JP2005252554A - Image forming apparatus, management information generating apparatus, image forming system, image forming method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the need for a job of including an image selected among a plurality of images to each of a plurality of output units. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus disclosed herein includes: an image input section 20 for inputting the image of an original placed on a platen or the like; a media reader 40 for receiving an image recorded on a medium; a UI section 50 for user's operations; a storage device 60 for storing management information used for managing whether or not each of a plurality of images is to be included in each of a plurality of the output units; a processing section 10 for forming an image to be the origin of a plurality of the output units according to the management information; and an image output section 30 for outputting a plurality of the output units on the basis of the image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that outputs an image selected from a plurality of images in each of a plurality of output units. Here, the “output unit” means a predetermined unit of an output product output from the image forming apparatus, for example, an output product configured by bundling a plurality of images (so-called “part”). In addition, it is assumed that one output product includes a plurality of images formed thereon.

An image forming function for specifying a plurality of copies that forms a plurality of identical images based on one image data is common in today's image forming apparatuses. With this multiple-part designation image forming function, when the image data is composed of a plurality of parts, a uniform number of images are formed for all of the plurality of parts. For example, when copying a document consisting of a plurality of pages, if the number of copies is designated, all pages are copied by the designated number of copies.
In addition, if the same number of copies is copied for all pages, the work when the required number is different for only specific pages becomes cumbersome. An image forming apparatus capable of the above has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-2225050 (page 3-4, FIG. 2)

  However, in the invention of Patent Document 1, when the distribution destination is different for each page, even if different numbers of pages can be copied for each page, it is necessary to perform an operation for collecting the distribution destinations for each distribution destination. In such a case, there is a problem that the work load becomes excessive. For example, it is necessary to distribute the first page, the second page, and the third page to the distribution destination A, the first page and the third page to the distribution destination B, and the second page and the third page to the distribution destination C. Using the invention of Patent Document 1, it is possible to copy two copies of the first page, two copies of the second page, and three copies of the third page. However, since the copies are not discharged together for each distribution destination, it is necessary to regroup them for each distribution destination.

  The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above, and an object thereof is to eliminate the work of including an image selected from a plurality of images in each of a plurality of output units. There is.

  For this purpose, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, management information for managing whether or not each of a plurality of images is included in each of a plurality of output units is stored in the storage means. Then, according to the management information stored in the storage means, the output means outputs the plurality of output units.

  The present invention also proposes a management information generating apparatus that uses this image forming apparatus to reduce the work for distributing advertisements according to each customer's preference to each customer. That is, the management information generating apparatus of the present invention stores storage means for storing preference information of each of a plurality of customers and management information for managing whether or not a specific advertisement is delivered to each of the plurality of customers. And processing means for generating the information based on the stored preference information and the attribute information of the specific advertisement.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as an image forming system that outputs each output unit including an image corresponding to its attribute. In that case, the image forming system of the present invention is such that the management information generating apparatus and the image forming apparatus are connected via a communication network, and the management information generating apparatus outputs a specific image to each of a plurality of output units. Management information for managing whether to include and output is generated based on first attribute information indicating each attribute of the plurality of output units and second attribute information indicating the attribute of the specific image. The image forming apparatus receives the management information from the management information generation apparatus, and outputs a plurality of output units according to the management information.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as an image forming method that reduces the work for distributing an advertisement according to each customer's preference to each customer. In that case, the image forming method of the present invention includes management information for managing whether or not a specific advertisement is delivered to each of a plurality of customers, preference information of each of the plurality of customers, attribute information of the specific advertisement, And a step of outputting a plurality of delivery units to be delivered to a plurality of customers according to the generated management information.

  The present invention can also be understood as a computer program for causing the management information generating apparatus to realize a predetermined function. In that case, the program of the present invention has a function of acquiring first attribute information indicating each attribute of a plurality of output units and a function of acquiring second attribute information indicating an attribute of a specific image. The function of generating management information for managing whether or not to include a specific image in each of a plurality of output units based on the first attribute information and the second attribute information is realized.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to include an image selected from a plurality of images in each of a plurality of output units.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(First embodiment)
The first embodiment is an embodiment in the case where a plurality of output products are output from a document file of a plurality of pages. In particular, each part is distributed to a specific distribution destination, and it is assumed that each part includes a page selected from a plurality of pages. That is, the present embodiment is an embodiment in which the “output unit” of the present invention is a printed matter for each distribution destination, and the “image” is a page included in the document file.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus includes a processing unit 10, an image input unit 20, an image output unit 30, a media reader 40, a UI unit 50, and a storage device 60.

