JP2012235385A - Print controller, meeting material distribution system, and print control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and method that reduce the amount of paper used compared with the amount of paper used when all meeting materials are to be printed on paper, and that facilitate understanding of the content of the meeting materials.SOLUTION: This apparatus includes: an information receiving unit 21 that, from a reader for detecting an information recording medium retained by a meeting participant, reading, and acquiring identification information of a display apparatus, receives the identification information; a screen information acquiring unit 22 that acquires screen information from the display apparatus by using the identification information; and a comparing-and-determining unit 23 that reads meeting material data from a data storage 20 and uses its identification information to deliver the meeting material data to the display apparatus, and that, by comparing the display size of each page of meeting materials obtained from the meeting material data and a screen size obtained from the screen information, determines whether or not to perform printing on the page, and when it is determined that the printing is to be performed, causes a printer to execute printing on the page.

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control device that determines whether or not to print conference material according to the size of a display screen at a delivery destination, a conference material distribution system including the print control device, and a print control method.

  When a meeting is held, it is common to print the required number of meeting materials describing the contents of the meeting in advance, distribute it to the participants before the meeting starts, and perform the meeting based on the distributed materials. . In recent years, with the spread of notebook PCs and projectors, notebook PCs are brought in, connected to projectors installed in conference rooms, and distributed to the projectors to display conference materials. In addition, when a conference participant brings in a notebook PC, the conference material is distributed as electronic data to the conference participant's notebook PC via a LAN cable or by wireless communication.

  In this way, there is no need to print and distribute on paper, reduce paper usage and reduce paper costs, prevent a decrease in work space accompanying the increase in materials, and materials that are no longer needed This prevents the increase of paper trash when it is discarded.

  So far, for example, in order to prevent unnecessary printing of meeting materials, when meeting participants bring display devices, by providing meeting materials as electronic data and not printing meeting materials, A technique for suppressing excessive printing is known (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, as a technology that makes it possible to suppress wasted printing, when printing a plurality of electronic documents based on a printing schedule and generating a printed document, the electronic document is printed by the number of users of the printed document. The technique to do is known (refer patent document 2).

  Furthermore, a conference reservation system has also been proposed in which a conference participant can specify whether or not a material is necessary, and can specify a material printing method when the material is necessary (see Patent Document 3). This system allows a conference printer to print conference materials for each participant who needs conference materials according to the contents registered in the data storage table for each participant at a predetermined time before the start time of the conference. The content can be rewritten by the access from the participant, and has a function of printing based on the rewritten content.

  The above-described conventional system for distributing conference materials aims to reduce paper costs by reducing paper materials, and to participants who request the distribution of materials regardless of the display device's capabilities. , To uniformly distribute electronic data of conference materials.

  There are cases where materials distributed at a conference include a mixture of large and small display sizes, for example, A4 size and A3 size depending on the page. The material of each size can be displayed entirely or partially by being enlarged and reduced. For this reason, a participant who brings a display device with a small display and participates in the conference can view a small-sized document as it is on a display, and can view a large-sized document in a reduced size.

  However, if you want to see both the figure and the character part at the same time, such as a large-size document containing a figure, if you reduce both of them to fit within the display screen, it will be difficult to see the figure and the character part, and the text will become smaller. There was a problem that the contents of the materials could not be fully grasped during the meeting.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention compares the screen size of the display device used by the conference participants with the display size of the conference material, determines whether the material fits within the screen, and determines that the material does not fit Provides a print control device that prints and distributes meeting materials because it is difficult to read as described above and characters cannot be read.

  Although printing on paper may not be a significant reduction in paper, the use of paper can be reduced compared to printing all meeting materials on paper, in addition to meeting The material becomes easy to see and the content of the material becomes easy to grasp, and as a result, the conference can proceed smoothly.

  That is, the print control apparatus detects the information recording medium possessed by the conference participant and receives the identification information from the reading apparatus that reads and acquires the identification information for identifying the display device stored in the information recording medium. An information receiving unit that accesses the display device using the received identification information, acquires a screen information that the display device has, and a conference that includes one or more pages from the data storage unit Reads the conference material data of the material, distributes the conference material data to the display device using the identification information, and displays the display size of each page of the conference material obtained from the conference material data and the screen size obtained from the screen information Are compared to determine whether or not each page is to be printed by a printing device. If it is determined that printing is to be performed, the conference material data and the page to be printed are determined. It transmits information specifying di configured to include a comparison determination unit for executing printing of the page to the printing device.

  When the display size of all pages fits within the screen size, the conference material data is not transmitted to the printing device but is distributed only to the display device. Thereby, the amount of paper used can be reduced. If there is a page that does not fit within the screen size, in addition to delivering the conference material data to the display device, the conference material data and page designation information for designating the page are sent to the printer, and only that page is printed on paper. Print and distribute. Thereby, it becomes easy to see the meeting material, and it becomes easy to grasp the contents of the material.

  The data storage unit stores at least a meeting date and time or a plurality of meeting material data associated with user identification information for identifying the participant, and the information receiving unit receives a notification that the participant has entered the room from the reading device. Then, the comparison / determination unit can retrieve and read out the conference material data associated with the conference date and time closest to the time after the notification is received. Further, the comparison / determination unit can also retrieve and read out the conference material data associated with the user identification information that matches the participant information included in the notification. The participant information is information such as a user name that can identify the participant.

