JP2007261191A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for enabling a printer that is not in Internet connection environment to easily perform online purchasing of an image-forming-medium cartridge. <P>SOLUTION: The printer that performs printing using an image-forming medium held in a cartridge comprises a display means for displaying images, a detecting means for detecting a fact that the residual amount of the image-forming medium is at a predetermined amount or less, and a control means for displaying a code indicating on the display means the information that specifies the cartridge when the detecting means detects the fact. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing using a cartridge containing an image forming medium.

  In order to allow a user to easily purchase consumables in a printing apparatus such as a printer, for example, an ink cartridge, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 discloses that when the ink remaining in an ink cartridge decreases in a printer connectable to the Internet. A technique for displaying a screen prompting the purchase of an ink cartridge and enabling access to a web page on which an online purchase of the ink cartridge can be accessed from this screen is disclosed.

JP 2002-123384 A

  In recent years, so-called stand-alone printers that have a memory card reading function and can be printed without using a host computer so that images taken with a digital camera can be easily printed have become widespread.

  Some stand-alone printers are miniaturized so that they can be easily carried, or have a minimum necessary function with an emphasis on simple operability.

  In such a printer, the environment for connecting to the Internet is not always well prepared, and there may be a situation where the technique described in Patent Document 1 cannot be applied.

  An object of the present invention is to enable easy online purchase of an image forming medium cartridge in a printing apparatus that is not connected to the Internet.

In order to solve the above problems, a printing apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is provided.
A printing apparatus that performs printing using an image forming medium contained in a cartridge,
Display means for displaying an image;
Detecting means for detecting that the remaining amount of the image forming medium is a predetermined amount or less;
And a control means for displaying a code indicating information for identifying the cartridge on the display means when the detection means detects.

  The URL of a website where cartridges can be purchased is recorded on a mobile phone having a code reading function, and the code indicated by the printing apparatus is read by the mobile phone, so that the cartridge indicated by the code can be purchased. Easy access. As a result, the online purchase of the image forming medium cartridge can be easily performed in a printing apparatus that is not connected to the Internet.

  Here, the code may be a two-dimensional code.

In the case of providing a plurality of the cartridges,
The detection means detects that the remaining amount of the image forming medium is a predetermined amount or less for each cartridge,
The code desirably indicates information for identifying each cartridge relating to the image forming medium whose remaining amount is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. This makes it possible to easily order cartridges that need to be replaced.

  Further, when the detecting means detects, the control means displays on the display means that the remaining amount of the image forming medium in the cartridge has been reduced, and when the cartridge purchase instruction is received from the user, the code is displayed. You may make it display on the said display means. This is because the user may not want to purchase.

  In addition, when the control unit receives a predetermined instruction from the user, the control unit displays a code indicating information for specifying the printing apparatus on the display unit regardless of whether the detection unit is detected. Good. As a result, the user can easily order optional supplies and consumables at an arbitrary timing.

  The code may further include information for specifying a manufacturing number of the printing apparatus. As a result, when user management is performed on the website side, the user can be specified.

  The present invention can be applied particularly effectively to a printing apparatus having no Internet connection function.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a main hardware configuration of the printer 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment. The printer 100 functioning as a printing apparatus is a stand-alone type that can print an image read from the memory card 200 without using a host computer.

  The printer 100 can be, for example, an inkjet color printer. The ink jet type color printer includes one or a plurality of ink cartridges 21a containing ink as an image forming medium, and performs printing by spraying the ink from a print head onto a print medium such as a recording sheet.

  There are two types of ink cartridges: an integrated type in which a plurality of colors of ink are contained in one casing, and a separate type in which the casing is divided for each ink color. Can be applied. The present invention can also be applied to consumables using image forming media other than ink, such as toner cartridges in laser printers, ink ribbons in thermal transfer and sublimation printers, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, for the sake of convenience, an integrated ink cartridge 21a in which a plurality of colors of ink are accommodated in one housing is used. However, as described above, a separate ink cartridge may be used. The case where a separate ink cartridge is used will be described as appropriate.

  As shown in the figure, the printer 100 includes a controller 10, a print engine 20, an operation panel 30, a display device 40, and a media access device 50. These are supplied with power from a power source (not shown) and perform their respective operations.

