JP2002073305A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an print system which is able to reduce user's labor as well as to prevent user's input mistake when the user select a printer. SOLUTION: A PHS terminal 300 transmits an unique key which refers contents and a command for print direction to a central server 305. The central server 305 refers a contents server 307 by using the key, retrieves data to print, sets a CS-ID which specifies a station received electric waves of a user who makes a request to search as a key, refers a table 306 in accordance with printers, decides a PHS station in charge of the current position of the PHS terminal 306, and specifies the printer in the PHS station. In other words, the printer is automatically specified by way of referring the pre-registered table, utilizing the position where the user transmits the data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system in which a user prints desired digital content on a central server from a nearest printing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there has been known an information output system in which a user of a portable information terminal device can search for desired information from a service center and output the search data at a location designated by the user (see FIG. 1). JP-A-10-222527
No.).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional information output system.

[0004] First, the PHS terminal 501 transmits the search output request information input by the user to the service center 505 via the PHS base station 502 or the PHS base station 503 and the PHS center 504. Service center 505
Searches the content server 507 based on the received search output request information, extracts desired print data, and stores the contents of the print destination list table 506 in the PHS terminal 50.
Send to 1. Next, the PHS terminal 501 transmits the information of the printing destination selected by the user from the printing destination list table 506 to the service center 505. When the service center 505 receives the information of the selected print destination, the service center 505 transmits the print data to the print destination. Printing has been performed by these processes.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned information output system, the user is required to set the print destination list table 50.
6, the printing destination must be designated. If there are a large number of printing destination candidates, it takes time for the user to select a desired printing destination. In addition, there is a risk that the user mistakenly designates another print destination.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a printing system capable of reducing user's labor and preventing a user's input error when designating a printing destination. Aim.

[0007]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system, comprising: an information terminal for transmitting input search request data; and a base for receiving search request data from the information terminal. Station, a content server storing search target data to be searched for the search request data, and searching for search target data stored in the content server according to the search request data transmitted from the information terminal, An information terminal comprising: a central server that transmits search result data obtained by the search as print data; and a printing device that prints print data received from the central server, wherein the central server transmits the search request data. A printing apparatus that prints the print data according to the position of the print data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, a table for associating a base station receiving search request data from the information terminal with a printing device within a range covered by the base station. Is further provided.

A printing system according to a third aspect of the present invention is the printing system according to the second aspect, wherein the central server refers to the table based on a base station that has received search request data from the information terminal, and executes the print data. A printing device that prints the image.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to any one of the first to third aspects, the central server transmits the print data to the specified printing apparatus. Features.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the information terminal transmits a telephone number of the information terminal to the central server, and Transmits the telephone number of the information terminal to the specified printing device, and the printing device displays the telephone number of the information terminal transmitted from the central server.

[0012] In a printing system according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the central server transmits the candidate location of the specified printing apparatus to the information terminal, The information terminal displays a candidate location of a printing device transmitted from the central server, and transmits to the central server a candidate location of a printing device selected from the displayed candidate locations of the printing device. Features.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a PHS terminal 300 used by a user, PHS base stations 301 to 303, and a PHS terminal 300 via one of PHS base stations 301 to 303. A PHS center 304 for analyzing transmitted data, and a central server 305 for searching the content server 307 and transmitting print data in response to a request from the PHS terminal 300
And

The central server 305 includes a print destination correspondence table 306 for associating each PHS base station with a print destination within the range covered by the base station, and a content server storing information for performing printing by referring to the user. 30
7 is connected. Further, the central server 305
Is connected to a printing device (not shown) at each convenience store via a dedicated line network. Printing destination correspondence table 30
6 is generated and stored in advance by the administrator of the printing system, and is updated temporarily by the administrator when the PHS base station or the printing destination is changed.

Note that the central server 305 may include the content server 307 or the printing destination correspondence table 306.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of PHS terminal 300 in FIG.

