1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for printing by using electronic mail, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is available a printing system which allows a printing apparatus (printer) connected on a network to directly execute printing from a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone without the intervention of a PC (Personal Computer) or the like. In such a printing system, in general, a mobile terminal transmits a print target file to a printer upon attaching the file to print target electronic mail to cause the printer to execute printing based on the file. In this case, the mobile terminal transmits electronic mail attached with a print target file to an electronic mail address, as a destination, which corresponds to a printer to execute printing. The printer receives the electronic mail from a mail server and executes printing based on the received electronic mail and the file attached to the electronic mail.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-220606 discloses a system in which a cellular phone transmits electronic mail and its attached file to a specific server on a network, and the server generates print data from the data received from the cellular phone and causes a designated printer to print the data. This system designates a printer based on the electronic mail address assigned to the printer. In addition, in the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-220606, when the mail server notifies a mobile terminal that electronic mail addressed to the mobile terminal is stored, the mobile terminal can instruct a specific printer to print the electronic mail and its attached file. This allows the mobile terminal to make the printer print long electronic mail whose browsing may be limited due to too large a display screen size or the like or an attached file whose browsing may be limited due to inability to execute an application program.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-312392 discloses a printing system in which a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone or PDA makes a printer print electronic mail and its attached file via an application server. In this printing system, a printer is connected to a network via a dedicated adapter directly connected to the printer. This printer functions as an interface between the application server and the printer and transmits the print data received from the application server to the printer, thereby causing the printer to print the print data.
In a printing system like that disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-220606 and 2001-312392, in general, a printer driver (print driver) for operating a printer is installed in a server in advance. In addition, an application program for generating print data (print job) from the electronic mail and its attached file received from a mobile terminal or the like is also installed in the server in advance. If the server is formed from, for example, a PC, it is possible to display a screen associated with the operation or state of the printer on the display unit of the PC via the printer driver and the application program. In this case, the user can issue, on the PC, an instruction to resolve errors by cancelling print job, avoiding (skipping) error, and the like based on display on a display unit.
The above technique, however, has the following problem. For example, in the above printing system using electronic mail, a printer driver and application programs are installed in a server and operate on the server. On the other hand, no such printer driver or application programs are installed in a mobile terminal. For this reason, although the user of the mobile terminal can check screen display associated with the operation or state of a printer capable of executing printing based on electronic mail on the server, he/she cannot check it on the mobile terminal.
Even if, therefore, an error occurs in the printer, the user of the mobile terminal cannot properly handle the error that has occurred. In addition, even if the user of the mobile terminal is notified of the occurrence of an error from a server, he/she cannot handle the error on the mobile terminal by using a printer driver or application program. In such a case, even when an error has occurred in the printer, it is desirable to allow the printer to continue printing as long as it can.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds