing the paper designation of the designation information to any one of the recording paper included in the paper information of the paper feed information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary Embodiments

Configuration of a Printing System

FIG. 1is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing system in an exemplary embodiment.

As an example of the exemplary embodiment, in a printing system1, a plural number of terminal devices3a,3b, and3care connected to a printing device (printer)2via a network4. In the example inFIG. 1, three terminal devices3a,3b, and3care connected to the printing device2. However, the number of terminal devices connected to the printing device2is not limited to three.

The network4is a communication network such as a local area network (LAN) or the Internet that performs transmission and reception of data using wired communication (electric cable, optical cable, or the like) and wireless communication (radio waves, infrared, or the like).

Printing Device

The printing device2has a print function of executing printing based on information received from the terminal devices3a,3b, and3c, and outputting the printed material. The printing device2may be a so-called multifunction machine having a scanner function or a facsimile function to optically scan the paper surface in addition to the print function. In addition, the printing device2includes a plural number of paper trays (paper feeding port) for sorting and outputting the printed recording paper, and a plural number of recording paper having different sizes can be mounted thereto in paper feeding directions different from each other.

Terminal Devices

The terminal devices3a,3b, and3care information processing apparatuses that can generate information relating to print jobs designated by a user and can manage an operation of the printing device2. Specific configurations of the terminal devices3a,3b, and3cwill be described below. The terminal devices3a,3b, and3cinclude a communication unit for communicating with the network4, an operation unit such as a touch pad for inputting operation, a display such as a liquid crystal display, a controller such as a central processing unit (CPU), and a storage unit such as a flash memory. For example, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a mobile phone can be used as the terminal devices3a,3b, and3c.

When referring to one device as a representative among the terminal devices3a,3b, and3c, it will be simply referred to as a terminal device3. Next, a configuration of the terminal device3as the information processing apparatus will be described.

Configuration of Terminal Devices as Information Processing Apparatus

FIG. 2is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of the terminal device3as the information processing apparatus in the exemplary embodiment.

The terminal device (information processing apparatus)3includes a controller30that controls each unit configured with a CPU or the like and executes various programs, a memory31as an example of the storage device that is configured to include a recording medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory for storing information, and a communication unit32that communicates with the outside via the network4.

The controller30functions as a designation information acquisition unit300, a paper feed information acquisition unit301, a paper determination unit302, a printing execution determination unit303, a designation information changing unit304, a notification unit305, a sorting setting unit306, and a print data generation unit307by executing a print control program310described below.

The designation information acquisition unit300acquires designation information indicating a paper feed designation and a paper designation of the recording paper to be printed, from print data generated by a printer driver as data which can be processed by the printing device2, based on the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper for the print job designated by the user. When the user designates a size of the recording paper at the time of an instruction for printing, a paper feed configuration that can be sorted is set by the sorting setting unit306described below based on the above described designation. The paper feed designation in the designation information is based on the above-described setting. In addition, the paper designation of the designation information is a paper size designated by the user. The designation information acquired by the designation information acquisition unit300is stored in the memory31as the designation information311.

The paper feed information acquisition unit301acquires paper feed information indicating the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper mounted on the printing device2from the printing device2before transmitting the print data generated by the printer driver to the printing device2. The paper feed information acquired by the paper feed information acquisition unit301is stored in the memory31as the paper feed information312.

The paper feed information acquisition unit301performs bi-directional communication with the printing device2and monitors the state of the printing device2in order to acquire the paper feed information, and transmits the print data generated by the printer driver as the data which can be processed by the printing device2, to the printing device2. The paper feed information acquisition unit301acquires, for example, operation information and the paper feed information of the printing device2by requesting the printing device2at predetermined time intervals. In this way, the paper feed information acquisition unit301can acquire the latest paper feed information of the printing device2immediately before the paper feed information acquisition unit301transmits the print data to the printing device2, particularly, during the execution of printing.

The paper determination unit302compares the designation information311acquired by the designation information acquisition unit300and the paper feed information312acquired by the paper feed information acquisition unit301, and determines whether or not the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed and the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the current (latest) recording paper mounted on the printing device2coincide with each other (whether or not the recording paper being coincident is present).

In a case where it is determined by the paper determination unit302that the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed and the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper mounted on the printing device2do not coincide with each other, the printing execution determination unit303determines whether it is possible to execute the print processing including the sorting in the printing device2or not if the paper designation of the designation information311is changed to any of the recording paper included in the paper information of the paper feed information312.

