JP2009232051A - Portable terminal printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal printing system capable of simply printing out contents transmitted from a communication terminal anytime at a user's destination by using a portable terminal. <P>SOLUTION: The portable terminal printing system includes: a server; a communication terminal and a portable terminal which can communicate with the server respectively; and a printer capable of communicating with the portable terminal. The server in the system converts image data received from the communication terminal into printing data and transmits the print data to the portable terminal in response to a request from the portable terminal. The portable terminal transfers the printing data to the printer and the printer prints out a document on the basis of the printing data. The transmission of the image data from the communication terminal to the server is performed by the transmission of mail to which the image data are attached by using an exclusive mail address corresponding to the portable terminal as a destination. The server specifies the portable terminal transmitting the printing data on the basis of an exclusive mail address. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a printing system that prints image data transmitted from a communication terminal using a printer connected to a portable terminal. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing system having a relay server that relays image data transmitted from a communication terminal, converts it into print data usable by a printer, and transmits the print data to a portable terminal.

  In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, various communication means using a computer network have been developed, but facsimile communication using a telephone line is still used as a main communication means for general businesses. In particular, when transmitting information recorded on a paper medium, such as a handwritten memo or a hard copy with a seal or signature, information can be transmitted by a very simple operation in facsimile transmission. This ease of operation is considered to be one of the reasons why facsimiles are still used as the main communication means in general businesses.

  Normally, facsimile communication is performed between facsimile apparatuses installed in an office or the like, but there are many needs for facsimile transmission to a sales partner, a salesperson, or a moving partner such as a delivery car of a shipping company. Actually, a mobile facsimile service using a mobile phone network was once provided by a mobile phone operator.

  Incidentally, in recent years, with the widespread use of portable terminals such as notebook personal computers and PDAs, there is an increasing need to print documents created with these portable terminals at the destination. In response to such needs, a small and lightweight portable printer that has a built-in battery and can be wirelessly connected to a portable terminal has been put into practical use. Portable printers, for example, create and print reports and quotations at sales offices, create and print reports for on-site repairs and maintenance inspection services locally, and on-site care services for patients on business trips. It is used in various situations, such as creating and printing nursing care report.

  Recently, with the advancement of functions of mobile phone terminals, there is an increasing need to print information acquired or created by mobile phone terminals with a portable printer. A system for printing a document or the like created on a mobile phone terminal with a portable printer is described in Patent Document 1, for example. In the printing system of Patent Document 1, the content input by the user at the mobile phone terminal is converted into a data format suitable for the portable printer (that is, a format that does not need to be rasterized by the printer) at the server on the network. The converted data is received by the mobile phone terminal, transmitted to the printer, and printed by the printer. According to this system, the load of data conversion processing in the mobile phone terminal and the printer can be reduced by using the server.

  In recent years, digital multifunction peripherals that combine various functions such as a printer function, a copy function, and a scanner function in addition to a facsimile function have become widespread. Many digital MFPs can be connected to the network. For example, the image data captured by the scanner function is converted into an image file in a general-purpose format such as the TIFF format and sent as an e-mail attachment to a specified address via the network. And a scanner image mail transmission function.

JP 2007-328391 A

  However, in the facsimile communication, since the transmission side terminal and the reception side terminal communicate directly, the facsimile cannot be transmitted unless both the transmission and reception sides are in a communicable state. When the receiver is a mobile terminal, it is often impossible to receive the signal because it is in a place where the radio wave condition is not good. Therefore, since transmission errors frequently occur and must be retransmitted each time, it is inconvenient.

  In recent cellular phone systems, voice signals (ie, facsimile signals) are compressed at a high compression rate. The facsimile signal transmitted by such a cellular phone system cannot be decoded normally because the signal waveform changes greatly due to the high frequency component being cut off. For this reason, with the update of the mobile phone system, the mobile facsimile service has been abolished, and effective means for solving the need for facsimile transmission to a moving destination have been discontinued.

  Further, the scanner attached to the e-mail received by the user of the mobile phone terminal is sent to the mobile phone terminal by using the scanner image mail sending function of the above-mentioned digital multi-function peripheral. By temporarily storing the image file in the mobile phone terminal and printing the stored scanner image file using the printing system described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to realize processing similar to that of the mobile facsimile service. However, with this method, a scanner image file can be transmitted on the transmission side by a simple operation equivalent to normal facsimile transmission. However, on the reception side, the scanner image file is temporarily saved and a scanner image file to be printed is selected. You have to do the troublesome process of doing. In addition, since large-capacity image data is transmitted many times through the mobile phone network, there is a problem that communication cost is high and communication takes a long time.

  Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a mobile terminal printing system capable of easily obtaining and printing image data transmitted from a communication terminal at any time on the go using a mobile terminal. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a portable terminal printing system including a server, a communication terminal and a portable terminal that can communicate with the server, and a printer that can communicate with the portable terminal. The communication terminal of this system includes an image-attached mail transmission unit that transmits an e-mail attached with image data to be printed by a printer to a server. In addition, the server of this system includes a mail transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives an e-mail, a communication unit that communicates with a portable terminal, and image data attached to the e-mail received from the communication terminal as print data that can be used by the printer. Image data conversion means for conversion, and print data transmission means for receiving a request from the portable terminal via the communication means and transmitting the print data converted in response to the request to the portable terminal. The portable terminal of the present system includes a wireless communication means for communicating with a server via a wireless link, an external device communication means for communicating with an external device, a request means for requesting print data from the server, a server Print data receiving means for receiving print data from the printer, and print instruction means for transmitting the received print data and a print instruction for the print data to the printer via the external device communication means. In addition, the printer of this system includes a printing unit that receives print data and a print instruction from the mobile terminal, and performs printing based on the received print data and the print instruction.

  According to this configuration, the mail attached with the image data transmitted from the communication terminal is relayed by the server, and after the image data is converted into a format suitable for printing by the printer, the mail is transferred to the portable terminal. Furthermore, it is printed by a printer via a portable terminal. For this reason, it is possible to perform printing with a simple operation using the portable terminal even when away from home by simply transmitting an email with image data to be printed by the printer at the communication terminal. In addition, useless processing such as conversion processing of image data with a large amount of calculation in a portable terminal or portable printer with relatively low processing capacity, or conversion processing by transmitting image data from a portable terminal to a server Can be omitted. Furthermore, according to the present system, unlike the facsimile communication, it is not necessary for the portable terminal to receive the print data at the same time as the communication terminal transmits the image data. For this reason, image data can be reliably transmitted from the communication terminal even when the portable terminal is in a state where reception is impossible. Also, the print data can be received at any time on the portable terminal side. Therefore, as compared with a conventional portable facsimile in which the reception state is unstable, reliable image transmission is possible and convenience is improved.

  The print data usable by the printer of the present invention may be raster format print data. In this way, the image data is converted into raster format print data by the server and then transmitted to the mobile terminal and the printer, so that it is not necessary to perform processing such as rasterization inside the mobile terminal or printer, Printing can be executed without performing a data conversion process with a large amount of calculation.

  In the portable terminal printing system of the present invention, the server may further include a notification unit that notifies the portable terminal that image data to be printed by the printer has been received.

  With this configuration, the user of the mobile terminal can know that the server receives image data to be printed. For this reason, when there is no data to be printed on the server, an unnecessary print data request is not sent to the server, and communication costs and labor can be reduced.

  In the portable terminal printing system of the present invention, the server stores data that stores a table in which identification information of the portable terminal and a dedicated e-mail address corresponding to the portable terminal are associated and stored. With reference to the storage means and the table, the destination of the print data converted from the image data attached to the e-mail is based on the dedicated e-mail address that is the destination address of the e-mail received from the communication terminal. And an address specifying means for specifying the portable terminal to be operated. In this case, the image-attached mail transmission unit transmits an e-mail attached with the image data to the server using the dedicated mail address corresponding to the portable terminal that is the transmission destination of the print data as the destination address, and the print data transmission unit Based on the identification information of the requested mobile terminal, print data that should be transmitted to the mobile terminal may be transmitted.

  In this way, scanner image mail transmission that is used in many existing digital multi-function peripherals by designating the mobile terminal that is the destination of print data by using the dedicated mail address corresponding to each mobile terminal as the destination address It is possible to send print data using the function. Even when sending from a PC, the sending process can be performed with a simple operation of simply designating and sending the corresponding dedicated mail address from the address book. Further, the above function can be easily realized by the configuration in which the server holds a table in which the dedicated e-mail address is associated with the mobile terminal.

  The table may further hold a mobile mail address indicating the mobile terminal in association with it. In this case, the address specifying means can specify the mobile mail address corresponding to the dedicated mail address that is the destination address of the electronic mail received from the communication terminal with reference to the table. Further, the notification by the notification means may be transmission of a notification mail to the mobile terminal. In this case, the notification mail can be transmitted with the specified mobile mail address as the destination address.

  As described above, electronic mail is suitable as a means for performing notification in substantially real time at an arbitrary timing. By storing the mobile mail address in association with the table, it is easy to notify the mobile terminal to which the print data is to be sent by electronic mail.

  The server may further include an authentication unit that determines whether access from the mobile terminal is valid. In this case, the print data transmission unit can transmit the print data to the portable terminal only when the authentication unit determines that the access from the portable terminal is valid.

  With this configuration, unauthorized data acquisition by a mobile terminal that is not registered in the server can be prevented.

  Further, the table may further hold a password for each portable terminal in association with it. In this case, the authentication unit may perform authentication based on the identification information and the password.

  That is, password authentication can be easily performed by holding authentication information in the table.

  The table may further hold a list of communication terminals in association with each other. In this case, the print data transmission means may be configured to transmit the print data to the portable terminal only when the communication terminal that transmitted the e-mail with the image data attached is included in the list of communication terminals. it can.

  With this configuration, it is possible to limit senders and prevent damage such as spam mails.

  The server may further include print data storage means for storing the print data in association with the portable terminal specified by the address specifying means. With this configuration, it is possible to easily realize a function of transmitting print data only to a portable terminal designated by a sender of image data.

  The portable terminal may further include a print data storage unit that stores the print data received from the server, and a print data deletion unit that deletes the print data from the storage unit after printing by the printer is completed. Good. The mobile terminal further includes a print end notification means for notifying the server that printing has ended normally. The server further receives a print end notification from the mobile terminal and stores it in the print data storage means. The print data may be deleted.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent print data from being accumulated and the storage capacity of the server and the portable terminal from being lost.

  Further, the external device communication means may perform communication with the external device by wireless communication such as Bluetooth or IrDA. By using wireless communication, the connection between the printer and the portable terminal is easy and the usability is improved. In particular, since communication using radio waves such as Bluetooth has low directivity, it is easy to handle without having to pay attention to the arrangement and orientation of the mobile terminal and the printer.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mobile terminal printing system capable of easily printing image data transmitted from a digital multifunction peripheral or the like at any time using a mobile phone terminal at a destination. .

  Hereinafter, a portable terminal printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mobile terminal printing system 1 according to the present invention. The mobile terminal printing system 1 includes the Internet 10, a mobile phone network 20, a digital multifunction peripheral 100, a server device 200, a mobile phone terminal 300, and a mobile printer 500. The digital multi-function peripheral 100 and the server device 200 are connected to the Internet 10. The mobile phone terminal 300 can be connected to the mobile phone network 20 via a wireless link 22 with the base station 21. The mobile phone network 20 is also connected to the Internet 10, and the mobile phone terminal 300 can communicate with each device on the Internet 10 via the mobile phone network 20. In addition, the portable printer 500 can communicate with the portable telephone terminal 300 by Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  First, a specific configuration of the digital multifunction peripheral 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the digital multifunction peripheral 100. The digital multifunction peripheral 100 includes a control unit 110 that performs overall control of the entire apparatus, a storage unit 120 that stores various data and programs, an input unit 130 that includes various keys and a touch panel for receiving input from a user, and an optical document. Scanner unit 140 for converting to read image data, printer unit 150 for printing on paper by dry electrophotographic method, facsimile transmission / reception unit 160 for transmitting / receiving facsimile signals connected to a telephone line, mail transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving mails 170, a network interface 180 for connecting to the Internet and performing communication. The control unit 110 is connected to the other components described above via the bus 102.

  The digital multifunction peripheral 100 is installed in an office or the like, and has a scanner image mail transmission function in addition to a normal facsimile transmission / reception function. The scanner image mail transmission function reads image data of a document to be transmitted by the scanner function, converts the read image data into an image file in a general file format such as TIFF format, attaches it to an e-mail, and attaches it to the Internet 10 ( Or a function for transmitting to a terminal on an intranet. In addition, the digital multi-function peripheral 100 holds an address book in the storage unit 120 for registering in advance an address to be used as a destination in scanner image mail transmission.

  By the way, in this embodiment, a system-dedicated e-mail address corresponding to each mobile terminal is assigned to a user (user of the mobile terminal) registered as a user of the mobile terminal printing system, for example, from the management company of this system. . This system-dedicated e-mail address is not an e-mail address assigned to each mobile phone terminal by the mobile phone operator, but for each mobile terminal registered in the mobile terminal printing system by the administrator of the mobile terminal printing system 1 This is a dedicated e-mail address assigned to the mobile terminal printing system. That is, an e-mail addressed to the system-dedicated e-mail address is delivered to the server device 200 operated by, for example, the management company of the portable terminal printing system, not to each portable terminal. When the user uses the mobile terminal printing system 1, when sending an e-mail with an image file attached as described later, this system-dedicated e-mail address is used as the destination address. Therefore, a system-dedicated e-mail address is registered in advance in the address book of the digital multifunction peripheral 100 together with the user name. This registration is performed by the user of the digital multifunction peripheral 100 by operating, for example, the input unit 130 according to the manual of the multifunction peripheral. Details of the system-dedicated e-mail address of the portable terminal printing system 1 will be described later.

  With the above configuration, an electronic mail attached with a scanner image of a document to be printed by the portable printer 500 can be transmitted to the server apparatus 200 using the scanner image mail transmission function of the digital multi-function peripheral 100.

  Next, the server apparatus 200 in the portable terminal printing system 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a main configuration of the server device 200. The server apparatus 200 stores user information of the portable terminal printing system 1 such as a control unit 210 that performs overall control of the entire apparatus, a storage unit 220 that stores various data and programs, user tables 232 and 234 described later, and print files. Data conversion for converting an image file attached to an e-mail received from the database 230, the MFP 100, or the like into a print file in the printer file format (extension prn) that can be used as print data by the portable printer 500 Unit 240, Web server unit 250 that communicates with a Web application of an external terminal (for example, a Web browser of a PC or a mobile phone terminal, a dedicated application of a mobile phone terminal described later) by a protocol such as HTTP, and transmission / reception of mail Mail sending / receiving unit 260 to perform And a network interface 270, etc. for performing communication by connecting to the Internet. The control unit 210 is connected to the other components described above via the bus 202.

