JP2002041422A - Printing service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing service system, capable of printing attached data which cannot be recognized by a mobile device, such as a portable telephone with a nearby printer connected to a wide-area network, without increasing communication cost. SOLUTION: A mail server 1 is provided with: a transfer check part 14e for reporting the reception of electronic mail to a portable telephone 8; and a mail transfer part 14c and an address transfer part 14d for transmitting separated attached data and user ID to a print server 5. The print server 5 managing printers 3, 4 is provided with a data storage part 52 for storing the attached data and the user ID, and a data storage retrieving part 54. Each of the printers 3, 4 is provided with an input part 37 for inputting the user ID. The user ID inputted from the printer 3 is reported to the server 5, which retrieves the attached data, corresponding to the reported user ID and transfers the retrieved data to the printer 3 to make the data printed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a mobile phone,
Simple mobile phone (PHS: Personal Handyphone System;
Registered trademark), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA: Personal Data Ass)
The present invention relates to a print service system for printing attached data when an electronic mail including attached data that cannot be displayed on the mobile device is transmitted to a mobile device such as istant.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable telephones and PHSs (simplified portable telephones) as wireless telephones can handle transmission and reception of e-mail using the Internet as one of information services as one of personal computers. I have.

In such a system, a mail server is installed in a network center, and the mail server receives e-mails that have arrived at respective wireless telephones via the Internet on behalf of the mail servers. Then, convert this to mail data that has a format unique to the system,
It is set to send to each phone.

By the way, electronic mail originally has a function of attaching document data, image data, and the like created by application software of a personal computer to text data as a body, and transmits the electronic mail. Have been.

However, in the above-described mail system for a wireless telephone, the attached data included in the electronic mail cannot be converted into mail data recognizable by the telephone except for the attached data unique to the wireless telephone system. Also, the wireless telephone does not have the ability to process the attached data.

[0006] For this reason, it has been conventionally set so that an electronic mail is transmitted to each wireless telephone after such attached data is deleted in a mail server.

On the other hand, in order to make use of such attached data to be deleted, an electronic mail transfer device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-167534 discloses a system in which attached data is printed by a mail server.

In the information output apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-161457, a terminal which receives an e-mail including attached data which cannot be recognized by a telephone is connected to a special printing apparatus which can process the attached data. A system for forwarding e-mail is disclosed.

[0009]

However, the print service system disclosed in the above-mentioned conventional Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-167534 has a problem that it is necessary to go to a place where a mail server is installed to get print documents. are doing.

In the print service system disclosed in JP-A-11-161457, the entire electronic mail is transmitted to a terminal capable of recognizing the attached data. There is a problem that the communication cost is increased. In addition, similarly to the case of printing by the mail server described above, it is necessary to go to the transfer destination to get the printed matter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to transmit attached data that cannot be recognized by a mobile device such as a mobile phone to a nearest printer connected to a wide area network. Another object of the present invention is to provide a print service system capable of printing without increasing communication costs.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a printing service system according to the present invention includes a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a wide area network and each printing apparatus connected to the wide area network. A print server that manages via a network, and a mail server that is connected to the wide area network and relays e-mail transmitted to a wireless telephone, while the mail server receives an e-mail including attached data. Receiving notification means for notifying the reception of the e-mail to the radio telephone when the e-mail is received, and attached data separation for separating the attached data from the received e-mail and transmitting the separated attached data and user ID to the print server. ID transmitting means, wherein the print server stores the attached data
D, and a storage unit for storing the corresponding attached data from the user ID. Each of the printing apparatuses has an ID input unit for inputting a user ID. The print server notifies the print server of the user ID input from any of the print devices, and the print server searches for the attached data corresponding to the notified user ID and transfers the attached data to the print device. It is characterized by printing.

First, in a conventional print service system,
If you receive an e-mail with a wireless telephone and the attached data that cannot be displayed on the wireless telephone is added to the e-mail, send the entire e-mail to a mail server or a terminal that can recognize the attached data. Print processing, there is a problem that wasteful communication processing increases and communication costs increase. In addition, in order to obtain a print document, there is a problem that it is necessary to go to a place where a mail server or a transfer destination printer is installed to get the print document.

According to the present invention, a print service system includes a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a wide area network, a print server managing each of the printing apparatuses connected to the wide area network via the wide area network, And a mail server that relays the e-mail sent to the wireless telephone.
If a plurality of printing apparatuses are scattered in various places, the user only has to go to the nearest installation location of the printing apparatus to get the print document, so that the user does not need to go to the mail server or the transfer destination, which is convenient.

Next, in the present invention, when the mail server receives the electronic mail including the attached data, the mail server notifies the wireless telephone of the reception of the electronic mail, An attached data separation ID transmitting unit for separating data and transmitting the separated attached data and user ID to the print server is provided.

