JP5434794B2 - Power status management device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a power management apparatus that manages a power state of an image forming apparatus that processes a job received from a terminal device.

  An image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction machine installed in an office is connected to a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and receives a print job from a terminal device such as a personal computer connected to the network. Print.

  In an environment where a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to the network, if all the image forming apparatuses are always in a power-on state (usable state), power is wasted by image forming apparatuses that are not used so much. The use efficiency of the image forming apparatus is also lowered.

  Therefore, in a print system in which a plurality of terminal devices, a plurality of printers, and a server device are connected, the server device performs power control (on / off) of the printer based on the number of terminal devices connected, the number of print jobs, and the like. In detail, the technology that determines the appropriate number of printers to be operated and controls the power supply of each printer so that the number of printers can be operated, thereby reducing the power consumption of the entire system and increasing the usage efficiency of the printer. Has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 11-219275 A

  Since the power control of the image forming apparatus (printer) based on the number of connected terminal devices and the number of print jobs does not consider the positional relationship between the terminal device and the image forming apparatus, image formation is performed near the terminal device that submitted the job. Even though the apparatus is installed, there is a possibility that an image forming apparatus installed in a remote place is turned on and the image forming apparatus must be used, which is inconvenient for the user. There is.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that a number of image forming apparatuses corresponding to the number of activated terminal devices are in a power-on state, in a place where the activated terminal devices are easy to use. It is an object of the present invention to provide a power supply state management device that can perform the above-described operation.

  The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.

[1] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus ;
When all the activated terminal devices in the predetermined area do not have the same image forming device as the closest image forming device, the control unit sets an intermediate image forming device to the activated terminal device. Select an image forming device to be turned on
A power supply state management device.

  In the above invention, the power supply state management device sets an image forming device to be turned on from a plurality of image forming devices based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state and the position information of each image forming device. Select. For example, based on the number of activated terminal devices, determine the number of image forming devices to be turned on, or based on the position information of the activated terminal devices and the position information of each image forming device, For example, an image forming apparatus located near the activated terminal device is selected as a power-on target. The power supply state management device performs power supply control to turn on the selected image forming apparatus. Accordingly, it is possible to turn on the number of image forming apparatuses (appropriate number) corresponding to the number of terminal apparatuses in the activated state, which are in a convenient location from the activated terminal apparatus.

  In the above-described invention, when the relative position (distance) between the activated terminal device and each image forming device is used as a criterion, the usability (convenience) of each image forming device is compared, and the user experience of the terminal device is the most convenient. It is considered that the image forming apparatus closest to the terminal device is preferable. However, when all the activated terminal devices in the predetermined area do not have the same image forming device as the closest image forming device, that is, the image forming device that is the closest to the activated first terminal device, If the activated second terminal apparatus is different from the closest image forming apparatus, it is not preferable from the viewpoint of power saving to turn on both image forming apparatuses. Therefore, the intermediate image forming apparatus is turned on with respect to the activated terminal apparatus.

  The “predetermined area” may be the entire area managed by the power management apparatus or a part of the area. For example, when the power management apparatus uses a plurality of rooms as management areas, the area for each room may be set as a predetermined area. The predetermined area may be an area centered on the image forming apparatus. “Intermediate” refers, for example, to “between” or “peripheral ranges including spaces” between terminal devices in the broad sense, and to “intermediate position” or “near the middle position” of each terminal device in the narrow sense. .

  As a result, it is possible to power on an image forming apparatus having a high fairness in distance from all activated terminal apparatuses in a predetermined area.

[ 2 ] When there are a predetermined number or more of activated terminal devices closest to the same image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus. The power supply state management device according to [1 ], which is characterized.
[3] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
When there are a predetermined number or more of activated terminal devices closest to the same image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus.
A power supply state management device.

In the above inventions [2] and [3] , the predetermined number or more of the terminal devices in the activated state are closest to each other, and the user-friendly image forming apparatus that is closest to many (predetermined number or more) users is powered on. Can be turned on.

  Further, for example, when the processing capability of the image forming apparatus is balanced with the processing amount of a job received from a predetermined number of terminal apparatuses, the number of activated terminal apparatuses closest to the same image forming apparatus is less than the predetermined number. If the image forming apparatus is turned on in some circumstances, the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus becomes excessive with respect to the processing amount of jobs received from less than the predetermined number of terminal apparatuses, and power consumption and usage efficiency of the image forming apparatus are reduced. Will be invited. Therefore, when there are more than a predetermined number of activated terminal devices that are closest to the same image forming apparatus, the processing capability of the image forming apparatus is activated by turning on the image forming apparatus. It does not become excessive with respect to the number of terminal devices (predetermined number or more), and power consumption of the image forming apparatus and a decrease in usage efficiency can be suppressed.

[ 4 ] The control unit sets a specific image forming apparatus to an image forming apparatus having a predetermined number or more of activated terminal apparatuses closest to the image forming apparatus, and uses the specific image forming apparatus as the closest terminal device. And the second predetermined number that is equal to or greater than the predetermined number is an belonging terminal device, and an image forming apparatus that is in a power-on state is selected for a terminal device in an activated state excluding all belonging terminal devices. The power state management device according to [2] or [3].

  In the above invention, when the specific image forming apparatus is turned on, it is possible to secure the ability to process jobs from the belonging terminal apparatus having the specified image forming apparatus closest to the specified image forming apparatus and the second predetermined number or less. Therefore, an image forming apparatus to be turned on is separately selected for other activated terminal apparatuses (other than the belonging terminal apparatus). The second predetermined number may be the same as the predetermined number or may be larger than the predetermined number. The second predetermined number may be the upper limit number of terminal devices to be assigned to one image forming apparatus. By appropriately setting the predetermined number and the second predetermined number, it is possible to turn on the number of image forming apparatuses that are not excessive or insufficient with respect to the number of activated terminal apparatuses.

[5] The control unit sets a specific image forming apparatus as an image forming apparatus having a predetermined number or more of activated terminal devices closest to the image forming apparatus, and sets the first specific image forming apparatus as the closest. Of the terminal devices, a surplus terminal device excluding the second predetermined number equal to or greater than the predetermined number and a surplus excluding a second predetermined number equal to or greater than the predetermined number among the terminal devices closest to the second specific image forming apparatus The power supply state management apparatus according to [2] or [3], wherein an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected for a terminal device.

  In the above invention, when the specific image forming apparatus is turned on, the ability to process jobs from the second predetermined number of terminal apparatuses among the terminal apparatuses that are closest to the specific image forming apparatus can be secured. Conceivable. Therefore, among the terminal devices that are closest to the specific image forming device, the image forming devices that are in the power-on state are separately selected for the surplus terminal devices (surplus terminal devices) exceeding the second predetermined number. At this time, an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected for surplus terminal apparatuses generated in a plurality of specific image forming apparatuses.

[6] When all the activated terminal devices in a predetermined area have the same image forming apparatus as the closest image forming apparatus, the control unit sets the image forming apparatus to a power-on state. The power state management device according to any one of [1] to [5], wherein the power state management device is selected.
[7] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
When all of the activated terminal devices in a predetermined area have the same image forming apparatus as the closest image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus.
A power supply state management device.

In the above inventions [6] and [7] , when all the activated terminal devices in the predetermined area are closest to the same image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is turned on. That is, if one user-friendly image forming apparatus that is closest to all the activated terminal apparatuses is in common, it is turned on.

[ 8 ] The control unit excludes an image forming apparatus that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is more than a predetermined distance from the selection target of the image forming apparatus that is to be turned on according to the terminal apparatus. The power state management device according to any one of [1] to [ 7 ].
[9] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
The control unit excludes an image forming apparatus that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is more than a predetermined distance from the selection target of the image forming apparatus that is to be turned on according to the terminal apparatus.
A power supply state management device.

In the above inventions [8] and [9] , an image forming apparatus in an unusable place that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is not less than a predetermined distance away from the activated terminal apparatus is a selection target of the power-on state related to the terminal apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image forming apparatus located in an unusable place from the terminal device from being turned on. Even if the image forming apparatus is far away, it is not excluded if the image forming apparatus is closest.

[ 10 ] When the position and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquiring unit change, the control unit changes the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state after the change, Any one of [1] to [ 9 ], wherein an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected from the plurality of image forming apparatuses based on position information of the image forming apparatus. The power supply state management device described.
[11] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
Prior Symbol controller, when the state of the first position and the number of terminal devices start state acquiring unit acquires changes, the position information and the number of terminal devices start state after the change, the image forming Based on the position information of the apparatus, an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected from the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
A power supply state management device.

In the above inventions [10] and [11] , when the position and the number of the terminal devices in the activated state change, the image forming apparatus that turns the power on for the terminal device in the activated state after the change. Select again. Thereby, it can respond to a change immediately.

[12] The control unit may control the power supply to the image forming apparatus which is not selected as an image forming apparatus to the power-on state of the plurality of image forming apparatus to the power-off state [1 ] The power supply state management apparatus according to any one of [11] .
[13] a first acquisition unit that acquires position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
The control unit performs power control to turn off an image forming apparatus that is not selected as an image forming apparatus to be turned on among the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
A power supply state management device.

In the above inventions [12] and [13] , if an image forming apparatus that is not selected as an image forming apparatus to be turned on among the plurality of image forming apparatuses is in a power on state, the image forming apparatus is in a power off state. Therefore, only the selected image forming apparatus is powered on, and the number of image forming apparatuses in the power-on state can be managed reliably.

