WO-2026094404-A1 - COMPUTER PROGRAM, DEVICE, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PRINTING DEVICE

WO2026094404A1WO 2026094404 A1WO2026094404 A1WO 2026094404A1WO-2026094404-A1

Abstract

The present invention provides a technology for improving user convenience. This computer program for controlling a printing device causes a computer to function as the following units, specifically: a first reception unit that receives, from a user, an input of a natural-language sentence representing an inquiry about the printing device; an acquisition unit that acquires device-related information related to the printing device; a supply unit that supplies the natural-language sentence and the device-related information to a language processing unit; a second reception unit that receives, from the language processing unit, answer information that is generated by the language processing unit on the basis of the natural-language sentence and the device-related information and represents an answer corresponding to the inquiry; and an output control unit that causes an output device to output the answer information.

Inventors

RUAN Menglong

Assignees

ブラザー工業株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20250829
Priority Date: 20241028

Claims (20)

A computer program for controlling a printing device, The aforementioned computer program controls the computer using the following components, namely: A first reception unit that receives natural language input from a user expressing an inquiry regarding the printing device, An acquisition unit that acquires device-related information related to the printing apparatus, A supply unit that supplies the aforementioned natural language and the aforementioned device-related information to the language processing unit, A second receiving unit receives response information from the language processing unit, which is response information generated by the language processing unit based on the natural language and the device-related information, and which represents a response corresponding to the inquiry. An output control unit that causes the aforementioned response information to be output to an output device, A computer program that functions as such.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes support information indicating whether the printing device supports a predetermined service, including an automatic consumables delivery service.
The computer program according to claim 2, wherein, when the support information indicates that the printing device supports the predetermined service, the response information includes information for introducing the predetermined service to the user.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes subscription information indicating whether or not the user of the printing device is subscribed to a predetermined service, including an automatic consumables delivery service.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes model information indicating the model of the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes communication information indicating the communication status of the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes remaining quantity information indicating the remaining amount of consumables installed in the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 7, wherein, when the remaining quantity information indicates that the remaining quantity of the consumable installed in the printing device is less than a predetermined amount, the response information includes information for recommending that the user replace the consumable.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes capability information indicating the capabilities of the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes history information indicating the usage history of the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information includes maintenance information used for the maintenance and inspection of the printing device.
The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the supply unit further supplies operation information indicating an operation received from the user to the language processing unit.
The operation information includes setting value information indicating the print setting values when causing the printing device to print an image, The computer program according to claim 12, wherein the response information includes information for recommending to the user that specific print settings be specified.
The aforementioned computer program further uses the computer, It functions as a display control unit that displays the print preview screen on the display device. The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the first reception unit receives input of natural language from the user while the print preview screen is displayed.
The aforementioned computer program further uses the computer, The printing execution unit of the printing device is configured to function as a print control unit that causes the printing of an image to be executed. The computer program according to claim 1, wherein the first receiving unit receives input of natural language text from the user after the printing execution unit has performed printing of the image.
The acquisition unit is a computer program according to claim 1, which acquires device-related information from the printing device.
The acquisition unit acquires device-related information from a server different from the printing device, as described in claim 1.
The device-related information includes low-level information indicating that the remaining amount of consumables installed in the printing device is below a threshold, The second reception area is, In the language processing unit, if it is determined that the natural language sentence is a first-type natural language sentence, the language processing unit receives first-type response information. In the language processing unit, if it is determined that the natural language sentence is a second type of natural language sentence different from the first type of natural language sentence, the language processing unit receives second type of response information different from the first type of response information. Type 1 response information does not include shipping-related information related to the shipment of consumables used in the printing apparatus. The aforementioned second type of response information includes the aforementioned shipping-related information, The computer program according to claim 1.
A device for controlling a printing machine, A first reception unit that receives natural language input from a user expressing an inquiry regarding the printing device, An acquisition unit that acquires device-related information related to the printing apparatus, A supply unit that supplies the aforementioned natural language and the aforementioned device-related information to the language processing unit, A second receiving unit receives response information from the language processing unit, which is response information generated by the language processing unit based on the natural language and the device-related information, and which represents a response corresponding to the inquiry. An output control unit that causes the aforementioned response information to be output to an output device, A device that includes the following.
A method for controlling a printing device, A first receiving step in which the user inputs natural language text representing an inquiry regarding the printing device, A step of acquiring device-related information related to the printing apparatus, A supply process for supplying the aforementioned natural language text and the aforementioned device-related information to a language processing unit, A second receiving step of receiving response information from the language processing unit, which is response information generated by the language processing unit based on the natural language and the device-related information, and which represents a response corresponding to the inquiry, An output control step that causes the aforementioned response information to be output to an output device, A method that includes [a certain feature].