  The processing unit 10 corresponds to an image editing unit (ESS: Electric Sub System), and is a part that processes image data input and stored from the image input unit 20, the media reader 40, or the network. 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 be realized only by hardware, but can also be realized by a combination of hardware and software. In the latter case, each function in the processing unit 10 is realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) of the processing unit 10 reading and executing a program stored in the storage device 60 into the main memory, for example. .

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 media reader 40 reads image data instructed from a medium (recording medium) such as a flash memory, and delivers the image data to the processing unit 10.
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 storage device 60 is, for example, a hard disk device (HDD), and functions as a storage location for programs for realizing each function in the processing unit 10 and information necessary for realizing each function.

Next, the content of information stored in the storage device 60 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of collation management information stored in the storage device 60. The collation management information is for managing whether or not each of a plurality of pages should be distributed to each of a plurality of distribution destinations. In FIG. 2, “1” indicates that the page is distributed, and “0” indicates that the page is not distributed. That is, pages 1 to 7 are output to distribution destination A, pages 1 to 8 are output to distribution destination B, and pages 1 to 7 are output to distribution destination C. Up to pages are output, and for distribution destination D, it is defined that pages 1 to 7 and 9 are output.
Note that the format of the collation management information in FIG. 2 is merely an example, and any format can be adopted as long as it can manage whether each of a plurality of pages should be distributed to each of a plurality of distribution destinations. It is good as well.
In the following, the variable used to indicate the distribution destination is “I”, and the I-th distribution destination from the top of FIG. 2 is expressed as “distribution destination (I)”. Further, the variable used to indicate the page is “J”, and the Jth page from the left in FIG. 2 is represented by “page (J)”. Further, the flag stored in the I-th cell from the top of FIG. 2 and the J-th cell from the left, that is, a flag indicating whether or not the page (J) is output to the distribution destination (I) is set as “flag (I, J ) ”.

Next, the operation of the processing unit 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
First, a first operation example of the processing unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG. The first operation example is an operation example in the case where information indicating a distribution destination corresponding to each output unit is added to each page included in each unit and output.
When the operation is started, the processing unit 10 sets “1” to the variable “I” (step 101) and sets “1” to the variable “J” (step 102).
Next, referring to the collation management information, it is determined whether or not the flag (I, J) is “1” (step 103). As a result, when the flag (I, J) is “1”, the page (J) is read (step 104), the information of the distribution destination (I) is added to the page (J) (step 105), and then , Page (J) is output (step 106). Then, the value of the variable “J” is incremented by “1” (step 107). On the other hand, if the flag (I, J) is not “1”, the value of the variable “J” is incremented by “1” without outputting the page (J) (step 107).

  Thereafter, the processing unit 10 determines whether there is a page (J) (step 108). If there is a page (J), the processing unit 10 returns to step 103. If there is no page (J), the value of the variable “I” is determined. Is incremented by “1” (step 109), and it is determined whether there is a distribution destination (I) (step 110). As a result, if there is a distribution destination (I), the process returns to step 102, and if there is no distribution destination (I), the process is terminated.

Here, assuming that collation management information as shown in FIG. 2 is stored, the operation of FIG. 3 will be specifically described.
In step 103, immediately after the variable “I” is set to 1 in step 101 and the variable “J” is set to 1 in step 102, the value of the flag (1, 1) is checked and is “1”. In step 104, the first page, which is page (1), is read, and in step 105, an image in which information indicating “A”, which is the distribution destination (1), is added to the read page is formed. In step 106, the image is output.

Further, in step 103 immediately after the variable “J” is rewritten to 2 in step 107, the value of the flag (1, 2) is checked and is “1”. The page is read out, and an image with information indicating “A” as the distribution destination (1) is formed on the read page in step 105, and the image is output in step 106.
Hereinafter, similarly, an image in which information indicating “A” as the distribution destination (1) is added from the third page as the page (3) to the seventh page as the page (7) is output.