  According to the power supply state management apparatus of the present invention, the number of image forming apparatuses that are in a convenient location from the activated terminal apparatus and that correspond to the number of activated terminal apparatuses can be turned on. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the power consumption and improve the usage efficiency of the image forming apparatus while ensuring the convenience when the user of the activated terminal apparatus uses the image forming apparatus.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the terminal device which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the server apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of arrangement | positioning of the image forming apparatus and terminal device which exist in the management area by a server apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a database in which apparatus information of image forming apparatuses A, B, and C is registered. It is a figure which shows the database with which the device information of terminal device A, B, C was registered. It is a figure which shows the database which the apparatus information of the terminal device D was additionally registered and updated with respect to FIG. It is a figure which shows the database updated by deleting the apparatus information of the terminal device C with respect to FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement when a server apparatus receives the power-on notification from a terminal device. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement when a server apparatus receives the power-off notification from a terminal device. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method 1 for determining an image forming apparatus that performs power control. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a determination method 2 of an image forming apparatus that performs power supply control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method 3 for determining an image forming apparatus that performs power control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method 4 for determining an image forming apparatus that performs power control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for supplementarily explaining a determination method 4 of an image forming apparatus that performs power supply control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an application example of a method 4 for determining an image forming apparatus that performs power control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a determination method 5 of an image forming apparatus that performs power supply control. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a method 6 for determining an image forming apparatus that performs power control. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining another example of an image forming apparatus determination method 6 for performing power control. 5 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation in power control of the image forming apparatus by the server apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the image forming apparatus determined to be a power-on state with respect to the terminal device of the starting state in the management area which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other example of the image forming apparatus determined to be a power-on state with respect to the terminal device of the starting state in the management area which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

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

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a system 5 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The system 5 is configured by connecting a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10, a plurality of terminal apparatuses 30, and a server apparatus 50 to a network 2 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) provided in an office or the like.

  The terminal device 30 is configured by a personal computer (PC) or the like, and has a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 has a function of processing a job received from the terminal device 30. The server device 50 has a function as a power state management device (management server) that manages the power state of the image forming apparatus 10. Specifically, the server device 50 acquires the position information and the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10, and based on these information, the server device 50 turns on the power from among the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10. The image forming apparatus 10 to be in a state is selected, and the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on, and the power control is performed to turn off the other image forming apparatuses 10 in the power off state.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 optically reads an image of a document, prints a copy of the image on a recording sheet, and outputs it. The image forming apparatus 10 stores the read image data of the document as a file or transmits it to the terminal device 30. A scanning function, a printer function for printing an image based on print data received from the terminal device 30 and an image based on image data stored in the image forming apparatus 10 on a recording sheet, and a facsimile function. This is a so-called MFP (MFP). The image forming apparatus 10 may be an apparatus having a function of receiving and executing a job from the terminal apparatus 30. For example, the image forming apparatus 10 may be a printer apparatus having only a print function, or image data received from the terminal apparatus 30 may be externally transmitted. It may be a facsimile machine equipped with a function of transmitting to a facsimile.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 13, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14, and a nonvolatile memory via a bus 12 to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 10. 15, a hard disk device 16, a display unit 17, an operation unit 18, a network communication unit 19, a facsimile communication unit 20, a scanner unit 21, an image processing unit 22, a printer unit 23, and a position information acquisition unit. 24 is connected. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a power control unit 25 that performs power control (power on / off control) and power supply control to each unit.

  The CPU 11 controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to a program stored in the ROM 13. The ROM 13 stores various programs executed by the CPU 11 and various fixed data. The RAM 14 is used as a work memory that temporarily stores various data when the CPU 11 executes a program, and is also used as an image memory for temporarily storing image data. The nonvolatile memory 15 is a rewritable memory that retains memory even when the power is turned off. The nonvolatile memory 15 stores device-specific information (name, IP (Internet Protocol) address, etc.), various setting information, and the like. The hard disk device 16 stores various types of stored data, and also stores various types of input image data.

  The display unit 17 is configured with a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays various screens such as an initial screen, an operation screen, and a setting screen. The operation unit 18 includes various buttons such as a start button, a stop button, and a numeric keypad, and a touch panel that is provided on the surface of the liquid crystal display and detects a pressed coordinate position. Accept various operations.

  The scanner unit 21 optically reads an image of a document and acquires image data. The scanner unit 21 sequentially moves, for example, a light source that irradiates light on a document, a line image sensor that receives the reflected light for one line in the width direction, and a reading position in units of lines in the length direction of the document. An optical system composed of a lens, a mirror, and the like for guiding the reflected light from the document to the line image sensor to form an image, a conversion unit for converting the analog image signal output from the line image sensor into digital image data, etc. It is configured with.

  The image processing unit 22 performs various kinds of image processing such as image correction, rotation, enlargement / reduction, compression / expansion on the image data.

  The printer unit 23 forms and outputs an image based on the image data on a recording sheet by an electrophotographic process. The printer unit 23 includes, for example, a recording paper transport device, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, an LD (Laser Diode) that is controlled to be turned on according to input image data, and laser light emitted from the LD. It is configured as a so-called laser printer having a scanning unit that scans on a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a transfer separating device, a cleaning device, and a fixing device. Instead of an LED printer that irradiates a photosensitive drum with an LED (Light Emitting Diode) instead of a laser beam, other types of printers may be used.

  The position information acquisition unit 24 acquires position information indicating the installation position of the image forming apparatus 10. In this embodiment, position information is acquired using GPS (Global Positioning System).

  Note that the position information acquisition unit 24 is not provided in the image forming apparatus 10, and the position information of the image forming apparatus 10 is detected by another apparatus having a GPS function (GPS position detecting apparatus), and is input to the image forming apparatus 10 and stored. You may make it do. Since the image forming apparatus 10 is hardly moved from its installation location after installation, the position information may be detected by the GPS position detection apparatus, and input to the image forming apparatus 10 and stored. For example, position information where the image forming apparatus 10 is installed is detected using a portable terminal having a GPS function, and the detected position information is stored in the nonvolatile memory 15 of the image forming apparatus 10 or the like. May be.

  The facsimile communication unit 20 communicates with an external apparatus having a facsimile function through a public line to transmit / receive image data. The network communication unit 19 communicates with the terminal device 30, the server device 50, another image forming apparatus 10, and the like through the network 2 to transmit / receive various data.

  Even if the image forming apparatus 10 transitions to the power-off state (soft-off state) and the CPU 11 or the like does not operate, the network communication unit 19 operates independently to receive and analyze data, and the necessary response is data It has a function to reply to the sender. Here, the network communication unit 19 includes an information holding unit 26 that stores position information, information indicating the current power state of the image forming apparatus 10, and the like, and receives a request for acquisition of the position information and the power state from the server device 50. When received, the information is read from the information holding unit 26 and returned.

  The power supply control unit 25 converts the power from the commercial power supply into an appropriate voltage and supplies the power to each unit of the image forming apparatus 10. In addition, according to an instruction from the CPU 11, a function is provided for controlling whether to supply power or stop supplying power for each power supply destination.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes an operation state (S0), a power saving state (S3), and a soft-off state (S5) as power states (see FIG. 6), and can be shifted to these power states. .

  The soft off state is a state in which the power is turned off by software. Here, power is supplied only to the network communication unit 19 and power supply to other parts including the CPU 11 is stopped, and the power consumption is minimized. In the soft-off state, the network communication unit 19 can receive, analyze, and transmit data, and can respond to an acquisition request for position information and a power state from the server device 50 on the network 2.

  The operating state is a state in which power is supplied to all parts of the image forming apparatus 10 and all functions can be used although power consumption is not suppressed.

  In the power saving state, power is supplied to predetermined parts including the network communication unit 19, the CPU 11, the ROM 13, and the RAM 14, and the power supply to the other parts is stopped, so that power consumption can be suppressed compared to the operating state. It is in a state. For example, other than the network communication function by the network communication unit 19 (including the function of detecting the reception of a job from the terminal device 30), the function of detecting the operation of the operation unit 18 and the reception of a facsimile from an external device, This is a state in which the power supply to the portions related to the functions (functions such as copying, scanning, printer, image processing, display, etc.) is stopped.

  In the operating state, the image forming apparatus 10 automatically transitions to a power saving state when a job that uses the scanner unit 21 or the printer unit 23 or a standby state in which there is no operation on the operation unit 18 continues for a predetermined time or longer. When receiving a job from the terminal device 30, an operation on the operation unit 18, or receiving a facsimile from an external device in the power saving state, the operation state is automatically changed. In the operating state and the power saving state, power is supplied to the CPU 11, and the automatic transition between these states causes the CPU 11 to instruct the power supply control unit 25 to cause the power supply control unit 25 to switch the power supply to each unit. Do that.

  Here, the operation state is described as a power-on state, and the soft-off state is described as a power-off state. The power saving state is included in the power-on state in this embodiment.

  When the image forming apparatus 10 receives a power state transition request (power on request / power off request) from the server device 50, the image forming apparatus 10 performs a power state transition. Specifically, when a power-on request is received, a transition from the power-off state (soft-off state) to the power-on state (operating state) is performed, and when a power-off request is received, the power is turned off from the power-on state. Transition to the state.

  In the power-off state, when receiving a power-on request from the server device 50, the network communication unit 19 outputs a power-on signal (power-on state transition signal) to the power control unit 25 and the CPU 11. Upon receiving this signal, the power control unit 25 supplies power to the CPU 11, ROM 13, RAM 14, and the like. The CPU 11 operates upon receiving power supply from the power supply control unit 25, issues an instruction to the power supply control unit 25, causes the power supply control unit 25 to supply power to each unit, and powers the image forming apparatus 10 from the power-off state. Transition to the on state.

  In the power-on state, when the network communication unit 19 receives a power-off request from the server device 50, it outputs a power-off signal (power-off state transition signal) to the CPU 11. Upon receiving this signal, the CPU 11 issues an instruction to the power supply control unit 25, causes the power supply control unit 25 to stop supplying power to each unit, and causes the image forming apparatus 10 to transition from the power-on state to the power-off state.

  FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of the terminal device 30. The terminal device 30 has a function of sending a job such as a scan job or a print job to the image forming apparatus 10 to request execution. The terminal device 30 includes a personal computer (PC) in which an OS program, a driver program for the image forming apparatus 10, an application program for creating and editing documents and images, and the like are installed.

  The terminal device 30 is connected to the CPU 31 via the bus 32 through the ROM 33, the RAM 34, the nonvolatile memory 35, the hard disk device 36, the display unit 37, the operation unit 38, the network communication unit 39, and the position information acquisition unit 40. Etc. are connected.

  The CPU 31 controls the operation of the terminal device 30 according to a program stored in the ROM 33, and executes various processes according to the program stored in the hard disk device 36. The ROM 33 stores a startup program and fixed data. The RAM 34 stores a program read from the hard disk device 36. The RAM 34 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data when the CPU 31 executes a program.

  The non-volatile memory 35 is a rewritable memory that retains memory even when the power is turned off, and includes system information (device ID (IDentification), IP address, etc.), user information, and various setting information of the terminal device 30. Etc. are memorized. The hard disk device 36 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device, and stores an OS program, a driver program for the image forming apparatus 10, various application programs, files, data, and the like.

  The display unit 37 is configured by a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The operation unit 38 includes an operation input device such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  The position information acquisition unit 40 acquires position information indicating the installation position of the terminal device 30. Here, position information is acquired using GPS.

  In the case where the terminal device 30 is configured by a desktop PC, there is a low possibility that the terminal device 30 is moved from the installation location after installation. Instead, the position information of the terminal device 30 may be detected by another device (GPS position detection device) having a GPS function, input to the terminal device 30, and stored in the nonvolatile memory 35 or the like.

  The network communication unit 39 communicates with the image forming apparatus 10, the server apparatus 50, other terminal apparatuses 30, and the like through the network 2 to transmit / receive various data. When the terminal device 30 is powered on (started up), a power-on notification and position information are transmitted to the server device 50, and when the terminal device 30 is powered off (stopped), a power-off notification is transmitted to the server device 50. . In the power-on notification and the power-off notification, the device ID and the IP address are also transmitted.

  The activation state in the terminal device 30 includes (1) a state in which the terminal device 30 is turned on, (2) a state in which a driver program that performs a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus 10 is activated, and (3) The application program that uses the driver program is in a activated state, and any state that is defined as the activated state may be appropriately selected and set. The power saving state may be included in the power-on state, or only the normal state may be included without including the power saving state.

  The terminal device 30 in the activated state may be the terminal device 30 in the activated state with the power source turned on, or may be the terminal device 30 in the normal state in the state, or the normal state It is good also as the terminal device 30 of the state in which the driver program is starting. When the terminal device 30 is in the normal state, the terminal device 30 transmits a notification (normal state transition notification) to the server device 50 when the terminal device 30 transitions to the normal state, thereby indicating that the own device is in the normal state. The device 50 can be notified. When the terminal device 30 is in a state where the driver program is activated, the terminal device 30 transmits a notification (driver program activation notification) to the server device 50 when the driver program is activated, so that the device itself is the driver. The server device 50 can be notified that the program has been started.

  Here, the terminal device 30 in a state where the power is turned on and activated is described as the terminal device 30 in the activated state.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of the server device 50. The server apparatus 50 has a function of performing power control for causing the image forming apparatus 10 to transition to a power-on state or to transition to a power-off state. The server device 50 is configured by a general-purpose computer installed with an OS program, a power management program for controlling the power state of the image forming apparatus 10, and the like.

  The server device 50 is configured by connecting a ROM 53, a RAM 54, a nonvolatile memory 55, a hard disk device 56, a display unit 57, an operation unit 58, a network communication unit 59, and the like to the CPU 51 via a bus 52. Is done.

  The CPU 51 controls the operation of the server device 50 according to programs stored in the ROM 53 and the hard disk device 56 and executes power control for the image forming apparatus 10. The ROM 53 stores a startup program and fixed data. The RAM 54 stores a program read from the hard disk device 56. The RAM 54 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data when the CPU 51 executes a program.

  The non-volatile memory 55 is a rewritable memory that retains its memory even when the power is turned off, and stores system information (name, IP address, etc.) of the server device 50 and various setting information. The hard disk device 56 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device, and stores an OS program, a power management program, a database that stores various information used for power control of the image forming apparatus 10, and the like.

  The display unit 57 is configured by a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The operation unit 58 includes an operation input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The network communication unit 59 communicates with the image forming apparatus 10, the terminal device 30, other external devices, and the like through the network 2 to transmit / receive various data.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the arrangement of the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal device 30 existing in the management area R by the server device 50. In the drawing, the image forming apparatus is represented as “MFP” and the terminal apparatus is represented as “PC”. Hereinafter, in the same layout diagram showing the management area R, the image forming apparatus and the terminal apparatus have the same notation.

  The management area R is an area in which the image forming apparatus 10 in which the server apparatus 50 manages the power supply state is installed and the terminal apparatus 30 that transmits a job to the image forming apparatus 10 exists. For example, in an office, a room such as a living room or an office where the image forming apparatus 10 is installed and the terminal device 30 is present. The management area may be an area including a plurality of rooms. Here, the management area R will be described as one room.

  In the management area R of this example, three image forming apparatuses 10 (image forming apparatuses A, B, and C) are installed, and a large number (18 in the example of FIG. 5) of terminal apparatuses 30 exist. Yes. The image forming apparatuses 10 are arranged in a line at a predetermined distance. The terminal devices 30 are arranged in two rows substantially parallel to the row of the image forming apparatus 10 and are arranged close to each other.

  The server device 50 (not shown in FIG. 5) monitors the power on / off of each terminal device 30 existing in the management area R, is located in a convenient location from the activated terminal device 30, and is activated. Power control is performed so that the number of image forming apparatuses 10 corresponding to the number of apparatuses 30 is turned on, and other image forming apparatuses 10 are turned off. The power control includes power-on control for the image forming apparatus 10 in the power-off state determined to be turned on, and power-off control for the image forming apparatus 10 in the power-on state determined to be turned off. including. As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined (selected) based on the position information and the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10. For image forming apparatuses 10 other than the image forming apparatus 10 determined to turn on the power, it is determined to turn off the power.

  FIG. 6 shows a database 60 provided for the server apparatus 50 to hold apparatus information of the image forming apparatus 10. This database 60 is stored in the hard disk device 56 or the nonvolatile memory 55 of the server device 50.

  In the database 60, the name, position information, and power state of the image forming apparatus 10 are registered in association with each other. This figure shows an example in which the three image forming apparatuses A, B, and C shown in FIG. The position information is composed of latitude and longitude. The power supply states are the above-described operation state (S0), power saving state (S3), and soft-off state (S5).

  The database 60 changes the power state of the registered image forming apparatus 10 when registering the apparatus information of the new image forming apparatus 10 and when deleting the registered apparatus information of the image forming apparatus 10. Updated when.

  The server device 50 may actively acquire and register the name and position information of the image forming apparatus 10 from the image forming apparatus 10, or may passively acquire and register the image forming apparatus 10 from the image forming apparatus 10. May be.

  When actively acquiring the name and position information of the image forming apparatus 10, for example, the server apparatus 50 periodically detects the image forming apparatus 10 in the management area R connected to the network 2 to detect the image forming apparatus 10. The name and position information is acquired from the image forming apparatus 10 and registered in the database 60, or the name and position information (apparatus information) of the image forming apparatus 10 that is no longer detected is deleted from the database 60. Update.

  Specifically, for example, the server apparatus 50 periodically detects the image forming apparatus 10 in the management area R connected to the network 2 and transmits a position information notification request to the newly detected image forming apparatus 10. . The image forming apparatus 10 that has received the position information notification request transmits the name and position information (latitude and longitude) of the apparatus itself to the server apparatus 50. The server device 50 registers the name and position information received from the image forming device 10 in the database 60 in association with each other.

  When the image forming apparatus 10 is moved out of the management area R, the image forming apparatus 10 is disconnected from the network 2. The server device 50 deletes from the database 60 the name and position information (device information) of the image forming apparatus 10 that is no longer detected on the network 2 among the image forming apparatuses 10 registered in the database 60.

  Further, when the image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60 is moved to another location in the management area R and installed, the image forming apparatus 10 is once disconnected from the network 2 and moved to another position. After the installation, the network 2 is connected again, and the position information acquisition unit 24 acquires position information indicating the new installation position. The server device 50 deletes, from the database 60, device information of the image forming device 10 registered in the database 60 that is once disconnected from the network 2 and is no longer detected on the network 2. Thereafter, when the image forming apparatus 10 installed at another position is detected on the network 2, a name and position information (position information indicating a new installation position) are received from the image forming apparatus 10 and associated with each other. Register in the database 60.

