JP2005094206A - Apparatus authentication system, image forming device, apparatus authentication method, image forming method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify an objective apparatus performing wireless communication without requiring any special operation when a plurality of apparatus capable of performing wireless communication with a specific device exist around that device, and to print image data acquired from that apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus authentication system comprises a section 101 for taking in an image displayed at the display section of a specific apparatus performing wireless communication out of a plurality of apparatus capable of performing wireless communication from a section where that image was captured, a section 102 for acquiring state information including an image received by a wireless communicating section from any one of the plurality of apparatus and displayed at the display section of that apparatus, a primary collating section 103 for collating an image taken in at the image take-in section 101 with an image included in the state information acquired at the state information acquiring section 102, a section 104 for acquiring image data from that specific apparatus if both images coincide, and a section 105 for designating printing based on the image data thus acquired. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a device authentication apparatus or the like for identifying a device to be wirelessly communicated from among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication.

  When printing a photograph taken with a photographing device such as a digital still camera or a camera-equipped mobile phone with a printing device, at present, a method of removing the media on which the photograph data is recorded from the photographing device and attaching it to the printing device, or a photographing device A method of connecting the printer and the printing apparatus with a cable is mainly used. However, in the former method, in addition to complicated operations for removing and installing the media, there is a risk that the media may be damaged during the operation, and in the latter method, it is necessary to carry a cable, It took time and effort to connect the cable.

In recent years, wireless communication means such as infrared communication, Bluetooth, wireless LAN, and UWB (Ultra Wideband) have attracted attention as a means for reducing such complexity. That is, the photograph is transmitted from the photographing device to the printing apparatus using the wireless communication means and is to be printed.
Among these, infrared communication can realize PtoP connection because of its directivity, and even if there are a plurality of photographing devices having infrared communication functions around the printing device, the printing device selects the photographing device that has made the print request. Can be identified.

However, when Bluetooth, wireless LAN, UWB, or the like is used, when there are a plurality of photographing devices having the same wireless communication function around the printing device, the printing device cannot identify the communication partner. It may happen that a photographing device other than the photographing device that has issued the print request is determined as a communication partner.
Such a problem may occur not only between the photographing apparatus and the printing apparatus but also between any apparatus.

In order to deal with the above problems, at present, a general method is to enable identification (authentication) of devices by inputting a key operation and a password several times in both devices.
In addition, in a specific system, a technique that enables a device to be specified without entering a password has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-330100 A (page 7-8, FIG. 2)

However, the invention of Patent Document 1 is a technique specialized in a hands-free system, and cannot be applied to a system that does not input voice in the first place.
That is, in the conventional technology, when there is a plurality of devices that can wirelessly communicate with a specific device around a specific device in a system that does not input voice, the wireless communication is performed without performing a special operation. There was a problem that it was not possible to identify the target device.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the technical problems as described above, and the object of the present invention is special when a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication with the device exist around the specific device. An object of the present invention is to be able to specify a target device for performing wireless communication without performing an operation.

  For this purpose, the present invention collates the capture result of the image displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal with the image image acquired from the portable terminal by wireless communication. That is, the first device authentication apparatus of the present invention includes an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, and a plurality of devices. A processing unit that certifies the device as a specific device when information indicating that the image captured by the image capturing unit is displayed on the display unit is received from any device by wireless communication; It has.

  Further, according to the present invention, the result of capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal is transmitted to the mobile terminal by wireless communication, and the image of the authentication image is collated. That is, the second device authentication apparatus of the present invention includes an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, and a plurality of devices. A processing unit that certifies the device as a specific device when information for displaying an image captured by the image capturing unit on the display unit is transmitted by wireless communication to any of the devices; It has.

  The present invention can also be understood as an image forming apparatus that forms an image by performing wireless communication with an authenticated device. In that case, the first image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication; When the information indicating that the image captured by the image capturing unit is displayed on the display unit is received by wireless communication from any of the above devices, the device is identified as a specific device, A processing unit that acquires image data by performing wireless communication with a specific device, and an image output unit that outputs an image based on the image data acquired by the processing unit are provided. Further, the second image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, and a plurality of devices When the information for displaying the image captured by the image capturing unit on the display unit is transmitted to any device by wireless communication, the device is identified as a specific device and the specified A processing unit that acquires image data by performing wireless communication with the device, and an image output unit that outputs an image based on the image data acquired by the processing unit.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as a device authentication method for specifying a target device for wireless communication from among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication. In this case, the first device authentication method of the present invention is an image capture that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication. And when the information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received by wireless communication from any one of the plurality of devices. Certifying step. According to the second device authentication method of the present invention, a step of transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication; Acquiring an image displayed on the display unit of a specific device to be communicated from the image capturing unit that captured the image, and the acquired image matches an image displayed based on the transmitted information And the step of authorizing the device to which the information is transmitted as a specific device.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as an image forming method for forming an image by performing wireless communication with an authenticated device. In that case, the first image forming method according to the present invention captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of wirelessly communicable devices. A step of acquiring from a unit, and when information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received by wireless communication from any one of a plurality of devices. The method includes a step of authorizing the device, a step of acquiring image data by performing wireless communication with a specific device, and a step of instructing printing based on the acquired image data. According to the second image forming method of the present invention, a step of transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication; Acquiring an image displayed on the display unit of a specific device to be communicated from the image capturing unit that captured the image, and the acquired image matches an image displayed based on the transmitted information In this case, a step of authorizing the device to which the information is transmitted as a specific device, a step of acquiring image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device, and a printing based on the acquired image data are instructed. Steps.

  On the other hand, the present invention can also be understood as a computer program for causing a computer to realize a device authentication function or an image forming function. In this case, the first program of the present invention captures an image displayed on the display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication with the computer. A function that is acquired from the capturing unit and a device that is a specific device when information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received from the device by wireless communication. And realize the function to certify. Further, the second program of the present invention includes a function of transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication with a computer, and among the plurality of devices, A function of acquiring an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated from an image capturing unit that captured the image, and an image in which the acquired image is displayed based on transmitted information; If they match, a function for authorizing the device to which the information is transmitted as a specific device is realized.

