JP2003345558A - Print charging system, print charging device, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage the number of prints by a print log stored in a printing device, and to properly charge a user based on the actual number of prints included in the print log. <P>SOLUTION: A server device 3 is connected through a network 1 to a client device 2, a printer 5, and a print charging device 6, and acquires a print job from the client device 2, and transmits the print job to the print charging device 6 (S2). The print charging device 6 analyzes the print job, and presents the analytic result on a picture (S3). A user selects his or her own print job from the picture, and preliminarily inputs charge corresponding to the selected print job to the print charging device 6, and instructs the printer 5 to print (S4). The printer 5 executes print based on the print instruction, and stores the print log including the print information such as the number of actual prints, and transmits the print information to the print charging device 6 (S6). The print charging device 6 calculates actual charge based on the print information, and withdraws it from the preliminarily inputted charge. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print billing system, a print billing apparatus, a program, and a recording medium. More specifically, the present invention manages the number of prints using print log information stored in a printer, and performs actual printing. The present invention relates to a print billing system for billing the number of printed sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of an information education environment in educational institutions such as universities and libraries, an increase in the amount of printing due to the increase in electronic information sources such as the Web, and unauthorized use of printers, etc. For example, it is important for the system administrator to prevent mass printing by the student / user's private purpose, improve the cost awareness of the student / user, and effectively use the printer at the beneficiary's expense. Is an important issue. To solve such a problem, using a print log stored in a printing device such as a printer,
For example, there has been proposed a print management system in which the number of prints for each user in an arbitrary period such as a monthly unit or a year unit is totaled, and the upper limit of the number of prints can be managed in a fine and efficient manner for each user or each printer.

[0003] Furthermore, the system provider reduces the print output for non-educational purposes by making the print fee charged.
It is necessary to keep running costs low, and at the same time to reduce costs such as consumables costs and management costs and provide print services. Therefore, when considering that the printing cost in the print management system is to be paid to the beneficiary, a print job for causing a printing device such as a printer to execute printing is analyzed and the number of prints predicted and the actual number of printed sheets are calculated. The number of prints is often different, and it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of prints, especially when printing is directly performed from UNIX (registered trademark), LINUX (registered trademark), or the like. This is because when printing from software as described above, the volume of print data (for example, the number of lines, the number of characters, the number of pixels, etc.) may be counted instead of the number of pages displayed on the application, In this case, the number of actually printed sheets may increase. Also,
When some trouble occurs in the printing apparatus such as a paper jam, the number of actually printed sheets may be smaller. In such a conventional pre-payment method, in which the excess number is set free of charge or the unprinted number is collected, the system provider,
In some cases, a burden is imposed on the user side.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and manages the number of prints using a print log stored in a printing device such as a printer. An object of the present invention is to provide a print billing system, a print billing apparatus, a program, and a recording medium that allow a user to be appropriately billed based on the number of actually printed sheets included therein.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus, a print server apparatus for managing the number of printed sheets used in the printing apparatus, and charging a user according to the number of printed sheets. Print server, the print server device being connected via a network to a client device used by a user and receiving a print job from the client device. Reception means,
Print job storage means for storing the received print job, wherein the print billing device reads the print job stored by the print job storage means, and presents the read print job; and Print instruction means for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to a print job selected by the user from the presented print jobs to the printing apparatus, and charging means for charging the user based on a print log corresponding to the print instruction And characterized in that:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the printing apparatus executes printing based on a print instruction from the print billing apparatus, and then performs the actual number of printed sheets, paper size, and print type. Print information including at least one or more of the above in a print log and accumulating the print information, the charging unit acquires the print information included in the accumulated print log from the printing apparatus, and responds to the acquired print information. The calculated fee is calculated, and the calculated fee is presented to the user for billing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the print billing device includes: an analysis unit configured to analyze the print job read from the print job storage unit;
From the analyzed print job, print setting information including at least one or more of a planned number of prints, a paper size, and a print type is extracted, and a fee is predicted according to the extracted print setting information. Is provided to the user for each print job.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the user preliminarily inputs the fee presented by the predicted fee presentation means to the print accounting device, and the print server device executes the print accounting. At the time when the number corresponding to the fee charged to the apparatus is printed by the printing apparatus,
The printing of the printing apparatus is stopped.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third or fourth aspect of the present invention, the printing of the printing apparatus is stopped when the number of sheets corresponding to the fee charged to the print charging apparatus is printed by the printing apparatus. When making the print billing device,
Notifying the user that printing is to be stopped, and presenting a message prompting the user to input a fee corresponding to the number of unprinted sheets when printing of all sheets has not been completed. It is.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a printing apparatus having a function of managing the number of printed sheets and a print charging apparatus for charging a user in accordance with the number of printed sheets are connected via a network. In the print billing system, the printing device is connected to a client device used by a user via a network, and receives a print job from the client device, and a print job storage device that stores the received print job. Means for reading a print job stored in the print job storage means, and presenting the read print job; and a print job presenting means for presenting the read print job. A print instruction unit for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to the selected print job to the printing apparatus; It is obtained by; and a charging means for charging the user based on the log.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to sixth aspects of the present invention, the print billing apparatus has a means for reading a prepaid card and / or an IC card.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print job presenting means for reading a print job for a printing apparatus and presenting the read print job, an analyzing means for analyzing the read print job, and a method for analyzing the read print job. , Print setting information including at least one of a planned number of prints, a paper size, and a print type, predicting a charge according to the extracted print setting information, and setting the predicted charge to a user for each print job. Means for presenting a predicted charge to the user, print instruction means for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to a print job selected by the user from the presented print jobs to the printing apparatus, and printing corresponding to the print instruction. The user is charged based on print information included in the log and including at least one or more of the number of actually printed sheets, paper size, and print type. It is obtained by; and a charging means for.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a function as a print accounting system according to any one of the first to seventh aspects is executed, or a function as a print accounting apparatus according to the eighth aspect is executed. It is a program to make it.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to the ninth aspect.

[0015]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a print accounting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a network, 2 denotes a client device used by a user, and 3 denotes a print server. The device 4 is a storage device for storing print jobs and print logs, 5 is a printing device (hereinafter referred to as a printer), and 6 is a print billing device. The print server device 3 has a function of managing the number of printed sheets used for the printer 5, and is connected to the client device 2, the printer 5, and the print accounting device 6 via the network 1. The print server device 3 includes, when a plurality of printers are managed as a printer group, a print log totaling function for totalizing the number of prints recorded in a print log for each printer belonging to each printer group for each printer group; It has a total print log totaling function for totalizing the print logs of all the printer groups totaled by the totaling function. In the present embodiment, these two functions are put together into one print server device 3.
The configuration is realized by the following.

It is also possible to adopt a form in which the print log totalizing function and the total print log totaling function are realized in individual server devices. Here, the information recorded in the print log includes at least a user name, a client device name, a print date and time, and further includes one or more of the number of actually printed sheets, a paper size, and a monochrome / color print type. The print log includes print information, and the print log is stored in a storage device such as a hard disk of the printer 5 after printing is performed by the printer 5.
The print log can be provided to the print server 3 in response to a print log transfer request from the print server 3.

In this embodiment, the print server device 3
However, for example, the description will be made assuming that the print server device 3 is installed in an arbitrary section such as a human resources department in a company. This system need not be performed, and may be installed in, for example, a company of a provider that provides the present system as described later. The print server device 3 may be a computer having a server function having a hierarchical structure such as a server for connecting to the network 1 and a server for authenticating each user. It is sufficient that a program for executing the function is stored. The program may be provided with a GUI (graphical user interface) so that the user can easily operate each means. The printer 5 includes a digital multifunction peripheral having a printer function and the like, and has a function for network connection. However, the printer 5 is connected to the print billing device 6 and connected to the network via the print billing device 6. You may do so.

In the description of each embodiment of the present invention, the print server device 3 is shown as one device, but its functions may be distributed via various types of networks as described above. Further, although each client device is illustrated as a desktop personal computer, it may be a mobile phone or a mobile computer that can be connected to a network, and may be in any form according to the usage form. When a plurality of client devices that can use the present system are installed, they need to be connected to a network by, for example, a LAN.

The network 1 shown in FIG. 1 is not limited to a wired or wireless network, but may be an Internet connected via a dedicated line, a telephone line, or the like, or an intranet using Internet technology. Even when used, WAN (Wide Area Net)
work) and MAN (Metropolitan Ar)
ea Network), and depending on the installation location of the print server device 3, a LAN (Local Area)
a Network). In addition, the network 1 needs to enhance security by various methods such as use of a dedicated line, encryption of transmission data, and authentication of a user who uses each client device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining each means of the print server device 3 according to the present invention. The print server device 3 includes a print job receiving unit 3a, a print job storage unit 3b, and a print log storage unit 3c. Have.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining each means of the print billing device 6 according to the present invention. The print billing device 6 includes a print job presentation unit 6a, a print instruction unit 6b, and a billing unit 6.
c, analyzing means 6d, predicted fee presenting means 6e, and reading means 6f. Examples of the embodiment of the print billing device 6 include a device using a coin rack system for automatically billing with coins and bills, a device having a reading device such as a prepaid card or an IC card, and the like. Further, by providing various input means such as a touch panel, a mouse, and a keyboard, it is possible to take a form as a billing operation terminal.

The print server device 3 in the present embodiment
Has a print job receiving unit 3a that receives a print job from the client device 2 used by the user. The print job storage unit 3b stores the received print job in the storage device 4. The print job presenting means 6a of the print billing device 6 reads the print jobs stored in the storage device 4, and displays the read print jobs in a list on a screen. The print instruction unit 6b transmits a print instruction corresponding to the print job selected by the user from the print jobs displayed on the screen to the printer 5. The printer 5 executes printing based on a print instruction from the print billing device 6, and then accumulates print information including at least one or more of the number of printed sheets, paper size, and print type in a print log and accumulates the information. The charging unit 6c acquires print information included in the print log stored in the printer 5, calculates a fee according to the acquired print information, and presents the calculated fee to the user to charge.

Here, the print instruction is to instruct the print execution of the corresponding print job by the user inputting the estimated fee presented by the estimated fee presenting means 6 e described later into the print charging device 6 in advance. Say. On this occasion,
The user may insert coins or bills into the print billing device 6, or may use a prepaid card or an IC card when the print billing device 6 includes a reading unit 6f described later. When a plurality of printers can be selected, it is possible to specify which printer to output. The charging unit 6c described above charges the fee calculated based on the print information, and deducts the fee from the previously input fee.

The analyzing means 6 in the print billing device 6
d analyzes the print job read from the storage device 4. The estimated fee presenting means 6e selects one of the estimated number of prints, the paper size, and the print type from the analyzed print job.
Alternatively, print setting information including at least a plurality of items is extracted, a fee is predicted according to the extracted print setting information, and the predicted fee is presented to the user for each print job. At this time, if the charge cannot be predicted, a message indicating that the charge could not be predicted may be displayed on the screen, for example, by ***.
The reading means 6f is, for example, a card reader for reading a prepaid card or an IC card.