Comparing the designation information311and the paper feed information312, in a case where the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed and the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper mounted on the printing device2do not coincide with each other and when it is possible to execute the print processing including the sorting in the printing device2by changing the paper designation of the designation information311to any of the recording paper included in the paper information of the paper feed information312, the designation information changing unit304changes the designation information311. That is, in a case where it is determined by the printing execution determination unit303that the print processing can be executed if the paper designation of the designation information311is changed to any of the recording paper included in the paper information of the paper feed information312, the designation information changing unit304changes the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the designation information311.

In a case where it is determined by the printing execution determination unit303that the print processing cannot be executed even if the paper designation of the designation information311is changed to any of the recording paper included in the paper information of the paper feed information312, the notification unit305notifies the user of the fact that the print processing cannot be executed, by displaying that fact on a display (not illustrated) of the terminal devices3.

At this time, the notification unit305not only notifies the user of the fact that the print processing cannot be executed but also presents workarounds such as “Stop the printing”, “Print with priority on the paper feed designation in the designation information”, or “Print with priority on the paper designation of the designation information” so as to be selected by the user.

The sorting setting unit306sets the paper feed configuration of the recording paper in the printing device2used for printing each print job such that the recording paper for a plural number of print jobs in the printing device2can be distinguished even if the recording paper overlap with each other in one exit tray. The sorting information set by the sorting setting unit306is stored as sorting information313in the memory31.

Specifically, the sorting setting unit306sets the sorting using such paper feed configuration that the paper feeding direction of the recording paper used in the current print job is different from the paper feeding direction of the recording paper output in a previous print job based on the designation information311acquired by the designation information acquisition unit300and the paper feed information312acquired by the paper feed information acquisition unit301.

The print data generation unit307generates the print data that can be processed by the printing device2from the print data (original to be printed) instructed by the user as the print job. When the printing is executed, the print data generated by the print data generation unit307is transmitted to the printing device2via the paper feed information acquisition unit301.

Operation of the Printing System

Next, an action of the exemplary embodiment will be described along with a flowchart.

FIG. 3is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the printing system as an action of the exemplary embodiment.

When the user inputs a print job using the terminal devices3(S10), the print data generation unit307generates the print data that can be processed by the printing device2from the print data (original to be printed) of the print job instructed by the user (S11).

The print data generated by the print data generation unit307is transmitted to the printing device2via the paper feed information acquisition unit301, and when transmitted to the printing device2, the print data is temporarily held in the paper feed information acquisition unit301.

The designation information acquisition unit300acquires the designation information that includes the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed, from the print data of immediately before being transmitted from the paper feed information acquisition unit301to the printing device2(S12). As described above, the designation information is configured to include the size of the recording paper designated by the user and a feeding available configuration set by the sorting setting unit306. The designation information acquired by the designation information acquisition unit300is stored in the memory31as the designation information311.

At the same time, the paper feed information acquisition unit301acquires the latest paper feed information including the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper mounted on the printing device2from the printing device2immediately before the print data being transmitted to the printing device2(S13). The paper feed information acquired by the paper feed information acquisition unit301is stored in the memory31as the paper feed information312.

Next, the paper determination unit302compares the designation information311and the paper feed information312, and determines whether the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed coincides with the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the latest recording paper mounted on the printing device2(S14).

When it is determined by the paper determination unit302that the designation information and the paper feed information coincide with each other (Yes in S14), the printing is executed according to the designation itself (S21). That is, the paper feed information acquisition unit301transmits the print data to the printing device2and causes the printing device2to execute the printing. In this case, since the printing is executed based on the designation information itself including the size of the recording paper and the feeding available configuration set by the sorting setting unit306, both the printing result and the sorting result that are satisfactory to the user can be obtained.

In addition, when it is determined by the paper determination unit302that the designation information and the paper feed information do not coincide with each other (No in S14), the printing execution determination unit303determines whether or not the printing is possible if the designation information is changed (S15).

That is, there is a case where the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper to be printed and the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the current recording paper mounted on the printing device2do not coincide with each other because the latest paper feed information312of the printing device2due to a certain problem after the print data is generated by the print data generation unit307and the designation information311is fixed. In such a case, if the print setting is changed such that the paper designation of the designation information311is changed to any one of the recording paper in the paper feed information312with reference to the paper feed configuration of the sorting information313that can be sorted, it can be determined by the printing execution determination unit303whether the print processing including the sorting in the printing device2is possible or not.

When it is determined by the printing execution determination unit303that the print processing is possible if the print processing is changed (Yes in S15), the designation information changing unit304changes the setting of the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the designation information311such that the print processing including the sorting can be executed (S16).

The print data of which the print setting is changed is transmitted to the printing device2by the paper feed information acquisition unit301, and the printing is executed according to the changed print data (S21). In this case also, both the printing result and the sorting result that are satisfactory to the user can be obtained.

When it is determined by the printing execution determination unit303that the print processing cannot be executed even if the print processing is changed (No in S15), that fact is displayed on the terminal devices3to notify the user by the notification unit305(S17).

