JP2002149548A - System and method for printing document - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document printing system in which a portable device can make an instruction by an easy instructing method and server contents can be outputted to the nearest printer or the like. SOLUTION: This document printing system of a network configuration is provided with a contents server 4 for storing document contents, the portable device 1 capable of communicating with the server 4 and an MFP 2 for printing the document contents in the server 4 through a network. The portable device 1 is provided with an address acquiring means for acquiring the address the nearest MFP 2 and a print requesting means for transmitting a print request that requests a contents output to the MFP 2 of the acquired address to the server 4. The server 4 is provided with a contents transmitting means for transmitting document contents designated by the print request to the MFP 2 of the address received from the portable device 1, and the MFP 2 is provided with a printing means for printing received document contents.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a document printing system for transferring and printing document contents from a document content server connected to a network to a multifunction device or a printer having printing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, PDAs (Personal Digital Assis
The use of portable devices, also called tant, is remarkable.
When sending a document from a host to a mobile user having such a mobile device, instead of using a facsimile device as in the past, the document data is sent directly to the mobile device, and a specific printer is sent from the mobile device. The form of outputting to such as is also increasing. In this case, the user having the portable device receiving the document data finds a printable printer or the like in some way, connects to the printer or the like, and starts an application program for printing if necessary. Perform printing. On the other hand,
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-191453, when printing document data instructed by the portable device, the host uses the location information of the user used in the PHS to determine the geographical location. A suitable public printer can be selected and the document data can be transferred from the host to the printer for printing. In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-191081, a portable device at a remote location instructs a host (server) of a name of a data transfer destination, and data on the host is transferred to another information processing terminal. Can be transferred to

[0003]

However, in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-191081, since the name of the transfer destination must be specified, the user must remember the name. And inputting the name is troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that the name of the nearest printing device is not known even if the user wants to designate the nearest printing device or the like as a transfer destination while away from home. In this regard, the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-191453 has few problems, but the range covered by the PHS base station is 100 m in radius.
Because of the above, in an office or the like, the data is not always output to the nearest printing device. Further, in any of the prior arts instructing the portable device to output the contents of the server to the printing device, no accounting / payment method is proposed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem of the prior art and to output contents of a server to a nearest printing apparatus by giving an instruction from a portable device by an easy instruction method, or to charge for that. Another object of the present invention is to provide a document printing system that can perform processing.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document printing system having a network configuration in which document contents are stored.
A content server connected to a network, a portable device capable of communicating with the content server, and a printing device for printing document content in the content server via the network; Address acquisition means for acquiring output destination information indicating the output destination information, and print request means for transmitting a print request for requesting content output to the printing apparatus of the acquired output destination information to the content server. A content transmitting unit that transmits a document content specified by a content print request to a printing device of the output destination information received from the portable device, and the printing device includes a printing unit that prints the received document content. Was. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in a document printing system having a network configuration, a content server connected to a network for storing document content, and a portable device capable of communicating with the content server,
A printing device that prints the document content in the content server via a network, wherein the portable device is provided with request destination obtaining means for obtaining request destination information indicating the content server, and the obtained request destination information. Print request means for requesting the nearest printing device to print the document content, the printing device includes a print request means for transmitting a print request for requesting content output to the content server, and Printing means for printing. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the content server further includes a fee settlement means for performing a billing process for the content printing when the print request is received. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the content server transmits the accounting processing result together with the document content to the printing apparatus.

According to the invention described in claim 5, according to claim 3,
Alternatively, in the invention according to claim 4, the printing apparatus is further provided with a charge settlement unit. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the document printing method for printing a document by transferring the document content to a printing device via a network, the portable device transmits output destination information indicating the printing device from the nearest printing device. From the portable device to the content server,
A print request for requesting output of the acquired output destination information to a printing device is transmitted, and the content server receiving the print request transmits the document content specified by the print request to the printing device for the output destination information. Then, the printing apparatus that receives the document content prints the received document content. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in a document printing method for transferring a document content to a printing apparatus via a network and printing the document,
The portable device obtains request destination information indicating a content server having the document content to be printed, and requests the nearest printing device to print the document content by giving the obtained request destination information. A print request requesting output is transmitted to the content server indicated by the request destination information, the content server transmits the requested document content in response to the print request, and the printing device prints the document content. .