Therefore, when the mail server receives the electronic mail including the attached data, the mail server notifies the radio telephone of the reception of the electronic mail including the attached data by the receiving communication means. This allows the user who is the owner of the wireless telephone to know that the e-mail including the attached data has arrived.

On the other hand, the attached data separation ID of the mail server
The transmission unit separates the attached data from the received e-mail, and transmits the separated attached data and the user ID to the print server.

Here, the print server is provided with storage means for storing the attached data and the user ID in association with each other, so that when the attached data and the user ID are transmitted to the print server, the attached data is stored in the user. It is stored in the storage unit in association with the ID.

Next, each of the above printing apparatuses has an ID input means for inputting a user ID. For this reason,
The user can input the user ID at any one of the plurality of printing devices.

When the user inputs a user ID from any one of the plurality of printing apparatuses, the printing apparatus notifies the print server.

Based on this notification, the print server has a search means for searching the attached data corresponding to the user ID. Therefore, the print server searches the attached data corresponding to the notified user ID by the search means, and searches for the attached data. The ID is transferred to the printing device to which the ID has been input, and the attached data is printed by the printing device.

As a result, the user can print the attached data at the nearest place, that is, at the nearest printing device, when necessary, even if the electronic mail received at the destination has attached data.

Further, at the time of printing, only the attached data can be transmitted to the printing apparatus for printing, instead of the entire e-mail including the attached data. For this reason, the transmission cost is lower than when the text of the e-mail is acquired by the wireless telephone and the entire e-mail is transmitted to the printing apparatus.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a print service system capable of printing attached data which cannot be recognized by a mobile device such as a mobile phone at a nearest printer connected to a wide area network without increasing communication cost. .

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the print server converts the attached data into print data that can be printed by a printing device that has requested printing. It is characterized by having conversion means.

According to the above invention, the print server includes:
A conversion unit is provided for converting the attached data into print data that can be printed by a printing device that has requested printing.

For this reason, even if the attached data is described in a special image format and cannot be directly printed depending on the printing device, the conversion means of the print server can print on the printing device that has issued the print request. Since the data is converted into print data, the printing apparatus does not have to be a high-end model capable of supporting a special image format.

As a result, even if the attached data added to the e-mail is in any format, it can be printed by the nearest printing device.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the mail server corresponds to the mail address and the telephone number of the wireless telephone to which the mail address is transmitted as the user ID. On the other hand, the ID input means of the printing device
It comprises a telephone number acquiring means for receiving a radio wave transmitted from an approaching wireless telephone and acquiring the telephone number, wherein the telephone number acquired by the telephone number acquiring means is used as a user ID.

According to the above invention, the mail server can make the mail address correspond to the telephone number of the wireless telephone to which the mail address is transmitted as the user ID. Further, the ID input means of the printing apparatus comprises a telephone number acquiring means for receiving a radio wave transmitted from the approaching wireless telephone and acquiring the telephone number. The telephone number acquired by the telephone number acquiring means is used as a user ID. Used as The function of the telephone number obtaining means is that a general mobile phone or other wireless telephone constantly transmits a weak radio wave to notify its position, and the telephone number is obtained by receiving this radio wave. You can do it.

As a result, only when the user owns the wireless telephone and approaches the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus receives the radio wave transmitted from the approaching wireless telephone by the telephone number acquiring means and changes the telephone number. Can be obtained. The telephone number allows the mail server to associate the mail address with the telephone number of the wireless telephone to which the mail address is transmitted as the user ID.

Therefore, the user can input a telephone number as the user ID only by approaching the printing apparatus without directly inputting the user ID using the ID input means of the printing apparatus.

As a result, the user does not need to input the user ID into the printing device when printing the attached data.

Therefore, a print service system with good operability can be provided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, is characterized in that the mail server includes a confirmation unit for confirming a processing method of the attached data to the wireless telephone. Features.

According to the above invention, the mail server is provided with the checking means for checking the processing method of the attached data with respect to the wireless telephone.

Thus, the mail server can confirm, by the confirmation means, how the user wants to process the attached data.

As a result, since it is possible to confirm to the user whether or not the attached data needs to be printed, unnecessary printing can be avoided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the printing device notifies the print server of the telephone number obtained by the telephone number obtaining means. The print server has means for starting transfer of attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number.

According to the invention, the printing apparatus has the telephone number notifying means for notifying the telephone number acquired by the telephone number acquiring means to the print server, while the print server corresponds to the notified telephone number. Start transfer of attached data.

Therefore, the telephone number notifying means of the printing apparatus notifies the print server of the telephone number obtained by the telephone number obtaining means. Thereby, the print server starts transferring the attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number.