  The controller 10 is a board for controlling various processes in the printer 100, and includes a CPU 11 that executes a program, an SDRAM 12 that is a volatile memory, a memory control device 13 that controls reading and writing to the SDRAM 12, and image data to be printed. Input / output control for controlling the access to the ROM 15 and the ROM 15 as well as the input / output to the operation panel 30 and the like, which are non-volatile memories storing the image processing device 14 for performing image processing, the program, the display data for the display device 40, etc. The device 16 and the like are mounted.

  The print engine 20 performs a printing process based on the image data under the control of the controller 10. The print engine 20 includes a printing mechanism 21 and a paper supply / discharge mechanism 22 that supplies and discharges printing paper.

  The printing mechanism 21 includes a carriage on which the ink cartridge 21a is mounted, a carriage driving mechanism that drives the carriage, and the like. The carriage is provided with a print head corresponding to the ink color, and forms an image by ejecting ink supplied from the ink cartridge 21a onto the printing paper.

  The ink cartridge 21a includes a storage element (not shown). The storage element stores information indicating the remaining amount of ink stored in the ink cartridge 21a. The remaining amount of ink is stored for each color, but the remaining amount may be stored for the ink color with the smallest remaining amount.

  The connection terminal of the storage element is exposed, and when the ink cartridge 21a is attached to the printer 100, information such as the remaining amount of ink can be exchanged between the ink cartridge 21a and the printer 100. Yes. The memory element can be constituted by, for example, an EEPROM including a memory cell, a read / write controller, an address counter, and the like. The communication between the storage element and the printer 100 may employ a non-contact wireless method.

  The operation panel 30 includes a plurality of operation buttons and receives instructions from the user. The display device 40 can be composed of, for example, a color liquid crystal display device, and displays an operation menu, image data, and the like. Further, as a feature of the present embodiment, the display device 40 displays information related to the purchase of the ink cartridge. The operation panel 30 and the display device 40 may be an integrated display panel.

  The media access device 50 performs processing for reading image data and the like from a portable storage device such as the memory card 200. The memory card 200 according to various standards has been put into practical use, but any standard memory card may be used.

  With these configurations, the printer 100 functioning as a stand-alone printing apparatus can read image data from the media access apparatus 50, perform image processing by the controller 10, and perform printing by the print engine 20. The printing conditions and the like at this time can be received via the operation panel 30. The image data read from the media access device 50 can be confirmed on the display device 40.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a characteristic functional configuration of the present embodiment configured in the printer 100. In the present embodiment, the printer 100 includes a user interface unit 110, a display unit 120, a remaining ink management unit 130, a code information management unit 140, and an operation reception unit 150. Note that description of the original functional unit of the printer 100 that performs printing processing and the like is omitted.

  The remaining ink management unit 130 monitors the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 21a and detects when the remaining amount of ink is below a predetermined amount. Here, the predetermined amount is an amount corresponding to a state in which the remaining ink is low but printing is still possible.

  The remaining ink level can be determined using, for example, a counter value proportional to the ink ejection amount. Further, when the integrated ink cartridge 21a is used as in the present embodiment, if the remaining amount is below a predetermined amount even for one color, it is detected. When a separate ink cartridge is used, the remaining amount is determined for each color, and an ink color with a small remaining amount is specified and detected.

  The display unit 120 includes the display device 40 and the like, and displays an operation menu, image data, and the like. The operation reception unit 150 includes the operation panel 30 and the like, and performs processing for receiving an instruction from the user.

  When the remaining amount management unit 130 detects that the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 21a is lower than the predetermined amount, the user interface unit 110 indicates that the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge has decreased to 120 on the display unit. Is displayed. Further, if necessary, information on the purchase of the ink cartridge is displayed on the display unit 120.

  The code information management unit 140 generates data for displaying information related to the purchase of the ink cartridge, specifically, image data of a two-dimensional code. Note that image data of a two-dimensional code may be stored in advance and read out.

  However, the code handled by the code information management unit 140 is not limited to a two-dimensional code. For example, a one-dimensional code or other codes may be used.

  Next, the processing of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the ink remaining amount management unit 130 determines whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 21a is equal to or less than a predetermined amount when the printer 100 is started, when printing is performed, or the like. Is determined (S101).

  If the remaining amount of ink is low (S101: Y), the user interface unit 110 displays on the display unit 120 that the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge has decreased, and the ink cartridge is replaced. Is notified to the user (S102).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen 40a displayed on the display unit 120 (display device 40) at this time. In the example of this figure, the message “The ink is almost exhausted. It is recommended to prepare a replacement ink cartridge.” Is displayed to prompt the user to prepare a replacement ink cartridge.

