JP2001249415A - Printing service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing service system which is capable of inserting advertisement information on prints, thereby curtailing a customer's payment. SOLUTION: This system includes an advertisement information input means 11 which is inputted with the advertisement information from an advertiser, an image input means 10 which is inputted with the image information from the customer, an advertisement information adding means 15 which adds advertisement information introduced from the advertisement information input means 11 to the images inputted from the image input means 10, a control means 12 which controls the entire movement and a printing means 17 which executes printing. This printing means 17 is so constituted as to print the output of the advertisement information adding means 15 when carrying out the printing of the customer's image information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print service system, and more particularly to a print service system in which advertisement information is printed on a print.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a current print service system,
2. Description of the Related Art In a minilab or the like, a system is known in which a film or the like brought or mailed by a customer is received, printed according to order information, and returned to the customer.

In recent years, with the development of networks, personal computers have become widespread at homes, and it has become possible to order prints from a mini lab or the like via a personal computer. At that time, the customer first transfers the image information to be printed to the server in the minilab, and then orders the number of prints, print size, and the like.

[0004] In the minilab, prints are made according to the customer's request, and print photographs are sent to the customer by mail. Upon receiving the print, the customer pays the minilab for the cost of the print in some way. As a form of payment, there are a method of transferring to a bank account of a minilab, a method of automatically debiting from a customer's account, and the like.

[0005]

However, the conventional system has a problem in that the cost increases as the number of prints increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and has as its object to provide a print service in which advertisement information is put on a print and the payment of the customer can be reduced accordingly. .

[0007]

(1) An invention according to claim 1 is a print service system for performing printing in accordance with an order from a customer, an advertisement information input means for inputting advertisement information from an advertiser, Image input means for inputting image information from a customer, advertisement information adding means for adding the advertisement information input from the advertisement information input means to an image input from the image input means, and control for performing overall control operation Means for printing the image information of the customer, wherein the printing means prints the output of the advertisement information adding means.

With this configuration, it is possible to create a print image in which an advertisement is placed.

(2) The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the print service system reduces the print cost of the customer correspondingly to the advertisement fee paid by the advertiser.

[0010] With this configuration, the amount of the advertisement is increased,
It is possible to reduce the price required for printing by the customer.

(3) The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the print service system has means for managing the number of prints, and requests the advertiser to pay a fee according to the number of prints.

[0012] With this configuration, it is possible to receive payment from the advertiser according to the number of prints.

(4) The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the actual size of the print by the printer is equal to or slightly larger than the normal print size.

With this configuration, an advertisement can be placed in a normal print size, and in the case of a size larger than the normal size, the advertisement portion can be separated to the normal size.

(5) The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that, at the time of ordering a print, information indicating the contents of the advertisement and a discount amount of the corresponding print are displayed on the display means.

With this configuration, the customer can know what kind of advertisement is placed, and can also know the discount amount.

(6) The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the control means changes the contents of the advertisement for the information according to the customer.

[0018] With this configuration, the content of the advertisement can be changed with respect to the information according to the customer. For example, it is possible to place the advertisement only to customers in a region where the advertisement is effective.

(7) The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the information according to the customer is at least age, address, and gender.

With this configuration, advertisements can be placed according to age, address, and gender.

(8) According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print service system for performing printing including advertisement information in accordance with an order from a customer, comprising at least one server communicable via a network. Storage means for storing image data of the advertisement design requested by the advertiser and corresponding price discount data on the server,
The image data of the advertisement design and the corresponding price discount amount data are configured to be accessible to the server from a customer using a terminal.

With this configuration, in the networked print service system, the contents of the advertisement design and the price discount can be known by accessing the server from the customer.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a customer who orders prints, 2 is a minilab that prints, and 3 is an advertiser. The advertiser 3 pays, for example, 20 yen to the minilab 2 per sheet as a price for placing an advertisement in advance for each print. Here, the minilab 2 constitutes a print service system.

