JP-7855667-B1 - Application program, support method, and information processing device.

JP7855667B1JP 7855667 B1JP7855667 B1JP 7855667B1JP-7855667-B1

Abstract

[Problem] The objective is to provide a mechanism that can instruct an image forming apparatus to print a grayscale image with adjusted color tones after the grayscale image has been converted from a color image. [Solution] The extended application 204 causes the computer to perform a display control step that displays a detailed settings screen (settings acceptance screen) 300C that accepts settings for grayscale conversion to convert a color image to a grayscale image, and an instruction step that instructs the printing device 102 to perform grayscale conversion based on the settings accepted on the detailed settings screen 300C. The settings acceptance screen includes a method selection unit (control 315) for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting for grayscale conversion. [Selection Diagram] Figure 8

Inventors

江口公盛

Assignees

キヤノン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20241125

Claims (20)

An application program that supports a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol, The computer of the aforementioned information processing device, A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, The process involves instructing the image processing device to perform the grayscale conversion based on the settings received on the settings reception screen, and then executing the following steps: The application program is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection section for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.
An application program that supports a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol, The computer of the aforementioned information processing device, A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, A generation control step that generates grayscale converted image data based on the settings received on the setting reception screen, The process involves a transmission step of transmitting the image data generated in the generation control step to the image processing device, The application program is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection section for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.
To the aforementioned computer, Prior to the aforementioned reception process, there is an acquisition process in which capability information relating to the printing capability of the image processing device is acquired from the image processing device, The application program according to claim 2, characterized in that it performs a determination step of determining whether the capability information acquired in the acquisition step includes information that enables the execution of grayscale conversion based on the settings.
If the determination in the aforementioned determination step determines that the information includes information that enables the execution of grayscale conversion based on the settings, the computer is instructed to execute an instruction step that instructs the image processing device to execute grayscale conversion based on the settings received on the setting reception screen. The application program according to claim 3, characterized in that if it is determined that the program does not contain information that would enable the execution of grayscale conversion based on the above settings, the computer is instructed to sequentially execute the generation control step and the transmission step.
The aforementioned settings include a first setting that enables the image processing device to perform grayscale conversion based on the aforementioned settings, and a second setting that prevents the image processing device from performing grayscale conversion based on the aforementioned settings. If the setting is the first setting, the computer is instructed to perform an instruction step that instructs the image processing device to perform a grayscale conversion based on the first setting. The application program according to claim 2, characterized in that, if the setting is the second setting, the computer is instructed to sequentially execute the generation control step and the transmission step.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a setting selection section for selecting whether to enable or disable the setting.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method selection unit lists a plurality of selectable grayscale conversion methods.
The application program according to claim 7, characterized in that each of the grayscale conversion methods has a different proportion of each RGB color component.
The application program according to claim 7, characterized in that each of the grayscale conversion methods uses color components that are different from each other.
The application program according to claim 9, characterized in that, when representing black, it is possible to select whether to use any of the CMYK color components or only the K color component.
The aforementioned color image includes a plurality of components that constitute the color image, The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the setting reception screen includes an element selection unit for selecting the element to be subjected to grayscale conversion from among the plurality of elements as a setting.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the setting reception screen includes at least one of the following settings: a density adjustment unit for adjusting the density of the grayscale image; a first black representation unit for representing the grayscale image in black using multiple colorants; a second black representation unit for representing the grayscale image using a black colorant; a density enhancement unit for emphasizing the differences in shades of the grayscale image; and a contour enhancement unit for emphasizing the contours of the components constituting the grayscale image.
The application program according to claim 12, characterized in that it includes a setting selection unit for selecting whether to enable or disable at least one of the settings.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a forced restoration unit that forcibly restores the setting to its initial state.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the function of displaying the method selection section on the setting reception screen is a function that cannot be executed by the standard driver.
The application program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is stored on a storage medium.
A method for supporting a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol, A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, The process includes an instruction step of instructing the image processing device to perform the grayscale conversion based on the settings received on the setting reception screen, The support method is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection section for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.
A method for supporting a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol, A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, A generation control step that generates grayscale converted image data based on the settings received on the setting reception screen, The process includes a transmission step for transmitting the image data generated in the generation control step to the image processing device, The support method is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection section for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.
An information processing device comprising a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol, and an application program that supports the standard driver, The application program is installed on the computer of the information processing device. A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, The process involves instructing the image processing device to perform the grayscale conversion based on the settings received on the settings reception screen, and then executing the following steps: The information processing device is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection unit for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.
An information processing device comprising: a standard driver that causes an information processing device to acquire capability information of an image processing device in accordance with the Internet Printing Protocol; and an application program that supports the standard driver, The application program is installed on the computer of the information processing device. A display step in which a setting acceptance screen is displayed based on a grayscale conversion method that converts a color image included in the capability information into a grayscale image, A reception process for receiving the grayscale conversion settings on the settings reception screen, A generation control step that generates grayscale converted image data based on the settings received on the setting reception screen, The process involves a transmission step of transmitting the image data generated in the generation control step to the image processing device, The information processing device is characterized in that the setting reception screen includes a method selection unit for selecting the grayscale conversion method as a setting.