As a result, before the user instructs printing,
The print server can transfer the attached data to the printing device in advance. Therefore, as described above, just as the user approaches the printing device, the print server
The attached data can be transferred to the printing device in advance.

As a result, when the user instructs the printing, the attached data is transferred from the print server to the printing apparatus, so that the printing can be immediately performed by the printing apparatus.

Therefore, the user can reduce the waiting time before starting printing.

[0045]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the print service system according to the present embodiment,
A description will be given of a mobile phone as a wireless phone, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a wireless phone may be a mobile phone, a simple mobile phone (PHS: Personal Handyphone System),
It is applicable to mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs).

In the print service system according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a mail server 1, printers 3 and 4 as printing devices, and a print server 5 are connected to the Internet 6 as a wide area network. ing. In FIG. 1, a mail server 2 belonging to another system and a personal computer (PC) 7 connected to the mail server 2 are also shown. In addition,
Here, the printers 3 and 4 show two printing devices, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is assumed that more printers 3 and 4 are installed at various locations.

The mail server 1 is a mail server A for a portable telephone. As shown in FIG. 1, a network interface (hereinafter referred to as "network I / F") 11 and a wireless telephone interface (hereinafter referred to as "wireless telephone"). I / F ”) 12, mail / attached data holding unit 1
3 and a control unit 14.

In the mail server 1, the control unit 14
An e-mail transmitted from a terminal of another mail system to each mobile phone 8 as a wireless phone is typically received via the Internet 6 and the network I / F 11. Then, the control unit 14 transmits the text data of the e-mail (the e-mail text) to the text transmission unit 14.
b is set to be transmitted to each mobile phone 8.

On the other hand, when transmitting an electronic mail from the mobile phone 8, the electronic mail transmitted from the mobile phone 8 is received by the wireless telephone I / F 12 of the mail server 1, and the Internet mail is transmitted by the mail server 1. The data converted into the format is transmitted to the destination via the network I / F 11.

Further, when the transmitted electronic mail includes attached data, the control unit 14
The attached data is separated by an attached data separating unit 14a as a D transmission unit, and the attached data is temporarily stored in the mail / attached data holding unit 13.

Further, the control unit 14 informs the mobile phone 8 (note that the attached data is included in the electronic mail) by the transfer confirming unit 14e as the receiving communication unit and the confirming unit.
In the drawing, two mobile phones 8 are shown, indicating that the mobile phone 8 has moved closer to the printer 3. The same applies to FIG. 2 described later. ). At this time, the transfer confirmation unit 14e simultaneously confirms the processing method of the attached data as described later.
Inquires about the processing method.

The mail transfer section 14c and the address transfer section 14d as the attached data separation ID transmitting means are set to transmit the attached data together with the telephone number of the mobile phone 8 to the print server 5 via the Internet 6. ing.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printers 3 and 4 are connected to a (wide-area) network printing system, such as a convenience store 21 or a copy shop 22, which has an alliance with the printing service system via the Internet 6. It may be a digital multifunction peripheral that is installed in a store and also has functions as a facsimile machine and a copier.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printers 3 and 4 are connected to the Internet 6 by a network interface (hereinafter, referred to as “network I / F”) 31 and transmit attached data transmitted from the print server 5. It has a function to print print data.

The printers 3 and 4 can also temporarily store the print data transmitted via the Internet 6 in the data holding unit 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the printers 3 and 4 include an image processing section 33a and an image reading section 34 of the control section 33.
The image forming unit 35 also has a copy function of reading a document image and printing it on a sheet.

Further, when the user uses the print service system, the printers 3 and 4 are provided with an input unit 3 as ID input means used for inputting a user ID.
I have seven.

Further, the control unit 33 of the printers 3 and 4 receives or monitors the weak radio wave transmitted from the mobile phone 8 by the wireless telephone receiving unit 36, and the telephone number identification unit 33b and the user who recognize the user ID as the user ID. It has a recognition unit 33c. Therefore, these wireless telephone receiving units 36,
The telephone number identification unit 33b and the user recognition unit 33c have functions as an ID input unit and a telephone number acquisition unit of the present invention.

The telephone number recognized as the user ID is transferred to the print server 5 by an ID transfer / data receiving unit 33d as a telephone number notifying means.

Incidentally, in addition to the printers 3 and 4, a number of printers having the same function are connected to the print service system via the Internet 6.

Next, the print server 5 includes a network interface (hereinafter, referred to as "network I / F") 51, a data holding unit 52 as a storage unit, a process management unit 53, a data storage and retrieval unit 54 as a retrieval unit, A print request reception / analysis unit 55, a data conversion unit 56 as a conversion unit, and a printer communication unit 57 are provided.

