JP2009223030A - Image forming system, advertisement display method in image forming system, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely display an advertisement image to be browsed easily to a user of an image forming device, and to make a person of remote-operating the image forming device using a client device surely browse an advertisement. <P>SOLUTION: In this image forming system 100, the client device 1 transmits an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image 63, to an advertisement distribution server 3, when the image forming device 2 starts an execution of a job in response to a job execution request transmitted from the client device 1. The advertisement distribution server 3 receives the advertisement image request, and transmits the advertisement image 63 to the client device 1, in response to the received advertisement image request. The client device 1 receives the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3, and displays it on a display 17. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention, for example, receives a job execution request for requesting execution of a job such as printing, copying, facsimile transmission, and the like, and receives the job execution request and executes the job in response to the job execution request. The present invention relates to an image forming system including an image forming apparatus, an advertisement display method in the image forming system, and a computer program.

  For example, an operation panel is attached to an image forming apparatus (multifunction machine) having a printing function, a copying function, a facsimile function, etc., and a user directly operates the operation panel to copy or send a facsimile to the image forming apparatus. Etc. can be executed.

  In addition, for example, a client device such as a personal computer can be connected to such an image forming apparatus, and a user remotely operates the image forming apparatus using the client device and performs a job such as printing on the image forming apparatus. Can be executed.

On the other hand, JP 2000-59554 A (Patent Document 1) distributes advertisement information from a management server to a copier via a public telephone line, and the distributed advertisement information is provided on the operation panel of the copier. The technology to display on the display is described.
JP 2000-59554 A

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, advertisement information distributed from the management server is displayed on a display provided on the operation panel of the copying machine. Thereby, the advertisement can be shown to the user of the copying machine.

  By the way, one means for improving the advertising effect of advertisement is to improve the quality of advertisement. In order to improve the quality of the advertisement, it is desirable to distribute a high-resolution still image as advertisement information from the management server to the copying machine.

  However, the display provided on the operation panel of the copying machine often has a low resolution (for example, the number of pixels of the display is about 640 × 240 dots). For this reason, even if a high-resolution still image is distributed as advertisement information from the management server to the copying machine, there is a problem that many copying machines cannot display such advertisement information satisfactorily. For example, in such a copying machine, a distributed high-resolution still image must be displayed with a reduced resolution, so that the advertisement image becomes rough and difficult to see. As a result, it is not possible to increase the advertising effect of the advertisement.

  In order to increase the advertising effect of advertisement, it is desirable to distribute a moving image as advertisement information from the management server to the copying machine.

  However, many copying machines do not have a function of playing back moving images using a display provided on the operation panel. For this reason, even if a moving image is distributed as advertisement information from the management server to the copying machine, there is a problem that many copying machines cannot display such advertisement information. As a result, it is not possible to increase the advertising effect of the advertisement.

  On the other hand, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, since advertisement information is displayed on the display of the operation panel provided in the copying machine body, an advertisement is sent to the user who directly operates the operation panel of the copying machine. Although it can be shown, there is a problem that an advertisement cannot be shown to a user who remotely operates the copier using the client device.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, for example, and a first problem of the present invention is an image forming system capable of displaying an advertisement image in a fine and easy-to-view manner for a person who uses the image forming apparatus. Another object is to provide an advertisement display method and a computer program in an image forming system.

  A second object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system capable of showing an advertisement to a person who remotely operates the image forming apparatus using a client apparatus, an advertisement display method in the image forming system, and a computer program. is there.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first image forming system of the present invention is an image forming system including a client device, an image forming device, and an advertisement distribution server, and the client device requests execution of a job. A job execution request transmission unit that transmits a job execution request to the image forming apparatus, and an advertisement image request that requests an advertisement image is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server when the job execution request is transmitted by the job execution request transmission unit. An advertisement image request transmitting means for receiving the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server and displaying the advertisement image on a display. The image forming apparatus executes a job of the client apparatus Receives the job execution request sent by the request sending means and executes the job in response to the job execution request The advertisement distribution server receives the advertisement image request transmitted by the advertisement image storage means for storing the advertisement image and the advertisement image request transmission means of the client device, and receives the advertisement image request. Correspondingly, an advertisement image transmitting means for transmitting the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage means to the client device is provided.

  A second image forming system according to the present invention includes the above-described components of the first image forming system according to the present invention, and the client device transmits the advertisement simultaneously with the transmission of the job execution request by the job execution request transmission unit. URL information request transmitting means for transmitting a URL information request for requesting URL information indicating a location where an image is stored to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus including URL information storage means for storing the URL information; URL information transmitting means for receiving the URL information request transmitted by the URL information request transmitting means of the client device and transmitting the URL information stored in the URL information storage means to the client device in response to the URL information request The advertisement image request transmitting means of the client device includes a U transmitted from the image forming device. It receives L information, and transmits the advertisement image request for the advertisement image stored in a location in which the URL information pointed to the advertisement distribution server.

  A third image forming system of the present invention includes the above-described components of the first image forming system of the present invention, and the advertisement image request transmitting means of the client device sends the advertisement image request via the image forming device. To the advertisement distribution server.