  The maximum paper size that can be supported by the printer varies depending on the model. If you want to print on paper and distribute it, the display size of the meeting material must fit within the maximum paper size. Therefore, the print control apparatus further includes a device information management unit that accesses one or more printing devices connected via the network and acquires device information including the maximum paper size that can be handled from each printing device, and performs comparison determination. If the printing unit determines that printing is to be performed by the printing device, it compares the display size of the conference material with the maximum supported paper size included in the device information of each printing device acquired from the device information management unit. Determine the printing device to be executed.

  The screen information includes a screen resolution and a DPI (Dots Per Inch) setting value. From these, the size in units of pixels (pixels) can be calculated and compared in size in units of pixels.

  The device information includes information on whether or not color printing is possible. The comparison / determination unit determines whether or not there is a color page from the conference material data. If the color page exists, the device can display the conference material. A printing apparatus having a maximum paper size that can be accommodated in the size is determined as a printing apparatus that executes printing.

  The comparison determination unit can transmit the determined device information of the printing apparatus to the display device. Thereby, the participant who uses the display device can know which printing device is used for printing.

  In addition, the device information management unit can acquire error information from the printing apparatus that transmitted the conference material data, and the comparison determination unit can transmit the error information acquired from the device information management unit to the display device. As a result, it is possible to check the error content such as running out of paper or running out of ink on the screen of the display device, and it is possible to take immediate measures such as paper feeding or ink replacement.

  The comparison determination unit transmits authentication information in association with the conference material data to be transmitted to the printing device, accumulates the conference material data in the printing device, and identifies the device information and the conference material data of the destination printing device. The data identification information and the authentication information can be transmitted to the display device and displayed. For example, the authentication information can be a password, the device information can be an IP address or a device name of a destination printing apparatus, and the data identification information can be a document name. If the authentication information is input and it is not authenticated, it is not printed out. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a third party from taking away the conference material and to improve security.

  In the present invention, in addition to the above-described print control apparatus, a conference material distribution system including the print control apparatus and a print control method executed by the print control apparatus can be provided. It is also possible to provide a computer-readable program, a recording medium on which the program is recorded, and the like.

The figure which illustrated the office environment where the meeting material distribution system of this embodiment was installed. The figure which showed the structural example of the meeting material distribution system of this embodiment. The figure which showed the structural example of the management server as a printing control apparatus used for a meeting material distribution system. The figure which illustrated meeting material data memorized by a data storage part of a management server. The figure which illustrated the display apparatus which a conference participant uses. The figure which showed the place which compares the screen size of a display apparatus with the display size of one page of meeting material data, and determines whether a meeting material can be displayed on a screen. The figure which showed the place which compares the screen size of a display apparatus with the display size of one page of meeting material data, and determines whether a meeting material can be displayed on a screen. The figure which illustrated the apparatus information of the printing apparatus which the apparatus information management part of a management server manages. The flowchart figure which showed the 1st flow of the printing control process of the meeting material which a management server performs. The flowchart figure which showed the 2nd flow of the printing control process of the meeting material which a management server performs. The flowchart figure which showed the 3rd flow of the printing control process of the meeting material which a management server performs.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an office environment in which the conference material distribution system of this embodiment is installed. In FIG. 1, this system is installed in an office space where a conference room 1 and a living room space 2 are separated. The conference room 1 forms a space surrounded by walls on all sides. In the conference room 1, display devices 3 to 6 such as notebook PCs used by conference participants are arranged on a table. In the corner of the conference room 1, a printing device 7 is installed to enable printing during the conference.

  In the living room space 2 outside the conference room 1, printing devices 8 to 10 are installed at predetermined positions, and a management server 11 for managing this system and controlling the printing of conference materials is installed as a print control device. Yes. The display devices 3 to 6, the printing devices 7 to 10, and the management server 11 are connected to a network (not shown) and can communicate with each other.

  In this system configuration, an entrance / exit reader that detects information recording media attached to the display devices 3 to 6 carried by the conference participants at the entrance of the conference room 1 and reads out and acquires information stored in the information recording media. 12 is provided. The entry / exit reader 12 is also connected to a network (not shown), and the management server 11 that stores and manages the conference material data distributes the conference material data in response to the detection of the information recording medium by the entrance / exit reader 12. Is configured to do. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the timing at which the conference material is distributed in the office environment in which the conference material is distributed may be another timing. For example, a method in which a participant who wants to receive the conference material explicitly pulls a trigger (such as sending a distribution request to the management server 11) can be employed.

  The entry / exit reader 12 reads and acquires information recorded in the information recording medium when detecting the information recording medium. The information recording medium stores a medium ID for identifying the information recording medium, user identification information for identifying a user, such as a user name and a user ID, and identification information for identifying a display device. , Can read the information. For example, the entrance / exit reader 12 counts the number of times an information recording medium having the same medium ID is detected. It can be transmitted to the management server 11. This is because the participant may re-enter the room after leaving.

  The display devices 3 to 6 may be brought in by a participant who participates in the conference or may be provided in the conference room 1 in advance. In the case of using a pre-installed one, the participant has only an information recording medium as an IC card or the like. As a result, the entry / exit reader 12 can detect the information recording medium and read and acquire the stored information. Although the printing apparatuses 7 to 10 are installed both inside and outside the conference room 1, the installation position may be any position in the office.

  Although the configuration and processing of the management server 11 will be described later, it receives notifications and information from the entrance / exit leader 12, performs entry / exit management of participants in the conference room 1, stores and manages conference material data, Manage the printing of materials. The management server 11 also acquires screen information of a display device that distributes meeting material data, manages a printing device, and manages user information of participants who enter and leave the room.

