JP2003216357A - On-line print ordering system, server system, and program to be executed by server system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-line print ordering system and a server system to be used for the system for easily confirming whether or not settlement is finished when a customer who has made an on-line print order visits a photo- shop to pick up photographic prints. <P>SOLUTION: This system is constituted of a server system 2 which accepts a print order from a client system 3, and from which ordered image data are uploaded from the client system 3 and a photograph processing system 1 which downloads the ordered image data from the server system 2, and which prepares photographic prints associated with the print order. The server system 2 prepares charge detail image data based on print charge data associated with the print order and the data of whether or not on-line settlement is finished, and transmits the ordered image data and the charge detail image data to the photograph processing system 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a server system in which a print order from a client system is accepted and order image data is uploaded from the client system, and the image data is downloaded from the server system, and a photographic print relating to the print order is issued. The present invention relates to an online print ordering system including a photo processing system for creating an image, a server system used in the system, and a program executed by the server system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet, a system for receiving an order for photographic prints online is becoming known. For example, W existing on the Internet
This is a system that uses the eb site. The customer can place a print order via the website without directly visiting the photo shop.

Specifically, the customer uses his or her personal computer to upload the order image data (refers to the image data for which a print order is made; the same applies hereinafter) from his or her personal computer to the server system. Also, specify the number of prints and print size on the personal computer screen. Also, the payment method for the print price is specified on the screen. Payment methods include online payment (for example, by credit card) and over-the-counter payment (payment when visiting a photo shop to receive prints).

On the other hand, when the photo shop accesses the server system and confirms the print order request from the customer, it downloads the order image data and creates a photo print by the photo processing system. When the print processing is completed, the customer is notified of the print processing completed by a method such as electronic mail. The notified customer visits the photo shop and receives the finished photo print.

[0005]

However, the above system has the following problems.
That is, in an online order, there are a mixture of customers who have completed the payment for the print price by online payment and those who carry out over-the-counter payment. Therefore, in the photo shop, it takes time and effort to confirm which customer the customer who received the print is. For example, there is a method of checking whether online payment has been completed by accessing a server system, but it takes time and time to access and is not a preferable method when the store clerk is busy handling customers.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to determine whether or not the settlement has been completed when a customer who placed an order for prints came to the photo shop to receive the photo prints. An object is to provide an online print ordering system that can be easily confirmed and a server system used for this system.

In order to solve the above problems, an online print ordering system according to the present invention is a server system which receives a print order from a client system and uploads order image data from the client system, and a server system. And a photo processing system for creating a photographic print for a print order from the image data, and the server system charges based on print price data for the print order and whether online payment has been made. The detailed image data is created, and the charge detailed image data together with the order image data can be transmitted to the photo processing system.

The operation and effect of the system having this configuration are as follows. When the print order from the client system is accepted, the order image data is uploaded and stored in the server system. The photo processing system can create a photo print by downloading the order image data described above from the server system.

Further, the server system can create print price data relating to a print order. Charge detail image data is created based on this data and data indicating whether online settlement has been performed. The server system sends both the order image data and the charge statement image data to the photo processing system.

Since the charge detail image data is also image data like the order image data, it is possible to create a photographic print using this. By looking at this charge detail image, it is possible to immediately recognize whether or not online payment has been performed. Therefore, by printing the charge detail image, the photo shop can immediately confirm whether or not the visiting customer has made an online payment. As a result, it is possible to provide an online print ordering system capable of easily confirming whether or not payment has been completed when a customer who has placed a print order online comes to receive a photo print at a photo shop. The server system used in the online print ordering system according to the present invention receives print orders from clients,
An image data storage unit that stores order image data uploaded from a client, an image data transmission unit that transmits the order image data to the photo processing system in response to a download request from the photo processing system, and a print order. The image data transmission unit includes a print price calculation unit that calculates the print price, and a charge detail image generation unit that generates charge detail image data based on the print price data and data indicating whether online payment has been made. The order image data and the charge detail image data can be transmitted together to the photo processing system.

In the server system according to the present invention, the print price data relating to the print order can be created by the print price calculation unit. The charge detail image data is created by the charge detail image generation unit based on this data and data indicating whether or not online payment has been performed. The image data transmission unit of the server system transmits both the order image data and the charge statement image data to the photo processing system.

As described above, since the charge detail image data is image data like the order image data, it is possible to create a photographic print by using this. By looking at this charge detail image, it is possible to immediately recognize whether or not online payment has been performed. Therefore, by printing the charge detail image, the photo shop can immediately confirm whether or not the visiting customer has made an online payment.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the order image data and the charge detail image data are image files of the same format.