  A fourth image forming system of the present invention includes the components of the first image forming system of the present invention described above, and an advertisement image transmitting unit of the advertisement distribution server stores an advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage unit. Is transmitted to the client device via the image forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first advertisement display method of the present invention is an advertisement display method in an image forming system including a client device, an image forming device, and an advertisement distribution server, and requests a job execution A job execution request transmission step for transmitting an execution request from the client device to the image forming device, and a job execution request transmitted from the client device in the job execution request transmission step is received by the image forming device, and the job execution A job execution step of executing a job by the image forming apparatus in response to a request, and an advertisement image requesting an advertisement image when transmitting a job execution request from the client device to the image forming device in the job execution request transmission step An advertisement for transmitting a request from the client device to the advertisement distribution server An image request transmission step, and an advertisement image storage means that the advertisement distribution server has received the advertisement image request transmitted from the client device in the advertisement image request transmission step and responds to the advertisement image request. An advertisement image transmission step for transmitting the advertisement image stored in the advertisement distribution server to the client device, and the client device receives the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server in the advertisement image transmission step, An advertisement image display step of displaying the advertisement image on a display included in the client device.

  A second advertisement display method of the present invention comprises the above-described components of the first advertisement display method of the present invention, and transmits a job execution request from the client device to the image forming apparatus in the job execution request transmission step. At the same time, in the URL information request transmitting step for transmitting the URL information request for requesting URL information indicating the location where the advertisement image is stored from the client device to the image forming device, and in the URL information request transmitting step, the client device The transmitted URL information request is received by the image forming apparatus, and in response to the URL information request, the URL information stored in the URL information storage means of the image forming apparatus is transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the client apparatus. A URL information transmission step, and in the advertisement image request transmission step, the image The advertising image request for the advertisement image stored in the location pointed to by the URL information transmitted from the deposition apparatus transmitted from the client device to the advertisement distribution server.

  A third advertisement display method of the present invention includes the components of the first advertisement display method of the present invention described above. In the advertisement image request transmission step, the advertisement image request is sent from the client device to the image forming apparatus. To the advertisement distribution server.

  The fourth advertisement display method of the present invention comprises the components of the first advertisement display method of the present invention described above, and in the advertisement image transmission step, the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage means is distributed to the advertisement. The data is transmitted from the server to the client device via the image forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first computer program of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus that executes a job and a client apparatus that configures an image forming system together with an advertisement distribution server that stores advertisement images. A job execution request transmission means for transmitting a job execution request for requesting execution of the image to the image forming apparatus, and an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image when the job execution request is transmitted by the job execution request transmission means. Advertisement image request transmitting means for transmitting to the advertisement distribution server; and advertisement image display means for receiving the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server in response to the advertisement image request and displaying the advertisement image on a display. The computer is caused to function as the client device provided.

  A second computer program according to the present invention includes the components of the first computer program according to the present invention described above, and the client device transmits the job execution request by the job execution request transmission unit simultaneously with the image forming apparatus. And a URL information request transmitting means for transmitting a URL information request for requesting URL information indicating a location where the advertisement image is stored to the image forming apparatus, wherein the advertisement image request transmitting means includes the URL information request. In response, the URL information transmitted from the image forming apparatus is received, and the advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image stored at the location indicated by the URL information is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server.

  In the first image forming system of the present invention described above, when the image forming apparatus starts executing the job in response to the job execution request transmitted from the client apparatus to the image forming apparatus, the client apparatus transmits the job to the advertisement distribution server. The advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server to the client device in response to the received advertisement image request can be displayed on the display of the client device. The client device is generally a personal computer or the like, and is connected to a high-resolution display. Therefore, according to the first image forming system of the present invention, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a high-resolution still image, the advertisement image is displayed on the high-resolution display in an easy-to-read manner. Can do. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  The client device is generally a personal computer or the like, and has a function of reproducing a moving image. Therefore, according to the first image forming system of the present invention, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a moving image, the advertisement image is reproduced by the client device and displayed in a fine and easy-to-read manner on the display of the client device. can do. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  In the first image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image is displayed on the display of the client device. Therefore, it is not necessary to mount a high-resolution display on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus in order to display a high-resolution advertisement image in a fine and easy-to-read manner, and a moving image is reproduced on the image forming apparatus in order to reproduce a moving advertisement image. There is no need to install functions.

  According to the first image forming system of the present invention, since the advertisement image can be displayed on the display of the client device, the advertisement is shown to the user who remotely operates the image forming device using the client device. be able to.

  In the first image forming system of the present invention, an advertisement image can be displayed on the display of the client device immediately after the user starts execution of the job by the image forming device using the client device. Immediately after the user starts execution of a job by the image forming apparatus using the client apparatus, the user is in front of the client apparatus and looking at the display of the client apparatus. Therefore, according to the first image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image can be surely shown to the user who is remotely operating the image forming apparatus using the client apparatus.

  In the above-described second image forming system of the present invention, the image forming apparatus stores URL information indicating the location where the advertisement image is stored. Then, the client device receives this URL information from the image forming device, and transmits an advertisement image request for requesting an advertisement image stored in the location indicated by the URL information to the advertisement distribution server, thereby causing the advertisement distribution server to execute the advertisement. Get an image.