  Next, the configuration of the conference material distribution system and the outline of the processing will be described with reference to FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the conference material distribution system includes four display devices 3 to 6, four printing devices 7 to 10, a management server 11, and an entry / exit reader 12 connected to a network such as a LAN 13. It is configured to be able to communicate.

  The display devices 3 to 6 are a notebook PC, a handheld computer (portable information terminal), or the like that is brought into the conference room by the user or provided in the conference room. Notebook PCs and handheld computers are equipped with a display as a display device, as well as a keyboard and touchpad as input devices, a storage device for storing various programs and data, a CPU for reading and executing the programs, and communication via the LAN 13. A communication interface, a Web camera, and the like are provided. In addition, when the display devices 3 to 6 are carried by a conference participant, an information recording medium is attached.

  As an example, the information recording medium is an IC card including an IC chip for recording information, and is mounted by being inserted into a card slot provided in the display devices 3 to 6.

  The printing devices 7 to 10 are printers or MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals). As the printing devices 7 to 10, an ink jet type ink jet printer or an electrophotographic type laser printer can be used. In the case of an electrophotographic printer, an exposure device that irradiates a laser beam to form an image, a photosensitive drum that is irradiated with the laser beam to form a latent image on the surface, a charging unit that charges the photosensitive drum, A development unit that develops toner by attaching it to the surface of the photosensitive drum, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum to paper, a fixing unit that fixes the transferred toner image on paper, and paper And a paper discharge unit for discharging the paper on which the toner image is fixed. Further, the apparatus further includes a controller for controlling the position and timing of irradiating the exposure apparatus with laser light based on the image data, and a communication interface for enabling communication via the LAN 13. Upon receiving a request from the management server 11, the controller can collect information from each unit and transmit them to the management server 11 as device information.

  As with the above-described notebook PC, the management server 11 enables communication via a storage device such as an HDD for storing various management programs and conference material data, a CPU for reading and executing the program, and the network 13. The communication interface is configured to be included. The management server 11 functions as each unit described later by executing a program read from the storage device by the CPU, and executes each process.

  The entry / exit reader 12 detects an information recording medium attached to the display devices 3 to 6 carried by the participant, reads out and acquires information from the information recording medium by wireless communication, and notifies that the participant has entered the room. The acquired information is transmitted to the management server 11 via the LAN 13. Therefore, the entry / exit reader 12 includes a receiver that receives this information, a generation unit for generating a notification, and a communication interface to enable communication via the LAN 13.

  With reference to FIG. 3, the management server 11 as a print control apparatus that controls the printing of the conference material used in the conference material distribution system of this embodiment will be described in detail. The management server 11 functions as each unit when the CPU executes programs for performing various types of management stored in the storage device, and thus includes the following units. That is, the management server 11 includes a data storage unit 20, an information reception unit 21, a screen information acquisition unit 22, a comparison determination unit 23, a device information management unit 24, and a user information management unit 25. In this embodiment, the management server 11 includes the user information management unit 25. However, the user information management unit 25 may not be provided if processing such as notification to the participant by e-mail is not necessary.

  The data storage unit 20 stores conference material data to be distributed to a display device owned or used by a conference participant. The meeting material data is created in advance by the meeting organizer and registered in the management server 11 and stored in the data storage unit 20.

  The information receiving unit 21 receives the notification that the participant has entered the conference room 1 and the identification information for identifying the display device transmitted by the entrance / exit reader 12 as the reading device, and stores them in the data storage unit 20. Remember and manage. This notification includes user identification information for identifying the participant.

  The screen information acquisition unit 22 uses the identification information for identifying the display device read by the entry / exit reader 12 from the information recording medium attached to the display device brought in by the participant who entered the conference room, and accesses the display device. Then, screen information related to the screen of the display device such as screen resolution and DPI setting value is acquired. The screen resolution is the number of horizontal pixels × the number of vertical pixels (eg, 1024 pixels × 768 pixels), and the DPI (dots per inch) setting value is the number of points per inch (eg, 72 DPI, 96 DPI, 120 DPI).

  These pieces of information are managed at the OS level by accessing the display device using the IP address as the device identification information acquired from the entry / exit reader 12 and referring to the OS (Operating System) registry of the display device. The display information can be acquired by acquiring the value of the display information. As another method, there can be mentioned a method of acquiring an OS registry value using an environment prepared for application development and execution.

  The comparison determination unit 23 acquires conference material data to be distributed from the data storage unit 20. For example, the comparison determination unit 23 can acquire the conference material data in response to the information reception unit 21 receiving a notification that the conference participant carrying the display device has entered the room. The conference material data is document data of conference materials composed of one or more pages. When a plurality of conference material data is stored, the conference material data is stored in the data storage unit 20 in association with the conference date and time or user identification information for identifying participants. Is done. In this case, the comparison / determination unit 23 can search for, retrieve, and acquire the meeting material data at the meeting time that is the same day as the day when the notification is received and is closest to the time after that time. it can. Further, the comparison / determination unit 23 can also retrieve, retrieve, and acquire the conference material data associated with the user identification information that matches the participant information included in the notification from the entry / exit reader 12.

  Then, when acquiring the conference material data, the comparison / determination unit 23 extracts, from the conference material data, the display size when displaying it on the screen in order from the first page of the conference material, and obtains it from the screen information of the display device. Compare with the screen size to be printed, and determine whether to print each page of the meeting material.

