JP2007135237A - Host system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a host system capable of easily obtaining a hard copy of information displayed on a mobile communication terminal. <P>SOLUTION: In the host system, the mobile communication terminal can access provided information stored therein, and can perform a predetermined operation. When the mobile communication terminal informs the system of terminal-specific information, instructs to output the provided information, and the system receives the instructed information for an output destination, the host system transmits, in response to the instructed information, information indicative of the terminal-specific information and output information corresponding to the provided information toward a mail address of an output device, which is stored in advance, by using an electronic mail. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a host device that allows access to provided information stored by a mobile communication terminal and allows a predetermined operation to be performed from the mobile communication terminal.

  In recent years, for example, like the i-mode service provided by NTT DoCoMo, access information provided on the host computer of each information provider by a mobile communication terminal (mobile phone, mobile terminal, etc.) A communication service that can acquire desired information is realized.

By using such a communication service, it is possible to receive various useful services such as ticket reservations for concerts, confirmation of bank balances, etc., for example, it is not necessary for the user to go to the ticket reservation center for ticket reservation The user can easily receive an effective service.
JP-A-10-222527

  However, in such a conventional communication service, various information can be displayed on the mobile communication terminal side, but it cannot be printed out and it is difficult to obtain the acquired information as a hard copy. .

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a host device that can easily obtain a hard copy of information displayed on a mobile communication terminal.

  The present invention provides a host device that allows access to provided information stored by a mobile communication terminal and allows a predetermined operation to be performed from the mobile communication terminal. When the information is notified, the output of the provided information is designated, and the designation information of the output destination is received, the terminal specific information is displayed for the mail address of the output device stored in advance corresponding to the designation information The information and the output information corresponding to the provided information are transmitted using electronic mail.

  Further, the host device is configured to access the provided information stored by the mobile communication terminal and perform a predetermined operation from the mobile communication terminal, and the terminal-specific information is received from the mobile communication terminal. When the output of the provision information is notified and the designation information of the output destination is received, the display information of the terminal-specific information is sent to the mail address of the output device stored in advance corresponding to the designation information, The output information corresponding to the provided information is transmitted using electronic mail.

  Further, the host device is configured to access the provided information stored by the mobile communication terminal and perform a predetermined operation from the mobile communication terminal, and the terminal-specific information is received from the mobile communication terminal. When notified, the output of the provided information is specified, and when the mail address of the mobile communication terminal device is received, the display information of the terminal-specific information and the provided information correspond to the received mail address. The output information is transmitted using electronic mail.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the user of the mobile communication terminal can print out the content data acquired from the host device at a desired location. For example, it is very useful for memorizing concert information and ticket information. The effect that it is convenient is obtained. In addition, if the location where the output device is installed is set up in a building that has a large number of convenience stores such as convenience store chains and is convenient for people to enter and exit, the user can easily obtain printouts. It also has the effect of being convenient.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  This communication network is connected to a mobile communication network comprising mobile communication terminals TM1 to TMn, a mobile communication network MN, and a mobile communication network base station BS to information providing server devices (host computers) IS1 to IS1 on the Internet INET. A gateway device GW for accessing data to ISn is provided, and further, information provided from each of the information providing server devices IS1 to ISn (for example, Web page information described in HTML or the like) is sent as e-mail via the Internet INET E-mail transmission devices MM1 to MMn for transmission, and functions installed in key stores such as convenience store chain stores, railway stations, and main branches of banks to receive e-mails via the Internet INET Provided with output devices PT1 to PTn Is shall.

  Here, a gateway device GW for data access to the information providing server devices IS1 to ISn on the Internet INET is provided in the mobile communication network, and the information providing server devices IS1 to ISn can be accessed from the mobile communication terminals TM1 to TMn. As a network service for providing various information providing services, for example, there is an i-mode service of NTT DoCoMo.

  The output devices PT1 to PTn are connected to the analog public network PSTN and connected to the Internet INET via the Internet service provider ISP by dial-up connection to the Internet service provider ISP. As a result, the output devices PT1 to PTn can send and receive electronic mail to and from the mail server device MS on the Internet INET.

  As the terminal functions of the output devices PT1 to PTn, ITU-T recommendation T.30. 37 and the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard RFC (Request For Comments) 2305 are provided with a mail type Internet facsimile machine function, and the UA (User Agent) function for receiving electronic mail is an IETF standard. An apparatus using IMAP4 (Interactive Mail Access Protocol) defined in RFC2060 or the like is employed.

  Electronic mail is exchanged via the mail server device MS. This mail server device MS has a server function of IMAP4, creates a folder (mailbox) for each registered mail address, and among the emails received from other mail server devices, the destination mail address is Those that match the user's email address registered in the terminal are stored in the corresponding folder.