The PHS terminal 300 includes a wireless unit 101 for wirelessly transmitting and receiving data, a voice processing unit 102 for processing voice signals, a voice input / output unit 103 including a speaker and a microphone, and an operation control for receiving a user operation. A data processing unit 105 for processing data received via wireless and user input data; a display unit 106 for displaying data; and a memory 107 for temporarily storing data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the positional relationship between the PHS terminal 300 and the PHS base stations 301 to 303.
In the present invention, the number of printing destinations in each PHS base station is set to one or less. That is, it is assumed that two or more printing destinations do not exist within the range covered by one base station. This is a realistic assumption, judging from the current number of PHS base stations.

In FIG. 1, each of the PHS base stations 301 to 3
03 transmits a base-specific ID number, and the PHS terminal 300 receives one of the ID numbers and receives the received ID number.
The number is sent to the central server 305. Thereby, the PHS terminal 300 can notify the central server 305 via which base station the communication is being performed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the printing destination correspondence table 306.

FIG. 2 shows that a printer X exists in the range covered by the PHS base station 301 and a printer Y exists in the PHS base station 302. actually,
A unique internal code is stored in the database for each printing destination. In this example, there is no printing destination within the range covered by the PHS base station 303.

Next, a printing process using the printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, when the user operates the PHS terminal 300,
For example, when the user accesses the central server 305 via the PHS base station 301 and the PHS center 304, selects the content to be printed, and gives a print instruction, the PHS terminal 30
0 transmits a unique key referring to the content and a print instruction command to the central server 305. The central server 305 refers to the content server 307 using this key, and extracts data to be printed. Further, the central server 305 refers to the printing destination correspondence table 306 by using the CS-ID that specifies the base station that has received the radio wave of the user who has made the search request as a key. As a result, a PHS base station that covers the current position of the PHS terminal 300 can be determined, and a printing destination in the PHS base station can be specified.

However, in the present embodiment, two printers, printer X and printer Y, are considered as printing destinations, and further narrowing down is not possible. The central server 305 transmits print data to both the printer X and the printer Y and the telephone number of the PHS terminal 300 that has issued the print request to the printing apparatus via the dedicated network.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation processing in the printer X. Although the printer X will be described here, the same processing is performed in the printer Y.

First, in the printer X, the main menu is displayed on the operation panel (step S40).
1). In Printer X, in addition to the general menu,
There is a menu for "remote printing" and the user can select it. Printer X is the central server 3
When print data is received from the printer 05, it is temporarily stored in the internal spooler, but the display on the operation panel remains unchanged. Then, when the user who has issued a print request to the central server 305 presses “remote printing” on the operation panel (YE in step S402)
S), the internal variable n of the spooler is set to 1 (step S403), and the telephone number portion of the n-th data is extracted from the spooler and displayed on the operation panel (step S404). The user can determine whether or not the print is requested by the telephone number.

Further, a message of "Do you want to execute printing?" Is displayed on the operation panel together with "Yes" and "No" buttons for instructing execution of printing. Is determined (step S4).
05), when the “Yes” button is pressed by the user,
The n-th print data is extracted from the spooler and printing is performed. Upon completion of printing, the process returns to the initial state of step S401. On the other hand, if the "No" button is pressed in step S405, it is determined whether or not the spooler still has print data (step S407). If the spooler still has print data, the spooler internal variable n is incremented by 1 and the process returns to step S404. on the other hand,
If there is no print data in the spooler in step S407, a message "No data to print" is displayed on the operation panel, and the process returns to step S401. This case is a process in a case where the printing process has not been correctly requested by the user for some reason.

If printing is not performed within a predetermined time, the print data is automatically deleted from the spooler.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
The PHS terminal 300 transmits a unique key for referring to the content and a print instruction command to the central server 305, and the central server 305 refers to the content server 307 using this key to retrieve data to be printed and search. The PHS base station that covers the current position of the PHS terminal 300 is determined by referring to the printing destination correspondence table 306 using the CS-ID that specifies the base station that has received the radio wave of the requesting user as a key, and determining the PHS base station. Specify the printing destination in the base station. That is, the print destination is automatically specified by referring to the table registered in advance using the position where the user has transmitted the data, so that the user's labor is reduced and the user's input error when specifying the print destination is reduced. Can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the central server 305 refers to the print destination correspondence table 306 based on the ID number of the PHS base station, and prints all candidate print destinations (printer X and printer Y). Although the data has been transmitted, the transmission processing of the print data may be executed as follows.