  Although the determination as to whether or not to print will be described later, when the comparison determination unit 23 determines to print, the conference material data and the page number of the page to be printed are transmitted to the printing apparatus as page designation information for designating the page. . Further, the comparison / determination unit 23 also transmits the conference material data to the display device regardless of whether or not to print. This is because pages that are not printed must be displayed on the display device. However, when it is determined that all pages are to be printed, it is possible not to transmit the conference material data.

  Therefore, the display device displays the conference material using the conference material data transmitted from the comparison / determination unit 23 of the management server 11, and the printing device prints the page of the conference material determined by the comparison / determination unit 23. Is printed and provided to its participants. For such hard-to-view pages, materials printed on paper are provided, so that the participants can fully understand the contents of the conference materials, and the conference can proceed smoothly.

  The device information management unit 24 acquires device information of printing apparatuses in the same network. In the system configuration shown in FIG. 2, device information about the printing apparatuses 7 to 10 in the same LAN 13 is acquired. As the device information of the printing apparatus, MIB (Management Information) which is management information referred to using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) that defines a communication method of information for monitoring and controlling the network device on the IP network. Base) and device information such as SOAP using a communication protocol such as HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), for example, the maximum paper size that can be used (maximum size that can be supported), whether or not color printing is possible, and the remaining amount of paper And the remaining amount of toner.

  The user information management unit 25 stores information such as a mail address and a telephone number in the data storage unit 20 as user information in association with user identification information such as a user name and a user ID, and manages it.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of conference material data stored in the data storage unit 20 of the management server 11. 4A to 4C show three data examples. This meeting material data is stored in an HDD or the like as the data storage unit 20 provided in the management server 11. The conference material data is created by setting a paper size to be printed using a document creation application or the like, and is document data of a document composed of one or more pages. In FIG. 4A, all pages of the conference material are created in B5 size, in FIG. 4B, all are created in A4 size, and in FIG. 4C, they are created in A4 size and A3 size. Data having such a size includes data in a file format such as PDF (Portable Document Format).

  Here, the description has been made according to the paper sizes such as B5, A4, and A3, but data having a size in pixel units may be used. An example of data having a pixel unit size is JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). Further, it may be data using a page description language such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language). In this case, it is possible to acquire the size in pixels from the tag information.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display screen of the display device. The display screen of the display device is generally a PC having a horizontally long screen as shown in FIG. 5A, but a part of a desktop PC has a vertically long screen as shown in FIG. Exists. In a tablet PC or the like, any screen can be obtained by changing the arrangement direction. In the current PC, the most common screen size is 1024 pixels and 768 pixels in the landscape screen shown in FIG. 5A, and portrait screen in the portrait screen shown in FIG. 5B. The width is 768 pixels and the horizontal width is 1024 pixels. Such information can be acquired by acquiring screen resolution information. The above values of 1024 pixels and 768 pixels are merely examples, and are not limited thereto.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a situation in which the conference material is displayed on the display screen and the size is determined in the comparison process performed by the comparison determination unit 23. FIG. 6A shows a conference material (any page of B5 size shown in FIG. 4A) on the horizontally long screen shown in FIG. FIG. 6B shows a meeting material of an arbitrary page of A4 size shown in FIG. 4B on the horizontally long screen shown in FIG. 5A. FIG. 6C is a diagram in which the conference material of the A3 size page shown in FIG. 4C is displayed on the horizontally long screen shown in FIG. 5A.

  The screen size is the above-described vertical width of 768 pixels and the horizontal width of 1024 pixels. The display size of each page of the conference material is obtained from the acquired conference material data. If the size is A3, the vertical width is 16.54 inches (420 mm), the horizontal width is 11.69 inches (297 mm), and the A4 size is 11. The 69 inch (297 mm), the lateral width 8.27 inch (210 mm), and the B5 size are the vertical width 10.12 inch (257 mm) and the lateral width 7.17 inch (182 mm).

  In order to compare with the screen size, it is necessary to match the unit. The pixel size used for the screen size can be obtained by multiplying the DPI setting value of the display device by the above-mentioned inch size. When the DPI setting value is 72, each value is multiplied by 72 to obtain a vertical width of 1191 pixels and a horizontal width of 842 pixels for A3 size conference materials, and a vertical width of 842 pixels and a horizontal width of 595 pixels for A4 size conference materials. If it is a B5 size meeting material, it will have a vertical width of 729 pixels and a horizontal width of 516 pixels.

  The comparison determination unit 23 compares the screen size of 768 × 1024 pixels with the display size obtained from the above calculation of A3 size 1191 × 842 pixels, A4 size 842 × 595 pixels, and B5 size 729 × 516 pixels, respectively. Determine if it fits within the screen size.

  The A3 size and A4 size meeting materials can fit in the width, but not the height. On the other hand, the B5 size meeting material fits both the vertical width and the horizontal width. For this reason, in the case of B5 size meeting materials, the comparison / determination unit 23 determines that the meeting material data will be distributed to the display device without printing by the printing device, and other A3 size and A4 size meeting materials In this case, it is determined that printing is performed by the printing apparatus and the conference material data is distributed to the display apparatus, and printing is performed by the printing apparatus.

  In the above description, the landscape screen has been described. The portrait screen will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7A is a diagram in which the conference material of an arbitrary page of B5 size shown in FIG. 4A is displayed on the vertically long screen shown in FIG. 5B, and FIG. FIG. 7B is a diagram in which conference material of an arbitrary A4 size page shown in FIG. 4B is displayed on the vertically long screen shown in FIG. 5B, and FIG. 7C is shown in FIG. It is the figure which displayed the meeting material of the page of A3 size shown in FIG.4 (c) on the vertically long screen.