Description

The present invention relates to an application program, a support method, and an information processing device. A printing device is connected to a host computer (information processing device) capable of processing information with the printing device via communication. The control software used to control the printing device is, for example, a printer driver installed on the host computer from the printing device. This printer driver allows the host computer to issue print commands to the printing device. The host computer has an operating system (OS), which is the basic software, pre-installed. The printer driver is configured according to the specifications defined by the OS and can be called and operated by the OS. Furthermore, such printer drivers differ depending on the vendor supplying the printing device; that is, they are model-specific printer drivers adapted to each printing device. In recent years, Windows® has provided a standard class driver (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "standard driver") that can be used in common even with printing devices supplied by multiple different vendors. Such standard drivers are pre-installed in the OS. By connecting any printing device to a host computer with an OS that has the standard driver installed, the standard driver can be used. This eliminates the need to install model-specific printer drivers. Furthermore, the standard driver can specify and use the printing functions of the printing device according to the Print Device Capabilities (hereinafter referred to as "PDC") generated based on information acquired from the printing device. This allows printing functions to be specified for each printing device with a single standard driver. Functionality extension applications (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "extension applications") can be associated with the standard driver. Extension applications are provided by each vendor. Therefore, it is difficult to execute the functions of extension applications using only the standard driver. Patent Document 1 discloses an extension application that expands the functionality of vendor-specific color printing, poster printing, bookbinding, and other printing capabilities. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-33526 This is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printing system according to the first embodiment.This is a block diagram showing the software configuration of a printing system.This figure shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of a printing system.This figure shows an example of a table used to explain the effects of grayscale conversion methods.This is an illustrative diagram showing the effect of the grayscale conversion method.This flowchart shows the process by which the print function extension unit edits print function information.This figure shows an example of a list of printing device capability information.This figure shows an example of a list of printing functions supported by the extended application.This figure shows an example of a list of capability information for general-purpose printing software.This is a sequence diagram showing the processes that occur between the drawing application, general-purpose printing software, extension applications, and printing device after the drawing application accepts the print settings.This is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the printing system according to the second embodiment.This flowchart shows the process by which the print function extension unit edits print function information.This is a sequence diagram showing the processes that occur between the drawing application, general-purpose printing software, extension applications, and printing device after the drawing application accepts the print settings.This is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the printing system according to the third embodiment.This flowchart shows the process by which the print function extension unit edits print function information.This figure shows an example of a list of ability information.This figure shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of a printing system.This graph is an example of a LUT (Lookup Table) used in the "intensification" process.This is an illustrative diagram showing the effects of grayscale conversion processing other than the grayscale conversion method.This is an illustrative diagram showing the effect of the "distinguishing" process.This is a sequence diagram showing the processes that occur between the drawing application, general-purpose printing software, extension applications, and printing device after the drawing application accepts the print settings. The following describes each embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the configurations described in the following embodiments are merely illustrative, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the configurations described