Printer and information managing system

Abstract

A printer includes: a print unit performing a printing operation; and a control unit having an operating system and a device driver installed in an operating system layer, a first application installed in an application layer other than the operating system layer so as to transmit and receive information to and from the print unit through the device driver, a transmission information acquiring module installed in the operating system layer so as to acquire transmission information which is information based on the information transmitted and received between the first application and the print unit through the device driver, and a second application installed in the application layer so as to receive the transmission information and to output processing information which is information based on the input transmission information.

1 - 4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . A POS system comprising:
 a print unit performing a printing operation; and   a control unit having:
 a POS application configured to transmit printing data to the print unit and receive status information of the print unit from the print unit, 
 a device driver configured to acquire the printing data which is transmitted from the POS application to the print unit and the status information of the print unit which is received by the POS application from the print unit, 
 a filter driver configured to acquire and transmit the status information of the print unit acquired by the device driver, and 
 a data outputting application configured to receive the status information of the print unit transmitted from the filter driver. 
   
     
     
         6 . The POS system according to  claim 5 , further comprising an input unit,
 the POS application being configured to generate the printing data based on data received by the input unit.   
     
     
         7 . The POS system according to  claim 5 , further comprising a computer connected to the control unit,
 the data outputting application being configured to transmit the received status information of the print unit to the computer.   
     
     
         8 . The POS system according to  claim 5 , wherein the print unit is an inkjet printer,
 the status information of the print unit acquired by the filter driver being information of a printing unit error or information of ink consumption.   
     
     
         9 . A POS system managing method comprising steps of:
 transmitting printing data from a POS application to a print unit through a device driver,   transmitting status information of the print unit to the device driver by the print unit that received the printing data,   acquiring the status information of the print unit transmitted to the device driver by a filter driver, and   transmitting the status information of the print unit acquired by the filter driver to a data outputting application.   
     
     
         10 . The POS system managing method according to  claim 9 , further comprising:
 transmitting the status information of the print unit to a computer connected to the POS system by the data outputting application.