  FIG. 4 shows user tables 232 and 234 held in the database 230. The user tables 232 and 234 are created, for example, for each user group such as a company or organization that makes a contract with the management company of the mobile terminal printing system 1. The user table 232 in FIG. 4A is a table for company X, and the user table 234 in FIG. 4B is a table for company Y. Each of the user tables 232 and 234 includes the name of the user registered as a user, the e-mail address dedicated to the system, the e-mail address of the mobile phone terminal, and the ID and password used for user authentication in the mobile terminal printing system 1. (Specifically, ID) is recorded. These pieces of information recorded in the user tables 232 and 234 are directly input to the server apparatus 200 by the system administrator at the time of user registration. Information recorded in the user tables 232 and 234 is obtained by accessing the server apparatus 200 via the Internet 10 from a PC or a portable terminal of each user using a protocol such as HTTP, and the Web server unit 250 It is also possible for the user himself / herself to input or change the web page form provided.

  In this embodiment, part of the system-dedicated e-mail address (domain name) is set to be different for each user group, so the user group to which the user belongs is identified from part of the system-dedicated e-mail address can do. Further, the system-dedicated e-mail address and the mobile phone terminal e-mail address correspond one-to-one, and the corresponding portable terminal can be identified from the system-dedicated e-mail address. Accordingly, the server device 200 identifies the user group corresponding to the destination address by the destination address (system-dedicated email address) of the mail received from the digital multi-function peripheral 100, and refers to the user table for the user group. By doing so, the mobile phone terminal mail address corresponding to the destination address can be acquired.

  Next, a specific configuration of the mobile phone terminal 300 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the mobile phone terminal 300. The mobile phone terminal 300 includes a control unit 310 that performs overall control of the entire device, a storage unit 320 that stores programs such as various data and applications, an input unit 330 including numeric keys and direction keys for receiving user input, a liquid crystal display, Display unit 340 composed of an organic EL display or the like, mail transmission / reception unit 350 for transmitting / receiving mails, mobile phone network connection unit 360 for communicating with the mobile phone network 20 based on a communication system such as CDMA2000, Bluetooth standard, etc. For example, a Bluetooth communication unit 370 for performing short-range wireless communication (hereinafter referred to as “Bluetooth communication 50”). The control unit 310 is connected to the other components described above via the bus 302.

  In addition, a mobile printing application dedicated to the mobile terminal printing system 1 is installed in the storage unit 320 of the mobile phone terminal 300. The portable print application accesses the server device 200 using HTTP, downloads the print file stored in the database 230, and then transfers the print file to the portable printer 500 via the Bluetooth communication 50 to print the print file. This is an application for executing a series of printing processes. In the storage unit 320, other applications such as a mail client and a Web browser are installed.

  Next, a specific configuration of the portable printer 500 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the portable printer 500. A portable printer 500 includes a control unit 510 that performs overall control of the entire apparatus, a storage unit 520 that stores print data (print file) and programs, a print processing unit 530 that performs thermal printing on thermal paper based on the print file, and Bluetooth. A Bluetooth communication unit 540 for performing short-range wireless communication based on the standard is configured. The control unit 510 is connected to the other components described above via the bus 502. The portable printer 500 can receive a print file and various instruction codes from the portable terminal through the Bluetooth communication 50, and can execute a printing process based on the received print file or the like. Moreover, the portable printer 500 has a power supply device (not shown), and can be operated by power supply from a household power supply or a car cigarette socket in addition to a built-in battery.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 7, an outline of communication performed between the digital multifunction peripheral 100, the server device 200, the mobile phone terminal 300, and the mobile printer 500 in the mobile terminal printing system 1 will be described. FIG. 7 shows an outline of a communication procedure performed between the devices constituting the system 1 until the image data captured by the digital multifunction peripheral 100 is printed by the portable printer 500 in the portable terminal printing system 1. FIG.

  First, an image file of a document captured by the digital multifunction peripheral 100 is transmitted to the server apparatus 200 via the Internet 10 as an attached file of an electronic mail (S1). Next, the server device 200 generates a print file that can be used by the portable printer 500 based on the attached file, and carries a notification mail notifying that the image file to be printed has arrived via the Internet 10 and the mobile phone network 20. It transmits to the telephone terminal 300 (S2). When the user of the mobile phone terminal 300 that has confirmed reception of the notification mail activates the mobile print application dedicated to the present system, the mobile phone terminal 300 requests the server device 200 to transmit a print file (S3). Upon receiving the request, the server device 200 transmits the generated print file to the mobile phone terminal 300 (S4). Note that the communication in S3 and S4 in the present embodiment is performed by HTTP between the Web server unit of the server device 200 and the mobile print application activated on the mobile phone terminal 300. Next, the cellular phone terminal 300 transfers the received print file to the portable printer 500 and transmits an instruction code for instructing execution of printing of the print file to the portable printer 500 (S5). Printing is executed based on the print file and the instruction code.