  Therefore, according to the second image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image can be reliably displayed. That is, URL information indicating the storage location of the advertisement image is stored in a storage device provided in the image forming apparatus, and this URL information cannot be changed or deleted by a general user of the image forming apparatus. Can do. Thereby, compared with the case where the URL information is stored in a storage device provided in a client device such as a personal computer, the URL information can be reliably held, and thereby an advertisement image can be displayed reliably. it can.

  In the above-described third image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image request is transmitted from the client device to the advertisement distribution server via the image forming device.

  Thereby, even when communication cannot be performed directly between the client device and the advertisement distribution server, the advertisement image request can be transmitted from the client device to the advertisement distribution server.

  In the above-described fourth image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image is transmitted from the advertisement distribution server to the client device via the image forming apparatus.

  Thereby, even when communication cannot be performed directly between the client device and the advertisement distribution server, the advertisement image can be transmitted from the advertisement distribution server to the client device.

  According to the first advertisement display method of the present invention described above, similarly to the above-described first image forming system of the present invention, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a high-resolution still image, This advertisement image can be displayed finely and easily on the high-resolution display of the client device. Further, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a moving image, the advertisement image can be reproduced by the client device and displayed on the display of the client device in a fine and easy-to-view manner. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  Further, according to the first advertisement display method of the present invention, in order to display a high-resolution advertisement image or a moving image advertisement image in a fine and easy-to-read manner, as in the first image forming system of the present invention described above, There is no need to mount a high-resolution display on the operation panel of the forming apparatus or to mount a moving image playback function on the image forming apparatus.

  Further, according to the first advertisement display method of the present invention, as in the first image forming system of the present invention described above, the advertisement is surely provided to the user who remotely operates the image forming apparatus using the client apparatus. Can show.

  According to the second advertisement display method of the present invention described above, the advertisement image can be reliably displayed as in the above-described second image forming system of the present invention.

  According to the third advertisement display method of the present invention described above, as in the case of the third image forming system of the present invention described above, even when communication cannot be performed directly between the client device and the advertisement distribution server, The advertisement image request can be transmitted from the client device to the advertisement distribution server.

  According to the fourth advertisement display method of the present invention described above, similarly to the above-described fourth image forming system of the present invention, even when communication cannot be performed directly between the client device and the advertisement distribution server, The advertisement image can be transmitted from the advertisement distribution server to the client device.

  According to the first computer program of the present invention described above, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a high-resolution still image, as in the first image forming system of the present invention described above. The advertisement image can be displayed in a fine and easy-to-view manner on the high-resolution display of the client device. Further, even when the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server is a moving image, the advertisement image can be reproduced by the client device, and can be displayed finely and easily on the display of the client device. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  Further, according to the first computer program of the present invention, as in the first image forming system of the present invention described above, in order to display a high-resolution advertisement image or a moving image advertisement image in a fine and easy-to-view manner, image formation is performed. There is no need to mount a high-resolution display on the operation panel of the apparatus and to mount a moving image playback function on the image forming apparatus.

  Further, according to the first computer program of the present invention, as in the above-described first image forming system of the present invention, an advertisement is reliably transmitted to a user who remotely operates the image forming apparatus using the client apparatus. Can show.

  According to the above-described second computer program of the present invention, the advertisement image can be reliably displayed as in the above-described second image forming system of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Image forming system)
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an image forming system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an image forming system 100 includes a client device 1, an image forming device 2, and an advertisement distribution server 3. The client apparatus 1 and the image forming apparatus 2 are connected to each other via, for example, a local computer network (in this embodiment, a local area network 4). The client device 1 and the advertisement distribution server 3 are connected to each other via, for example, a wide-area computer network (in this embodiment, the Internet 5).

  In the image forming system 100, the client apparatus 1 transmits a job execution request for requesting execution of a job such as copying, printing, or facsimile transmission to the image forming apparatus 2. The image forming apparatus 2 receives this job execution request and executes a job such as copying, printing, or facsimile transmission in accordance with the received job execution request.

  The image forming system 100 has an advertisement display function in addition to the basic functions of such an image forming system. That is, in the image forming system 100, when the image forming apparatus 2 starts executing a job in response to a job execution request transmitted from the client apparatus 1, the client apparatus 1 sends an advertisement image 63 (see FIG. 4) is transmitted. The advertisement distribution server 3 receives this advertisement image request, and transmits the advertisement image 63 to the client device 1 in response to the received advertisement image request. The client device 1 receives the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 and displays it on the display 17 (see FIG. 2).

  The advertisement image 63 is an image showing information such as advertisements, announcements, guidance, news, and announcements. The form of the image may be a still image or a moving image. The data format of the advertisement image 63 is not limited. The data of the advertisement image 63 is not limited to image data, and may be text data, that is, any data that can display information visible to the user on the display 17.

  Hereinafter, the configurations of the client device 1, the image forming device 2, and the advertisement distribution server 3 for realizing the advertisement display function of the image forming system 100, and the advertisement display processing will be described in detail.

(Client device)
FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the client device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the client device 1 is a personal computer, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a hard disk drive (not shown), A local communication interface 14, a wide area communication interface 15, a keyboard 16, a mouse (not shown), a display 17, and an advertisement image display counter 18 are provided.

  The ROM 12 includes a personal computer as a client device 1 including a job execution request transmission unit 21, a URL information request transmission unit 22, an advertisement image request transmission unit 23, an information reception unit 24, an advertisement image display control unit 25, and a setting unit 26. A computer program for functioning is stored. The CPU 11 reads this computer program from the ROM 12 and executes it to cause the personal computer to function as the client device 1. The RAM 13 is used as a working memory when the CPU 11 executes the computer program.

  The computer program for causing the personal computer to function as the client apparatus 1 is specifically a part of a driver program for remotely operating the image forming apparatus 2 using the personal computer.

  As described above, when the CPU 11 executes the computer program stored in the ROM 12, the personal computer can execute the job execution request transmission unit 21, the URL information request transmission unit 22, the advertisement image request transmission unit 23, the information reception unit 24, It functions as the client device 1 including the advertisement image display control unit 25 and the setting unit 26.

  The job execution request transmission unit 21 transmits to the image forming apparatus 2 a job execution request that requests the image forming apparatus 2 to execute a job such as copying, printing, or facsimile transmission. The job execution request transmission unit 21 is a specific example of job execution request transmission means.

  The URL information request transmission unit 22 requests URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information 44 (see FIG. 3) indicating the location where the advertisement image 63 is stored simultaneously with the transmission of the job execution request by the job execution request transmission unit 21. An information request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 2. The URL information request transmission unit 22 is a specific example of URL information request transmission means.

  The advertisement image request transmission unit 23 transmits an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image 63 to the advertisement distribution server 3 when the job execution request transmission unit 21 transmits a job execution request. Specifically, the advertisement image request transmission unit 23 requests the advertisement image 63 stored in the location indicated by the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 2 in response to the URL information request and received by the information reception unit 24. The advertisement image request to be transmitted is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server 3. The advertisement image request transmission unit 23 is a specific example of the advertisement image request transmission unit together with the information reception unit 24.

  The information receiving unit 24 receives the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 2 and the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3.

  The advertisement image display control unit 25 displays the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 and received by the information receiving unit 24 on the display 17. The advertisement image display control unit 25 has a function of reproducing a moving image, and can display not only the still image advertising image 63 but also the moving image advertising image 63 on the display 17. The advertisement image display control unit 25 is a specific example of the advertisement image display unit together with the information receiving unit 24.

  The setting unit 26 sets on / off of the advertisement display function according to the input by the user. When the advertisement display function is turned on, the job execution request transmission unit 21 transmits a job execution request, the URL information request transmission unit 22 transmits a URL information request, the information reception unit 24 receives the URL information 44, and the advertisement image request transmission unit. 23, the advertisement image request is transmitted, the information receiving unit 24 receives the advertisement image 63, and the advertisement image display control unit 25 displays the advertisement image 63. On the other hand, when the advertisement display function is turned off, the job execution request transmission unit 21 transmits the job execution request, but the URL information request transmission unit 22 transmits the URL information request, and the information reception unit 24 updates the URL information 44. Reception, transmission of the advertisement image request by the advertisement image request transmission unit 23, reception of the advertisement image 63 by the information reception unit 24, or display of the advertisement image 63 by the advertisement image display control unit 25 is not executed.

  The local communication interface 14 connects between the client apparatus 1 and the image forming apparatus 2 and enables communication between the two. The local communication interface 14 is, for example, a local area network communication interface circuit. As a communication protocol between the client apparatus 1 and the image forming apparatus 2, for example, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is used.

  The wide area communication interface 15 connects between the client device 1 and the advertisement distribution server 3 and enables communication between the two. The wide area communication interface 15 is, for example, a communication interface circuit for the Internet.

  The display 17 is a liquid crystal display, for example. The display 17 is, for example, a color liquid crystal display of about 15 to 24 type that is generally used as a monitor of a personal computer, and preferably has a resolution of about 1024 × 768 or higher.

  The advertisement image display counter 18 counts the number of times the advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17 by the advertisement image display control unit 25. For example, when the image forming apparatus 2 is leased to a user, the lease fee can be discounted based on the count value of the advertisement image display counter 18. When the user turns off the advertisement display function using the setting unit 26, the advertisement image display counter 18 does not update the counter value.

(Image forming device)
FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the image forming apparatus 2. The image forming apparatus 2 is, for example, a multifunction machine having a copying function, a printing function, a facsimile function, and the like. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a control unit 31, a hard disk drive 32, an operation panel 33, a copying / printing mechanism 34, a local communication interface 35, and a telephone line for performing facsimile transmission / reception. A communication interface (not shown) is provided for connection.

  The control unit 31 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM (all not shown). The ROM of the control unit 31 implements a job execution control unit 41, a URL information transmission unit 42, and an information reception unit 43, in addition to a computer program for realizing the copying function, printing function, and facsimile function of the image forming apparatus 2. A computer program is stored. The CPU of the control unit 31 reads these computer programs from the ROM and executes them. Thereby, the copy function, the print function, and the facsimile function of the image forming apparatus 2 are realized, and the job execution control unit 41, the URL information transmission unit 42, and the information reception unit 43 are realized. The RAM of the control unit 31 is used as a working memory when the CPU executes the computer program.

