JP2009160936A - Image forming apparatus and mobile terminal mount unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for preventing fall of a mobile terminal used by an image forming apparatus and occurrence of a communication error when the mobile terminal transfers data to the image forming apparatus by means of wireless communication. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with a mobile terminal placing spot 30 that is an exclusive space for placing the mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal placing spot 30 is provided with an infrared ray port 31, a contactless IC antenna 32, and a Bluetooth chip 33, which act like a wireless communication means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on data acquired from a mobile terminal.

When printing a photograph taken with a portable terminal such as a mobile phone or a digital camera, a method of transferring the photograph data by removing the media on which the photograph data is recorded from the portable terminal and attaching it to the image forming apparatus, A method of transferring photographic data by connecting an image forming apparatus with a cable is common.
In recent years, it has been considered to transfer photo data from a portable terminal to an image forming apparatus by wireless communication such as infrared, non-contact IC, Bluetooth, etc. in order to eliminate the complexity of such a method. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-352319 A (page 5-6, FIG. 5)

However, the conventional general image forming apparatus is not provided with a dedicated space for placing the mobile terminal, and when the mobile terminal is inadvertently placed on the image forming apparatus and starts work, the mobile terminal Could fall and break.
Further, in the data transfer by wireless communication as in the invention of Patent Document 1, a communication error may occur unless the portable terminal is fixed in a predetermined place for a while. Then, there was a problem that it was difficult to grasp where the portable terminal should be fixed.
Furthermore, in today's situation where data can be transferred from the mobile terminal to the image forming apparatus by a wide variety of methods, there are many users who do not understand how to transfer data, Even if it can be understood, there is a problem that an operation necessary for data transfer is very complicated.
Furthermore, when transferring data by wireless communication as in the invention of Patent Document 1, there is also a problem that during communication between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus, the communication is interrupted by other communication. It was.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above, and an object thereof is to prevent the mobile terminal from dropping in an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on data acquired from the mobile terminal. There is to do.
Another object is to prevent a communication error from occurring in wireless communication between the portable terminal and the image forming apparatus.
Still another object is to facilitate data transfer from a portable terminal to an image forming apparatus.
Still another object is to prevent wireless communication between the portable terminal and the image forming apparatus from being interrupted by other communication.

The invention according to claim 1 is a mobile terminal mounting unit for mounting a mobile terminal, a non-contact IC antenna for communicating with the mobile terminal mounted on the mobile terminal mounting unit, An image forming unit that forms an image based on data acquired by the contact IC antenna, wherein the mobile terminal mounting unit has a shape that does not cover the mobile terminal mounted, and the non-contact IC antenna Is an image forming apparatus that is provided on a surface of the mobile terminal mounting portion on which the mobile terminal is mounted and is sized to be covered by the mobile terminal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the portable terminal placing unit includes a detecting unit that detects that the portable terminal is placed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the detection unit is a load sensor that performs the detection by detecting a change in weight in the portable terminal mounting portion. is there.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the mobile terminal mounting unit detects that the mobile terminal is mounted by the detecting means, the non-contact IC antenna performs wireless communication with the mobile terminal. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a wireless communication control unit configured to perform control.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the wireless communication control means determines whether or not the non-contact IC antenna can wirelessly communicate with the portable terminal, and displays guidance according to a result of the determination. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the wireless communication control means enables a plurality of wireless communication units that perform wireless communication with the portable terminal placed on the portable terminal placing unit to communicate with the portable terminal. In this case, the non-contact IC antenna is selected from the plurality of wireless communication units, and the non-contact IC antenna is controlled to perform wireless communication with the portable terminal. This is an image forming apparatus.

The invention according to claim 7 includes a mobile terminal mounting means for mounting the mobile terminal, and a non-contact IC antenna that communicates with the mobile terminal mounted on the mobile terminal mounting means, The portable terminal placing means is a shape that does not cover the placed portable terminal, and the non-contact IC antenna is provided in a surface of the portable terminal placing means on which the portable terminal is placed, And it is a portable terminal mounting unit characterized by being the magnitude | size covered with the said portable terminal.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, when the mobile terminal mounting unit detects that the mobile terminal is mounted on the mobile terminal mounting unit, the non-contact IC antenna performs wireless communication with the mobile terminal. 8. The portable terminal mounting unit according to claim 7, further comprising wireless communication control means for performing control.