  Here, as the server function of IMAP4, a mail search function based on information specified by the receiving client, a shared folder function that shares and uses one folder with a plurality of mail addresses, and an e-mail text information Partial retrieval (MIME information part-by-part) function, function to save a message in a specified folder from a host device (not shown) locally connected to the mail server MS (LAN connection), integration function with NetNews and so on.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the mobile communication terminal TM (TM1 to TMn). In this case, a telephone function is also provided as a terminal function.

  In the figure, a display unit 1 is for displaying various information, and is composed of a liquid crystal display with a relatively large screen, and an operation unit 2 is for operating the mobile communication terminal TM. It includes operation keys for inputting a telephone number, performing an operation for selecting a desired telephone number from a registered telephone directory, or performing various operations on an information providing screen.

  The call unit 3 is for calling, and the control unit 4 performs various communication functions of the mobile communication terminal TM and functions such as data exchange with an external device (not shown). Is for.

  The wireless communication unit 5 is for connecting the mobile communication terminal TM to the mobile communication network MN, and the external interface circuit 6 is connected to an external device (for example, the output device PT (PT1 to PTn)). In order to exchange various data.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the output device PT.

  In the figure, a system control unit 11 performs various control processes such as a control process of each part of the output device PT and an e-mail transmission / reception process. A system memory 12 is a control process executed by the system control unit 11. The program and various data necessary for executing the processing program are stored, and the work area of the system control unit 11 is configured. The parameter memory 13 stores various information unique to the output device PT. The clock circuit 14 outputs current time information.

  The plotter 15 is for recording and outputting an image with a predetermined resolution. The operation display unit 16 is for operating the output device PT, and includes various operation keys and various displays. .

  The page buffer 17 is for temporarily storing image data to be recorded and output, and the image processing unit 18 converts the received TIFF image data into image data that can be recorded by the plotter 15. This is for performing various image processing.

  The external interface circuit 19 is connected to the mobile communication terminal TM to exchange various data with the mobile communication terminal TM, and the Internet interface circuit 20 connects the output device PT to the analog public. It is for connecting to the network PSTN and exchanging data, and the Internet transmission control unit 21 is for performing predetermined protocol processing (TCP / IP).

  The group 3 facsimile modem 10 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals and mainly for exchanging image information. A high-speed modem function (V.17 modem, V.34 modem, V.29 modem, V.27ter modem, etc.) is provided.

  These system control unit 11, system memory 12, parameter memory 13, clock circuit 14, plotter 15, operation display unit 16, page buffer 17, image processing unit 18, external interface circuit 19, and Internet transmission control unit 21 are Are connected to the internal bus 22, and exchange of data between these elements is mainly performed through the internal bus 14.

  In this embodiment, the output device PT is installed at convenience store chains A, B, C, railways A, B, and banks, and at convenience store chains A, B, C, railways A, B. For the bank, a mail address is registered in the mail server device MS, and a corresponding folder is created.

  For example, the email addresses of convenience store chains A, B, and C are conv_a @ abc. co. jp, conv_b @ abc. co. jp, conv_c @ abc. co. jp, and the mail addresses of the railway stations A and B are RailWay_a @ abc. co. jp, RailWay_b @ abc. co. jp, and the bank's email address is bank @ abc. co. jp.

  The user of the mobile communication terminal TM accesses the desired information providing server device IS (IS1 to ISn), performs appropriate operations in accordance with the display screen, displays the desired content (provided information), and then displays it. When it is desired to print out the contents of the screen, for example, a button named “PRINTOUT” in the display screen is designated and operated.

  Accordingly, for example, a printout output destination selection screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. In this case, convenience store chains (convenience stores) A, B, C, railways A, B, and banks where the output device PT is installed are displayed as output destination options, and the user can select any one of them. Can be selected.

  For example, when “Convenience Store A” is selected, the information providing server IS recognizes the selected item and requests the mobile communication terminal TM to transmit terminal-specific information (such as a serial number (manufacturing number)). As a result, the mobile communication terminal TM transmits the terminal-specific information registered in the terminal itself to the information providing server device IS.

  Next, the information providing server device IS displays the contents selected at that time and various input information (for example, in the case of a concert ticket, date, venue, seat number, distinction (adult, child, etc.), etc.) Output destination classification information (in this case, “convenience store A”) representing the selected output destination, and a terminal acquired from the mobile communication terminal TM, as well as being sent as content data to the electronic mail transmission device MM (MM1 to MMn) The unique information is notified to the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM.

  On the other hand, the e-mail transmission apparatus MM stores a mail address table as shown in FIG. 5 in which mail addresses (mailbox names) are registered corresponding to the output destination classification information notified from the information providing server apparatus IS. Thus, the electronic mail transmitting device MM refers to the mail address table and acquires a mail address corresponding to the output destination classification information notified from the information providing server device IS.

  Further, the e-mail transmission apparatus MM converts the contents of the content data received from the information providing server apparatus IS into display information for display, and converts the display information into TIFF format image data that can be processed by the output apparatus PT. And a function for MIME conversion of the TIFF image data.