The format of the image file is, for example, J
Examples include PEG and GIF. The data of the charge details can be composed of text data, and can be a text file or an appropriate document file. However, in that case, in order to create the charge detail image as a photographic print in the photographic processing system, file conversion or the like is required in the photographic processing system, and software for that purpose must also be installed. Therefore, if the two formats are the same, the photo processing system does not need to introduce new software, which brings about a cost advantage.

As another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the charge detail image data includes thumbnail image data of an image relating to a print order, and an index is set in a photo processing system based on the charge detail image data. An example is one that can create prints.

When a print is created using the charge statement image data, if only the images related to the charge statement are present,
The prints will no longer be needed and will be discarded,
It causes more garbage. On the other hand, since the index print is provided to the customer together with the photographic print, by including the charge detail image in the index print, it becomes unnecessary to create an extra print. In addition, there is an advantage that unnecessary dust is not generated.

A program executed by the server system according to the present invention receives a print order from a client, stores order image data uploaded from the client, and responds to a download request from the photo processing system. Generate charge detail image data based on the process of transmitting the order image data to the photo processing system, the process of calculating the print price for the print order, and the print price data and the data indicating whether online payment has been made. Is performed, and the order image data and the charge detail image data are both transmitted in the image data transmission process. The action and effect are as described above.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of an online print ordering system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an online print ordering system.

<Schematic Configuration of System> This online print ordering system is mainly composed of the photo processing system 1,
It is composed of a server system 2 and a client system 3, and is connected by a network such as the Internet. The network is not limited to the Internet, but may be a closed network other than the Internet, or is not limited to wired or wireless, and may be a network in which wired and wireless are appropriately combined.

The photographic processing system 1 is composed of a printer processor 10 and the like, and produces photographic prints based on image data. The image data can be acquired by downloading from the server system 2, but can also be acquired by scanning a photographic film.

The server system 2 is composed of one or a plurality of server devices 20. Server device 20
Provides a website (homepage) for receiving an online print order via the Internet. When the order is received, the image data is uploaded to the server device 20 and stored in a recording device such as a hard disk. Further, when the print processing is completed, the server device 20 sends an e-mail to the customer to notify that effect.

The client system 3 is a personal computer 30.
It is composed mainly of (PC body, keyboard, monitor, etc.). A customer who wants to place an online print order uses the personal computer 30 to use the server device 20.
And upload the image data. As the image data, for example, image data taken by the digital camera 4 can be used.

<Functional Block Diagram of System> Next, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the photo processing system 1, the server system 2 and the like which constitute the online print ordering system.
Will be described.

The printer processor 10 includes a transmitter / receiver 11 for communicating with the server system 2, an image data storage device 12 for storing image data to be printed, and an image for the image data, if necessary. It has an image processing unit 13 for performing processing, an exposure engine 14 for printing and exposing an image on paper which is a photographic photosensitive material, a development processing unit (not shown) and the like.

The image data storage device 12 is composed of hardware such as a hard disk and a memory. The image processing unit 13 includes software that performs image processing, a conversion table, and the like. The exposure engine 14 prints an image on the paper, which is a photographic photosensitive material, by scanning the paper with exposure light. The exposure engine 14 may be a digital exposure engine of an appropriate system such as a laser engine, a CRT engine, a PLZT engine, or the like.

The server device 20 is the photo processing system 1.
Also, a transmission / reception unit 21 for transmitting / receiving various data to / from the client system 3 is provided. Also, the HTML storage unit 2
2 includes a number of HTs for providing a home page (Web page) to the photo processing system 1 and the client system 3 that have accessed the server device 20.
The ML file is stored. A homepage is set up individually for each photo shop. When a customer places an order for prints online, he / she can access the home page of the photo shop where he / she wants to place the order.

The image data storage unit 23 temporarily stores the image data uploaded from the personal computer 30 for print processing. This image data is transferred to the photo processing system 1 in response to a download request from the photo processing system 1.

The print price calculation unit 24 can calculate and obtain the print price related to the customer's print order. The print price can be calculated from the print size and the number of prints designated by the customer based on the price data for each print size. The calculation result is used by the charge detail image generation unit 25. The print price calculation unit 24 can be configured by a calculation program installed in the server system 2.