  According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on data acquired from a mobile terminal, it is possible to prevent the mobile terminal from falling.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of an image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a display 20, a portable terminal storage 30, a media reader 40, and the like. Here, the display 20 is for displaying a menu for image printing, an image to be printed, and the like. Moreover, the portable terminal place 30 is a space provided for placing a portable terminal. If this is widely understood, it can be called a portable terminal placement unit. The media reader 40 is for reading image data to be printed from the inserted medium. The image forming apparatus 10 includes many components such as a data acquisition unit that acquires data from a medium or by wired / wireless communication, and an image formation unit that forms an image based on the acquired data. Is omitted.
In FIG. 1, the portable terminal storage 30 is provided in front of the display 20, but this is merely an example, and the installation location of the mobile terminal storage 30 is not limited. In other words, the portable terminal place 30 may be provided at any place in the image forming apparatus 10 as long as the area for placing a general portable terminal can be secured and the place can be recognized by the user as a place for the portable terminal.

Next, details of the portable terminal storage 30 in the image forming apparatus 10 of FIG. 1 will be described.
FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of the portable terminal storage area 30. As shown in FIG. 2A, the portable terminal storage 30 includes an infrared port 31, a non-contact IC antenna 32, and a Bluetooth chip 33 as wireless communication means. However, this is only an example, and some of these wireless communication means may not be provided, or other wireless communication means may be provided.
Further, in this figure, an infrared port 31 is provided below the display 20, and a non-contact IC antenna 32 and a Bluetooth chip 33 are embedded in the portable terminal yard 30, but the positional relationship between them is also shown. It is not limited to. However, when the mobile terminal is naturally placed in the mobile terminal storage place 30, the infrared port 31, the non-contact IC antenna 32, and the Bluetooth chip are located at positions where communication by infrared, non-contact IC, and Bluetooth can be naturally performed, respectively. It is desirable to provide 33.

In addition, the mobile terminal storage location 30 detects whether the mobile terminal is capable of wireless communication when it is detected by the detection means that automatically detects that the mobile terminal is placed and the detection means detects that the mobile terminal is placed. Wireless communication control means for performing determination, guidance display based on the determination result, selection of an optimal wireless communication method, and the like.
There are various methods for detecting that the mobile terminal is placed by the detecting means, such as using the weight of the mobile terminal, using an optical sensor, etc. Shown in 2 (b).
FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the mobile terminal yard 30 as viewed from the front. A signal is sent to each wireless communication means (for example, the non-contact IC antenna 32 and the Bluetooth chip 33) when the portable terminal storage 30 is pushed down to the position 30a indicated by the dotted line due to the weight of the portable terminal. Wireless communication is performed between the means and the portable terminal.

Next, the operation of the detection means and the wireless communication control means at this time will be described in detail. Of the wireless communication control means, the function of the part that receives information indicating that the mobile terminal is placed in the mobile terminal storage 30 and controls each wireless communication means is as follows. It is realized by reading and executing.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the detecting means and the wireless communication control means.
First, it is determined whether or not a medium has been inserted into the media reader 40 (step 101). If it is determined that a medium has been inserted, data is read from the medium (step 102).
On the other hand, if it is not determined that the media has been inserted, the detecting means determines whether or not the mobile terminal is placed in the mobile terminal storage 30 (step 103).

  Here, if it is not determined that the mobile terminal is placed, the process returns to step 101. However, if it is determined that the mobile terminal is placed, the wireless communication control unit includes infrared rays provided in the image forming apparatus 10, A communication test is performed by controlling each wireless communication means such as a non-contact IC and Bluetooth (step 104). Specifically, the mobile terminal is inspected whether wireless communication by each wireless communication method is possible and, if possible, the state of the communication, and the result information is collected.

Then, the wireless communication control means determines how many wireless communication systems the mobile terminal can use (Step 105).
First, when there is no wireless communication method that can be used by the mobile terminal, for example, data transfer is performed by connecting a cable or the like, so the wireless communication control means displays a guidance for informing that. 20 (step 106).

