JP2003274152A - Method and apparatus for image formation, image forming system, and image forming method for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always quickly composite and output a plurality of new advertisement images without influence upon the output quality of a document image, to composite and output the advertisement images in a time zone or a copying machine installation place matching contents of the advertisement images, and to provide even an advertisement image which cannot be put within a blank area of the document image. <P>SOLUTION: A copying machine C5 detects the blank area of an original image read from an image input part 1 by an advertisement area detection part 4 and requests the advertisement image having the area shape of the blank area added, to an advertisement management server S5 via a communication network. When the advertisement management server S5 receives the request from the copying machine C, an advertisement image selection part 10 discriminates a time zone in a classification part 51 on the basis of the present time, extracts an advertisement image group corresponding to the discriminated time zone, selects the advertisement image corresponding to the value of an index variable from the advertisement image group, and transfers the selected advertisement image to the copying machine C. The copying machine C composites the transferred advertisement image in the blank area of the original image and outputs the result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method, an image forming system, and an image forming method of an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to synthesize an additional image such as an advertisement image in a blank area of a read original image. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method for outputting the image, an image forming system, and an image forming method of the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for a read original image,
There is a copying apparatus that can synthesize and output advertisement images that are physically arranged.

For example, there is a copying apparatus in which a rotatable advertisement manuscript is arranged under the platen glass according to the customer's selection, and at the time of manuscript scanning, the manuscript on the platen and the manuscript under the platen are simultaneously read to generate a composite image ( For example,
See Patent Document 1. ).

There is also a method in which an advertisement image is read in advance, held as electronic data, and the held advertisement image is combined with a document image and output. For example, there is a method in which a document image is reduced and read, and an advertisement image that is read in advance and held as electronic data is combined with an extra area generated by reduction of the document image and output (see, for example, Patent Document 2). .).

Further, when an advertisement image is combined with a manuscript image and output, there is a fee for the advertisement image provider. For example, regarding the output of information to the display screen, the information provider billing information including the information provider identifier indicating the provider of the advertisement screen is stored and used by the user (display on the display screen. There is an image information search system in which a provider of an advertised advertisement screen is charged with an information charge for output) (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).

[0006]

[Patent Document 1] JP-A-62-118362

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-85868

[Patent Document 3] JP-A-63-299453

However, in the copying apparatus as disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it takes time to create or replace the advertisement manuscript that is physically arranged.
There is a problem that the advertisement information of this advertisement manuscript is always old. In addition, when the copying machine is installed in a wide area, the person who installs the advertising manuscript needs to physically move between the time when the advertising manuscript is created and the time when the advertising manuscript is installed in the copying machine. There was a problem that it was expensive. Further, when the advertisement manuscript of the platen glass is drawn in black on a white background, the information at the edge of the original manuscript may be lost, and the advertisement manuscript is drawn in black on a transparent background. In this case, there is a problem that the information becomes difficult to read because it overlaps with the information on the edge of the original document.

On the other hand, in the copying apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 2, even if the original image has a wide margin area,
Since the image corresponding to the copied and output original image is reduced, there is a problem that the information indicated by the copied original becomes difficult to read. Further, in this copying apparatus, it takes a lot of time to read the advertisement image, and since the advertisement images having the same contents are always combined, there is a problem that it is not possible to combine and output various kinds of advertisement images in a timely manner. It was

Further, in the conventional copying apparatus, since the area of the advertisement image to be combined with the read original image is limited, the amount of information of the advertisement is always limited, and the advertisement client must make a sufficient advertisement. However, there is a problem in that it is not possible to obtain sufficient information even for users of the copying apparatus.

Further, the advertisement image provided in the conventional copying apparatus does not consider the needs of the copying apparatus user,
A certain advertising image was provided. For example, it is not possible to provide advertisement images for housewives who are used during the daytime, advertisement images according to the season, etc. in the corresponding time zone or season, and the regionality where the copying machine is installed is taken into consideration. Could not provide advertising image. That is, since it is not possible to provide the advertisement image that meets the needs of the copying machine user, there is a problem that the advertisement effect of the advertisement image cannot be efficiently exhibited.

In view of this, the present invention eliminates such a problem and forms an image in which a plurality of new additional images can always be rapidly combined and output without affecting the output quality of the original image of the original copy. An object is to provide an apparatus and method, an image forming system, and an image forming method of an image forming apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming system capable of providing an additional image having an amount of additional information that cannot output all the additional information only in the blank area of the original image. .

Furthermore, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus and method, an image forming system, and an image forming method of the image forming apparatus, which are capable of composite-outputting the additional image at a time or place that matches the content of the additional image. The purpose is to

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 provides an image forming apparatus for forming a composite image in which image information of a document image is combined with additional information.
A holding unit that holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category, a detecting unit that detects a blank area of the image information, and an additional image to be combined with the image information from the holding unit. , Selecting means for selecting an additional image held in a category corresponding to the time when the acquisition is performed, and a combined image in which the additional image selected by the selecting means is combined with the blank area detected by the detecting means And an image forming unit for forming the combined image generated by the image combining unit on a medium.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that is connected via a communication network to an image management apparatus that holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category, a blank area of image information is provided. Detecting means for detecting
When making a request to the image management apparatus for an additional image to be combined with the image information, transmission means for transmitting the time at which the request is made to the image management apparatus, and an additional image corresponding to the time from the image management apparatus. A receiving unit that receives the image, an image combining unit that generates a combined image in which the additional image received by the receiving unit is combined with the blank area detected by the detecting unit, and a combined image generated by the image combining unit. And an image forming unit formed on a medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus, which is connected via an communication network to an image management apparatus that holds a plurality of additional images in association with the classification for each category related to the environment, the own apparatus is installed. The registration means for registering the environmental condition, the detection means for detecting the blank area of the image information, and the registration means when requesting the additional image to be combined with the image information to the image management device. The transmitting means for transmitting the environmental condition to the image management apparatus, the receiving means for receiving the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image managing apparatus, and the additional image received by the receiving means are detected by the detecting means. An image synthesizing unit that generates a synthetic image that is synthesized in the created blank area, and an image forming unit that forms the synthetic image generated by the image synthesizing unit on a medium are provided. To.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system in which the image forming apparatus and the image management apparatus are connected via a communication network, the image forming apparatus detects a blank area of the image information, When making a request to the image management device for an additional image to be combined with the image information, the environmental condition in which the device is installed is transmitted to the image management device, and the image management device responds to the environmental condition. The additional image is received, the received additional image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium. Is held in association with the classification of each category related to the environment, and when the request for the additional image and the environmental condition are received from the image forming apparatus, the category is held in the category corresponding to the received environmental condition. Select an additional image, and transmits the additional image said selected said image forming apparatus.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming method for forming a composite image by combining the image information of the original image with the additional information, the plurality of additional images are held in association with each time-based category. When the margin area of the image information is detected and the additional image to be combined with the image information is acquired, the additional image held in the category corresponding to the time when the acquisition is performed is selected, and the selected additional image is displayed. , Generating a composite image combined with the detected blank area, and forming the generated composite image on a medium.

According to the invention of claim 6, in the image forming method of the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is connected through a communication network to an image management apparatus that holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category. When a blank area of information is detected and a request for an additional image to be combined with the image information is made to the image management device, the time at which the request is made is transmitted to the image management device, and the time is sent from the image management device. Is received, the received additional image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming method of the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is connected through a communication network to an image management apparatus that holds a plurality of additional images in association with each category of environment. When a blank area of information is detected and a request for an additional image to be combined with the image information is made to the image management apparatus, the environmental condition in which the apparatus is installed is transmitted to the image management apparatus, and the image management is performed. An additional image corresponding to the environmental condition is received from a device, a combined image obtained by combining the received additional image with the detected margin area is generated, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium. And

[0020]

In the first aspect of the invention, the holding means holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category.
When the detecting means detects the blank area of the image information and the selecting means acquires the additional image to be combined with the image information from the holding means,
The additional image held in the category corresponding to the time of acquisition is selected, and the image combining unit combines the additional image selected by the selecting unit with the margin area detected by the detecting unit to generate a combined image, The forming unit forms the combined image generated by the image combining unit on the medium.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the detecting means detects the blank area of the image information and the transmitting means makes a request to the image management apparatus for the additional image to be combined with the image information, the time at which the request is made is managed by the image management. To the device, the receiving unit receives the additional image corresponding to the time from the image management device, and the image combining unit combines the additional image received by the receiving unit with the blank area detected by the detecting unit to generate a combined image. Then, the image forming means forms the combined image generated by the image combining means on the medium.