As a result, in response to a print request from the customer 1, the minilab 2 gives the print 4 carrying the advertisement to the customer or mails it. At this time, in the print 4, 4a is an advertisement area and 4b is an image area. Originally, the price of 50 yen per sheet (broken line in the figure) is less than the cost of printing to receive the print with the advertisement, for example, 30 yen per sheet (solid line in the figure) ). In other words, in the minilab, the printing cost, which normally costs 50 yen per sheet, is paid by the advertiser, of which 20 yen / sheet is paid by the advertiser, and the customer pays 30 yen / sheet. You only have to get it. In other words, it is possible to reduce the amount of money required for printing by the customer because of the advertisement.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and shows the configuration of a minilab (print service system). 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes an image input unit for inputting image information provided by the customer 1, and 11 denotes an advertisement information input unit for inputting advertisement information provided by the advertiser 3.
A control unit 12 receives information input from the image input unit 10 and the advertisement information input unit 11, stores the information in the storage unit, and performs various controls. 13 is control means 12
The storage unit 14 is connected to the control unit 12 and displays various types of information. The storage unit 14 is connected to the control unit 12 and stores image information and other types of information. An advertisement information adding unit 15 adds the advertisement information obtained from the advertisement information input unit 11 to the image information obtained from the image input unit 10. 16
Is a printer for printing the output of the advertisement information adding means 15. 16 is information about the customer (name, address, age,
(Gender, etc.) to be given to the control means 12. A printer 17 prints an image with an advertisement. The printer 17 outputs a print 4 with advertisement.

In the print 4, reference numeral 4a denotes an advertisement area, for example, an advertisement such as "camera is xxx". 4b is an image area for recording an original image. Image input means 10 and advertisement information input means 1 described above
1, the control unit 12, the storage unit 13, the display unit 14, the advertisement information adding unit 15, and the printer 17 are provided in, for example, the minilab 2 shown in FIG. The operation of the system configured as described above will be described below.

It is assumed that a contract regarding a photo advertisement has been made between the advertiser 3 and the minilab 2 in advance. For example,
The type of advertisement, advertisement period, advertisement cost, and the like are determined.
Further, the content of the advertisement is determined for the name, address, age, gender, etc. according to the customer. Advertiser 3 determines the age of customer 1,
The content of the advertisement can be changed according to the area (address) where you live, gender, and the like. The content of the contract determined in this way is stored in the storage means 13. Advertisers shall pay advertising fees in accordance with the terms of the contract.

Next, the mini lab 2 fetches the advertisement information of the contents agreed with the advertiser 3 from the advertisement information input means 11. At this time, the type of advertisement is not limited to one type, and may be a plurality of types. The control unit 12 stores the input advertisement information in the storage unit 13.

Next, image information from the customer 1 is read by the image input means 10 and given to the control means 12.
The control unit 12 causes the storage unit 13 to temporarily store the input image information. Next, the control unit 12 causes the display unit 14 to display a menu screen for associating the image with the advertisement. The display means 14 displays advertisement information according to the content of the contract.

The operator selects an advertisement corresponding to the customer 1 from a plurality of pieces of advertisement information, and clicks the advertisement with a mouse (not shown). Then, the control unit 12 recognizes which advertisement information has been selected.

The control means 12 sequentially reads out the image data of the customer 1 stored in the storage means 13 and outputs it to the advertisement information adding means 15. On the other hand, the contents of the advertisement are also read from the storage means 13 and output to the advertisement information adding means 15. Thus, the advertisement information adding unit 15 performs a process of adding advertisement information to the input image information. This processing can be performed using an existing image processing technique.

The image data with the advertisement created by the advertisement information adding means 15 enters the following printer 17 and is discharged as a print 4. As shown in the figure, an advertisement such as "camera is xxx" is recorded in the advertisement area 4a, and an image is recorded in the image area 4b. Customer 1
Go to mini lab or receive print 4 by mail. Then, a fee corresponding to the received print is paid to the minilab 2. This payment may be made by cash or by electronic money automatically debited from the bank account number.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a print in which an advertisement is placed on a print image can be created.