  According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of devices that can wirelessly communicate with a specific device around the specific device, it is possible to specify the device that is to perform wireless communication without performing a special operation. Become.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The device authentication apparatus of the present invention includes a device having a display unit and a wireless communication function, a function of capturing an image displayed on the display unit (imaging by an imaging unit, reading by an image input unit, and the like) and the device. Can be applied to any system comprising a device having a function of performing wireless communication with the camera, but in the following, it is applied to a system comprising a photographing device such as a digital still camera or a camera-equipped mobile phone and an image forming device such as a printer. The case will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the description will be made assuming a multifunction machine (hereinafter referred to as “M / F machine”) having a copy function, a printer function, a fax function, and a scanner function as the image forming apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, a network system includes a plurality of M / F machines, a server computer (hereinafter referred to as “server”), and a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”). It is connected to the public Internet network via Xerox Corporation registered trademark). Further, each M / F machine is often installed in a store such as a convenience store to provide services, and thus such a situation is illustrated. Further, in the store A, a state in which devices a, b, c, and d capable of wireless communication with the M / F machine exist around the M / F machine. Of these devices, the devices a, b, and c are mobile phones, and are shown to be connectable to a telephone network.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus includes a processing unit 10, an image input unit 20, an image output unit 30, an imaging unit 40, a UI unit 50, a wireless communication unit 60, and a storage device 70.

The processing unit 10 corresponds to an image editing unit (ESS: Electric Sub System) and is a part that processes image data input from the image input unit 20 and accumulated. In addition to functions in a normal image forming apparatus such as image reduction / enlargement, it also has functions specific to this embodiment. This part can also be realized by a general-purpose PC, for example. In any case, although not shown, it is constituted by a central processing unit (CPU), a main memory, a bus connecting these, and the like.
An image input unit (IIT: Image Input Terminal) 20 is a mechanism including, for example, a scanner, reads a document placed on a platen, and transmits information on the density and position of a two-dimensional image on the image to the processing unit 10. Is.
The image output unit (IOT: Image Output Terminal) 30 is, for example, a mechanism including a printer, and reproduces an image on a medium such as paper in accordance with image data transmitted from the processing unit 10.
The imaging unit 40 is a camera, for example, and has a function of imaging a subject placed in front of the camera lens.
The UI unit 50 is an operation unit for a user to input and output information, and is, for example, a touch panel display.
The wireless communication unit 60 is an antenna part for performing data communication using wireless communication means such as Bluetooth, wireless LAN, UWB or the like.
The storage device 70 is, for example, a hard disk device (HDD), and also functions as a storage location for a program that realizes each function in the processing unit 10 and data necessary for realizing each function.

In this embodiment, when there are a plurality of devices that can wirelessly communicate with the image forming device around the image forming device, the image forming device is instructed to form an image from the plurality of devices. A device is identified as a device to be wirelessly communicated, and image formation is performed by performing wireless communication with the device.
Hereinafter, specific embodiments thereof will be described. In the following, a portable terminal is assumed as the device, Bluetooth is assumed as wireless communication, and an imaging unit such as a camera is assumed as a means for capturing an image.

(First embodiment)
In the first embodiment, when the image data stored in the mobile terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth and printing is performed based on the image data, the mobile terminal is specified only by primary verification. It is an embodiment.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the processing unit 10 includes an image capturing unit 101 that captures an image captured by the imaging unit 40, a state information acquisition unit 102 that acquires state information of the mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and Received by the wireless communication unit 60 from the primary collation unit 103 that collates the image captured by the image capture unit 101 and the state information acquired by the state information acquisition unit 102, and from the mobile terminal that is identified as the wireless communication target by the primary verification. A data acquisition unit 104 that acquires image data, and a print instruction unit 105 that instructs the image output unit 30 to perform printing based on the image data.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
This process is started when the user displays an image to be printed on the display unit of the portable terminal, places the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus.
When the processing unit 10 detects that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1001), the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal and capture the image. The unit 101 captures an image that is a capture result (step 1002).

On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of surrounding portable terminals (step 1003). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ (Inquiry) packet is broadcast, and when a FHS (Frequency Hop Synchronization) packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response to this, it is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. Thereby, the state information acquisition unit 102 acquires terminal state information. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal state information includes information (for example, an image image) for specifying an image currently displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal. That is, the state information acquisition unit 102 holds the correspondence between the identification information of the mobile terminal and the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

Next, the primary verification unit 103 determines whether or not the screen image included in the state information received in step 1003 matches the image image captured and captured in step 1002 (step 1004). Here, if it is not determined that they match, another mobile terminal is selected, and a request for the terminal state is made again. On the other hand, if it is determined that they match, the identification information of the mobile terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 104.
The order of requests for a plurality of portable terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if a selection is made in advance from the one with the highest radio wave intensity, a portable terminal whose terminal state matches the captured image is found. This makes it possible to shorten the time required for the search processing of the mobile terminal that is the object of wireless communication.

Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 104 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit with respect to the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the primary verification unit 103. Request to get the image data. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of image data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. In response to this request, image data is transmitted from the portable terminal, and when the wireless communication unit 60 receives the image data, the data acquisition unit 104 acquires the image data (step 1005), and the print instruction unit 105 acquires the image data. A print based on the image data thus processed is instructed to the image output unit 30 (step 1006).
Thus, the operation of the first embodiment is completed.

  In the present embodiment, if the portable terminal that has captured the image in step 1002 is the same as the portable terminal that has received the status information in step 1003, the determination in step 1004 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture failure in step 1002, a wireless communication failure in step 1003, and the like. Accordingly, when the determination in step 1004 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1003 and the portable terminal to be selected is selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In this embodiment, the processing of steps 1003 and 1004 is performed for each mobile terminal. In step 1003, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and in step 1004, You may make it select what matches a capture image from the information of those terminal states.

