JP2003280831A - Print server, print method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print server which can be connected to a web server for acquiring a document from a document managing server in response to a request from a terminal, and for transmitting print reservation information to the terminal according as the document and which makes a user making request for acquiring the document unnecessary to instruct for the print start period of the acquired document. <P>SOLUTION: A print server 3 connectable to a Web server 1 for acquiring a document from a document managing server 2 in response to a request from a portable terminal 6, and for transmitting print reservation information to the portable terminal 6 according to the acquirement is provided with a means for retrieving the terminal 6; a means for connecting to the retrieved terminal 6; a means for acquiring print reservation information from the terminal 6 according to its connection and for acquiring the document and the print reservation information from the Web server 1; and a means for confirming the matching of the print reservation information acquired from the portable terminal 6 with the print reservation information acquired from the Web server 1, and for transmitting the document to a print device 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a document transmitted when a document managed by a document management system connected to a web server is transmitted to a print server installed at a remote place at the request of a terminal. The present invention relates to a print server that authenticates and prints.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art U using the Internet Printing Protocol (IIP)
A RL (Universal Resource Locator) is delivered from the client server to the web server, the web server searches for a document corresponding to the received URL, draws the retrieved document in an appropriate printer format as necessary, and delivers it to the printer. The system is known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-228987). The printing system, more specifically, the web server is waiting for a request for a printer web page and receives the request.
That is, the request is made by inputting the URL corresponding to the web server on the user's computer, that is, the client server, and is sent to the web server through the Internet. The web server creates a printer web page in response to the sent request and delivers it to the client server. The printer web page has an input area for the document to be printed, and if you enter the URL of the document there,
The URL is received by the web server. Then, as described above, the web server retrieves the document corresponding to the received URL, draws the retrieved document in an appropriate printer format as necessary, and delivers it to the printer. In this way, remote printing was enabled.

However, in such a remote printing method, (1) the printer does not monitor the print request of the user by itself, and therefore, when the user makes a print request, the printer starts printing for the first time. For this reason, the user must be aware of the timing to start printing. For example, when a user arrives at a place where the printer is installed from a remote location and obtains a printed matter, the user must instruct the printing in advance. , There were times when I couldn't get the printed matter when I arrived. (2) Since the user who has requested the document search and the request to print the document and the searched document are confirmed to be in agreement and the result is not printed, a user other than the user searches for the document. There was a case where the printed document was printed.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object thereof is to acquire a document from a document management server in response to a request from a terminal, and to obtain the document. In a print server that is connectable to a web server that sends print reservation information to a terminal, a user who has issued a document acquisition request does not have to instruct when to start printing the acquired document. The purpose of 2 is
This is to prevent a document other than the document requested by the user from being printed, or prevent a third party other than the user who has issued the document acquisition request from printing the document of the user who has issued the acquisition request. A third object is to provide a program that enables processing capable of achieving the above object.

[0005]

According to the invention of claim 1, a document is acquired from a document management server in response to a request from a terminal,
In the print server connectable to the web server that transmits the print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition, the means for searching the terminal, the means for connecting to the searched terminal, and the print reservation information from the terminal by the connection, A means for acquiring the document and the print reservation information from the web server, and a means for confirming the match between the print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the print reservation information acquired from the web server and transmitting the document to the printing device The print server is characterized in that

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method in a print server connectable to a web server which acquires a document from a document management server in response to a request from the terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by the acquisition, Search for the terminal, connect to the searched terminal, obtain print reservation information from the terminal through the connection, obtain the document and the print reservation information from the web server, and obtain the print reservation information and the web server from the terminal The printing method is characterized by including each process of confirming a match with the acquired print reservation information, transmitting the document to the printing apparatus, and printing the document by the printing apparatus.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the document data is stored in the print server connectable to the web server which acquires the document from the document holding means in response to the request from the terminal and transmits the print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition. In order to execute the process, a process of searching the terminal, a process of connecting the print server to the searched terminal, a process of acquiring print reservation information from the terminal by the connection, and the document from the web server When the print reservation information matches, the process for obtaining the print reservation information, the process for determining whether the print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the print reservation information acquired from the web server match each other, and the document is printed in the print data format. And a program for transmitting a document in the print data format to the printing apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the document data is stored in a print server connectable to a web server which acquires a document from the document holding means in response to a request from the terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition. In order to execute the process, a process of searching the terminal, a process of connecting to the searched terminal, a process of acquiring print reservation information from the terminal by the connection, and a document in a print data format from the web server. When the print reservation information matches, the process for acquiring the print reservation information, the process for determining whether the print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the print reservation information acquired from the web server match, and a document in a print data format is displayed. It is a program that causes each process of a process to be transmitted to the printing apparatus.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the terminal, the document management server, and the print server can be connected via an electric communication path, and a document is acquired from the document management server in response to a request from the terminal. Send print reservation information to the Web server to execute the processing of the document data, to display the document list screen on the terminal, and to display the search screen by specifying the search conditions from the terminal By inputting search conditions, a process for executing a search, a process for displaying a search result list, a process for causing a terminal to select a print document, and document information for identifying a document for the selected document are created. Processing to
A process for creating print reservation information from the document information and authentication information for authenticating that the document is selected by the terminal, a process for transmitting the print reservation information to the terminal and the print server, and the selected document Is a program for executing each process of a process for converting the print data into print data and a process for adding print reservation information to the print data and transmitting the print data to the print server.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the terminal, the document management server, and the print server can be connected via an electric communication path, and a document is acquired from the document management server in response to a request from the terminal. Send print reservation information to the Web server to execute the processing of the document data, to display the document list screen on the terminal, and to display the search screen by specifying the search conditions from the terminal By inputting search conditions, a process for executing a search, a process for displaying a search result list, a process for causing a terminal to select a print document, and document information for identifying a document for the selected document are created. Processing to
A process for creating print reservation information from the document information and authentication information for authenticating that the document is selected by the terminal, a process for transmitting the print reservation information to the terminal and the print server, and the selected document It is a program for executing each process of a process for adding print reservation information to and transmitting the print reservation information to the print server.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a layout configuration diagram of a mobile terminal and a server in a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a WWW server 1 is connected to a document management server 2 directly or via a LAN, and a print server 3 Direct or LAN
And connected to the printer 4. The document management server 2 and the print server 3 are connected via a public line or a private line 5. On the other hand, a mobile terminal (including PDA, mobile phone, small personal computer) 6 is connected to the WWW server 1 by serial connection, wired connection such as USB, wireless connection such as wireless LAN or Bluetooth. The mobile terminal 6 is
Similarly, the print server 3 is connected by wireless connection. Further, the WWW server 1 connects to the print server 3 by wireless connection. In these connections, the HTTP protocol,
Internet connections based on the FTP protocol, TPC / IP protocol are used accordingly.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation from print reservation to printing among the WWW server 1, the document management server 2, the print server 3, the printer 4 and the portable terminal 6 shown in FIG. This will be described with reference to FIG. First, the mobile terminal 6
The WWW server 1 is accessed to make a print reservation for the WWW server 1. The print reservation is performed by searching the document in the document management server 2, designating the document from the search list, and then selecting the document to be printed. This print reservation is performed in order to send the document on the document management server to the print server 3 and to have the print server issue the reservation information used for printing the document. WWW server 1 in response to print reservation
Issues print reservation information 7 including document information (document ID) of the document selected by the document management server 2 and authentication information indicating that the document is selected by the terminal, and transmits the print reservation information 7 to the mobile terminal 6. The print reservation information transmitted is stored in the mobile terminal 6
Stored in. Further, the WWW server 1 transmits the selected document and print reservation information to the designated print server (print server 3 in this case). Here, the document includes an image file and an application file (a file created by an application such as word processor or spreadsheet software).

When the user holds the portable terminal 6 and moves to the place where the print server 3 is installed, the print server 3
Searches for a mobile terminal 6 having print reservation information by a wireless connection such as a wireless LAN, and if the corresponding mobile terminal 6 is found, displays the information of the mobile terminal 6 on the console of the print server 3. At this time, the authentication information is authenticated, and if the authentication is correct, the print reservation information is acquired from the mobile terminal 6. The document information in the print reservation information is compared with the document information transmitted as described above, and if they match, the transmitted document is transmitted to the printer 4 on the local network and printed.

