JP2008083984A - Mobile terminal, image processing apparatus and printing control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile terminal which easily changes a printing setting mechanism and has a high flexibility, and also to provide an image processing apparatus and a printing control program. <P>SOLUTION: The mobile terminal 10 which allows the image processing apparatus 11 to make printing comprises: a printing setting item acquisition means for acquiring a printing setting item from the image processing apparatus 11; a file information acquisition means for acquiring file information to be printed which is stored in a file storage apparatus 12; a printing setting support means for presenting printing setting items to a user to allow the user to perform printing setting; a file selection support means for presenting file information to the user to allow the user to select a file; and a printing request means for making a printing request to the image processing apparatus 11 together with information on the printing setting and file selection performed by the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal, an image processing apparatus, and a print control program, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus that prints a file stored in a file storage apparatus, a portable terminal that causes the image processing apparatus to execute printing, an image processing apparatus, and a portable The present invention relates to a print control program for controlling a terminal.

For example, a printing system that uses a portable terminal such as a cellular phone to print document data on a document server on a printing apparatus has been known (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the printing system of Cited Document 1, the user saves data on the document server using a network such as the Internet, so that the document data on the document server is printed from the portable terminal to the printing apparatus.
JP 2004-220434 A

  In the conventional printing system, the print setting can be performed only when the mobile phone accesses the printing apparatus. For this reason, the conventional printing system has a problem that the mechanism such as the print setting procedure cannot be easily changed, and the degree of freedom is low.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a portable terminal, an image processing apparatus, and a print control program that can easily change the print setting mechanism and have a high degree of freedom. .

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a portable terminal that causes an image processing apparatus to execute printing, and that is stored in a file storage device and a print setting item acquisition unit that acquires a print setting item from the image processing apparatus. A file information acquisition means for acquiring information of a file to be printed, a print setting support means for presenting the print setting items to the user to perform print settings, and presenting the information of the file to the user; The image processing apparatus includes: a file selection support unit that makes a selection; and a print request unit that makes a print request to the image processing apparatus with information on the print setting and file selection performed by a user.

  The present invention also provides an image processing apparatus for printing a file based on a print request from a mobile terminal, wherein the print request receiving means receives a print request with print setting and file selection information from the mobile terminal. A file acquisition unit that acquires a file to be printed from a file storage device based on the file selection information attached to the print request, and the print request file that is acquired from the file storage unit. And print control means for causing the printing means to print based on the print setting information attached to the printer.

  In addition, what applied the component, expression, or arbitrary combination of the component of this invention to a method, an apparatus, a system, a computer program, a recording medium, a data structure, etc. is also effective as an aspect of this invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily change the print setting mechanism, and it is possible to provide a mobile terminal, an image processing apparatus, and a print control program with a high degree of freedom.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described based on the following embodiments with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a mobile phone is used as an example of a mobile terminal, and a printer is used as an example of an image processing apparatus. In this embodiment, an example in which a document data file is used as an example of a file to be printed is shown.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention. In the printing system 1 shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone 10, a printer 11, and a file storage server 12 are connected via a network 13 such as a LAN or the Internet.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an example of the processing procedure of the printing system according to the present invention. The user who operates the mobile phone 10 proceeds to step S0 only for the first time, and issues a print setting item request from the mobile phone 10 to the printer 11. The mobile phone 10 acquires the print setting item of the printer 11 from the printer 11 as a reply. The mobile phone 10 stores the acquired print setting items in the memory 22.

  In step S <b> 1, the user makes a document list acquisition request from the mobile phone 10 to the file storage server 12. In step S <b> 2, the cellular phone 10 receives a document name and document ID (file ID) from the file storage server 12. The document name and document ID returned from the file storage server 12 are an example of file information of a document data file to be printed stored in, for example, the hard disk drive (HDD) 21 of the file storage server 12.

  The mobile phone 10 displays a later-described document selection screen using at least one of the acquired document name and document ID. The user operates the mobile phone 10 to select a document for which a print request is made from a document list included in the document selection screen.

  In step S3, the mobile phone 10 makes a print request to the printer 11 with the document ID and print setting of the document selected by the user. In step S4, the printer 11 requests the file storage server 12 for a document data file having the document ID attached to the print request. In step S5, the file storage server 12 reads the document data file corresponding to the document ID from the HDD 21. The file storage server 12 transmits a document data file corresponding to the document ID to the printer 11.