That is, first, the name of the output destination candidate obtained from the printing destination correspondence table 306 is obtained, and this name is set to PH.
Transmit to S terminal 300. In the PHS terminal 300, this name is displayed on a display on the terminal, and the user's confirmation is obtained. When there are a plurality of printing destinations, all the names are transmitted to the PHS terminal 300 as candidates, and the user is made to select. For example, when two PHS base stations correspond to the transmission from the user and each has an output destination, the display on the terminal shows “1. 2. Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi convenience store A Nakahara store "
Are displayed as two candidates. The user makes a selection of 1 or 2, and the result of the selection is transmitted to the central server 305. The central server 305 determines an output destination according to the instruction and transmits print data.

Even when such print data transmission processing is executed, it is possible to reduce the trouble of the user and prevent the user from making an input error.

The printing system according to the present invention is not limited to the PHS terminal, but can be applied to a case where a portable telephone or other similar portable information terminal is used.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the printing system of the first aspect, the central server specifies the printing device that prints the print data according to the position of the information terminal that transmits the search request data. Therefore, according to the printing system of the fourth aspect, it is possible to reduce the trouble of the user and prevent the user from making an input error when specifying the printing destination.
Since the central server transmits the print data to the specified printing device, the number of operations to be performed on the printing device can be greatly reduced. In addition, since there is no need for the user to perform a complicated operation on the printing apparatus, there is an effect that the problem that the printing apparatus is occupied by one user for a long time does not occur.

According to the printing apparatus of the fifth aspect, the information terminal transmits the telephone number of the information terminal to the central server, and the central server transmits the telephone number of the information terminal to the specified printing apparatus. Displays the telephone number of the information terminal transmitted from the central server, so that the user can determine whether or not the print is requested by the telephone number.

According to the printing system of the sixth aspect, the central server transmits the specified candidate location of the printing device to the information terminal, and the information terminal displays the candidate location of the printing device transmitted from the central server and displays the candidate location. Since the printing device candidate location selected from the displayed printing device candidate locations is transmitted to the central server, the central server can confirm the user and then transmit the print data to the printing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a PHS terminal 300 in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a PHS terminal 300 and PHS base stations 301 to 30.
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a positional relationship with the position No. 3;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print destination correspondence table 306.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation process in the printer X.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional information output system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Wireless unit 102 Audio processing unit 103 Audio input / output unit 104 Operation control unit 105 Data processing unit 106 Display unit 107 Memory 300 PHS terminals 301 to 303 PHS base station 304 PHS center 305 Central server 306 Printing destination correspondence table 307 Content server

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information terminal that transmits input search request data, a base station that receives search request data from the information terminal, and a content server that stores search target data to be searched for the search request data. A central server that searches for search target data stored in the content server according to search request data transmitted from the information terminal, and transmits search result data obtained by the search as print data; A printing device that prints print data received from a central server, wherein the central server specifies a printing device that prints the print data according to a position of an information terminal that transmits the search request data. Printing system. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising a table that associates a base station that receives search request data from the information terminal with a printing device that is within a range covered by the base station. . 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the central server refers to the table based on a base station that has received the search request data from the information terminal, and specifies a printing apparatus that prints the print data. 2. The printing system according to 2. 4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the central server transmits the print data to the specified printing device. 5. The information terminal transmits a telephone number of the information terminal to the central server, the central server transmits a telephone number of the information terminal to the specified printing device, and the printing device The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a telephone number of the information terminal transmitted from the central server is displayed. 6. The central server transmits the identified candidate location of the printing device to the information terminal, and the information terminal displays the candidate location of the printing device transmitted from the central server and displays the candidate location. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a printing device candidate location selected from the selected printing device candidate locations is transmitted to the central server.