When the application of the WWW server 1 sends a document to the print server 3, the data format is not specified. The document management server 2 includes image files (image formats such as JPEG and TIFF), application files (application-specific formats generated by word processors and spreadsheet software),
Includes plain text file (text consisting only of character code and line feed code) and multiple file formats. The print server 3 converts these file formats into formats for printing. Particularly for printing an application file, the application that created the file needs to expand the file into a bitmap format, so that the print server 3 needs to have the application held by the document management server 2 installed.

The operation of the printing system described above is executed by an application installed in each server. Figure 3
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation flow from document selection by an application on a WWW server to transfer to a print server. The operation will be described with reference to the drawings. The application of the WWW server 1 first displays the document list screen (S11). Since the WWW server 1 does not have a screen (GUI), what is actually displayed is the screen of client software such as a mobile terminal. The document list screen is a list of documents in the document management server 2. When the document management server 2 has a hierarchical document management structure using metaphors such as cabinets and folders, a cabinet list screen and a folder list screen are displayed in addition to the document list screen. By specifying the search conditions from the mobile terminal 6,
This screen changes to a search screen display (S12). The search screen display is a screen for entering search conditions. The document name, registration date,
Enter document attribute information such as the registrant as a search condition.
In reality, this search screen is displayed on the screen (liquid crystal or the like) of the mobile terminal 6 itself, and the search condition is input by viewing this screen.

Further, the application of the WWW server 1 gives a search instruction to the document management server 2 according to the input search condition. The document management server 2 searches according to the instruction and returns the search result to the WWW server (S13). Next, the application of the WWW server 1 displays a search result list and causes the mobile terminal 6 to select a print document (S1).
4). Print document information is created for the selected document (S15). The print document information can be specified as information that can uniquely identify a document file, such as a document ID and a document name, and that the document is sent by the application of the WWW server 1 on the print server 3 side when sending the document. It consists of information.

The application of the WWW server 1 creates the authentication information that can confirm that the document information is the document information created by this system based on the print reservation of the user. The authentication information may have any form such as a password fixedly set in the system or a randomly generated password. Then, reservation information including the print document information and the authentication information is created (S16), and this is transmitted to the mobile terminal 6 (S17). The mobile terminal 6 stores the transmitted reservation information. Also, the application of the WWW server 1 sends the reservation information to the mobile terminal 6, adds the authentication information to the document, and sends the document to the print server 3 (S18). Print server 3
Then, the authentication information is authenticated, and if the authentication is correct, the print reservation information is acquired from the mobile terminal 6. Then, the document ID in the print reservation information is compared with the document ID of the transmitted document, and if they match, print data is created by the print application of the print server 3 and the printer 4 prints. If there are multiple documents, combine them into one,
Alternatively, the amount of data flowing on the network is reduced by performing compression.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow from document reception (acquisition) to printing in the print server. The operation will be described with reference to the drawings. The print server 3 is the WWW server 1
Received the document sent by the application (S
21) Then, the document is once stored in a document file, and the portable terminal 6 having the authentication capable of printing this document waits for connection. The connection with the mobile terminal 6 is conducted by, for example, using a communication method such as Bluetooh to search for a mobile terminal in the connectable area and connect it, or to search for a USB-connected mobile terminal. (S22). If there is no connection, investigation is performed until the connection is established (S23, NO), and after the connection is established, reservation information is acquired from the mobile terminal 6 (S).
24). Since the reservation information includes the document information for specifying the document and the authentication information, it is checked whether the authentication information acquired from the mobile terminal 6 matches the document received from the WWW server 1 (S25). , If they match (S25, Y
ES), the format of the document is checked, and the corresponding printing application is activated (S26). For example,
If the document is in the spreadsheet software format of Company A, then A
The company's spreadsheet software is started up, a document is taken out from the document file, and print data is created using the print function of the spreadsheet software (S27). The print data is data to be passed to the printer driver. After the print data is generated, it is sent to the printer by the printer driver (S2
8), printing is performed. When the authentication information does not match the document received from the WWW server 1 (S25, N
O), return to the connection check and perform the same operation.

Of these processes, the time required for processing is the time for transmitting a document from the WWW server to the print server. This is because the communication speed is slower than that on the LAN because the public line is used. By transmitting a document that requires processing time while the user (mobile terminal) is moving, the user can start printing as soon as he / she arrives at the place where he / she wants to print.

In the above-described embodiment, it is necessary to provide a plurality of applications on the print server 3 side, but there still remain problems such as a memory limitation and a plurality of use licenses in order to install and execute the printing application. . Therefore, in order to avoid this, the document is converted into a common format on the WWW server 1 so that the print server 3 does not start the application.

FIG. 5 shows an operation flow of the WWW server when the print server 3 does not start the application, that is, when the WWW server is provided with the printing application. The operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the application of the WWW server 1 is started, the document list screen is first displayed (S31). Since the WWW server 1 does not have a screen (GUI), what is actually displayed is the screen of client software such as a mobile terminal. The document list screen is a list of documents in the document management server 2. When the document management server 2 has a hierarchical document management structure using metaphors such as cabinets and folders, a cabinet list screen and a folder list screen are displayed in addition to the document list screen. By designating search conditions from the mobile terminal 6, this screen becomes a search screen display (S32). The search screen display is a screen for inputting search conditions, and document attribute information such as a document name, registration date, and registrant is input as search conditions. In reality, this search screen is displayed on the screen (liquid crystal or the like) of the mobile terminal 6 itself, and the search condition is input by viewing this screen.

Further, the application of the WWW server 1 inputs a search condition and gives a search instruction to the document management server 2. The document management server 2 searches according to the instruction and returns the search result to the WWW server 1 (S33). Next, the application of the WWW server 1 displays a list of search results and causes the mobile terminal 6 to select a print document (S
34). Print document information is created for the selected document (S35). The print document information includes document ID, document name, etc.
The information includes information that can uniquely identify the document file and information that allows the print server 3 to identify the document file that was transmitted from the application of the WWW server 1 when transmitting the document file.

The application of the WWW server 1 creates authentication information in order to confirm that it is the document information created by this system based on the print reservation of the user. The authentication information may be in any form such as a password fixed in the system or a randomly generated password. Then, reservation information including the print document information and the authentication information is created (S36), and this is transmitted to the mobile terminal 6 (S37). The mobile terminal 6 stores the transmitted reservation information.

The application of the WWW server 1 executes the search in step S33 and saves the document acquired from the document management server 2 in the document file in the WWW server 1 as a result of the search. Then, after transmitting the reservation information to the mobile terminal, the printing application corresponding to the stored document is started (S38), the format of the document is converted, and print data is created (S39). Authentication information is added to the print data and the print data is transmitted to the print server 3. Even in this case, if there are multiple document files,
The amount of data flowing on the network is reduced by combining them into one or performing compression.

As described above, the WWW server 1 converts the document file to be transmitted to the print server 3 into print data. Therefore, the print server 3 does not need to have a printing application. The print data is not particularly limited as long as it has a common format. Raw data for the printer driver may be in a common format such as PostScript or TIFF.

When the WWW server is provided with a printing application and the WWW server performs conversion into print data, the operation by the application of the print server will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The application of the print server 3 receives the print data from the WWW server 1 (S4
1) First, store in a print data file and wait until the portable terminal 6 having the printable authentication of this data connects. The connection with the mobile terminal 6 is conducted by, for example, using a communication method such as Bluetooh to search for a mobile terminal in the connectable area and connect it, or to search for a USB-connected mobile terminal. (S42). If there is no connection, investigate until the connection is established (S43, NO),
After the connection is established, the reservation information is acquired from the mobile terminal 6 (S44). Since the reservation information includes the information specifying the print data and the authentication information, it is checked whether the authentication information acquired from the mobile terminal 6 matches the print data received from the WWW server 1 (S45). ), If they match (S45, YES), the print data is transmitted to the printer 4 by the printer driver (S46), and printing is performed.
If the authentication information does not match the document file received from the WWW server 1 (S45, NO), the process returns to the connection check and the same operation is performed.

A series of processes (procedures) for obtaining the document data described above is described in a known programming language to create a program, and the program is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. The recording medium is
In addition to fixed recording media such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, flexible disks, and semiconductor storage devices, there are also fluid type such as networks.