Description

Computer program, apparatus, and method for controlling a printing apparatus. This specification relates to technology for controlling printing apparatus. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for using an application installed on a terminal to perform printing on a printer. This is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a communication system.This is a sequence diagram of the first embodiment.This is a screen transition diagram of the screens displayed on the device.This is a continuation of the screen transition diagram shown in Figure 3.This is a diagram to explain Case A.This is a diagram to explain Case B.This is a diagram to explain Case C.This is a diagram to explain Case D.This is a diagram to explain Case E.This is a diagram to explain Case F.This is a diagram to explain Case G.This is a diagram to explain Case H.This is a sequence diagram of the second embodiment. (First embodiment) (Communication system configuration; Figure 1) As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 2 comprises a terminal 10, printers 100A and 100B, and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) server 200. The terminal 10 and printers 100A and 100B are connected to a Local Area Network (LAN) 4. The terminal 10 and each printer 100A and 100B can communicate with each other via LAN 4. LAN 4 may be a wired LAN or a wireless LAN. The AI server 200 is located on the Internet 6. Each device 10, 100A, and 100B and the AI server 200 can communicate with each other via LAN 4 and the Internet 6. (Configuration of terminal 10) Terminal 10 is a portable terminal device such as a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, or tablet PC. In a modified example, terminal 10 may be a stationary PC, laptop PC, or the like. Terminal 10 comprises an operation unit 12, a display unit 14, a communication interface 16, and a control unit 30. Each unit 12 to 30 is connected to a bus line. Hereafter, the interface will be referred to as "I/F". The operation unit 12 is a user interface that allows the user to input various information to the terminal 10. The operation unit 12 includes, for example, a touch panel, hardware keys, or both for displaying software keys (operation objects). Hardware keys include, for example, buttons or switches. The display unit 14 is a display or panel for displaying various information. The panel may or may not be a touch panel. The panel may also be, for example, a liquid crystal panel or an organic EL panel. The communication interface 16 is connected to the LAN 4. The control unit 30 comprises a CPU 32 and a memory 34. The memory 34 comprises a main memory and an auxiliary memory. For example, the main memory includes RAM and cache memory. For example, the auxiliary memory may be ROM, flash memory, Solid State Drive (SSD), Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a combination thereof. The auxiliary memory of the memory 34 stores an OS program 36 and an application program 38. Hereinafter, the OS program and the application program will be referred to as "OS" and "app," respectively. The OS 36 controls the basic operation of the terminal 10. For example, the app 38 is downloaded from a server on the Internet 6 and installed on the terminal 10. That is, the app 38 is a so-called native app. The CPU 32 implements various processes according to the program loaded from the auxiliary memory to the main memory. Hereinafter, it may be described that the OS 36 or the app 38 proactively implements the various processes that the CPU 32 implements according to the program. The application 38 can cause printers 100A, 100B, etc., to perform printing. In particular, in this embodiment, when the application 38 receives an inquiry from a user, it sends the inquiry and predetermined information to the AI server 200, receives a response from the AI server 200, and displays it. (Configuration of Printer 100A) Printer 100A is a peripheral device capable of performing printing functions, such as a peripheral device of terminal 10. In a modified example, printer 100A may be a multi-function device capable of performing scanning functions, facsimile functions, etc., in addition to printing functions. Printer 100A is assigned a device ID "dv1", which is information that identifies printer 100A. The device ID is, for example, a model name, an IP address, or a combination thereof. In this specification, the device ID is the model name. The model name is the model identification information of the device. The model name may be a higher-level model name that encompasses multiple model names. For example, it may be a model name such as ABC Series that encompasses model names ABC1 and ABC2. Printer 100A supports an automatic consumables shipping service. The automatic consumables shipping service is a service that automatically ships a new ink cartridge to the user of the printer when the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge installed in the printer falls below a predetermined amount. The printer 100A comprises an operation unit 112, a display unit 114, a communicat