  Therefore, the e-mail transmission apparatus MM converts the content data received from the information providing server apparatus IS into display information for display, converts the display information into TIFF format image data, and further converts the TIFF format image data. Data is converted to MIME to create e-mail text information, and an e-mail address corresponding to the output destination classification information notified from the information providing server device IS is obtained by referring to the e-mail address table, and the information providing server Along with the terminal-specific information notified from the device IS, an electronic mail whose main part is shown in FIG. 6 is created and transmitted.

  Here, a mail address is arranged in the To field of the header information, and terminal-specific information is arranged in the Subject field. In this case, the terminal specific information is “ABC0001”.

  As a result, an e-mail carrying recorded data of the content that the user desires to print out is stored in the output destination mailbox designated by the user of the mobile communication terminal TM.

  On the other hand, the user goes to an arbitrary store in the convenience store chain A, and operates the output device PT installed in the store to designate the mobile print mode.

  Thereby, the output device PT displays a guidance screen as shown in FIG. 7, requests the user to input terminal-specific information (in this case, a serial number), and according to this guidance screen, the user Terminal-specific information (in this case, “ABC0001”) is input.

  Further, as a method for inputting the terminal-specific information, the user directly inputs a key, and the user connects the external interface circuit 6 of the mobile communication terminal TM and the external interface circuit 19 of the output device PT with a signal cable. By operating the terminal-specific information input key of the output device PT, the output device PT requests the mobile communication terminal TM to input the terminal-specific information, whereby the mobile communication terminal TM sends the terminal-specific information to the output device PT. There is a method to transfer to.

  When the input of the terminal specific information is completed, the output device PT dials up to the Internet service provider ISP and uses the mail address registered in the terminal (in this case, “conv_a@abc.co.jp”). Then, it connects to the mail server device MS and makes a search request for the Subject field using the terminal-specific information input by the operation as a key.

  Thereby, the mail server device MS checks whether or not an e-mail including the character string “ABC0001” in the value of the Subject field is stored in the folder corresponding to the specified mail address. The electronic mail is taken out and transmitted to the output device PT. If the corresponding electronic mail is not stored, an error is notified to the output device PT.

  When the output device PT receives an electronic mail from the mail server device MS, the output device PT extracts MIME information from the text information, reversely converts the MIME information, and creates original TIFF format image data.

  Next, the image data in the TIFF format is converted into image data that can be recorded by the plotter 15 by the image processing unit 18, and the image data is transferred to the plotter 15 for recording and output.

  Thereby, the user of the mobile communication terminal TM can print out the content designated by the user.

  In this way, in this embodiment, the user of the mobile communication terminal TM can print out the content data acquired from the information providing server device IS at a desired location. For example, concert information and ticket information It is very convenient for remembering. In addition, if the place where the output device PT is installed is set in a building where there are a lot of convenience stores such as convenience store chains, the user can easily obtain a printout, Very convenient.

  Further, protocol communication means using IMAP4 can be used as electronic mail receiving means for that purpose, so that existing technology can be diverted and such a communication network system can be constructed relatively easily.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of schematic processing of the mobile communication terminal TM.

  The mobile communication terminal TM monitors that any operation input is made by the user (NO loop of decision 101), and is designated when some operation input is made by the user and the result of decision 101 is YES. It is checked whether the operation content is a Web search for searching for information provided from the information providing server device IS (determination 102).

  When the result of determination 102 is YES, the mobile communication network MN is connected (process 103), a predetermined web operation process (for example, WWW browser software) is executed (process 104), and the file is appropriately stored. The file requested from the providing server device IS (process 105) and the file received from the information providing server device IS are displayed as appropriate (process 106).

  When such Web search processing is being performed, it is examined whether termination is instructed (decision 107) or whether an acquisition request for terminal-specific information is requested from the connection destination information providing server IS (determination 108). . Here, when the termination is instructed and the result of determination 107 is YES, the connection with the mobile communication network MN is terminated, and this operation is terminated.

  Further, when a request for acquisition of terminal-specific information is made from the information providing server device IS at the connection destination and the result of determination 108 is YES, the serial number stored in the own terminal is used as the information specific to the requester as terminal-specific information. The information is transmitted to the providing server device IS (process 109).

  When the operation content at that time is not a Web search and the result of determination 102 is NO, it is checked whether the external interface circuit 6 is connected to an external device (in this case, the output device PT) (decision 110).

  When the result of determination 110 is YES, it waits until terminal-specific information is requested from an external device (NO loop of determination 111). When terminal-specific information is requested from the external device and the result of determination 111 is YES, the manufacturing number stored in the terminal is transmitted to the external device as terminal-specific information (process 112), and the operation at this time is performed. finish.

  If the operation content at that time is neither a Web search nor an external connection and the result of determination 110 is NO, processing corresponding to the operation content at that time (for example, normal call processing) is executed (processing) 113), the operation at this time is terminated.