  When passively acquiring the name and position information of the image forming apparatus 10, for example, the server apparatus 50 receives the transmission of the name and position information from the image forming apparatus 10 in the management area R connected to the network 2. The name and position information (device information) of the image forming apparatus 10 is registered in the database by receiving the notification (network connection release notification) when the image forming apparatus 10 is disconnected from the network 2. The database 60 is updated by deleting from the database 60.

  Specifically, for example, when the image forming apparatus 10 is installed in the management area R and connected to the network 2 and the position information acquisition unit 24 acquires position information indicating the installation position, the name and position of the apparatus itself Information is transmitted to the server device 50. Upon receiving the name and position information from the image forming apparatus 10, the server device 50 associates them and registers them in the database 60.

  When the image forming apparatus 10 is moved out of the management area R, the image forming apparatus 10 transmits a network connection release notification and the name of the own apparatus to the server apparatus 50 when the connection is released from the network 2. When receiving the name of the image forming apparatus 10 together with the network connection release notification, the server apparatus 50 deletes the name and position information (apparatus information) of the image forming apparatus 10 from the database 60.

  When the image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60 is moved to another location in the management area R and installed, when the image forming apparatus 10 is disconnected from the network 2, the network By transmitting a connection release notification to the server device 50, the name and position information (device information) of the image forming device 10 are temporarily deleted from the database 60. The image forming apparatus 10 is moved to another location in the management area R and connected to the network 2, and the position information indicating the name of the own apparatus and the new installation position is transmitted to the server apparatus 50, so that it is stored in the database 60. The name and position information of the image forming apparatus 10 are registered.

  In addition, the server apparatus 50 receives the network connection release notification from the image forming apparatus 10 and does not delete the apparatus information of the image forming apparatus 10 from the database 60, but the management area R in which the server apparatus 50 is connected to the network 2. It is also possible to periodically detect the image forming apparatus 10 and delete the apparatus information of the image forming apparatus 10 that is no longer detected on the network 2 from the database 60.

  Also regarding the power state of the image forming apparatus 10, the server apparatus 50 may actively acquire and register from the image forming apparatus 10, or may passively acquire and register from the image forming apparatus 10. Good.

  When actively acquiring and registering the power state of the image forming apparatus 10, for example, the server apparatus 50 periodically detects the image forming apparatus 10 in the management area R connected to the network 2, A power state notification request is transmitted to the detected image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 that has received the power status notification request transmits the name of the own device and information indicating the power status to the server device 50. The server device 50 registers the power state received from the image forming apparatus 10 in association with the name in the database 60 that matches the name received from the image forming apparatus 10.

  When passively acquiring and registering the power state of the image forming apparatus 10, when the image forming apparatus 10 performs a transition of the power state, the name of the own apparatus and information indicating the power state after the transition Is transmitted to the server device 50. The server device 50 registers the power state received from the image forming apparatus 10 in association with the name in the database 60 that matches the name received from the image forming apparatus 10.

  FIG. 7 shows a database 70 provided for the server device 50 to hold device information of the activated terminal device 30. This database 70 is stored in the hard disk device 56 or the nonvolatile memory 55 of the server device 50.

  In the database 70, the device ID of the activated terminal device 30, position information, the name of the image forming device 10 closest to the terminal device 30, the name of the image forming device 10 closest to the second, and 3 The name of the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the second is registered in association with it. In this figure, the case where three terminal devices A, B, and C are registered in the database 70 is illustrated. The image forming apparatuses 10 closest to the first to third are image forming apparatuses A, B, and C registered in the database 60 shown in FIG.

  The position information is composed of latitude and longitude. The image forming apparatus 10 closest to the first to third uses the position information of the terminal apparatus 30 and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60 to determine the terminal apparatus 30 and each image forming apparatus 10. The distance is calculated and a determination is made based on the distance. That is, the image forming apparatus 10 having the shortest distance from the terminal apparatus 30 is determined as the first closest image forming apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 having the next shortest distance from the terminal apparatus 30 is formed as the second closest image. The image forming apparatus 10 is determined to be the apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 having the next shortest distance from the terminal apparatus 30 is determined to be the third closest image forming apparatus 10.

  The first closest image forming apparatus is “first proximity image forming apparatus”, the second closest image forming apparatus is “second adjacent image forming apparatus”, and the third closest image forming apparatus is “third adjacent image forming apparatus”. Also called “apparatus”.

  The database 70 registers the device information of the terminal device 30 that is newly activated, and when the registered terminal device 30 is deactivated and deletes the device information of the terminal device 30 And updated.

  When the power is turned on, the terminal device 30 transmits a power-on notification, a device ID, and position information to the server device 50. When the server device 50 receives the device ID and the position information together with the power-on notification from the terminal device 30, the server device 50 associates the device ID with the position information and registers them in the database 70. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 that is the first to third closest to the terminal apparatus 30 is determined, and the name of the image forming apparatus 10 is associated with the apparatus ID of the terminal apparatus 30 and registered in the database 70.

  Further, when the power is turned off, the terminal device 30 transmits a power-off notification and a device ID to the server device 50. When the server device 50 receives the device ID from the terminal device 30 together with the power-off notification, the server device 50 deletes the device information of the terminal device 30 corresponding to the device ID from the database 70.

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which the database 70 is updated by additionally registering information on the terminal device D that has been newly activated and activated in the database 70 shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows an example in which the database 70 is updated by deleting information of the terminal device C that has been newly turned off and put into a stopped state with respect to the database 70 shown in FIG. 8.

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when the server device 50 receives a power-on notification from the terminal device 30.

  When the CPU 51 receives the power-on notification, the device ID, and the position information from the terminal device 30 (step S101), the CPU 51 registers the device information related to the terminal device 30 in the database 70 (step S102). Specifically, the device ID received from the terminal device 30 and the position information are associated and registered in the database 70. Further, based on the position information of the terminal device 30 and the position information of the image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60, the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the terminal apparatus 30 and the second closest image forming. The device 10 and the third closest image forming device 10 are determined and registered in the database 70.

  If there is no other terminal device 30 already activated (step S103; No), the database 60 is referred to the image forming apparatus 10 that is the first closest to one terminal device 30 currently activated. Then, the image forming apparatus 10 is determined to be in a power-on state (step S104). Then, a power state transition request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 (step S106 / End). Details of the determination method in step S104 will be described later.

  In this case, before one terminal apparatus 30 is activated (power on), there is no activated terminal apparatus 30 and all image forming apparatuses 10 are powered off. In this situation, when one terminal device 30 is activated, the server device 50 transmits a power-on request from the terminal device 30 to the first closest image forming device 10, and the image forming device 10 receives the server device 50 from the server device 50. In response to the power-on request, the power is turned on, and the power-off state transits to the power-on state.

  If there is another terminal device 30 that is already activated (step S103; Yes), the image forming apparatus that performs power control (power on / off control) based on information registered in the databases 60 and 70. 10 is determined (step S105), and a power state transition request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 (step S106 / End). Details of the determination method in step S105 and the transmission contents in step S106 will be described later.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when the server device 50 receives a power-off notification from the terminal device 30.

  When receiving the power-off notification and the device ID from the terminal device 30 (step S201), the CPU 51 deletes the device information of the terminal device 30 corresponding to the device ID from the database 70 (step S202).

  If no other terminal device 30 is currently active (step S203; No), the image forming apparatus 10 that is currently powered on is identified with reference to the database 70, and the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on. The off state is determined (step S204). Then, a power state transition request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 (step S206 / End).

  In this case, before one terminal device 30 is stopped (powered off), only one terminal device 30 is in the activated state, and image formation closest to the one terminal device 30 is the first. Only the device 10 is powered on. In this situation, when the last one terminal apparatus 30 is stopped, the server apparatus 50 transmits a power-off request from the terminal apparatus 30 to the first closest image forming apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 is connected to the server apparatus. In response to the power-off request from 50, the power is turned off, and the power-on state transitions to the power-off state. That is, all the image forming apparatuses 10 in the management area R are turned off.

  If there is another terminal device 30 that is currently active (step S203; Yes), the image forming apparatus that performs power control (power on / off control) based on information registered in the databases 60 and 70. 10 is determined (step S205), and a power state transition request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 (step S206 / End). Details of the determination method in step S205 and the transmission contents in step S206 will be described later.

  Next, a method for determining the image forming apparatus 10 that performs power supply control will be described. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined by the following six methods, and the other image forming apparatuses 10 are determined to be turned off.

Determination Method 1... When there is one activated terminal device, it is determined that the image forming apparatus closest to the terminal device is to be turned on. (Step S104 in FIG. 10)
Determination method 2... When all activated terminal devices have the same image forming apparatus as the first image forming apparatus, and the number of activated terminal apparatuses is less than a predetermined number, the image forming apparatuses are powered Decide to turn it on.
Determination method 3... When all the activated terminal devices have the same image forming apparatus as the first image forming apparatus, and the number of activated terminal apparatuses exceeds a predetermined number, the image forming apparatus, It is determined that the image forming apparatus that is the second closest to those terminal apparatuses is to be powered on.
Determination method 4... When all the activated terminal devices do not have the same image forming apparatus as the first closest image forming apparatus, and there is an image forming apparatus in the middle of the activated terminal apparatuses, The intermediate image forming apparatus is determined to be turned on.
Determination method 5... When all the activated terminal devices do not have the same image forming apparatus as the first closest image forming apparatus and there is no image forming apparatus in the middle of the activated terminal apparatuses. The image forming apparatus that is already powered on is continuously used.
Determination Method 6... An image forming apparatus that is not the first closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is more than a predetermined distance away from the image forming apparatus that is in the power-on state for the terminal apparatus is excluded.