Thereafter, in step 103 immediately after the variable “J” is rewritten to 8 in step 107, the value of the flag (1, 8) is checked and is “0”, so the 8th page which is page (8) The process proceeds to step 107 without being output.
Thereafter, similarly, the processing is continued until it is determined in step 108 that there is no page (J). If it is determined in step 108 that there is no page (J), the variable “I” is counted up, “B” as the distribution destination (2), “C” as the distribution destination (3), distribution destination ( The same processing is performed for “D”,.

Next, a second operation example of the processing unit 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The second operation example is an operation example in the case where information indicating a distribution destination corresponding to each output unit is displayed on a display unit provided in a stacker from which each unit is discharged. Hereinafter, the variable used to indicate the stacker is “K”, and the K-th stacker from the top in the image forming apparatus is expressed as a stacker (K).
When the operation is started, the processing unit 10 sets “1” to the variable “I” (step 151) and sets “1” to the variable “K” (step 152).
Next, the information of the distribution destination (I) is displayed on the display unit provided in the stacker (K) (step 153), and the page output process for the distribution destination (I) is performed (step 154). Further, each of the variables “I” and “K” is incremented by “1” (step 155), and it is determined whether there is a distribution destination (I) (step 156). As a result, if there is no distribution destination (I), the process is terminated. If there is a distribution destination (I), it is determined whether K exceeds the number of stackers (step 157), and if not, the process proceeds to step 153. If so, the process waits for a predetermined time (step 158), and then proceeds to step 152.

In the page output process, as shown in FIG. 5, first, a variable “J” is set to “1” (step 161). Next, the collation management information is referred to and it is determined whether or not the flag (I, J) is “1” (step 162). As a result, when the flag (I, J) is “1”, the page (J) is read (step 163), the page (J) is output (step 164), and the value of the variable “J” is set to “1”. "Is counted up (step 165). On the other hand, if the flag (I, J) is not “1”, the value of the variable “J” is incremented by “1” without outputting the page (J) (step 165).
Thereafter, the processing unit 10 determines whether or not there is a page (J) (step 166). If there is a page (J), the process returns to step 162. If there is no page (J), the process returns to the flowchart of FIG. .

Here, assuming that the collation management information as shown in FIG. 2 is stored, the operations of FIGS. 4 and 5 will be specifically described.
In step 151, immediately after the variable “I” is set to 1 in step 151 and the variable “K” is set to 1 in step 152, information indicating “A” as the distribution destination (1) is stored in the stacker (1). By the processing of FIG. 5 that is displayed on the first stacker and called in step 154, the first page that is page (1) to the seventh page that is page (7) are discharged to that stacker.

In step 153 immediately after the variables “I” and “K” are rewritten to 2 in step 155, the information indicating “B” as the distribution destination (2) is stored in the second stacker as the stacker (2). By the processing of FIG. 5 that is displayed and called in step 154, the first page as page (1) to the eighth page as page (8) are discharged to the stacker.
Similarly, after the information indicating “C” as the distribution destination (3) is displayed on the third stacker as the stacker (3), the page (1) from the first page (1) is displayed. 7) up to the seventh page is discharged.

After that, when the variables “I” and “K” are rewritten to 4 in step 155, “D” that is the distribution destination (4) exists in step 156, but the stacker (4) does not exist in step 157. become. In that case, an operator who uses the image forming apparatus waits at step 158 for a sufficient time to remove the printed matter discharged to the first to third stackers. In step 152, “1” is set to the variable “K”. In step 153, information indicating “D” as the distribution destination (4) is displayed on the first stacker that is the stacker (1). 5 called out in FIG. 5, the first page as page (1) to the seventh page as page (7) and the ninth page as page (9) are discharged to the stacker.
In the same manner, the processing is continued until it is determined in step 156 that there is no distribution destination (I).
Note that this second operation example can be modified so that information indicating the distribution destination corresponding to each output part is printed on a sheet added to each part. However, in this case, the processing content in step 153 is “output a sheet on which information of distribution destination (I) is printed”.

Thus, in this embodiment, collation management information for managing whether or not each of a plurality of pages should be distributed to each of a plurality of distribution destinations is defined, and each distribution destination is determined according to the collation management information. The output of the distribution for is made unnecessary to collect the pages to be distributed to each of a plurality of distribution destinations.
The embodiment described above is an embodiment in the case where the present invention is applied when outputting an output product constituted by bundling a plurality of pages. However, a plurality of output products are provided on one output product. It is also possible to apply the present invention when outputting an image in which the image is formed.

