JP2020047296A - Information processing device, image processing device, control method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an information processing device capable of achieving high-speed data communication and ensuring security by eliminating connection information for being connected to an image processing device after transmitting data to the image processing device by using a plurality of communication radio communication.SOLUTION: An information processing device 4 acquires connection information for communicating with an image processing device 2 with first radio communication being a first radio communication standard by second radio communication being a second radio communication standard, transmits print data to the image processing device 2 by the first radio communication, and performs control so as to eliminate the connection information after transmitting the print data to the image processing device 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing device, an image processing device, a control method, and a computer program.

  2. Description of the Related Art An information processing apparatus that causes an image processing apparatus such as a printer to execute printing via short-range wireless communication such as NFC (Near Field Communication) is provided. Patent Literature 1 implements printing by transmitting a file from a print pad to an image processing apparatus using NFC so that the image processing apparatus can execute printing by instructing printing from a mobile device. A printing pad is disclosed.

JP 2013-037687 A

  However, the communication speed of NFC and the like disclosed in Patent Document 1 is low, and it takes time to transmit print data.

  Therefore, in this specification, a method of performing communication using handover will be considered. In handover, pairing between devices is performed by NFC, and subsequent actual communication is performed using Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi (registered trademark), which is a wireless communication of a wireless standard having a higher communication speed. This is switching processing. As a result, when relatively large data such as a photograph or a moving image is transferred, it is possible to use a communication standard that is faster and has a longer communication distance. Shortening of the data transfer time is promoted, and the time required for the touch operation between the devices is also shortened.

  However, in a wireless communication standard having a long communication distance, the risk of eavesdropping and the like increases due to the long communication distance. Therefore, complicated procedures are required for the communication procedures of these standards. For example, in a Wi-Fi communication procedure, a user must set an access key (SSID and password required for connecting an access point) to an information processing device such as a mobile terminal.

  Such a complicated procedure is not necessary between devices that support NFC, and a user can safely and easily acquire an access key only by bringing an information processing apparatus close to an image processing apparatus or the like. The information processing device can communicate with the image processing device over Wi-Fi using the access key.

  However, since the information processing apparatus caches the access key acquired using NFC as connection information in its own apparatus, if the information processing apparatus is within a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) connection area, the information processing apparatus does not need to use NFC thereafter. It is possible to freely connect to a Wi-Fi router or an image processing device. For example, even when only printing is desired to be permitted, an operation of another function of the image processing apparatus is performed via Wi-Fi. In addition, the network can be used freely within the Wi-Fi range.

  The present invention realizes high-speed data communication and ensures security by deleting connection information for connecting to an image processing apparatus after transmitting data to the image processing apparatus using a plurality of communication wireless communication. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing device that enables the information processing.

  An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits connection information for communicating with an image processing apparatus by a first wireless communication which is a first wireless communication standard, to a second wireless communication standard which is a second wireless communication standard. Acquiring means for acquiring by wireless communication, transmitting means for transmitting print data to the image processing apparatus by the first wireless communication, and the connection information after the transmitting means transmits the print data to the image processing apparatus. And control means for controlling so as to delete.

  According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, after transmitting data to the image processing apparatus using a plurality of communication wireless communications, the connection information for connecting to the image processing apparatus is deleted, thereby enabling high-speed data communication. Implementation and security can be ensured.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a mobile terminal. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a printing system included in the mobile terminal. It is a figure showing an example of NDEF. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of a printing process executed by the mobile terminal. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of a reprint message.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a mobile terminal 4 functioning as an information processing device of the present invention and image processing devices 1 to 3. The image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 are connected to a network. The mobile terminal 4 can communicate with the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 directly or via an access point using wireless communication such as NFC or Wi-Fi. In the present embodiment, printing is realized by communication between the mobile terminal 4 equipped with NFC and the image processing apparatus 2.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 4 on which the printing system 100 described below with reference to FIG. 4 operates. The mobile terminal 4 includes SoCs 201 to 212. The flash memory (Flash) 203 stores a program for the printing system 100. The entity that executes various functions of the present invention is a system on a chip (SoC) 201 as hardware, and a printing system 100 stored in a flash memory (Flash) 203 as software.

  The NFC 206 performs short-range communication and performs communication with the NFC of the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. The Wi-Fi 205 performs wireless communication and performs wireless communication with the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 202 functions as a temporary working memory of the SoC 201. The NFC 206 and Bluetooth (registered trademark) 204 can perform near field communication with the image processing apparatus 2. When the NFC 206 is used, the NFC 206 performs close proximity communication with the NFC included in the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. The Wi-Fi 205 performs wireless communication with the image processing apparatus 2 by wireless communication. The Wi-Fi 205 is a wireless communication standard and has a higher maximum communication speed than the NFC 206.