  The printer 11 acquires a document data file corresponding to the document ID as a reply from the printer 11. In step S6, the printer 11 prints the document data file acquired from the file storage server 12 with the print settings attached to the print request from the user.

  Thus, in the printing system 1 according to the present invention, the mobile phone 10 acquires print setting items from the printer 11. Since the mobile phone 10 acquires print setting items from the printer 11 and saves them in the memory 2, the mobile phone 10 can easily and freely change a mechanism such as a print setting procedure on the mobile terminal 10 side in order to make the user perform print settings. Can do.

  Next, software functions of the mobile phone 10 and the printer 11 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of the mobile phone. The mobile phone 10 is configured to include a Java (registered trademark) application 31, a Java virtual machine 32, and an OS 33.

  The Java application 31 is a program created in the Java language. The Java virtual machine 32 is an execution environment for programs created in the Java language. The OS 33 is software that manages the entire mobile phone 10.

  The Java application 31 of the mobile phone 10 is configured to have a software function as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the software function of the Java application that the mobile phone has.

  The Java application 31 has an infrared processing function 40, a transmission / reception data analysis processing function 41, and a mobile phone control function 42. The infrared processing function 40 has a data transmission function 43 and a data reception function 44. The mobile phone control function 42 includes a print setting support function 45, a file selection support function 46, a printer selection support function 47, and a print request function 48. The various software functions shown in FIG. 4 will be described later.

  Next, as an example of the printer 11, a software configuration of the multifunction peripheral 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the multifunction machine. The MFP 100 shown in FIG. 5 includes various hardware 111, various software 112, and an activation unit 113.

  As the hardware 111 of the multifunction peripheral 100, an imaging unit 121, a printing unit 122, and other hardware 123 exist. The imaging unit 121 is hardware for reading an image (image data) from a document. The printing unit 122 is hardware for printing an image (image data) on a sheet.

  Various software 131 and various platforms 132 exist as the software 112 of the MFP 100. These programs are executed in parallel on a process basis by an OS (operating system) such as UNIX (registered trademark).

  The application 131 includes a copy application 141 that is a copy application, a printer application 142 that is a printer application, a scanner application 143 that is a scanner application, a facsimile application 144 that is a facsimile application, and a USB control application. There are a USB control application 145 and a data reception application 146. Details of the data reception application 146 will be described later.

  The platform 132 includes various control services 151, a system resource manager 152, and various handlers 153. The control service 151 includes a network control service (NCS) 161, a facsimile control service (FCS) 162, a delivery control service (DCS) 163, an engine control service (ECS) 164, a memory control service (MCS) 165, and an operation panel control service. There are (OCS) 166, a certification control service (CCS) 167, a user directory control service (UCS) 168, and a system control service (SCS) 169. As the handler 153, there are a facsimile control unit handler (FCUH) 171 and an image memory handler (IMH) 172.

  The process of the NCS 161 mediates network communication. The FCS 162 process provides a facsimile API. The process of the DCS 163 performs control related to the distribution processing of the stored document. The process of the ECS 164 performs control related to the imaging unit 121 and the printing unit 122. The process of the MCS 165 controls the memory and hard disk drive. The process of the OCS 166 performs control related to the operation panel. The process of the CCS 167 performs control related to authentication processing and billing processing. The process of the UCS 168 performs control related to management of user information. The process of the SCS 169 performs control related to system management.

  The activation unit 113 is executed first when the multifunction device 100 is powered on. As a result, an OS such as UNIX (registered trademark) is activated, and the application 131 and the platform 132 are activated. These programs are stored in the hard disk drive or the memory card, and are reproduced from the hard disk drive or the memory card and activated in the memory.

  The data reception application 146 of FIG. 5 is configured to have a software function as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of software functions of the data reception application included in the multifunction peripheral.

  The data reception application 146 has an infrared processing function 60, a network processing function 61, a transmission / reception data analysis processing function 62, and a printer control function 63. The infrared processing function 60 has a data transmission function 64 and a data reception function 65. The printer control function 63 has a document setting function 68, a print setting function 69, and a print execution function 70. The description of the various software functions shown in FIG. 6 will be described later.