  Next, specific processing performed in the server device 200 and the mobile phone terminal 300 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a notification mail transmission process executed in the server apparatus 200. This processing corresponds to the processing from S1 to S2 in FIG.

  First, the mail transmission / reception unit 260 of the server apparatus 200 determines whether or not an electronic mail with an image file attached is received from the digital multifunction peripheral 100 (S101). If an e-mail with an image file attached is received from the digital multifunction peripheral 100 (S101: YES), the process proceeds to S102. On the other hand, if an electronic mail with an image file attached has not been received from the digital multifunction peripheral 100 (S101: NO), the determination in S101 is performed again after waiting for a predetermined time.

  In step S102, a destination address (that is, a dedicated mail address of the printing system) and an attached image file are extracted from the received electronic mail. The extracted image file is sent to the image data converter 240. In the image data conversion unit, the extracted image file is rasterized and converted into image data in a raster format (S103). Further, it is converted into a print file in a file format that can be used by the portable printer (S104). The processing executed in steps S103 to S104 corresponds to, for example, processing executed when “output to file” is selected in general PC printer driver software. Alternatively, the print file may be generated directly from the image file without generating the raster-format intermediate image data as described above.

  Next, based on the destination address (system-dedicated mail address) extracted in S102, a user group (for example, company X) to which the user of the destination address belongs is specified. Then, with reference to the user table 232 for company X held in the database 230, the user (ID) corresponding to the destination address is specified, and the mail address of the corresponding mobile phone terminal is acquired (S105).

  The print file generated in step S104 is stored in the disk area in the database 230 assigned to the user specified in step S105 (S106). Finally, the mail transmitting / receiving unit 260 transmits a notification mail notifying that the image file to be printed has arrived to the mail address of the mobile phone terminal 300 acquired in S105 (S107), and the notification mail transmission processing is performed. finish.

  Next, the process of FIG. 9 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in the mobile phone terminal when the print file stored in the database 230 of the server device 200 is downloaded and transferred to the mobile printer 500. This processing corresponds to the processing from S3 to S5 in FIG. This process is performed by a portable print application that is activated by a user who has confirmed the reception of the notification mail.

  When the mobile print application is activated, first, a print data request command is transmitted from the mobile phone network connection unit 360 to the server device 200 via the mobile phone network 20 and the Internet 10 (S201). At this time, the ID and password for the portable terminal printing system are also transmitted to the server apparatus 200 together with the request command. In the present embodiment, the ID and password are stored in advance in the storage unit 320 using a mobile print application, and the mobile print application automatically reads out and transmits from the storage unit 320.

  When a response to the transmitted print data request command is received from the server device 200 (S202), it is determined whether or not a print file is included in the response message (S203). When a print file is included in the response message from the server (S203: YES), the print file is stored in the storage unit 320 (S204). On the other hand, when the print message is not included in the response message from the server (S203: NO), a message to that effect is displayed on the display unit 340 (S209), and the process proceeds to S212.

  When the print file is saved in S204, it is determined in subsequent S205 whether or not the print file is to be printed. Specifically, a dialog for asking the user whether or not to perform printing is displayed on the display unit 340, and an instruction as to whether or not to perform printing is input by a key input operation to the input unit 330 by the user. . When printing of the print file is selected by the user (S205: YES), the print file is called from the storage unit 320, and the print file is transmitted to the printer 500 together with an instruction code for instructing printing via the Bluetooth communication 50 (S206). .

  Next, in S207, it is determined whether or not the printing process by the portable printer 500 has been completed normally. For example, if an error message is received from the portable printer 500 or if there is no response from the portable printer 500 for a certain time after sending the print file, it is determined that the printing process has not been completed normally. Here, if it is determined that the printing process has been completed normally, the process proceeds to S208, and it is determined whether or not to perform printing again. Specifically, a dialog asking the user whether or not part of the same print file data is to be printed is displayed on the display unit 340, and whether or not printing is performed again by a key input operation to the input unit 330 by the user. An indication of whether or not is entered. If the user instructs to perform printing again (S208: YES), the process returns to step S206, transmits the print file to the portable printer 500 again, and performs the printing process. When it is instructed not to perform printing again (S208: NO), the print file stored in the storage unit 320 is deleted (S210). With this process, it is possible to prevent the storage unit 320 of the mobile phone terminal 300 from being insufficient due to the accumulation of print files. Thereafter, the server apparatus 200 is notified that printing has ended (S211), and the process proceeds to S212. Also, in the case where it is determined in S207 that the process has not ended normally (S207: NO), the process proceeds to S212.

  In S212, it is determined whether or not to terminate the portable printing application. Here, a dialog asking the user whether or not to terminate the portable printing application is displayed on the display unit 340, and an instruction as to whether or not to terminate the application is input by a key input operation of the input unit 330 by the user. Here, when the termination of the portable printing application is instructed (S212: YES), this process ends. On the other hand, when it is instructed not to end the portable print application (S212: NO), the process returns to step S201, and a print data request command is transmitted to the server apparatus 200.