(Second embodiment)
The second embodiment is an embodiment in the case of outputting an advertisement (flyer) to be folded into a newspaper using the image forming apparatus described in the first embodiment.
Advertisements inserted into newspapers are a valuable information source for users, but users cannot select the type of information they want. Further, the advertisement to be inserted is a local information source, but the user cannot set the area. For example, even if a customer residing in X city wants an advertisement for a large shopping center in Y city, the Y city advertisement is not folded into the newspaper delivered in X city and the desired advertisement cannot be obtained. There was a problem that there was.
In such a case, it is possible to search for advertisements using the Web today when the Internet has become widespread. However, for that purpose, it is necessary to start up a personal computer. In the first place, newspaper insert advertisements look casually, attract customers' attention, and motivate purchases. Such a potential customer's incentive to purchase cannot be sought by Internet search or the like.

  In the present embodiment, even if an advertisement is not inserted into a newspaper delivered by a customer in his / her area, the advertisement is displayed when there is a corresponding advertisement by registering desired information in a genre. It can be folded into a newspaper delivered to the customer. Collecting printed advertisements manually in a newspaper collection place and folding them into a newspaper is very laborious and even impossible to customize for each customer. In this embodiment, this operation is simplified by using the image forming apparatus described in the first embodiment. That is, the collation management information stored in the image forming apparatus in the first embodiment is automatically created by comparing the genre desired by each customer with the advertisement genre, and the collation management information is referred to. Thus, it is possible to output an advertisement of a genre desired by each customer.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the image forming system of the present embodiment. This image forming system includes terminal devices 71 to 7n, an image forming server 80, a UI terminal 81, an image forming device 82, and a management information generating device 90.
The terminal devices 71 to 7n are, for example, personal computers, which are used by a customer who receives an insert advertisement to register its preference, or an advertiser who requests delivery of an insert advertisement registers its attribute information. is there.
The image forming server 80 is a general server computer, and receives collation management information from the management information generating apparatus 90 and controls image formation in the image forming apparatus 82.
The UI terminal 81 is a terminal provided with an operation unit for a user to input and output information. As the operation unit, for example, a touch panel display can be considered.
The image forming apparatus 82 is, for example, a printer or a copier, and performs image formation under the control of the image forming server 80.

Of the above configuration, the image forming server 80, the UI terminal 81, and the image forming apparatus 82 are installed, for example, in a newspaper collection place. When a plurality of image forming apparatuses 82 are installed in one newspaper collection / delivery place, an image forming server 80 is generally installed to control the image forming apparatuses 82. In the case where only one image forming apparatus 82 is installed at a location, a configuration in which the image forming server 80 is not installed is also conceivable.
Further, the management information generation device 90 is installed, for example, in a local newspaper collection / delivery center that supervises each newspaper collection / delivery place. Or it may be installed in the only newspaper collection and distribution center in the whole country.

Next, the contents of information stored in the management information generating apparatus 90 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of customer information stored in the management information generation apparatus 90. When the management information generating device 90 is installed in a newspaper collection / delivery center in a specific area, the customer information here is information on customers who live in that area and subscribe to this newspaper. When the generation device 90 is installed in the only newspaper collection and distribution center in the whole country, it is information on all customers who have subscribed to this newspaper.
As shown in FIG. 7, the customer information is a correspondence between a customer ID for uniquely identifying a customer, information indicating a district where the customer resides, and preference information indicating an advertisement desired by the customer. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the advertisement inserted into the newspaper delivered to each customer includes an advertisement related to the district in which the customer resides. When a genre advertisement is desired, the region corresponding to the genre of the customer is registered in the area corresponding to the genre.
For example, the customer with the customer ID “C0001” lives in the district “X”, but wishes to advertise the “large shopping center” and “apartment” in the district “Y”.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of advertiser information stored in the management information generation apparatus 90.
As shown in FIG. 8, the advertiser information includes an advertiser ID for uniquely identifying the advertiser, information indicating a district where the advertiser is operating, and attribute information of an advertisement issued by the advertiser. And the member information in the business of the advertiser. As member information, when each advertiser provides a member service, various information about the member is registered. In addition, since member information generally changes with the passage of time, it is assumed that the advertiser periodically transmits member information to the management information generation device 90.
For example, the advertiser with the advertiser ID “A0001” is a business operator who operates a large shopping center in the district “Y”. In the large shopping center, the customer with the customer ID “C0001” is a gold member, and the customer ID This indicates that a customer of “C0007” is registered as a platinum member.
Further, the advertiser with the advertiser ID “A0004” is a company that operates a rental video shop in the district “Z”, and the customer with the customer ID “C0006” has rented 60 times at this rental video shop. It is shown that.