  Specific examples of the determination methods 1 to 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 20, the terminal device 30 (PC) in the activated state (power on) in the management area R is shown in white, and the terminal device 30 in the stopped state (power off) is shown in hatching. The image forming apparatus 10 (MFP) to be turned on is indicated by white, and the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned off is indicated by hatching. Further, the position information of the terminal device 30 in the activated state and the database 70 in which the first to third image forming apparatuses 10 are registered are also shown.

(Determination method 1)
FIG. 12 shows an example of the image forming apparatus 10 that is turned on when there is one activated terminal device 30 in the management area R. When there is one terminal device 30 in the activated state, the image forming apparatus 10 that is the first closest to the terminal device 30 is turned on.

  For example, when the terminal apparatus A shown in FIG. 12 is in the activated state, the image forming apparatus A that is closest to the terminal apparatus A is turned on.

(Determination method 2)
FIG. 13 shows an image in which all the activated terminal devices 30 make the same image forming apparatus 10 the first image forming apparatus 10 and the power is turned on when the number of activated terminal apparatuses 30 is less than a predetermined number. An example of the forming apparatus 10 is shown.

  The predetermined number is an arbitrary number. An initial setting value registered in advance in the server device 50 may be used, or an administrator or the like may set and register an arbitrary number (predetermined number) in the server device 50 in advance. Further, the predetermined number may be determined based on the processing capability of the image forming apparatus 10. For example, when the processing capacity of one image forming apparatus 10 is balanced with the processing amount of a job received from N terminal apparatuses 30 (processing capacity of one image forming apparatus 10 ≈ received from N terminal apparatuses 30) The number of jobs processed) may be set to a predetermined number. Here, the case where the predetermined number is four will be described.

  If all the terminal devices 30 in the activated state make the same image forming apparatus 10 the first image forming device 10 and the number of terminal devices 30 in the activated state is less than four (two or three), One image forming apparatus 10 closest to the terminal device 30 is turned on.

  For example, when the terminal device A, the terminal device B, and the terminal device C shown in FIG. 13 are in the activated state, the image forming apparatus A is the closest to the terminal devices A to C, and the image forming apparatus A Turn on the power.

(Determination method 3)
FIG. 14 shows an image in which all the terminal devices 30 in the activated state make the same image forming apparatus 10 the first closest image forming apparatus 10 and the power is turned on when the number of activated terminal devices 30 is equal to or more than a predetermined number. An example of the forming apparatus 10 is shown.

  When all the activated terminal devices 30 have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first image forming apparatus 10 and there are four or more activated terminal devices 30, the first one from those terminal apparatuses 30 is the first. In addition to the closest image forming apparatus 10, the second closest image forming apparatus 10 is also turned on.

  For example, when the terminal device A, the terminal device B, the terminal device C, and the terminal device D shown in FIG. 14 are in an activated state, the image forming apparatus A is closest to the terminal devices A to D, and 2 The image forming apparatus B is closest to the second, and the image forming apparatus A and the image forming apparatus B are turned on.

  If all the activated terminal devices 30 have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first image forming apparatus 10 and the number of activated terminal devices 30 is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the activated terminal devices 30 Depending on the number of the image forming apparatuses 10, the number of image forming apparatuses 10 to be turned on may be determined. For example, a second predetermined number (for example, seven) larger than a predetermined number (for example, four) is set for the terminal device 30 in the activated state, and all the activated terminal devices 30 have the same image forming apparatus 10. Is the first closest image forming apparatus 10, and the number of terminal devices 30 in the activated state is equal to or more than the second predetermined number, the first closest image forming apparatus 10 and the second closest image forming apparatus In addition to the apparatus 10, the third closest image forming apparatus 10 may be turned on.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 that are the second closest or the third closest to those terminal devices 30, the second closest to the most terminal devices 30 among those terminal devices 30, or Of the terminal devices 30, the image forming apparatus 10 that is the third closest to the most terminal devices 30 may be turned on.

(Determination method 4)
In FIG. 15, all the activated terminal devices 30 do not have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first closest image forming apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 exists between these activated terminal apparatuses 30. In this case, an example of the image forming apparatus 10 that is turned on is shown.

  In this case, the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is turned on. Here, “intermediate” means an intermediate position of each terminal device 30, the vicinity of the intermediate position, and the interval between the terminal devices 30. That is, if there is an image forming apparatus 10 in the middle position or near the middle position of each terminal apparatus 30, the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on. Even if there is no image forming apparatus 10 in the middle position or near the middle position of each terminal apparatus 30, if there is an image forming apparatus 10 between the terminal apparatuses 30 or in the peripheral area thereof, the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on. .

  For example, when the terminal device A and the terminal device E shown in FIG. 15 are in the activated state, the image forming device A is the closest to the terminal device A, and the image forming device is the first closest to the terminal device E. The image forming apparatus which is the apparatus C and is closest to the terminal apparatuses A and E is different. In such a case, the image forming apparatus B existing between the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E is turned on. In FIG. 15, the image forming apparatus B exists in the vicinity of an intermediate position between the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E, and the distance from the terminal apparatus A to the image forming apparatus B and the distance from the terminal apparatus E to the image forming apparatus B are illustrated. The distance is almost the same.

  Further, the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 can be selected using various methods based on the position information of the activated terminal apparatus 30 and the image forming apparatus 10. Here, a method using the center of gravity of the activated terminal device 30 and a method using the distance between the activated terminal device 30 and the image forming apparatus 10 will be exemplified.

(1) Center-of-gravity position: The center-of-gravity position of the terminal devices 30 is obtained from the position information of the plurality of terminal devices 30 in the activated state, and the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is selected based on the center-of-gravity position.
(1-1) The image forming apparatus 10 that is closest to the position of the center of gravity is selected as the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 (selected in order from the position of the center of gravity).
(1-2) When the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the position of the center of gravity is equal to or longer than the predetermined distance from the terminal device 30, the image forming apparatus 10 is excluded from intermediate targets and the remaining image forming apparatuses 10 (The image forming apparatus 10 having a predetermined distance or more from the terminal device 30 is excluded, and the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the center of gravity position is selected from the remaining image forming apparatuses 10 (of the remaining image forming apparatuses 10). Select from the closest to the center of gravity position)).
(1-3) Except for the terminal device 30 (the terminal device 30 at the singular point) that is a predetermined distance or more from the center of gravity position, the center of gravity position is obtained again from the position information of the remaining terminal devices 30, and is closest to the center of gravity The image forming apparatus 10 is selected as the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 (selected in the order from the center of gravity position).

(2) Distance: The distance between each terminal apparatus 30 and each image forming apparatus 10 is obtained from the position information of the plurality of terminal apparatuses 30 in the activated state and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10, and based on the distance. The intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is selected.
(2-1) The image forming apparatus 10 having the smallest distance difference between each terminal apparatus 30 and the image forming apparatus 10 is selected as the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 (selected in order of increasing distance difference).
(2-2) The image forming apparatus 10 in which the difference in distance between each terminal apparatus 30 and the image forming apparatus 10 is less than an allowable value is checked from the terminal apparatus 30 and the image forming apparatus 10 having a small total distance. The intermediate image forming apparatuses 10 are selected (in order from the smallest total distance and the one satisfying the condition that the difference in distance is equal to or smaller than the allowable value). The allowable value may be an absolute value or a ratio with respect to the average distance between each terminal device 30 and the image forming apparatus 10.

  FIG. 16 shows a specific example of the case where the image forming apparatus 10 having the smallest distance difference between each terminal apparatus 30 and the image forming apparatus 10 is selected as the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 according to (2-1). Yes. In this example, when the two terminal devices A and E are in the activated state, the distance is calculated from the position information between the terminal devices A and E and the image forming devices A, B, and C and registered in the database 70. Is shown. As shown in the figure, the distance between the terminal device A and the image forming apparatuses A, B, and C is 2 m, 6 m, and 9 m, and the distance between the terminal device E and the image forming apparatuses A, B, and C is 9 m. 6m and 2m. In this case, the image forming apparatus B having the smallest distance difference from the terminal apparatuses A and E is selected as the intermediate image forming apparatus 10.

  FIG. 17 shows an application example of the determination method 4 for determining the image forming apparatus 10 existing in the middle of the activated terminal apparatus 30 to be in the power-on state.

  In FIG. 17, all the activated terminal devices 30 do not have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first closest image forming apparatus, and there is the image forming apparatus 10 in the middle of these terminal apparatuses 30. An example of the image forming apparatus 10 that is turned on when there are more than a predetermined number (four or more) of terminal apparatuses having the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first image forming apparatus 10 in the terminal apparatus 30. Is shown. Here, a case where FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 are combined will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the five terminal devices A to E are in the activated state, and the image forming device A closest to the four terminal devices A to D is the remaining one. The image forming apparatus C is closest to the terminal apparatus E. The image forming apparatus that is second closest to the terminal apparatuses A to D and the image forming apparatus that is second closest to the terminal apparatus E are both image forming apparatuses B, and the image forming apparatus B is the terminal apparatuses A to D. It exists in the middle of the terminal device E. That is, the image forming apparatus B exists in the middle of all the activated terminal apparatuses A to E. In this case, the intermediate image forming apparatus B is turned on. Furthermore, since there are a predetermined number (four) of terminal devices A to D that make the image forming apparatus A closest to the first, the image forming apparatus A is also turned on.

(Determination method 5)
The plurality of terminal devices 30 in the management area R are normally turned on or off at different timings by each user. For this reason, the number of terminal devices 30 that are activated or deactivated increases or decreases by one. For example, when all the terminal devices 30 in the management area R are powered off, when the first terminal device 30 is powered on and activated, the determination method 1 determines the activated status. The image forming apparatus 10 closest to the first terminal apparatus is turned on. Thereafter, when the other terminal device 30 is powered on, at least one image forming apparatus 10 that is already powered on exists.

  Here, there are a plurality of activated terminal devices 30, and all the activated terminal devices 30 do not have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the first image forming apparatus 10, and those activated terminal devices 30. When the image forming apparatus 10 does not exist in the middle of 30, the image forming apparatus 10 that is already in the power-on state is continuously used. FIG. 18 shows this determination method 5 in an example in which there are two activated terminal devices 30.

  For example, when all the terminal devices 30 in the management area R shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus A closest to the power is turned on. Subsequently, when the terminal device F is turned on and activated, the image forming device B is closest to the terminal device F, and the two activated terminal devices A and F are the same image forming device. 10 is not the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the first, and the image forming apparatus 10 does not exist between the terminal apparatuses A and F. In this case, the image forming apparatus A that is already in the power-on state is continuously used in the power-on state.

(Determination method 6)
19 and 20, the image forming apparatus 10 that is not first closest to the activated terminal apparatus 30 and is more than a predetermined distance away from the image forming apparatus 10 that is in the power-on state related to the terminal apparatus 30 is excluded. An example of doing this is shown. For the predetermined distance, an administrator or the like sets and registers an arbitrary distance (predetermined distance) with respect to the server device 50 in advance. For example, when the predetermined distance is set to 15 m, the server device 50 registers the set 15 m as a set value as shown in the database 70 of FIGS. 19 and 20.

  In the example of FIG. 19, the two terminal devices A and E are in an activated state, the image forming device A being the first closest to the terminal device A is the first closest to the terminal device E. Is the image forming apparatus C, and the image forming apparatus B exists between the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E. However, when the intermediate image forming apparatus B is separated from the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E by a predetermined distance or more, the intermediate image forming apparatus B is excluded from the targets of the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on according to the terminal apparatuses A and E.

  In this example, the distance from the terminal apparatus A to the image forming apparatus B and the distance from the terminal apparatus E to the image forming apparatus B are both 20 m, and are set to a predetermined distance of 15 m or more. The image forming apparatus B is excluded from the objects of the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on according to the terminal apparatuses A and E.

  In this case, by removing the image forming apparatus B that exists between the terminal apparatuses A and E, the image forming apparatus A that is the first closest to the terminal apparatus A and the image forming apparatus C that is the first closest to the terminal apparatus E. And power on.

  In the example of FIG. 20, when all the terminal devices 30 in the management area R are powered off, when the terminal device A is powered on and activated, the determination method 1 determines that the terminal device A 1 The image forming apparatus A closest to the power is turned on. Subsequently, when the terminal device E is turned on and activated, the image forming device C is closest to the terminal device E, and the two activated terminal devices A and E are the same image forming device. 10 is not the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the first, and the image forming apparatus 10 does not exist between the terminal apparatuses A and E. In this example, the image forming apparatus B exists at a position other than the middle between the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E (a position deviated from between the terminal apparatus A and the terminal apparatus E).

  In this case, according to the determination method 5 described above, the image forming apparatus A that is already in the power-on state is continuously used in the power-on state. However, since the distance from the terminal device E to the image forming apparatus A is 30 m and is equal to or more than 15 m which is a predetermined distance setting value, the image forming apparatus A is in the power-on state related to the terminal apparatus E. Exclude from 10 subjects.

  In this case, since the image forming apparatus A is excluded from the terminal apparatus E, the image forming apparatus C closest to the terminal apparatus E is also turned on.

  Further, not only when the number of activated terminal devices 30 increases, but also when the number of terminal devices 30 in the activated state decreases, that is, when the position and the number of terminal devices 30 in the activated state change, Based on the position information and the number of pieces and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10, the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined again from the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10.

  For example, in FIG. 14, when one to three of the four terminal devices A to D in the activated state are turned off and stopped, the image forming apparatus B is turned off, and the image is displayed. Only the forming apparatus A is turned on. In FIG. 15, when the terminal device E of the two terminal devices A and E in the activated state is turned off and stopped, the image forming device B is turned off and the image forming device A is turned off. The power is turned on (state shown in FIG. 12). In FIG. 17, when two or three of the terminal devices A to D among the five terminal devices A to E in the activated state are turned off and stopped, the image forming apparatus A Is turned off, and only the image forming apparatus B is turned on.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing details of the determination method in step S105 in FIG. 10 and the transmission content in step S106, and the determination method in step S205 in FIG. 11 and the transmission content in step S206. The detailed determination method shown in FIG. 21 is based on the determination methods 2 to 6 among the determination methods 1 to 6 described above.

  The CPU 51 of the server device 50 acquires information registered in the database 70 (step S501). Specifically, the number, position information, and first to third proximity image forming apparatuses (first to third close images) of all terminal devices 30 (all activated terminal devices 30) registered in the database 70. Information on the forming apparatus 10) is acquired (step S501). When the first proximity image forming apparatus is one type (one common) (step S502; No), the CPU 51 confirms the number of terminal devices 30 (all the terminal devices 30 in the activated state) acquired from the database 70. To do.

  When the number of terminal devices 30 is less than the predetermined number (step S503; No), the first proximity image forming apparatus is determined to be in a power-on state (step S505), and the process proceeds to step S515. This flow corresponds to determination method 2 (see FIG. 13).

  If the number of terminal devices 30 is equal to or greater than the predetermined number (step S503; Yes), the second proximity image forming apparatus is determined to be in a power-on state (step S504), and the first proximity image forming apparatus is determined to be in a power-on state. (Step S505), the process proceeds to step S515. This flow corresponds to the determination method 3 (see FIG. 14).

  As described above, when the number of activated terminal devices 30 is equal to or larger than a second predetermined number (for example, seven) larger than a predetermined number (for example, four), the third proximity image forming apparatus is also turned on. You may make it be in a state. Further, as described above, when there are a plurality of types (plural units) of the second proximity image forming apparatus or the third proximity image forming apparatus, the largest number of second proximity image forming apparatuses or the largest number of third proximity image forming apparatuses are formed. The apparatus may be determined to be in a power-on state.

  On the other hand, when there are two types (two) of the first proximity image forming apparatuses (step S502; Yes), the CPU 51 acquires the position information of the image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60, and all the activated states are obtained. Based on the position information of the terminal device 30 and the position information of the image forming apparatus 10, it is confirmed whether or not the image forming apparatus 10 exists in the middle of all the terminal devices 30 in the activated state (step S506). When the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 exists (step S506; Yes), the distance between the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 and each terminal device 30 is confirmed (step S507).

  If there is no terminal device 30 whose distance to the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is equal to or greater than the set value (step S507; No), the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is determined to be in a power-on state (step S508), and step S513 is performed. Migrate to This flow corresponds to the determination method 4 (see FIG. 15).

  If there is a terminal device 30 whose distance to the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is equal to or greater than the set value (step S507; Yes), the terminal apparatus 30 (distance to the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 is equal to or greater than the set value). The first proximity image forming apparatus according to the terminal device 30) is determined to be in a power-on state (step S512), and the process proceeds to step S513. This flow corresponds to the determination method 6 (see FIG. 19).

  If there is no intermediate image forming apparatus 10 (step S506; No), the distance between the image forming apparatus 10 that is currently powered on and each terminal device 30 is confirmed (step S509).

  If there is no terminal device 30 whose distance to the image forming apparatus 10 in the power-on state is equal to or greater than the set value (step S509; No), the image forming apparatus 10 that is currently in the power-on state is continuously used in the power-on state. (Step S510), and the process proceeds to step S513. This flow corresponds to the determination method 5 (see FIG. 18). If there is a terminal device 30 whose distance from the power-on image forming apparatus 10 is equal to or greater than the set value (step S509; Yes), the image forming apparatus 10 currently powered on is continuously used in the power-on state. In step S511, the first proximity image forming apparatus according to the terminal apparatus 30 (the terminal apparatus 30 in which the distance from the image forming apparatus 10 currently in the power-on state is equal to or greater than the set value) is determined in the power-on state. (Step S512), the process proceeds to step S513. This flow corresponds to the determination method 6 (see FIG. 20).

  In step S <b> 513, the CPU 51 relates to the largest number of first proximity image forming devices (first proximity image forming devices with the largest number of activated terminal devices 30) among the first proximity image forming devices acquired from the database 70. It is confirmed whether or not the number of devices 30 is equal to or greater than a predetermined number (step S513).

  When the number of terminal devices 30 related to the largest number of first proximity image forming apparatuses is less than the predetermined number (step S513; No), the process proceeds to step S515. If the number of terminal devices 30 related to the largest number of first proximity image forming apparatuses is equal to or greater than the predetermined number (step S513; Yes), the image forming apparatuses 10 that remain without being determined to be in the power-on state are appropriately selected. The image forming apparatus 10 is determined to be in a power-on state (step S514), and the process proceeds to step S515.