In this case, the control means 12 has a function of managing the number of prints. That is, the number of prints is stored in the storage unit 13 by the control unit 12 each time. Then, the control unit 12 requests the advertiser 3 to pay a fee according to the number of prints. In particular,
A printout from the printer 17 in the form of a bill is mailed to the advertiser 3 or the amount of the consideration is
, And the advertiser 3 can recognize the value of the consideration by looking at the displayed contents. According to this, it is possible to receive payment from the advertiser 3 according to the number of prints.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the shape of a print.
(A) shows the case where an advertisement is placed in the normal image size,
(B) shows a case where an advertisement is placed outside the normal image size as it is. In the case of (a), since the advertisement area 4a is included in the normal image size, a part of the image is erased. On the other hand, in the case of the print shown in (b), the normal image size 4b is left as it is,
Since the advertisement area 4a is brought outside, a full image can be obtained without erasing part of the image.

If necessary, by cutting off only the advertisement area 4a, it is possible to return to the normal image size.
According to this embodiment, the advertisement can be placed on the normal print size, and if the size is larger than the normal size, the advertisement portion can be cut off to make it the normal size.

According to the present invention, at the time of ordering a print, information indicating the contents of the advertisement and the discount amount of the corresponding print can be displayed on the display means. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the display means 14 when ordering a print. The content of the advertisement and the discount amount are displayed in association with each other. For example, in the case of the advertisement shown in A, it indicates that the discount amount is 10 yen per sheet.

According to this embodiment, the contents of the advertisement can be displayed not only with characters as shown in A and B, but also with character information together with an image of flowers and the like as shown in C. As a result, the customer can know what kind of advertisement appears, and can also know the discount amount.

According to the present invention, the control means 12
Can change the content of the advertisement for the information according to the customer. For example, if the advertiser is an electronics store,
Only people near the electronics store will use it,
When a person near the electronic store becomes a customer and performs printing, an advertisement for the electronic store can be placed. That is, the control means 12 determines the area of the customer from the address information of the customer, and inserts the advertisement of the electric appliance store stored in the storage means 13. Advertising information adding means 15
Adds this electronics store advertisement to the customer image. As a result, the printer 4 discharges the print 4 on which the advertisement of the electronic store is placed.

As information according to the customer, age, gender, and the like are also used. If the customer is a woman, an advertisement for cosmetics can be placed.

Although the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has been described above, the present invention can be applied to a network system. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the system shown in the figure, the case of the Internet is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the Internet, and other types of networks can be used. In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a server to which a plurality of servers are connected via a line 40 as shown in the figure. As the server 20, for example, a Web server is used. Reference numeral 21 denotes a storage unit connected to the server 20 for storing image data of an advertisement design requested by an advertiser and corresponding price discount data.

Reference numeral 51 denotes a customer terminal, which is connected to the server 20 via a communication line 45. Reference numeral 30 denotes a print service system including a mini lab as shown in FIG. The print service system 30 also has a communication line 45.
Is connected to the server 20 via the. An advertiser terminal 52 is connected to the server 20 via a communication line 45. In the embodiment shown in the figure, the case where the customer terminal 51, the print service system 30, and the advertiser terminal 52 are connected to the same server is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. May be connected to the server 20. The system shown is TCP / IP
(Internet communication protocol) to exchange information with each other. The operation of the system configured as described above will be described below.

The advertiser terminal 52 accesses the server 20 and transfers the image data of the advertisement design and the corresponding price discount data. The server 20 stores in the storage means 21 the price discount data corresponding to the image data of the advertisement design transferred in this manner.

When the price discount data corresponding to the advertisement design image data is stored in the storage means 21, the customer terminal 5
1 can access the server 20 to know the stored image data of the advertisement design and the corresponding price discount.

The customer confirming the advertiser's advertisement contents and the discount amount accesses the server 20 and places a print order. Next, advertisement information to be posted from the customer terminal 51 is specified. When the advertisement information is specified, the image data information is transferred to the server 20.