As a result, the additional image is always combined at a desired time.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the registration means registers the environmental condition in which the apparatus is installed, the detection means detects the blank area of the image information, and the transmission means synthesizes the image information with the image management apparatus. When requesting an additional image to be transmitted, the environmental condition registered by the registration unit is transmitted to the image management device, the reception unit receives the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image management device, and the image composition unit is received by the reception unit. The received additional image
A composite image combined with the blank area detected by the detecting unit is generated, and the image forming unit forms the composite image generated by the image combining unit on the medium.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, the image management device holds a plurality of additional images in association with each category of environment, and the image forming device detects a blank area of the image information and notifies the image management device of the blank region. When requesting an additional image to be combined with the image information by transmitting the environmental condition where the device is installed to the image management device, and the image management device receives the additional image request and the environmental condition from the image forming device, The additional image stored in the category corresponding to the received environmental condition is selected, the selected additional image is transmitted to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus receives the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image management apparatus, and receives it. The added image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium.

As a result, the additional image is always combined and output from the desired image forming apparatus.

[0026]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image forming system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the image forming system includes a copying machine C and an advertisement management server S connected to a network N.

The copying machine C includes an image input section 1, a page memory 2, a selection instruction section CP including an advertisement function selecting section 3, a margin area detecting section 4, an image synthesizing section 5, an image outputting section 6, a normal copying counter 7a, It has an advertisement copy counter 7b, a control unit CT1 and a communication unit TR1.

The image input section 1 reads image information of a copy document placed on the platen as electronic data. The page memory 2 holds the image information read from the image input unit 1 in page units. The selection instructing section CP is for issuing various selection instructions and is composed of a liquid crystal display or the like. The selection instructing section CP has an advertising function selecting section C, and the advertising function selecting section C is an image input section. This is to select whether or not to compositely output the advertisement image as additional information in the blank area of the image information read in 1 (select the advertisement function). The blank area detection unit 4 detects the position and size (vertical width and horizontal width) of the blank area from the image information read by the image input unit 1. The image combining unit 5 combines the image information read by the image input unit 1 and the advertisement image acquired from the advertisement management server S. The image output unit 6 reads the image information in page units held in the page memory 2 or the image information combined by the image combining unit 5, and prints out on an output medium such as paper. The normal copy counter 7a counts the number of copy outputs for which the advertisement function is not selected in the image output unit 6. The advertisement copy counter 7b counts the number of copy outputs for which the advertisement function is selected in the image output unit 6. Communication unit T
R1 performs communication control for performing communication via the network N. The control unit CT1 controls the entire components of the copying machine C.

On the other hand, the advertisement management server S has an advertisement image holding section 8, an advertisement-based image use number counter 9, an advertisement image selection section 10, an image transformation section 11, a control section CT2, and a communication section TR.
Have two.

The advertisement image holding unit 8 holds the advertisement image synthesized and output with the image information, and holds the size information of the advertisement image. Advertisement image selection unit 10
Selects the advertisement image closest to the aspect ratio required based on the size requested from the copying machine C. The image number-of-advertisement counter 9 for each advertisement counts the number of times of use for each advertisement image set managed for each category such as an advertisement client described later. The image transforming unit 11 performs a transforming process such as enlargement / reduction in order to make the advertisement image selected by the advertisement image selecting unit 10 have a required size when necessary. The communication unit TR2 is
It performs communication control for communication via the network N. The control unit CT2 controls the entire advertisement management server S.

Here, the control procedure of the copying machine C will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 2, first, when the selection instructing section CP receives a copy start instruction together with settings such as a designated magnification and a designated paper size designated by the user and selection and designation of an advertising function, the control section CT1 causes the designated magnification and the designated paper size. The read size of the image information is calculated from this (step 101), and the image input section 1 reads the image of the document placed on the platen (not shown) as the image information based on the read size, and the image information is read. Transfer to page memory 2 (step 102). After that, the control unit CT1 determines whether or not the selection designation of the advertising function is instructed (step 103). When the advertisement function is not selected and designated, the value of the normal copy counter 7a is "1".
Is added (step 113), and the process proceeds to step 110. On the other hand, when the advertisement function is selected and designated, the blank area detection unit 4 detects the maximum blank area from the image information transferred and held in the page memory 2 (step 104). The control unit CT1 then proceeds to step 104.
In step S105, the blank area detection unit 4 determines whether or not the blank area can be detected. If the blank area cannot be detected, an error message is displayed on the display screen of the selection instructing unit CP (step 111). ), Adding "1" to the value of the normal copy counter (step 113), and step 110
Move to. On the other hand, when the blank area can be detected in step 105, the control unit CT1 displays the advertisement image having the optimum width and height in the detected blank area on the advertisement management server S via the communication unit TR1 and the network N. In order to acquire the information, information on the width and height of the detected blank area (horizontal width and vertical width) is notified (step 106). After that, the control unit CT1 determines whether or not the advertisement image has been acquired from the advertisement management server S within a fixed time (step 107),
If the advertisement image cannot be acquired, an error message is displayed on the display screen of the selection instructing section CP (step 112), and "1" is added to the value of the normal copy counter (step 11).
1), the process proceeds to step 110. On the other hand, step 10
If the advertisement image can be acquired in step 7, the image combining unit 5 combines the acquired advertisement image in the blank area of the image information held in the page memory 2 (step 10).
8). Then, "1" is added to the value of the advertisement copy counter 7b (step 109), and the image output section 6 reads the image information held in the page memory 2 and prints it out on a sheet of a designated sheet size (step 110). ). The image information in this case is image information including the synthesized advertisement image.

In this way, the copying machine C instructs the advertisement function selection section 3 to select the advertisement function or the blank area detection section 4.
In accordance with the detection of the blank area by, the optimum advertisement image is obtained from the advertisement management server S, and the obtained advertisement image is combined with the image information read by the image input unit 1 and printed out.

When there is no instruction to select the advertisement function, the copying machine C performs a normal copying process, and the number of copies is counted by the normal copying counter 7a. On the other hand, when there is an advertisement function selection instruction, the advertisement copy counter 7b counts the number of copies that the advertisement image is combined and output. In addition to the simple counting of the number of copies, the normal copy counter 7a includes various copy processes (color, specified paper size, etc.).
Alternatively, the charge corresponding to the advertisement copy counter 7b may be counted.

Next, a specific example of the margin area detecting procedure in the margin area detecting section 4 of the copying machine C will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the procedure for detecting the blank area by the blank area detecting unit 4 when the specified paper size is A4 and the resolution is 300 dpi. FIG. 4 shows the position of the blank area detecting unit 4 for detecting the blank area. It is a figure which shows and its detection priority order.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the blank area detection unit 4
Is vertical × horizontal = 600 (dots) × 240 at the center of the lower end of the A4 size image information stored in the page memory 2.
It is judged whether or not there is a blank area of 0 (dot) (step 201). If this blank area exists, the blank size = (600 × 2400), the blank position = (40, 60).
0) (step 202) and step 221
Move to.

When the blank area is not detected in step 201, vertical × horizontal = 600 × 24 at the center of the upper end of the image information.
It is judged whether or not there is a blank area of 00 (step 20).
3) If this margin area exists, the margin size =
(600 × 2400), margin position = (40,3510)
(Step 204), and the process proceeds to step 221.

If the blank area is not detected in step 203, the vertical x horizontal = 2400 x 6 at the center of the left end of the image information.
It is judged whether or not there is a blank area of 00 (step 20).
5) If this margin area exists, the margin size =
(2400 × 600), margin position = (0, 2400) are set (step 206), and the process proceeds to step 221.

When the blank area is not detected in step 205, vertical × horizontal = 2400 × 6 at the center of the right end of the image information.
It is judged whether or not there is a blank area of 00 (step 20).
7) If the margin area exists, the margin size =
(2400 × 600), margin position = (1870,244
0) (step 208) and step 221
Move to.