4A to 4C show examples of guidance displayed at step 106. FIG.
First, the wireless communication control means displays the guidance shown in FIG. 4A to inform the user that data transfer should be performed by cable connection because wireless communication cannot be performed.
Next, since the type of cable differs depending on whether the mobile terminal is a mobile phone or a digital camera, a screen as shown in FIG. 4B is displayed to inquire the user of the type of mobile terminal.
Here, if the user selects “1. mobile phone”, the type of cable differs depending on the mobile phone manufacturer, so a screen as shown in FIG. 4C is displayed, and the user is inquired about the mobile phone manufacturer. . Then, when the user selects a specific manufacturer, the wireless communication control means informs the user that the connection should be made with a cable corresponding to the manufacturer.
On the other hand, if the user selects “2. Digital camera” on the screen of FIG. 4B, the wireless communication control means informs the user that the connection should be made using an IEEE cable or a USB cable.

Some general mobile phones cannot detect that infrared communication is possible because they are not provided with an infrared light receiving unit and cannot perform two-way communication even if infrared communication is possible. If such a case is assumed, a screen for inquiring whether infrared communication can be performed instead of displaying the guidance of FIG. 4A as soon as it is determined in step 105 that there is no wireless communication method that can be used. May be displayed.
When the user completes preparations such as cable connection according to the above guidance, communication according to the determined method is started (step 108).

If there is only one wireless communication method that can be used by the mobile terminal, it is determined to transfer data by the wireless communication method, and communication is started (step 108).
In this case, for example, a confirmation message as shown in FIG. 4D may be displayed, and data transfer may be performed using the wireless communication method only when the user accepts the data transfer using the wireless communication method. .

Furthermore, when there are two or more wireless communication systems that can be used by the mobile terminal, the wireless communication control means determines an optimal wireless communication system based on the situation collected in the communication test in step 104 (step 107). Then, communication is started by the wireless communication method (step 108).
An example of the situation at the time of a communication test used for determining an optimal wireless communication method is a communication speed. That is, when there are a plurality of wireless communication systems that can be used by the mobile terminal, the wireless communication system that can transfer data at the highest speed among them can be determined as the wireless communication system that is actually used for communication.
Also in this case, for example, a confirmation message as shown in FIG. 4D is displayed, and only when the user accepts the data transfer by the wireless communication method determined by the wireless communication control means, the wireless communication method. In this case, data transfer may be performed.

  In the present embodiment, when a mobile terminal is placed in the mobile terminal place 30, it is determined whether the mobile terminal is capable of wireless communication, guidance display based on the determination result, selection of an optimal wireless communication method, and the like. Therefore, even for a user who does not know how to transfer data from the portable terminal to the image forming apparatus 10, the data transfer can be easily performed.

Incidentally, when wireless communication is performed with the image forming apparatus 10 by placing a mobile terminal on the mobile terminal storage 30 in the present embodiment, there are the following problems in relation to communication other than the communication. First, there is a problem that data transmitted from the portable terminal to the image forming apparatus leaks to the outside. A second problem is that the image forming apparatus recognizes, as a communication partner, a mobile terminal other than the mobile terminal with which communication is to be performed among a plurality of mobile terminals present in the vicinity. For example, since Bluetooth employs an encryption method and hops the frequency, the first problem that information that is being communicated between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus is intercepted and decrypted by a third party occurs. Although there is little directivity, there is no directivity, a connection with a line-of-sight number of 10 m is made, and simultaneous connection of up to 7 units is possible at the same time. The second problem of simultaneously detecting other mobile terminals may occur. Third, when the mobile terminal is a mobile phone, there is a problem that the mobile phone is called during the communication between the mobile phone and the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, these problems are avoided by providing the following wireless communication exclusive control means.

First, the infrared receiver can be shaped as shown in FIG. 5 to avoid the first problem.
That is, since infrared rays have high directivity, as shown in FIG. 5A, the infrared receiver 311 is formed of a cylindrical frame, and the surface facing the portable terminal is wider than the opposite surface. Thus, it is possible to prevent data transmitted from the mobile terminal from leaking outside.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, if the portable terminal is inserted into the infrared receiver 312 configured with a cylindrical frame, the light emitting unit of the portable terminal and the light receiving unit of the infrared receiver 312 are connected. Since it directly faces in the infrared receiver 312, it is possible to more reliably prevent the data transmitted from the portable terminal from leaking to the outside.