  In the portable printer 500, print processing is performed based on the received print file and command code. In the portable terminal printing system of the present invention, since a print file in the printer file format is provided to the portable printer 500, printing is performed without the portable printer 500 performing processing such as rasterization for converting from the vector format to the raster format, for example. be able to. Therefore, the portable printer 500 can execute printing without performing a data conversion process with a large calculation amount.

  Next, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 that is executed in the server device 200 while the mobile print application of the mobile phone terminal 300 performs the process of FIG. 9 will be described. First, in S301, it is determined whether or not there is an HTTP access from the mobile phone terminal 300 to the Web server unit 240, that is, whether or not an HTTP message is received. If there is an access from the mobile phone terminal 300 (S301: YES), the process proceeds to S302. On the other hand, when the HTTP message has not been received from the mobile phone terminal 300 (S301: NO), the process waits until the HTTP message is received.

  In subsequent S <b> 302, it is determined whether the ID and password included in the HTTP message received from the mobile phone terminal 300 match information registered in the user table 232 of the database unit 230. Thus, by authenticating the mobile phone terminal 300 using the ID and password, unauthorized access by mobile terminals other than registered users can be prevented.

  In S302, if the received ID and password match the information registered in the user table 232 (S302: YES), does the message received from the mobile phone terminal 300 include a print data request command? It is determined whether or not (S303). On the other hand, if the ID or password is different from the information registered in the user table 232 (S302: NO), the Web server unit 250 notifies the mobile phone terminal 300 that the ID or password is different (S306), The process proceeds to S310.

  If it is determined in S303 that the received message includes a print data request command (S303: YES), the process proceeds to step S304, and is assigned to the user of the mobile phone terminal 300 that is the transmission source of the request command. It is determined whether a print file exists in the specified disk area. If the received message does not include a print data request command (S303: NO), the process proceeds to S307.

  Next, when it is determined that the print file exists in the disk area allocated to the user of the mobile phone terminal 300 that has transmitted the request command (S304: YES), the Web server unit 250 stores the print file on the Internet 10 and The data is transmitted to the mobile phone terminal 300 via the mobile phone network 20 (S305). On the other hand, if there is no print file in the disk area allocated to the user of the mobile phone terminal 300 (S304: NO), the Web server unit 250 notifies the mobile phone terminal 300 that there is no print file to be transmitted. (S309). After the notification in S309, the process proceeds to S310.

  Here, when the HTTP message received from the mobile phone terminal 300 does not include the print data request command (S303: NO), it is determined in S307 whether the HTTP message includes a print end notification. .

  If the HTTP message from the mobile phone terminal 300 includes a print end notification (S307: YES), the print file stored in the disk area allocated to the user of the mobile phone terminal 300 in the database 230 is stored. It is deleted (S308).

  If the message from the mobile phone terminal 300 is not a print end notification (S307: NO), the process proceeds to S310.

  In S310, it is determined whether or not an instruction to stop the service of the printing system is given by an input operation or the like to the server apparatus 200 by a system administrator. If the service stop is instructed (S310: YES), this process ends. When the service stop is not instructed (S310: NO), the process returns to S301 and waits until an HTTP message from the mobile phone terminal 300 is received.

  As described above, according to the present invention, an image file transmitted from a digital multifunction peripheral installed in an office or the like is in a data format (for example, a printer file format) suitable for a portable printer in a server on a network. And transmitted to the mobile terminal. Then, the portable terminal acquires the converted data, transfers it to the portable printer as it is, and performs printing with the printer. As a result, regardless of the type of mobile terminal, it is easy to use the printer connected to the mobile terminal at any time simply by capturing and transmitting the image data of the document using a digital multi-function device like conventional facsimile transmission. The image file sent to can be printed. In addition, since the image data is converted into a data format suitable for the printer by the server, it is not necessary to perform processing such as rasterization inside the portable terminal or the portable printer. In order to realize a reduction in size and weight, portable terminals and portable printers generally have extremely limited processing capabilities. Further, since image processing such as rasterization has a large amount of calculation, if processing is performed in a powerless device such as a portable terminal, a very long processing time is required, which is not suitable for practical use. In the printing system of the present invention, the processing time can be significantly reduced as a whole by performing image processing with a large amount of calculation as described above on a server with a high processing speed without using a powerless portable terminal or portable printer. it can. Further, in the present invention, since the mobile phone terminal can be connected to the Internet 10 anywhere within the communication range, the user can receive print data by using this system anywhere along with the portable printer. Can be printed. Furthermore, in the printing system of the present invention, the print data can be downloaded from the server and printed at any time after the image data is transmitted to the server and uploaded by the digital multifunction peripheral or the like. Therefore, unlike the conventional portable facsimile, it is not necessary to prepare for reception / printing on the portable terminal side in accordance with the transmission timing, and transmission is performed even when the receiving portable terminal is out of the communication range. There is no error. That is, it is easy to use because both the transmitting side and the receiving side can reliably transmit and receive when convenient.