Next, the operation of the management information generating apparatus 90 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the management information generating apparatus 90. Here, the management information generation device 90 that has received the advertisement and management information related to the advertisement (hereinafter referred to as “advertisement information”) sends an advertisement and collation to the image forming apparatus 82 installed in a newspaper collection place in a certain district. An operation when transmitting management information will be described.
Before starting the description of the operation, the contents of the advertisement information will be described. FIG. 10 shows an example of advertisement information. The advertisement information is passed as a correspondence between an advertisement No, an advertiser ID of an advertiser who requests delivery of the advertisement, and customization information that defines customization to be performed when the advertisement is output. The customization information indicates what value is set and output for which area of the corresponding advertisement when what condition is satisfied. For example, in the advertisement of the advertisement No “a03”, the area of (X ₁ , Y ₁ ) is an area describing the percentage of the point discount. If the rental is performed 100 times or more, “ If “10” is set and rental is performed 50 times or more and less than 100 times, it is defined that “5” is set in the area. In the advertisement No. “a06”, the area of (X ₂ , Y ₂ ) is an area describing the price of a predetermined product, and if it is a gold member, “10000” is set in that area. If the member is a platinum member, it is defined that “15000” is set in the area.
Regarding the advertisement information, the variable used to show the advertisement is “J”, and the Jth advertisement from the top of the advertisement information is represented by “advertisement (J)”.
An example of collation management information generated by the operation of FIG. 9 is shown in FIG. The format of the collation management information in FIG. 11 is the same as the format of the collation management information in FIG. 2 except that “customer ID” is arranged on the vertical axis and “advertising No” is arranged on the horizontal axis. However, it is different from that of FIG.

First, the management information generation apparatus 90 extracts customers who live in the district where the target image forming apparatus 82 is installed from all customer information, and follows the delivery order on the vertical axis of the collation management information in FIG. Arrange (step 201). Next, “1” is set to the variable “J” (step 202), and the district and attribute of the advertisement (J) are acquired by referring to the advertisement information in FIG. 10 and the advertiser information in FIG. Step 203).
The management information generating apparatus 90 determines whether or not the district acquired here is the same as the district where the image forming apparatus 82 is installed (step 204). As a result, when the acquired district matches the district where the image forming apparatus 82 is installed, the advertisement No. of the advertisement (J) is arranged on the horizontal axis of the collation management information in FIG. “1” is set in the flag corresponding to J) (step 205). On the other hand, if the acquired district does not match the district where the image forming apparatus 82 is installed, the advertisement No. of the advertisement (J) is arranged on the horizontal axis of the collation management information in FIG. “1” is set to the flag corresponding to the advertisement (J) of the customer whose attribute information combination matches the district / attribute combination in the preference information (step 206).

Next, the management information generating apparatus 90 determines whether or not customization information for the advertisement (J) is defined in the advertisement information (step 207). As a result, if it is defined, by comparing this with the member information defined in the advertiser information, it is determined what kind of customization should be performed on which customer's advertisement (J). The customization method is described following the flag corresponding to the customer advertisement (J) (step 208), and then the variable “J” is counted up by “1” (step 209). On the other hand, if not defined, the variable “J” is incremented by “1” as it is (step 209).
Then, it is determined whether or not there is an advertisement (J) (step 210). If there is an advertisement (J), the process returns to step 203. If there is no advertisement (J), the collation management information and the advertisement are sent to the image forming server. (Step 211).