If the blank area is not detected in step 207, the vertical x horizontal = 1200 x 1 at the center of the lower edge of the image information.
It is determined whether or not there are 200 blank areas (step 20).
9) If this margin area exists, the margin size =
(1200 × 1200), margin position = (640,60
0) (step 210) and step 221
Move to.

If no blank area is detected in step 209, the vertical x horizontal = 1200 x 1 is displayed at the center of the upper end of the image information.
It is determined whether or not there are 200 blank areas (step 21).
1) If the margin area exists, the margin size =
(1200 × 1200), margin position = (640,351)
0) (step 212) and step 221
Move to.

When the blank area is not detected in step 211, vertical × horizontal = 1200 × 1 at the center of the left end of the image information.
It is determined whether or not there are 200 blank areas (step 21).
3) If this margin area exists, the margin size =
(1200 × 1200), margin position = (0,1840)
(Step 214), and the process proceeds to step 221.

If the blank area is not detected in step 213, the vertical × horizontal = 1200 × 1 at the center of the right end of the image information.
It is determined whether or not there are 200 blank areas (step 21).
5) If this margin area exists, the margin size =
(1200 × 1200), margin position = (1870, 18)
40) (step 216) and step 22
Move to 1.

If the blank area is not detected in step 215, the vertical x horizontal = 1200 x 12 near the center of the image information.
It is determined whether or not there is a blank area of 00 (step 21
7) If the margin area exists, the margin size =
(1200 × 1200), margin position = (640,210
0) (step 218) and step 221
Move to.

On the other hand, when the blank area is not detected in step 217, it means that the blank area is not detected. Therefore, the blank size = (0 × 0) and the blank position = (0,0).
(Step 219) and the process proceeds to step 221.

Then, in step 221, the control section CT1 is notified of the set margin size and margin position.

That is, in the detection of the blank area by the blank area detection unit 4, rather than searching the areas in all the image information, the position where many blank areas exist and the size thereof are empirically prioritized. Is set, and whether or not there is a blank area set in the order of priority is detected. This makes it possible to detect a desired blank area at a higher speed than detecting a blank area from all areas in the image information.

Of course, if the blank area detection unit 4 has a capability of searching the blank area at high speed, all the areas in the target image information may be searched to detect the blank area.

FIG. 5 shows control of the selection instructing section CP.
It is a figure which shows a panel, The control panel of the selection instruction | indication part CP has the button B1 which selects an advertising function. By selecting this advertisement function, making other desired settings, and pressing the start button B, the advertisement image is combined with the blank area of the image information of the copy document and printed out.

Next, the control procedure of the advertisement management server S will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 6, when the advertisement management server S receives a request for an advertisement image from the copying machine C, the advertisement image selecting unit 10 selects a pseudo random number from a plurality of advertisement image sets registered in the advertisement image holding unit 8. To select an arbitrary advertising image set (step 301). The set of advertisement images includes one or more advertisement images of different sizes. Here, the advertisement image selection unit 10 determines whether or not the advertisement image set exists (step 302), and when it does not exist, notifies the copier C of an “image search error” (step 309). ), And this processing ends.

On the other hand, when the advertisement image set exists,
From the advertisement images in the selected advertisement image set, the advertisement image having the closest aspect ratio is selected based on the requested width (width) and height (height) (step 303).
Then, the image transformation unit 11 performs enlarging / reducing processing so that the advertisement image selected in step 303 becomes maximum within the requested width and height (step 304). After that, "1" is added to the value of the number-of-uses counter of the used advertisement image set in the image-use-number counter 9 for each advertisement source, and the control unit CT2 copies the enlarged / reduced advertisement image as a request source. Transfer to the device C via the network N (step 306). Then, by referring to the image source use count counter 9 for each advertisement source, whether or not the number of use of the advertisement image of the advertisement image set having the advertisement image which is the source of the advertisement image that has been subjected to the enlargement / reduction processing and transferred is the planned end number It is determined (step 307), and if it is the planned number of endings, this advertising image set is deleted from the advertising image holding unit 8 (step 308), then this processing is ended. The process ends.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the advertisement image and advertisement source-specific image use count counter 9 held in the advertisement image holding unit 8.

FIG. 7A shows a structure for holding the advertisement image in the advertisement image holding unit 8. The advertisement image is divided and held in a plurality of advertisement image sets # 1 to #N. Each of the advertisement image sets # 1 to #N has one or more pieces of image information, and this image information is bitmap data.
The number of vertical dots, the number of horizontal dots, and the bitmap data itself are held. When the image information is vector data, the number of vertical dots, the number of horizontal dots, and the vector data itself are held. However, in the case of vector data, the number of vertical dots and the number of horizontal dots merely indicate the coordinate area of the reference vector data, and actually have meaning as information on the aspect ratio.

The advertisement image selection process by the advertisement image selection unit 10 (step 303) and the enlargement / reduction process by the image transformation unit 11 (step 304) will be described below.

For example, the requested image size from the copying machine C =
If there is a request for an advertising image of (600 x 2400),
The advertisement image selection unit 10 selects an arbitrary advertisement image set, for example, advertisement image set # 2 shown in FIG. 7. in this case,
Image size = (600 × 24
00) image # 1, image size = (2400 × 600)
Image # 2 and image size = (1200 × 1200)
Image # 3. Therefore, the advertisement image selection unit 10
Selects the image # 1 (aspect ratio = 1/4) closest to the aspect ratio = 1/4 of the requested image size from the images # 1 to # 3. In this case, since the image sizes are the same, the enlargement / reduction processing by the image transformation unit 11 is not performed.

On the other hand, the image size of each of the three images in the selected advertisement image set is, for example, (2000 × 5).
00), (500 × 500), (500 × 2000), the image size having the aspect ratio = 1/4 that is closest to the aspect ratio = 1/4 of the requested image size = (500 × 2
000) is selected. In this case, since the selected image size in the advertisement image set is 5/6 of the requested image size, the image transforming unit 11 performs a process of enlarging the selected image by 1.2 times. .

The image size of each of the three images in the selected advertisement image set is, for example, (1800 × 5).
00), (500 × 500), (500 × 1800), the image size having the aspect ratio = 5/18 closest to the aspect ratio = 1/4 of the requested image size = (500 ×
1800) is selected. In this case, enlargement processing is performed within the range that does not exceed the required image size. That is, the image size obtained by multiplying the selected image by 1.2 = (600 × 2160)
And the size filled with bits “0” = (600
The blank information of (× 120) is arranged at the left and right ends of the enlarged image, and an image matching the required image size is generated.

As shown in FIG. 7, by holding the image corresponding to the type of the blank size detected by the blank area detecting unit 4, the image transforming process by the image transforming unit 11 becomes unnecessary, and the copy is performed. The advertisement image can be acquired by the machine C at high speed.

In step 301, the pseudo-random number is used to uniformly select the advertisement image set. The selection is that the advertisement image set is usually provided for each advertisement requester unit, This is because the advertisement by the image is performed evenly.

FIG. 7B shows the configuration of the advertisement source-specific image use count counter 9. The counter 9 is subjected to counting processing for each advertisement image set. The number of times of use and the maximum number of times of use are held in each advertisement image set, and the value of the number of times of use is added by “1” corresponding to the used advertisement image set, and the value indicates the maximum number of times of use. When crossing,
The advertisement image set in the advertisement image holding unit 8 corresponding to this advertisement image set is deleted. The maximum number of uses is
It is a value indicating the limit of the number of advertisements requested by the advertisement client.

In step 301, the pseudo-random number is used to uniformly select the advertisement image set.
It is possible to preferentially select an advertisement image set with a small number of times of use and distribute the advertisement image fairly.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the copying machine C and the advertisement management server S. As shown in FIG. 8, the image forming system normally connects a plurality of copying machines C1 and C2 to a network N such as Ethernet (registered trademark),
It is configured to use one advertisement management server S.

From the copy machines C1 and C2 side, the advertisement management server S
When the advertisement image is requested to the copy machines C1 and C2, the information about the margin size is sent to the advertisement management server S together with the network identifiers of the copy machines C1 and C2. In contrast,
The advertisement management server S manages the identifier of the copying machine connected to the advertisement management server S (managed as the same identifier as the network identifier), and the copying machine as the request source is a valid copying machine based on the network identifier. If it is valid, the advertisement management server S sends the size of the advertisement image and the bitmap data (image information) together with the network identifier of the advertisement management server S to the requesting copying machine. Then, the requesting copying machine determines whether the advertisement management server is valid based on the network identifier, and if it is valid, accepts the transmitted information.