  In step S514, for example, when the most numerous first proximity image forming apparatuses are not determined to be in the power-on state in any of steps S510, S511, and S512, the most numerous first proximity image forming apparatuses are selected. You may make it determine in a power-on state. Further, the number of the terminal devices 30 related to the largest number of first proximity image forming apparatuses is equal to or larger than a second predetermined number larger than the predetermined number, and the second number by the terminal devices 30 related to the largest number of first proximity image forming apparatuses. An intermediate image forming apparatus 10 that has already been determined to be powered on by the proximity image forming apparatus (the largest number of second proximity image forming apparatuses in the case of a plurality of types) or an image forming apparatus 10 that is currently powered on that is to be used continuously. The second proximity image forming apparatus may be determined to be in a power-on state.

  In addition, when the most numerous first proximity image forming apparatuses have already been determined to be in the power-on state in any of steps S510, S511, and S512, the terminal device 30 related to the most numerous first proximity image forming apparatuses. The second proximity image forming apparatus may be determined to be in a power-on state. Further, when there are a plurality of types of the second proximity image forming apparatuses, the largest number of the second proximity image forming apparatuses among the plurality of types may be determined to be in a power-on state.

  Subsequently, the CPU 51 determines the image forming apparatuses 10 other than the image forming apparatus 10 determined to be in the power-on state among the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 registered in the database 60 (step S515). Then, the power supply state of each image forming apparatus 10 registered in the database 60 is confirmed, a power-on request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 that is currently in the power-off state determined to be in the power-on state, and the power-off state is set. A power-off request is transmitted to the determined image forming apparatus 10 that is currently powered on (step S516 / End).

  In step S516, the image forming apparatus 10 that is the transmission target of the power transition request is identified and the power transition request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10, but the power transition request is sent to all the image forming apparatuses 10. And the image forming apparatus 10 that is already in the power state may be configured to ignore the power transition request.

  The image forming apparatus 10 in the power-off state that has received the power-on request from the server device 50 performs an operation of transitioning to the power-on state. The image forming apparatus 10 in the power-on state that has received the power-off request from the server device 50 performs an operation of transitioning to the power-off state. In the transition to the power-off state, if there is a job being processed or a waiting job, the transition to the power-off state may be made after the job is finished.

  Further, the usable image forming apparatus 10 may be notified to the activated terminal apparatus 30. For example, when the image forming apparatus 10 in the power-off state is turned on, or when the image forming apparatus 10 in the power-on state is turned off, information on the image forming apparatus 10 that switches the power on / off is activated. You may make it notify to the terminal device 30 of a state.

  In the configuration in which the server device 50 (management server) also serves as a print server, the server device 50 receives a print job from the terminal device 30, and among the usable image forming apparatuses 10, the terminal devices 30 to 1 The closest image forming apparatus 10 may be designated as an output destination, a print may be output from the image forming apparatus 10, and information on the image forming apparatus 10 may be notified to the terminal device 30.

  As described above, the server device 50 according to the present embodiment changes the position information and the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state, the image forming devices 10 to be turned on from the plurality of image forming devices 10, and the respective image forming devices. Selection (determination) is performed based on the position information of the apparatus 10 and power control is performed to turn on the selected image forming apparatus 10. Further, power control is performed to turn off an image forming apparatus 10 that is not selected as the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on. As a result, the number of image forming apparatuses 10 (appropriate number) corresponding to the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state, which are in a convenient location from the activated terminal device 30, can be turned on. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the power consumption and improve the usage efficiency of the image forming apparatus 10 while ensuring the convenience when the user of the activated terminal apparatus 30 uses the image forming apparatus 10.

  In particular, when all the activated terminal devices 30 in the management area R do not have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the closest image forming apparatus 10, intermediate image formation is performed on the activated terminal apparatus 30. By turning on the apparatus 10 in the power-on state, the image forming apparatus 10 having a high fairness in distance from all the activated terminal apparatuses 30 in the management area R can be turned on.

  In addition, when there are a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal devices 30 closest to the same image forming apparatus 10, the image forming apparatuses 10 are turned on to turn the image forming apparatuses 10 to a predetermined number or more in the activated state. Each of the terminal devices 30 is closest, and the user-friendly image forming apparatus 10 that is closest to many (a predetermined number of users or more) users can be turned on. Further, for example, when the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on with less than the predetermined number (small number), the processing capability of the image forming apparatus 10 with respect to the processing amount of jobs received from the terminal apparatus 30 with less than the predetermined number. There is a possibility that the power consumption of the image forming apparatus 10 and the use efficiency may be reduced, but here, when the number of the image forming apparatus 10 exceeds a predetermined number, the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on to turn on the image forming apparatus 10. The processing capacity does not become excessive with respect to the number of terminal devices 30 in the activated state (a predetermined number or more), and waste of power and a decrease in usage efficiency of the image forming apparatus 10 can be suppressed.

  Further, when all the activated terminal devices 30 in the management area R have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the closest image forming apparatus 10, all the image forming apparatuses 10 are turned on by turning on the power. One user-friendly common image forming apparatus 10 that is closest to the user of the activated terminal device 30 can be turned on.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 10 that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus 30 and is more than a predetermined distance away is excluded from the selection targets of the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on according to the terminal apparatus 30. It is possible to avoid that the image forming apparatus 10 located in a place where the terminal device 30 is not easy to use is turned on.

  Further, when the position and the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state change, a plurality of information are obtained based on the position information and the number of the terminal devices 30 in the activated state after the change and the position information of each image forming apparatus 10. By reselecting an image forming apparatus to be turned on from among the image forming apparatuses 10, it is possible to respond immediately to the change.

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, the power control of the image forming apparatus 10 when the arrangement of the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal apparatus 30 in the management area R by the server apparatus 50 is different from that of the first embodiment (FIG. 5 and the like). explain.

  FIGS. 22 and 23 illustrate the image forming apparatus 10 that is determined to be in the power-on state with respect to the activated terminal device 30 in the management area R according to the second embodiment. In the management area R according to the second embodiment, four image forming apparatuses 10 (image forming apparatuses A to D) and a large number (for example, 25) of terminal apparatuses 30 are installed. Each terminal device 30 is arranged adjacent to each other in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns (for example, 5 rows and 5 columns). Each image forming apparatus 10 is arranged around the terminal device 30 (for example, at the four corners of the management area R) with a certain distance therebetween.

  In FIG. 22, when the three terminal devices B to D that have the image forming apparatus A closest and the two terminal devices V and W that have the image forming apparatus D closest to each other are in the activated state (terminal Two of the image forming apparatus B and the image forming apparatus D are closest to the apparatus V), and the image forming apparatus A and the image forming apparatus D are turned on. Thereafter, when the terminal device A that is closest to the image forming apparatus A is turned on and is in the activated state, the image forming apparatus to be turned on is determined again.

  In the case of this example, the image forming apparatus 10 in which a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal devices 30 with the image forming apparatus 10 as the nearest neighbor are present as the specific image forming apparatus, and the terminal having the specific image forming apparatus as the nearest neighbor The image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined for the activated terminal apparatus 30 except for all the belonging terminal apparatuses.

  Specifically, the image forming apparatus A in which four terminal apparatuses A to D having the image forming apparatus 10 as the nearest neighbor are present as the specific image forming apparatus, and the terminal apparatus A having the specific image forming apparatus as the nearest neighbor. ˜D (if the number of terminal devices is large, three or more may be used) are assigned terminal devices. For example, three terminal devices A to C are assigned terminal devices. Then, for the terminal devices A to C as the belonging terminal devices, the closest image forming apparatus A is determined to be in the power-on state, and the terminal devices in the activated state excluding all the belonging terminal devices (terminal devices A to C). For D, V, and W, the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined.

  Also in this case, the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 between the terminal apparatuses D, V, and W is determined to be in a power-on state, or the most of the terminal apparatuses D, V, and W when the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 does not exist. Alternatively, the image forming apparatus 10 closest to the second terminal apparatus may be determined to be in a power-on state. Here, the image forming apparatus B existing between the terminal apparatus D and the terminal apparatuses V and W is turned on, and the image forming apparatus D that has been in the power-on state is turned off.

As described above, the specific image forming apparatus is the image forming apparatus 10 in which a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal devices 30 with the image forming apparatus 10 (image forming apparatus A) as the nearest neighbor exist. The second predetermined number (predetermined number = 3 in FIG. 22) of the terminal devices 30 to be in contact with each other is set as the belonging terminal device (for example, the terminal devices A to C), and is activated except for all the belonging terminal devices. When selecting the image forming apparatus 10 (image forming apparatus B) to be turned on with respect to the terminal apparatus 30 (for example, the terminal apparatuses D, V, W) in the state, the activation state excluding all belonging terminal apparatuses The number of image forming apparatuses that are located in a convenient location from the terminal apparatus 30 and that do not exceed the number of the terminal apparatuses 30 can be turned on.

  In FIG. 23, when the three terminal devices B to D that have the image forming apparatus A closest and the three terminal devices X to Z that have the image forming apparatus D closest to each other are in the activated state (terminal From the apparatus X, the image forming apparatus C and the image forming apparatus D are closest to each other), and the image forming apparatus A and the image forming apparatus D are turned on. After that, when the terminal device A that has the closest image forming apparatus A and the terminal device W that has the closest image forming apparatus D are turned on and activated, the image to be turned on The forming apparatus 10 is determined again.