  The job execution control unit 41 realized by the CPU of the control unit 31 is transmitted by the job execution request transmission unit 21 of the client device 1 and is copied, printed, or transmitted by facsimile according to the job execution request received by the information reception unit 43. Execute a job such as The job execution control unit 41 controls the copying / printing mechanism 34 and the like when executing a job. The job execution control unit 41 is a specific example of job execution means together with the information receiving unit 43.

  The URL information transmitting unit 42 transmits the URL information 44 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32 to the client in response to the URL information request transmitted by the URL information request transmitting unit 22 of the client device 1 and received by the information receiving unit 43. Transmit to device 1.

  Specifically, the URL information transmission unit 42 selects one of the plurality of URL information 44 stored in the hard disk, and transmits the selected one URL information 44 to the client device 1. The URL information transmission unit 42 changes the URL information 44 to be selected every time a URL information request is received. That is, every time a URL information request is received from the client device 1, the URL information transmission unit 42 transmits URL information 44 different from the previous time to the client device 1. Thus, when the URL information 44 transmitted from the URL information transmission unit 42 to the client device 1 is changed, the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 to the client device 1 in response to the advertisement image request of the client device 1. Is changed. As a result, a different advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1 each time a job execution request is made. The URL information transmission unit 42 is a specific example of URL information transmission means together with the information reception unit 43.

  The information receiving unit 43 receives a job execution request and a URL information request transmitted from the client device 1.

  A plurality of different URL information 44, 44,... Are stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32. Each URL information 44 indicates the location where the advertisement image 63 is stored. For example, each URL information 44 includes a server name, a port number, a folder name, and a file name of the advertisement image 63 of the advertisement distribution server 3 in which the advertisement image 63 is stored. The hard disk drive 32 is a specific example of URL information storage means.

  The operation panel 33 is disposed, for example, on the front panel of the image forming apparatus 2. The operation panel 33 is provided with a button for the user to directly operate the image forming apparatus 2 and a small liquid crystal display for providing the user with various information regarding the image forming apparatus 2.

  The copying / printing mechanism 34 includes a scanning mechanism for reading a document image, a printing mechanism for performing a printing process such as development, transfer, and fixing, a transport mechanism for transporting a document or a sheet, and a sheet for storing the sheet. It has a storage mechanism.

  The local communication interface 35 connects between the image forming apparatus 2 and the client apparatus 1 and enables communication between the two. The local communication interface 35 is, for example, a local area network communication interface circuit.

(Ad delivery server)
FIG. 4 shows the internal structure of the advertisement distribution server 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the advertisement distribution server 3 is a server computer, for example, and includes an input / output device (not shown) such as a CPU 51, a ROM 52, a RAM 53, a hard disk drive 54, a keyboard, a mouse, and a display, and a wide area communication interface 55. I have.

  The ROM 52 stores a computer program for realizing the advertisement image transmission unit 61 and the information reception unit 62. The CPU 51 reads this computer program from the ROM 52 and executes it. Thereby, the advertisement image transmission unit 61 and the information reception unit 62 are realized. The RAM 53 is used as a working memory when the CPU executes the computer program.

  The advertisement image transmission unit 61 realized by the CPU 51 is transmitted from the advertisement image request transmission unit 23 of the client device 1 and stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 54 in response to the advertisement image request received by the information reception unit 62. The advertisement image 63 is transmitted to the client device 2. Specifically, the advertisement image transmission unit 61 responds to the URL information request of the client apparatus 1 by using the advertisement image 63 stored in the location indicated by the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 2 to the client apparatus 1 (the URL concerned) The advertisement image 63) having the folder name and file name indicated by the information 44 is transmitted to the client device 1. The advertisement image transmission unit 61 is a specific example of the advertisement image transmission unit together with the information reception unit 62.

  The information receiving unit 62 receives the advertisement image request transmitted from the client device 1.

  A plurality of advertisement images 63, 63,... Are stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 54. The hard disk drive 54 is a specific example of advertisement image storage means.

  The wide area communication interface 55 connects between the advertisement distribution server 3 and the client device 1 and enables communication between the two. The wide area communication interface 55 is, for example, an internet communication interface circuit.

(Advertisement display processing by image forming system)
FIG. 5 shows advertisement display processing (including a job execution step) by the image forming system 100.

  When the user operates the client apparatus 1 and inputs an instruction to the client apparatus 1 to start execution of a desired job by the image forming apparatus 2, the advertisement display process starts.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the advertisement display process, first, the job execution request transmission unit 21 of the client device 1 transmits the job execution request to the image forming device 2, and at the same time, the URL information request transmission unit 22 of the client device 1 Then, a URL information request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 2 (step S1: job execution request transmission step, URL information request transmission step). Specifically, the job execution request and the URL information request are combined with each other, and are transmitted as one data from the client apparatus 1 to the image forming apparatus 2 via the local area network 4.

  Subsequently, the information receiving unit 43 of the image forming apparatus 2 receives the job execution request and the URL information request transmitted from the client apparatus 1 (step S2: part of the job execution process, part of the URL information transmission process). .