Next, the flow of the accounting process in the print accounting system will be described with reference to FIG. First, in the client device 2 used by the user, a print job generated by a printer driver or the like is transmitted to the print server device 3 (S1), and the print server device 3 stores the print job in the storage device 4 and stores the print job. The print job is transmitted to the print charging device 6 (S2). Print billing device 6
Analyzes the transmitted print job, displays a list of the analyzed results on the screen, and selects the user's own print job from the screen (S3). At this time, since the estimated fee is also displayed according to the print job, the user inputs the fee corresponding to the estimated fee to the print charging device 6 and issues a print instruction of the print job (S4).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a print job presented on the screen of the print billing device 6. The print job transmitted to the print accounting device 6 in S2 is
Is analyzed and displayed in a list on the screen. According to the example shown in FIG. 4, the display items include, for example, a print job ID, a paper size, a planned number of prints, a black and white / color print type, an estimated charge (unit: yen), and a selection column (check box). . In addition, items such as print date and time, title name, user name, and client device name may be included. Here, instead of the above selection field, the relevant print job may be selected by clicking and inverting the print job.

In S3, the user selects his or her own print job from the print job list displayed on the screen of the print billing device 6. In this example, the selection column is checked. Next, the user sets the estimated charge (100 in this example).
) And clicking the “OK” button sends a print instruction to the printer 5. At this time, the print billing device 6
If the device has a reading means 6f, a prepaid card or an IC card may be used. Here, in order to protect the print data from being printed by a third party without permission, the user may input a user ID or a password when selecting a print job. This user I
The D and password input means may be displayed as a pop-up on the screen, or the user ID information may be stored in a prepaid card, IC card, or the like in advance. In this case, it is necessary to register a user ID and a password for each user in advance in the print billing device 6 or the print server device 3 in order to check the user ID information.

Based on the print instruction transmitted in S4, the printer 5 executes printing (S5), and after executing printing, prints the number of actually printed sheets, paper size, monochrome / color printing type, and the like. The print log including the information is accumulated, and the print information is transmitted to the print charging device 6 (S
6). The print billing device 6 calculates the actual fee based on the print information transmitted from the printer 5, and charges the calculated actual fee by deducting it from the fee previously input by the user. Next, the printer 5 transmits the stored print log to the print server device 3 (S7), and the print server device 3 stores the print log transmitted from the printer 5 in the internal or external storage device 4. At this time, the S
The processing order of S6 and S7 may be reversed, and the print accounting device 6 may acquire the print information via the print server device 3.

When the user inputs the fee presented by the predicted fee presentation means 6e into the print charging device 6 in advance, the print server device 3 sets the number of sheets corresponding to the fee charged into the print charging device 6 to the printer. The printing of the printer 5 may be stopped at the time of printing by the printer 5. Thereby, when the predicted number is different from the actually printed number, only the number of charges corresponding to the charge (predicted amount) inputted in advance by the user is printed. You don't have to pay. In this case, when stopping printing by the printer 5, the print billing device 6 notifies the user that printing is to be stopped, and if printing has not been completed for all sheets, the print billing apparatus 6 sets the number of unprinted sheets. A message prompting the user to input a corresponding fee may be presented. This allows
The user can obtain all desired printed materials by inputting the excess fee, and the system provider can appropriately collect a fee corresponding to the number of printed sheets from the user. Further, even if the predicted number of sheets and the actually printed number of sheets are different due to a failure of the printer 5 and the number of sheets corresponding to the charge (equivalent to the estimated charge) previously input by the user is not printed, the actual number of printed sheets is actually printed. Since the fee is deducted according to the number of prints, the user does not need to be charged extra for the number of pages that could not be printed due to a failure or the like.

In the print server device 3, when the maximum print number is set for each user or each printer, a print instruction from a user exceeding the set maximum print number or a print instruction exceeding the maximum print number is issued. A surcharge may be set in the print billing device 6 in response to a print instruction from the user to the printer, and the user may execute the print by paying the surcharge.

As another embodiment of the print management system having the print server device 3, an ASP (App)
ligation Service Provide
r). This embodiment is an ASP system in which the print management system can be provided as an application via the network 1.