  The Power 207 is a power supply of the mobile terminal 4. Voice / Audio 208 is an input / output unit such as a microphone and a speaker. Touch Panel 209 is a touch panel on which a user operates with his / her finger, and LED (Light emitting Diode) 210 performs display display using the LED. The Camera 211 captures a photograph, a video, and the like. The sensor 212 is a sensor unit for GPS (Global Positioning System), acceleration, geomagnetism, proximity, and the like. The Wi-Fi access point 13 is a Wi-Fi access point. The processing described in this embodiment is realized by the SoC 201 reading a program recorded in the Flash 203 into the RAM 202 and executing the program. In this embodiment, the OS is assumed to be, for example, Android (registered trademark) of Google (registered trademark), but is not limited thereto.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 are multifunction peripherals that perform printing, facsimile, and scanning, and may be apparatuses that perform only printing. Hereinafter, the image processing apparatus 2 will be described as an example. The image processing device 2 includes a scanner unit 30 and a printer unit 31. The scanner unit 30, which is an image input device, illuminates an image drawn on a document and scans a CCD line sensor (not shown) to read the image and convert it into electrical signals as raster image data. The user sets the document paper on the tray 303 of the document feeder 302 and instructs reading from the operation unit 304. Then, upon receiving an instruction from the controller CPU, the scanner unit 30 is activated, and performs an operation of reading a document image. Document sheets are fed one by one by a feeder 302.

  The printer unit 31, which is an image output device, converts the electrical raster image data into a visible image on paper. The conversion method includes an electrophotographic method using a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, an ink jet method in which an image is printed directly on paper by discharging ink from a micro nozzle array, and any method may be used. Upon receiving an instruction from the controller CPU, the printer unit 31 starts up.

  The printer unit 31 is provided with a plurality of paper feed stages so that different paper sizes or different paper orientations can be selected. Paper cassettes 306, 307, 308, and 309 show examples of paper feed stages. The paper discharge tray 310 receives the printed paper. The short-range search unit 311 causes the user to start short-range communication between the mobile terminal 4 and the image processing device 2 by holding the mobile terminal 4 over the short-range search unit 311.

  In the present embodiment, NFC is assumed as the short-range search unit, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, FeliCa (registered trademark), MIFARE (registered trademark), RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), Transfer Jet (registered trademark), or the like may be used. The communication unit 312 performs network communication such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet (registered trademark).

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the printing system 100. The printing system 100 includes a search unit 101, an information acquisition unit 102, a short-range communication unit 103, a rendering unit 104, a communication unit 105, a job control unit 106, a UI (User Interface) unit 107, a data holding unit 108, and a printing unit 109. Prepare. The applications 113 and 114 are applications such as a document creation application that uses the printing system 100.

  The search unit 101 searches for an image processing device using multicast. The protocol uses, but is not limited to, SLP or Multicast-DNS. Also, broadcast may be used instead of multicast. The information acquisition unit 102 acquires information such as a model name and an installation location from the image processing apparatus. The short-range communication unit 103 recognizes the image processing device using short-range communication (for example, NFC). In the present embodiment, NFC is assumed as the short-range search unit, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  The rendering unit 104 renders a document generated or displayed by the applications 113 and 114 into a PDL (Page Description Language) or an image that can be printed by the image processing apparatus 2. The communication unit 105 performs network communication with the image processing apparatus 2 and the access point 213 using Wi-Fi. The connection information required for communication is cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4 at the time of the first connection, and is used at the time of the next connection.

  The job control unit 106 performs job control such as queuing a print job. The UI unit 107 is a user interface. The data holding unit 108 accesses a storage and an SD card in the mobile terminal, holds files such as documents and images, and caches connection information obtained by NFC. The printing unit 109 transmits a document or PDL to the image processing device 2 using the rendering unit 104 and the communication unit 105. Further, the printing unit 109 monitors the printing process, such as whether printing has been completed normally or whether a transmission error has occurred.

  FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example of NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) acquired by the portable terminal 4 from the image processing device 2 using short-range wireless communication. NDEF is a data format used when exchanging data with NFC, and official technical data is available at http: // www. nfc-form. org /. NDEF includes zero or more NDEF Messages (NDEF messages usually include one NDEF Message and NDEF Messages include a plurality of NDEF Records).