  The screen size is the above-described vertical width of 1024 pixels and the horizontal width of 768 pixels. The display size of each page of the conference material is obtained from the acquired conference material data. For example, when the DPI setting value is 72, the A3 size meeting material is 1191 × 842 pixels, the A4 size meeting material is 842 × 595 pixels, and the B5 size meeting material is 729 × 516 pixels.

  The comparison determination unit 23 compares the vertical size and horizontal width of the screen size of 1024 × 768 pixels, the A3 size of 1191 × 842 pixels, the A4 size of 842 × 595 pixels, and the B5 size of 729 × 516 pixels, respectively. Judge whether it fits.

  A3 size meeting materials do not fit in both the width and width. On the other hand, A4 size and B5 size meeting materials fit in both the vertical width and the horizontal width. For this reason, in the case of A4 size and B5 size meeting materials, the comparison / determination unit 23 determines that the meeting material data is distributed only to the display device without transmitting the meeting material data to the printing device, and the other A3 In the case of a conference material of a size, it is determined that the conference material data is also transmitted to the printing apparatus, and printing is executed by the printing apparatus.

  Up to now, the inch size has been converted to the pixel size and compared with the screen size. However, if the image data has a pixel unit size, such as the above JPEG data, direct comparison is made without conversion. Judgment can be made. Also, for HTML document data described in HTML, if the display size in pixel units can be obtained directly from the tag information, the display size can be compared with the screen size.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of device information of the printing apparatus managed by the device information management unit 24. FIG. 8 shows that device information of the printing apparatus is listed and managed in a table. The device information management unit 24 inputs the device information acquired from the printing apparatus into each field in the table, stores the table in the data storage unit 20, and manages the device information. Here, device information such as the maximum size that can be supported by the printing apparatuses (1) to (4), whether or not color printing is possible, the remaining amount of tray paper, and the remaining amount of toner is acquired and input to the table.

  When the comparison determination unit 23 performs comparison as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and determines to transmit the conference material data to the printing apparatus, the device information management unit 24 sends the device information of the printing apparatus to the comparison determination unit 23. send. The comparison / determination unit 23 receives the device information and determines to which printing device the conference material data is sent and printed based on the device information for the corresponding page in the conference material data to be printed.

  When the conference material data shown in FIG. 4C is to be distributed, the comparison / determination unit 23 fits the A4 size page on the screen if the screen size acquired from the display device is a vertically long 1024 × 768 pixel. However, since the A3 size page does not fit on the screen, it is determined that the conference material data is transmitted to the printing apparatus and printing is executed. In response to this determination, the device information management unit 24 sends the device information managed by the device information management unit 24 to the comparison / determination unit 23. Determine as a printing device. In the case of the information shown in FIG. 8, the comparison determination unit 23 determines the printing apparatuses (1) to (3) as the data transmission destination printing apparatus.

  When a plurality of printing apparatuses are determined as transmission destinations in this way, the comparison / determination unit 23 compares the remaining amount of tray paper and the remaining amount of toner other than the maximum supported size included in the device information, and compares the remaining amount of paper and toner. A printing device having a large amount can be selected. In this example, since the printing device (2) has the largest amount of paper and toner, the comparison / determination unit 24 can select the printing device (2). The comparison / determination unit 23 uses the IP address of the selected printing device (2), for example, the printing device name and IP address, and prints the conference material data together with page designation information such as the page number where the A3 size material is located. Send to (2). The printing apparatus (2) receives the conference material data and the page designation information, and executes printing based on the data. For example, when executing the printing, the comparison / determination unit 23 designates what page of the conference material is to be printed by a PS command (a command for displaying information of the process being executed) or the like, and sends it to the printing device ( 2) and printing can be executed.

  So far, the configuration of the conference material distribution system and the management server and the data managed by the management server have been described in detail. From now on, the print control processing performed by the management server 11 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of one print control process performed by the management server 11. When a conference participant enters the conference room with a display device, the entrance / exit leader 12 detects entry of the participant into the conference room at the entrance / exit. The entry / exit reader 12 notifies the management server 11 that the participant has entered the room via the LAN 13. At this time, the entry / exit reader 12 reads the identification information of the display device held by the participant, and sends the identification information of the display device together. The identification information of the display device includes the IP address of the display device.

  In response to the information receiving unit 21 of the management server 11 receiving the notification from the entry / exit reader 12 and the identification information of the display device, the management server 11 starts distribution control from step 900. In step 905, the information reception unit 21 notifies the screen information acquisition unit 22, the comparison determination unit 23, and the device information management unit 24 that the participant has entered the room, and receives the received identification information of the display device as the screen information acquisition unit 22. Send to.

  In step 910, the screen information acquisition unit 22 uses the display device identification information received from the information reception unit 21, accesses the display device, and acquires screen resolution and DPI setting values as screen information. Specifically, the screen information acquisition unit 22 uses the IP address acquired by the information reception unit 21 to access the display device, refer to the registry included in the display device, and display information managed at the OS level. Or the application development / execution environment is used to acquire the screen resolution and DPI setting value of the display device.

  In step 915, the device information management unit 24 acquires device information of printing apparatuses in the same network. By using an appropriate protocol such as SNMP or HTTP described above and acquiring MIB, SOAP, or the like, information such as the maximum paper size that can be handled by the printing apparatus can be acquired.