A server device (not shown) owned by an ASP provider that provides the print management system as an ASP.
Is provided with an application service providing unit that provides a service provided through the network 1 to the client device 12 using each unit of the print server device 3 as an application. By using this ASP system, the user can realize the print management system efficiently and at low cost.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of a print accounting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a network, 12 is a client device used by a user, and 13 is the number of printed sheets. Is a printer having a function for managing the printer. The printer 13 is connected to the network 11
Are connected to the client device 12 and the print billing device 6 via the. The printer 13 has a print log totalizing function for totalizing the number of prints recorded in a print log for each printer in printer units. The present embodiment has a configuration in which each unit of the print server device 3 described above is provided on the printer 13 side to manage a print log for each printer. Here, a main printer having a function of managing a plurality of printers collectively as a printer group is connected via the network 11, and the main printer is connected to each printer belonging to the printer group in the same manner as the print server device 3 described above. A form having a print log totaling function for totalizing the number of prints recorded in the print log for each printer group, and a total print log totaling function for totalizing print logs of all printer groups totaled by the print log totaling function It is also possible to use

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the printer 13 according to the present invention. The printer 13 has a print job receiving unit 13a, a print job storage unit 13b, and a print log storage unit 13c.

The print job receiving means 13 a of the printer 13 in this embodiment receives a print job from the client device 12. Print job storage unit 13
b stores the received print job in the storage device 14. The print job presenting means 6a of the print billing device 6 reads the print jobs stored in the storage device 14 and displays the read print jobs in a list on the screen. The print instruction unit 6b transmits a print instruction corresponding to the print job selected by the user from the print jobs displayed on the screen to the printer 13. The printer 13 executes printing based on a print instruction from the print billing device 6, and then accumulates print information including at least one of the actual number of prints, the paper size, and the print type in a print log and accumulates the print information. The charging unit 6c acquires print information included in the print log stored in the printer 13, calculates a fee according to the acquired print information, and presents the calculated fee to the user to charge the user.

Here, as described above, the print instruction is issued by the user in advance by inputting the estimated fee presented by the estimated fee presenting means 6e into the print billing device 6 to execute the printing of the corresponding print job. Refers to instructions. At this time, the user may insert coins or bills into the print charging device 6, or may use a prepaid card or an IC card when the print charging device 6 includes the reading means 6f. The charging unit 6c described above charges the fee calculated based on the print information, and deducts the fee from the previously input fee.

Next, the flow of accounting processing in the print accounting system will be described with reference to FIG. First, in a client device 12 used by a user, a print job generated by a printer driver or the like is transmitted to a printer 13.
(S11), the printer 13 stores the print job in the storage device 14, and transmits the stored print job to the print charging device 6 (S12). The print billing device 6 analyzes the transmitted print job, displays a list of the analyzed results on the screen, and the user selects his or her own print job from the screen (S13). At this time, since the estimated fee is also displayed according to the print job, the user inputs the fee corresponding to the estimated fee to the print charging device 6 and issues a print instruction for the print job (S14).

In step S13, the user selects his or her own print job from the print job list displayed on the screen of the print billing device 6. In this example, the selection column shown in FIG. 4 is checked. Next, the user inputs a predicted charge (100 yen in this example), and clicks an “OK” button to transmit a print instruction to the printer 13.
At this time, if the print billing device 6 includes the reading unit 6f, a prepaid card or an IC card may be used. Here, in order to protect the print data from being printed by a third party without permission, the user may input a user ID or a password when selecting a print job. The input means of this user ID and password is
The information may be displayed as a pop-up on the screen, or the ID information of the user may be stored in a prepaid card, an IC card, or the like in advance. In this case, it is necessary to register a user ID and a password for each user in advance in the print charging device 6 or the printer 13 in order to check the user ID information.

Based on the print instruction transmitted in S14, the printer 13 executes printing (S15), and after executing printing, prints the actual number of printed sheets, paper size, black / white / color printing type, and the like. A print log including the information is obtained, and the print information is transmitted to the print accounting device 6 (S16). The print billing device 6 calculates an actual fee based on the print information transmitted from the printer 13, and charges the calculated actual fee by deducting it from a fee previously input by the user. Next, the printer 13 accumulates the acquired print log in the internal or external storage device 14 (S17). At this time, the processing order of S16 and S17 may be reversed.

When the user previously inputs the fee presented by the predicted fee presentation means 6e into the print accounting device 6, the printer 13 prints the number of sheets corresponding to the fee entered into the print accounting device 6. Then, printing may be stopped. In this way, when the estimated number of printed sheets and the actually printed number of sheets are different, only the number of sheets corresponding to the input charge (corresponding to the estimated number of sheets) is printed, so that the cost for the excess number of sheets is charged to the system providing side. There is no burden. In this case, when stopping printing by the printer 13, the print billing device 6 notifies the user that printing is to be stopped, and if printing has not been completed for all the sheets, the print billing apparatus 6 reduces the number of unprinted sheets. A message prompting the user to input a corresponding fee may be presented.
Thus, the user can obtain all the desired printed materials by inputting the excess fee, and the system provider can appropriately collect the fee from the user according to the number of printed sheets actually printed. it can. Further, even if the estimated number of printed sheets and the actually printed number of sheets are different due to a failure of the printer 13 and the number of sheets corresponding to the charge (equivalent to the estimated charge) previously input by the user is not printed, the actual number of printed sheets is actually printed. Since the fee is deducted according to the number of prints, the user does not need to be charged extra for the number of pages that could not be printed due to a failure or the like.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a print accounting method to which the present invention is applied. In this example, the flow of the accounting process will be described with reference to FIG. First, from the client device 2 used by the user,
The print job generated by the printer driver or the like is transmitted to the print server device 3 (step S21), and the print server device 3 stores the print job in the storage device 4 (step S22), and stores the stored print job in a print billing device. 6 (step S23). Print billing device 6
Analyzes the transmitted print job (step S2).
4) A list of the analyzed results is displayed on the screen (step S).
25) The user selects his or her print job from the screen, inputs the fee corresponding to the displayed fee to the print billing device 6 (step S26), and issues a print instruction for the print job. Performed on the printer 5 (step S2
7).

Based on the print instruction transmitted in step S27, the printer 5 executes printing, and after executing printing, print information such as the number of printed sheets, paper size, and black / white / color printing type. The print log including the print log is stored (step S29), and the print information is transmitted to the print charging device 6 (step S30). The print billing device 6 calculates an actual fee based on the print information transmitted from the printer 5, and charges the calculated actual fee by deducting the fee from a fee previously input by the user (step S).
31). Next, the printer 5 transmits the stored print log to the print server device 3, and the print server device 3 stores the print log transmitted from the printer 5 in the internal or external storage device 4 (Step S32). At this time, the processing order of steps S30, S31 and step S32 may be reversed, and the print billing device 6 may acquire the print information via the print server device 3.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above focusing on the print billing function in the print billing system of the present invention. However, the present invention realizes each function as described above by describing each function of the system as a method. As a print billing method. Further, the present invention may be in the form of a program for causing a computer to execute a function as a print accounting system, or for executing a print accounting method, similarly to the print accounting system having these functions.

An embodiment of a recording medium storing a program and data for realizing a function as a print accounting system according to the present invention will be described. As a recording medium, specifically, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, a DVD-RO
M, FD, flash memory, memory card, memory stick and other various ROMs and RAMs can be assumed.
By recording and distributing a program for causing a computer to execute the above-described functions of the system of the present invention on these recording media, the printing billing system can be easily realized. Then, the program is read by the information processing apparatus by mounting the recording medium as described above in an information processing apparatus such as a computer, or the program is stored in a storage medium provided in the information processing apparatus,
By reading the information as needed, the print accounting system according to the present invention can be executed.