The server 20 transfers the image data to be printed and the advertisement information to the print service system 30. The print service system 30 performs printing by adding advertisement information to image data to be printed. The printed photo is sent, for example, by mail from the print service system 30 to the customer. At this time, the customer who has received the mailed photo pays a print fee in accordance with the enclosed bill and print service system 3.
Pay to side 0. The payment method may be cash payment to the print service system 30 side, transfer to a bank account,
A method of debiting from your own account is conceivable.

In the above embodiment, the case where a minilab is used as the print service system has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, a large laboratory or the like can be used.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, an advertisement information inputting means for inputting advertisement information from an advertiser, an image inputting means for inputting image information from a customer, and an input from the image inputting means. An advertisement information adding unit that adds the advertisement information input from the advertisement information input unit to the image, a control unit that performs an overall control operation, and a print unit that performs printing, and prints the customer's image information. When the printing is performed, the printing unit prints the output of the advertisement information adding unit, thereby making it possible to create a print image with an advertisement.

(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, the print service system can reduce the printing cost of the customer correspondingly to the advertising fee paid by the advertiser.

(3) According to the third aspect of the invention, the print service system has means for managing the number of prints, and can request the advertiser to pay for the prints according to the number of prints. Receive payment from the Lord.

(4) According to the invention described in claim 4, the actual size of the print by the printer is equal to or slightly larger than the normal print size, so that the advertisement can be placed on the normal print size. When the size is larger than the normal size, the advertisement portion can be separated to the normal size.

(5) According to the fifth aspect of the invention, at the time of ordering a print, the information indicating the contents of the advertisement and the discount amount of the corresponding print are displayed on the display means. You can know if it is on the list and you can also know the discount amount.

(6) According to the invention described in claim 6, the control means changes the advertisement content for the information according to the customer by changing the advertisement content for the information according to the customer. For example, it is possible to place an advertisement only to customers in a region where the advertisement is effective.

(7) According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the information according to the customer is at least an age, an address, and a gender, so that an advertisement can be placed according to the age, the address, and the gender. .

(8) According to the present invention, there is provided at least one server communicable via a network, the image data of the advertisement design requested by the advertiser, and the corresponding price. Having storage means for storing discount amount data, image data of the advertisement design,
By configuring the corresponding price discount data and the terminal to be accessible from the customer using the terminal, in a networked print service system, the content of the advertisement design and the price discount are obtained by accessing the server from the customer. You can know.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a print service in which the advertisement information is put on the print and the payment of the customer can be reduced accordingly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a print shape.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a display unit when a print order is placed.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 customer 2 minilab 3 advertiser 4 print 10 image input means 11 advertisement information input means 12 control means 13 storage means 14 display means 15 advertisement information addition means 16 customer information input means 17 printer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 502 G06F 17/60 502

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A print service system for printing according to an order from a customer, an advertisement information input unit for inputting advertisement information from an advertiser, an image input unit for inputting image information from a customer, and an image input Advertising information adding means for adding the advertisement information input from the advertisement information input means to the image input from the means, control means for controlling the overall operation, and printing means for performing printing. A printing service system for printing the image information, wherein the printing means prints the output of the advertisement information adding means. 2. The print service system according to claim 1, wherein the print service system reduces the print cost of the customer corresponding to the advertisement fee paid by the advertiser. 3. The print service system according to claim 2, wherein said print service system has means for managing the number of prints, and requests payment of a value to an advertiser according to the number of prints. 4. The print service system according to claim 1, wherein the actual size of the print by the printer is equal to or slightly larger than a normal print size. 5. The print service system according to claim 2, wherein at the time of ordering the print, information indicating the content of the advertisement and a discount amount of the corresponding print are displayed on the display means. 6. The print service system according to claim 1, wherein said control means changes the content of the advertisement for information according to the customer. 7. The information according to the customer includes at least age, address, and gender.
Print service system as described. 8. A print service system for performing printing including advertisement information in accordance with an order from a customer, comprising at least one server communicable via a network, wherein the server requests an advertisement requested by an advertiser. A storage unit for storing design image data and corresponding price discount amount data; the customer can access the server by using the terminal with the advertisement design image data and corresponding price discount amount data A print service system characterized in that: