JP2008258777A - Network multifunction device and network multifunctional device system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network multifunction device capable of easily reprinting print data. <P>SOLUTION: In normal printing, the network multifunctional device 1 sends a print ID acquisition request to a management server 2 and prints out a print ID acquired from the management server 2 over the print data. Further, the network multifunction device 1 converts the print data into the PDF format etc., and then makes the converted file and print ID correspond to each other. The management server 2 allocates the print ID which is uniquely discriminated on a network shown in the figure to the network multifunction device 1 at the print ID acquisition request, and stores the converted file transmitted from the network multifunction device 1. In reprinting, a user confirms the print ID of the print data to be reprinted from an output document, and inputs the print ID to the network multifunction device 1. A converted file request unit 113 acquires the converted file corresponding to the print ID that the user inputs as reprint data from the management server 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network multifunction peripheral and a network multifunction peripheral system capable of reprinting printed print data.

  There are network multifunction peripherals that have multiple functions such as a copy function, a fax function, a printer function, a scanner function, and an e-mail function. The network multifunction peripheral is used, for example, connected to an office LAN. When using the printer function of the network MFP from a PC connected to the LAN, the user outputs document data to be printed to the network MFP using a printer driver installed on the PC.

  However, when reprinting already printed document data or the like using a network multifunction peripheral, the user needs to output the printed document data or the like again to the network multifunction peripheral using a printer driver. Further, when the copied original document that has already been copied is copied again, it is necessary for the user to perform another copying operation on the network multifunction peripheral.

  As described above, in order to perform reprinting in the network multifunction peripheral, the same work has to be repeated twice, which places a burden on the user. Further, when reprinting is performed, it is necessary to use an original document (such as document data or a copy document). Therefore, if there is no original document, reprinting may not be performed.

  As a conventional technique for solving the above problems, in Patent Document 1, a copy server manages a copy use unit by a job ID, and a copy machine having a FAX function, a printer function, etc. reads copy data and a copy. An image forming system that manages history information including time setting information in association with a job ID is disclosed. The image forming system disclosed in Patent Document 1 reprints printed copy data by specifying a job ID at the time of reprinting.

JP 2004-102549 A

  In the image forming system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the copier sends information including a thumbnail image of copy data and a job ID to the user terminal by electronic mail. After confirming the copy data to be reprinted with the thumbnail image sent by e-mail, the user designates the job ID and performs reprinting.

  However, when the original manuscript is image data mainly including figures, it is relatively easy to confirm the contents of the copy data from the thumbnail image, but when the original manuscript is a document mainly including texts, It is often difficult to confirm the contents of copy data from thumbnail images. Thus, the conventional technique has a problem that it may be difficult to specify the job ID from the thumbnail image.

  Further, the conventional technique has a problem that if the user deletes an electronic mail sent from the copier by mistake, the contents of the copy data cannot be confirmed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a network multifunction peripheral and a network multifunction peripheral system that can easily reprint print data in view of the above problems.

  In order to solve the above problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a print ID request for requesting the management server to give a print ID unique to print data in a network multifunction peripheral connected to the management server via a network. A print processing unit that prints the assigned print ID on the print data, converts the print data after printing into a predetermined image format, and converts a converted file that is the converted print data A print data conversion unit that transmits the print ID assigned to the management server in association with the print ID, and transmits the converted print ID to the management server, and reprints the conversion file corresponding to the assigned print ID. And a conversion file requesting unit acquired from the management server.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network multifunction peripheral according to the first aspect, the file name of the conversion file is the print ID.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the network multifunction peripheral system in which at least one network multifunction peripheral and a management server that manages the network multifunction peripheral are connected via a network, the network multifunction peripheral is unique to the print data. A print ID requesting unit that requests the management server to assign a print ID, a print processing unit that prints the assigned print ID on the print data, and prints the print data in a predetermined image. A print data conversion unit that converts the file into a format, and converts the converted print data, which is the converted print data, to the management server in association with the print ID; and sends the assigned print ID to the management server; Conversion file request for acquiring from the management server the conversion file corresponding to the assigned print ID as reprint data And the management server stores a print ID determination unit that determines the print ID in response to a request for assigning the print ID from the network multifunction device, and the conversion file received from the network multifunction device. A conversion file storage unit.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the network multifunction peripheral system according to the third aspect, the file name of the conversion file is the print ID.

  When performing normal printing, the network MFP of the present invention acquires a print ID unique to the print data from the management server, prints the acquired print ID over the print data, and specifies the print data. After being converted into the image format, it is stored in the management server in association with the print ID. In addition, when the user inputs a print ID of print data that has already been printed out, the network multifunction peripheral according to the present invention acquires a conversion file corresponding to the input print ID from the management server and performs reprinting. Therefore, the user can easily confirm the corresponding print ID from the print data that has been printed out, and the user's burden associated with reprinting can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network multifunction peripheral and a network multifunction peripheral system according to the present embodiment. 1 has a configuration in which a plurality of network multifunction peripherals 1, 1..., A management server 2, and a plurality of PCs 3, 3. In FIG. 1, there are a plurality of network multifunction peripherals 1 connected to the LAN 4.