At this time, the notification unit305presents avoidance measures such as “Please stop printing”, “Please print with the priority on the paper feed designation in the designation information”, or “Please print with the priority on the paper designation of the designation information”, and causes the user to select one avoidance measure (S18).

When the user selects to stop printing (Yes in S18), the paper feed information acquisition unit301does not transmit the print data to the printing device2and stops printing (S19).

When the user does not select to stop printing but selects to print with the priority on the paper feed designation in the designation information or on the paper designation of the designation information (No in S18), the designation information changing unit304changes the paper feed designation or the paper designation of the designation information311according to the user's selection (S20).

The paper feed information acquisition unit301transmits the changed print data to the printing device2, and the printing is executed according to the changed print data (S21). At this time, since the print processing is executed according to the paper feed designation or the paper designation determined by the user even though the paper feed designation or the paper designation is different from the paper feed designation set by the sorting setting unit306, the result does not depart from the user's intention.

Effects of Exemplary Embodiment

According to the exemplary embodiment, when the designation information including the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the recording paper and the paper feed information including the paper feed configuration and the paper information of the recording paper do not coincide with each other, the printing is executed by rewriting the designation information. Therefore, even though the user does not instruct to print again from the application program, printing result and the sorting result expected by the user can be obtained.

In addition, when the designation information and the paper feed information do not coincide with each other, when the printing result and the sorting result expected by the user cannot be obtained even though the designation information is changed due to a limitation of the paper feed configuration of the printing device or the mounted recording paper, the user is notified of that fact. At this time also, the avoidance measures are presented again, and the user selects the avoidance measures. Therefore, the printing result and the sorting result intended by the user can be obtained.

In addition, in an ordinary situation, the satisfactory printing result cannot be obtained when the print instruction time is not clear due to an OFF state of the printing device2or when a large amount of print jobs are in a waiting state and thus, the paper feed information of the printing device2is changed during a time from the print instruction to the print starting.

However, according to the exemplary embodiment, the paper feed information acquisition unit301always monitors the operation state of the printing device2, and acquires the latest paper feed information of the printing device2, and the designation information changing unit304changes the designation information. Therefore, it is possible to guarantee the printing operation. In addition, since the designation information changing unit304rewrites the designation information of the print data, the same operation can be provided without depending on a printer controller.

Specific Examples

Next, specific examples according to the information processing apparatus in the present invention will be described.

FIG. 4is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration in the specific example of an information processing apparatus100. That is, the information processing apparatus100inFIG. 4illustrates a functional configuration example of the terminal devices3in the exemplary embodiment described above.

As illustrated inFIG. 4, an application program101, a printer driver102, a spooler (WINDOWS®spooler)103and a language monitor104are operating in the information processing apparatus100. In addition, information processing apparatus100includes a memory114that is configured to include a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory and functions as an example of a storage device that stores the information such as the paper feed configuration or the operation information of the printing device105.

The application program101is a program that generates original data which is a base of the print data according to the user's operation and incorporates the generated original data. The printer driver102is a controller that transmits the original data to the printing device105via the spooler103and the language monitor104when receiving the print instruction from the application program101, and controls the output of the recording paper on which the printing is executed by the printing device105.

The printer driver102includes UI processing110and drawing processing111as functions thereof. The UI processing110functions as a user interface with the user. In addition, the drawing processing111includes PDL generation processing112and PJL generation processing113, and generates a page description language and a printer job language from the transferred print data and the accompanying attribute information, which are print data items that can be processed by the printing device105.

The spooler103is a controller that temporarily holds the print data transmitted to the printing device105via the graphic device interface (GDI) according to the print instruction from the printer driver102, and reads out the print data in accordance with a predetermined regulation and transfers the print data to the language monitor104. For example the Windows® spooler can be used as the spooler103as illustrated inFIG. 4.

The language monitor104performs bi-directional communications with the printing device105to monitor the state of the printing device105, and transmits the print data that can be processed by the printing device105to the printing device105. The language monitor104requests the printing device105to acquire the operation information of the printing device105at a predetermined time interval.

When the user gives an instruction to execute printing using the application program101in the information processing apparatus100, the UI processing110in the printer driver102is called to perform the print setting, and then, printing is started. When printing is started, the print data and the accompanying attribute information are transferred to the printer driver102by the GDI via the spooler103, and then, a print request is performed.

The language monitor104acquires the paper feed configuration of the recording paper of the printing device105from the printing device105immediately before the print request, and the paper feed configuration is transferred to the UI processing110from the language monitor104. In addition, the drawing processing111of the printer driver102generates the page description language (PDL) and the printer job language (PJL) from the transferred print data and the accompanying attribute information, and transfers the PDL and the PJL to the language monitor104via the spooler103.