The print server 5 is connected to the Internet 6 via the network I / F 51, and stores the attached data transmitted from the mail server 1 and the telephone number used as the user ID in the data holding unit 52.
Can be memorized.

In the print server 5, the attached data is processed by the data converter 56 into print data that can be printed by the printers 3, 4,....
Thus, the print requests from the printers 3, 4,... Can be satisfied. Then, the data storage and retrieval unit 54 retrieves the attached data stored in the data holding unit 52 according to the processing result of the print request reception analysis unit 55. Next, the data conversion unit 56 converts the print data into print data in a data format that can be printed by the printer 3 for which the print request has been made,
The printer communication unit 57 is set so as to transmit the print data to the printer 3 that has issued the print request.

As an operation of the printing service system having the above configuration, first, the portable telephone 8 is connected via the Internet 6.
Server 1 when an email is sent to
Will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the mail server 1 receives a mail from the Internet 6 (S1), and determines whether or not the received electronic mail includes attached data (S1).
2).

If the transmitted e-mail does not include the attached data, the e-mail text data is transmitted to the portable telephone 8 (S3), and the portable telephone 8 receives the e-mail, The process ends (S1
3).

On the other hand, if the e-mail contains the attached data, the mail server 1 separates the attached data from the e-mail and stores it (S4), and then transmits only the text data to the mobile phone 8 (S5). , S14). Immediately thereafter, the mail server 1 transmits a processing confirmation mail to the mobile phone 8 to confirm that the electronic mail has attached data and a processing method for the separated attached data (S6).

The user of the mobile phone 8 receives the processing confirmation mail (S 15), and responds to the processing confirmation mail with, for example, “The entire electronic mail (attached data and text) to a desired terminal device (for example, home or home). A desired process can be selected from "transfer to PC in office or PC 7 of mail server 2", "delete attached data" or "print attached data" (S16 to S2).
0).

Here, in S16, when the user selects the transfer of the entire electronic mail and replies "Transfer" (S17), the mail server 1 receives the "Transfer" (S7). The e-mail and the attached data are transferred to the address designated by the user or the predetermined address, and the attached data stored in the mail server 1 is deleted (S8).

On the other hand, when the user selects to delete the attached data in S18 and replies "unnecessary" (S18).
19) When the mail server 1 receives the “unnecessary” message (S9), the mail server 1 deletes the stored attached data (S9).
10).

On the other hand, in S18, when the user selects the printing of the attached data and returns "necessary" (S18).
20) When the mail server 1 receives the "necessary" message (S11), the mail server 1 transmits the attached data to the print server 5 together with the telephone number of the mobile phone 8 as a user ID (S12). .

In the above flow chart,
In step S6, only the processing confirmation mail is transmitted to the mobile phone 8, but is not limited to this. For example, the processing confirmation mail transmitted to the mobile phone 8 can be used to print attached data. .. May be included in the vicinity of the user, or information on the location of a store where the printers 3, 4,. Further, it is preferable that the mail server 1 is set so that the location of the printers 3, 4,... That can be used for printing the attached data can be transmitted to the mobile phone 8 at any time, based on a user's instruction.

Further, in the reply to the processing confirmation mail in S17 or S20, the printers 3, 4,... Used for printing may be designated. In this case, the print server 5 can increase the print processing speed of the printers 3, 4,... By transmitting the attached data to any of the designated printers 3, 4,.

Next, the operation of the print server 5 and the printers 3 and 4 when the user selects the printing of the attached data in S18 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the user selects to print the attached data, the user goes to the nearest store and prints the attached data using the printer 3 installed there.

At this time, as shown in FIG.
An instruction to print the attached data is issued from the input unit 37 as the ID input means of the printer 3 (S21).
A telephone number is input as a user ID (S22). As a means for inputting the user ID, the user can use the mobile phone 8
In this case, since the mobile phone 8 transmits a radio wave, the transmitted radio wave may be received by the wireless telephone receiver 36 and used as the user ID. The details of this processing operation will be described later.

Next, the printer 3 having received the telephone number as the user ID transmits the number to the print server 5 (S23).

Here, the storage state of the attached data in the print server 5 will be described.

First, the print server 5 adds a predetermined data ID to the attached data transmitted from the mail server 1.
A number is assigned, and the attached data is managed by the data ID number.

The print server 5 transmits the data I
The D number is set to be managed in association with the telephone number of the mobile phone 8, that is, the user ID.

More specifically, the print server 5
As shown in FIG. 5A, a list of telephone numbers transmitted together with the attached data from the mail server 1 and a list of data ID numbers in each attached data as shown in FIG. are doing. Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, the data ID number is specified based on the telephone number transmitted from the printer 3, and based on the specified data ID number, as shown in FIG. The attached data can be searched (S33).