  First, the configuration of the network multifunction device 1 will be described. The network multifunction device 1 includes a control unit 11, a touch panel display 12, an operation unit 13, a FAX unit 14, a scanner unit 15, a print processing unit 16, and a communication unit 17. In FIG. 1, only functions necessary for the description of the present embodiment of the network multifunction peripheral 1 are shown, and display of an electronic mail function unit and the like is omitted. The configuration of all the network multifunction devices 1 in FIG. 1 is the same.

  The control unit 11 includes a CPU, a RAM, and the like, and performs overall control of the network multifunction device 1. The touch panel display 12 displays information related to the network multifunction device 1 and various operation menus. The operation unit 13 includes buttons and the like for issuing various operation instructions to the network multifunction peripheral 1. The user can perform various operations of the network multifunction peripheral 1 using the touch panel display 12 and the operation unit 13.

  The FAX unit 14 is a functional unit that performs facsimile transmission / reception. The scanner unit 15 is a functional unit that reads a document placed on a document reading table as image data. The copy function of the network multifunction device 1 is realized by the cooperation of the scanner unit 15, the control unit 11, and the print processing unit 16.

  The print processing unit 16 records print data such as data output from the PCs 3, 3,..., FAX data received by the FAX unit 14, and scanner data read by the scanner unit 15 according to various setting conditions. Print out as output document on paper.

  The communication unit 17 transmits / receives data to / from each computer connected to the LAN 4 using a protocol such as TCP / IP.

  Next, the configuration of the control unit 11 will be described in detail. In the following description, reprinting means that the network multifunction device 1 prints a conversion file acquired from the management server 2, and normal printing is other than reprinting performed by the network multifunction device 1. It means all printing.

  The print ID request unit 111 transmits a print ID acquisition request for acquiring a print ID to the management server 2 during normal printing. Here, the print ID is a unique ID corresponding one-to-one with the print data. Therefore, the print ID may be in any format as long as it can be uniquely identified within the network shown in FIG. For example, it may be uniquely managed on an in-house network or may be uniquely managed on a department network.

  The print data conversion unit 112 converts the print data into data such as PDF format or TIFF format, and generates a conversion file in which the converted data is associated with the acquired print ID.

  At the time of reprinting, the conversion file request unit 113 transmits a print ID corresponding to print data to be reprinted to the management server 2 as a conversion file acquisition request, and manages the conversion file corresponding to the transmitted print ID as reprint data. Obtain from the server 2.

  Next, the configuration of the management server 2 will be described. The print ID determination unit 21 manages the print IDs already assigned to the network multifunction peripherals 1, 1... And determines the print ID in response to the print ID acquisition request from the network multifunction peripheral 1.

  The conversion file storage unit 22 stores the conversion file transmitted from the network multifunction device 1. In addition, the conversion file storage unit 22 transmits a conversion file corresponding to the transmitted print ID to the network MFP 1 that has transmitted the conversion file acquisition request as a response.

  The transmission unit 23 transmits response data of a print ID acquisition request or a conversion file acquisition request from the network multifunction device 1 connected to the LAN 4 to the network multifunction device 1. The communication unit 24 transmits / receives data to / from each computer connected to the LAN 4 using a protocol such as TCP / IP.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operations of the network MFP 1 and the management server 2 during normal printing. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operations of the network multifunction peripheral 1 and the management server 2 during reprinting.

  First, the operations of the network MFP 1 and the management server 2 during normal printing will be described with reference to FIG. 2 by taking as an example the case of printing print data output from the PC 3.

  First, the user outputs print data from the PC 3 to the network multifunction device 1. When the network multifunction device 1 receives the print data output from the PC 3, it starts normal printing (step S1). The print ID request unit 111 of the control unit 11 transmits a print ID acquisition request to the management server 2 in order to acquire a new print ID corresponding to the print data for normal printing (step S2). At this time, it is assumed that the print ID acquisition request includes information that can identify the type of print data (for example, output data from the PC 3, FAX data, etc.).

  When receiving the print ID acquisition request, the print ID determination unit 21 of the management server 2 determines a print ID according to the identifiable information (step S3). Specifically, when the type of print data is output data from the PC 3, the print ID is “100000001” according to the rule that the first digit is “1” and a serial number is assigned. It is conceivable that the print ID is set to “000000001” by the rule that the digit is “0” and a serial number is assigned.

  Then, the print ID determination unit 21 transmits the determined print ID to the transmission source network MFP 1 as a print ID acquisition request (step S4).

  When the network multifunction peripheral 1 acquires the print ID corresponding to the print data, the network multifunction peripheral 1 performs a printing process (step S5). At this time, the network MFP 1 prints out the output document as an output document with the acquired print ID superimposed on the print data. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the print ID may be printed on the footer portion of the recording paper.

  When the print processing is completed, the print data conversion unit 112 of the control unit 11 converts the print data in which the print IDs are not overlapped into a PDF format, a TIFF format, or the like, and uses the file name of the converted data as a print ID (Step ID). S6). For example, when the print ID is “100000001” and the print data is converted into the PDF format, the conversion file name is “100000001.pdf”. At this time, if the conversion file is stored in association with the print ID, a method other than using the print ID as the file name may be used. For example, a case where a process of writing the print ID in the header of the conversion file is performed can be considered.

  Next, the network MFP 1 transmits the conversion file to the management server 2 using the SMB protocol or FTP (step S7). The management server 2 stores the received conversion file in the conversion file storage unit 22 (step S8). FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a conversion file storage state in the conversion file storage unit 22. As shown in FIG. 5, the conversion file storage unit 22 classifies and stores conversion files for each type of print data.

  Next, operations of the network MFP 1 and the management server 2 during reprinting will be described with reference to FIG.

  After performing the above-described processing and performing normal printing, the user may want to obtain the same printed material again. At this time, it is only necessary to immediately find the original print data or copy original, but there are cases where it cannot be found. In such a case, the user refers to the output document shown in FIG. 4 and confirms the print ID.

  In order to perform reprinting, the user confirms the print ID from the output document that has already been printed out, and then operates the touch panel display 12 or the operation unit 13 of the network multifunction peripheral 1 to print the output document to be reprinted. An ID is input (step S11).

  Next, the conversion file request unit 113 of the network MFP 1 transmits the input print ID to the management server 2 as a conversion file acquisition request (step S12). Upon receiving the conversion file acquisition request, the conversion file storage unit 22 of the management server 2 transmits a conversion file corresponding to the received print ID as a response (step S13). That is, the conversion file storage unit 22 identifies a conversion file having the same file name as the received print ID as reprint data.

  Then, the network multifunction device 1 prints out the conversion file transmitted from the management server 2 as reprint data of the output document to be reprinted (step S14), thereby completing the reprint. Note that the network MFP 1 may print out the reprint print ID that has been input, overlaid on the conversion file, at the time of reprinting.

  As described above, the network multifunction peripheral 1 according to the present embodiment acquires a print ID corresponding to the print data on a one-to-one basis from the management server 2 during normal printing, and prints the acquired print ID superimposed on the print data. To do. Further, the network multifunction device 1 acquires the conversion file stored in the management server 2 and reprints when the user inputs the print ID printed on the output document at the time of reprinting. Therefore, if the user has an output document in which the print ID is printed in an overlapping manner, the user can immediately confirm the print ID of the print data to be reprinted, so that reprinting can be performed quickly. is there.

  In the above description, the print data conversion unit 112 of the network multifunction peripheral 1 immediately transmits the converted file to the management server 2 after generating the converted file. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The data conversion unit 112 may transmit the conversion file to the management server 2 as a response to HTTP Get transmitted from the management server 2.

  In the above description, the print ID of the print data to be reprinted is input from the touch panel display 12 or the operation unit 13 of the network multifunction peripheral 1 at the time of reprinting. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the user may input the print ID of the print data to be reprinted from the WEB screen for operation of the network MFP 1 activated on the PC 3.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network MFP 1 and a network MFP system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the network multifunction peripheral 1 and the management server 2 during normal printing. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the network multifunction peripheral 1 and the management server 2 at the time of reprinting. FIG. It is a figure which shows the printing data printed using printing ID as a footer. It is a schematic diagram which shows the preservation | save state of a conversion file.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network multifunction device 2 Management server 11 Control part 21 Print ID determination part 22 Conversion file preservation | save part 111 Print ID request part 112 Print data conversion part 113 Conversion file request part

Claims (4)

In a network multifunction device connected to the management server via the network,
A print ID request unit that requests the management server to give a print ID unique to the print data;
A print processing unit that prints the assigned print ID on the print data; and
A print data conversion unit that converts the print data after printing into a predetermined image format, and transmits a converted file that is the converted print data to the management server in association with the print ID;
A conversion file request unit that transmits the assigned print ID to the management server, and acquires the conversion file corresponding to the assigned print ID from the management server as reprint data;
A network multifunction device comprising: The network multifunction device according to claim 1,
A network multifunction device, wherein the file name of the conversion file is the print ID. In a network multifunction peripheral system in which at least one network multifunction peripheral and a management server that manages the network multifunction peripheral are connected via a network,
The network MFP is
A print ID request unit that requests the management server to give a print ID unique to the print data;
A print processing unit that prints the assigned print ID on the print data; and
A print data conversion unit that converts the print data after printing into a predetermined image format, and transmits a converted file that is the converted print data to the management server in association with the print ID;
A conversion file request unit that transmits the assigned print ID to the management server, and acquires the conversion file corresponding to the assigned print ID from the management server as reprint data;
With
The management server
A print ID determining unit that determines the print ID in response to a request for giving the print ID from the network multifunction peripheral;
A conversion file storage unit for storing the conversion file received from the network multifunction peripheral;
A network multifunction peripheral system comprising: The network multifunction peripheral system according to claim 3,
A network multifunction peripheral system, wherein the file name of the conversion file is the print ID.

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