In this way, the copying machines C1 and C2 and the advertisement management server S perform the transfer processing of the advertisement image while confirming the mutual validity using the network identifier. As a result, it is possible to prevent an illegal count-up of the counter in the advertisement management server S and an illegal count-up of the counter in the copying machine.

In this case, the copying machine side requests the size of the advertisement image based on the number of bits, and the data transferred from the advertisement management server is also bitmap data, so the resolutions of the plurality of copying machines are different. May be.

Although the bitmap data is transferred in the first embodiment, when the advertisement image data amount is large, the bitmap data is compressed and transferred. Alternatively, it may be transferred as image data expressed using a page description language. This reduces the time taken to transfer the advertisement image.

Next, the second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the structure of the image forming system according to the second embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 temporarily stores the advertisement image in the copying machine C2. That is, the advertisement management server S2 has the reservation information section 21 that holds the reservation information of the advertisement image.

With this configuration, the copying machine C of the second embodiment
2 can obtain the advertisement image temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 in the copying machine without requesting the advertisement management server S2 to request the advertisement image each time the advertisement image is synthesized. . As a result, the copying machine C2 can obtain a desired advertisement image safely and at high speed. Especially in a high-speed copying machine, the effect is great and the load on the network N is reduced.

FIG. 10 shows a copying machine C according to the second embodiment.
3 is a flowchart showing a copy control procedure of No. 2, in which steps 106 to 107 of the copy control procedure of the copying machine C in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are different. The procedure corresponding to the processing procedure of steps 106 to 107 is shown in FIG.
Steps 406 to 409 in step 0, and the processing of steps 406 to 409 will be described below.

First, when the blank area detection unit 4 is able to detect a blank area (step 405), a process of acquiring an advertisement image corresponding to the blank size from the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 (step 406). If it is determined that the advertisement image cannot be obtained, an error message is displayed on the display screen of the selection instructing section CP (step 414), and "1" is added to the value of the normal copy counter 7a (step 415).
The image output unit 6 outputs the image information held in the page memory 2 as it is (step 412).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 407 that the advertisement image corresponding to the margin size can be obtained, in order to use this advertisement image, the reservation number preset in this advertisement image is sent to the advertisement management server S2. It is notified and a request for permission to use this advertisement image is made (step 408). After that, it is determined from the advertisement management server S2 whether or not the use permission is notified. If the use permission is not notified, the process proceeds to step 406 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, when the use permission is notified, the image synthesizing unit 5 synthesizes the advertisement image acquired from the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 with the blank area of the image information held in the page memory 2 (step 410). , "1" is added to the value of the advertisement copy counter 7b (step 411), and the image output unit 6 outputs the combined image information (step 412).

Next, with reference to FIG. 11, a control procedure when an advertisement image is requested in the advertisement management server S2 will be described. In the control procedure at the time of requesting an advertisement image in the second embodiment, in addition to the request for an advertisement image to be used immediately in the first embodiment, the copying machine C2 causes the advertisement image temporary storage unit 2 to operate.
0 is different from the first embodiment in that there is a request to hold the advertisement image. That is, the control procedure shown in steps 505 to 507 of FIG. 11 corresponding to step 305 of FIG. 6 is different from that of the first embodiment, and hereinafter, steps 505 to 5
The control procedure of 07 will be described.

In step 505 of FIG. 11, the control unit CT2 of the advertisement management server S2 determines that the advertisement image request from the copying machine C2 is related to reservation, that is, the advertisement image to be held in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20. Judge whether it is a request or not. If the result of this determination is that the request is for an advertisement image relating to a reservation, information regarding the reservation such as the reservation number is added to the reservation information section 21 (step 506), and the requested advertisement image is sent to the requesting copying machine C2. Transfer (step 508).

On the other hand, when the request for the advertisement image is not related to the reservation in step 505, the advertisement image set selected in the advertisement source-specific image use frequency counter 9 is selected in the same manner as in step 305 in the first embodiment. The value of the number of times of use is incremented by "1" (step 507), and the requested advertisement image is transferred to the copying machine C2 which is the request source (step 508).

In this way, when the advertisement management server S2 receives a request for an advertisement image to be temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage section 20, the value of the image source use count counter 9 for each advertisement source is not incremented. Only the information regarding the reservation is added to the reservation information section 21 and the requested advertisement information is transferred to the copying machine side.

Then, when the advertisement image temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 is used on the copying machine side, the advertisement source-specific image use number counter 9 is counted up. Hereinafter, the copy machine C2 side is the advertisement image temporary storage unit 2
The control procedure of the advertisement management server S2 when using the advertisement image temporarily stored in 0 will be described.

First, referring to FIG. 12, the reservation information section 21
The reservation information unit 21 includes a reservation number of the advertisement image transferred to the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20, an advertisement image set number in which the transferred advertisement image exists, and an identifier of a copying machine that reserves the advertisement image. It is composed of the reservation source copier identifier that is and the reservation time.
Managed.

Next, referring to the flow chart shown in FIG. 13, the processing procedure of the advertisement management server S2 when the use permission notification of the advertisement image temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 is received from the copying machine side. Will be explained.

In FIG. 13, the advertisement management server S2
When the use permission notification including the reservation number of the advertisement image to be used and the copy machine identifier is received from the copy machine C2, the control unit CT
2 retrieves this reservation number from the reservation information section 21 (step 601), and judges whether or not there is a reservation number for which usage permission has been requested (step 602). If the reservation number does not exist, the process proceeds to step 608 to notify the requesting copying machine of a "reservation cancellation error" indicating cancellation of the reservation, and this processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if the reservation number is present in step 602, it is further determined whether or not the notified copying machine identifier matches the copying machine identifier corresponding to the reservation number in the reservation information section 21 ( In step 603), if they do not match, a "reservation cancellation error" is notified to the requesting copying machine (step 608), and this processing ends.

When it is determined in step 603 that they coincide with each other, the advertisement image set number corresponding to the notified reservation number is taken out, and the value of the number of times of use of the image use number counter 9 for each advertisement source corresponding to this advertisement image set number is set. "1" is added (step 604), and the requesting copying machine is notified of "contact reception confirmation" indicating use permission (step 605).
After that, the control unit CT2 determines from the advertisement source-specific image use count counter 9 whether or not the maximum number of use times of the advertisement image set of the advertisement image permitted to be used has been exceeded (step 60).
6) If the maximum number of uses is exceeded, the advertisement image holding unit 8
Delete the corresponding set of advertisement images from (step 60
7) If this process is finished and the maximum number of times of use is not exceeded, this process is finished as it is.

In this way, the advertisement management server S2
The copying machine C2 manages the use of the advertisement image based on the use permission notification that is notified each time the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 is used.

Next, the communication procedure between the copying machine C2 and the advertisement management server S2 will be described with reference to FIG. 14, including the operation of the user of the copying machine.

That is, the copying machine C2 makes a request to the advertisement management server S2 for an advertisement image to be temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage section 20 regardless of the operation of the user of the copying machine (S1), and the advertisement is sent. The requested advertisement information is acquired from the management server S2 (S2).

After that, the copying machine C2 receives a copying instruction instructing the advertising function by the copying machine user (S3).
Then, the copying machine C2 causes the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 to generate an advertisement image that matches the margin size detected by the margin area detection unit 4.
(S4), the advertisement management server S2 is notified of the reservation permission notification of the searched advertisement image (S5), and the synthesis processing of this advertisement image is performed (S6). On the other hand, the advertisement management server S2 confirms the validity of this reservation permission notification from the notified reservation number and copying machine identifier (S7), and if it is valid, permits the use of the requested advertisement image. The copying machine C2 is informed of the “contact reception confirmation” (S8), and the copying machine C2 outputs the combined advertisement image (S8).
9).

Further, when the advertisement management server S2 receives the notification of "reservation cancellation error" (S20), the advertisement image matching the reservation size is searched again (S21), and then the above-mentioned processing is repeated.

Further, the copying machine C2 acquires the advertisement image to be temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20, and then periodically makes a reservation of the advertisement image to the advertisement management server S2, for example, every 30 minutes. An inquiry is made to confirm the validity (S30). On the other hand, the advertisement management server S2 reconfirms the validity of the inquired advertisement image and notifies the copying machine C2 of this result (S31).

The reconfirmation of the validity in the advertisement management server S2 is to check the attribute of the advertisement image set of the notified reservation number, for example, the maximum number of times of use, and determine whether the number of times of use exceeds the maximum number of times of use. Or reconfirm whether the expiration date has passed. As a result of this reconfirmation, when the number of times of use exceeds the maximum number of times of use or the expiration date has passed, the reservation cancellation is notified to the copying machine C2. On the other hand, the copying machine C2 that has received the reservation cancellation deletes the corresponding advertisement image and acquires a new advertisement image. When the advertisement management server S2 receives the inquiry from the copying machine C2 for reconfirmation of the validity, and when the validity can be confirmed, the advertisement management server S2 updates the time when the inquiry is received as the reservation time.

On the other hand, the advertisement management server S2 itself also periodically confirms the validity of the reservation based on the reservation information section 21. For example, if all reservation times are confirmed and the reservation time is one hour or more before the current time, this reservation number is set as a missing number. Then, when the advertisement management server S2 receives an inquiry for reconfirmation of validity from the copying machine C2 for the reservation number that has become the missing number or a reservation permission notification, it notifies the copying machine C2 of cancellation of the reservation.

By reconfirming the validity of the advertisement management server S2 itself, for example, even when the power of the copying machine having the reserved advertisement image is turned off, the advertisement image can be properly managed.

Next, the third embodiment will be described.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the structure of an image forming system according to the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, the page memory 2 in the structure of the second embodiment is replaced by the page memory 2. This is different from the second embodiment in that the page memory 2C is configured to further include the output image holding unit 32 therein. That is, the page memory 2C has a plurality of output image holding units 31 in addition to the input image holding unit 30 corresponding to the page memory 2 in the second embodiment.

The output image holding unit 31 outputs different advertisement images in the blank area of the detected image information when the advertisement function is selected when a plurality of copies of the image information input from the image input unit 1 are output. It holds the combined image information.

The control procedure of the copying machine C3 will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 16, steps 701 to 704 are performed.
Up to the above, the same processing as steps 401 to 404 of the second embodiment is performed. Then, in step 705, it is determined whether or not a blank area for the image information held in the input image holding unit 30 has been detected. If no blank area is detected, an error message is displayed on the selection instructing section CP (step 7).
14) The process moves to step 713, and when a blank area is detected, the processes of steps 706 to 709 are repeated for the designated number of copies.

That is, the image synthesizing unit 5 converts the advertisement image temporarily stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 and received the use permission notice from the advertisement management server S3 into the image information held in the input image holding unit 30. The combined image information is sequentially stored in the output image holding unit 31 (step 70).
7). Then, the process of adding "1" to the value of the advertisement copy counter 7b (step 708) is repeated. in this case,
The image information held in the input image holding unit 30 is one, and the position and size of the blank area of this image information are also set to one. The combined image information stored in the output image holding unit 31 is the number of copies. Therefore,
In the margin area, a plurality of different advertisement images stored in the advertisement image temporary storage unit 20 are combined with one image information stored in the input image storage unit 30 for a plurality of copies, respectively, and the output image storage unit 31 will be stored.

After that, the number of valid output images is set to the numerical value of the number of copies (step 710), and the process proceeds to step 715.

On the other hand, when the advertisement function is not selected in step 703, the image information held in the input image holding unit 30 is transferred to the output image holding unit 31 as it is (step 711) and the value of the normal copy counter 7a is set. Is incremented by "1" (step 713), the number of valid output images is set to "1" (step 714), and the process proceeds to step 715.

The processing of steps 715 to 717 is repeated for the number of valid output images set in step 710 or step 714. That is, the image output unit 6 sequentially takes out the image information stored in the output image holding unit 31 by the number of valid output images and prints it out (step 716).

As a result, the margin area is detected once for each document reading, and the image composition for a plurality of copies is performed with the permission to use the advertisement image for the number of copies. It is possible to efficiently synthesize and output many advertisement images.

Further, in the third embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the reserved advertisement image is stored in the advertisement image temporary storage section 20, and the use permission of the plurality of stored advertisement images is permitted. Since it is only necessary to receive from the advertisement management server S3, the transfer time of a plurality of advertisement images is shortened, and thus it is possible to output image information for a plurality of copies in which a plurality of different advertisement images are combined at high speed.

Items common to the above-described first to third embodiments will be described.

First, registration of advertisement images in the advertisement management servers S, S2, S3 will be described. The process of registering the advertisement image in the advertisement management server is performed by accessing the advertisement management server from a device (not shown) via the network N. In order to access the advertisement management server, it is necessary to input the network identifier and password of the device in the device. When the network identifier and the password are valid, the advertisement image registration screens shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 are sequentially displayed in the communication process with the advertisement management server, and the registration process is executed.

In FIG. 17, on the advertisement image registration screen,
First, the menu numbers 1 to 3 and their contents are displayed.
The menu number 1 indicates new registration of the advertisement image, the menu number 2 indicates change of the already registered advertisement image, and the menu number 3 indicates end of the advertisement image registration processing.

Here, if the menu number 1 is selected and the new registration of the advertisement image is selected, the width of the advertisement image to be registered,
The height and image format are displayed sequentially. Here, the width of the advertisement image is set to 600 dots, the height is set to 2400 dots, and the image format is set to the bit map, and then the set bitmap data is transferred to the advertisement management server. When the process of transferring the advertisement image is completed, the number of advertisements of the advertisement image is input, the advertisement fee for the advertisement image is displayed, and the identifier of the advertisement image is notified. Here, since the price of one advertisement image is set to 10 yen in advance, a charge of 10000 yen is displayed for 1000 advertisements. Then, the identifier of the registered advertisement image is notified as "PBB02274".

Upon the notification of this identifier, the process of new registration is completed and the above-mentioned initial menu is displayed again.

FIG. 18 shows an advertisement image registration screen when the advertisement image already registered in FIG. 17 is changed. As described above, the initial menu is displayed first. Here, the menu number 2 is selected because the registered advertisement image is changed. When this menu number 2 is selected, since the advertisement image has already been registered, the identifier of the advertisement image to be changed is input. Then, the advertisement management server notifies and displays information regarding the advertisement image corresponding to this identifier. In FIG. 18, the number of advertisements is additionally set. Then, the information regarding the changed advertisement image is displayed again, and the initial menu is displayed.

Thus, the number of advertisements and the advertisement image can be updated.

Next, the frame setting process when synthesizing the advertisement image will be described.

This frame setting processing is, as shown in FIG.
The detection area detected from the read image information has various positions, and if the advertisement image is simply combined at this position,
Since it may be confused with the content of the read image information, a frame is set in the area of the advertisement image in an attempt to separate it from the content of the read image information. In particular, when there is a blank area in the center of the image information,
This is because the contents of the image information read in all four directions of the margin area are displayed and output, and thus they are easily confused.

A concrete frame setting process will be described below with reference to FIGS. 19 to 21.

FIG. 19 shows the case where a blank area of a blank size = 600 × 2400 is detected at the center of the lower edge of the original image, and the advertisement image D1 corresponding to this blank size is detected.
Is selected to generate a composite image. In this case, no frame is set for the advertisement image.

FIG. 20 shows a case in which a margin area of 1200 × 1200 in the margin size is detected at the center of the left end of the original image, and the advertisement image D corresponding to the margin size is detected.
2 is selected and a composite image is generated. In this case also, no frame is set for the advertisement image.

FIG. 21 shows a case where a margin area of 1200 × 1200 is detected at the lower end of the center of the original image, and the advertisement image D corresponding to this margin size is detected.
A composite image in which 3 is selected is generated. In this case, a frame is set in the advertisement image.

That is, when the margin area is set at the center lower end portion or the like, it is difficult to distinguish the boundary between the content of the original image and the content of the advertisement image, and therefore, it is determined that the advertisement image is positive or the advertisement image is not displayed. The area is indicated.
On the other hand, when a blank area is detected at the end of the image information, the frame is not set because the image information and the advertisement image are generally easily distinguished.