  In the present embodiment, “Yes: OK” when ordering an ink cartridge or “No: Return” when ordering an ink cartridge is further displayed along with a message “Ink cartridge can be ordered from a mobile phone. A guide for receiving the instruction is displayed on the display unit 120 (display device 40).

  The user can instruct either “Yes: OK” or “No: Return” by operating the operation reception unit 150 (operation panel 30) on the screen 40a.

  When the user interface unit 110 receives a “No: Return” instruction from the user, that is, an instruction not to place an order (S103: N), the user interface unit 110 clears the screen 40a and ends the process.

  On the other hand, when an instruction “Yes: OK”, that is, an instruction to order is received from the user (S103: Y), a two-dimensional code display screen 40b is displayed on the display unit 120 (display device 40) as shown in FIG. To display.

  In the present embodiment, the two-dimensional code is obtained by coding information related to the purchase of the ink cartridge. Specifically, information for specifying the ink cartridge that needs to be replaced, such as model number information or product code, etc. Is included.

  In other words, in this embodiment, the printer 100 does not directly access a Web page for purchasing an ink cartridge, but encodes and displays information for specifying an ink cartridge that needs to be replaced. Here, as the two-dimensional code, various formats have been proposed with the QR code as a representative. However, any format may be used in the present invention. For example, a character string, a color pattern, etc. can also be used as a two-dimensional code. In the case of using a one-dimensional code, for example, a barcode can be used.

  A user reads this code with a portable communication terminal device storing a program (script) provided by the manufacturer of the printer 100, for example, a mobile phone, and accesses a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) website specified by the program. can do. The program is described so as to designate the URL of a website where the ink cartridge indicated by the read two-dimensional code can be purchased, so that even if the printer 100 itself cannot be connected to the Internet, the user can Online ordering of ink cartridges can be performed easily.

  In recent years, many mobile phones have a function of downloading and executing a program, accessing the Internet, and reading a two-dimensional code as standard, so the above processing is performed using a general-purpose mobile phone. be able to. Note that the functions of the mobile phone realized by the program (script) will be described later.

  If separate ink cartridges are used, the two-dimensional code may include the model numbers and the like of all ink cartridges whose remaining amount is low.

  When information such as the model numbers of a plurality of ink cartridges is included in this way, the two-dimensional code to be displayed may store image data in the ROM 15 or the like for combinations of the model numbers of all ink cartridges in advance. The image data may be created each time according to the two-dimensional code format.

  FIG. 5A is a flowchart of a two-dimensional code display process when image data is stored in advance. That is, the model number of the ink cartridge with a small remaining amount is specified (S201), and image data corresponding to the combination of the model number of the ink cartridge is acquired from the ROM 15 (S202). Then, the acquired image data is displayed on the display unit 120 (display device 40) (S203).

  On the other hand, FIG. 5B is a flowchart of a two-dimensional code display process when image data is created each time. That is, the model number of the ink cartridge with a small remaining amount is specified (S301), and image data corresponding to the combination is created in accordance with the two-dimensional code format (S302). Then, the created image data is displayed on the display unit 120 (display device 40) (S303).

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied. In this embodiment, the two-dimensional code displayed by the printer 100 is read by a mobile phone 300 having a two-dimensional code reading function. Of course, it is not limited to the mobile phone, and other information electronic devices having a two-dimensional code reading function can be used.

  In this embodiment, the mobile phone 300 has a Web site access function, a program download function, and a program execution function in addition to the two-dimensional code reading function. As described above, since a recent mobile phone has these functions as a standard, a general-purpose mobile phone can be used in this embodiment.

  The user uses the mobile phone 300 to access the program download server 700 and downloads a program (script) provided by the program download server in advance. However, since it is sufficient that the program is installed in the mobile phone 300, the user does not necessarily have to download it. In addition, it is desirable for the user to download the latest program as necessary.

  The programming language can be, for example, a JAVA script, but is not limited to this, and various languages can be used.

  By executing this program, a consumable item specifying unit 310, a purchaseable URL table 320, and a URL specifying unit 330 are virtually configured in the mobile phone 300 as shown in FIG.

  The consumable item specifying unit 310 interprets the two-dimensional code read by the two-dimensional code reading function of the mobile phone 300 and performs processing for specifying an ink cartridge to be purchased. When the two-dimensional code indicates information for specifying a plurality of ink cartridges, each ink cartridge is handled as a purchase target.