The language monitor104transmits the print data that can be processed by the printing device2and received from the spooler103to the printing device105, and the printing device105executes the printing according to this print data.

When receiving the print data from the spooler103, the language monitor104acquires the paper feed information configured with the latest paper feed configuration and the paper information from the printing device105, and compares the paper feed information with the designation information configured with the already-acquired paper feed designation and the paper designation of the print data. When the comparison results show that the paper feed information and the designation information do not coincide with each other, it is determined whether or not the printing result and the sorting result expected by the user can be obtained if the designation information is configured with the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the print data.

At this time, when it is determined that the result satisfactory to the user can be obtained, the language monitor104changes the designation information configured with the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the print data and transmits the result to the printing device105.

In addition, when it is determined that the result satisfactory to the user cannot be obtained even if the designation information configured with the paper feed designation and the paper designation of the print data is changed, the language monitor104notifies the user of that fact by displaying the fact on a display (not illustrated) via the UI processing110.

In addition, at this time, the language monitor not only notifies of the fact that the satisfactory result cannot be obtained, but also presents the avoidance measures such as to stop printing, to print with priority on the paper feed designation, or to print with priority on the paper designation to the user for selecting one avoidance measure.

As described above, the language monitor104has functions of the designation information acquisition unit300, the paper feed information acquisition unit301, the paper determination unit302, the printing execution determination unit303, the designation information changing unit304, and the notification unit305in the exemplary embodiment described above. In addition, the UI processing110has a function of the sorting setting unit306, and the drawing processing111has a function of the print data generation unit307.

Operation of the Information Processing Apparatus

Next, an operation of the information processing apparatus100will be described usingFIG. 5.

FIG. 5is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation of the information processing apparatus100inFIG. 4.

First, in an idle state, the language monitor104always requests the printing device (printer)105for the latest paper feed configuration of the printing device105and the paper information at constant time intervals (S100). When a response is received from the printing device105(S101), the language monitor104updates the latest information (S102).

Next, in the print setting state, when the user requests for printing, the application program101requests the language monitor104for the paper feed configuration and the paper information via the printer driver102(S103and S104). The language monitor104returns the response to the application program101via the printer driver102(S105, S106).

The application program101receiving the response designates the paper feeding port and the size and the direction of the recording paper while reflecting the response on the print data, and then, performs the print setting (S107).

Next, in the printing state, the application program101transmits the currently set print setting and the drawing data to be printed (S108), to the printer driver102(S109). The printer driver102receiving the print setting and the drawing data generates the print data that can be processed by the printing device105and transmits the result to the spooler103(S110, S111). The spooler103transmits the received print data to the language monitor104(S112).

When the print data is received from the spooler103, the language monitor104requests the printing device105for the latest paper feed configuration and the paper information (S113). The language monitor104updates the paper feed information according to the response from the printing device105(S114, S115).

The language monitor104compares the latest paper feed information with the designation information designated during the print setting, and if it is determined that those two information items coincide with each other and is determined that the print processing is possible, such that the satisfactory printing result and the sorting result can be obtained using the paper feed configuration, then, the language monitor104transmits the print data to the printing device105. When the print data is received, the printing device105executes the printing (S116).

In addition, the language monitor104compares the latest paper feed information with the designation information designated during the print setting, and if it is determined that those two information items do not coincide with each other, and if it is determined that paper feeding can be performed if the print setting is changed, then, the language monitor104changes the paper feeding port, the size and the direction of the paper of the print setting in the print data and transmits the result to the printing device105. When the print data is received, the printing device105executes the printing (S117).

In addition, the language monitor104compares the latest paper feed information with the designation information designated a during the print setting, and if it is determined that those two information items do not coincide with each other, and it is determined that the paper feeding still cannot be performed even if the print setting is changed, the language monitor104transmits that fact to the application program101to notify the user of that fact (S118). In addition, at this time, the language monitor104presents the avoidance measures such as to stop printing, to print with priority on the paper feed designation, or to print with priority on the paper designation to the user and asks the user for the subsequent behavior (S118).

The user selects the subsequent behavior through the application program101. That is, in a case of stopping the printing, the stopping of printing is transferred to the language monitor104(S119), the language monitor104instructs the spooler103to stop the printing, and the printing is stopped by stopping the transmission of the print job (S120).

In addition, when the printing with the priority on the paper feed designation or the printing with the priority on the paper designation is selected without stopping the printing, the selection is transferred to the language monitor104(S121), and the language monitor104changes the paper feeding port and the size and the direction of the recording paper according to the instruction from the user, and transmits the print data to the printing device105(S122). The printing device105receives the changed print data and executes the printing.