  For example, the description of PAYLOAD 501 indicates that the Mac address of the Wi-Fi connection access point is “ff: ff: ff: ff: ff: ff: ff”. The description of PAYLOAD 502 indicates that the password of the Wi-Fi connection access point is “ABCDEFG”. The description of PAYLOAD 503 indicates that document data or PDL is to be transmitted to the image processing apparatus having the address “111.11.11.111”. A setting indicating whether to cache connection information can be described in PAYLOAD 503, and an example in which this setting is described is shown in PAYLOAD 504 in FIG. 5B. PAYLOAD 504 describes “Record.data =“ 111.11.11.111, OFF ””, which indicates that the cache deletion setting is off.

  By using the MAC address information 501 and the password 502 as connection information, the mobile terminal 4 can connect to the access point 213 through a Wi-Fi connection. In addition, communication with the image processing apparatus having the address indicated by the address 503 via the access point 213 is also possible. As described above, the mobile terminal 4 performs pairing between devices according to the data described in the NDEF Records using NFC, and then switches the wireless communication to Wi-Fi using the connection information acquired by the NFC to perform communication ( Wi-Fi handover).

  Next, a process performed by the mobile terminal 4 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process realized by the portable terminal 4 reading the application (here, the application 113 is described as an example) and the printing system 100 to the SoC 201 and executing them.

  In step S601, the mobile terminal 4 starts the application 113. The application 113 is a printing application, and can display a document or image to be printed on a screen. In a state where the document or the image to be printed is displayed, the user taps the portable terminal 4 on the short distance search unit 311 of the image processing apparatus 2 in S602. With the tap as a trigger, the short-range communication unit 103 acquires the NFC Tag information of the image processing apparatus 2 (S603). Tag information is data encoded in the NFC data exchange format of the message format specified by the NFC Forum Type 2 specification, and has a format as shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the data shown in FIG.

  Next, in steps S604, S605, and S606, the information acquisition unit 102 acquires connection information (mac address information 501 and password 502) and a print destination address (address 503) from the Tag information acquired in step S603. Further, the information acquisition unit 102 acquires the cache deletion setting from the PAYLOAD 504. PAYLOAD 504 describes “Record.data =“ 111.11.11.111, OFF ”, and the cache deletion setting is off.

  In step S607, the printing unit 109 sets a deletion flag of the connection information cache from the information acquired in steps S604 to S606, and stores the flag in the data storage unit. For example, when the information acquisition unit 102 acquires information in which cache deletion setting off is described in S606, the printing unit 109 sets the deletion flag to OFF. Alternatively, if the connection information acquired in S604 has already been cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4, the printing unit 109 sets the deletion flag to OFF. If the deletion flag is other than OFF, the printing unit 109 deletes the cache of the connection information in a flow described later.

  In S608, communication unit 105 connects to the access point. When the communication unit 105 connects to the access point, the communication unit 105 connects to the access point 213 using the connection information acquired in S604. That is, the communication unit 105 uses the connection information acquired by the wireless communication of the NFC 206 to establish a connection with the access point 213 by wireless communication (here, Wi-Fi 205) whose standard maximum communication speed is faster than the wireless communication. Do. At the same time as the connection or after the connection is established, the connection information is cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4.

  In step S609, the communication unit 105 executes printing by transmitting the print data to the print destination acquired in step S605. During printing, the application 113 instructs the printing unit 109 of the printing system 100 to execute printing. The printing unit 109 transmits a document or PDL to the image processing apparatus 2 using the rendering unit 104 and the communication unit 105 according to the instruction.

  In step S610, the printing unit 109 determines whether a transmission error such as a network disconnection has occurred during the printing in step S609. If a transmission error has occurred, the process proceeds to S612. If no transmission error has occurred, the process proceeds to S611. In step S611, the printing unit 109 determines whether another function such as a telephone has priority and the application 113 has entered a suspend state. If the suspended state has been entered, the process proceeds to S614. If not, the process proceeds to S612.

  In S612, printing unit 109 determines whether the cache deletion flag set in S607 is OFF. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is OFF, the flow ends as it is. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is not OFF, the process proceeds to S613.

  In step S <b> 613, the printing unit 109 deletes the cache of the connection information created when connecting to the access point in step S <b> 608 and held in the Flash 203. Note that the configuration may be such that the connection information cache is always deleted in S613 without performing the determination processing in S612.