  Subsequently, the job execution control unit 41 of the image forming apparatus 2 executes a job such as copying, printing, or facsimile transmission in response to the job execution request received in step S2 (step S3: part of the job execution process). .

  Subsequently, the URL information transmission unit 42 of the image forming apparatus 2 selects one of the plurality of URL information 44 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32 in response to the URL information request received in step S2, The selected URL information 44 is transmitted to the client device 1 (step S4: part of the URL information transmission step).

  Subsequently, the information receiving unit 24 of the client device 1 receives the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming device 2 (step S5: part of the advertisement image request transmitting step).

  Subsequently, the advertisement image request transmission unit 23 of the client device 1 transmits an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image 63 stored in the location indicated by the URL information 44 received in Step S5 to the advertisement distribution server 3 (Step S5). S6: Part of the advertisement image request transmission step).

  Subsequently, the information receiving unit 62 of the advertisement distribution server 3 receives the advertisement image request transmitted from the client device 1 (step S7: part of the advertisement image transmitting step).

  Subsequently, the advertisement image transmission unit 61 of the advertisement distribution server 3 transmits the advertisement image 63 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 54 to the client device 1 in response to the advertisement image request received in step S7 (step S8). : Part of the advertisement image transmission process). Specifically, the advertisement image transmission unit 61 transmits the advertisement image 63 (the folder name and URL indicated by the URL information 44) stored in the location indicated by the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 2 to the client apparatus 1 in step S4. The advertisement image 63) having the file name is transmitted to the client device 1.

  Subsequently, the information receiving unit 24 of the client device 1 receives the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 (step S9: part of the advertisement image display process).

  Subsequently, the advertisement image display control unit 25 of the client device 1 displays the advertisement image 63 received in step S9 on the display 17 (step S10: part of the advertisement image display process). When the advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17, the counter value of the advertisement image display counter 18 of the client device 1 is incremented by one.

  The processing from step S1 to step S10 is performed continuously. As a result, when the user operates the client device 1 and inputs to the client device 1 an instruction to start execution of a desired job by the image forming device 2, the advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1 immediately thereafter. Is displayed.

  As described above, in the image forming system 100, when the image forming apparatus 2 starts executing a job in response to the job execution request transmitted from the client apparatus 1, the image forming system 100 transmits the job to the advertisement distribution server 3. The advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 to the client device 1 in response to the advertisement image request can be displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1. In the present embodiment, the client device 1 is a personal computer and includes a high-resolution display 17. Therefore, according to the image forming system 100, even when the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 is a high-resolution still image, the advertisement image 63 can be displayed on the display 17 in a fine and easy-to-view manner. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  In addition, the advertisement image display control unit 25 of the client device 1 has a function of reproducing a moving image. Therefore, according to the image forming system 100, even when the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 is a moving image, the advertisement image 63 is reproduced by the advertisement image display control unit 25 and is displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1. It can be displayed in fine detail and easy to see. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  In the first image forming system of the present invention, the advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1. Therefore, it is necessary to mount a high-resolution display on the operation panel 33 of the image forming apparatus 2 in order to display the high-resolution advertisement image 63 or the moving image advertisement image 63 in a fine and easy-to-view manner. There is no need to install.

  Further, according to the image forming system 100, the advertisement image 63 can be displayed on the display 17 of the client apparatus 1, so that the user who remotely operates the image forming apparatus 2 using the client apparatus 1 is shown an advertisement. be able to.

  In particular, in the image forming system 100, the advertisement image 63 can be displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1 immediately after the user starts execution of a job by the image forming device 2 using the client device 1. Immediately after the user starts execution of a job by the image forming apparatus 2 using the client apparatus 1, the user is in front of the client apparatus 1 and looks at the display 17 of the client apparatus 1. Therefore, according to the image forming system 100, the advertisement image 63 can be reliably shown to the user who is remotely operating the image forming apparatus 2 using the client apparatus 1. Therefore, the advertising effect by advertisement can be enhanced.

  In the image forming system 100, the image forming apparatus 2 stores URL information 44 indicating the location where the advertisement image 63 is stored. Then, the client apparatus 1 receives the URL information 44 from the image forming apparatus 2 and transmits an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image 63 stored at the location indicated by the URL information 44 to the advertisement distribution server 3. Thus, the advertisement image 63 is acquired from the advertisement distribution server 3.

  Therefore, according to the image forming system 100, the advertisement image 63 can be displayed reliably. That is, URL information 44 indicating the storage location of the advertisement image 63 is stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32 provided in the image forming apparatus 2, and this URL information 44 can be changed by a general user of the image forming apparatus 2 without permission. It can be prevented from being erased. Thereby, compared with the case where the URL information 44 is stored in the storage device provided in the client device 1 which is a personal computer, the URL information 44 can be reliably held, and thereby the display of the advertisement image 63 is ensured. Can be done.

  In the image forming system 100, every time the image forming apparatus 2 receives a URL information request from the client apparatus 1, the URL information 44 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 2 to the client apparatus 1 is changed. As a result, the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 to the client apparatus 1 is changed in response to the advertisement image request of the client apparatus 1, so that every time a job execution request is made on the display 17 of the client apparatus 1. Different advertisement images 63 are displayed. Thereby, various advertising images 63 can be shown to the user using the display 17 of the client device 1.