When searching for the attached data corresponding to the telephone number in S33, it is determined whether or not there is a data ID number (S34). Is the print server 5
Informs the printer 3 of that effect (S35). Thereby, the printer 3 displays on the display screen that there is no attached data to be printed (S24).

On the other hand, in S34, if there is a data ID number corresponding to the telephone number, that is, if there is attached data, the print server 5 transmits the data ID number, name and storage term of the attached data to the printer 3 ( S36).
At this time, for example, as shown in FIG.
These are displayed on the display screen.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the user selects a data ID number to be printed (S25). At this time, if the user selects not to print the attached data due to a change of mind or the like (S26), the user instructs to stop the print processing or does not select the data within a predetermined time. The fact is transmitted to the printer 3. Accordingly, the printer 3 transmits a print processing stop instruction to the print server 5 (S27), and ends the processing (S3).
7).

On the other hand, if the user selects the attached data to be printed in S26,
Transmits the data ID number of the selected attached data to the print server 5 (S28). As a result, the print server 5 processes the attached data corresponding to the received data ID number into print data that can be printed on the printer 3, and then transmits the print data and a print instruction to the printer 3 (S38, S39, S40).

[0086] Thereafter, the printer 3
Prints the attached data received from (S29, S3
0). Then, after the completion of printing is reported to the print server 5 (S31), the attached data is deleted and the process is terminated (S32). The print server 5 that has received the report of the completion of printing deletes the attached data transmitted to the printer 3 and ends the processing (S41).

As described above, in the printing service system, even when an e-mail with attached data is received by the mobile phone 8, the printing service system is installed in the nearest store and configured as an affiliated (wide area) network printing system. The attached data is printed by the printer 3 and the contents can be confirmed.

Further, the sender of the e-mail can transmit the e-mail with the attached data without confirming whether the destination terminal is the mobile phone 8 or not.

In this printing service system, the data conversion unit 56 is provided in the print server 5, so that in addition to the data created by the application software of the personal computer, the data of the Internet fax using the image file in the TIFF format is used. Can also be handled.

On the other hand, a weak radio wave including telephone number information is constantly transmitted from the portable telephone 8 to the base station in order to notify its position and the like even during standby.

Therefore, the printer 3 may acquire the telephone number by receiving this radio wave.

In this case, by performing the processing as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the time until printing can be shortened.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the user holding the mobile phone 8 approaches, the printer 3 first detects the above-mentioned radio wave (S51), and the mobile phone 8
Is determined (S52) and transmitted to the print server 5 (S53).

Thus, the print server 5 searches for a data ID number corresponding to the telephone number (S62), and searches for attached data (S63). Here, when there is no attached data, the print server 5 transmits that the printer 3 is not present (S64), and receives the fact that the printer 3 is present (S54). On the other hand, when there is attached data, the searched data ID number is transmitted to the printer 3 (S6).
5) The attached data corresponding to the data ID number is processed into print data that can be printed on the printer 3, and then transmission of the print data is started (S66). Thereby, the printer 3 receives the data ID number (S55), and accumulates print data in the attached data (S56). In addition,
If the printer 3 can print in the data format of the attached data, the attached data is transmitted as print data without being converted by the data converter 56.

Next, as described above, while receiving the radio wave of the mobile phone 8, that is, while the user holding the mobile phone 8 is nearby, the printer 3 issues a print instruction from the user. Wait (S57, S58). Then, when a print instruction is input, the printer 3 prints the print data of the already received attached data (S5).
9).

On the other hand, in S57, if the radio wave cannot be received before the print instruction is input, that is, if the user having the mobile phone 8 is far away, the printer 3
The print server 5 is instructed to stop the transmission of the print data in the attached data to the print server 5 (S60), and the print data and the data ID number in the already received attached data are deleted, and the process is terminated (S60, S61). . Accordingly, the print server 5 stops transmitting the print data in the attached data (S67).

As described above, in the print service system of the present embodiment, the plurality of printers 3.4 connected to the Internet 6 and each printer 3.4 connected to the Internet 6 are connected via the Internet 6. It comprises a print server 5 to be managed and a mail server 1 connected to the Internet 6 and relaying e-mail transmitted to the mobile phone 8.

Therefore, if a plurality of printers 3, 4,... Are scattered at various places, the user can easily access the nearest printer 3, 4,.
Since it is only necessary to go to the installation location of 4 and get the print document, there is no need to go to the mail server 1 or the transfer destination, which is convenient.