[0006]

According to the first and sixth aspects of the present invention, the portable device acquires output destination information indicating the printing device from the nearest printing device. To the content server, a print request for requesting a content output of the output destination information to the printing device is transmitted, and the content server that has received the print request converts the document content specified by the print request into the output destination information. The received document content is printed by the printing device that has been transmitted to the printing device and has received the document content. According to the second and seventh aspects of the present invention, the portable device obtains the request destination information indicating the content server having the document content to be printed, and the request destination information is given, so that the printing of the document content can be performed most. Required by a nearby printing device,
A print request requesting content output is transmitted to the content server indicated by the request destination information, and the content server transmits the requested document content,
The document content is printed by the printing device.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, when a print request is received by the content server, the content server performs a charging process for content printing. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the accounting processing result is transmitted from the content server to the printing apparatus together with the document content. According to the invention described in claim 5, in the invention described in claim 3 or 4, the fee can be settled even in the printing apparatus.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a document printing system showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the document printing system according to the present embodiment includes:
It comprises a mobile device 1, an MFP 2 with a key counter 3, a content server 4, and the like. Note that the MFP
(Multi-Function Printer) is a digital multifunction peripheral that can be used as a printer or a copier, and operates as a printing device described in the claims. In the following description, it is assumed that the portable device 1 and the MFP 2 possessed by the user are both located in a store of information KIOSK, and are therefore located at a short distance. Document content (hereinafter abbreviated as content)
Is output to the MFP 2, but this output destination may be a simple printer. The portable device 1 and the MFP 2
Are equipped with a wireless port, and both are configured to be able to communicate with the existing network 5. MFP
2 may be monochrome or color. Further, the physical connection method between the MFP 2 and the network 4 may be wireless or wired (one unit can support both). For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the document format stored in content server 4 can be directly understood by MFP 2. The portable device 1 in the figure refers to all devices that are small enough to be always portable and have a wireless communication function. Therefore, PDAs and notebook PCs with wireless communication functions
(Notebook personal computers), mobile phones, etc. With such a configuration, the content server 4 manages the content. Specifically, the content is transmitted to the designated MFP 2 in response to the request, the billing information is updated after normal printing, and when a failure occurs due to a page jam or the like, retransmission / return operation of the content data to the MFP 2 is performed. . Note that the standard of the short-range wireless communication adopted by the mobile device 1 and the MFP 2 in the present invention is Bl
Since ueTooth is extremely suitable, hereinafter, it is assumed that these devices are compatible with BlueTooth, and for simplicity, it is assumed that the authentication specified in BlueTooth is also free (mutually possible). The mobile device 1 also supports a wireless LAN or the like, and is capable of exchanging e-mail.

