JP2002055915A - System for mediating printing on network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actualize practical printing between a client and a printer which are connected to a network. SOLUTION: A server which is connected to the network is provided to structure a mediation system which mediates printing. The client sends print data and an identification information specifying a printer as an output destination to the mediation system. The mediation system converts the print data into PDF and outputs it to the printer corresponding to the identification number. On a printer side, the PDF is converted into intrinsic control data of the printer and printing is carried out. The mediation system adds proper advertisement corresponding to user information and specified content and performs the printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for realizing printing between a client connected to a network and a printing apparatus by mediating between the client and the printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various printers have been used as output devices of computers. The printer is connected to the computer on a one-to-one basis (hereinafter, referred to as “local connection”), receives data from the computer, and performs printing. An aspect in which a printer is connected to a LAN (local area network) and shared by a plurality of computers connected to the same LAN has also been widespread.

Further, IPP (Internet Printing Prot)
ocol), it has become possible to print between any client and printing device connected to the Internet. However, the output destination is limited to a printing device whose URI (Uniform Resource Indicator) is known.

[0004] In any of the above embodiments,
Normally, the connection state between the printer and the computer is predetermined. In other words, in the past, printing was usually performed at a fixed location for each computer owner.

[0005]

In recent years, the portability of terminals that access the Internet, such as notebook computers and mobile phones, has been improved, and information can be accessed anywhere. Based on this tendency, there has been a demand for a technology that allows easy printing from a portable terminal regardless of location. For example, there has been a demand for a technique capable of performing printing using a nearest printing apparatus immediately after acquiring information. Since printing in which the output destination can be freely selected on the network as described above greatly improves the convenience of the printing apparatus, the realization is desired not only for use from a portable terminal but also for printing.
It has also been desired to add commercial value in order to quickly spread such a printing environment.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a technique for realizing printing between a client connected to a network and a printing apparatus with a high degree of freedom in selecting a print content and an output destination. Aim.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, a print mediation server which mediates between a plurality of clients and a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a network by a print mediation server to realize printing between the two. In the method, (a)
Receiving, from the client, print data and output destination designation information for designating the printing apparatus as an output destination; and (b) adding information additional data including predetermined information different from the print data to the print data. Generating a general-purpose format that does not depend on the model of the printing apparatus; and (c) mediating the generated information-added data to the specified printing apparatus. The printing device generates control data unique to the printing device from the data in the general-purpose format, and executes printing.

As a general-purpose format, for example, PDF
The format can be used. In addition, a page description language such as Postscript (registered trademark) can be used. The use of these formats has the advantage that the layout of the printed matter can be maintained relatively easily. In addition, since these formats can convert almost all print data, there is an advantage that the present invention can be applied to a wide range of print data.

[0009] The predetermined information may be printed on a page different from the print data designated by the user.
The print data may be printed in the margin of the designated print data. By adding the predetermined information in the mediation process, it is possible to add commercial added value to the print mediation method according to the content.

[0010] For example, the predetermined information can be advertisement information. The printing environment in which the output destination can be freely selected has the same effect as the mass media, and is suitable for the advertisement medium. By adding an advertisement, a part of the installation cost and the running cost of the printing apparatus can be covered by the advertisement cost. The information to be added may be news, weather forecast, trivial knowledge such as so-called wisdom of life, fortune-telling, character image, calendar, etc., in addition to advertisement.

As the predetermined information to be added, information previously stored in the mediation system may be used. Alternatively, the predetermined information may be obtained from a server other than the print mediation server. Acquisition server is IP address, U
What is necessary is just to specify in advance by RL (Uniform Resource Locator) or the like.

The information to be added can be always constant information or can be selected at random. Further, the information may be information specified in association with at least one of the user who made the print request and the print data. For example, when the gender, age, occupation, and the like of the user who has issued the print request are registered in advance, it is possible to select information to be added in connection with these. When a Web page is specified as print data, information to be added in relation to the content can be selected. By selecting information in this way, the significance of adding information can be further improved.

The present invention can be configured in various forms, such as a print mediation server that implements the above-described print mediation method, a program that implements the print mediation method, various signals that can be regarded as the same, and a recording medium that records the program. It is. Here, as a recording medium, a flexible disk or CD-
ROMs, magneto-optical disks, IC cards, ROM cartridges, punch cards, printed matter on which codes such as bar codes are printed, and internal storage devices (RAM and RO
Various computer-readable media can be used, such as memory (e.g., M) and external storage.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described on the basis of working examples by dividing them into the following items. A. System configuration: B. Functional block: B1. Modification of functional block: Print execution example: C1. Aspect 1 Printing of E-mail: C2. Aspect 2 Web page printing:

A. System Configuration: FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the configuration of a print mediation system. This is a system that flexibly selects an output destination and performs printing via the Internet. The Internet INT includes a server SVA for providing contents such as Web pages, a server SV for constructing a print mediation system, printers PRT1, PRT2,
The client computer CC1 and the like are connected. These devices can exchange information via a network. Here, for convenience of explanation and illustration, only a few devices are shown, but as is well known, an infinite number of servers, printers, and clients are connected to the Internet. The Internet INT can be accessed from the mobile phone CP.
The mobile phone CP that can access the Internet can perform almost the same functions as the client computer.

The server SV is configured to function as a print mediation system in the present embodiment. Server S
As described below, V manages information of a client and a printer registered in advance, and performs printing by mediating a print request between the two.

Client computers CC1, CC2
When a user designates any one of the printers PRT1 and PRT2 on the network and issues a print request from the mobile phone CP, the print request is once transmitted to the server SV. The server SV confirms and sets the operation status of the designated printer, and confirms whether or not the user has the right to access the printer. The server SV converts the print data specified by the client into a general-purpose format that can be printed by any printer. In this embodiment, PDF is used as a general-purpose format.
Was used. When data in the PDF format is transmitted from the server SV to the printer, the data is converted into control data unique to the printer by a printer driver prepared on the printer side, and printing is performed.

In the following embodiment, basically, the case where most of the functions of the mediation system are provided by the server SV will be described, but it may be constructed by a distributed processing system. Further, the application of the embodiment is not limited to the Internet, but can be applied to a relatively limited network such as a LAN or so-called personal computer communication. From this viewpoint, in the following description, the Internet, LAN, and the like are all generically referred to as “network”.

B. Functional block: FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing functional blocks of the mediation system. Mediation system 200
Is constructed in software within the server SV.
FIG. 2 also shows the printer control unit 250 and the client 5. When the printer is directly connected to the network, the printer control unit 250 is a functional block configured as software in a microcomputer built in each printer. When the printer is locally connected to a computer connected to the network, the printer control unit 250 can be constructed in the computer as software.

The printer control unit 250 includes a logical printer management unit 252, a physical printer management unit 254, a data conversion unit 256, and a security module 251. The logical printer management unit 252 is a printer as a unit that handles a print job. For example, when one document is distributedly printed by two printers, the two printers are combined to form one logical printer.

The physical printer management unit 254 has a function of managing the operation status of each printer, for example, the remaining amount of toner and paper. The physical printer management unit 254 is provided for each printer as a machine regardless of the configuration of the logical printer.

The data conversion unit 256 corresponds to the function of a printer driver. It has a function of converting the data received from the mediation system 200 into control data unique to the printer to be controlled, that is, data indicating on / off of dots for each pixel. Security module 251
Has functions such as data encryption to prevent unauthorized access to the printer control unit 250 and transmission / reception authentication.

The mediation system 200 includes a standard function unit 210, an application unit 220, a charging unit 240, and a security module 201. The standard function unit 210 provides a main function for realizing printing via the mediation system 200. The standard function unit 210 includes a data conversion unit 212, a status management unit 214, a job control unit 216, a directory service 218, an API.
(Application Programming Interface) 211 and a security module 202. The functions of the security modules 201 and 202 are
It is the same as the 50 security modules 251.

The data converter 212 has a function of converting print data specified by the client 5 into a general-purpose format independent of the printer model. In this embodiment, PDF is used. The general-purpose format is not limited to PDF, and any format that can be handled by all output destination printers may be used. A plurality of general-purpose formats may be used together. However, PDF
Has the advantage that the page layout of the document is easy to maintain, and that almost all documents can be changed to PDF.

The status management section 214 has a function of monitoring the operation state of the printer. The operation state refers to the state of each printer related to the execution of printing, such as the remaining amount of ink or toner, the remaining amount of printing paper. The management target is a physical printer. The status management unit 214 manages these by communicating with the physical printer management unit 254.

The job control unit 216 has a function of managing a print job output to the printer control unit 250. As described above, the printer as the output destination can be arbitrarily specified on the network. The job control unit 216 transmits the print job to each output destination according to the designation and manages the history. When an instruction to stop a print job, change a print mode, or the like is issued in the middle of printing, a printer that has transmitted a job corresponding to the instruction is specified, and a function of outputting the instruction to the printer is provided. It is common to a so-called spooler in that it controls the execution of a print job, but differs from a spooler in that it does not control stored print data but also controls transmitted print data.

The directory service 218 has a function of managing information that specifies a user who can use the mediation system 200 and a printer that can output data. The information on the user includes an identification number uniquely given to the user, a use password, information on a billing destination, and the like. The information on the printer includes information required for communication with the printer. For example, information for specifying a printer on a network, such as a URI or an IP address, is included. Also,
It also includes information on how to connect the printer to the network, such as a dedicated line or dial-up connection.

The application section 220 is a functional block for providing various functions for improving user convenience. For example, it provides a function of causing the client 5 to display a screen for designating the content to be printed and the output destination printer. The display screen differs depending on whether the client 5 is a computer or a mobile phone. The application unit 220 is a functional block that is individually prepared according to the type of client, the content to be printed, and the like.

In this embodiment, the application unit 220
And an advertisement setting unit 221, a user information storage unit 222, and an advertisement content storage unit 223. These are functional blocks for appropriately inserting an advertisement into a printed matter. The user information storage unit 222 stores information registered in advance regarding the user of the mediation system. For example,
Gender, age, address, hobbies, etc. are included. The advertisement content storage unit 223 stores many URLs of the inserted advertisement data.

The advertisement setting section 221 stores the user information storage section 2
22, a process of adding an advertisement to the print data specified by the user by using the advertisement content storage unit 223.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the advertisement adding process. First, the advertisement setting unit 221 acquires a user ID and content information from the client 5 (Step S10). The content information refers to information indicating the location of the print data such as a URL or the print data itself.

Next, the advertisement setting section 221 accesses the user information storage section 222 based on the user ID and acquires the user information. Further, an advertisement content to be inserted is selected based on the user information (step S1).
2). A predetermined function is set in advance between the user information and the advertisement content. With this function, for example,
When “music” is registered as a hobby in the advertisement setting unit 221 in the user information, an advertisement related to music is selected. Age, gender, etc. are also considered.

The advertisement setting unit 221 acquires the selected advertisement content according to the URL stored in the advertisement content storage unit 223 (Step S14). Further, the print data designated by the user is obtained (step S1).
6) Generate advertisement additional data in which an advertisement content is inserted in a margin portion in a preset layout (step S)
18). The advertisement may be printed on a page different from the print data. The generated advertisement additional data is passed to the standard function unit 210, and the data conversion unit 212
Converted to PDF format. The insertion of the advertisement may be performed in the process of converting the advertisement data and the print data into the PDF format or after the conversion.

Advertisement setting unit 221, user information storage unit 22
2. The advertisement content storage unit 223 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various configurations are possible. For example, the advertising content storage unit 223 may store the inserted advertising data itself.

The advertisement setting unit 221 determines whether or not the advertisement has been set in step S1
In the process (2), an advertisement may be selected based on the specified print content instead of the user information. When a music-related Web page is designated by the user as print content, a music-related advertisement can be attached. Further, the user information storage unit 222
May store the history of the designated print content, and select an advertisement based on the history. For example, when it is determined from the history that web pages in the music field are frequently printed, a music-related advertisement can be attached. If it is found from the history that the frequency of the printed Web page has shifted from the music field to computer-related, the advertisement may be switched to computer-related.

The advertisement setting section 221 may set an advertisement based on information related to the client 5 instead of the user information. For example, when the client 5 is a specific mobile phone line provider, an advertisement related to the provider may be selected. Client 5
In addition, when a printing device to be an output destination is installed in a store of a specific trader, an advertisement related to the trader may be selected. In addition, a predetermined advertisement may be inserted regardless of user information, print content, and the like. The advertisement to be inserted may be selected at random.

API (Application Programming Interface)
ace) 211 is an interface that mediates between the application unit 220 and the standard function unit 210. It plays a role of transferring data of the individually prepared application unit 220 to the standard function unit 210 in a predetermined format. AP
By interposing the I211, various application units 220 can be prepared for each intermediary system while applying a common module to the standard function unit 210.

The accounting section 240 performs accounting processing at the time of printing using the mediation system 200. These are functional blocks that are individually prepared according to the type of the client 5 and the like.

B1. Modification of Function Block: The function block of the mediation system is not limited to the configuration in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the functional blocks of the mediation system 1.

The mediation system 1 of the modified example includes a basic function block 10, a basic service block 20, a printing service 30, a relation service 50,
Each functional block of a navigation service 40, a directory service block 60, an authentication service block 70, and a billing service block 80 is provided. “S” in the figure indicates a security system. The printing site control service 100 corresponds to the printer control unit 250 shown in FIG.

The basic function block 10, the directory service block 60, and the authentication service block 70 correspond to the standard function unit 210 in FIG. The basic function block 10 is configured by a module that provides each function of data conversion, status management, and job control. The authentication service block 70 has a function of determining the presence or absence of an access right to each printer.

The basic service block 20, printing service 30, relation service 50, and navigation service 40 correspond to the application section 220 in FIG. The basic service block 20 functions as an input / output interface when the client 5 accesses the intermediary system 1, particularly, the basic function block 10. Although not shown, the basic service block 20 includes a registration service,
Three detailed function blocks of a basic printing service and a status service are provided, and the above functions are realized by these detailed function blocks.

A functional block called a registration service mainly registers and manages the printer 110 and content services involved in printing using the mediation system.

The basic printing service is
This is a part that performs a function corresponding to an interface when actually performing printing. Basic function block 1
It has a function of controlling each module of data conversion, status management, and job control of 0 to execute printing.

The status service acquires and manages status information for maintenance management of the printer 110 as an output destination. For example, it acquires and manages information about consumables such as toner and printing paper of the printer 110 and information about updating replacement parts such as drums, and outputs the information as needed.

Printing service block 30
Has a function of providing advanced printing using the mediation system 1. For example, it provides advanced printing control that is not realized only by the basic function block 10 and the basic service block 20, such as outputting print data to a plurality of printers registered in advance at a fixed time.

The relation service 50 has a function of acquiring and recording the printing status performed via the mediation system, and providing usable statistical data. By utilizing the statistical data obtained in this way, for example, it is possible to grasp the difference in the operation rate of each printer, and it is possible to utilize it for maintenance management of the printer.

The navigation service block 40 includes:
It has a function of providing information that assists the user in using the mediation system 1. This corresponds to a help function in the mediation system 1. For example, it is possible to provide information on a printing execution method using the mediation system 1, a list of available printers and content services, and the like.

C. Print execution example: C1. Aspect 1 Printing of E-mail: FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing how an e-mail is printed using an intermediary system. The case where the user prints the e-mail addressed to the user by the operation from the mobile phone CP has been exemplified. It is assumed that the printer is installed in a public place such as a store, a hotel, and the like. It is also possible to use a computer as a client.

When printing an e-mail, the mobile phone CP,
Printer PRT, mediation system PS, mail service R
M, a mail server MS intervenes. Each of these elements is
It is connected to a network and can exchange data with each other.

The printer PRT as an output destination is registered in the mediation system PS in advance, and is given a unique identification number by the mediation service. In the example of FIG.
The identification number of T is “1111”. This identification number is
This code is set irrespective of information specifying the printer PRT on the network, for example, an IP address, a URI, and the like. Since the IP address and URI of the printer PRT are kept secret from the user, unauthorized access can be avoided.

The intermediary system PS and the mail service RM may be provided by different traders. It suffices that both are associated in advance. The mail service RM is
As a part of the provided service, a function necessary for printing using the mediation system PS is provided.

A method of executing e-mail printing will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 are explanatory diagrams showing the first half of the print sequence of the e-mail.
8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of the interface.

First, the user accesses the mail service RM from the mobile phone CP (communication Cm1 in FIG. 5).
The mail service RM accesses the mail server MS that stores the e-mail, and displays, on the mobile phone, items such as a sender and a subject regarding the e-mail addressed to the user (communication Cm2 in FIG. 5). The user selects an e-mail to be printed from the displayed list of subjects and sends the e-mail to the mail service RM (see step st1 in FIG. 6).

The left side of FIG. 8 shows an example of an interface for selecting an electronic mail. An e-mail list is displayed on the display unit DISP of the mobile phone CP together with check boxes. In this example, it is displayed that four mails of Mail1, Mail4 have arrived. The user operates the cursor keys of the mobile phone CP to check a check box of an e-mail requesting printing. Here, an example is shown in which two check boxes, Mail2 and Mail4, are checked. In the electronic mail list display, a “print” button is also displayed as shown in FIG. After checking the e-mail requesting printing, the user moves the cursor to the “print” button and presses this button to transmit the mail selection result to the mail service RM. The interface is merely an example, and various interfaces that realize two functions, that is, a function of selecting an e-mail to be printed and a function of confirming the selection result and transmitting the result to the mail service RM can be applied.

As shown in FIG. 6, the mail service RM is
Upon receiving the mail selection result, the communication Cm shown in FIG.
2 to access the mail server MS to acquire the text data of the selected e-mail (steps st2 and st3 in FIG. 6).

Next, the mail service RM transfers the data of the electronic mail to be printed to the mediation system PS by the communication Cm3 in FIG. 5 (step st4 in FIG. 6).
The mediation system PS estimates the number of print pages, the cost, the required time, and the like based on information such as the amount of print data, and returns the simplified print prediction information to the mail service RM (step st5 in FIG. 6).

The mail service RM is provided by the mediation system PS
Is displayed on the mobile phone CP (step st6 in FIG. 6). A display example of the simple print prediction information is shown on the right side of FIG. Here, the case where the print page, the cost, and the required time are displayed for each e-mail specified by the user has been exemplified.

To execute printing, the user gives an instruction to start printing (step st7 in FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 8, the display unit DISP is displayed together with the simple print prediction information.
Displays an "execute" button. By moving the cursor here and pressing this button, an execution instruction can be given.

The execution instruction given by the user is transmitted to the mediation system PS via the mail service RM by the communications Cm1 and Cm3 in FIG. 5 (step s in FIG. 6).
t7). At the same time, the print data, that is, the text of the e-mail and the attached file are transmitted from the mail service RM to the mediation system PS. With this instruction, the mail service RM completes communication with the mobile phone CP. The subsequent communication is performed in communication Cm4 in FIG. 5, that is, between the mobile phone CP and the mediation system PS.

Upon receiving the print start instruction, the intermediary system PS displays a standard menu for printing on the mobile phone CP (step st8 in FIG. 6). An example of the standard menu is shown on the left side of FIG. In the standard menu, printing conditions such as the content to be printed, the number of copies to be printed, and the output destination printer can be specified. "Printer N
o. Is displayed, a box IP for inputting the identification number assigned to the output destination printer is displayed. In the box IP, the identification number “1111” assigned to the output destination printer PRT is input. The user
When the "send" button is pressed, the printer identification number is transmitted to the mediation system PS by the communication Cm4 in FIG. 5, and the output printer can be designated (step s in FIG. 6).
t9).

In the intermediary system PS, the identification number of the printer PRT is registered in association with the IP address or URI. This attribute information is managed by the directory service 218 described above with reference to FIG. The intermediary system PS acquires the operating state of the specified printer PRT, and when it is determined that printing is possible, calculates detailed print prediction information when printing is performed under the specified printing conditions. Mobile phone C using the communication Cm4 of
The contents are displayed on P (step st10 in FIG. 6).

After confirming the displayed print prediction information, the user instructs execution of printing (step st in FIG. 7).
11). In this embodiment, execution of printing is instructed by inputting a user-specific password. FIG.
An example of an interface for inputting a password is shown in the center of FIG. As shown, cost as detailed print forecast information,
After the required time is displayed, a box for entering a password is displayed. The user inputs his / her password and presses the send button, so that the mediation system PS
Send data to.

The password of the user is registered and managed by the directory service 218 in advance. When referring to this information and confirming that the password is genuine and that the person has the authority to access the designated printer PRT, the mediation system PS displays a print start screen on the mobile phone CP ( Step st1 of FIG.
2). At the same time, the communication system Cm5 in FIG.
The predetermined banner data prepared in the PDF format, that is, the advertisement data is transmitted to the RT. This advertising data is
And data set by the advertisement setting unit 221 shown in FIG. On the printer PRT side, the advertisement data in the PDF format is converted into row data and printing is performed (FIG. 7).
Step st13). At the same time, the mediation system P
S displays a message prompting the mobile phone CP to confirm whether the banner page has been printed (step st1 in FIG. 7).
4). A display example is shown on the right side of FIG.

After confirming that the banner has been printed, the user presses the "OK" button shown in FIG. 9 (step st).
15). When the mediation system PS confirms this input,
The e-mail data received and stored from the mail service RM is converted into a PDF format which is a general-purpose format, and then transmitted to the output destination printer PRT by the communication Cm5 in FIG. 5 (step in FIG. 7). st16). P
The data in the DF format is converted into row data on the printer PRT side and printed. The advertisement data may be inserted in the margin of the e-mail. When the printing of the e-mail is completed, the mediation system PS outputs the fee data required for printing to the billing destination, and ends a series of processing (step st17 in FIG. 7).

In the above sequence, display of print prediction information, banner printing (step st13 in FIG. 7)
May be omitted. The process of converting the electronic mail into the PDF format may be executed at any timing from when the mediation system PS receives the data to when the data is output to the printer PRT.

C2. Aspect 2 Web page printing: FIG. 1
0 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of printing a Web page. We are browsing on the portable computer PC by the user
The case of printing page b has been exemplified. It is assumed that the output destination printer is installed in a public place.

In the mode 2, a computer PC, a printer PRT, an intermediary system PS, and a Web server WS for providing data of a Web page being viewed are interposed. These elements are connected to a network, and can exchange data with each other.

The user can download data from the Web server WS to the computer PC through the communication Cm21 in FIG. 10 and browse the Web page with a browser. When the user wants to print a web page, the user inputs the URL of the mediation system PS into the browser and accesses the web page of the mediation system.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a Web page provided by the mediation system. This is equivalent to an interface for specifying printing conditions. The user wants to print the We
The content is specified by inputting the URL of page b into the print data box.

At the “internet printing mediation site”, an input box for designating a printer as an output destination is also provided. Here, as in the case of mode 1, the identification number of the printer is input.

After the print conditions including the output destination are specified, when the "print start" button is clicked, the print conditions specified by the user are transmitted to the mediation system PS via the communication Cm23 in FIG. The mediation system PS communicates with the communication Cm22 in FIG. 10 based on the URL included in the print data.
To access the Web server WS, and acquire data of a Web page to be printed. This function is provided by the application unit 220 of the mediation system. The subsequent sequence is the same as in the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, the print instruction by the computer PC has been described as an example.

According to the above-described mediation system, printing between a client and a printer on the Internet can be realized without knowing the URI or IP address of the printer as an output destination. By installing a large number of printers registered in the intermediary system in a public place, it is possible to provide an environment in which printing can be performed anywhere.
In this embodiment, the print data is stored in a general-purpose format, that is, P
Since the print data is relayed after being converted to the DF, the relay of the print can be easily realized without unifying the printer models.

According to this embodiment, by adding an advertisement, it is possible to add commercial value to the print mediation method. By adding an advertisement, a part of the installation cost and the running cost of the printing apparatus can be covered by the advertisement cost.

In the embodiment, the case where the advertisement is printed together has been exemplified. Information other than the advertisement may be added. For example, news, weather forecast, trivia knowledge such as so-called wisdom of life, fortune-telling, character images, calendars, and the like can be considered. These pieces of information can be appropriately selected and inserted by the same configuration as that of the present embodiment (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

Although various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that various configurations can be adopted without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the above-described control processing may be realized by software or by hardware.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the configuration of a print mediation system.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing functional blocks of an intermediary system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an advertisement adding process.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the functional blocks of the mediation system 1.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an electronic mail is printed using an intermediary system.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a print sequence of an e-mail.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a print sequence of an e-mail.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an interface.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an interface.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating how to print a Web page.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a Web page provided by the mediation system.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 Client 10 Basic function block 20 Basic service block 30 Printing service block 40 Navigation service block 50 Relation service 60 Directory service block 70 Authentication service block 80 Billing service block 100 Printing site Control Service 110 Printer 200 Mediation System 201 202 Security Module 210 Standard Function Unit 211 API 212 Data Conversion Unit 214 Status Management Unit 216 Job Control Unit 218 Directory Service 220 Application Unit 240 Billing Unit 250 Printer control unit 251 Security module 252 Logical printer management unit 254 Product Printer management unit 256 ... data conversion unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Yasushi Nakaoka 3-5, Yamato 3-chome, Suwa-shi, Nagano Seiko Epson Corporation F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HJ08 HQ12 HQ17 HR07 5B021 AA01 EE04 KK01 LG07 NN18 5C076 AA16 BA02 BA05 BA06

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A print mediation method for mediating between a plurality of clients and a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a network by a print mediation server to realize printing between the two.
(A) receiving, from the client, print data and output destination designation information for designating the printing apparatus to be an output destination; and (b) information including predetermined information different from the print data in the print data. A print mediating method comprising: generating additional data in a general-purpose format that does not depend on the model of the printing device; and (c) mediating the generated information additional data to the specified printing device. 2. The print mediation method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined information is advertisement information. 3. The print mediation method according to claim 1, wherein the step (b) includes a step of acquiring the predetermined information from a server other than the print mediation server. . 4. The print mediation method according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined information is information specified in association with at least one of the user who made the print request and the print data. Mediation method. 5. A print mediation server that mediates between a plurality of clients connected to a network and a plurality of printing apparatuses to realize printing between the two, and serves as a print data and an output destination from the client. An input unit for inputting a print request including output destination designation information for designating the printing device; and information-added data including predetermined information different from the print data in the print data, depending on a model of the printing device. A print mediation server comprising: an information-added data generation unit that generates a general-purpose format that does not use the information; and a job management unit that mediates the information-added data to the designated printing device. 6. A recording medium in which a program for mediating between a plurality of clients and a plurality of printing apparatuses connected to a network by a print mediation server and realizing printing between them by the print mediation server is recorded in a computer-readable manner. A function of receiving, from the client, print data and output destination designation information for designating the printing apparatus as an output destination; and information additional data including predetermined information different from the print data in the print data. Recording a program that realizes a function of generating a general-purpose format independent of the model of the printing apparatus and a function of mediating the generated information-added data to the specified printing apparatus.