JP2010154030A - Wireless communication system, mobile information terminal, and wireless communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless communication system, capable of easily reporting to a user who has forgotten an original, without having to utilize a service provided with a communication company by utilizing short-range wireless communication, and to provide a method that prevents an image recording medium from being forgotten to be removed from an image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: Before using the image forming apparatus, the short-range wireless communication is established between the mobile information terminal, such as PDA or cellular phone carried by a user and a multifunctional device. The image forming apparatus transmits the setting the conditions of the image recording medium via the short distance wireless communication. The mobile information terminal which receives it stores the information. When the user who carries the mobile information terminal leaves the communication area of the short-range wireless communication and leaves the image recording medium in the image forming apparatus and the short-range wireless communication is disconnected (when removal of the image recording medium is forgotten), an alarm is issued on the mobile information terminal side and it is reported. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system including an image forming apparatus and one or a plurality of portable information terminals.

  In recent years, it has been provided from a copy service using a digital multi-function peripheral or a color digital multi-function peripheral at convenience stores, retail stores, and the like, and can be easily used by general users.

  The image reading unit of these digital multi-function peripherals is configured to perform a reading operation in a state where a cover is put on a document set on a reading surface. For this reason, there is a problem that the user cannot see the manuscript and the user who is not familiar with the user forgets to take the manuscript. In copy services provided at convenience stores and retail stores, documents such as licenses and insurance cards that are important and often contain personal information are often copied as manuscripts. May be a big problem.

  In recent years, a service for printing out data taken by a digital camera with a digital multifunction peripheral has been provided mainly at convenience stores. In this case, since data is input to the digital multi-function peripheral via the recording medium, there is a possibility that the recording medium is forgotten while being placed in the reading port.

In order to deal with such problems, a warning sound is sounded after a certain period of time has elapsed after the document is read, or a notification is sent to the administrator's personal computer to notify the user or administrator that the document has been forgotten. An image forming apparatus (for example, see Patent Document 1) or an image forming apparatus that transmits a predetermined message to a registered contact address via a PHS line when a user can be identified (for example, Patent Document 2). ) Has been proposed.
JP 58-30772 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-338317

  The above-described prevention of forgetting to use a warning sound is simple and easy to implement, but it is often effective when the user is already away when the warning sound is heard and the surroundings are noisy. There was a problem that could not be expected. A solution to increase the volume can be considered, but it is not particularly suitable in public places such as convenience stores because it surprises the surroundings including the user.

  Although a method of transmitting a predetermined message via a PHS line or the like solves the above-mentioned problem, it requires subscription to a service provided by a telecommunications company, and there are problems in terms of cost and equipment. Since user information needs to be registered in advance, it has not been practically usable in a situation where an unspecified number of users use it, such as a convenience store.

  In the present invention, in view of the above-described situation, a wireless communication system that can easily notify a user who has forgotten a document without using a service provided by a communication company by using short-range wireless communication. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for preventing an image recording medium from being left in an image forming apparatus.

  In view of the above-described problems, a wireless communication system according to the present invention is a wireless communication system including an image forming apparatus and one or a plurality of portable information terminals. The image forming apparatus authenticates the portable information terminal, and has a short distance. A portable information terminal connecting means connected by wireless communication, a reading means for reading an image recording medium, a detecting means for detecting a setting state of the image recording medium in the reading means, and a set state detected by the detecting means A set state transmitting means for transmitting to the connected portable information terminal, and the portable information terminal is authenticated by the image forming apparatus and connected by short-distance wireless communication When the short-range wireless communication between the set state receiving means for receiving the set state of the image recording medium in the image forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus is disconnected, When the image recording medium is determined to be set in the image forming apparatus by Tsu preparative conditions, characterized in that it comprises a notifying means for notifying the set state.

  Further, in the wireless communication system of the present invention, the detecting means periodically detects the set state of the image recording medium in the reading means, and the set state transmitting means is that the detecting means has changed the set state. Each time it is detected, the set state is transmitted to the connected portable information terminal.

  In the wireless communication system of the present invention, the short-range wireless communication is based on Bluetooth communication.

  In the wireless communication system of the present invention, the image recording medium set in the reading unit is a paper document on which an image to be read is recorded or a memory medium on which image data is electronically recorded.

  In the wireless communication system of the present invention, the portable information terminal connection means transmits / receives information necessary for connection by short-range wireless communication to / from the portable information terminal by other short-range wireless communication, The connection means transmits and receives information necessary for connection by short-range wireless communication from the image forming apparatus through the short-range wireless communication.