  In this embodiment, a print file in the printer file format is generated in the server. For example, in a configuration in which a vector format print file such as a Postscript (registered trademark) format is supplied from a server, a relatively high-performance printer is required to perform processing such as rasterization. However, if a print file is supplied in a printer file format, which is a highly versatile raster format, the range of selection of printers that can be used is widened, and it is possible to employ a powerless portable small printer.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and can be modified in various ranges. For example, in this embodiment, a digital multi-function peripheral is used as a communication terminal. However, the communication terminal is not limited to a digital multi-function peripheral, and a communication terminal capable of transmitting data to a server through the Internet 10, such as a personal computer ( PC) or the like. Further, the image data to be transmitted is not limited to the image data read from the original by the scanner function, but may be image data created by a PC or the like, for example. The format of the image file transmitted from the communication terminal as an attachment to the e-mail is not limited to the TIFF format, but may be other formats such as PDF format, GIF format, JPEG format, and bitmap format. In the present embodiment, a mobile phone terminal is described as an example of the mobile terminal. However, the mobile phone terminal is not limited to the mobile phone terminal, and a terminal device capable of communicating with the Internet 10 and the mobile printer 500, for example, It may be a notebook PC or PDA. In this case, another type of wireless link such as a wireless link other than the cellular phone network, for example, a wireless LAN (hot spot or the like) may be used. In this embodiment, the transmission side terminal such as a digital multi-function peripheral and the server, or the server and the mobile phone network are connected via the Internet. However, this network is not limited to the Internet, and may be other than an intranet or a dedicated line. It may be connected by the kind of network.

  Further, in this embodiment, it is determined whether or not to terminate the mobile print application in S212 of the process of FIG. 9 in the mobile phone terminal 300, but in another embodiment, the mobile phone terminal 300 is determined by the user. By operating a predetermined input key of the input unit 330, the application may be terminated at any stage during processing.

  Further, in the present embodiment, it is configured to perform printing after confirming with the user whether or not to perform printing in S205, but in another embodiment, confirmation to the user is not performed. The print data and the print command may be automatically transmitted to the printer when the print file is received from the server.

  Further, the server 200 may be configured to process only an image file transmitted from a specific sender address. For example, in the user tables 232 and 234, a list of sender addresses permitted to transmit image data destined for each user's mobile terminal is stored in association with the ID, and the sender address of the mail attached to the image file is stored in the list. The process of FIG. 8 can be performed only when it is included. With such a configuration, for example, damage such as spam mails can be prevented.

  “EZweb” described in this specification or the drawings is a registered trademark of KDDI Corporation.

It is a figure which shows the portable terminal printing system which concerns on this invention. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the digital multifunction peripheral 100. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server 200 which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the user table registered into a database. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone terminal 300. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portable printer 500. FIG. It is a figure explaining the outline | summary of the communication procedure between the apparatuses which comprise the portable terminal printing system which concerns on this invention. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a notification mail transmission process executed in the server 300. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in the mobile phone terminal 300. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in server 300.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Internet 20 Cellular phone network 50 Bluetooth communication 100 Digital multifunction device 200 Server 230 Database 232, 234 User table
240 Image Data Conversion Unit 300 Mobile Phone Terminal 360 Mobile Phone Network Connection Unit 370 Bluetooth Communication Unit 500 Mobile Printer

Claims (20)