[0028]

The effects corresponding to the first and second aspects of the present invention: When the web server having the document management server and the print server having the printer are installed in separate places via a network or the like, the print server Automatically detects the user who issued the document acquisition request and authenticates the user,
Since the user confirms the document and prints it, the user can automatically and safely obtain the printed matter of the requested document without instructing the print start time of the document that issued the acquisition request. In addition, a document other than the document requested by the user will not be printed, or a third party other than the user who has issued the document acquisition request will not print the document for which the user issued the acquisition request. Effects corresponding to the inventions of claims 3, 4, 5, and 6: A program capable of achieving the effects corresponding to the inventions of claims 1 and 2 can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a layout configuration diagram of servers and the like in a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a WWW server and a document management server shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the system between a print server, a printer, and a portable terminal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation flow of a WWW server when the print server includes a printing application.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the print server when the print server includes a printing application.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation flow of a WWW server when the WWW server includes a printing application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the print server when the WWW server is provided with a printing application.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... WWW server, 2 ... Document management server, 3 ... Printing server, 4 ... Printer, 5 ... Public line, 6 ... Mobile terminal

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A means for retrieving a terminal in a print server connectable to a web server, which acquires a document from a document management server in response to a request from the terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition, Means for connecting to the searched terminal, means for acquiring print reservation information from the terminal through the connection, means for acquiring the document and the print reservation information from the web server, print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the web server A print server comprising means for confirming a match with print reservation information and transmitting the document to a printing apparatus. 2. A printing method in a print server connectable to a web server, which acquires a document from a document management server in response to a request from the terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition, searches for the terminal. Connecting to the searched terminal, acquiring print reservation information from the terminal through the connection, acquiring the document and the print reservation information from the web server, print reservation information acquired from the terminal and print reservation information acquired from the web server A printing method comprising the steps of confirming a match with and transmitting the document to a printing device, and printing the document by the printing device. 3. A print server, which is connectable to a web server that obtains a document from a document holding unit in response to a request from a terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition, executes document data processing. , A process for searching the terminal, a process for connecting a print server to the searched terminal, a process for acquiring print reservation information from the terminal by the connection, and acquiring the document and print reservation information from the web server A process for making the print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the print reservation information acquired from the web server match, and when the print reservation information matches, for converting the document into a print data format A program for executing each of processing and processing for transmitting a document in the print data format to a printing apparatus. 4. A print server, which is connectable to a web server that acquires a document from a document holding unit in response to a request from a terminal and transmits print reservation information to the terminal by this acquisition, to execute processing of document data. , A process of searching the terminal, a process of connecting to the searched terminal, a process of acquiring print reservation information from the terminal through the connection, and a document of print data format and print reservation information from the web server Processing to let
Each of a process of determining a match between the print reservation information acquired from the terminal and the print reservation information acquired from the web server, and a process of transmitting a document in a print data format to the printing device when the print reservation information matches. A program that executes a process. 5. A terminal, a document management server, and a print server can be connected via an electric communication path, and a document is acquired from the document management server in response to a request from the terminal, and by this acquisition, print reservation information is sent to the terminal. In order for the web server to send the document data to be processed, the process for displaying the document list screen on the terminal, the process for displaying the search screen by specifying the search conditions from the terminal, and the search condition A process for executing a search by input, a process for displaying a search result list, a process for causing a terminal to select a print document, a process for creating document information for identifying a document for the selected document, A process of creating print reservation information from document information and authentication information for authenticating that the document is selected by the terminal;
The process of transmitting the print reservation information to the terminal and the print server, the process of converting the selected document into the print data, and the process of adding the print reservation information to the print data and transmitting the print data to the print server. , Program for executing each process. 6. A terminal, a document management server, and a print server can be connected via an electric communication path, and a document is acquired from the document management server in response to a request from the terminal, and by this acquisition, print reservation information is sent to the terminal. In order for the web server to send the document data to be processed, the process for displaying the document list screen on the terminal, the process for displaying the search screen by specifying the search conditions from the terminal, and the search condition A process for executing a search by input, a process for displaying a search result list, a process for causing a terminal to select a print document, a process for creating document information for identifying a document for the selected document, A process of creating print reservation information from document information and authentication information for authenticating that the document is selected by the terminal;
A program for executing each process of a process for transmitting print reservation information to a terminal and a print server and a process for adding print reservation information to a selected document and transmitting it to the print server.