The charge detail image generating section 25 has a function of generating charge detail image data. Here, in the charge detail image data, the print price (basic charge, print price, etc.)
Includes data and payment method data for printing.
The payment method of the print price in the online print order is roughly classified into online payment and over-the-counter payment. The online payment is, for example, a credit card payment method. Over-the-counter payment is a method in which a customer goes to a photo shop and pays the price.
The charge statement image generation unit 25 can be configured by an image data creation program.

The generated charge statement image data, together with the order image data relating to the customer's order, are stored in the image data storage unit 2
Once stored in 3. Both the order image data and the charge statement image data are image data and have the same file format. Examples of file formats include JPEG and GIF
Etc. These image data are sent to the photo processing system 1 in response to a download request from the photo processing system 1.
Sent to. A photographic print according to the customer's order is created from the order image data, and a charge detail image print is created from the charge detail image data. Further, since the image file formats are the same, the photo processing system 1 can create prints without being aware of both.

The index image data generating unit 26 generates index image data in which thumbnail image data obtained by reducing the order image data related to an order is arranged in a predetermined format. This data is used by the photo processing system 1 to create an index print.

The e-mail creating section 27 can automatically generate an e-mail for notifying the customer who placed the print order that the printing process has been completed. The electronic mail creating unit 27 can be configured by a program for creating a mail.

<Processing Procedure of Print Ordering System> Next, a procedure when a customer places a print order online will be described. It is necessary for the customer to register as a member in order to use this system. Figure 3 shows the procedure for member registration
The flowchart will be briefly described. First, the customer
Access the server system 2 to browse a Web page for ordering prints. The member registration screen (not shown) linked to this page is displayed on the personal computer 30.
Display it on the monitor screen (# 1).

The customer inputs predetermined items while looking at this display screen (# 2). Items include address, name,
Age, gender, home phone number, occupation, personal computer email address, mobile phone email address, etc.

When the input is completed, the confirmation button on the screen is clicked with the mouse. As a result, the confirmation screen is displayed on the screen of the personal computer 30 (# 3). The customer looks at this confirmation screen and confirms whether or not there is an error in the input item. If there is an error, go back to Step # 2 and try again (#
4).

If it is OK, the send button is clicked (# 5). As a result, the confirmed information is sent to the server system 2, and the input data is registered in the member database as member data. Further, the server system 2 issues an ID and a password (# 6). This ID
And the password will be sent to the customer's computer email address. This completes the membership registration procedure.

Next, the procedure when the customer places a print order online will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the customer's personal computer 30 accesses the server system 2 to display a print order screen (home page of a photo shop where an order can be placed) (# 1).
0). The customer inputs the ID and password acquired in advance (# 11). Both ID and password are OK
If so, it is possible to move to the next step. next,
Image data relating to the print order (order image data) is uploaded from the personal computer 30 to the server system 2 (# 12). The file format of the image data is J
An appropriate file format such as PEG or GIF can be adopted.

Next, order information is input (# 13). The order information is information such as how many images are to be printed in what print size. The print price calculation unit 24 calculates the print price based on the input information (# 14). The calculated result is converted into HTML data and transmitted to the customer's personal computer 30 and displayed (# 15). This allows the customer to know the details of the print price in advance. In addition, the contents of the print order can also be confirmed.

Next, the settlement screen is displayed. In this step, the customer can select the payment method of the print price. There are two payment methods, online payment and over-the-counter payment. Of course, another payment method may be added. The customer selects any one payment method (# 16). When the payment method is confirmed, the charge detail image data is generated (# 17). The charge statement image data is stored in the image data storage unit 23 together with the order image data uploaded from the customer's personal computer 30 (# 18).

The charge detail image data is used for printing the charge detail image by the printer processor 10, and an example of print production is shown in FIG.
(A) is an example of creation when online payment has been completed, and it is displayed that payment by a credit card has been made. (B) is due to over-the-counter payment, and it is displayed that over-the-counter payment is the payment method. In addition, details of payment items and total payment amount are printed.

Next, the procedure for performing the printing process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As a method of knowing that there is an online print order, there is a method of notifying the photo processing system 1 from the server system 2 online, the photo processing system 1 periodically or at an appropriate timing.
There is a method of accessing to, but either method may be adopted.

First, the server system 2 is accessed from the photo processing system 1 (photo shop) (# 20). In order for photo shops to use this system, they have to register as a member,
It is necessary to obtain the ID and password. Therefore,
The ID and password are also required for this access.
Next, the order image data and the charge statement image data are downloaded and the order information is also acquired (# 21).
The downloaded image data is once stored in the image data storage device 12 (# 22).