Here, assuming that the customer information of FIG. 7 and the advertiser information of FIG. 8 are stored, the operation of FIG. 9 when the collation management information of FIG. 11 is generated from the advertisement information of FIG. 10 will be specifically described. To do. Here, it is assumed that the image forming apparatus 82 to which the collation management information is transmitted is installed in the district “X”.
First, in step 201, customers residing in the district “X” are extracted from the customer information in FIG. 7, and set on the vertical axis of the collation management information in FIG. 11 according to the delivery order. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, since customer IDs “C0001”, “C0002”, “C0003”, “C0006”, “C0007” reside in the district “X”, these customers are extracted and delivered in this order. 11, customer IDs “C0001”, “C0002”, “C0003”, “C0006”, and “C0007” are set in this order in FIG.
Next, in Step 203 immediately after “1” is set in the variable “J” in Step 202, the advertisement of the advertisement No “a01”, which is the advertisement (1), is converted into the advertiser ID “ Since it is understood that the advertiser of “A0002” is requested and the advertiser information of FIG. 8 shows that the advertiser of the advertiser ID “A0002” is operating in the district “X”. “YES” is determined, and in the collation management information of FIG. 11, “1” is set in the flag of the advertisement No “a01” for the customer IDs “C0001”, “C0002”, “C0003”, “C0006”, “C0007”. Is set. Further, since the customization information is not defined for the advertisement No “a01”, it is determined as “No” in Step 207, and the customization method is not described in the collation management information of FIG.

  Further, in Step 203 immediately after the variable “J” is rewritten to “2” in Step 209, the advertisement of the advertisement No. “a02”, which is the advertisement (2), is converted into the advertiser ID “A0003” by the advertisement information of FIG. ”And the advertiser information in FIG. 8 shows that the advertiser with the advertiser ID“ A0003 ”is operating in the district“ X ”. In the collation management information of FIG. 11, “1” is set in the flag of the advertisement No “a02” for the customer IDs “C0001”, “C0002”, “C0003”, “C0006”, “C0007”. Is done. Further, since the customization information is not defined for the advertisement No “a02”, it is determined as “No” in Step 207, and the customization method is not described in the collation management information of FIG.

Further, in Step 203 immediately after the variable “J” is rewritten to “3” in Step 209, the advertisement of “a03”, which is the advertisement (3), has the advertiser ID “A0004” based on the advertisement information of FIG. 10. Since it is understood that the request is made by the advertiser and the advertiser information of FIG. 8 shows that the advertiser with the advertiser ID “A0004” is operating in the district “Z”, “NO” in step 204. In the collation management information of FIG. 11, the customer ID “C0006” having the combination of “Z”, which is the district corresponding to the advertiser ID “A0004”, and “rental video”, which is the attribute information, as preference information. “1” is set in the flag of the advertisement No “a03” for Also, customization information is defined for the advertisement No. “a03”, the advertiser information in FIG. 8 has a description of “C0006 = 60 times”, and the customer with the customer ID “C0006” satisfies the condition 2 of the advertisement information in FIG. Therefore, information indicating that “5”, which is the value 1, is output to (X ₁ , Y ₁ ) of the advertisement of advertisement No “a03” is described following the flag “1”.
Similarly, from the advertisement No. “a04” as the advertisement (4) to the advertisement No. “a09” as the advertisement (9), customer IDs “C0001”, “C0002”, “C0003”, “C0006”, “ A flag indicating whether or not to deliver to each of “C0007” is set.

Note that the advertisement No. “a06” is delivered to the customers with customer IDs “C0001” and “C0007”, but the advertiser information in FIG. 8 has a description of “C0001 = gold” and the customer ID “C0001”. ”Satisfies the condition 1 of the advertisement information in FIG. 10, the information indicating that“ 10000 ”having the value 1 is output to (X ₂ , Y ₂ ) of the advertisement of the advertisement No“ a06 ”is flagged Describe after “1”. In addition, there is a description of "C0007 = Platinum" in the advertiser information in FIG. 8, because the customer of customer ID "C0007" satisfies the condition 2 of the advertisement information shown in FIG. 10, ad No of "a06" advertising of _{(X 2} , Y ₂ ), information for instructing to output “15000” having the value 2 is described following the flag “1”.

In accordance with the collation management information generated as described above, an advertisement to be delivered to each customer is output in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In other words, according to the first operation example, by printing the customer address in the header part of the advertisement, even if the delivery order is wrong, the customer can easily understand that. it can. Alternatively, according to the second operation example, by adding a customer address sheet to the advertisement group to be delivered to each customer, the customer can easily know that it has been delivered by mistake. In this case, the customer address sheet can also serve as an advertisement type input sheet registered by a customer who cannot register additional advertisements using the Web, or a current registration content confirmation sheet.
In this embodiment, the advertiser information in which the district, the attribute information, and the member information are associated with each other is stored separately from the advertisement information for the advertiser who requests delivery of the advertisement. It is also possible to determine whether or not each advertisement should be delivered to each customer by including the district to which the advertisement relates, attribute information, and member information, and directly comparing this with customer information.
In this embodiment, the management information generation device 90 accepts the advertisement itself and transmits it to the image forming device 82. However, the management information generation device 90 accepts only the advertisement information and displays only the collation management information as an image. The advertisement may be transmitted to the forming apparatus 82 and the advertisement itself may be transmitted to the image forming apparatus 82 by another means.