  Furthermore, in the above description, the image image captured and captured in step 1002 is held by the image capturing unit 101, and the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminal received and acquired in step 1003 is the state information. Although only the description of being held by the acquisition unit 102 is described, correspondence between these image images, identification information of the mobile terminal, and state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

As described above, in the present embodiment, a plurality of images that can be wirelessly communicated around the image forming apparatus by collating the image image captured by the imaging unit 40 with the image image included in the terminal state received by wireless communication. When there is a portable terminal, it is possible to specify a portable terminal that is to perform wireless communication without performing a special operation. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal can be used as an image to be printed as it is. That is, conventionally, it has been necessary to specify an image to be printed again after authentication of the mobile terminal. In this embodiment, an image to be printed can be obtained simply by pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once. Can be transferred in a "copying sense".
However, the image displayed on the display unit at the time of authentication of the portable terminal may be an image for authentication, and an image different from the image may be printed. In that case, when authentication is completed in step 1004, all image data stored in the portable terminal may be acquired and displayed as thumbnails so that the user can select an image to be printed.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment, when image data stored in a portable terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth and printing is performed based on the image data, the identification of the portable terminal is performed as primary verification and secondary verification. It is an embodiment in the case of performing by. In the first embodiment, it is necessary to acquire an image image displayed on the display unit from each portable terminal around the image forming apparatus. However, in the present embodiment, an image image is not acquired. In both cases, the mobile terminal can be specified.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the processing unit 10 includes a state information holding unit 111 that holds state information used for primary verification, a state information acquisition unit 112 that acquires state information of a mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and The primary verification unit 113 that verifies the status information held in the status information holding unit 111 and the status information acquired by the status information acquisition unit 112, and an authentication code for the mobile terminal that is identified as a candidate for wireless communication by the primary verification. The authentication code transmitting unit 114 to be transmitted, the image capturing unit 115 for capturing the image captured by the image capturing unit 40, and the image captured by the image capturing unit 115 and the authentication code transmitted by the authentication code transmitting unit 114 are collated. A next verification unit 116; a data acquisition unit 117 that acquires image data received by the wireless communication unit 60 from a portable terminal that is recognized as a wireless communication target by the secondary verification; And a print instruction unit 118 instructs the Ku printing to the image output unit 30.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
This process is started when the user displays an image to be printed on the display unit of the portable terminal, places the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus.
When detecting that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1101), the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of surrounding portable terminals (step 1102). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ packet is broadcast, and when an FHS packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response thereto, the IQ packet is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. Thereby, the state information acquisition unit 112 acquires terminal state information. In other words, the state information acquisition unit 112 holds the correspondence between the identification information of the mobile terminal and the terminal status information of the mobile terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

  Next, the primary verification unit 113 determines whether or not the status information received in step 1102 matches the status information held in the status information holding unit 111 (step 1103). In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus is set up to acquire image data from a portable terminal and perform printing based on the image data. The status information “displayed” is stored, and the determination in step 1103 is whether or not the received status information is information indicating that “some image is being displayed”. That is, when the received status information does not indicate that “some image is being displayed”, another mobile terminal is selected and a request for the terminal status is made again. On the other hand, if the received status information indicates that “some image is being displayed”, the identification information of the portable terminal is registered in a memory (not shown) as a candidate for wireless communication (step 1104). Is determined (step 1105), and if there is another mobile terminal, the mobile terminal is selected and the processing of steps 1102 to 1104 is repeated. On the other hand, if there is no other portable terminal, identification information of the portable terminal accumulated so far as a candidate for wireless communication is transmitted to the authentication code transmitting unit 114.

Next, the authentication code transmitting unit 114 selects one of the identification information of the portable terminal, and sends the randomly generated authentication code to the portable terminal corresponding to the identification information (step 1106). Thereby, for example, an authentication image as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal. At this time, the authentication code is also transmitted to the secondary verification unit 116.
On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an authentication image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, and the image capturing unit 115 captures an image image that is a result of the capture (step) 1107).

Then, the secondary verification unit 116 determines whether or not the image image captured and captured in Step 1106 matches the image of the authentication image displayed based on the authentication code transmitted from the authentication code transmission unit 114 (Step S106). 1108). Here, when it is not determined that they match, another portable terminal is selected, and the authentication code is transmitted again. On the other hand, if it is determined that they match, the identification information of the mobile terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 117.
The order of sending the authentication codes to a plurality of mobile terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if the selection is made in advance from the one with the highest radio wave intensity, the image corresponding to the authentication code matches the captured image. Since it is possible to shorten the time until a portable terminal to be found is found, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the search process for the portable terminal to be wirelessly communicated.

Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 117 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit for the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the secondary verification unit 116. A request for acquiring the image data that has been sent is sent. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of image data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. In response to this request, image data is transmitted from the portable terminal, and when the wireless communication unit 60 receives the image data, the data acquisition unit 117 acquires the image data (step 1109), and the print instruction unit 118 acquires the image data. The printing based on the image data thus designated is instructed to the image output unit 30 (step 1110).
Thus, the operation of the second embodiment is completed.

  In this embodiment, when the mobile terminal that sent the authentication code in step 1106 is the same as the mobile terminal that captured the image in step 1107, the determination in step 1108 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture defect in step 1107. Accordingly, when the determination in step 1108 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1106 to select the portable terminal to be selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In the present embodiment, the processing of steps 1102 to 1104 is performed for each mobile terminal. However, in step 1102, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and steps 1103 and 1104 are performed. Then, you may make it extract what is displaying the image from the information of those terminal states.

  Furthermore, in the above description, the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminals received and acquired in step 1102 is kept by the state information acquisition unit 112. The correspondence between the information and the state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

As described above, in this embodiment, after narrowing down candidates for wireless communication according to the terminal state received by wireless communication, an image image displayed by the sent authentication code and an image image captured by the imaging unit 40 Can be identified without performing a special operation when there are a plurality of portable terminals capable of wireless communication around the image forming apparatus. Become. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal can be used as an image to be printed as it is. That is, conventionally, it has been necessary to specify an image to be printed again after authentication of the mobile terminal. In this embodiment, an image to be printed can be obtained simply by pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once. Can be transferred in a "copying sense".
However, you may make it print an image different from the image displayed on the display part at the time of authentication of a portable terminal. In that case, when the authentication is completed in step 1108, all image data stored in the portable terminal may be acquired and displayed as thumbnails to allow the user to select an image to be printed.