  Next, in Step 920, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the conference material data to be distributed from the data storage unit 20 that stores the conference material data. When a plurality of meeting material data are stored, each meeting material data is associated with the meeting date and time or user identification information for identifying the participant, and the comparison / determination unit 23 Meeting material data associated with a meeting date and time close to the time can be acquired, or the meeting material data is specified based on the participant information included in the notification received by the information receiving unit 21, and the data is acquired. be able to.

  In step 925, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size as information in order from the first page of the conference material from the acquired conference material data. Here, the display size when the page is displayed is acquired as a pixel size or the like. In step 930, the comparison / determination unit 23 compares the screen size obtained from the screen information of the display device with the display size, and determines whether the meeting material on the page fits on the screen of the display device. .

  If it is determined that it does not fit, the process proceeds to step 940, and if it is determined that it does not fit, the process proceeds to step 935. This determination is performed using the pixel size of the vertical width and the horizontal width, and if both the vertical width and the horizontal width of the display size are smaller than the vertical width and the horizontal width of the screen size, it is determined that they will fit. If one is larger than the vertical and horizontal widths of the screen size, it is determined that it does not fit.

  In step 935, even if the meeting material data is distributed to the display device, it does not fit within the screen. Therefore, in order to print the meeting material of the page that does not fit on the printing device, this page is added to the transmission list to the printing device. to add. Then, in step 940, it is determined whether the process has been completed up to the last page. If the final page has not been completed, the process advances to step 945, and the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size of the next page from the conference material data.

  When the process reaches the final page, the process proceeds to step 950, where the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the device information of the printing device from the device information management unit 24. The display size of the page to be printed is compared, and it is determined whether there is a printing apparatus that can print the page. If it exists, the process proceeds to step 960, and the comparison / determination unit 23 determines the printing apparatus as a printing apparatus that prints the page, sends the conference material data and the page designation information to the printing apparatus, and the contents of the transmission list. , The conference material data is transmitted to the display device, and the process ends in step 970.

  If it does not exist, the process proceeds to step 965, and the comparison / determination unit 23 transmits the conference material data only to the display device without causing the printing device to execute printing, and the processing ends in step 970.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of another print control process performed by the management server 11. Also in this case, when a participant of the conference enters the conference room with a display device, the entrance / exit leader 12 detects entry of the participant into the conference room at the entrance / exit. The entry / exit reader 12 notifies the management server 11 that the participant has entered the room via the LAN 13. At this time, the entry / exit reader 12 reads the identification information of the display device held by the participant, and sends the identification information of the display device together. The identification information of the display device includes the IP address of the display device.

  The information receiving unit 21 of the management server 11 receives the notification from the entry / exit reader 12 and the display device identification information, and the management server 11 starts distribution control from step 1000. In step 1005, the information reception unit 21 notifies the screen information acquisition unit 22, the comparison determination unit 23, and the device information management unit 24 that the participant has entered the room, and receives the received identification information of the display device as the screen information acquisition unit 22. Send to.

  In step 1010, the screen information acquisition unit 22 uses the display device identification information received from the information reception unit 21 and accesses the display device to acquire the screen resolution and the DPI setting value as screen information. This screen information can be acquired by the same method as described above.

  In step 1015, the device information management unit 24 acquires device information of printing apparatuses in the same network. This device information can be acquired by acquiring MIB, SOAP, or the like using an appropriate protocol such as the above-described SNMP or HTTP. This information includes not only the maximum size that can be supported, but also information regarding whether it supports color or monochrome printing only.

  Next, in step 1020, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the conference material data to be distributed from the data storage unit 20 that stores the conference material data. When a plurality of conference material data is stored, it can be acquired by the above method.

  In step 1025, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size as information in order from the first page of the conference material from the acquired conference material data. The display size can be acquired as a pixel size. In step 1030, the comparison / determination unit 23 compares the screen size obtained from the screen information of the display device with the display size, and determines whether the conference material on the page fits on the screen of the display device. .

  If it is determined that it does not fit, the process proceeds to step 1040. If it is determined that it does not fit, the process proceeds to step 1035. This determination can also be made by the same method as described above.

  In step 1035, even if the meeting material data is distributed to the display device, it does not fit within the screen. Therefore, in order to print the meeting material of the page that does not fit on the printing device, this page is added to the transmission list to the printing device. to add. In step 1040, it is determined whether or not the process has been completed up to the last page. If the final page has not been completed, the process advances to step 1045, and the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size of the next page from the conference material data.

  When the process reaches the last page, in step 1050, the comparison / determination unit 23 obtains the device information of the printing device from the device information management unit 24. In step 1055, the maximum compatible size and the transmission list of each printing device are printed. The display size of the target page is compared, and it is determined whether there is a printing apparatus that can print the page. When it exists, it progresses to step 1060 and the comparison judgment part 23 judges whether a color page exists in all the pages of a transmission list. On the other hand, if it does not exist, the process proceeds to step 1065, and the comparison / determination unit 23 transmits the conference material data only to the display device without transmitting the conference material data to the printing device and causing the printing device to execute printing. Here, whether or not the page is a color page is determined by using the color information included in the page information of the PDF when the conference material is created in PDF, and the tag when the document is an HTML document. This can be done using color information included in each page information such as color designation performed using the page.