  Next, screen transition of the mobile phone 10 will be described. FIG. 7 is a screen transition diagram of an example of a mobile phone. First, it is assumed that a main screen 200 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 10.

  The main screen 200 includes a device name input field 201 and a document name input field 202. The user can select a device by inputting the device name in the device name input field 201. Further, the user can select a document by inputting a document name in the document name input field 202.

  The user presses a button 203 on the main screen 200 to display the device selection screen 210 on the mobile phone 10. In addition, the user presses the button 204 on the main screen 200 to display the document selection screen 230 on the mobile phone 10. In addition, the user presses a button 205 on the main screen 200 to display the print setting screen 240 on the mobile phone 10. Further, the user can send a print request message including the document ID and print settings to the printer 11 by pressing a button 206 on the main screen 200. Note that while the print request message including the document ID and print settings is being transmitted to the printer 11, a transmission screen 250 is displayed on the mobile phone 10.

  A device list 211 is displayed on the device selection screen 210. The user can select a device by designating a device in the device list 211 and then pressing a button 214 on the device selection screen 210. The user can delete a device from the device list 211 by designating a device in the device list 211 and then pressing a button 213 on the device selection screen 210.

  The user presses a button 212 on the device selection screen 210 to display the device registration screen 220 on the mobile phone 10. The device registration screen 220 includes a device name input field 221 and a print setting information display field 223. The user can display the print setting information acquired from the device in the print setting information display column 223 by inputting the device name in the device name input column 221 and pressing the button 222 on the device registration screen 220. . In addition, the user can register a device by pressing a button 224 on the device registration screen 220. The registered device name is added to the device list 211 on the device selection screen 210.

  A document list 231 is displayed on the document selection screen 230. The user can select a document by specifying a document in the document list 231 and then pressing a button 232 on the document selection screen 230. The document list 231 is a list of documents stored in the HDD 21 of the file storage server 12.

  The print setting screen 240 displays print setting item settings and allows the print setting item settings to be changed. After changing the setting of the print setting item, the user can press the button 241 on the print setting screen 240 to perform the print setting.

  Next, operation processing of the printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing in detail an example of operation processing of the printing system according to the present invention. Note that the operation processing of the mobile phone 10 and the printer 11 is executed and processed using a main memory such as a RAM as a work area according to a program stored in a ROM, a hard disk device or the like, unless otherwise specified.

  The various processing blocks described in the sequence diagram of FIG. 8 correspond to the software configuration of FIG. 4 or FIG. 6 as follows. The main screen control unit 71 corresponds to the print request unit 48. The file selection unit 72 corresponds to the file selection support function 46. The device selection unit 73 and the device registration unit 74 correspond to the printer selection support function 47. The print setting unit 75 corresponds to the print setting support function 45. The infrared communication unit 76 corresponds to the infrared processing function 40.

  The infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 and the infrared data analysis unit 78 correspond to the infrared processing function 60. The data analysis unit 79 and the printer control unit 81 correspond to the printer control function 63. The network communication unit 80 corresponds to the network processing function 61.

  First, it is assumed that the main screen 200 is displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 10. When the user presses the button 204 on the main screen 200, the main screen control unit 71 proceeds to step S11 and makes a print file selection request to the file selection unit 72. When there is a print file selection request, the file selection unit 72 proceeds to step S12, and transmits a document list request message in the data format shown in FIG. 9A to the file storage server 12. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a communication data format used in the printing system according to the present invention. FIG. 9 shows only the data part.

  Upon receiving the document list request message, the file storage server 12 proceeds to step S13, and the number of documents, the document name, and the document ID of the document data file to be printed stored in the HDD 21 are shown in the data format shown in FIG. A reply is sent to the file selection unit 72. In step S 14, the file selection unit 72 creates a document selection screen 230 using the received document name or document ID, and displays it on the mobile phone 10. The user selects a document on the document selection screen 230. When a document is selected, the process proceeds to step S15, and the file selection unit 72 transmits the selected document ID to the main screen control unit 71.