  The purchaseable URL table 320 is a table in which a model number of an ink cartridge and a website that can purchase the ink cartridge are associated with each other.

  The URL specifying unit 330 performs processing for specifying the URL of a Web site where the ink cartridge specified by the consumable item specifying unit 310 can be purchased with reference to the purchaseable URL table 320.

  In this embodiment, the user reads the two-dimensional code displayed by the printer 100 with the mobile phone 300 having a two-dimensional code reading function. The mobile phone 300 that has read the two-dimensional code specifies the model number of the ink cartridge to be purchased because the remaining ink is low. Then, it connects to the Internet 500 via the relay device 400 and accesses the Web site where the ink cartridge can be purchased, that is, the store server device 600 indicated by the URL specified by the URL specifying unit 330.

  The dealer server device 600 provides a web page for purchasing ink cartridges, and the user of the printer 100 can easily purchase an ink cartridge with a small remaining amount on the web page for purchasing ink.

  The mobile phone 300 can include information for specifying an ink cartridge to be purchased as a URL parameter. The store server apparatus 600 interprets this parameter and causes the user to specify the required ink by purchasing the cartridge to be purchased specified by the parameter in the initial state on the ink purchase Web page. The cartridge can be purchased more easily.

  The two-dimensional code is not limited to the case where the ink remaining amount is low, and may be displayed based on an instruction from the user, for example. In this case, a two-dimensional code for specifying optional supplies, consumables, etc. other than the ink cartridge may be displayed. However, it is possible to use information for specifying the model of the printer 100 instead of specifically specifying the optional supplies.

  Also at this time, the URL of the Web page where the optional goods or the like can be purchased corresponding to the optional goods or the model of the printer 100 is recorded in the purchaseable URL table 320, so that the optional goods that the user desires to purchase, It becomes possible to directly access a web page where consumables can be purchased.

  Further, in the store server apparatus 600, when the user registration such as the product serial number, the user name, and the address is registered, information indicating the printer 100 serial number may be included in the two-dimensional code. Good. By doing so, the dealer server device 600 can specify the accessing user, so that it is possible to save the user from entering the mailing address of the ink cartridge on the Web page. .

  In addition, payment for consumables such as ink cartridges may be paid using the payment function of the mobile phone.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a printer according to the present exemplary embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a printer according to the present exemplary embodiment. The flowchart explaining the process of a present Example. The figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on a display apparatus. The flowchart explaining the process at the time of displaying a two-dimensional code. The block diagram which shows an example of the whole structure of the system to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Controller, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... SDRAM, 13 ... Memory control apparatus, 14 ... Image processing apparatus, 15 ... ROM, 16 ... Input / output control apparatus, 20 ... Print engine, 21 ... Printing mechanism, 21a ... Ink cartridge, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 ... Feed / discharge mechanism, 30 ... Operation panel, 40 ... Display device, 50 ... Media access device, 100 ... Printer, 110 ... User interface part, 120 ... Display part, 130 ... Ink remaining amount management part, 140 ... Code information Management unit 150 ... Operation receiving unit 200 ... Memory card 300 ... Mobile phone 310 ... Consumables specifying unit 320 ... Purchaseable URL table 330 ... URL specifying unit 400 ... Relay device 500 ... Internet 600 ... Dealer server device, 700 ... program download server

Claims (7)

A printing apparatus that performs printing using an image forming medium contained in a cartridge,
Display means for displaying an image;
Detecting means for detecting that the remaining amount of the image forming medium is a predetermined amount or less;
And a control means for displaying a code indicating information for identifying the cartridge on the display means when the detection means detects the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The printing apparatus, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
A plurality of the cartridges are provided,
The detection means detects that the remaining amount of the image forming medium is a predetermined amount or less for each cartridge,
The printing apparatus is characterized in that the code indicates information for identifying each cartridge relating to an image forming medium whose remaining amount is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
When the detection means detects, the control means displays on the display means that the remaining amount of the image forming medium of the cartridge has been reduced, and the code is displayed when a cartridge purchase instruction is received from a user. A printing apparatus characterized by displaying on a means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
When the control unit receives a predetermined instruction from a user, the control unit displays a code indicating information for specifying a printing device on the display unit regardless of whether the detection unit is detected. apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The printing apparatus, wherein the code further indicates information for specifying a manufacturing number of the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
A printing apparatus characterized by not having an Internet connection function.

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