Patent ID: 8266543

Claim:
A device driver that operates a periphery device, comprising: a display mode storage unit, including a processor, that stores setting items, which are operable by a user using a user interface interfacing the device driver, into functionally mutually-related groups, as plates, each of the plates indicating a fixed display layout of the setting items within the respective plate; a user input unit, including a processor, that allows the user to customize setting of the layout of the plates by setting a display state or non-display state of each plate and by setting an alignment sequence of each plate; and an arrangement unit, including a processor, that arranges the plates in a plate display area on the user interface depending on the display state or non-display state setting of each plate and the alignment sequence setting of each plate, set by the user input unit, wherein each of the plates has a width that equals either a whole length or a half length of a width of the plate display area, and the arrangement unit arranges the plates in the plate display area depending on (1) the width and a height of each plate, (2) the set display state or non-display state setting of each plate, and (3) the set alignment sequence of each plate.