  If the application 113 is in the suspended state in S611, the process proceeds to S614. In step S614, the printing unit 109 determines whether the cache deletion flag set in step S607 is OFF. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is OFF, the process proceeds to S616. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is not OFF, the process proceeds to S615. In S615, the printing unit 109 deletes the cache of the connection information created when connecting to the access point in S608.

  When the cache of the connection information is deleted, the application 113 shifts to a suspended state in S616. Next, in step S617, the printing unit 109 determines whether the application 113 has returned from the suspend mode. If the application 113 has returned from the suspend state, the process proceeds to S618. In S618, printing unit 109 displays a reprint confirmation message shown in FIG. 7 on the screen of portable terminal 4 via UI unit 107. If a reprint instruction is issued in S619 (if NFC is tapped), the process proceeds to S602, the flow starting from S602 is performed again, and the connection information is obtained again. When the button 701 shown in FIG. 7 is pressed, the printing unit 109 determines that printing is to be stopped, and the flow ends as it is.

  If the cache deletion flag is OFF in step S614 and reprinting is instructed in step S619, the process proceeds to step S608, and the cached connection information may be used again to connect to the access point. . In the process of S602, a process of determining whether an identifier for connecting to the access point is registered in the device in advance may be performed. Then, an input screen for inputting a password may be displayed when the identifier is not registered in the own device in advance. After inputting the password, the user taps the portable terminal 4 on the short-range search unit 311 of the image processing apparatus 2 to acquire NFC Tag information. This makes it possible to further secure security.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, after transmitting data to the image processing apparatus using a plurality of communication wireless communications, the connection information for connecting to the image processing apparatus is deleted, whereby high-speed data Communication can be realized and security can be ensured. As described above, after the printing process is executed by tapping the mobile terminal equipped with NFC to the image processing apparatus, the cached connection information is deleted. This makes it possible to prevent the image processing apparatus from being operated by Wi-Fi (registered trademark) connection or Bluetooth (registered trademark) connection after printing is completed. In addition, in the case of Wi-Fi connection, it is possible to freely connect to a Wi-Fi router, and it is possible to suppress that the network can be used freely within the Wi-Fi connection area.

  In the present embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking printing as an example. However, even after the facsimile scan process is executed by tapping the mobile terminal to the image processing device, the connection information automatically cached is also deleted. Good. As a result, the same effect can be obtained even after the end of the fax scan.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (computer program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus via a network or various storage media. The computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes the program. In this case, the program and a storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

Claims (10)

Acquiring means for acquiring connection information for communicating with the image processing apparatus by the first wireless communication which is the first wireless communication standard by the second wireless communication which is the second wireless communication standard;
Transmitting means for transmitting print data to the image processing apparatus by the first wireless communication;
An information processing apparatus, comprising: control means for controlling the transmission means to delete the connection information after transmitting the print data to the image processing apparatus. The second wireless communication is a short-range wireless communication, and the transmitting unit switches the communication to the first wireless communication in accordance with the connection information acquired by the acquiring unit in the short-range wireless communication, and performs direct or access. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data is transmitted to the image processing apparatus via a point. In the connection information, a setting indicating whether to cache the connection information can be described,
The control means controls to delete the connection information when the setting indicates that the connection information is not cached or when the setting is not described in the connection information. 3. The information processing device according to 1 or 2. The control unit controls the connection information to be cached when the setting is not described in the connection information but the connection information is already cached. The method according to claim 3, wherein the connection information is cached. Information processing device. The control unit determines whether the print data has been transmitted to the image processing apparatus, and performs control to delete the connection information when the print data has not been transmitted. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. When the print data is not transmitted to the image processing apparatus and a reprint instruction is received, if the connection information is deleted according to the setting, the acquisition unit performs the connection information by the second wireless communication. And re-acquire
According to the setting, the transmitting unit uses the cached connection information when the connection information is cached, and uses the reacquired connection information when the connection information is deleted. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein print data is transmitted to the image processing apparatus. Further comprising a display means for displaying an input screen for inputting a password when an identifier for connecting to the access point is not registered in the device in advance,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining unit obtains the connection information by the short-range wireless communication after the password is input.   An image processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the connection information to the information processing apparatus according to claim 1. An acquiring step of acquiring connection information for communicating with the image processing apparatus by the first wireless communication which is the first wireless communication standard by the second wireless communication which is the second wireless communication standard;
A transmitting step of transmitting print data to the image processing apparatus by the first wireless communication;
A control step of controlling the connection information to be deleted after the image processing apparatus transmits the print data in the transmission step.   A computer program for causing a computer to execute the control method according to claim 9.

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