Next, the non-contact IC antenna 32 can avoid the second problem by adopting an arrangement method as shown in FIG.
That is, the non-contact IC can communicate with a plurality of portable terminals if the non-contact IC antenna 32 is configured to be small as shown in FIG. Will disappear. In addition, as a reference | standard of the magnitude | size of the non-contact IC antenna 32 here, when a certain 2nd mobile terminal moves to the vicinity during communication with the non-contact IC antenna 32, it is non-contact. A size that can prevent the IC antenna 32 from communicating with the second portable terminal can be adopted. For example, it can be considered to be smaller than the smallest portable terminal existing in the market.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, if a groove for allowing just one portable terminal to be placed is provided in the portable terminal place 30, and a non-contact IC antenna 32 is disposed immediately below the groove, a plurality of the terminals are arranged thereon. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the non-contact IC antenna 32 from communicating with a plurality of portable terminals.

Further, as a method for avoiding the second problem related to Bluetooth communication, it is conceivable that the user starts communication through a process of selecting his / her mobile terminal from a plurality of detected Bluetooth terminals.
In addition, the “device address” of a Bluetooth terminal once established for communication is stored in the form of a “registered device information list” in the image forming device, and can be connected without authentication from the next time. It is also possible to allow the user to select whether to store in the forming apparatus and delete the “device address” after image printing.

On the other hand, as a method for avoiding the third problem, the following can be considered.
In other words, there are various communication methods for mobile phones to the public network (2nd generation GSM, 2.5th generation CDM, 3rd generation W-CDMA, cdma2000), but these all used the frequency band of 800MHz to 1.8GHz. Since it is an electromagnetic wave, a member that shields the electromagnetic wave in this frequency band is used to prevent the mobile phone from being called during communication between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus. In addition, as an electromagnetic wave shielding member, a conductive polymer, a conductive film, a conductive woven fabric, an electromagnetic wave absorbing material, or the like can be used.
In FIG. 7, the example of the portable terminal storage place 30 comprised using the electromagnetic wave shielding member is shown.
As shown in FIG. 7A, a mobile phone is put in the electromagnetic shielding bag 51, or as shown in FIG. 7B, a bag-like soft electromagnetic shielding cover 52 filled with an electromagnetic shielding member. With an infrared ray, non-contact IC (13.56MHz), Bluetooth (2.4GHz), and communicate with the image forming device in a state where the phone is covered with a mobile phone or a conductive polymer is formed in a sponge shape It is possible.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, the mobile terminal place 30 is made of a ferromagnetic material and a mobile phone is placed on the mobile terminal place 30, so that the mobile phone can receive a phone call during communication between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus. It is possible to prevent communication from being interrupted by the incoming call.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an overview of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a display 20, a portable terminal storage box 60, a media reader 40, and the like. Here, the display 20 is for displaying a menu for image printing, an image to be printed, and the like. Moreover, the portable terminal storage box 60 is a box for storing a portable terminal, and if this is grasped widely, it can be said that it is a portable terminal mounting part. The media reader 40 is for reading image data to be printed from the inserted medium. The image forming apparatus 10 includes many components such as a data acquisition unit that acquires data from a medium or by wired / wireless communication, and an image formation unit that forms an image based on the acquired data. Is omitted.
In FIG. 8, the portable terminal storage box 60 is provided between the display 20 and the media reader 40. However, this is merely an example, and the installation location of the portable terminal storage box 60 is not limited. That is, a space for storing a general mobile terminal can be secured, and the mobile terminal storage box 60 is provided in any location of the image forming apparatus 10 as long as it can be recognized by the user as a storage box for the mobile terminal. Also good.

Also in the present embodiment, the portable terminal storage box 60 includes the same wireless communication means and wireless communication control means as those in the first embodiment.
That is, wireless communication means such as an infrared port, a non-contact IC antenna, and a Bluetooth chip are provided inside the mobile terminal storage box 60 so that wireless communication can be performed with the stored mobile terminal. In addition, when the mobile terminal is stored in the mobile terminal storage box 60, the wireless communication control means determines whether the mobile terminal can perform wireless communication, displays a guidance based on the determination result, selects an optimal wireless communication method, and the like. Configured to do.