  In the radio communication system of the present invention, the notification means is any one of sound, vibration, display on a display device, or a combination thereof.

  The portable information terminal of the present invention is a portable information terminal that can be connected to an image forming apparatus by short-range wireless communication, and is connected from the image forming apparatus and connected by short-range wireless communication. When short-range wireless communication between the image forming apparatus and the set state receiving means for receiving the set state of the image recording medium in the image forming apparatus is disconnected, the image recording medium is inserted into the image forming apparatus according to the set state. And a notifying unit for notifying the set state when it is determined that it is set.

The wireless communication method of the present invention is a wireless communication method in a wireless communication system including an image forming apparatus and one or a plurality of portable information terminals. The image forming apparatus authenticates the portable information terminal and wirelessly communicates over a short distance. Connecting by communication, reading an image recording medium,
Detecting the set state of the image recording medium, and transmitting the detected set state to the connected portable information terminal, the portable information terminal comprising:
Authentication from the image forming apparatus and connection by short-range wireless communication; receiving a setting state of an image recording medium in the image forming apparatus; and short-range wireless communication with the image forming apparatus is disconnected. When it is determined that an image recording medium is set in the image forming apparatus according to the set state, a step of notifying the set state is included.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the portable information terminal can simultaneously realize the authentication and the forgetting to remove the image recording medium, and leave the image forming apparatus while leaving the image recording medium forgotten. This can also be effectively notified.

  Also, presents a communication system and a method for preventing image recording media from being forgotten to an image forming apparatus for notifying a user who has forgotten a document without providing a local PHS facility or using a service provided by a communication company. Therefore, there is no need for enormous costs, and there is no need to transmit or input personal information such as a mobile phone number for notification to the image forming apparatus.

  In addition, when an image forming apparatus and a portable information terminal are connected by authentication, information necessary for connection by short-range wireless communication is transmitted using short-range wireless, which is a communication method different from short-range wireless communication. Since communication is performed, authentication and connection can be easily performed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention. In addition, the following embodiment is an example which actualized this invention, Comprising: It is not the thing of the character which limits the technical scope of this invention.

[1. Device configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configurations of an image forming apparatus 1 and a portable information terminal 2 that form a communication system 5 to which the present invention is applied. Note that modules unnecessary for the description of the present invention are omitted.

  The image forming apparatus 1 is a digital multi-function peripheral having a copy function used in an office or a convenience store, a printing function for image data stored in an external memory, and the like. Various hardware connected to the control unit 100 via 190 is provided. In addition to the Bluetooth communication unit 110 for performing Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication, which is short-distance wireless communication, an NFC communication unit 120 for performing communication at a very short distance of several centimeters to several tens of centimeters is provided. The user operates the image forming apparatus 1 from the operation unit 130. Whether the document set in the image reading unit 170 or the external memory 165 is set is detected by the detection unit 140 including various sensors. The storage unit 150 includes a main storage device (for example, a memory such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM)) and an auxiliary storage device (for example, a hard disk drive (HDD)). The ROM 160 stores in advance a control program (firmware) for the digital multi-function peripheral. The program for realizing the present invention may be stored in the HDD of the storage unit 150 or stored in the ROM 160. In either case, the control unit 100 expands the program in the memory of the storage unit 150 and executes it.

  The image reading unit 170 is a functional unit for reading a set original (image recording medium) as image data. The image data read by the image reading unit 170 is once stored in the storage unit 150, then output to the image forming unit 180, and printed on photographic paper to form an image. The external memory 165 is a storage medium in which image data is stored. The external memory 165 includes various recording media such as an SD memory card, a compact flash (registered trademark), and a CD-R. Based on the image data recorded in the external memory 165, the image forming unit 180 prints on photographic paper to form an image.

  The portable information terminal 2 is a small device such as a PDA, a smartphone, or a mobile phone that each user possesses. Like the image forming apparatus 1, the various types of hardware to which the control unit 200 is connected via the bus 290. To control. The communication is the same as that of the image forming apparatus 1, and has a Bluetooth communication unit 210 and an NFC communication unit 220. The user operates the portable information terminal 2 from the operation unit 230. The user is notified through the display unit 240 and the audio output unit 245 when it is detected that the document has been forgotten to be removed. The storage unit 250 includes a memory (main storage device) and a flash memory (auxiliary storage device). On the portable information terminal side, it is assumed that the program for realizing the present invention is stored in the flash memory of the storage unit 250 in the form of an application arbitrarily installed by the user. The ROM 260 stores a control program for the portable information terminal in advance.