Further, as a first modification of the present embodiment, steps 1102 to 1105 are performed by capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal as in the first embodiment, and A device that has been replaced by a collation process with an image image included in terminal state information received by wireless communication from a portable terminal is also conceivable. By doing so, the authentication code transmitting unit 114 is informed that the degree of coincidence is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference to the authentication code transmitting unit 114 and performs secondary verification, thereby more accurately identifying the mobile terminal that is to perform wireless communication. Can be done.
Furthermore, as a second modification of the present embodiment, it is also possible to perform only the collation processing of steps 1106 to 1108 without performing the collation processing of steps 1102 to 1105.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment, when the image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth, the image data is downloaded from the position indicated by the image location instruction data, and printing is performed. In this embodiment, the mobile terminal is specified only by primary verification.
Here, the image location instruction data is data including information (URL or the like) indicating the location of the image data. For example, when a user registers some data at a predetermined position on the server, an e-mail including information indicating the completion of the registration and the location of the registered data may be transmitted to the mobile terminal. However, such an e-mail corresponds to the image location instruction data. Therefore, in the present embodiment, description will be made assuming such an e-mail as the image location instruction data.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 8, the processing unit 10 includes an image capturing unit 121 that captures an image captured by the imaging unit 40, a state information acquisition unit 122 that acquires state information of the mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and The primary verification unit 123 that collates the image captured by the image capture unit 121 and the status information acquired by the status information acquisition unit 122, and the wireless communication unit 60 receives from the portable terminal that is recognized as the wireless communication target by the primary verification. Data acquisition unit 124 that acquires image location instruction data, image acquisition unit 125 that acquires image data from the position indicated by the image location instruction data, and printing that instructs the image output unit 30 to perform printing based on the image data And an instruction unit 126.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
When the user displays an image including the location information of the image to be printed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, places the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus. Processing begins.
When detecting that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1201), the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, and capture the image. The unit 121 captures an image that is a result of capture (step 1202).

On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of surrounding portable terminals (step 1203). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ packet is broadcast, and when an FHS packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response thereto, the IQ packet is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. Thereby, the state information acquisition unit 122 acquires terminal state information. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal state information includes information (for example, an image image) for specifying an image currently displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal. That is, the state information acquisition unit 122 holds correspondence between the identification information of the mobile terminal and the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

Next, the primary verification unit 123 determines whether or not the screen image included in the state information received in step 1203 matches the image image captured and captured in step 1202 (step 1204). Here, when it is not determined that they match, another mobile terminal is selected, and a request for the terminal state is made again. On the other hand, when it is determined that they match, the identification information of the mobile terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 124.
The order of requests for a plurality of portable terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if a selection is made in advance from the one with the highest radio wave intensity, a portable terminal whose terminal state matches the captured image is found. This makes it possible to shorten the time required for the search processing of the mobile terminal that is the object of wireless communication.

Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 124 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit for the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the primary verification unit 123. A request for acquiring the image location instruction data is transmitted. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of image location instruction data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. In response to this request, when the image location instruction data is transmitted from the portable terminal and the wireless communication unit 60 receives the image location instruction data, the data acquisition unit 124 acquires the image location instruction data (step 1205). Then, the image acquisition unit 125 acquires image data from the position indicated by the image location instruction data (step 1206), and the print instruction unit 126 instructs the image output unit 30 to print based on the acquired image data. (Step 1207).
Thus, the operation of the third embodiment is completed.

  In this embodiment, when the portable terminal that has captured the image in step 1202 is the same as the portable terminal that has received the status information in step 1203, the determination in step 1204 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture failure in step 1202, a wireless communication failure in step 1203, and the like. Accordingly, when the determination in step 1204 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1203 and the portable terminal to be selected is selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In the present embodiment, the processing of steps 1203 and 1204 is performed for each mobile terminal. However, in step 1203, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and in step 1204, You may make it select what matches a capture image from the information of those terminal states.

  Furthermore, in the above description, the image image captured and captured in step 1202 is held by the image capturing unit 121, and the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminal received and acquired in step 1203 is the state information. Although only the description of being held by the acquisition unit 122 is described, correspondence between these image images, identification information of the mobile terminal, and state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

As described above, in the present embodiment, a plurality of images that can be wirelessly communicated around the image forming apparatus by collating the image image captured by the imaging unit 40 with the image image included in the terminal state received by wireless communication. When there is a portable terminal, it is possible to specify a portable terminal that is to perform wireless communication without performing a special operation. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal can be used as information indicating the location of the image to be printed as it is. In particular, this embodiment is effective when information indicating the location of an image to be printed is not displayed on the image and cannot be understood unless the image is analyzed as data.
However, the image displayed on the display unit at the time of authentication of the mobile terminal may be an image for authentication, and an image at a position indicated by an image different from the image may be printed. In that case, when authentication is completed in step 1204, all the image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal are acquired, and the images including the location information of the image that the user wants to print are selected by displaying them as thumbnails. You can make it.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the fourth embodiment, when the image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth, and the image data is downloaded from the position indicated by the image location instruction data and printed. In this embodiment, the mobile terminal is specified by primary verification and secondary verification.
Also in the present embodiment, the image location instruction data is transmitted when the user registers some data at a predetermined position on the server, regarding the completion of the registration and the location of the registered data. Assume an email containing information.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, the processing unit 10 includes a state information holding unit 131 that holds state information used for primary verification, a state information acquisition unit 132 that acquires state information of the mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and The primary verification unit 133 that collates the status information held in the status information holding unit 131 and the status information acquired by the status information acquisition unit 132, and an authentication code for the mobile terminal that is recognized as a candidate for wireless communication by the primary verification. An authentication code transmitting unit 134 to be transmitted, an image capturing unit 135 for capturing an image captured by the image capturing unit 40, an image captured by the image capturing unit 135 and an authentication code transmitted by the authentication code transmitting unit 134 are collated. A next collation unit 136, a data acquisition unit 137 that obtains image location instruction data received by the radio communication unit 60 from a portable terminal that is recognized as a radio communication target by the second collation, and the image Includes an image acquiring unit 138 that acquires image data from the position indicated by the standing instruction data, and a print instruction unit 139 instructs the printing based on the image data to the image output unit 30.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
When the user displays an image including the location information of the image to be printed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, places the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus. Processing begins.
When detecting that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1301), the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of surrounding portable terminals (step 1302). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ packet is broadcast, and when an FHS packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response thereto, the IQ packet is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. As a result, the state information acquisition unit 132 acquires terminal state information. That is, the state information acquisition unit 132 holds the correspondence between the identification information of the portable terminal and the terminal state information of the portable terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