  Further, the mobile terminal storage box 60 is also provided with a wireless communication exclusive control means, as in the first embodiment. That is, in the present embodiment, the mobile terminal storage box 60 is surrounded by a shielding plate that blocks the propagation of infrared rays and electromagnetic waves to the outside of the storage box, and data transmitted from the mobile terminal leaks outside the image forming apparatus. Therefore, it is also possible to prevent eavesdropping by a third party and misdetection of other mobile terminals around as a communication partner. Furthermore, since the shield plate also blocks communication propagation from the public line network, it prevents the mobile phone from making a call during the communication between the mobile phone and the image forming apparatus, thereby preventing the communication from being cut off. . Specifically, such a shielding plate can be constituted by any one of the light shielding plate, each frequency cut filter, or a combination thereof.

Further, as a modification of the present embodiment, the one shown in FIG. 9 can be considered.
In the modified example of FIG. 9, an electromagnetic shield housing box that shields electromagnetic waves with an electromagnetic shield is provided with an antenna 61 of the same system as that used for public line network communication and a pseudo exchange 71. That is, the communication with the mobile phone is performed locally (closed space) in the same manner as the communication to the public line network, and the image forming unit 73 forms an image via the protocol conversion unit 72. With such a configuration, a mobile phone having no wireless communication means other than a communication means for the public line network can communicate with the image forming apparatus (free of charge). Moreover, speed and image quality can be improved by performing communication at a lower transfer rate and image quality compression than the wireless communication means.

1 is an overview of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is the enlarged view of the portable terminal storage place in the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and the mechanism figure of a radio | wireless communication control means. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of the radio | wireless communication control means in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of a screen displayed by the radio | wireless communication control means in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the radio | wireless communication suppression in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the radio | wireless communication suppression in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the radio | wireless communication suppression in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is an overview of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a processing unit of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus, 20 ... Display, 30 ... Mobile terminal place, 31 ... Infrared port, 311, 312 ... Infrared receiver, 32 ... Non-contact IC antenna, 33 ... Bluetooth chip, 40 ... Media reader, 51 ... Electromagnetic wave Shield bag, 52 ... Electromagnetic shield cover, 60 ... Mobile terminal storage box, 61 ... Antenna, 71 ... Pseudo-exchanger, 72 ... Protocol converter, 73 ... Image forming part

Claims (8)

A mobile terminal placement unit for placing the mobile terminal;
A non-contact IC antenna for communicating with a mobile terminal placed on the mobile terminal placement unit ;
An image forming unit that forms an image based on the data acquired by the non-contact IC antenna ,
The portable terminal placement unit is a shape that does not cover the placed portable terminal,
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-contact IC antenna is provided within a surface of the mobile terminal mounting portion on which the mobile terminal is mounted and is sized to be covered by the mobile terminal . The mobile terminal placing portion, an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a detection means for sensing that the mobile terminal is placed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the detection unit is a load sensor that performs the detection by detecting a change in weight in the portable terminal mounting unit. The mobile terminal placement unit, when it is detected by the detection means that the mobile terminal is placed, wireless communication control means for controlling the non-contact IC antenna to perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising: 5. The image formation according to claim 4, wherein the wireless communication control unit determines whether the non-contact IC antenna can wirelessly communicate with the portable terminal, and displays guidance according to a result of the determination. apparatus. When the plurality of wireless communication units that perform wireless communication with the portable terminal placed on the portable terminal placement unit can wirelessly communicate with the portable terminal , the wireless communication control unit 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the non-contact IC antenna is selected from among the units, and the non-contact IC antenna is controlled to perform wireless communication with the portable terminal. A portable terminal placing means for placing the portable terminal;
A non-contact IC antenna for communicating with a mobile terminal placed on the mobile terminal placement means,
The portable terminal placing means is a shape that does not cover the placed portable terminal,
The non-contact IC antenna is provided on a surface of the mobile terminal mounting means on which the mobile terminal is mounted, and is sized to be covered by the mobile terminal. unit. When the portable terminal placing means detects that the portable terminal is placed on the portable terminal placing means, the wireless communication control means controls the non-contact IC antenna to perform wireless communication with the portable terminal. The mobile terminal mounting unit according to claim 7 , further comprising:

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