Next, in the present embodiment, the mail server 1
The transfer confirmation unit 14e as a reception contact unit and a confirmation unit for notifying the reception of the e-mail to the mobile phone 8 when the e-mail including the attached data is received, and the attached data from the received e-mail. It includes a mail transfer unit 14c and an address transfer unit 14d that separate and send the separated attached data and user ID to the print server 5.

For this reason, when the mail server 1 receives the e-mail including the attached data, the mail server 1
Then, the mobile phone 8 is notified that the e-mail including the attached data has been received. Thereby, the user who is the owner of the mobile phone 8 can know that the e-mail including the attached data has arrived.

On the other hand, the attached data separating section 14a of the mail server 1 separates the attached data from the received e-mail, and the separated attached data and user ID are sent to the print server 5 by the mail transfer section 14c and the address transfer section 14d. Send to

Here, the print server 5 stores the attached data and the user ID in association with each other.
, The attached data and the user I
When D is transmitted to the print server 5, the attached data is stored in the data holding unit 52 in association with the user ID.

Each of the printers 3, 4,... Has an input section 37 for inputting a user ID. For this reason, the user can input the user ID at any one of the printers 3 among the plurality of printers 3.

Then, when the user enters a plurality of printers 3.4,.
When the user ID is input from any of the printers 3, the printer 3 notifies the print server 5.

On the basis of this notification, the print server 5
Since the data storage and retrieval unit 54 for retrieving the corresponding attached data from the user ID is provided, the notified user ID is provided.
Is retrieved by the data storage / retrieval unit 54 and transferred to the printer 3 to which the user ID has been input,
The attached data is printed by the printer 3.

As a result, the user can print the attached data at the nearest place, that is, at the nearest printer 3 when necessary, even if the electronic mail received at a place where the user is away has attached data.

At the time of printing, not the entire e-mail including the attached data, but only the attached data
And print it. For this reason, the transmission cost is lower than when the body of the e-mail is acquired by the mobile phone 8 and the entire e-mail is transmitted to the printer 3.

Therefore, there is provided a print service system capable of printing attached data which cannot be recognized by a mobile device such as the mobile phone 8 by the nearest printer 3 connected to the Internet 6 without increasing the communication cost. be able to.

In the print service system according to the present embodiment, the print server 5 includes a data conversion unit 56 that converts the attached data into print data that can be printed by the printer 3 that has requested printing.

For this reason, even when the attached data is described in a special image format and cannot be directly printed by the printers 3, 4,. Since the data is converted into print data that can be printed by the printer 3, the printer 3 does not have to be a high-end model capable of supporting a special image format.

As a result, even if the attached data added to the electronic mail is of any format, it can be printed by the nearest printer 3.

In the print service system according to the present embodiment, the mail server 1 can associate a mail address with a telephone number of the mobile phone 8 to which the mail address is transmitted as a user ID. The ID input means of the printer 3 includes a radio telephone receiving unit 36 for receiving radio waves transmitted from the approaching mobile phone 8 and acquiring the telephone number, a telephone number identifying unit 33b, and a user recognizing unit 33c. The telephone number acquired by the wireless telephone receiving unit 36, the telephone number identifying unit 33b, and the user recognizing unit 33c is used as the user ID. The operation of the wireless telephone receiving unit 36, the telephone number identifying unit 33b, and the user recognizing unit 33c is such that in a general wireless telephone such as the mobile phone 8, a weak radio wave is constantly transmitted in order to notify the position. Therefore, the telephone number can be obtained by receiving this radio wave.

As a result, when the user only carries the mobile phone 8 and approaches the printer 3, the printer 3 operates the radio telephone receiving unit 36, the telephone number identifying unit 33b, and the user recognizing unit 3.
At 3c, a radio wave transmitted from the approaching mobile phone 8 is received and its telephone number can be acquired. And
In the mail server 1, the mail address and the telephone number of the mobile phone 8 to which the mail address is to be transmitted are stored in the mail server 1.
D.

For this reason, the user does not need to directly input the user ID in the
, It is possible to input a telephone number as a user ID.

As a result, the user does not need to input the user ID to the printer 3 when printing the attached data.

Therefore, a print service system with good operability can be provided.

Further, in the print service system of the present embodiment, the mail server 1 includes a transfer confirmation unit 14e for confirming the processing method of the attached data to the mobile phone 8.

Therefore, the mail server 1 can confirm, by the transfer confirmation section 14e, how the user wants to process the attached data.

As a result, the user can confirm whether or not the attached data needs to be printed, so that unnecessary printing can be avoided.

In the printing service system of the present embodiment, the printers 3, 4,... Notify the print server 5 of the telephone numbers obtained by the wireless telephone receiving unit 36, the telephone number identifying unit 33b, and the user recognizing unit 33c. The print server 5 has an ID transfer / data receiving unit 33d for performing
The transfer of the attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number starts.