  FIG. 9 shows a schematic processing example of the information providing server device IS.

  First, access from any mobile communication terminal TM is monitored (NO loop of determination 201), and access is made from any mobile communication terminal TM and the result of determination 201 is YES. Then, it is checked whether or not the request received at that time is a print instruction (decision 202).

  If the received request is a print instruction and the result of determination 202 is YES, a printout output destination selection screen display file as shown in FIG. 4 is transmitted to the request source at that time. (Processing 203), the process returns to the judgment 201.

  If the request received at this time is not a print instruction and the result of determination 202 is NO, it is checked whether the request received at that time is an output destination designation request including output destination classification information (determination 204). ).

  When the result of determination 204 is YES, the request source is requested to acquire terminal-specific information, terminal-specific information is received (process 205), and the content designated for printing at that time is determined ( Processing 206), terminal-specific information, content data, and the selected output destination classification information are transmitted to the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM (processing 207), and the processing returns to decision 201.

  If the result of determination 204 is NO, the content information file requested at that time is transmitted to the request source (process 208), and the process returns to determination 201.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of schematic processing of the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM.

  When the terminal-specific information, the content data, and the selected output destination information are received from the information providing server IS, the received information is temporarily saved (process 301), and converted into display information for displaying the contents of the content data. The display information is converted into TIFF format image data (processing 302), and the TIFF format image data is converted to MIME to generate e-mail text information (processing 303).

  Next, referring to the mail address table, the mail address corresponding to the output destination classification information notified from the information providing server device IS is acquired, and predetermined header information is created (process 304). The mail is transmitted (process 305).

  FIG. 11 shows a schematic processing example when the mail server device MS receives an electronic mail.

  First, among e-mails received from other mail server devices, those whose destination e-mail address matches the user's e-mail address registered in the terminal (step 401), a folder corresponding to the destination e-mail address is stored. Determination is made (process 402), and the received e-mail is stored in the folder (process 403).

  FIG. 12 shows an example of schematic processing when the mail server device MS makes a request for searching the Subject field using the terminal-specific information as a key from the output device PT.

  First, the mail server device MS determines a folder corresponding to the designated mail address (process 501), and whether an email containing the value of the designated terminal-specific information in the Subject field is stored in the folder. A check is made (process 502).

  If there is a corresponding mail, if the result of determination 503 is YES, the electronic mail is taken out and transmitted to the output device PT that is the electronic mail reception request source at that time (process 504). The mail is deleted from the folder (process 505), and this operation is terminated.

  If the corresponding e-mail is not stored and the result of determination 503 is NO, an error message indicating that the corresponding e-mail is not stored is sent to the output device PT which is the e-mail reception request source at that time. This is notified (process 506), and this operation is terminated.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of schematic processing of the output device PT.

  When a print request is received from the user (process 601), terminal-specific information is input (process 602). As an input method at this time, as described above, the user directly inputs a key, and the user connects the external interface circuit 6 of the mobile communication terminal TM and the external interface circuit 19 of the output device PT with a signal cable. By operating the terminal-specific information input key of the output device PT, the output device PT requests the mobile communication terminal TM to input the terminal-specific information, whereby the mobile communication terminal TM outputs the terminal-specific information to the output device There is a method of transferring to PT.

  When the terminal specific information is acquired in this way, the dial-up connection is made to the Internet service provider ISP (process 603), the mail address registered in the terminal is used, the IMAP4 protocol is applied, and the mail server apparatus MS is connected. Then, a request is made to search the Subject field using the terminal-specific information input by the operation as a key, and the corresponding electronic mail is received (process 604).

  When the e-mail receiving operation is completed, the Internet service provider ISP is disconnected (process 605), and it is checked whether or not the e-mail can be received at that time (decision 606).

  If the e-mail can be received and the result of determination 606 is YES, the MIME information is extracted from the body information of the received e-mail, the MIME information is inversely converted, and the original TIFF format image data is created. Then, the image data in the TIFF format is converted into image data that can be recorded by the plotter 15 by the image processing unit 18, and the image data is transferred to the plotter 15 for recording and output (processing 607).

  Next, the image data for which the recording output has been completed is deleted (processing 608), and the recording operation at this time is terminated.

  If the result of the determination 606 is NO in the case where the e-mail could not be received, an error message is displayed (process 609), and the operation at this time is ended (error end).

  By the way, in the above-described embodiment, one e-mail is created for one print request of the user of the mobile communication terminal TM, and it corresponds to the designated output destination classification provided in the mail server device MS. Since a large number of print requests for the same content are generated because they are stored in the folder, a large number of emails having the same body information but only different values in the Subject field of the header information are stored in the mail server device MS. There is a risk that the storage capacity of the mail server device MS may be compressed.

  For example, such a situation is considered to occur when the content is concert information or ticket information.