Of course, the frame may be set for all the advertisement images, or the letters "advertisement" indicating the advertisement image may be displayed at the upper end of the frame.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.

In the fourth embodiment, since the size of the blank area of the read image information is limited, instead of directly synthesizing and outputting the advertisement image as in the first to third embodiments, A simple advertisement image indicating that there is information to be advertised (hereinafter referred to as introduction advertisement image) and identifier information indicating detailed information about this introduction advertisement image are combined and output in the blank area, and then this identifier information Is used to obtain detailed information.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system according to the fourth embodiment, in which the copying machine C4, the advertisement management server S4, and the client device CL are the network N.
It is connected and configured.

The copying machine C4 includes an image input section 41, a page memory 42, an identifier input section 43, a blank area detection section 44, an image composition section 45, an image output section 46, a selection instruction section CP4, a control section CT41, and a communication section. The image input unit 41, the page memory 42, the blank area detection unit 44, the image output unit 46, the selection instruction unit CP4, the control unit CT41, and the communication unit TR41 have the same configuration as in the first embodiment. .

The identifier input section 43 is a bar code reader, and reads the identifier information indicated by the bar code output together with the introduction advertisement image.

The image synthesizing section 45 has a bar code font 45a, and when synthetically outputting the identifier information to be output together with the introduction advertisement information, the image synthesizing section 45 converts the identifier information into a bar code based on the bar code font 45a.

The advertisement management server S4 uses the advertisement image registration unit 4
7, an advertisement image search unit 48, an advertisement image holding unit 49, a detailed information holding unit 50, a control unit CT42, and a communication unit TR42.

Introductory advertisement images are stored in the advertisement image holding unit 49.

The detailed information holding unit 50 stores detailed information of the introduction advertisement image.

The advertisement image registration unit 47 performs registration processing of the introduction advertisement image and its detailed information.

The advertisement image search unit 48 performs a search process for reading the introduction advertisement image and its detailed information.

The control unit CT42 controls the entire advertisement management server S4, and the communication unit TR42 controls the advertisement management server S4.
4 and the network N.

Now, with reference to FIGS. 23 to 25, a process of registering the introduction advertisement image and its detailed information from the client device CL in the advertisement management server S4 will be described.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing the procedure for registering an introduction advertisement image and its detailed information. First, the advertisement management server S4 accepts the introduction advertisement image and its attribute from the client device CL (step 801), and the control section. The CT 42 determines whether or not there is a request to register detailed information from the client device CL (step 802).

When there is no request for registration of detailed information, the advertisement image registration unit 47 stores the accepted introduction advertisement image and its attribute in the advertisement image holding unit 49 (step 806), and ends the main registration processing.

On the other hand, when the detailed information registration request is made in step 802, the advertisement image registration unit 47 receives the detailed information and its attribute from the client device CL (step 803) and determines the identifier for the detailed information search. (Step 804). Then, the detailed information and its attribute are registered in the detailed information holding unit 50 together with the determined identifier information (step 805). Further, the introduction advertisement image and its attribute are stored in the advertisement image holding unit 49 (step 80).
6) The main registration process ends.

Here, FIG. 24 shows the structure of the attribute table in the advertisement image holding unit 49, and this attribute table holds the attributes of the stored introduction advertisement image.

Attribute items in the attribute table are a series of registration numbers, data formats, page numbers, data sizes, data addresses, and identifiers. The series of registration numbers is for identifying the introduction advertisement image to be registered, and at the time of registration, the smallest number that can be registered is assigned. In this case, you may identify using a character string etc. instead of a number. The data format indicates the data format of the introduction advertisement image to be registered, and is indicated by a binary bitmap, a text page description language, or the like. The number of pages indicates the number of pages of the introduction advertisement image to be registered.
The data size indicates the data size of the registered introduction advertisement image in bytes. The data address is the top address where the introduction advertisement image is stored. The identifier indicates an identifier of the detailed information when the detailed information is included. If the detailed information is not included, “0” is set.

FIG. 25 shows the structure of the attribute table in the detailed information holding unit 50. The attribute items of this attribute table are identifier, data format, number of pages, data size,
The output size, output direction, and data address. The identifier is for identifying the detailed information stored as described above. The data format, the number of pages, the data size, and the data address are the same as the contents shown in FIG. The output size indicates the output size when the detailed information is output, for example, A4 size. The output direction of the detailed information is, for example, “Portrait” when the A4 size is output in the portrait orientation, and “Landscape” when outputting the A4 size in the landscape orientation.

When the introduction advertisement image or the detailed information is deleted, the contents of the attribute table corresponding to this are also deleted. Further, when the introduction advertisement image is deleted, the detailed information corresponding thereto is also deleted at the same time.

Next, the output processing of the copying machine C4 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 26, when the image input section 41 reads the image information of the original image (step 901), this image information is held in the page memory 42. When the selection instruction of the advertisement function is received from the selection instruction unit CP4,
The blank area detection unit 44 detects the blank area, and the control unit CT4
1 acquires an introduction advertisement image from the advertisement management server via the communication unit TR41 (step 902). Then, it is determined whether or not the identifier information indicating the detailed information is included together with the acquired introduction advertisement image (step 903). If the identifier information is included, the image combining unit 45 sets the barcode font 45a. By referring to this, a bar code corresponding to the identifier information is generated, and the introduction advertisement image and the bar code are combined so as not to overlap (step 904). Then, this composite image is combined with the blank area of the read image information (step 905). On the other hand, when the identifier information is not included, the image combining unit 45 combines only the introduction advertisement image in the blank area of the read image information (step 905).

After that, the image information combined by the image combining unit 45 is output from the image output unit 46 (step 906).

FIG. 28A shows an example in which the introduction advertisement image and the bar code are combined in the blank area of the read image information. In the blank area E4, the introduction advertisement image D41 and the bar code are displayed. The code D42 is combined so as not to overlap, and is further combined with the read image information.

Here, the user of the copying machine C4 who has acquired the output image as shown in FIG.
If you are interested in 1, please use the barcode D4
2 will be used to obtain detailed information. The detailed information acquisition processing by the copying machine C4 in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 27, the user instructs the selection instructing section CP.
When the identifier input unit 43, which is a barcode reader, reads the identifier information indicated by the barcode by instructing to input the identifier information from step 4 (step 1001), the control unit CT41 instructs the advertisement management server S4. On the other hand, a search request for detailed information corresponding to this identifier information is made. On the other hand, the advertisement image search unit 48 of the advertisement management server S4 searches the detailed information corresponding to the requested identifier information and notifies the copying machine C4 of the search result.

The copying machine C4 judges whether or not it has been notified that the requested detailed information exists (step 100).
2) If detailed information does not exist, a message to that effect is output (step 1007), and this processing ends.

On the other hand, when the control unit CT41 receives the notification that the requested detailed information exists, the control unit CT41 determines that the advertisement management server S
The corresponding detailed information and its attribute information are acquired from step 4 (step 1003). Then, an image of detailed information is generated based on the attribute information (step 1004), a sheet of output size is selected (step 1005), and print output is performed on this selected sheet (step 1006), and this processing is performed. finish.

An example of the detailed information printed out in this manner is as shown in FIG. 28B, and the detailed information can be separately acquired according to the user's request.

When the user of the copying machine C4 obtains the detailed information, the client apparatus CR may make a request for obtaining the detailed information instead of making a request for obtaining the detailed information from the copying machine C4. In this case, the client device CR
Must have an identifier input means capable of reading the identifier information and a designation means for designating an output destination of the detailed information. Further, in this case, the detailed information may be output to the display device itself of the client device CR.
This allows the user to obtain detailed information,
It is not necessary to move to the place where the copying machine C4 used is installed.

Further, in the above-described fourth embodiment, the identifier information is output as a barcode, and the identifier input section 43 is a barcode reader.
Not limited to this, the identifier information may be represented by a character string or a number string, and the identifier information may be input by key input. As a result, a general-purpose key can be used and flexibility is increased. However, the bar code input reduces the reading time of the identifier information.

Next, the fifth embodiment will be described.