  In the image forming system 100, the advertisement image display counter 18 counts the number of times the advertisement image 63 is displayed on the display 17 by the advertisement image display control unit 25. Thereby, for example, when the image forming apparatus 2 is leased to the user, the lease fee can be discounted based on the count value of the advertisement image display counter 18.

  In the image forming system 100 described above, the client device 1 and the advertisement distribution server 3 are connected via the Internet 5, and an advertisement image request is directly transmitted from the client device 1 to the advertisement distribution server 3, and the advertisement image 63 is displayed. Although the case of transmitting directly from the advertisement distribution server 3 to the client device 1 is taken as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as in the image forming system 200 shown in FIG. 6, the image forming apparatus 2 and the advertisement distribution server 3 are connected via the Internet 5, and the advertisement image request is distributed from the client apparatus 1 via the image forming apparatus 2. The advertisement image 63 may be transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 to the client device 1 via the image forming apparatus 2 while being transmitted to the server 3.

  In this case, the wide area communication interface for connecting the image forming apparatus 2 and the advertisement distribution server 3 via the Internet 5 and the advertisement image request transmitted from the client apparatus 1 are received, and this is received as the advertisement distribution server 3. And means for receiving the advertisement image 63 transmitted from the advertisement distribution server 3 and transferring it to the client apparatus 1 are added to the image forming apparatus 2.

  Further, in the image forming system 200, first, although an instruction for requesting the advertisement image 63 is included vaguely, an advertisement image request that does not include URL information indicating the location where the advertisement image 63 is stored is transmitted to the client device. 1 to the image forming apparatus 2. When the image forming apparatus 2 transfers the advertisement image request received from the client apparatus 1 to the advertisement distribution server 3, the image forming apparatus 2 includes the URL information 44 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32. One is selected, and the location indicated by the selected URL information 44 is determined as a request destination of the advertisement image request (that is, the advertisement image 63 indicated by the folder name and file name included in the selected URL information is determined as the advertisement image request). It is desirable to determine as one advertisement image 63 to be a target).

  According to the image forming system 200 having such a configuration, even when communication between the client device 1 and the advertisement distribution server 3 cannot be performed directly, the high-resolution advertisement image 63 or the moving image that the advertisement distribution server 3 has. The advertisement image 63 can be shown to the user in a fine and easy-to-see state using the display 17 of the client device 1.

  Further, in the image forming system 100 described above, the image forming apparatus 2 selects one URL information 44 from among a plurality of URL information 44 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 32, and based on this, the client apparatus 1. Although the case where the advertisement image 63 displayed on the display 17 is changed has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, information indicating the storage location of one advertisement image (one URL information including the name, port number, folder name, and file name of the advertisement distribution server 3) or CGI (Common Gateway Interface) that transmits the advertisement image One URL information to be specified is stored in the image forming apparatus 2, and this URL information may be transmitted to the client apparatus 1 whenever the image forming apparatus 2 receives a URL information request from the client apparatus 1. . Even in this case, each time the advertisement distribution server 3 receives an advertisement image request from the client device 1, another advertisement image 63 having the same file name but different contents is stored in one advertisement image 63 stored in the hard disk of the hard disk drive 54. The user starts the execution of the job for the advertisement image 63 displayed on the display 17 of the client device 1 by replacing it with the CGI or by preparing a CGI for switching the advertisement image 63 to be transmitted each time an advertisement distribution request is received. It can be changed each time an input is made.

  Further, in the image forming system 100 described above, the URL information 44 is stored in the image forming apparatus 2, and the client apparatus 1 transmits a URL information request to the image forming apparatus 2 to receive the URL information 44 from the image forming apparatus 2. Although the case where the advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image 63 acquired and stored in the location indicated by the acquired URL information 44 is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server 3 is taken as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, URL information may be stored in the client device 1 and an advertisement image request for requesting an advertisement image stored in a location indicated by the URL information may be transmitted to the advertisement distribution server 3. In this case, since the client apparatus 1 itself has URL information, it is not necessary to transmit a URL information request to the image forming apparatus 2 and acquire the URL information 44 stored in the image forming apparatus 2. However, the URL information 44 is stored in the image forming apparatus 2, and the client apparatus 1 transmits the URL information request to the image forming apparatus 2 and acquires the URL information 44 stored in the image forming apparatus 2. Thus, as described above, the advertisement image 63 can be reliably displayed.