  In order to avoid such a situation, the mail server device MS may be provided with a function of collectively integrating e-mails carrying the same content data into one mail.

  For this purpose, first, the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM arranges content identification information for identifying terminal-specific information and content data in the Subject field of the electronic mail in the following format.

    (Terminal identification information) ** (content identification information)

  Here, for example, the following format can be adopted as the content identification information.

    (Information provider identification information)-(Content number)

  Here, the information provider identification information is arbitrary data for identifying the information provider that operates the information providing server device IS, and the content number is for identifying each content in each information providing server device IS. Information. Therefore, the content identification information is designated as “A-0001”, for example. In this case, “A” is information provider identification information.

  Therefore, the user of the mobile communication terminal TM whose terminal specific information is “ABC0001” (hereinafter referred to as “user 0001”) accesses the information providing server device IS whose information provider identification information value is “A”. Then, the user performs an appropriate operation according to the display screen, displays the content whose content number is “0001”, and then wants to print out the content of the display screen. When “Convenience Store A” is designated as the output destination, the information providing server device IS sends the content data corresponding to the content content selected at that time to the e-mail transmission device MM, and at that time Content identification information (in this case, “A-0001”) corresponding to the selected content content, and the selected output destination Rawasu destination classification information (in this case, "convenience store A"), and the acquired terminal-specific information from the mobile communication terminal TM (in this case, "ABC0001") notifies the electronic mail transmission device MM.

  As a result, the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM converts the contents of the content data received from the information providing server IS into display information for display, converts the display information into image data in the TIFF format, and further converts the display information into the TIFF format. The image data is MIME-converted to create e-mail text information, and the mail address corresponding to the output destination classification information notified from the information providing server device IS is referred to by referring to the mail address table (see FIG. 5). The electronic mail as shown in FIG. 14 is created and transmitted together with the content identification information and the terminal specific information acquired and notified from the information providing server device IS.

  Here, the mail address is arranged in the To field of the header information, and the terminal specific information and the content identification information are arranged in the Subject field in the above-described format.

  As a result, an e-mail carrying recorded data of the content that the user wants to print out is stored in a folder provided in the mail server device MS corresponding to the output destination designated by the user of the mobile communication terminal TM. Is done.

  Further, at the time of storing the e-mail, the mail server device MS determines whether or not the character field “**” used to delimit the terminal-specific information and the content identification information is included in the Subject field of the received e-mail. If it is included, it is checked whether another electronic mail in which the same content identification information is arranged in the Subject field is already stored in the same folder.

  If it is not stored, the newly received e-mail is stored in the folder.

  On the other hand, if it is stored, only the terminal-specific information is extracted from the Subject field of the newly received e-mail, and the extracted terminal-specific information is added to the already-stored e-mail Subject field. Concatenating using “+”, the already stored e-mail is updated and saved in the same folder, and in this case, the newly received e-mail is not saved.

  Therefore, in this case, when the e-mail for which the convenience store chain A is designated as the output destination is transmitted for the same content for the first time, the same e-mail as shown in FIG. 14 is stored in the corresponding folder.

  Next, after the user of the mobile communication terminal TM whose terminal specific information is “ABC0011” (hereinafter referred to as “user 0011”) accesses the same information providing server device IS and displays the same content, When it is desired to print out the contents of the display screen and the same “Convenience Store A” is designated as the output destination, the information providing server device IS and the e-mail transmission device MM perform the same operation as described above. As a result, the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM is different from the electronic mail shown in FIG. 14 only in the value of the Subject field (in this case, “ABC0011 ** A-0001”). Sent to.

  In this case, since the e-mail is already stored in the same folder for the same content, the mail server device MS extracts the terminal identification information from the subject field of the newly received e-mail, and the already stored e-mail By connecting to the subject field, an e-mail as shown in FIG. 15 is created and updated and stored in the same folder.

  On the other hand, the user 0001 and the user 0011 independently go to an arbitrary store in the convenience store chain A, and operate the output device PT installed in the store to specify the mobile print mode.

  Thereby, the output device PT displays a guidance screen as shown in FIG. 7 and requests the user to input terminal-specific information (in this case, a manufacturing number). Accordingly, in accordance with this guidance screen, the user 0001 operates and inputs the “ABC0001” terminal specific information, and the user 0011 inputs the terminal specific information “ABC0011”.

  When the input of the terminal specific information is finished, each output device PT dials up to the Internet service provider ISP, and uses the mail address registered in its own terminal (in this case, “conv_a@abc.co.jp”). The mail server device MS is used to connect to the mail server device MS, and a search request is made for the subject field using the terminal-specific information input by the operation as a key.

  Thereby, the mail server device MS includes the character string “ABC0001” (in the case of the user 0001) or the character string “ABC0011” (in the case of the user 0011) in the value of the Subject field in the folder corresponding to the designated mail address. Whether or not the electronic mail is stored is checked. If the electronic mail is stored, the electronic mail is taken out and transmitted to the output device PT. If the corresponding electronic mail is not stored, an error is notified to the output device PT.