Advertising images in the first to fourth embodiments are as follows:
Although it was randomly selected irrespective of the user of the copying machine, in the fifth embodiment, the advertisement image to be advertised is adjusted to the user group according to the time zone in which the copying machine is used, and the advertisement is performed. The client intends to synthesize and output an advertisement image having an advertising effect.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the structure of the image forming system according to the fifth embodiment. In the fifth embodiment, the first
The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the advertisement management server S of the second embodiment is provided with the classification unit 51.

The classification unit 51 holds the relationship between the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image holding unit 8 and the time zone of the advertisement desired by the advertisement client, and the advertisement image selection unit 10 selects the advertisement image. In this case, the advertisement image satisfying the relationship held by the classification unit 51 is selected.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between the advertisement image and the time zone in which the advertisement image is selected, which is held by the classification unit 51.

In FIG. 30, the classification unit 51 preliminarily sets the time of day to four time zones # 1 to # 4 (00:00 to 06:
00, 06: 00-12: 00, 12: 00-18: 00
0, 18:00 to 24:00), and the advertising image has a relationship of being combined with one or more time zones with respect to the four divided time zones. The relationship with this time zone is
It is determined by the attribute requested in advance from the advertisement client when the advertisement image is registered. For example, the advertisement image # 1 has the time slot # 1.
And time zone # 4. The reason that the advertisement image # 1 specifies the time zone # 1 and the time zone # 4 is that the user wants to advertise to the user who uses the copying machine at night. In this way, the plurality of advertisement images held in the advertisement image holding unit 8 are classified into four time zones. Here, in each time zone # 1 to # 4,
It has an index variable (index), and the value of this index variable is a variable value indicating the advertisement image to be combined in each time period. That is, the index variable is a value from 1 to the maximum number of advertisement images to be combined in each time period, and “1” is added after the selection of the advertisement image corresponding to the current index variable. The advertisement image corresponding to is selected as the next advertisement image.

Here, the advertisement image selection processing procedure by the advertisement management server S5 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In FIG. 31, first, the advertisement management server S5
When the request for the advertisement image is received from the copying machine C5, the advertisement image selection unit 10 determines the time zone in the classification unit 51 based on the current time (step 1101) and corresponds to the determined time zone. A group of advertisement images to be extracted is extracted (step 110).
2) An advertisement image corresponding to the value of the index variable is selected from this advertisement image group (step 1103), and the selected advertisement image is taken out from the advertisement image holding unit 8. Then, the classification unit 51 adds “1” to the value of the index variable in the selected time zone. And the advertisement management server S
5 transfers the fetched advertisement image to the copying machine C5 (step 1105), and ends this processing.

When the value of the index variable reaches the maximum value of the number of advertisement images combined in the time zone, the value of this index variable is reset to "1". By repeating this, the advertisement images in the selected time period are selected on average.

The time zone of the fifth embodiment is 4 days a day.
It was divided into two time zones, but not limited to this,
It may be classified into Saturday / Sunday and weekdays, or may be classified into time zones classified by season, or a combination of these.

Further, the classification unit 51 sets the classification condition of the advertisement image according to the time zone, but it is not limited to this, and various classification conditions may be set.

Next, the sixth embodiment will be described.

The sixth embodiment is similar to the fifth embodiment in that the advertisement image is selected in consideration of the locality where the copying machine is installed. Therefore, the sixth embodiment is applied to a wide area network on condition that a plurality of copying machines are connected to the network.

FIG. 32 is a view showing the schematic arrangement of an image forming system according to the sixth embodiment. In the sixth embodiment, as described above, at least a plurality of copying machines C6-.
1 to C6-N and the advertisement management server S6 are network N
It is connected and configured. Here, a plurality of copying machines C6-
The configurations of 1 to C6-N and the advertisement management server S6 are almost the same as those of the copying machine C5 and the advertisement management server S5 in the fifth embodiment, but each copying machine C6-1 to C6-N has a conditional logic described later. The advertisement management server S6 has a classifying unit 61, which holds the formulas 62-1 to 62-N, respectively.
Differs in that it has a correspondence relationship with an advertisement client, an effective area, and an advertisement image.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a specific example of the correspondences classified by the classification unit 61. In FIG. 33, the system administrator uses the following logical expression to display the advertisement image on the advertisement management server S6. register. That is, advertisement image # 1: Advertiser (Company F) AND effective area (Kawasaki City)
... (1) Advertisement image # 2: Advertiser (X company) AND valid area (Kawasaki city OR Ebina city) ... (2) Advertisement image # 3: Advertiser (Z company) AND valid region (Ebina city) ) ... (3).

Here, each registered advertisement image is classified by the above-mentioned logical expressions to form an advertisement image group satisfying each logical expression. The advertisement image in each advertisement image group has, as its attribute value, a usage variable COUNT indicating the number of times the advertisement image has been used, and is set to "1" each time the advertisement image is used.
Can be increased.

Further, the system administrator creates a conditional logical expression for each copying machine from the correspondence relationships represented by the above logical expressions (1) to (3), and registers the created logical expression in each copying machine.
For example, a copying machine CK installed in Kawasaki City, which is an effective area
For, register the following conditional expression. That is,
Copier CK: (Advertising client (Company F) OR Advertising client (X
Company)) AND effective area (Kawasaki City) ... (4).

FIG. 34 shows the communication procedure between the copying machine and the advertising management server when such registration is performed for the advertising management server S6 and the copying machines C6-1 to C6-N. Explain.

First, when the use of a copying machine accompanied by an advertisement function selection instruction occurs in a certain copying machine, this copying machine makes a request for an advertisement image to the advertisement management server (S6).
2). Here, the copier notifies the copier identifier and the conditional logical expression set in the copier together with the request for the advertisement image. For example, the copier CK located in Kawasaki City
The conditional logical expression (4) described above is added together with the self-copier identifier, and the advertisement image is requested to the advertisement management server.

On the other hand, the advertisement management server extracts a subset that satisfies the classification condition of the classification unit 61, that is, an advertisement image group, based on the received conditional logical expression (S6).
2). For example, the copying machine CK creates an advertisement image group corresponding to the advertisement client “Company F” and an advertisement image group corresponding to the advertisement client “X Company” based on the notified conditional logical expression (4). The logical product of the logical sum and the advertisement image group corresponding to the effective area "Kawasaki City" is obtained. Then, the values of the usage variable COUNT that each advertising image of the extracted advertising image group has as an attribute are compared, and one advertising image with the smallest usage variable value is randomly selected (S63). Then, the selected advertisement image is transferred to the requested copying machine (S6).
4). Then, the copying machine that has received this advertisement image combines the read image information with the read image information and prints it out.

In this way, the advertisement image is synthesized and output from the copying machine installed only in the effective area desired by the advertisement client. Therefore, the advertisement image is combined and output in consideration of the locality where the copying machine is arranged.

In the sixth embodiment, the conditional logical expression is registered in each copying machine. In this case, only the classification condition of the classification unit 61 of the advertisement management server S6 is registered as in the fifth embodiment. Thus, the advertisement image may be selected. That is, each copying machine requests an advertisement image to which only its own copying machine identifier is added, and the advertisement management server S6 has a correspondence relationship between the copying machine identifier and the effective area, and determines the corresponding effective area from the copying machine identifier. Then, the advertisement image group may be extracted based on the determined effective area.

In the first to sixth embodiments described above, the advertisement image is combined only when the read original image has a blank area. When the area cannot be detected, the document image may be forcibly reduced to generate a margin area, and the advertisement image may be combined with the generated margin area. Further, in this case, if a designation for permitting reduction is provided in the selection instructing section, no inconvenience will occur to the user of the copying machine. That is, a “manuscript priority” selection button and a “cost priority” selection button are provided, and when the “manuscript priority” selection button is selected, reduction processing is not performed and the “cost priority” selection button is not used. If is selected, reduction processing may be performed.

It is needless to say that an image forming system can be obtained by appropriately combining the constituent parts of the above-mentioned first to sixth embodiments.

[0175]

As described in detail above, in the first aspect of the invention, the holding means holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category, and the detecting means detects the blank area of the image information. Then, when the selecting unit acquires the additional image to be combined with the image information from the holding unit, the additional image held in the category corresponding to the acquisition time is selected, and the image combining unit selects the additional image selected by the selecting unit. To form a combined image in the blank area detected by the detecting means, and the image forming means forms the combined image generated by the image combining means on the medium.