Therefore, the telephone number acquired by the ID transfer / data receiving section 33d of the printer 3 is notified to the print server. Thus, the print server 5 starts transferring the attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number.

As a result, before the user instructs printing,
The print server 5 can transfer the attached data to the printer 3 in advance. Therefore, as described above, the print server 5 can transfer the attached data to the printer 3 in advance only when the user approaches the printer 3.

As a result, when the user instructs the printing, the attached data is transferred from the print server 5 to the printer 3, so that the printer 3 can immediately print.

Therefore, the user can reduce the waiting time before starting printing.

[0125]

As described above, the print service system of the present invention provides a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a wide area network and a print management apparatus for managing each of the printing apparatuses connected to the wide area network via the wide area network. A mail server connected to the wide area network and relaying the e-mail sent to the wireless telephone, while the mail server receives the e-mail including the attached data when the e-mail is received. A receiving contacting means for notifying the radio telephone of the reception, and an attached data separating ID transmitting means for separating the attached data from the received e-mail and transmitting the separated attached data and the user ID to the print server, The print server,
A storage unit that stores the attached data and the user ID in association with each other; and a search unit that searches for the corresponding attached data from the user ID. Each of the printing apparatuses includes an ID input unit for inputting a user ID. On the other hand, the print server notifies the print server of a user ID input from any one of the plurality of printing devices, and the print server
The attached data corresponding to the notified user ID is searched, transferred to the printing device, and printed.

Therefore, if a plurality of printing apparatuses are scattered in various places, the user can take out the printing documents from the nearest printing apparatus instead of going to a distant mail server or a destination. It is convenient because it can be done.

Next, when the mail server receives the e-mail including the attached data, the mail server notifies the reception of the e-mail including the attached data to the wireless telephone by the receiving communication means. The user can know that the e-mail including the attached data has arrived.

On the other hand, the attached data separation ID of the mail server
The transmission unit separates the attached data from the received e-mail, and transmits the separated attached data and the user ID to the print server.

Here, the print server is provided with a storage means for storing the attached data and the user ID in association with each other, so that when the attached data and the user ID are transmitted to the print server, the attached data is stored in the user. It is stored in the storage unit in association with the ID.

Next, each of the above printing apparatuses is provided with ID input means for inputting a user ID. For this reason,
The user can input the user ID at any one of the plurality of printing devices.

When the user inputs a user ID from one of the plurality of printing apparatuses, the printing apparatus notifies the print server.

Based on this notification, the print server has a search means for searching the attached data corresponding to the user ID. Therefore, the print server searches the attached data corresponding to the notified user ID by the search means, and searches for the attached data. The ID is transferred to the printing device to which the ID has been input, and the attached data is printed by the printing device.

As a result, the user can print the attached data at the nearest place, that is, at the nearest printing device when necessary, even if the attached data is attached to the e-mail received outside.

In printing, only the attached data can be transmitted to the printing apparatus and printed, instead of the entire e-mail including the attached data. For this reason, the transmission cost is lower than when the text of the e-mail is acquired by the wireless telephone and the entire e-mail is transmitted to the printing apparatus.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a print service system capable of printing attached data which cannot be recognized by a mobile device such as a mobile phone at a nearest printer connected to a wide area network without increasing communication costs. This has the effect.

As described above, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the print server converts the attached data into print data that can be printed by a printing device that has requested printing. It has something.

Therefore, even when the attached data is described in a special image format and cannot be directly printed depending on the printing device, the conversion means of the print server can print on the printing device which has requested printing. Since the data is converted into print data, the printing apparatus does not have to be a high-end model capable of supporting a special image format.

As a result, even if the attached data added to the e-mail is in any format, it is possible to print it at the nearest printing device.

As described above, in the print service system of the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the mail server can associate the mail address with the telephone number of the wireless telephone to which the mail address is transmitted as the user ID. On the other hand, the ID input means of the printing apparatus comprises a telephone number acquiring means for receiving a radio wave transmitted from an approaching wireless telephone and acquiring the telephone number. It is used as an ID.

Therefore, only when the user owns the wireless telephone and approaches the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus receives the radio wave transmitted from the approaching wireless telephone by the telephone number acquiring means and changes the telephone number. Can be obtained. The telephone number allows the mail server to associate the mail address with the telephone number of the wireless telephone to which the mail address is transmitted as the user ID.

Therefore, the user can input a telephone number as the user ID only by approaching the printing apparatus without directly inputting the user ID using the ID input means of the printing apparatus.

As a result, the user does not need to input the user ID to the printing apparatus when printing the attached data in the attached data, so that a print service system with good operability can be provided.

As described above, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the mail server includes the confirmation means for confirming the processing method of the attached data to the wireless telephone.