The image data is subjected to image processing as needed so that an appropriate color and density can be obtained (# 23). Since the contents of this image processing are publicly known, description thereof will be omitted. next,
The print process is executed according to the contents of the order information (# 24). In this print process, in addition to the normal photographic print, a charge detail image print and an index print are also created. When the print creation is completed, the finished photo print is ejected outside the printer processor (# 25).

The print of the charge detail image has already been described with reference to FIG. When the print creation is completed, it is necessary for the photo processing system 1 to notify the server system 2 to that effect. Therefore, the print end signal is transmitted to the server system 2 (# 26). In response to this,
The email creating unit 27 of the server system 2 creates an email and sends the email to the customer's personal computer (# 27). By reading this email, the customer can know that the photographic print he or she ordered is finished.

After receiving the mail, the customer visits a photo shop to receive a photo print. The photo shop side has already printed the charge statement image print together with the ordered photo print (because the ordered photo print and the charge statement image print do not come apart), so the customer has already printed them. It is possible to immediately and accurately confirm whether or not the payment has been completed.

<Other Embodiment> Next, a charge statement image print according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, the charge detail image is incorporated in the index print. In the server system 2, a process of incorporating the charge detail image data into the index image data may be performed. In this case, it is not necessary to create a print only for displaying the charge details. The charge statement image print may be unnecessary if the customer can confirm the payment of the print price, but the index print is provided to the customer and is originally required. As a result, the amount of dust can be reduced.
Further, the order contents and the charge contents can be matched in the same charge detail image print, and the paper can be used efficiently.

Furthermore, in the online print ordering system, the photo shop can freely set service charges such as the print price. In this case, the price when the customer places a print order may be different from the price when the customer comes to receive the print at the store due to a campaign or the like. Such a price change has been a cause of confusion even at photo shops. However, in the present invention, since the print price at the time of placing an order is displayed on the charge detail image print, confusion and trouble at the store can be eliminated.

The printer processor constituting the photo processing system may have various structures. Further, it goes without saying that a structure capable of processing image data obtained from a photographic film or other recording medium may be added.

The server system 2 may be composed of a plurality of server devices having distributed functions. For example, We
The functions may be distributed to a Web server that provides page b, a file server that stores image files, a database server that stores member information, etc. to reduce the load on individual server devices. .

The index image data can be generated by the photo processing system instead of the server system. The print price data and the data indicating whether online payment has been made are not limited to those of the present embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of an online print ordering system.

[Fig. 2] Functional block diagram of online print ordering system

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a procedure for member registration.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for making a print order online.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of creating a charge detail image print.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for performing print processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of creating a charge statement image print according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Photo processing system 2 server system 3 client system 10 printer processor 20 server equipment 21 Transmitter / receiver 22 HTML storage 23 Image data storage 24 Print price calculator 25 Charge detail image generation unit 30 personal computers

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // H04N 5/76 H04N 5/76 E

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A server system in which a print order from a client system is accepted and order image data is uploaded from the client system, and a photo processing system which downloads the image data from the server system and creates a photographic print for the print order. The server system creates charge detail image data based on print price data relating to a print order and data indicating whether online settlement has been performed, and the charge detail image data together with the order image data An online print ordering system characterized in that it can be sent to a photo processing system. 2. A server system used in the online print ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the image data storage unit receives a print order from a client and stores order image data uploaded from the client, and a photograph. An image data transmission unit that transmits the order image data to the photo processing system in response to a download request from the processing system, a print price calculation unit that calculates the print price related to the print order, print price data and online payment And a charge detail image generation unit that generates charge detail image data based on whether or not the charge detail image data is generated, and the image data transmission unit includes the order image data and the charge detail image data in a photographic processing system. A server characterized by being configured for transmission Stem. 3. The server system according to claim 2, wherein the order image data and the charge detail image data are image files of the same format. 4. The charge detail image data includes thumbnail image data of an image relating to a print order, and an index print can be created by a photographic processing system based on the charge detail image data. The server system according to claim 2, wherein the server system is a server system. 5. A program executed by the server system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, which receives a print order from a client and stores order image data uploaded from the client. , A process of transmitting the order image data to the photo processing system in response to a download request from the photo processing system, a process of calculating a print price related to a print order, and a print price data and whether online settlement has been performed. A program for generating charge detail image data based on the data, and transmitting the order image data and the charge detail image data together in the image data transmission process.