  Here, the specific image forming apparatus is the image forming apparatus 10 in which a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal apparatuses 30 having the image forming apparatus 10 as the nearest neighbor exist, and the first specific image forming apparatus is the nearest terminal device. The surplus terminal device excluding the second predetermined number that is greater than or equal to the predetermined number of 30 and the surplus terminal device excluding the second predetermined number that is equal to or greater than the predetermined number of the terminal devices 30 that are closest to the second specific image forming apparatus And the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined.

  Specifically, the image forming apparatus A and the image forming apparatus D in which four terminal devices (terminal devices A to D / terminal devices W to Z) that are closest to the image forming device 10 exist are designated as the specific image forming device. Suppose that the image forming apparatus A is a first specific image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus D is a second specific image forming apparatus. For three of the terminal devices A to D that are closest to the image forming apparatus A as the first specific image forming apparatus (or three or more if the number of terminal devices is large) The adjacent image forming apparatus A is determined to be in a power-on state, and the surplus except for the three units is defined as a surplus terminal apparatus (for example, terminal apparatus D). For the three terminal devices W to Z that are closest to the image forming apparatus D that is the second specific image forming apparatus (if the number of terminal apparatuses is large, three or more may be used recently). The adjacent image forming apparatus D is determined to be in a power-on state, and the surplus except for the three units is defined as a surplus terminal apparatus (for example, terminal apparatus X). Then, the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is determined for the surplus terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices D and X).

  Also in this case, the intermediate image forming apparatus 10 of the surplus terminal apparatus (for example, the terminal apparatuses D and X) is determined to be in the power-on state, or if no intermediate image forming apparatus 10 exists, out of all the surplus terminal apparatuses Alternatively, the image forming apparatus 10 that is the second closest to the most surplus terminal apparatuses may be determined to be in a power-on state. Here, the image forming apparatus C that is the second closest to each of the terminal apparatus D and the terminal apparatus X is turned on.

  As described above, a specific image forming apparatus is defined as an image forming apparatus having a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal devices 30 that are closest to the image forming apparatus 10 (image forming apparatuses A and D). Excess terminal devices (for example, terminals) excluding a second predetermined number (the predetermined number = 3 in FIG. 23) of a predetermined number or more among terminal devices (terminal devices A to D) that are closest to the device (image forming apparatus A) Device D) and a surplus terminal device (for example, excluding a second predetermined number greater than or equal to a predetermined number among terminal devices (terminal devices W to Z) that are closest to the second specific image forming device (image forming device D) (for example, When the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on is selected with respect to the terminal device X), each surplus terminal device is located in a convenient location from each surplus terminal device, and the number of surplus terminal devices The number of units with no excess or deficiency It can be an image forming apparatus to the power-on state.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to that shown in the embodiment, and the present invention can be changed or added without departing from the scope of the present invention. Included in the invention.

  For example, the arrangement and number of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 and the plurality of terminal apparatuses 30 in the management area of the server apparatus 50 are not limited to those shown in the embodiment. Further, the method for selecting the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on from the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 is not limited to that described in the embodiment.

  The terminal device 30 is not limited to a stationary desktop PC, and may be a portable notebook PC. The portable terminal device 30 may be configured to communicate with the image forming apparatus 10 and the server apparatus 50 via a wireless LAN network.

  The location information of the terminal device 30 and the location information of the image forming device 10 are not acquired from each device by the server device 50 and registered in the database, but an administrator or the like inputs in advance to the server device 50 and registers in the database. You may do it.

  The image forming apparatus 10 that is not selected as the image forming apparatus 10 to be turned on among the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 is not subjected to power control to be turned off as described in the embodiment, but is saved. You may make it perform the power supply control which sets it to an electric power state.

  In addition, when all the activated terminal devices 30 in the predetermined area do not have the same image forming apparatus 10 as the closest image forming apparatus 10, the intermediate image forming apparatus with respect to the activated terminal apparatus 30 is used. 10 and when all the activated terminal devices 30 in a predetermined area have the same image forming apparatus as the closest image forming apparatus 10, the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on. In the configuration, the predetermined area may be set separately from the management area R managed by the server device 50 described in the embodiment. For example, an area centering on the image forming apparatus 10 may be set, and the area may be set as the predetermined area.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 22 having a predetermined number or more of activated terminal apparatuses closest to the image forming apparatus is defined as the specific image forming apparatus, and the terminal apparatus having the specific image forming apparatus closest to the image forming apparatus. In the configuration for selecting an image forming apparatus to be in a power-on state with respect to a terminal device in an activated state excluding all belonging terminal devices, a second predetermined number equal to or greater than a predetermined number is assigned to the terminal device. When selecting an image forming apparatus that is in a power-on state with respect to a terminal device other than the terminal device, an intermediate image forming apparatus may be selected as an image forming apparatus that is in a power-on state.

  Further, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the multi-function apparatus described in the embodiment, and can be a printer apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, and the like.

2 ... Network 5 ... System 10 ... Image forming apparatus 11 ... CPU
12 ... Bus 13 ... ROM
14 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Non-volatile memory 16 ... Hard disk device 17 ... Display part 18 ... Operation part 19 ... Network communication part 20 ... Facsimile communication part 21 ... Scanner part 22 ... Image processing part 23 ... Printer part 24 ... Position information acquisition part 25 ... Power supply control part 26 ... Information holding unit 30 ... Terminal device 31 ... CPU
32 ... Bus 33 ... ROM
34 ... RAM
35 ... Nonvolatile memory 36 ... Hard disk device 37 ... Display unit 38 ... Operation unit 39 ... Network communication unit 40 ... Location information acquisition unit 50 ... Server device 51 ... CPU
52 ... Bus 53 ... ROM
54 ... RAM
55 ... Non-volatile memory 56 ... Hard disk device 57 ... Display unit 58 ... Operating unit 59 ... Network communication unit 60 ... Database 70 ... Database R ... Management area

Claims (13)

A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
Equipped with a,
When all the activated terminal devices in the predetermined area do not have the same image forming device as the closest image forming device, the control unit sets an intermediate image forming device to the activated terminal device. Select an image forming device to be turned on
A power supply state management device. The control unit selects an image forming apparatus that turns on the image forming apparatus when a predetermined number or more of the activated terminal apparatuses that are closest to the same image forming apparatus exist. The power supply state management apparatus according to claim 1 . A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
  A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
  Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
  With
  When there are a predetermined number or more of activated terminal devices closest to the same image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus.
  A power supply state management device. The control unit sets a specific image forming apparatus as an image forming apparatus having a predetermined number or more of activated terminal apparatuses closest to the image forming apparatus, and sets the specific image forming apparatus as a closest terminal. The second predetermined number that is equal to or greater than the predetermined number is used as an belonging terminal device, and an image forming apparatus that is in a power-on state is selected for a terminal device that is activated except for all the belonging terminal devices. 4. The power state management device according to 2 or 3. The control unit sets a specific image forming apparatus to an image forming apparatus having a predetermined number or more of activated terminal apparatuses having the image forming apparatus closest to the image forming apparatus, and sets the first specific image forming apparatus to the closest Of these, a surplus terminal device excluding the second predetermined number greater than the predetermined number, and a surplus terminal device excluding the second predetermined number greater than the predetermined number among the terminal devices closest to the second specific image forming apparatus, The power supply state management apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected. When all of the activated terminal devices in a predetermined area have the same image forming apparatus as the closest image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus. The power state management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power state management apparatus is a power supply state management apparatus.   A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
  A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
  Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
  With
  When all of the activated terminal devices in a predetermined area have the same image forming apparatus as the closest image forming apparatus, the control unit selects the image forming apparatus to turn on the image forming apparatus.
  A power supply state management device. The control unit excludes an image forming apparatus that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is more than a predetermined distance away from a selection target of the image forming apparatus that is to be turned on according to the terminal apparatus. The power supply state management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7 .   A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
  A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
  Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
  With
  The control unit excludes an image forming apparatus that is not closest to the activated terminal apparatus and is more than a predetermined distance from the selection target of the image forming apparatus that is to be turned on according to the terminal apparatus.
  A power supply state management device. When the position and the number of activated terminal devices acquired by the first acquisition unit change, the control unit changes the position information and the number of activated terminal devices after the change, and each image forming apparatus. The power supply state management according to any one of claims 1 to 9 , wherein an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected again from the plurality of image forming apparatuses based on the position information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses. apparatus. A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
With
Prior Symbol controller, when the state of the first position and the number of terminal devices start state acquiring unit acquires changes, the position information and the number of terminal devices start state after the change, the image forming Based on the position information of the apparatus, an image forming apparatus to be turned on is selected from the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
A power supply state management device. Wherein the control unit, according to claim 1 to 11, characterized in that control the power supply to the image forming apparatus which is not selected as an image forming apparatus to the power-on state of the plurality of image forming apparatus to the power off state The power state management device according to any one of the above.   A first acquisition unit for acquiring position information and the number of terminal devices in an activated state having a function of transmitting a job to the image forming apparatus via a network;
  A second acquisition unit that acquires positional information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
  Based on the position information and the number of terminal devices in the activated state acquired by the first acquisition unit and the position information of each image forming device acquired by the second acquisition unit, among the plurality of image forming devices. A control unit that selects an image forming apparatus to be turned on from the power source and performs power control to turn on the image forming apparatus;
  With
  The control unit performs power control to turn off an image forming apparatus that is not selected as an image forming apparatus to be turned on among the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
  A power supply state management device.

Images