  If it is determined in step 1060 that a color page exists, the process advances to step 1070, and the comparison determination unit 23 determines whether the target printing apparatus is a printing apparatus capable of color printing. Whether or not the printing apparatus is capable of color printing can be determined based on the list of device information as shown in FIG. If it is determined that the printing apparatus is capable of color printing, the process proceeds to step 1075, where the comparison determination unit 23 determines the printing apparatus as a printing apparatus that prints the target page, and prints the conference material data and the page designation information. The contents of the transmission list are sent to the apparatus to execute the contents of the transmission list, and the conference material data is transmitted to the display apparatus.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1060 that a color page does not exist, the process proceeds to step 1075, and the printing apparatus that is determined to be capable of printing the target page in step 1055 is determined as the printing apparatus that prints the target page. The material data and the page designation information are sent to execute the contents of the transmission list, the conference material data is transmitted to the display device, and the process ends at step 1080.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1070 that the target printing device is not a printing device capable of color printing, the process proceeds to step 1065, and the comparison / determination unit 23 does not cause the printing device to execute printing, but only on the display device. Send meeting material data. When the transmission of the conference material data is completed, the process proceeds to Step 1080 and the process is terminated.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of still another print control process performed by the management server 11. Also in this case, when a participant of the conference enters the conference room with a display device, the entrance / exit leader 12 detects entry of the participant into the conference room at the entrance / exit. The entry / exit reader 12 notifies the management server 11 that the participant has entered the room via the LAN 13. At this time, the entry / exit reader 12 reads the identification information of the display device held by the participant, and sends the identification information of the display device together. The identification information of the display device includes the IP address of the display device.

  In response to the information receiving unit 21 of the management server 11 receiving the notification from the entry / exit reader 12 and the identification information of the display device, the management server 11 starts distribution control from step 1100. In step 1105, the information reception unit 21 notifies the screen information acquisition unit 22, the comparison determination unit 23, and the device information management unit 24 that the participant has entered the room, and receives the received identification information of the display device as the screen information acquisition unit 22. Send to.

  In step 1110, the screen information acquisition unit 22 uses the display device identification information received from the information reception unit 21, accesses the display device, and acquires screen resolution and DPI setting values as screen information. This screen information can be acquired by the same method as described above.

  In step 1115, the device information management unit 24 acquires information about printing apparatuses in the same network. This device information can be acquired by acquiring MIB, SOAP, or the like using an appropriate protocol such as the above-described SNMP or HTTP.

  Next, in step 1120, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the conference material data to be distributed from the data storage unit 20 that stores the conference material data. When a plurality of conference material data is stored, it can be acquired by the above method.

  In step 1125, the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size as information in order from the first page of the conference material from the acquired conference material data. The display size can be acquired as a pixel size. In step 1130, the comparison / determination unit 23 compares the screen size obtained from the screen information of the display device with the display size, and determines whether the meeting material on the page fits on the screen of the display device. .

  If it is determined that it will fit, the process proceeds to step 1140, and if it is determined that it does not fit, the process proceeds to step 1135. This determination can also be made by the same method as described above.

  In step 1135, even if the meeting material data is distributed to the display device, it does not fit within the screen. Therefore, in order to print the meeting material of the page that does not fit on the printing device, this page is added to the transmission list to the printing device. to add. Then, in step 1140, it is determined whether the process has been completed up to the last page. If the final page has not been completed, the process advances to step 1145, and the comparison / determination unit 23 acquires the display size of the next page from the conference material data.

  When the process reaches the last page, the process proceeds to step 1150, where the comparison / determination unit 23 obtains the device information of the printing device from the device information management unit 24. In step 1155, the maximum size that can be supported by each printing device and the transmission list. The display size of the page to be printed is compared, and it is determined whether there is a printing apparatus that can print the page. If it exists, the process proceeds to step 1160, and the comparison / determination unit 23 determines the printing apparatus as a printing apparatus that prints the page, sends the conference material data and the page designation information to the printing apparatus, and transmits the contents of the transmission list. To transmit the conference material data to the display device. If it does not exist, the process proceeds to step 1165, and the comparison / determination unit 23 transmits the conference material data only to the display device without causing the printing device to execute printing.

  After the meeting material data is transmitted in step 1160, the process proceeds to step 1170, and user information of the participant who uses the display device is acquired from the user information management unit 25. The user information is registered in advance by the user information management unit 25 and stored in the data storage unit 20. As the information to be registered, an e-mail address, a user name, a user ID, and the like are registered together with identification information of the display device. The display device identification information includes an IP address as described above, and may be a MAC address or the like.

  Thereafter, in step 1175, the participant is notified of the device information of the printing apparatus that executed the printing, and in step 1180, the process is terminated. Similarly, after the meeting material data is transmitted in step 1165, the process proceeds to step 1180 and the process is terminated. The device information of the printing apparatus can be notified by e-mail using the above e-mail address. In this case, the comparison / determination unit 23 instructs the user information management unit 25, and the user information of the participant included in the notification received by the information reception unit 21 from the user information managed by the user information management unit 25. The user information is acquired, the mail address is acquired from the user information, the device information of the printing apparatus that has executed printing is acquired from the device information management unit 24, and the device information is transmitted to the acquired email address for notification. can do.

  In the above example, the device information of the printing apparatus that has performed printing is notified. However, if any error occurs during printing, error notification can also be performed. Examples of the error include out of paper and out of toner. When these errors occur in the printing apparatus, the device information management unit 24 acquires the error information from the printing device, and the comparison determination unit 23 acquires the error information from the device information management unit 24. The display device can be notified using e-mail, MIB, or the like. In this system, since the management server 11 performs and manages printing, error information is received by the management server 11, and the error content is notified from the management server 11 to the display device by e-mail, MIB, or the like. Become.

  When the conference material data is transmitted to the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus executes printing, and a printed matter is output. However, instead of immediately printing out in this way, it is also possible to print out by temporarily storing data and giving an execution instruction on the operation panel or the like of the printing apparatus. For example, many printing apparatuses have a storage function such as a confidential printing function or a confidential printing function. The storage function temporarily stores the received print data in a storage device such as the HDD of the printing device as described above, selects the print data on the operation panel of the printing device, performs print restart processing, and executes printing. It is a function. By adding password data to the print data, the print resumption process may require a password input, and if the password authentication matches, it can be resumed, which may improve security by preventing the removal of paper. Because.

  For this reason, in order to prevent the conference material printed by the printing apparatus from being taken away, the above-mentioned storage function is used to transmit the conference material data to be printed in association with the authentication information. Device information, data identification information for identifying meeting material data, and authentication information are transmitted to the display device for display. For example, a device name of a printing device, a document name attached to accumulated data, and a password as authentication information can be transmitted and displayed by mail. Participants see the mail, go to the front of the printing apparatus, enter a password, select data for the document name, perform printing restart processing, and obtain meeting materials output on paper. As a result, the conference material can be printed and distributed only to the participants who have received the notification of the mail.

  The present invention has been described with the above-described embodiments as a print control device that controls printing of conference materials, a conference material distribution system including the print control device, and a print control method executed by the print control device. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and other embodiments, additions, modifications, deletions, and the like can be modified within a range that can be conceived by those skilled in the art. As long as the functions and effects of the present invention are exhibited, the scope of the present invention is included. Therefore, the present invention can also provide a computer-readable program for executing the printing control method and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Meeting room, 2 ... Living room space, 3-6 ... Display apparatus, 7-10 ... Printing apparatus, 11 ... Management server, 12 ... Entrance / exit reader, 13 ... LAN, 20 ... Data storage part, 21 ... Information receiving part 22 ... Screen information acquisition unit, 23 ... Comparison judgment unit, 24 ... Device information management unit, 25 ... User information management unit

JP 2008-125021 A JP 2007-047983 A JP 2006-277340 A

Claims (10)

A printing control apparatus for controlling printing of meeting materials composed of one or more pages,
An information receiving unit that receives the identification information from a reader that detects an information recording medium possessed by a conference participant and reads and acquires identification information for identifying a display device stored in the information recording medium;
A screen information acquisition unit that accesses the display device using the received identification information and acquires screen information of the display device;
Read the meeting material data of the meeting material from the data storage unit, distribute the meeting material data to the display device using the identification information, and display size of each page of the meeting material obtained from the meeting material data; The screen size obtained from the screen information is compared to determine whether or not each page is to be printed by a printing device. When it is determined that the page is to be printed, the conference material data and information for designating the page to be printed And a comparison / determination unit that causes the printing apparatus to print the page. A device information management unit that accesses one or more of the printing devices connected via a network and acquires device information including a maximum paper size that can be handled from each of the printing devices;
When the comparison determination unit determines that printing is to be performed by a printing device, the display size of the conference material is compared with the maximum paper size included in the device information of each printing device acquired from the device information management unit. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a printing apparatus that executes printing is determined.   The device information includes information on whether or not color printing is possible, and the comparison and determination unit determines whether or not there is a color page from the meeting material data. The printing control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a printing apparatus having a maximum paper size in which the display size of the meeting material can be determined is determined as a printing apparatus that executes printing.   The print control device according to claim 2, wherein the comparison determination unit receives the device information of the determined printing device from the device information management unit, and transmits the device information to the display device.   The device information management unit acquires error information from the printing apparatus that executes printing, and the comparison determination unit transmits the error information acquired from the device information management unit to the display device. The printing control apparatus of any one of -4.   The comparison determination unit transmits authentication information in association with the meeting material data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus, stores the meeting material data in the printing apparatus, and transmits device information of the printing apparatus as a transmission destination and the meeting. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data identification information for identifying document data and authentication information are transmitted to the display apparatus for display.   The data storage unit stores a plurality of meeting material data associated with at least a meeting date and time or user identification information for identifying a participant, and the information receiving unit has entered the room from the reading device. The comparison determination unit matches the meeting material data associated with the meeting date and time closest to the time after the notification is received, or the information on the participant included in the notification. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conference material data associated with the user identification information to be searched is retrieved and read.   The print control device according to claim 1, a display device that displays conference material using conference material data transmitted from the print control device, and the print control device A meeting material distribution system including a printing device that prints a page to be printed of the meeting material. A print control method executed by a print control apparatus that controls printing of a conference material composed of one or more pages, the print control apparatus comprising: an information reception unit; a screen information acquisition unit; a comparison determination unit; Including
The information receiving unit detects an information recording medium possessed by a conference participant and receives the identification information from a reading device that reads and acquires identification information for identifying a display device stored in the information recording medium. Steps,
The screen information acquisition unit accesses the display device using the received identification information, and acquires the screen information of the display device;
The comparison determination unit reads the conference material data of the conference material from the data storage unit, distributes the conference material data to the display device using the identification information, and the conference material data obtained from the conference material data. The display size of each page is compared with the screen size obtained from the screen information to determine whether or not each page is to be printed by a printing device. Transmitting information specifying a page to be executed and causing the printing apparatus to print the page. The print control apparatus further includes a device information management unit,
The device information management unit accessing one or more printing devices connected via a network and obtaining device information including a maximum paper size that can be handled from each of the printing devices;
When the comparison determination unit determines that the printing device performs printing in the step of executing, the display size of the conference material and the device information of each of the printing devices acquired from the device information management unit The print control method according to claim 9, further comprising a step of comparing the maximum paper size and determining a printing device that performs printing.