  Next, the primary verification unit 133 determines whether or not the status information received in step 1302 matches the status information held in the status information holding unit 131 (step 1303). In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus is set up to acquire an e-mail as image location instruction data from the mobile terminal and perform printing based on the image data at the position indicated by the e-mail. The state information holding unit 131 stores state information “displaying some kind of e-mail”, and the determination in step 1303 is that the received state information is “displaying some kind of e-mail”. It is judged whether or not the information is information. That is, if the received state information does not indicate that “some electronic mail is being displayed”, another mobile terminal is selected, and a request for the terminal state is made again. On the other hand, when the received status information indicates that “some kind of e-mail is being displayed”, the identification information of the portable terminal is registered in a memory (not shown) as a candidate for wireless communication (step 1304). It is determined whether there is another portable terminal (step 1305). If there is another portable terminal, the portable terminal is selected, and the processing of steps 1302-1304 is repeated. On the other hand, if there is no other portable terminal, the identification information of the identification information of the portable terminal accumulated so far as a candidate for wireless communication is transmitted to the authentication code transmitting unit 134.

Next, the authentication code transmitting unit 134 selects one of the identification information of the mobile terminal and sends the randomly generated authentication code to the mobile terminal (step 1306). Thereby, for example, an authentication image as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal. At this time, the authentication code is also transmitted to the secondary verification unit 136.
On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, and the image capturing unit 135 captures an image image as a result of the capture (step 1307). ).

Then, the secondary verification unit 136 determines whether or not the image image captured and captured in step 1306 matches the image of the authentication image displayed based on the authentication code transmitted from the authentication code transmission unit 134 (step). 1308). Here, when it is not determined that they match, another portable terminal is selected, and the authentication code is transmitted again. On the other hand, if it is determined that they match, the identification information of the portable terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 137.
The order of sending the authentication codes to a plurality of mobile terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if the selection is made in advance from the one with the highest radio wave intensity, the image corresponding to the authentication code matches the captured image. Since it is possible to shorten the time until a portable terminal to be found is found, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the search process for the portable terminal to be wirelessly communicated.

Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 137 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit with respect to the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the secondary verification unit 136. A request for acquiring the image location instruction data being sent is transmitted. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of image location instruction data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. In response to this request, when the image location instruction data is transmitted from the portable terminal and the wireless communication unit 60 receives the image location instruction data, the data acquisition unit 137 acquires the image location instruction data (step 1309). Then, the image acquisition unit 138 acquires image data from the position indicated by the image location instruction data (step 1310), and the print instruction unit 139 instructs the image output unit 30 to print based on the acquired image data. (Step 1311).
Thus, the operation of the fourth embodiment is completed.

  In this embodiment, when the mobile terminal that sent the authentication code in step 1306 and the mobile terminal that captured the image in step 1307 are the same, the determination in step 1308 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture defect in step 1307. Accordingly, when the determination in step 1308 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1306 to select the portable terminal to be selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In this embodiment, the processing of steps 1302 to 1304 is performed for each mobile terminal. However, in step 1302, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and steps 1303 and 1304 are performed. Then, you may make it extract what is displaying the image from the information of those terminal states.

  Further, in the above description, the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminals received and acquired in step 1302 is kept by the state information acquisition unit 132. The correspondence between the information and the state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

  Also, steps 1302-1305 in the present embodiment are received by wireless communication from the portable terminal and an image image obtained by capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal as in the first embodiment. You may make it collate with the image image contained in the information of a terminal state. In that case, a mobile terminal with which wireless communication is to be performed can be more accurately identified by informing the authentication code transmission unit 134 that the degree of matching is equal to or higher than a predetermined standard as a candidate for wireless communication and performing secondary verification. be able to.

As described above, in this embodiment, after narrowing down candidates for wireless communication according to the terminal state received by wireless communication, an image image displayed by the sent authentication code and an image image captured by the imaging unit 40 Can be identified without performing a special operation when there are a plurality of portable terminals capable of wireless communication around the image forming apparatus. Become. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal can be used as information indicating the location of the image to be printed as it is. In particular, this embodiment is effective when information indicating the location of an image to be printed is not displayed on the image and cannot be understood unless the image is analyzed as data.
However, you may make it print the image in the position which the image different from the image displayed on the display part at the time of authentication of a portable terminal shows. In this case, when authentication is completed in step 1308, all the image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal are acquired, and the images including the location information of the image that the user wants to print are selected by displaying them as thumbnails. You can make it.

Further, as a first modification of the present embodiment, steps 1302 to 1305 are obtained by capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal as in the third embodiment, and A device that has been replaced by a collation process with an image image included in terminal state information received by wireless communication from a portable terminal is also conceivable. By doing so, the authentication code transmission unit 134 is informed that the degree of coincidence is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference to the authentication code transmission unit 134 and performs secondary verification, thereby more accurately identifying the mobile terminal that is to perform wireless communication. Can be done.
Furthermore, as a second modification of the present embodiment, it is also possible to perform only the collation processing in steps 1306 to 1308 without performing the collation processing in steps 1302 to 1305.