Therefore, the mail server can confirm by the confirmation means how the user wants to process the attached data.

As a result, since it is possible to confirm to the user whether or not it is necessary to print the attached data, it is possible to avoid unnecessary printing.

As described above, in the print service system according to the present invention, in the above-described print service system, the printing apparatus has a telephone number notifying unit for notifying the print server of the telephone number obtained by the telephone number obtaining unit. On the other hand, the print server starts transferring the attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number.

Therefore, before the user instructs printing,
The print server can transfer the attached data to the printing device in advance. Therefore, as described above, just as the user approaches the printing device, the print server
The attached data can be transferred to the printing device in advance.

As a result, when the user instructs the printing, the attached data is transferred from the print server to the printing apparatus, so that the printing apparatus can immediately print.

Therefore, the user can reduce the waiting time before starting printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a print service system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a connection relationship among a print server, each printer, a mail server, and a mobile phone connected to the print service system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of a mail server when an electronic mail is transmitted to a mobile phone, in comparison with a mail server side and a mobile phone (wireless telephone) side.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation in a case where a user selects printing of attached data in comparison between a printer and a print server.

5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing a method of managing attached data in the print server, wherein FIG. 5A shows a list of telephone numbers transmitted together with attached data from a mail server, and FIG. FIG. 9C shows a list of data ID numbers of attached data, and FIG. 9C shows a data ID number based on the telephone number transmitted from the printer, and attaches the data according to the telephone number based on the specified data ID number. This indicates a state in which data has been searched.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a data ID number, a name, and a storage expiration date of the attached data displayed on the printer when there is attached data corresponding to a telephone number.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printer when automatically acquiring a telephone number by receiving a radio wave transmitted from a mobile phone in comparison with a print server.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mail server 3.4 Printer (printing apparatus) 5 Print server 6 Internet (wide area network) 8 Mobile telephone (wireless telephone) 14a Attached data separation part (attached data separation ID transmission means) 14c Mail transfer part (attached data separation ID transmission Means) 14d Address transfer unit (attached data separation ID transmission unit) 14e Transfer confirmation unit (reception contact unit, confirmation unit) 33b Phone number identification unit (phone number acquisition unit, ID input unit) 33c User recognition unit (phone number acquisition unit) 33d ID transfer / data receiving unit (telephone number notifying unit) 36 wireless telephone receiving unit (telephone number obtaining unit, ID input unit) 37 input unit (ID input unit) 52 data holding unit (storage unit) 54 Data storage search unit (search means) 55 Print request reception analysis unit 56 Data conversion unit (Conversion Stage)

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 17/60 124 G06F 17/60 124 302 302C 310 310A 336 336 H04M 11/00 302 H04M 11/00 302 F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 AP07 HQ01 HQ17 HR07 5B021 AA01 BB02 EE02 5B049 BB00 CC05 DD01 EE01 EE07 FF02 FF03 FF04 GG01 GG03 GG04 GG07 5K101 KK01 KK02 LL12 MM07 NN19 NN21 PP04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus connected to a wide area network, a print server for managing each printing apparatus connected to the wide area network via the wide area network, and a wireless telephone connected to the wide area network. A mail server that relays the transmitted e-mail; and the mail server, when receiving the e-mail including the attached data, receiving notification means for notifying the radio telephone of the reception of the e-mail. Attached data separation ID transmitting means for separating the attached data from the received e-mail and transmitting the separated attached data and user ID to a print server, wherein the print server converts the attached data and the user ID Storage means for associating and storing, and search means for searching for the corresponding attached data from the user ID Each of the printing apparatuses includes an ID input unit for inputting a user ID, and notifies the print server of a user ID input from any one of the plurality of printing apparatuses. Is a print service system for retrieving attached data corresponding to the notified user ID, transferring the data to the printing device, and printing the data. 2. The print service system according to claim 1, wherein the print server includes a conversion unit that converts the attached data into print data that can be printed by a printing device that has requested printing. 3. The mail server is capable of associating a mail address with a telephone number of a wireless telephone to which the mail address is to be transmitted as a user ID, while the ID input means of the printing apparatus transmits a call from an approaching wireless telephone. 3. The print service system according to claim 1, further comprising a telephone number acquisition unit that receives a radio wave to acquire the telephone number, and uses the telephone number acquired by the telephone number acquisition unit as a user ID. 4. The print service system according to claim 1, wherein the mail server includes a confirmation unit for confirming a method of processing the attached data with respect to the wireless telephone. 5. The printing apparatus has a telephone number notifying means for notifying the print server of the telephone number obtained by the telephone number obtaining means, while the print server transfers the attached data corresponding to the notified telephone number. The print service system according to claim 3, wherein the print service system starts.