As described above, in this embodiment, just by registering preference information for each customer, collation management information for managing whether or not each of a plurality of advertisements should be distributed to each customer is generated. According to the management information, the advertisement for each customer is output, so that it is not necessary to collect the advertisements to be distributed to each customer.
The embodiment described above is an embodiment when the present invention is applied when outputting an advertisement group configured by bundling a plurality of advertisements. The present invention can also be applied when outputting a plurality of advertisements. For example, there are advertisements obtained by collecting advertisements of a plurality of companies as real estate advertisements and printed on one advertisement. Such advertisements can be created according to regional information and customer preference.

1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the collation management information in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the 1st operation example of the process part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the 2nd operation example of the process part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the 2nd operation example of the process part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the image forming system in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the customer information in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the advertiser information in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the process part in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the advertisement information in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the collation management information produced | generated in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Processing part, 20 ... Image input part, 30 ... Image output part, 40 ... Media reader, 50 ... UI part, 60 ... Memory | storage device, 71-7n ... Terminal device, 80 ... Image forming server, 81 ... UI terminal, 82: Image forming apparatus, 90: Management information generating apparatus

Claims (15)

Storage means for storing management information for managing whether to include each of a plurality of images in each of a plurality of output units;
An image forming apparatus comprising: output means for outputting the plurality of output units in accordance with the management information stored in the storage means.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs identification information of each of the plurality of output units to each image included in each of the plurality of output units.   The output means adds the identification information of each of the plurality of output units to a display unit provided in the vicinity of each discharge position of the plurality of output units, or a medium added to each of the plurality of output units. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus outputs the output to the image forming apparatus. Storage means for storing preference information of each of a plurality of customers;
Processing means for generating management information for managing whether or not a specific advertisement is delivered to each of the plurality of customers based on the preference information stored in the storage means and attribute information of the specific advertisement. A management information generation device characterized by that. The storage means further stores information on a district where each of the plurality of customers resides,
The processing means extracts a customer residing in a specific district from the plurality of customers based on the district information stored in the storage means, and the specific advertisement does not relate to the specific district 5. The management information generating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the management information stores that the specific advertisement should be delivered to a customer having preference information that matches the attribute information of the specific advertisement.   The management information generating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing unit changes the specific advertisement according to the types of the plurality of customers. An image forming system in which a management information generating device and an image forming device are connected via a communication network,
The management information generation device includes:
Management information for managing whether to output a specific image in each of a plurality of output units, first attribute information indicating the attributes of each of the plurality of output units, and a first attribute indicating the attributes of the specific image 2 is generated based on the attribute information of 2 and transmitted to the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
An image forming system, wherein the management information is received from the management information generation device, and the plurality of output units are output according to the management information.   8. The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein the management information generating device generates the management information for an output unit output from the image forming device among the plurality of output units.   The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein the management information generating apparatus changes the specific image according to a type of the plurality of output units.   8. The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein the image forming apparatus outputs the plurality of output units in a predetermined order.   8. The image forming system according to claim 7, further comprising a terminal device for registering the first or second attribute information. Generating management information for managing whether to deliver a specific advertisement to each of a plurality of customers based on preference information of each of the plurality of customers and attribute information of the specific advertisement;
Outputting a plurality of delivery units to be delivered to each of the plurality of customers in accordance with the generated management information.   13. The image forming method according to claim 12, wherein in the step of outputting the plurality of delivery units, the plurality of delivery units are outputted in the order of delivery. On the computer,
A function of acquiring first attribute information indicating each attribute of a plurality of output units;
A function of acquiring second attribute information indicating an attribute of a specific image;
A program for realizing a function of generating management information for managing whether to include a specific image in each of a plurality of output units based on the first attribute information and the second attribute information. On the computer,
The program according to claim 14, further realizing a function of changing the specific image according to a type of the plurality of output units.

Images