  The storage unit 250 stores set information 252 received from the image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the set information 252. The type of image recording medium (for example, “original”) is associated with the set state (for example, “present”) indicating the presence or absence of the image recording medium. It is remembered. The control unit 200 can determine the presence / absence of an image recording medium in the image forming apparatus 1 by referring to the set information 252.

  Here, normally, in order to establish communication between two Bluetooth terminals, it is necessary to follow a procedure of pairing in which a protected passkey is exchanged between the two terminals. This procedure puts some effort on the user and is not very convenient. In order to eliminate the complexity of pairing in Bluetooth, NFC is used.

  NFC (Near Field Communication) is a short-range wireless communication standard and includes a plurality of standards including FeliCa (registered trademark) and MIFARE (registered trademark). FeliCa is widely used in Japan and MIFARE is widely used in Europe, and is used for digital devices and IC cards. NFC wireless communication has a low-speed communication distance of about 10 cm. However, communication is established by simply holding one terminal over the other, and data can be easily transferred and exchanged. By taking advantage of this feature and exchanging information necessary for pairing of Bluetooth communication with NFC, which does not require much effort, the complexity of pairing is eliminated. If pairing is successful, communication with a longer distance can be performed at a high speed by Bluetooth.

  NFC has a track record of being used as employee ID cards and electronic money (credits), and can be used for user authentication in offices and settlement of payments at convenience stores. At the same time, by performing Bluetooth communication pairing at the same time, it is possible to establish Bluetooth communication without making the user aware of the pairing procedure.

  There is also a technique for activating a specific function in the terminal via NFC, and by using this, a program for realizing the present invention stored in the portable information terminal 2 can be called.

[2. Process flow]
[2.1 Image forming apparatus]
Next, the flow of processing in this embodiment will be described. First, an outline of processing in the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, assuming an image forming apparatus used in an office, a description will be given of prevention of forgetting to remove an image recording medium when user authentication (login processing) is performed by a portable information terminal.

  In a stationary terminal such as the image forming apparatus 1, Bluetooth communication and NFC communication are generally always valid and ready to use, but if the terminal is set to invalid, the user first operates the operation unit 130. The Bluetooth communication unit 110 and the NFC communication unit 120 are set in a state in which the operation can be effectively performed by the operation from. The description of this procedure is omitted in the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the NFC communication unit 120 transmits a connection request command (step S10). If no response is returned in response to the transmitted connection request, it waits for a certain time to elapse and transmits the connection request again (step S12; No → step S10). Therefore, the connection request is repeated at a constant cycle. If an NFC compatible terminal or card is held over a predetermined position (reader), a connection response is returned to the NFC communication unit 120, and communication is established (step S12; Yes).

  When communication is established, the NFC communication unit 120 requests user information (step S14). If valid user information can be received within a predetermined time and authentication is successful (step S16; Yes), pairing of Bluetooth communication is performed (step S18), and the Bluetooth communication is established. Thereafter, it is not necessary to perform NFC communication, and the user may stop holding the portable information terminal 2 over the image forming apparatus 1.

  If authentication fails in step S16, an authentication failure process is executed. In this case, the user cannot use the image forming apparatus 1 (step S16; No → step S30).

  When the user stops holding the portable information terminal 2 over the image forming apparatus 1, the NFC communication is disconnected. At this point, the NFC communication unit 120 returns to a state where it continues to transmit a connection request command at a constant cycle. That is, the NFC communication unit 120 returns to the process of step S10, and the process after step S20 is performed mainly by the control unit 100 and the Bluetooth communication unit 110. This point is not described in the flowchart of FIG. 2 for the sake of simplicity.

  Subsequently, when the Bluetooth communication is successful (step S20; Yes), set information is generated based on the set state of the image recording medium (the presence / absence of the image recording medium) detected by the detecting unit 140, and the portable information terminal 2 receives the set information. It transmits as set information (step S22). If communication fails in step S20, connection failure processing is executed. In this case, the user can use the image forming apparatus 1, but has a function to prevent forgetting (ie, by a portable information terminal). The notification function) cannot be used (Step S20; No → Step S32).