In the second invention, when the detecting means detects the blank area of the image information and the transmitting means makes a request to the image management apparatus for the additional image to be combined with the image information, the time at which the request is made is managed by the image management. To the device, the receiving unit receives the additional image corresponding to the time from the image management device, and the image combining unit combines the additional image received by the receiving unit with the blank area detected by the detecting unit to generate a combined image. Then, the image forming means forms the combined image generated by the image combining means on the medium.

Therefore, the additional image is always synthesized and output at a desired time, and when the additional image is the advertisement image, the advertisement image can be supplied to the user of the image forming apparatus, so that a large advertisement effect is obtained. It has the advantage that it can be done efficiently.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the registration means registers the environmental condition in which the apparatus is installed, the detection means detects the blank area of the image information, and the transmission means synthesizes the image information with the image management apparatus. When requesting an additional image to be transmitted, the environmental condition registered by the registration unit is transmitted to the image management device, the reception unit receives the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image management device, and the image composition unit is received by the reception unit. The received additional image
A composite image combined with the blank area detected by the detecting unit is generated, and the image forming unit forms the composite image generated by the image combining unit on the medium.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the image management apparatus holds a plurality of additional images in association with the classification for each category related to the environment, and the image forming apparatus detects the margin area of the image information and notifies the image management apparatus of the margin area. When requesting an additional image to be combined with the image information by transmitting the environmental condition where the device is installed to the image management device, and the image management device receives the additional image request and the environmental condition from the image forming device, The additional image stored in the category corresponding to the received environmental condition is selected, the selected additional image is transmitted to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus receives the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image management apparatus, and receives it. The added image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium.

Therefore, the additional image is always synthesized and output from the set environment of the image forming apparatus. Especially, when the additional image is the advertisement image and the environment of the image forming apparatus is the installation place,
Since the advertisement image is synthesized and output from the image forming apparatus at the desired setting place that matches the advertisement image content, there is an advantage that a large advertisement effect can be efficiently performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a copying machine C.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a blank area detection procedure by a blank area detection unit 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of blank area detection by a blank area detection unit 4.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control panel of a selection instructing section CP.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the advertisement management server S.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of an advertisement image holding unit 8 and an advertisement source-specific image use number counter 9.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between a copying machine C and an advertisement management server S.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a copy control procedure of the copying machine C2.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a control procedure when an advertisement image is requested by the advertisement management server S2.

FIG. 12 is a view showing the arrangement of a reservation information section 21.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure doubled when the advertisement management server S2 receives the advertisement image use permission notification.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between a copying machine C2 and an advertisement management server S2.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system that is a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the copying machine C3.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a screen when an advertisement image is registered.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a screen when an advertisement image is changed.

FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of combining an advertisement image with the center of the lower end of a document image.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of composition in which an advertisement image is composited at the center of the left end of a document image.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of combining an advertisement image near the center of a document image.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system that is a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a registration processing procedure of an introduction advertisement image and its detailed information.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a configuration of an attribute table in the advertisement image holding unit 49.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing the structure of an attribute table in the detailed information holding unit 50.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing an output processing procedure of the copying machine C4.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a detailed information acquisition processing procedure by the copying machine C4.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of combining an introduction advertisement image and identifier information and an example of outputting detailed information.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system that is a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between an advertisement image in the classification unit 51 and a time period when the advertisement image is selected.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the procedure of advertisement image selection processing by the advertisement management server S5.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system which is a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between an advertisement client, an effective area, and an advertisement image by the classification unit 61.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the copying machines C6-1 to C6-N and the advertisement management server S6.

[Explanation of symbols]

C ... Copier S ... Advertisement management server N ... Network 1
Image input unit 2 Page memory 3 Advertising function selection unit 4 Margin area detection unit 5 Image combining unit 6 Image output unit 7a Normal copy counter 7b Advertising copy counter 8 Advertising image holding unit 9 Advertising source Another image use number counter 10 ... Advertisement image selection unit 11 ... Image transformation unit CP ... Selection instruction unit CT1, CT2 ...
Control unit TR1, TR2 ... Communication unit

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/00 107 G03G 21/00 382 (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Takao 32-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takumi Nakamura 3-2-1 Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C187 AD04 AE07 AE13 BF42 CC08 DB21 DB28 2H027 DA50 EE07 EJ15 FD01 FD08 FD10 ZA07 5B057 AA11 BA01 BA02 BA23 CC03 CD05 CE08 CH12 DA08 5C062 AA05 AA13 AA29 AA35 AB17 AB22 AB38 AB42 AC02 AC04 AC22 AC24 AC34 AC58 AE01 AF00 AF14 A04A21 A06 A04 A04 A21 A04 A04 A02 A04 A04 A02 A04 A02

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for forming a composite image in which image information of a document image is combined with additional information, holding means for holding a plurality of additional images in association with each time-based category, and the image information. Detecting means for detecting a blank area of the ,, when acquiring the additional image to be combined with the image information from the holding means, selecting means for selecting the additional image held in the category corresponding to the time when the acquisition, Image combining means for generating a combined image by combining the additional image selected by the selecting means with the blank area detected by the detecting means, and image forming means for forming the combined image generated by the image combining means on a medium. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. A detection means for detecting a blank area of image information in an image forming apparatus connected via a communication network to an image management apparatus that holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category. When making a request to the image management apparatus for an additional image to be combined with the image information, a transmission unit that transmits the time at which the request is made to the image management apparatus, and an additional image corresponding to the time from the image management apparatus. A receiving unit that receives the image, an image combining unit that generates a combined image in which the additional image received by the receiving unit is combined with the blank area detected by the detecting unit, and a combined image generated by the image combining unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit formed on a medium. 3. An image forming apparatus connected via a communication network to an image management apparatus, which holds a plurality of additional images in association with each category related to the environment, and registers the environmental conditions in which the apparatus is installed. A registration unit, a detection unit for detecting a blank area of the image information, and a request for an additional image to be combined with the image information to the image management device, the environmental condition registered by the registration unit being used for the image management. A transmitting unit for transmitting to the device; a receiving unit for receiving an additional image corresponding to the environmental condition from the image management device; and an additional image received by the receiving unit, which is combined with a blank area detected by the detecting unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image combining unit that generates a combined image; and an image forming unit that forms the combined image generated by the image combining unit on a medium. . 4. An image forming system in which an image forming apparatus and an image management apparatus are connected via a communication network, wherein the image forming apparatus detects a blank area of image information and notifies the image management apparatus of the blank area. When requesting an additional image to be combined with the image information, the environmental condition in which the device is installed is transmitted to the image management device, the additional image corresponding to the environmental condition is received from the image management device, The received additional image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium. The image management device classifies the plurality of additional images into environment-related categories. When the additional image request and the environmental condition are received from the image forming apparatus, the additional image retained in the category corresponding to the received environmental condition is selected. An image forming system, wherein the selected additional image is transmitted to the image forming apparatus. 5. An image forming method for forming a composite image in which image information of a document image is combined with additional information, wherein a plurality of additional images are held in association with each time-related category, and a margin area of the image information is held. When acquiring the additional image to be combined with the image information, the additional image held in the category corresponding to the time when the acquisition is performed is selected, and the selected additional image is added to the detected margin area. An image forming method, comprising: generating a composite image combined with the above, and forming the generated composite image on a medium. 6. An image forming method of an image forming apparatus, which is connected to an image management apparatus, which holds a plurality of additional images in association with each time-related category, through a communication network, to detect a blank area of image information. When requesting an additional image to be combined with the image information to the image management device, the time at which the request is made is transmitted to the image management device, and the additional image corresponding to the time is received from the image management device. Then, the received additional image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium. 7. An image forming method for an image forming apparatus, which is connected to an image management apparatus, which holds a plurality of additional images in association with each category related to the environment, through a communication network, to detect a blank area of image information. When requesting the image management apparatus for an additional image to be combined with the image information, the environmental condition in which the apparatus is installed is transmitted to the image management apparatus, and the image management apparatus responds to the environmental condition. An image of an image forming apparatus, wherein the received additional image is received, the received additional image is combined with the detected margin area to generate a combined image, and the generated combined image is formed on a medium. Forming method.