Hereinafter, an operation at the time of printing will be described. First, a user (owner) of the mobile device 1 searches for desired document content by using a mail or a WWW browser via a wireless LAN or the like. When the document content is found, the portable device 1 sends it to the nearest M
In order to output the data to the FP 2, a search is made for an available MFP 2 within a searchable distance of the portable device 1 according to a protocol (communication procedure) defined by Bluetooth (see FIG. 2). Specifically, the mobile device 1 performs processing called scan and discovery in the above-described protocol on the peripheral device, so that data can be exchanged with each other.
With Bluetooth, the communication range is less than 10m (however, class 3
), The profile is much narrower than PHS or the like, and an individual profile is defined for each application (for example, facsimile machine, printer, cordless telephone application, etc.). For this reason, it is possible to easily specify a device that is close to the user and capable of printing. If an available MFP 2 can be identified, the MFP
The address automatically acquired from P2 is sent to the content server 4 to request the start of printing (see FIG. 3). In this exchange, general electronic mail and the like are used. The content server 4 receiving the output destination performs a charging process, and first transmits charging information such as a content fee to the designated MFP 2 (see FIG. 4). Then, the MFP 2 displays the total of the content fee and the printing fee (which may be included in the billing information or may be calculated by the MFP 2) on the key counter 3 to urge the user to pay. FIG. 5 shows a display example at this time. Here, it is shown that pay content for three pages is to be output, and the user is prompted to input the price. The user enters the designated fee and the MFP
When the MFP 2 confirms the payment, the MFP 2 requests the content server 3 to transfer the content. As the procedure at this time, for example, an ftp (file transfer protocol) procedure or the like can be used (other procedures may be adopted). Thus, the content server 3 sends the MFP 2
The content data is transferred via the network in the same manner as in the normal print sequence (see FIG. 4), and the MFP 2 that has received the content data executes print output (see FIG. 6). As described above, according to this embodiment, the user (owner) of portable device 1 can output desired content to MFP 2 at a short distance by simple operation. Further, the portable device 1 directly receives the print data,
Since there is no need to re-transfer the print data to the output destination printing apparatus, the traffic (traffic) on the line is also reduced.
Furthermore, since cash payment is performed by the key counter 3 attached to the MFP 2, there is no need to exchange information such as a credit card number via a network, and the sense of security is high.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portable device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, a processing / control unit 10 for performing information processing including communication processing and controlling the entire device, a battery 11 for supplying power to the processing / control unit 10, a keypad 1 for inputting characters and numerical values
2. Pointing device (eg, mouse) 13, display panel 14, and data reader (eg, Sma
rtMedia (registered trademark), a memory card slot such as an IC card) 15 and the like, and the processing / control unit 10 includes a CPU 16, a ROM (including a flash memory) 1
7, RAM 18, I / O controller 19, and Blue
A wireless port 20 and the like for wireless communication by the tooth and communication via the existing network are provided. Also, RO
OS (Operating System) and various application programs (email client program, WWW browser, etc.) are written in M17. In this embodiment, the address acquisition unit and the print request unit described in claim 1 are realized by the processing / control unit 10, the wireless port 20, and the like. With such a configuration,
When the power is turned on, the processing / control unit 10
The system boots S, starts an initial screen for managing various applications, and waits for an input by a user or an interruption from the communication port 20.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram of a structure of FP2. As illustrated, the MFP 2 of this embodiment includes an information processing unit 21 having a CPU for performing various information processing and overall operation control, and an information storage unit for storing programs and data (various PDLs (Page Desc)
ription Language: page description language), a file transfer program, a ROM or flash memory containing various control programs necessary for the printing process, a RAM for work memory, a hard disk drive, etc.) 22, an image on paper An engine controller 23 for controlling the formation, a print engine 24 for forming an image under the control of the engine controller 23, a paper feed / discharge unit 25 for feeding / discharging under the control of the engine controller 23,
A wireless communication protocol processing unit 26 for performing wireless communication protocol processing according to Bluetooth; an image processing (IPU) unit 27 for performing various image processing;
O controller (including a parallel I / F, USB port, etc.) 28, and a network interface (NI) that belongs to the I / O controller 28 and performs existing communication processing
C: Network Interface Card) 29, a wireless port 30 for performing wireless transmission / reception in accordance with Bluetooth, a display / input device unit (display / operation panel, switches, etc.) 31, a scanner 32 for reading an image at the time of copying, and the like ( Objects in the dotted frame in the figure mean that they are outside the device).
In the illustrated example, connection to an external device such as the portable device 1 is made possible by a wired parallel interface or USB.

The major difference between the MPF 2 according to the present invention and the conventional network printer is that, in order to support short-range wireless communication, a wireless communication protocol processing unit 26 and a wireless port (including an antenna) 30 supporting a physical layer are provided. Is to have. Although both are configured separately, they may be integrated. Also, by integrating both,
It may be placed outside the main body of the MFP 2 and connected to the MFP main body via a USB port. In addition, a configuration in which the key counter and the key counter are integrated is also conceivable. Further, the wireless communication protocol processing unit 26 can be implemented in the information storage unit 22 as a program (software, firmware) without being configured with dedicated hardware. In this configuration, the firmware information and firmware rewriting means are provided to the MFP administrator after the product is shipped,
It is also possible to correspond to the latest standard later, or to add another protocol. Further, since the MFP 2 of this embodiment has a plurality of interfaces such as a network I / F and a USB port, like the conventional printer, a plurality of various devices can be simultaneously connected.
Therefore, the configuration is such that the automatic switching of the PDL and the automatic switching of the input I / F can be performed similarly to the conventional printer. Further, in this embodiment, the printing means described in claim 1 is the engine controller 23 and the print engine 2.
And a paper supply / discharge unit 25 and the like.
The described fee settlement means is realized by the information processing unit 21.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the content server 4. As shown,
The content server 4 includes a processing / control unit 4 that performs content management, various types of information processing, and control of the entire server.
0, a keyboard 41 for inputting characters and numerical values, a pointing device (for example, a mouse) 42, a display device 43, a data reading device (for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk device) 44 for inputting data and programs, and the like. . Further, the processing / control unit 40 includes a CPU 45, a ROM 46, a RAM 4
7. Hard disk drive (DIS) which is a mass storage device
K) 48, a network interface unit (NIC: Network Interface) for communicating with information devices on a network
e Card) 49, I for exchanging information with peripheral devices
/ O controller (USB, SCSI port, etc.) 50
Is provided. The hard disk drive 48 has an OS
(Operating system), application programs, printer device drivers, document content data management programs, and the like. Here, the type of the OS does not need to be specific. Further, the content transmitting means described in claim 1 is realized by the processing / control unit 40 and the network interface unit 49, and the fee settlement means described in claim 3 is realized by the processing / control unit 40. In such a configuration, a program related to communication (such as reading a document or transferring content to a designated MFP) is read when the OS is started, and in the background (for UNIX (registered trademark), “daemon”, WINDOWS ( (Registered trademark) -NT operates as a “service”). Other programs are called as needed. Further, the processing / control unit 40 manages and records the transferred printing destination and the number of times of printing for each content, so that even if the content provider and the content server operator are separate paid content, etc. Based on the recorded data, revenue can be distributed between both parties. The case where the content data to be printed is in a single data format has been described above. However, if the data format that can be interpreted by the MFP 2 or the printer to which the content data is transferred is different from the content data format in the content server 3, It is also possible to perform data transfer after converting to the data format of the transfer destination on the content server 3 side, and print / output. In addition, although cash has been described as an example of a payment method, payment using a prepaid card can be similarly performed.

Next, the operation flow of this embodiment will be described with reference to the operation flow chart shown in FIG. 10 for the portable device 1, FIG. 11 for the content server 3, and FIG. 12 for the MFP 2. First, as shown in FIG.
On the portable device 1 side (user side), the user sends e-mail or W
Using the WW browser, a desired content stored in the content server 3 is searched, and when the content is found, the portable device 1 can perform wireless communication in accordance with a protocol defined by Bluetooth in order to output the content. An available MFP 2 located at a distance is searched for (S1).
If an available MFP 2 can be specified (S
2), the address of the MFP 2 is acquired according to the protocol, and a print request including the acquired address is sent to the content server 4 (S3). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 11, the content server 4 is waiting for the arrival of a print request (N → S11 in S11), and upon receiving the print request (Y in S11), performs a billing process according to the requested content. First, billing information is sent to the destination MFP 2 (S12). Thus, the MFP 2 receives the charging information such as the content fee and the data amount (S2
1) Calculate the printing fee from the data amount and the like, obtain the total of the content charging and the printing fee, display the total on the key counter 3, and display the message to request the user to pay (S22). . Then, when the user inputs the displayed fee and confirms that the information processing unit 21 has automatically paid out the input amount (Y in S23), it has been paid to the content server 4. Is transmitted (S24).

After transferring the billing information, the content server 4 enters a payment waiting state (N → S1 in S13).
3) When it is confirmed that payment has been made by receiving a content data transfer request (Y in S13), the content data is transferred to the requesting MFP 2 via a normal network (S14). Thus, when the MFP 2 receives the content data normally (S25), the MFP 2 prints and outputs the received content data (S26). On the other hand, if it is not received normally (S25
N), repeat the above-mentioned step S24 and subsequent steps. After execution of printing / outputting, it is determined whether or not the processing is normally completed (S27).
If the operation is normally completed (Y in S27), “STATUS = OK” is set as the STATUS information to be transmitted to the content server 4, and if not normally completed (N in S27), “STATUS = ERR”
And set the STATUS information to the content server 4
(S28). On the other hand, after transferring the content data, the content server 4 enters a state of waiting for the arrival of STATUS information (N → S15 in S15). When there is an arrival of STATUS information (Y in S15), it determines whether or not the processing ends normally (S15).
16). Then, if the processing ends normally (Y in S16), the accounting information is updated (S17), and the processing ends. If the processing is not normal (N in S16), the processing ends without updating the charging information.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, in the above description, the output destination information indicating the MFP 2 that outputs the content may use a name or the like instead of using an address. Also, the example in which the portable device 1 issues a print request to the content server 4 has been described, but the MFP 2 may issue a print request to the content server 4 in response to a print request from the portable device 1. In this case, the mobile device 1 does not need to obtain the address of the nearest MPF 2 and has a communication function of communicating with the content server 4 via a wireless LAN or a base station of a mobile phone system.
The desired content is searched from the content server 4 via the route, and the address of the content server 4 is obtained.
h, the mobile device 1 issues a print request specifying the acquired address and the content to the nearest MPF 2, the MFP 2 requests the content server 4 to print the content, and is sent. Print the contents. In other words, the portable device 1 includes a request destination obtaining unit that obtains request destination information indicating a content server, and a print request unit that gives the obtained request destination information and requests the nearest printing device to print the document content. The printing apparatus includes a print request unit that transmits a print request for requesting content output to the content server 4 and a print unit that prints the received content. Further, even in the case of the above embodiment, in which the mobile device 1 issues a print request to the content server 4, the print request is issued to the content server 4 not via the wireless LAN but via the base station of the mobile phone system. Configurations are also possible. Further, in the above description, the case where the printing apparatus is the MFP has been described, but a printer having no copying function or the like may be used.

[0016]

As described above, the present invention has the following excellent effects. According to the first and sixth aspects of the present invention, the portable device automatically obtains the output destination information indicating the printing device from the nearest printing device, and sends the output destination information from the portable device to the content server. A print request for requesting content output to the printing device is transmitted, and the content server receiving the print request transmits the document content specified by the print request to the printing device of the output destination information. Since the received document content is printed by the printing device that has received the, the content of the content server can be output to the nearest printing device by giving an instruction from the portable device using an easy instruction method. According to the second and seventh aspects of the present invention, the portable device obtains request destination information indicating a content server having document content to be printed, and provides the request destination information to print the document content. Is requested to the nearest printing device, the printing device transmits a print request for requesting content output to the content server indicated by the request destination information, and the content server transmits the requested document content. Since the document content is printed by the printing device, the content of the content server can be similarly output from the portable device to the nearest printing device by giving an instruction using an easy instruction method. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, when a print request is received by the content server, the content server performs a charging process for the content printing. Can be paid, and payment can be made to the document content provider. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the accounting processing result is transmitted together with the document content from the content server to the printing apparatus, so that the user can pay cash on the spot. Becomes possible. According to the invention described in claim 5, in the invention described in claim 3 or claim 4, furthermore, the fee can be settled even in the printing device. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a document printing system showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the document printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is another operation explanatory diagram of the document printing system showing the example of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is another operation explanatory diagram of the document printing system showing an example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a screen view of the document printing system showing an example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another operation explanatory diagram of the document printing system showing the example of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram of a portable device illustrating an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration block diagram of an MFP showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram of a content server showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart of a portable device showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an operation flowchart of a content server showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an operation flowchart of the MFP showing an example of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 mobile device, 2 MFP, 3 key counter, 4 content server, 10 processing / control unit, 16 CPU, 2
0 wireless port, 21 information processing unit, 23 engine controller, 24 print engine, 26 wireless communication protocol processing unit, 29 network interface unit, 30 wireless port, 40 processing / control unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] In a document printing system having a network configuration, a content server that stores document content and is connected to a network, a portable device that can communicate with the content server, and a document content stored in the content server via a network. A portable device, an address acquisition unit for acquiring output destination information indicating a nearest printing device, and a print requesting a content output of the acquired output destination information to the printing device. Print request means for transmitting a request to the content server, wherein the content server has a content transmission means for transmitting the document content specified by the content print request to a printing device of the output destination information received from the portable device. The printing device has the received document content A document printing system comprising printing means for printing. 2. In a document printing system having a network configuration, a content server connected to a network for storing document content, a portable device capable of communicating with the content server, and a document content in the content server are transmitted via the network. Requesting means for obtaining requesting destination information indicating the content server; and a printing apparatus which provides the obtained requesting destination information to print the document content. And a print request unit for transmitting a print request for requesting a content output to the content server, and a print unit for printing the received document content. Document printing system. 3. The document printing system according to claim 1, wherein the content server includes a fee settlement unit that performs a charging process for the content printing when the print request is received. Document printing system. 4. The document printing system according to claim 3, wherein the billing processing result is transmitted together with the document content from the content server to the printing device. 5. The document printing system according to claim 3, wherein the printing apparatus further comprises a charge adjusting unit. 6. In a document printing method for printing a document by transferring document content to a printing device via a network, a portable device acquires output destination information indicating the printing device from a nearest printing device, and A print request is sent from the device to the content server requesting output of the acquired output destination information to the printing device, and the content server receiving the print request transmits the document content specified by the print request to the output destination. A document printing method, wherein information is transmitted to a printing device, and the printing device that has received the document content prints the received document content. 7. A document printing method for printing a document by transferring the document content to a printing device via a network, wherein the portable device acquires request destination information indicating a content server having the document content to be printed. Requesting the printing of the document content to the nearest printing device by giving the requested destination information, the printing device transmits a print request for requesting the content output to the content server indicated by the requested destination information, and responds to the print request. A content server transmitting the requested document content, and the printing device printing the document content.