(Fifth embodiment)
In the fifth embodiment, the data stored in the portable terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth, and if the data is image data, printing is performed based on the image data. In the case of data, this is an embodiment in the case where the mobile terminal is specified only by primary verification when image data is downloaded from the position indicated by the image location instruction data and printed.
Also in the present embodiment, the image location instruction data is transmitted when the user registers some data at a predetermined position on the server, regarding the completion of the registration and the location of the registered data. Assume an email containing information.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, the processing unit 10 includes an image capturing unit 141 that captures an image captured by the imaging unit 40, a state information acquisition unit 142 that acquires state information of the mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and The primary communication unit 143 that collates the image captured by the image capture unit 141 and the state information acquired by the state information acquisition unit 142, and the wireless communication unit 60 receives from the portable terminal that is recognized as the wireless communication target by the primary verification. A data acquisition unit 144 that acquires data; a data type determination unit 145 that determines whether the acquired data is image data or image location instruction data; and if the data is image location instruction data, the image An image acquisition unit 146 that acquires image data from the position indicated by the location instruction data, and printing based on the image data acquired by the data acquisition unit 144 or the image acquisition unit 146 And a print instruction unit 147 instructs the image output unit 30.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
The user displays an image to be printed or an image including location information of the image to be printed on the display unit of the portable terminal, arranges the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus This process is started.
When the processing unit 10 detects that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1401), the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal and capture the image. The unit 141 captures an image as a result of the capture (Step 1402).

On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of surrounding portable terminals (step 1403). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ packet is broadcast, and when an FHS packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response thereto, the IQ packet is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. Thereby, the status information acquisition unit 142 acquires terminal status information. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal state information includes information (for example, an image image) for specifying an image currently displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal. That is, the state information acquisition unit 142 holds the correspondence between the identification information of the mobile terminal and the image image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

Next, the primary verification unit 143 determines whether or not the screen image included in the state information received in step 1403 matches the image image captured and captured in step 1402 (step 1404). Here, when it is not determined that they match, another mobile terminal is selected, and a request for the terminal state is made again. On the other hand, when it is determined that they match, the identification information of the mobile terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 144.
The order of requests for a plurality of portable terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if a selection is made in advance from the one with the highest radio wave intensity, a portable terminal whose terminal state matches the captured image is found. This makes it possible to shorten the time required for the search processing of the mobile terminal that is the object of wireless communication.

  Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 144 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit for the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the primary verification unit 143. Send a request to get the data. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. When data is transmitted from the portable terminal in response to this request and the wireless communication unit 60 receives the data, the data acquisition unit 144 acquires the data (step 1405). Then, the data type determination unit 145 determines whether the data is image data itself or image location instruction data indicating the location of the image data (step 1406). Specifically, if the data includes a character string that can be determined as information indicating the location of the image data (for example, URL), it is determined as image location instruction data, otherwise it is determined as image data. Can do. Further, when it is not possible to determine whether the image data or the image location instruction data is obtained by this determination process, the user may be inquired.

If it is determined that the data is image data, the data is set as print data (step 1407). If it is determined that the data is image location instruction data, the image acquisition unit 146 displays the image location instruction. Image data is acquired from the position indicated by the data, and the image data is set as print data (step 1408). Then, the print instruction unit 147 instructs the image output unit 30 to print based on the print data (step 1409).
Thus, the operation of the fifth embodiment is completed.

  In this embodiment, when the portable terminal that has captured the image in step 1402 is the same as the portable terminal that has received the status information in step 1403, the determination in step 1404 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture failure at step 1402, a wireless communication failure at step 1403, and the like. Accordingly, when the determination in step 1404 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1403 and the portable terminal to be selected is selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In this embodiment, the processing of steps 1403 and 1404 is performed for each mobile terminal. However, in step 1403, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and in step 1404, You may make it select what matches a capture image from the information of those terminal states.

  Further, in the above description, the image image captured and captured in step 1402 is held by the image capturing unit 141, and the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminal received and acquired in step 1403 is the state information. Although only the description of being held by the acquisition unit 142 is described, correspondence between these image images, identification information of the mobile terminal, and state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

As described above, in the present embodiment, a plurality of images that can be wirelessly communicated around the image forming apparatus by collating the image image captured by the imaging unit 40 with the image image included in the terminal state received by wireless communication. When there is a portable terminal, it is possible to specify a portable terminal that is to perform wireless communication without performing a special operation. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal is used as an image to be printed as it is, or is used as information indicating the location of the image to be printed. Is possible.
However, the image displayed on the display unit at the time of authentication of the mobile terminal may be an image for authentication, and an image different from the image or an image at a position indicated by the image different from the image may be printed. In that case, when the authentication is completed in step 1404, all the image data or image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal is obtained, and the images to be printed or the images to be printed to the user are displayed by displaying them as thumbnails. An image including location information may be selected.

(Sixth embodiment)
In the sixth embodiment, the data stored in the portable terminal is transferred to the image forming apparatus via Bluetooth, and if the data is image data, printing is performed based on the image data. In the case of data, this is an embodiment in which identification of the portable terminal is performed by primary verification and secondary verification when image data is downloaded from the position indicated by the image location instruction data and printed. In the fifth embodiment, it is necessary to acquire an image image displayed on the display unit from each portable terminal around the image forming apparatus. However, in the present embodiment, an image image is not acquired. In both cases, the mobile terminal can be specified.
Also in the present embodiment, the image location instruction data is transmitted when the user registers some data at a predetermined position on the server, regarding the completion of the registration and the location of the registered data. Assume an email containing information.

First, the functional configuration of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the processing unit 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 14, the processing unit 10 includes a state information holding unit 151 that holds state information used for primary verification, a state information acquisition unit 152 that acquires the state information of the mobile terminal received by the wireless communication unit 60, and The primary verification unit 153 that collates the status information held in the status information holding unit 151 with the status information acquired by the status information acquisition unit 152, and an authentication code for the mobile terminal that is recognized as a candidate for wireless communication by the primary verification. An authentication code transmitting unit 154 to transmit, an image capturing unit 155 that captures an image captured by the image capturing unit 40, and an image that is captured by the image capturing unit 155 and an authentication code transmitted by the authentication code transmitting unit 154 are collated. A next verification unit 156, a data acquisition unit 157 that acquires data received by the wireless communication unit 60 from a portable terminal that is recognized as a wireless communication target in the secondary verification, and the acquired data is an image Data type determination unit 158 that determines whether the data is image location instruction data, and image acquisition that acquires image data from the position indicated by the image location instruction data when the data is image location instruction data And a print instruction unit 160 that instructs the image output unit 30 to perform printing based on the image data acquired by the data acquisition unit 157 or the image acquisition unit 159.