  When the user presses the button 203 on the main screen 200, the main screen control unit 71 proceeds to step S16 and makes a device selection request to the device selection unit 73. The device selection unit 73 displays a device selection screen 210 on the mobile phone 10. When the user presses the button 212 on the device selection screen 210, the device selection unit 73 proceeds to step S17 and makes a device registration request to the device registration unit 74. The device registration unit 74 displays a device registration screen 220 on the mobile phone 10.

  When the user presses the button 222 on the device registration screen 220, the device registration unit 74 proceeds to step S18 and makes a default setting information acquisition request to the infrared communication unit 76. In step S 19, the infrared communication unit 76 transmits a default setting information acquisition request to the infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 of the printer 11 by infrared transmission.

  In step S20, the infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 requests the printer control unit 81 to obtain default print setting information. In step S 21, the printer control unit 81 transmits default print setting information to the infrared data transmission / reception unit 77. The infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 transmits default print setting information to the infrared communication unit 76 of the mobile phone 10. In step S 23, the infrared communication unit 76 transmits default print setting information to the device registration unit 74.

  The device registration unit 74 displays the received default print setting information in the print setting information display field 223 of the device registration screen 220. After confirming the default print setting information displayed in the print setting information display field 223 of the device registration screen 220, when the user presses the button 224 on the device registration screen 220, the device registration unit 74 proceeds to step S24 and selects the device. A device list update request is sent to the unit 73.

  In step S25, the device selection unit 73 displays the updated device selection screen 210 on the mobile phone 10. When the user designates a device in the device list 211 on the device selection screen 210 and presses the button 214 on the device selection screen 210, the device selection unit 73 proceeds to step S26 and sets the device ID of the selected device to the main screen control unit. To 71.

  When the user presses the button 205 on the main screen 200, the main screen control unit 71 proceeds to step S27, and makes a print setting request to the print setting unit 75 by specifying a device ID. In step S28, the print setting unit 75 reads setting information corresponding to the device ID from the memory. In step S29, the print setting unit 75 displays a print setting screen 240 on the mobile phone 10.

  The user performs print settings for each print setting item on the print setting screen 240. When the user presses the button 241 on the print setting screen 240, the print setting unit 75 proceeds to step S30, and saves the setting contents set on the print setting screen 240 in the memory. That is, the user can make print settings on the print setting screen 240.

  In step S31, the print setting unit 75 transmits the setting contents set by the user to the main screen control unit 71 as setting information. After the user selects a device, selects a document, and prints, when the button 206 on the main screen 200 is pressed, the main screen control unit 71 proceeds to step S32 and sets the document ID and setting selected by the user. A print request message of the data type shown in FIG. 9C including the information is transmitted to the infrared communication unit 76. Note that after the button 206 on the main screen 200 is pressed, a transmission screen 250 is displayed on the mobile phone 10.

  In step S 33, the infrared communication unit 76 transmits a print request message of the data type shown in FIG. 9C including the document ID selected by the user and the setting information to the infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 of the printer 11. Further, when the transmission of the print request message is completed, the infrared communication unit 76 proceeds to step S34 and returns a message to that effect to the main screen control unit 71. When receiving the reply, the main screen control unit 71 ends the display of the transmission screen 250.

  When the print request message is received, the infrared data transmission / reception unit 77 proceeds to step S35 and requests the infrared data analysis unit 78 to analyze the infrared data. In step S36, the infrared data analysis unit 78 analyzes the infrared data and extracts a print request message. In step S 37, the infrared data analysis unit 78 transmits the document ID and setting information included in the print request message to the data analysis unit 79.

  In step S 38, the data analysis unit 79 transmits a document data request message of a data type as shown in FIG. 9D including the document ID to the file storage server 12 via the network communication unit 80. Then, the file storage server 12 reads out the document data corresponding to the document ID included in the document data request message.

  In step S 40, the file storage server 12 transmits the read document data to the network communication unit 80 in the data format shown in FIG. 9E, the document data acquisition result, the document data size, the document data name, and the document data. In step S 41, the network communication unit 80 transmits document data and print settings to the printer control unit 81. In step S42, the printer control unit 81 can print document data based on the received print settings. Note that the mobile phone 10 makes a print setting item request with a data type as shown in FIG. 9F, and receives a reply of the print setting item with a data type as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing infrared data analysis and data analysis processing performed by the printer. In step S100, the infrared data analysis unit 78 receives infrared data. In step S101, if the data analysis unit 79 determines that no data has been received, the process ends. If it is determined that data is received, the data analysis unit 79 proceeds from step S101 to step S102, and performs data analysis.