A server, a communication terminal and a mobile terminal that can communicate with the server, and a printer that can communicate with the mobile terminal,
The communication terminal includes image-attached mail transmission means for transmitting an email attached with image data to be printed by the printer to the server,
The server
Mail sending and receiving means for sending and receiving e-mail;
Communication means for communicating with the portable terminal;
Image data conversion means for converting the image data attached to the e-mail received from the communication terminal into print data usable by the printer;
Receiving a request from a portable terminal via the communication means, and sending the converted print data to the portable terminal in response to the request, and a print data transmitting means,
The portable terminal is
Wireless communication means for communicating with the server via a wireless link;
An external device communication means for communicating with the external device;
Requesting means for requesting the print data to the server;
Print data receiving means for receiving print data from the server;
Print instruction means for transmitting the received print data and a print instruction for the print data to the printer via the external device communication means,
The printer is
A portable terminal printing system comprising printing means for receiving print data and a print instruction from the portable terminal and performing printing based on the received print data and print instruction.   2. The portable terminal printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print data usable by the printer is raster format print data.   3. The portable terminal printing system according to claim 1, wherein the server further includes notification means for notifying the portable terminal that image data to be printed by the printer has been received. The server
Data storage means for storing a table in which identification information of the mobile terminal and a dedicated e-mail address corresponding to the mobile terminal are stored in association with each other;
A portable terminal to be a transmission destination of print data converted from image data attached to the e-mail based on a dedicated e-mail address that is a destination address of the e-mail received from the communication terminal with reference to the table Address specifying means for specifying
Further comprising
The image-attached email transmission means transmits an email attached with the image data to the server, with a dedicated email address corresponding to a portable terminal to be a destination of the print data as a destination address,
4. The print data transmission unit transmits print data to be transmitted to the mobile terminal based on identification information of the mobile terminal that has made the request. 5. Mobile terminal printing system. In the table, a mobile mail address indicating the mobile terminal is further stored in association,
The address specifying means specifies the mobile mail address corresponding to the dedicated mail address that is the destination address of the email received from the communication terminal with reference to the table,
5. The mobile terminal according to claim 4, wherein the notification by the notification means is transmission of a notification mail to the mobile terminal, and the notification mail is transmitted with the specified mobile mail address as a destination address. Printing system. The server further includes an authentication unit that determines whether or not access from the portable terminal is valid. The print data transmission unit is determined by the authentication unit that access from the portable terminal is valid. The mobile terminal printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the print data is transmitted only to the mobile terminal. In the table, a password for each mobile terminal is further stored in association with each other.
The portable terminal printing system according to claim 6, wherein the authentication unit performs the authentication based on the identification information and the password. The table further holds a list of communication terminals in association with each other,
The print data transmission means transmits the print data to the portable terminal only when the communication terminal that has transmitted the e-mail attached with the image data is included in the list of the communication terminals. The portable terminal printing system according to claim 4.   9. The mobile terminal printing according to claim 4, wherein the server further comprises print data storage means for storing the print data in association with the mobile terminal specified by the address specifying means. system.   The portable terminal further includes a print data storage unit that stores print data received from the server, and a print data deletion unit that deletes the print data from the storage unit after printing by a printer is completed. The portable terminal printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, The portable terminal further includes a print end notification means for notifying the server that printing has been normally completed,
11. The mobile terminal printing system according to claim 10, wherein the server further receives a print end notification from the mobile terminal and deletes the print data stored in the print data storage unit.   12. The portable terminal printing system according to claim 1, wherein the external device communication unit communicates with an external device by wireless communication.   13. The portable terminal printing system according to claim 12, wherein the external device communication unit performs communication based on the Bluetooth standard.   The mobile terminal printing system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is a mobile phone terminal. A server capable of communicating with a communication terminal and a portable terminal connected to a printer,
Mail sending and receiving means for sending and receiving e-mail;
Communication means for communicating with the portable terminal;
Image data conversion means for converting the image data attached to the e-mail received from the communication terminal into print data usable by the printer;
A server comprising: a print data transmission unit that receives a request from a portable terminal through the communication unit and transmits the converted print data to the portable terminal in response to the request. Notification means for notifying the portable terminal that image data for printing by the printer has been received;
Data storage means for storing a table in which identification information of the mobile terminal and a dedicated e-mail address corresponding to the mobile terminal are stored in association with each other;
A portable terminal to be a transmission destination of print data converted from image data attached to the e-mail based on a dedicated e-mail address that is a destination address of the e-mail received from the communication terminal with reference to the table Address specifying means for specifying
Further comprising
The server according to claim 15, wherein the print data transmission unit transmits print data to the mobile terminal as a transmission destination based on identification information of the mobile terminal that has made the request. In the table, a mobile mail address indicating the mobile terminal is further stored in association,
The address specifying means specifies the mobile mail address corresponding to the dedicated mail address that is the destination address of the email received from the communication terminal with reference to the table,
The server according to claim 16, wherein the notification by the notification means is transmission of a notification mail to the mobile terminal, and the notification mail is transmitted with the specified mobile mail address as a destination address. A portable terminal capable of communicating with a server and a printer,
Wireless communication means for communicating with the server via a wireless link;
An external device communication means for communicating with the external device;
Request means for requesting the server for print data that can be printed by the printer;
Print data receiving means for receiving print data from the server;
A portable terminal comprising: a print instruction unit that transmits the received print data and a print instruction for the print data to the printer via the external device communication unit. Print data storage means for storing print data received from the server;
Print data deleting means for deleting the print data from the storage means after printing by the printer is completed;
19. The portable terminal according to claim 18, further comprising a print end notifying unit that notifies the server that the printing has been normally completed. In a portable printing system having a server, a communication terminal and a portable terminal that can communicate with the server, and a printer that can communicate with the portable terminal, image data transmitted by the communication terminal is printed by the printer. And
Transmitting to the server an e-mail attached with image data to be printed by the printer, executed in the communication terminal;
Executed on the server,
Receiving the email; and
Notifying the mobile terminal that the e-mail has been received;
Converting image data attached to an e-mail received from the communication terminal into print data usable by the printer;
Receiving a request from the portable terminal, and transmitting the converted print data in response to the request to the portable terminal;
Executed in the mobile terminal;
Receiving print data from the server;
Transmitting the received print data and a print instruction for the print data to the printer;
Executed in the printer;
Receiving a print data and a print instruction from the portable terminal, and performing printing based on the received print data and the print instruction.

Images