[0045]

According to the present invention, the number of prints is managed by using a print log stored in a printing device such as a printer, and the user can be appropriately provided based on the number of prints actually printed included in the print log. By being able to charge,
The printing cost burden on the system providing side can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a print accounting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining each unit of the print server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining each unit of the print accounting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job presented on a screen of a print billing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the print accounting system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a print accounting method to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 11 network, 2, 12 client device, 3 print server device, 3a, 13a print job receiving means, 3b, 13b print job storage means, 3
c, 13c print log storage means, 4, 14 storage device,
5, 13: printing device (printer), 6: print billing device,
6a: print job presenting means, 6b: print instruction means, 6c
... charging means, 6d ... analyzing means, 6e ... estimated charge presenting means, 6f ... reading means.

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Yuhisa Eguchi             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Daiya Miyasaka             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Koji Sasaki             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Keitaro Arimura             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Naoki Shimamura             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh F term (reference) 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB04 CC05 EE01

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A printing device, a print server device for managing the number of printed sheets used in the printing device, and
In a print billing system in which a print billing device for billing a user according to the number of prints is connected via a network, the print server device is connected via a network to a client device used by the user,
A print job receiving unit that receives a print job from the client device; and a print job storage unit that stores the received print job. The print billing device stores the print job stored by the print job storage unit. A print job presenting means for reading and presenting the read print job; a print instruction means for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to a print job selected by the user from the presented print jobs to the printing apparatus; A charging unit for charging a user based on a print log in response to the instruction. 2. The print billing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing device executes printing based on a print instruction from the print billing device, and then determines the number of printed sheets, paper size, and print type. Print information including at least one or a plurality of print information is stored in a print log, and the accounting unit obtains the print information included in the stored print log from the printing device, and responds to the obtained print information. A print billing system, which calculates a fee and presents the calculated fee to a user for billing. 3. The print accounting system according to claim 1, wherein the print accounting device analyzes the print job read from the print job storage unit, and prints a print schedule based on the analyzed print job. Print setting information including at least one of the number of sheets, paper size, and print type is extracted, a fee is predicted according to the extracted print setting information, and the predicted fee is provided to the user for each print job. A print billing system comprising: a predicted fee presenting means for presenting. 4. The print billing system according to claim 3, wherein the user inputs a fee presented by the predicted fee presentation means to the print billing device in advance, and the print server device prints the fee. A printing apparatus that stops printing when the number of sheets corresponding to the fee charged in the printer has been printed by the printing apparatus. 5. The print accounting system according to claim 3, wherein the printing of the printing device is stopped when the number of sheets corresponding to the fee charged to the printing accounting device is printed by the printing device. At this time, the print billing device notifies the user that printing is to be stopped, and prompts the user to input a fee corresponding to the number of unprinted sheets if printing of all sheets has not been completed. Print billing system. 6. A print billing system in which a printing apparatus having a function for managing the number of printed sheets and a print billing apparatus for billing a user according to the number of printed sheets are connected via a network. The printing device is connected to a client device used by a user via a network, and includes a print job receiving unit that receives a print job from the client device, and a print job storing unit that stores the received print job. A print job presenting unit that reads the print job stored in the print job storage unit and presents the read print job; and a print job selected by the user from the presented print job. Print instruction means for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to the print instruction to the printing apparatus, and a user based on a print log corresponding to the print instruction. And a billing means for billing the user. 7. The print billing system according to claim 1, wherein said print billing apparatus includes a means for reading a prepaid card and / or an IC card. 8. A print job presenting means for reading a print job for a printing apparatus and presenting the read print job, an analyzing means for analyzing the read print job, and Print setting information including at least one or more of a paper size and a printing type is extracted, a fee is predicted according to the extracted print setting information, and the predicted fee is presented to the user for each print job. Predicted charge presenting means, print instruction means for transmitting a print instruction corresponding to a print job selected by the user from the presented print jobs to the printing apparatus, and a print log corresponding to the print instruction. Any one of the number of printed sheets, paper size, and print type
Or a charging unit for charging a user based on print information including at least a plurality of print information. 9. A program for executing a function as a print accounting system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or for executing a function as a print accounting system according to claim 8. 10. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 9 is recorded.