  In addition, the present invention can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and an image forming system with such a change, and an advertisement display method in the image forming system Computer programs are also included in the technical idea of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming system of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of a client device in an image forming system that is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal structure of an image forming apparatus in an image forming system that is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the advertisement delivery server in the image forming system which is embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the advertisement display process by the image forming system which is embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows other embodiment of the image forming system of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Client apparatus 2 Image forming apparatus 3 Advertisement delivery server 17 Display 21 Job execution request transmission part (Job execution request transmission means)
22 URL information request transmission unit (URL information request transmission means)
23 Advertisement image request transmission unit (advertisement image request transmission means)
24 Information receiving unit (advertisement image request transmission means, advertisement image display means)
25 Advertising image display control unit (advertisement image display means)
32 Hard disk drive (URL information storage means)
41 Job execution control unit (job execution means)
42 URL information transmitter (URL information transmitter)
43 Information receiver (job execution means, URL information transmission means)
44 URL information 54 Hard disk drive (advertising image storage means)
61 Advertising image transmission unit (Advertising image transmission means)
62 Information receiver (advertising image transmission means)
63 Advertising image 100, 200 Image forming system

Claims (10)

An image forming system including a client device, an image forming device, and an advertisement distribution server,
The client device is
Job execution request transmitting means for transmitting a job execution request for requesting job execution to the image forming apparatus;
An advertisement image request transmitting means for transmitting an advertisement image request for requesting an advertisement image to the advertisement distribution server when a job execution request is transmitted by the job execution request transmitting means;
Receiving an advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server, and displaying an advertisement image on the display, the advertisement image display means,
The image forming apparatus includes:
A job execution unit that receives the job execution request transmitted by the job execution request transmission unit of the client device and executes the job in response to the job execution request;
The advertisement distribution server
Advertisement image storage means for storing the advertisement image;
Advertisement image transmitting means for receiving an advertisement image request transmitted by the advertisement image request transmitting means of the client device and transmitting the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage means to the client device in response to the advertisement image request And an image forming system. The client device is
URL information request transmission means for transmitting a URL information request for requesting URL information indicating a location where the advertisement image is stored to the image forming apparatus simultaneously with transmission of the job execution request by the job execution request transmission means;
The image forming apparatus includes:
URL information storage means for storing the URL information;
URL information transmitting means for receiving the URL information request transmitted by the URL information request transmitting means of the client device and transmitting the URL information stored in the URL information storage means to the client device in response to the URL information request And
The advertisement image request transmitting means of the client device receives the URL information transmitted from the image forming device, and sends the advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image stored in the location indicated by the URL information to the advertisement distribution server. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising:   The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement image request transmitting unit of the client device transmits the advertisement image request to the advertisement distribution server via the image forming device.   The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement image transmitting unit of the advertisement distribution server transmits the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage unit to the client device via the image forming device. . An advertisement display method in an image forming system including a client device, an image forming device, and an advertisement distribution server,
A job execution request transmission step of transmitting a job execution request for requesting job execution from the client device to the image forming apparatus;
A job execution step of receiving the job execution request transmitted from the client apparatus in the job execution request transmission step by the image forming apparatus and executing the job by the image forming apparatus in response to the job execution request;
An advertisement image request transmission step of transmitting an advertisement image request for requesting an advertisement image from the client device to the advertisement distribution server when a job execution request is transmitted from the client device to the image forming device in the job execution request transmission step. When,
The advertisement image request transmitted from the client device in the advertisement image request transmission step is received by the advertisement distribution server, and the advertisement stored in the advertisement image storage means of the advertisement distribution server in response to the advertisement image request An advertisement image transmission step of transmitting an image from the advertisement distribution server to the client device;
An advertisement image display step of receiving the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server in the advertisement image transmission step by the client device and displaying the advertisement image on a display included in the client device. Ad display method. In the job execution request transmitting step, a job execution request is transmitted from the client apparatus to the image forming apparatus, and at the same time, a URL information request for requesting URL information indicating a location where the advertisement image is stored is transmitted from the client apparatus to the image forming apparatus. URL information request transmission process to be transmitted to the device;
The URL information request transmitted from the client device in the URL information request transmitting step is received by the image forming apparatus, and the URL information stored in the URL information storage means of the image forming apparatus in response to the URL information request A URL information transmission step for transmitting from the image forming apparatus to the client apparatus,
In the advertisement image request transmission step, the advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image stored in the location indicated by the URL information transmitted from the image forming apparatus is transmitted from the client apparatus to the advertisement distribution server. The advertisement display method according to claim 5, wherein the advertisement is displayed.   6. The advertisement display method according to claim 5, wherein, in the advertisement image request transmission step, the advertisement image request is transmitted from the client device to the advertisement distribution server via the image forming apparatus.   6. The advertisement display according to claim 5, wherein, in the advertisement image transmission step, the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage means is transmitted from the advertisement distribution server to the client device via the image forming device. Method. A client apparatus that constitutes an image forming system together with an image forming apparatus that executes a job and an advertisement distribution server that stores advertisement images,
Job execution request transmitting means for transmitting a job execution request for requesting execution of the job to the image forming apparatus;
An advertisement image request transmitting means for transmitting an advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image to the advertisement distribution server when a job execution request is transmitted by the job execution request transmitting means;
A computer program for causing a computer to function as a client device including an advertisement image display unit that receives the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement distribution server in response to the advertisement image request and displays the advertisement image on a display. The client device is
URL for transmitting to the image forming apparatus a URL information request for requesting URL information stored in the image forming apparatus and indicating the location where the advertisement image is stored simultaneously with the transmission of the job execution request by the job execution request transmitting means Comprising an information request transmitting means,
The advertisement image request transmitting means receives the URL information transmitted from the image forming apparatus in response to the URL information request, and requests the advertisement image request for requesting the advertisement image stored at the location indicated by the URL information. The computer program according to claim 9, wherein the computer program is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server.

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