  Here, the detection unit 140 always detects the set state (presence / absence) of the image recording medium at a constant period, and holds the detected set state in, for example, a register. If there is a change in the set state (step S24; Yes), the set state is updated by rewriting the register, an interrupt is given to the control unit 100, and this is notified. In response to the interrupt, the control unit 100 transmits the set information to the portable information terminal 2 via the Bluetooth communication unit 110 (step S26). Note that specific processing of the detection unit 140 is omitted in the flowchart of FIG. 2 for ease of explanation.

  If the user carrying the portable information terminal 2 goes away from the image forming apparatus 1 (if the user moves out of the area where the Bluetooth is located), the Bluetooth communication is disconnected (step S28; Yes). In this case, the unnecessary data is cleared in the end process (step S34). Although the user logout process or the like may be performed at this timing, there is no need to perform anything related to preventing forgetting to remove the image recording medium.

  In addition, when there is a user's seat near the image forming apparatus 1, there is a possibility that the Bluetooth communication is not disconnected without leaving a sufficient distance. Therefore, if there is no input from the user for a certain period of time, the Bluetooth communication may be disconnected.

  Further, when Bluetooth communication is valid between the portable information terminal 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 (during communication), user authentication by another portable information terminal may be performed by the NFC communication unit 120. This occurs in a situation where another user starts using the image forming apparatus 1 after the user carrying the portable information terminal 2 finishes using the image forming apparatus 1. Therefore, even if the Bluetooth communication between the portable information terminal 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 used by the previous user is disconnected or the set state of the image recording medium changes, only the newly authenticated portable information terminal This is transmitted to the mobile information terminal 2 and not to the mobile information terminal 2.

[2.2 Portable information terminal]
Next, processing in the portable information terminal 2 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. Note that it is assumed that the user has activated a program for realizing the present invention in advance by an operation from the operation unit 230 before executing the process.

  When the user holds the portable information terminal 2 over a predetermined position of the image forming apparatus 1, the NFC communication unit 220 receives the connection request command transmitted from the NFC communication unit 120 on the image forming apparatus 1 side and responds thereto. Is transmitted to establish NFC communication (step S50).

  When NFC communication is established, user information is subsequently requested, so the user information stored in the storage unit 250 is read and transmitted from the NFC communication unit 220 (step S52). If user authentication is successful on the image forming apparatus 1 side (step S54; Yes), pairing is also performed for Bluetooth communication (step S56).

  If authentication fails in step S54, authentication failure processing is executed (step S54; No → step S74). That is, the user cannot use the image forming apparatus 1.

  Further, although the Bluetooth pairing process is executed in step S56, if the communication fails (step S58; No), the connection failure process is executed (step S76). That is, the user can use the image forming apparatus 1 but cannot use a function for preventing forgetting to remove it.

  When the Bluetooth communication pairing is successful and the connection is established (step S58; Yes), the Bluetooth communication unit 210 receives the set information 252 from the image forming apparatus 1 (step S60; Yes), and stores the received set information 252. Store in the unit 250 (step S62). Thereafter, information is transmitted every time the setting state of the image recording medium changes on the image forming apparatus 1 side, so that the set information 252 stored in the storage unit 250 is updated each time.

  When the user carries the portable information terminal 2 and leaves the image forming apparatus 1 (for example, 10 m or more, which is the area where Bluetooth is located), the Bluetooth communication is disconnected (step S64; Yes). Note that the cause of the disconnection of communication may be assumed when another user performs authentication or does not operate the image forming apparatus 1 for a certain period of time.

  At this time, the set information 252 stored in the storage unit 250 is inquired (step S66). When the set state of the document or the external memory is “Yes” (step S68; Yes), it is considered that the user has forgotten to delete the document, and a warning sound is output from the audio output unit 245. Notification is made, for example, by displaying that it has been forgotten (step S70). The user confirms this, and if there is a predetermined input from the operation unit 230, the warning is stopped, the display is turned off, and the program is terminated (step S72). If the set information 252 stored in the storage unit 250 indicates that neither a document nor an external memory is set (none), the end process is immediately performed.

  As described above, according to the processing of the present embodiment, when the short-distance wireless communication established between the image forming apparatus 1 and the portable information terminal 2 is disconnected, the set state of the image recording medium is changed. When it is “Yes”, the user is notified.

  Therefore, since the user can know that the image recording medium such as the original is set (that is, the state where the user has forgotten to remove the image recording medium such as the original) by the notification of the portable information terminal 2, It is possible to prevent a state in which the image recording medium is set or a document is placed.