Next, the processing operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 10.
The user displays an image to be printed or an image including location information of the image to be printed on the display unit of the portable terminal, arranges the image at a position where the image can be captured by the imaging unit 40, and presses the “start” button of the image forming apparatus This process is started.
When detecting that the “start” button has been pressed (step 1501), the processing unit 10 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to acquire the terminal states of the surrounding mobile terminals (step 1502). Specifically, the wireless communication unit 60 performs the following processing. That is, first, an IQ packet is broadcast, and when an FHS packet including identification information (device address) is transmitted from the portable terminal in response thereto, the IQ packet is received. Thereafter, one of the mobile terminals is selected, the terminal status is requested to be transmitted, and when the terminal status information is transmitted from the mobile terminal in response to the request, the mobile terminal receives it. Thereby, the state information acquisition unit 152 acquires terminal state information. That is, the state information acquisition unit 152 holds the correspondence between the identification information of the portable terminal and the terminal state information of the portable terminal.
The acquisition of the state information can be realized by performing communication according to a predetermined profile in Bluetooth. An existing profile may be used, or a new profile may be used.

  Next, the primary verification unit 153 determines whether or not the state information received in step 1502 matches the state information held in the state information holding unit 151 (step 1503). In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus acquires image data from the portable terminal and performs printing based on the image data, or acquires an electronic mail as image location instruction data from the portable terminal, and Since it is set up to perform printing based on the image data at the position indicated by the mail, the state information holding unit 151 stores the state information “displaying some image or e-mail”, The determination in step 1503 is a determination as to whether or not the received status information is information indicating that “some image or electronic mail is being displayed”. That is, when the received status information does not indicate that “some image or electronic mail is being displayed”, another mobile terminal is selected and a request for the terminal status is made again. On the other hand, if the received status information indicates that “some image or e-mail is being displayed”, the identification information of the portable terminal is registered in a memory (not shown) as a candidate for wireless communication (step 1504). ), It is determined whether there is another portable terminal (step 1505). If there is another portable terminal, the portable terminal is selected, and the processing of steps 1502-1504 is repeated. On the other hand, if there is no other portable terminal, identification information of the portable terminal accumulated so far as a candidate for wireless communication is transmitted to the authentication code transmitting unit 154.

Next, the authentication code transmission unit 154 selects one of the stored portable terminals, and sends the randomly generated authentication code to the portable terminal (step 1506). Thereby, for example, an authentication image as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal. At this time, the authentication code is also transmitted to the secondary verification unit 156.
On the other hand, the processing unit 10 controls the imaging unit 40 to start capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal, and the image capturing unit 155 captures an image that is a result of the capture (step 1507). ).

Then, the secondary verification unit 156 determines whether or not the image image captured and captured in Step 1507 matches the image of the authentication image displayed based on the authentication code transmitted from the authentication code transmission unit 154 (Step S1). 1508). Here, when it is not determined that they match, another portable terminal is selected, and the authentication code is transmitted again. On the other hand, if it is determined that they match, the identification information of the mobile terminal associated with the image is taken out and transmitted to the data acquisition unit 157.
The order of sending the authentication codes to a plurality of mobile terminals is not particularly limited. For example, if the selection is made in advance from the one having the highest radio wave intensity, the mobile terminal whose terminal state matches the captured image is selected. Since the time until it can be found can be shortened, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the search process of the portable terminal that is the object of wireless communication.

  Thereafter, the data acquisition unit 157 controls the wireless communication unit 60 to display the data stored in the mobile terminal on the display unit for the mobile terminal corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the secondary verification unit 156. A request for acquiring data corresponding to the image being sent is sent. That is, the wireless communication unit 60 requests transmission of data corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal whose image has been captured by the imaging unit 40. When data is transmitted from the portable terminal in response to this request and the wireless communication unit 60 receives the data, the data acquisition unit 157 acquires the data (step 1509). Then, the data type determination unit 158 determines whether the data is image data itself or image location instruction data indicating the location of the image data (step 1510). Specifically, if the data includes a character string that can be determined as information indicating the location of the image data (for example, URL), it is determined as image location instruction data, otherwise it is determined as image data. Can do. Further, when it is not possible to determine whether the image data or the image location instruction data is obtained by this determination process, the user may be inquired.

If it is determined that the data is image data, the data is set as print data (step 1511). If it is determined that the data is image location instruction data, the image acquisition unit 159 displays the image location instruction. Image data is acquired from the position indicated by the data, and the image data is set as print data (step 1512). Then, the print instruction unit 160 instructs the image output unit 30 to print based on the print data (step 1513).
Thus, the operation of the sixth embodiment is completed.

  In the present embodiment, if the portable terminal that sent the authentication code in step 1506 and the portable terminal that picked up the image in step 1507 are the same, the determination in step 1508 is considered to be “YES”. However, this may not always be the case due to a capture defect in step 1507. Therefore, when the determination in step 1508 is “NO”, a step of determining whether or not there is a portable terminal to be selected is provided. If there is a portable terminal to be selected, the process proceeds to step 1506 to select the portable terminal to be selected. If the terminal no longer exists, a message such as “Cannot identify mobile terminal” may be displayed and the process may be terminated.

  In this embodiment, the processing of steps 1502 to 1504 is performed for each mobile terminal. However, in step 1502, terminal state information is received from all mobile terminals, and steps 1503 and 1504 are performed. Then, you may make it extract what is displaying an image or an electronic mail from the information of those terminal states.

  Furthermore, in the above description, the correspondence between the identification information and the state information of the mobile terminal received and acquired in step 1502 is kept by the state information acquisition unit 152, but the identification of these mobile terminals The correspondence between the information and the state information may be stored in a storage device (not shown).

