JP2008112327A - Information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the level of the transmission of information provided by an information provider to a user. <P>SOLUTION: In a server 1, a print information storage part 13 stores print information including user ID and document data, and a provision information storage part 14 preliminarily stores the user ID and provision information provided to the user by associating them with each other. In the server 1, when the input of the user ID is accepted by an operation terminal 3, a print information specification part 18 specifies print information corresponding to the user ID, and transmits it to the operation terminal 3, and a provision information specification part 19 specifies the corresponding provision information, and transmits it as print information to the operation terminal 3. In the operation terminal 3, a print start instruction part 34 accepts the start instruction of the print of the print information (provision information) by displaying those pieces of information as a list so that the information can be selected, and an output part 35 outputs the selected print information (provision information) to a printer 4, and makes the printer 4 print the print information so that it is possible to print the provision information together with the printed matter of the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for printing a document based on a print instruction by a user, and relates to a technique for providing information to the user when the document is printed.

An electronic document created using a computer is printed on a medium such as paper and used for work by a user.
In recent years, an on-demand printing system has been considered in which a user can select and print his / her own print job at any time on the printer side.

  The on-demand printing system, for example, temporarily holds a print job based on a document print instruction by a user on a server, and an operation terminal provided in a printer that actually performs printing is input to the terminal by the user. A print job corresponding to the ID is acquired from the server, displayed in a selectable list, and in response to receiving an instruction from the user to start printing of the selected print job, the printer prints a document based on the print job. Print.

  As described above, according to the on-demand printing system, since a print job can be selected and printed at any time on the printer side, it is possible to cancel printing of a document that has been instructed to be printed or to change the printing order. In addition, since printing is performed in response to a print start instruction on the printer side, it is possible to quickly acquire its own printed material and prevent it from being taken away by others before acquiring the printed material. There is an advantage that it can be reduced.

  Here, as an invention relating to printing of a document, when printing a document designated as a print target by a user and an advertisement such as a sponsor on the same medium, a part of the print area of the advertisement or an area adjacent to the area is printed. In addition, an invention is disclosed in which waste of a print medium is suppressed by printing a test pattern for detecting a recording quality defect (see Reference 1). In the present invention, a change is made to the self-print contents.

In addition, a list of a plurality of print data held in the storage means is returned in response to an inquiry from the host, and print data corresponding to the print instruction from the host is printed, so that only necessary print data is obtained. Has been disclosed (see Reference 2). In the present invention, the relationship between the user and the list of print data to be returned is not considered.
JP 2004-106415 A JP 2004-74499 A

Conventionally, in order for an information provider to provide information to each user, for example, the information is disclosed on a Web site or transmitted to each user by e-mail.
However, the information provided by the above method is less likely to remain in the user's consciousness unless the content attracts the user's attention, and is easily forgotten because the information cannot be viewed while the user is away from the computer. It was hard to say that information was conveyed as intended.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and an object thereof is to increase the degree of transmission of information provided by an information provider to a user.

  The present invention provides an information providing system in which a printing apparatus prints a document based on print information including identification information of a user who has instructed printing of the document and information on the document, an information providing apparatus constituting the information providing system, The present invention is realized as a program for configuring the information providing apparatus by a computer and a method executed by the information providing system.

  The information providing system of the present invention includes provided information holding means, provided information specifying means, and provided information output means. The providing information holding unit holds the user identification information and the providing information to be provided to the user in association in advance, and the providing information specifying unit provides the providing information associated with the user identification information included in the print information. The specified information is specified with reference to the information holding means, and the provided information output means causes the printing apparatus to output and print the specified provided information.

  That is, according to a user's instruction to print a document, provision information set in advance to be provided to the user is printed together with the printing of the document. The printed material is easy to call the user's attention and can be freely carried and viewed at a place desired by the user. Therefore, the provided information can be strongly conscious of the user by the printed material. .

  The provided information is information prepared to be provided to each user. For example, various information such as advertisements according to each user's hobbies / preferences, information on the course for a user who has taken a course, and the like. Information can be used. The provision information only needs to be set so that the user of the provision destination can be specified, and provision information can be prepared for each user, or provision information can be prepared for each group by grouping a plurality of users.

  The present invention includes provision information print instruction means for accepting an instruction to print the specified provision information from a user prior to output by the provision information output means, provided that the provision information output means accepts the instruction. In addition, the instructed provided information may be output to the printing apparatus, and the user can be made aware that the provided information is prepared.