  When the output device PT receives an electronic mail from the mail server device MS, the output device PT extracts MIME information from the text information, reversely converts the MIME information, and creates original TIFF format image data.

  Next, the image data in the TIFF format is converted into image data that can be recorded by the plotter 15 by the image processing unit 18, and the image data is transferred to the plotter 15 for recording and output.

  Thereby, the user 0001 and the user 0011 of the mobile communication terminal TM can print out the content designated by the user.

  On the other hand, the mail server device MS searches the character string for search (in this case, “ABC0001” or “ABC0011”) designated at the time of the e-mail reception request from the output device PT, the value of the Subject field of the e-mail that can be searched. Delete from.

  For example, when the value of the Subject field is “ABC0001 + ABC0011 ** A−0001”, when “ABC0001” is specified as the search character string in the first reception request, the value of the Subject field is changed to “ Update to “ABC0011 ** A-0001”.

  Next, when “ABC0011” is specified in the search character string in the subsequent reception request, the value of the Subject field is updated to “** A-0001” after the e-mail is transmitted.

  Then, the mail server device MS can delete the e-mail from which all the terminal-specific information has been deleted in this way, avoiding a situation where the storage capacity is unduly occupied, and effectively using the storage capacity. To.

  Further, the mail server device MS deletes the e-mail when the accumulated time of the stored e-mail exceeds a predetermined time (for example, 24 hours). This avoids a situation in which the storage capacity is unduly occupied by an e-mail whose output has been forgotten by the user.

  FIG. 16 shows a schematic processing example when the mail server MS in this case receives an electronic mail.

  First, among e-mails received from other mail server devices, those whose destination e-mail address matches the user's e-mail address registered in the terminal (step 701), a folder corresponding to the destination e-mail address is stored. Determine (Process 702).

  Next, it is checked whether or not the character string “**” is included in the Subject field of the email received at that time (decision 703). When the result of determination 703 is YES, since content identification information is added, it is checked whether another e-mail in which the same content identification information is placed in the Subject field is already stored in the same folder. (Process 704).

  If another e-mail in which the same content identification information is placed in the Subject field is already stored in the same folder, and the result of determination 705 is YES, the terminal from the Subject field of the newly received e-mail Only the unique information is extracted, and the extracted terminal unique information is concatenated to the Subject field of the already stored e-mail using the concatenation code “+” (process 706). The update is stored in the same folder (process 707), and the storage time at that time is updated and stored corresponding to the e-mail (process 708), and this operation is terminated.

  On the other hand, if another e-mail in which the same content identification information is placed in the Subject field is not stored in the same folder and the result of determination 705 is NO, the newly received e-mail is stored in the folder. Save (process 709), newly store the accumulated time corresponding to the e-mail (process 710), and terminate this operation.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of a schematic process when the mail server device MS makes a request for searching the Subject field from the output device PT using the terminal-specific information as a key.

  First, the mail server device MS determines a folder corresponding to the designated email address (process 801), and whether an email containing the value of the designated terminal-specific information in the Subject field is stored in the folder. A check is made (process 802).

  If there is a corresponding mail and the result of the determination 803 is YES, one corresponding electronic mail is taken out and transmitted to the output device PT which is the e-mail reception request source at that time (processing 804). The character string used in the above is deleted from the value of the Subject field of the retrieved email, and the header information of the email is updated and saved (process 805).

  If all terminal-specific information is deleted as a result of processing 805 (the result of determination 806 is YES), the corresponding electronic mail is deleted (processing 808). If one or more terminal-specific information remains, the electronic mail is not deleted but retained.

  Then, it is checked whether or not there is another corresponding electronic mail (determination 809), and when the result of determination 809 is YES, the process returns to processing 804 to execute processing for the remaining corresponding electronic mail.

  Further, when all the corresponding e-mails have been processed and the result of determination 809 is NO, this operation is ended.

  If the corresponding e-mail is not stored and the result of determination 803 is NO, an error message indicating that the corresponding e-mail is not stored is sent to the output device PT that is the e-mail reception request source at that time. This is notified (process 810), and this operation is terminated.

  FIG. 18 shows an example of processing executed when the mail server device MS deletes an electronic mail. This process is executed at predetermined time intervals (for example, 1 hour).

  First, one folder is selected (process 821), and it is checked whether one or more e-mails are stored (decision 822). When the result of determination 822 is YES, one e-mail is selected from the selected folder (process 823), the accumulation time for the e-mail is compared with the current time, and whether or not a predetermined time or more has elapsed from the accumulation time. (Judgment 824).

  If the result of determination 824 is YES, the selected e-mail at that time is deleted (process 825). If the result of determination 824 is NO, processing 825 is not executed and the e-mail is retained.