[3. Example of operation]
Next, an operation example of the portable information terminal 2 when the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an overview of the portable information terminal 2. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which communication established with the image forming apparatus 1 is disconnected via the Bluetooth communication unit 210. FIG.

  When communication is disconnected, the presence or absence of an image recording medium is determined with reference to the set information 252. When the image recording medium is “Yes”, the display unit 240 and the audio output unit 245 notify the fact.

  In FIG. 5, the display unit 240 informs the region R <b> 10 that “communication has been cut off” and “the document remains”. At the same time, the voice output unit 245 informs the user that “originals are still left” by voice output.

  As a result, when the user leaves the image forming apparatus 1, it is possible to easily grasp that the image recording medium is left (forgotten) in the image forming apparatus 1, and forgetting to remove the document. Can be prevented.

[4. Modified example]
The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the embodiment, and the design and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention are also claimed. include.

  In the above-described embodiment, the Bluetooth communication is used for communication between the image forming apparatus 1 and the portable information terminal 2, but short-distance wireless communication of another standard may be used. For example, the same can be realized by using short-range wireless communication of other standards such as ZigBee (registered trademark), Wibre, UWB, and WiFi.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the apparatus structure of an image forming apparatus and a portable information terminal. It is a figure which shows an example of a data structure of set information. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an operation in the image forming apparatus. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement in a portable information terminal. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation example in a portable information terminal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 110 Bluetooth communication part 120 NFC communication part 130 Operation part 140 Detection part 150 Storage part 160 ROM
165 External memory 170 Image reading unit 180 Image forming unit 2 Portable information terminal 200 Control unit 210 Bluetooth communication unit 220 NFC communication unit 230 Operation unit 240 Display unit 245 Audio output unit 250 Storage unit 252 Set information 260 ROM

Claims (8)

In a wireless communication system including an image forming apparatus and one or more portable information terminals,
The image forming apparatus includes:
A portable information terminal connection means for authenticating the portable information terminal and connecting by wireless communication over a short distance;
Reading means for reading the image recording medium;
Detecting means for detecting the set state of the image recording medium in the reading means;
A set state transmitting means for transmitting the set state detected by the detecting means to the connected portable information terminal;
Have
The portable information terminal
A connection unit that is authenticated by the image forming apparatus and connected by wireless communication over a short distance;
A set state receiving means for receiving a set state of an image recording medium in the image forming apparatus;
When the short-distance wireless communication with the image forming apparatus is disconnected, and it is determined that an image recording medium is set in the image forming apparatus according to the set state, a notification for informing the set state Means,
A wireless communication system comprising: The detection means periodically detects the set state of the image recording medium in the reading means,
2. The radio according to claim 1, wherein the set state transmitting unit transmits the set state to the connected portable information terminal each time the detecting unit detects that the set state has changed. Communications system.   The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the short-distance wireless communication is based on Bluetooth communication.   3. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the image recording medium set in the reading unit is a paper original on which an image to be read is recorded or a memory medium on which image data is electronically recorded. The portable information terminal connection means transmits and receives information necessary for connection by short-range wireless communication with the portable information terminal by other short-range wireless communication,
The wireless communication according to claim 1, wherein the connection unit transmits and receives information necessary for connection by short-range wireless communication from the image forming apparatus through the short-range wireless communication. system.   The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the notification means is any one of sound, vibration, and display on a display device, or a combination thereof. In a portable information terminal that can be connected to an image forming apparatus by short-range wireless communication,
A connection unit that is authenticated by the image forming apparatus and connected by wireless communication over a short distance;
A set state receiving means for receiving a set state of an image recording medium in the image forming apparatus;
Informing means for informing the set state when it is determined that an image recording medium is set in the image forming apparatus when the short-range wireless communication with the image forming apparatus is disconnected. When,
A portable information terminal comprising: In a wireless communication method in a wireless communication system including an image forming apparatus and one or a plurality of portable information terminals,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Authenticating the portable information terminal and connecting by short-range wireless communication;
Reading the image recording medium;
Detecting the set state of the image recording medium;
Transmitting the detected set state to the connected portable information terminal;
Have
The portable information terminal
Authenticated from the image forming apparatus and connected by short-range wireless communication;
Receiving a set state of an image recording medium in the image forming apparatus;
A step of notifying the set state when it is determined that an image recording medium is set in the image forming apparatus when the short-range wireless communication with the image forming apparatus is disconnected; ,
A wireless communication method comprising:

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