  In step S103, the data analysis unit 79 determines whether the print request message is correct. If it is determined that the print request message is not correct, the process ends. If it is determined that the print request message is correct, the data analysis unit 79 acquires the document ID (S104) and the print setting (S105) from the print request message.

  The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

It is a block diagram of one Example of the printing system by this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows roughly an example of the process sequence of the printing system by this invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of a mobile phone. It is a block diagram showing an example of the software function of the Java application which a mobile telephone has. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a multifunction peripheral. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software function of a data reception application included in a multifunction peripheral. FIG. It is a screen transition diagram of an example of a mobile phone. It is a sequence diagram showing in detail an example of operation processing of the printing system according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the communication data format utilized with the printing system by this invention. 5 is a flowchart showing infrared data analysis and data analysis processing performed by a printer.

Explanation of symbols

10 Cellular Phone 11 Printer 12 File Storage Server 13 Network 21 Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
22 Memory 31 Java Application 32 Java Virtual Machine 33 OS
31 Java application 40 Infrared processing function 41 Transmission / reception data analysis processing 42 Mobile phone control function 60 Infrared processing function 61 Network processing function 62 Transmission / reception data analysis processing function 63 Printer control function 71 Main screen control unit 72 File selection unit 73 Device selection unit 74 Device Registration unit 75 Print setting unit 76 Infrared communication unit 77 Infrared data transmission / reception unit 78 Infrared data analysis unit 79 Data analysis unit 80 Network communication unit 81 Printer control unit 146 Data reception application

Claims (8)

A portable terminal that causes an image processing apparatus to execute printing,
Print setting item acquisition means for acquiring print setting items from the image processing apparatus;
File information acquisition means for acquiring information of a file to be printed stored in the file storage device;
Print setting support means for presenting the print setting items to the user and causing the user to perform print settings;
File selection support means for presenting the file information to the user and allowing the user to select a file;
A portable terminal comprising: a print request unit configured to make a print request to the image processing apparatus with information on the print setting and file selection performed by a user.   2. The portable terminal according to claim 1, further comprising image processing apparatus selection support means for presenting information of one or more of the image processing apparatuses to a user and allowing selection of the image processing apparatus.   3. The print setting support means displays the print setting items corresponding to the image processing apparatus selected by the user by the image processing apparatus selection support means on a screen to perform print settings. The portable terminal described. An image processing apparatus that prints a file based on a print request from a mobile terminal,
Print request receiving means for receiving a print request with print setting and file selection information from the portable terminal;
File acquisition means for acquiring a file to be printed from a file storage device based on the information of the file selection attached to the print request;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a print control unit that causes the printing unit to print the file to be printed acquired from the file storage unit based on the print setting information attached to the print request.   An analysis processing unit that analyzes the print request with the print setting and file selection information received from the portable terminal and extracts the print setting information and the file selection information separately is further provided. Item 5. The image processing apparatus according to Item 4.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a print setting item transmission unit configured to transmit a print setting item of the own device to the portable terminal when receiving a print setting item transmission request from the portable terminal. A print control program for a mobile terminal that causes an image processing apparatus to execute printing,
A portable terminal including a storage device and an arithmetic processing unit;
Print setting item acquisition means for acquiring print setting items from the image processing apparatus;
File information acquisition means for acquiring information of a file to be printed stored in the file storage device;
Print setting support means for presenting the print setting items to the user and causing the user to perform print settings;
File selection support means for presenting the file information to the user and allowing the user to select a file;
A print control program for causing the image processing apparatus to function as a print request unit that makes a print request, with information on the print setting and file selection performed by the user. A print control program for an image processing apparatus that prints a file based on a print request from a portable terminal,
An image processing device including a storage device and an arithmetic processing device,
Print request receiving means for receiving a print request with print setting and file selection information from the portable terminal;
File acquisition means for acquiring a file to be printed from a file storage device based on the information of the file selection attached to the print request;
A print control program for causing a print unit to print the file to be printed acquired from the file storage unit based on the print setting information attached to the print request.

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