  When the process for one e-mail is completed, it is checked whether or not all e-mails have been processed for the selected folder (decision 826). If the result of determination 826 is NO, the process returns to process 823 and the remaining e-mails are processed. The same processing is executed for mail.

  When the processing for one folder is completed and the result of determination 826 is YES, it is checked whether the processing for all folders is completed (decision 827). When the result of determination 827 is NO, Returning to the process 821, the same process is executed for the remaining folders.

  If the result of determination 827 is YES, this process ends.

  Now, as described above, when the output device PT can acquire the printout of the content designated by the user of the mobile communication terminal TM, the number of printouts in each output device PT is set to the output device PT. If, for example, the manager of convenience store chain A can know, it is very convenient that a more effective installation location can be set.

  For this purpose, every time the output device PT prints out, it counts the number of times of output for each received content number, leaves history information, and displays a list of history information every fixed period (for example, January). A report may be created, recorded and output, or sent by e-mail to a pre-registered user's mail address.

  FIG. 19 shows an example of a history information table provided in the output device PT in this case. This history information table stores the number of times of output (number of accesses) for each content number received by e-mail, and also stores the e-mail destination e-mail address.

  FIG. 20 shows an example of a report (information access notification report) recorded and output by the output device PT in this case. Here, the store name and the output device number are information set uniquely for the output device PT.

  Further, the output device PT records and outputs an information access notification report, creates an e-mail carrying the same content, and transmits it to a mail address stored in the history information table.

  FIG. 21 shows an example of a schematic process when the output device PT receives an e-mail in this case.

  When a print request is received from the user (process 901), terminal-specific information is input (process 902). As an input method at this time, as described above, the user directly inputs a key, and the user connects the external interface circuit 6 of the mobile communication terminal TM and the external interface circuit 19 of the output device PT with a signal cable. By operating the terminal-specific information input key of the output device PT, the output device PT requests the mobile communication terminal TM to input the terminal-specific information, whereby the mobile communication terminal TM outputs the terminal-specific information to the output device There is a method of transferring to PT.

  When the terminal specific information is acquired in this way, the dial-up connection is made to the Internet service provider ISP (process 903), the mail address registered in the terminal is used, the IMAP4 protocol is applied, and the mail server apparatus MS is connected. Then, a search request is made to the Subject field using the terminal-specific information input by the operation as a key, and the corresponding electronic mail is received (process 904).

  When the electronic mail receiving operation is completed, the Internet service provider ISP is disconnected (process 905), and it is checked whether or not the electronic mail has been received at that time (decision 906).

  If the e-mail can be received and the result of determination 906 is YES, one of the received e-mails is selected (process 907), MIME information is extracted from the body information of the selected e-mail, and the MIME is extracted. The information is inversely converted to generate original TIFF format image data, the TIFF format image data is converted into image data that can be recorded by the plotter 15 by the image processing unit 18, and the image data is transferred to the plotter 15. Then, it is recorded and output (process 908).

  Next, the image data that has been recorded and output is deleted (processing 909), the number of accesses is increased by one for the content number of the e-mail at that time, and the content of the history information table is updated (processing 909). 910).

  Next, it is checked whether or not the processing for all received emails has been completed (decision 911). If the result of judgment 911 is NO, the processing returns to processing 907 and processing is executed for the remaining emails. If the processing for all received e-mails is finished and the result of determination 911 is YES, the recording operation at this time is finished.

  Further, if the e-mail cannot be received and the result of determination 906 is NO, an error is displayed (process 912), and the operation at this time is terminated (error termination).

  FIG. 22 shows an example of output processing of the information access notification report of the output device PT.

  First, when the output date and time (for example, the end of the month) is reached (the result of determination 1001 is YES), the above-described information access notification report is created based on the contents of the stored history information table (process 1002). Is output from the plotter 15 (process 1003).

  Next, an e-mail is created (process 1004), and the contents of the history information table at that time are deleted (process 1005).

  Then, dial-up connection is made to the Internet service provider ISP (process 1006), and a predetermined e-mail transmission protocol is applied using the e-mail address registered in the own terminal (process 1007). Next, the Internet service provider ISP is disconnected (process 1008), and this operation is terminated.

  By the way, when the number of users of the mobile communication network MN is very large, the number of users using the above-described information recording / output service also increases, and as a result, a very large number of users in one folder of the mail server device MS. It is assumed that the e-mail is stored, and that the processing time of the mail server device MS when performing the search processing in response to the request from the output device PT increases, and the access time becomes longer.

  In order to avoid such a situation, it is only necessary to allocate a folder to be used for the terminal-specific information of the new mobile terminal number TM and reduce the number of e-mails stored in one folder.

  For this purpose, for example, as shown in FIG. 23, two mail addresses are set within the range of the value of the terminal specific information for one output destination classification value. In addition, a folder is created in the mail server device MS corresponding to each mail address. FIG. 23 shows an example of a mail address table stored in the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM.

  Thereby, the number of e-mails stored in the same folder is reduced to ½, and the time required for the search processing of the mail server device MS can be shortened.

  In addition, the setting aspect of this mail address is not restricted to this, It can be set to arbitrary aspects.

  Whether or not to receive such an information recording / output service is often determined by a contract between the user of the mobile communication terminal TM and the operator of the mobile communication network MN. Therefore, the e-mail address for the information output service can be set and registered in the mobile communication terminal TM at the time of the contract.

  In this case, when the information recording / output service is to be received, the mobile communication terminal TM notifies the information providing server device IS of the mail address for the recording / output service, and the information providing server device IS The notified mail address is notified to the electronic mail transmitting apparatus MM along with data and the like.

  As a result, the e-mail transmitting apparatus MM can directly use the notified e-mail address, so that it is not necessary to store the e-mail address table as described above in the e-mail transmitting apparatus MM.

  Further, when the user of the mobile communication terminal TM operates the output device PT to record and output information, the user inputs the terminal specific information and the mail address for the recording output service. In consideration of the user's trouble, as described above, the mobile communication terminal TM and the output device PT are connected by a signal cable, and the mobile communication terminal TM automatically outputs to the output device PT. It is preferable to transfer the information and the mail address for the record output service.

  Further, in this case, in order to obtain the record data, the output device PT receives an email from the mail server device MS by directly using the inputted email address for the record output service.

  Further, in the mail server device MS, a single folder (shared folder) can be used with a plurality of mail addresses for recording output services by using the shared folder function of IMAP4.

  In the embodiment described above, the output device PT is connected to the analog public network PSTN and connected to the Internet INET by dial-up connection to the Internet service provider ISP. However, the line used may be ISDN, or The present invention can be similarly applied to the case where the Internet INET is always connected.

  In the above-described embodiments, the Internet is used as a network, but other similar networks can be used.

The block diagram which showed an example of the communication network concerning one Example of this invention. The block diagram which showed an example of the structure of mobile communication terminal TM (TM1-TMn). The block diagram which showed an example of the structure of output device PT. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a printout output destination selection screen. Schematic which showed an example of the mail address table. Schematic which showed an example of electronic mail. Schematic which showed an example of the guidance screen. The flowchart which showed an example of the schematic process of the mobile communication terminal TM. The flowchart which showed the example of schematic processing of information provision server apparatus IS. The flowchart which showed an example of the schematic process of the electronic mail transmitter MM. The flowchart which showed the example of schematic processing at the time of the email reception of mail server apparatus MS. The flowchart which showed an example of the outline process when the mail server apparatus MS makes the search request | requirement of a Subject field from the output device PT by using terminal specific information as a key. The flowchart which showed an example of the schematic process of output device PT. Schematic which showed the other example of the email. Schematic which showed an example of the email with which the Subject field was updated. The flowchart which showed the other example of the schematic process at the time of the electronic mail reception of the mail server apparatus MS. The flowchart which showed the other example of the general | schematic process when the mail server apparatus MS makes the search request | requirement of a Subject field by using terminal specific information as a key from output device PT. The flowchart which showed an example of the process performed when the mail server apparatus MS deletes an email. Schematic which showed an example of the log | history information table. Schematic which showed an example of the information access notification report. The flowchart which showed the other example of the schematic process at the time of the email reception of the output device PT. The flowchart which showed an example of the output process of an information access notification report. Schematic which showed the other example of the mail address table.

Explanation of symbols

TM, TM1 to TMn Mobile communication terminal MN Mobile communication network BS Mobile communication network base station GW gateway device IS, IS1 to ISn Information providing server device MM, MM1 to MMn Email sending device MS Mail server device PT, PT1 PTn output device

Claims (3)

A host device that allows access to provided information stored by a mobile communication terminal and allows a predetermined operation from the mobile communication terminal,
When the mobile communication terminal is notified of the terminal specific information, the output of the provided information is designated, and the designation information of the output destination is received, the mail address of the output device stored in advance corresponding to the designation information On the other hand, the host device transmits the display information of the terminal-specific information and the output information corresponding to the provided information using electronic mail. A host device that allows access to provided information stored by a mobile communication terminal and allows a predetermined operation from the mobile communication terminal,
When the mobile communication terminal is notified of the terminal specific information, the output of the provided information is designated, and the designation information of the output destination is received, the mail address of the output device stored in advance corresponding to the designation information On the other hand, a host device characterized in that display information of the terminal-specific information and output information corresponding to the provided information are transmitted using electronic mail. A host device that allows access to provided information stored by a mobile communication terminal and allows a predetermined operation from the mobile communication terminal,
Terminal specific information is notified from the mobile communication terminal, output of provision information is specified, and when the mail address of the mobile communication terminal apparatus is received, the terminal specific information is sent to the received mail address. A host apparatus, wherein display information and output information corresponding to the provided information are transmitted using an electronic mail.