  Further, according to the present invention, the provided information output unit may add additional information determined for each provided provided information to the provided information and output the information to the printing apparatus. As the additional information, for example, user-specific information such as printing date and time, user name / age / sex, etc. can be used. By providing additional information to the provided information and printing, it is possible to provide common information. Information can be output with part of the content changed at the time of printing.

  In addition, the present invention further includes a history holding unit that stores and holds history information related to printing of the specified provided information, and a history output unit that outputs the history information stored and held in the history holding unit. In any case, the output status of the provided information can be analyzed later.

  The present invention can also be applied to an on-demand printing system. In this case, print information holding means for storing and holding print information and print information to be printed out of the stored and held print information are specified. User identification information input means for receiving input of user identification information, and the provision information specifying means refers to the provision information holding means for provision information associated with the inputted user identification information. It can be specified.

  According to the present invention, in accordance with a user's instruction to print a document, provision information set in advance to be provided to the user is printed together with the printing of the document. Therefore, the provision information is printed by a printed matter on which the provision information is printed. Can be strongly conscious of the user, and the degree of transmission of information provided by the information provider to the user can be enhanced.

The present invention will be specifically described based on an example.
In the system of this example, as conceptually showing information provision by the system in FIG. 1, for example, the user X who is an information provider associates the provision information with the user A who is the provision destination, and the server 1 in advance. The server 1 causes the printer 4 to print the document and pre-registered provided information in response to a document print instruction from the user A, thereby providing information to each user. .

FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration of each apparatus constituting the system of this example.
This system includes a server 1 that manages print processing, an operation terminal 3 that is provided in a printer 4 that performs printing, and receives an operation input from a user, and a client PC 5 that instructs the user to print a document. Stores the print instruction of the document from the client PC 5, and prints the document based on the print instruction in response to the operation terminal 3 selecting the target print instruction from the stored in the server 1. Is an on-demand printing system in which the printer 4 performs the above.

The client PC 5 includes a communication unit 51 for communicating with the server 1 and a print instruction unit 52 for receiving a document print instruction from the user.
For example, the print instruction unit 52 instructs to print a document stored in a storage device of the client PC 5, a document stored in another document server connected to the network, a document disclosed on a Web site, or the like. can do. Then, the print instruction unit 52 generates print information according to the received print instruction and transmits it to the server 1.

  The server 1 includes a communication unit 11 for communicating with the client PC 5 and the operation terminal 3, an information holding unit 12 that holds various information, and an information specifying unit that specifies information corresponding to a request from the operation terminal 3 from the information holding unit 12. 17, a history output unit 21 that performs output for analyzing the information provision status.

  The information holding unit 12 includes a print information holding unit 13 that stores and holds print information transmitted from the client PC 5, a provision information holding unit 14 that holds preset information to be provided to the user, and information unique to each user A user information holding unit 15 for holding information, and a history information holding unit 16 for holding history information relating to printing of provided information.

  The print information is information transmitted from the client PC 5 to instruct the printing of the document. As shown in the data configuration in FIG. 3, the “job ID” for identifying the print information and the user who has instructed the printing are identified. It includes information such as “user ID” and “print data” relating to a document to be printed. Note that a correspondence table in which a terminal ID for identifying the client PC 5 used by each user is associated with a user ID is prepared, and a terminal ID may be used instead of the user ID of the print information. If it can identify.

  The provided information is information set in advance by the information provider. As shown in the data configuration in FIG. 4, the “provided information ID” for identifying the provided information and the user to whom the provided information is provided are identified. It includes information such as “user ID” and “provided data” that is information provided to the user. In addition, it may replace with the user ID of provision information, and may use group ID which identifies the group comprised from a some user, and should just specify the user of the provision destination of provision information. Further, the provision information may have printing conditions such as a printable period and the number of printable times, and a restriction may be added so that printing is performed when these conditions are satisfied.

  The user information is information unique to each user of the information providing destination, and includes information such as a “user ID” for identifying the user and a “user name” that is the name of the user. When a field for embedding information of each user is prepared in the data, it is used for embedding in the field.

  The history information is information that holds the print status of the provided information so that it can be grasped later. “History ID” that identifies the history information, “output date / time” that provided the provided information to the user, and the provided provided information Information such as “provided information ID”, “user ID” for identifying the user to whom the provided information is provided, and the like.

The print information specifying unit 18 specifies print information corresponding to the user ID transmitted from the operation terminal 3 with reference to the print information holding unit 13, and returns the print information to the operation terminal 3.
The provided information specifying unit 19 specifies provided information corresponding to the user ID transmitted from the operation terminal 3 with reference to the provided information holding unit 14, and returns the information to the operation terminal 3 as print information. That is, “Job ID” is automatically numbered, “User ID” is set with the transmitted user ID, “Print Data” is set with the specified provided information providing data, and print information is generated. Return to the operation terminal 3.
The user information specifying unit 20 specifies user information corresponding to the user ID transmitted from the operation terminal 3 with reference to the user information holding unit 15 and returns the user information to the operation terminal 3.

The history output unit 21 performs a process of outputting the history information accumulated in the history information holding unit 16.
As an output mode, for example, the history information is aggregated for each predetermined period, and the number of times of printing the provided information is output in time series, or, for example, the result of selective printing of the provided information by the print start instructing unit 34 described later (printing) Whether or not it was done) is recorded in the history information, and the number of times each related offer information is printed is counted and compared for output to determine the support status of each work (provided information) entered in the work contest. You can do it.

  The operation terminal 3 is prepared for each printer 4, and includes a communication unit 31 for communicating with the server 1, a user ID input unit 32 for receiving a user ID input from a user, and a server corresponding to the input user ID. 1, a memory 33 that holds print information transmitted from 1, a print start instruction unit 34 that displays print information and receives a print start instruction from a user, and outputs the print information instructed to be output to the printer 4 for printing. Part 35.

The print start instruction unit 34 displays a list of print information stored in the memory 33 on the display screen of the operation terminal 3. The list including the provided information transmitted as print information from the server 1 is displayed, and the user can know that the information is provided to him / her by viewing the display.
Then, the print start instructing unit 34 receives from the user a print start instruction for selecting print information (provided information) to be actually printed from the list display and printing it. In other words, the printing information (provided information) that has a selective printing function and has not been selected is canceled.

The output unit 35 outputs the print information (provided information) received by the print start instruction unit 34 to the printer 4.
Here, when a start instruction for printing the provided information transmitted as print information is received, for example, for each provided information to be output, such as printing date and time, user-specific information such as user name, date of birth, gender, etc. When a column for embedding additional fixed information is prepared in the provided information, the additional information is added and output to the printer 4. That is, the current date and time is acquired and embedded, or the user information transmitted from the server 1 and stored in the memory 33 is embedded, and the common provided information is output with a part of the content changed at the time of printing. Therefore, for example, it is possible to give a strong impression to the user by adding the user name to the advertisement and printing it, and for example, it can be used for printing a school certificate or a student certificate.

  The printer 4 includes a print processing unit 41 that performs printing based on the print information output from the output unit 35 of the operation terminal 3. The medium to be printed is not limited to paper, and other media may be used. For example, so-called electronic paper that is flexible and thin and capable of displaying and holding an image without power is used. Instead of the printer 4, a multi-function machine having a combination of functions such as printing, copying, scanning, and FAX may be used.

In this example, the operation terminal 3 and the printer 4 are configured separately, but they can also be configured integrally.
In addition, the operation terminal 3 once holds the print information (provided information) transmitted in response to the input user ID in the memory 33 and the print start instruction unit 34 receives a print start instruction from the user. In response to this, the print start instruction unit 34 is not prepared, but the print information (provided information) transmitted corresponding to the input user ID is output and printed as it is. Also good.

A printing operation by the on-demand printing system of this example will be described.
First, the user operates the client PC 5 to specify a document and give a print instruction. The print instruction unit 52 of the client PC 5 generates print information for the specified document and transmits it to the server 1, and the print information is stored in the print information holding unit 13 of the server 1.

  Next, when the user moves to the operation terminal 3 and inputs his or her user ID to the user ID input unit 32, the user ID is transmitted to the server 1, and each corresponding information is specified by the information specifying unit 17. And returned to the operation terminal 3. Specifically, the print information specifying unit 18 specifies print information corresponding to the received user ID with reference to the print information holding unit 13 and returns the print information to the operation terminal 3. Also, the provided information specifying unit specifies the provided information corresponding to the received user ID with reference to the print information holding unit 14 and returns it to the operation terminal 3 as print information. Further, the user information specifying unit 20 specifies user information corresponding to the received user ID with reference to the user information holding unit 15, and returns the user information to the operation terminal 3.

  The operation terminal 3 stores the print information (provided information) and user information returned from the server 1 in the memory 33, and the print start instruction unit 34 displays a list of the print information (provided information) in the memory 33. When print information (provided information) is selected from the user and an instruction to start printing is given, the output unit 35 sends the selected information (and user information added as necessary) to the printer 4. Output to print. Further, the print start instruction unit 34 generates history information in response to the start instruction, transmits the history information to the server 1, and causes the history information holding unit 16 to accumulate and hold the history information.

  As described above, when a user prints a document, information provided to the user can be printed together. Therefore, the information is provided by a printed matter that is more likely to attract the user's attention than the display display. Since the user can carry the printed matter and browse it at a desired place, the user can be strongly aware of the provided information and the degree of transmission of the information can be enhanced.

In this example, the server 1 includes each of the information holding units 13 to 16, each of the information providing units 18 to 20, and the history output unit 21. The information may be used as long as the information used for each function can be acquired as necessary.
In this example, each function is configured by causing a computer to execute the program according to the present invention, but may be configured by a dedicated circuit element.

The present invention can be realized without the on-demand printing system as described above.
For example, the server 1 promptly outputs the print information transmitted from the client PC 5 to the printer 4 for printing, and provided information corresponding to the user ID of the print information (that is, the same user ID as the print information is set). (Provided information) is specified and output as print information to the printer 4 for printing. Thereby, the provided information is printed together with the printed matter of the user.

It is a figure which shows notionally the information provision which concerns on one Example of this invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the printing information which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the provision information which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the user information which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the historical information which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: server, 2: operation terminal,
3: Printer, 4: Client PC,
13: Print information holding unit, 14: Provided information holding unit,
15: User information holding unit, 16: History information holding unit,
18: Print information specifying unit, 19: Provided information specifying unit,
20: User information specifying unit, 21: History output unit,
32: User ID input unit 34: Print start instruction unit,
35: Output section

Claims (8)

In a system in which a printing apparatus prints a document based on print information including identification information of a user who has instructed printing of the document and information on the document.
Provision information holding means for preliminarily associating and holding user identification information and provision information provided to the user;
Providing information specifying means for specifying providing information associated with user identification information included in the print information with reference to the providing information holding means;
Providing information output means for outputting the specified providing information to the printing apparatus for printing;
An information providing system characterized by comprising: In the information provision system of Claim 1,
Prior to output by the provision information output means, provision information print instruction means for receiving an instruction to print the specified provision information from a user,
The provision information output unit outputs the instructed provision information to the printing apparatus on condition that the instruction has been received. In the information provision system of Claim 1 or Claim 2,
The provision information output unit adds the additional information determined for each provision information to be output to the provision information and outputs the information to the printing apparatus. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
History holding means for storing and holding history information relating to printing of the specified provided information;
History output means for outputting history information accumulated and held in the history holding means;
An information providing system characterized by comprising: In the information provision system of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 4,
Print information holding means for storing and holding the print information;
User identification information input means for receiving input of user identification information in order to specify print information to be printed out of the stored print information;
The providing information specifying means specifies the providing information associated with the input user identification information with reference to the providing information holding means. In an apparatus that communicates with a printing apparatus that prints a document based on print information including identification information of a user who has instructed printing of the document and information on the document,
Provision information holding means for preliminarily associating user identification information and provision information provided to the user;
Providing information specifying means for specifying providing information associated with user identification information included in the print information with reference to the providing information holding means;
Providing information output means for outputting the specified providing information to the printing apparatus for printing;
An information providing apparatus comprising: In a program that configures an apparatus that communicates with a printing apparatus that performs printing of a document based on print information including identification information of a user who has instructed printing of the document and information of the document.
A provision information holding function for pre-associating and holding user identification information and provision information provided to the user;
A provision information identifying function for identifying provision information associated with user identification information included in the print information with reference to information held in the provision information holding function;
A provision information output function for outputting the specified provision information to the printing apparatus and printing it;
An information providing program configured by causing a computer to execute. In a system in which a printing apparatus prints a document based on print information including identification information of a user who has instructed printing of the document and information on the document.
The system includes provision information holding means, provision information specifying means, provision information output means,
The provision information holding means holds the identification information of the user and the provision information provided to the user in association with each other in advance,
The providing information specifying means specifies the providing information associated with the user identification information included in the print information with reference to the providing information holding means;
The providing information output means causes the printing apparatus to output and print the specified providing information.

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