As described above, in this embodiment, after narrowing down candidates for wireless communication according to the terminal state received by wireless communication, an image image displayed by the sent authentication code and an image image captured by the imaging unit 40 Can be identified without performing a special operation when there are a plurality of portable terminals capable of wireless communication around the image forming apparatus. Become. That is, conventionally, in a system using wireless communication means, several key operations and password input have been required in the mobile terminal and the connection destination device for authentication of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can be specified by simply pressing the “Start” button of the M / F machine once.
In this embodiment, in order to specify a mobile terminal that performs wireless communication, an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal is used as an image to be printed as it is, or is used as information indicating the location of the image to be printed. Is possible.
However, an image at a position indicated by an image different from the image displayed on the display unit at the time of authentication of the portable terminal or an image different from the image displayed on the display unit may be printed. In this case, when authentication is completed in step 1508, all image data or image location instruction data stored in the portable terminal is acquired, and displayed as thumbnails, for example, for images to be printed or images to be printed to the user. An image including location information may be selected.

Further, as a first modification of the present embodiment, steps 1502 to 1505 are obtained by capturing an image displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal as in the fifth embodiment, and A device that has been replaced by a collation process with an image image included in terminal state information received by wireless communication from a portable terminal is also conceivable. By doing so, the authentication code transmission unit 154 is informed that the degree of coincidence is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference to the authentication code transmission unit 154 and performs secondary verification, thereby more accurately identifying the mobile terminal that is to perform wireless communication. Can be done.
Furthermore, as a second modification of the present embodiment, it is also possible to perform only the collation processing in steps 1506 to 1508 without performing the collation processing in steps 1502 to 1505.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network system including an image forming apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a processing unit of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the authentication screen used in the 2nd, 4th, 6th embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the process part of the image forming apparatus in the 4th Embodiment of this invention. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the process part of the image forming apparatus in the 6th Embodiment of this invention. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Processing part, 101, 115, 121, 135, 141, 155 ... Image capture part, 102, 112, 122, 132, 142, 152 ... State information acquisition part, 103, 113, 123, 133, 143, 153 ... Primary verification unit 104,117,124,137,144,157 ... Data acquisition unit 105,118,126,139,147,160 ... Print instruction unit 111,131,151 ... Status information holding unit 114 134, 154 ... authentication code transmission unit, 116, 136, 156 ... secondary verification unit, 125, 138, 146, 159 ... image acquisition unit, 145, 158 ... data type determination unit, 20 ... image input unit, 30 ... image Output unit 40 ... Imaging unit 50 ... UI unit 60 ... Wireless communication unit 70 ... Storage device

Claims (17)

Among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated, and
When the information indicating that the image captured by the image capturing unit is displayed on the display unit is received from any one of the plurality of devices by wireless communication, the specific device is And a processing unit for certifying the device. Among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated, and
When the information for displaying the image captured by the image capturing unit on the display unit is transmitted by wireless communication to any one of the plurality of devices, the specific device is referred to as the specific device. And a processing unit for certifying the device. Among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated, and
When the information indicating that the image captured by the image capturing unit is displayed on the display unit is received from any one of the plurality of devices by wireless communication, the specific device is And a processing unit that acquires image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device,
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image output unit that outputs an image based on the image data acquired by the processing unit. Among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, an image capturing unit that captures an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated, and
When the information for displaying the image captured by the image capturing unit on the display unit is transmitted by wireless communication to any one of the plurality of devices, the specific device is referred to as the specific device. And a processing unit that acquires image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device,
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image output unit that outputs an image based on the image data acquired by the processing unit. The processor is
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image data is acquired from the specific device by wireless communication. The processor is
5. The image formation according to claim 3, wherein image location instruction data indicating the location of the image data is acquired from the specific device by wireless communication, and the image data is acquired based on the image location instruction data. apparatus. The processor is
When the data stored in the specific device is acquired by wireless communication, and it is determined whether the data is the image data or the image location instruction data indicating the location of the image data. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image data is acquired based on the image location instruction data. A step of acquiring an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated from a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication from an image capturing unit capturing the image;
A step of certifying the device as the specific device when information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received by wireless communication from any one of the plurality of devices; A device authentication method comprising: Transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication;
Of the plurality of devices, obtaining an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device subject to wireless communication from an image capturing unit that captured the image;
When the acquired image matches the image displayed on the basis of the transmitted information, the device is authenticated as the specific device. Method. Obtaining information on the status of the device from the plurality of devices;
From among the plurality of devices, a device in which the acquired information related to the state matches the information related to a predetermined state is extracted, and the transmission destination of information for causing the extracted device to display the predetermined image The device authentication method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of: A step of acquiring an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated from a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication from an image capturing unit capturing the image;
When the information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received from any one of the plurality of devices by wireless communication, the device is recognized as the specific device. Steps,
Acquiring image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device;
An instruction for printing based on the acquired image data. Transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication;
Of the plurality of devices, obtaining an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device subject to wireless communication from an image capturing unit that captured the image;
When the acquired image matches the image displayed based on the transmitted information, the device that is the transmission destination of the information is authorized as the specific device;
Acquiring image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device;
An instruction for printing based on the acquired image data. Obtaining information on the status of the device from the plurality of devices;
From among the plurality of devices, a device in which the acquired information related to the state matches the information related to a predetermined state is extracted, and the transmission destination of information for causing the extracted device to display the predetermined image 13. The image forming method according to claim 12, further comprising: On the computer,
Among a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication, a function of acquiring an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device to be wirelessly communicated from an image capturing unit that captured the image;
A function of authorizing the specific device as the specific device when information indicating that the acquired image is displayed on the display unit is received by wireless communication from any one of the plurality of devices; A program to realize On the computer,
A function of transmitting information for displaying a predetermined image to any one of a plurality of devices capable of wireless communication;
Among the plurality of devices, a function of acquiring an image displayed on a display unit of a specific device targeted for wireless communication from an image capturing unit that captured the image;
When the acquired image matches an image displayed based on the transmitted information, a program for realizing a function of certifying a device as a transmission destination of the information as the specific device. On the computer,
A function of acquiring information on the state of the device from the plurality of devices;
From among the plurality of devices, a device in which the acquired information related to the state matches the information related to a predetermined state is extracted, and the transmission destination of information for causing the extracted device to display the predetermined image The program according to claim 15, further realizing a function to be determined for the device. On the computer,
A function of acquiring image data by performing wireless communication with the specific device authorized by the authorized function;
The program according to claim 14 or 15, further realizing a function of instructing printing based on the acquired image data.

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