JP2014142476A - Image forming apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which displays advertisement with higher advertising effect to a user, during printing.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 100 includes: an image analysis part 104 which extracts a keyword on the basis of image data; an advertisement selection part 107 which selects a highly-related advertisement and a quiz relating to the content of the advertisement, on the basis of at least one of the extracted keyword and location information of the image forming apparatus 100; a screen display part 108 which displays the selected advertisement and the quiz; and an image forming part 105 which executes image processing based on the image data, on the basis of the selected advertisement and the quiz.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a technique for displaying an advertisement on an image forming apparatus.

  In order to output a printed matter using the image forming apparatus, running costs such as ink, toner charges, and paper charges are required. This running cost becomes an obstacle, and the user cannot actively use the image forming apparatus. Therefore, there is an idea of displaying an advertisement on a screen provided in the image forming apparatus to cash back the running cost for printing from the advertisement cost to the user, and a system for that is already known (for example, patent document) 1).

  In addition, as a method of carrying out advertisement, after displaying an advertisement composed of moving images, a quiz related to the advertisement is continuously displayed, and by giving some incentive to the user who answered the quiz correctly, the advertisement is deeply recognized by the user. A system is already known (for example, Patent Document 2).

  However, in the system that displays the advertisement on the screen so far, the running cost for printing is cashed back from the advertisement cost, the user may not watch the advertisement during printing, and the expected advertisement effect cannot be obtained. There was a problem.

  In addition, it is not considered to use an image forming apparatus in combination with an image forming apparatus in a system that gives an incentive by giving a quiz about the advertisement after displaying the advertisement and answering it correctly. However, there is a problem that the contents such as the charging method and the method for selecting the optimum advertisement for the user from the print contents / location information of the image forming apparatus are not disclosed.

  The present specification describes an image forming apparatus that enhances the advertising effect on a user in an image forming apparatus that cashes back the running cost of printing by displaying an advertisement, performs a quiz related to the advertisement, and gives an incentive to a correct user. The contents of the billing method, the contents of printing, the method of selecting the optimum advertisement for the user from the location information of the image forming apparatus, etc. are disclosed.

  In Patent Document 1, the running cost related to printing is cashed back by displaying the advertisement on the screen at the time of printing for the purpose of suppressing the running cost related to printing and preventing the user from being disgusted by the advertisement. In addition, a configuration is disclosed in which an advertisement is not printed on a printed matter so that the user does not feel disgusted.

  The present application is related in that an advertisement is displayed on the screen at the time of printing. However, there is a possibility that the user may not pay attention to the advertisement, and the problem that the advertisement effect is low cannot be solved.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a quiz related to the content of an advertisement is displayed after the advertisement is displayed for the purpose of deeply recognizing the advertisement to the user, and some incentive is given to the user who correctly answers the quiz. Yes.

  The present application is relevant in that after displaying an advertisement, a quiz regarding the contents of the advertisement is displayed and the printing fee is cashed back to the correct user. However, the problem that contents such as a billing method when used in combination with an image forming apparatus and a method for selecting an optimal advertisement for a user from print contents and location information of the image forming apparatus are not disclosed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to obtain a higher advertising effect for a user in an advertisement displayed at the time of printing by an image forming apparatus.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image analysis unit that extracts a keyword based on image data, a highly relevant advertisement based on at least one of the extracted keyword and location information of the image forming apparatus, and the advertisement An advertisement selection unit that selects a quiz relating to content, a screen display unit that displays the selected advertisement and quiz, and an image forming unit that executes image processing based on the image data according to the selected advertisement and quiz. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a higher advertising effect for the user in an advertisement displayed at the time of printing by the image forming apparatus.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an entire image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the image forming apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the whole image forming apparatus by deformation | transformation embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the image forming apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the whole image forming apparatus by deformation | transformation embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the image forming apparatus.

  In the following embodiment, regarding the advertisement display, in short, at the time of printing, the advertisement selected as more suitable for the user based on the print contents and the location information of the image forming apparatus is displayed, and further, the advertisement must be watched. In other words, the quiz displayed after the advertisement cannot be correctly answered, and the cashback of the printing fee cannot be received.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the image forming apparatus 100 is installed in a convenience store or the like. Hereinafter, each part lock in the figure will be described.

  The charge input unit 101 is a part for inputting the price when the user copies a document. The fee return unit 102 is a part that returns all or a part of the copy price when the user correctly answers the advertisement quiz. The image reading unit 103 is a part that allows the image forming apparatus 100 to read a document. The image reading unit 103 optically reads an image of a document and generates image data. The image analysis unit 104 is a part that analyzes the content of the original read by the user using OCR or the like. This extracts the keyword of the document.

  The image forming unit 105 is a part that prints an image on paper based on the input image data. The advertisement storage unit 106 stores an advertisement to be displayed on the screen display unit 108. The advertisement is an image or a video, and a quiz about the contents of the advertisement is also stored. These advertisements and quizzes can be updated from the server 200 where the advertisements are stored through a network.

  The advertisement selection unit 107 is a part that selects an advertisement most relevant to the document keyword extracted by the image analysis unit 104 or an advertisement associated with the location information of the image forming apparatus 100. The screen display unit 108 is a screen such as a liquid crystal display that displays advertisements and quizzes selected by the advertisement selection unit 107 and settings of the image forming apparatus 100.

  The answer input means 109 is a means for the user to input an answer to the advertisement quiz, and is a touch panel, a physical key, or the like. The correctness / incorrectness determination unit 110 is a part that determines the correctness / incorrectness of the answer input by the user for the advertisement quiz. The control unit 112 is a part that controls each unit of the image forming apparatus 100.

  FIG. 2 shows an operation flow of the image forming apparatus 100. The user inputs a predetermined copy price into the fee input unit 101 (S101), and causes the image reading unit 103 to read what he wants to copy (S102). The read image is analyzed by performing OCR or the like, and keywords are extracted (S103). The advertisement related to the keyword or the advertisement related to the location information of the image forming apparatus 100 is read from the advertisement storage unit 106 and displayed, and printing is started (S104 to S106). The advertisement is displayed as a moving image or an image. When the display of the advertisement is finished, a quiz concerning the contents of the advertisement is displayed (S107). If the answer to the quiz is correct, all or part of the inserted copy price is refunded (S108 to S110).

  As described above, the present embodiment has disclosed that the advertisement effect for the user is enhanced in the image forming apparatus 100 that cashes back the running cost of printing by displaying the advertisement. In addition, when a system for performing an advertisement quiz and giving an incentive to a correct user is displayed in the advertisement display on the image forming apparatus 100, it is most suitable for the user from the charging method, the print contents, the location information of the image forming apparatus 100, etc. A method for selecting advertisements was also disclosed.

  According to the present embodiment, at the time of printing, the advertisement selected as more suitable for the user from the print contents / location information of the image forming apparatus 100 is displayed, and further displayed after the advertisement unless attention is paid to the advertisement. The answer to the quiz is not correct and the cashback for the printing fee cannot be received. Therefore, a higher advertisement effect can be obtained for the user in the advertisement displayed at the time of printing by the image forming apparatus 100.

  In FIG. 2, the image formation (S106) is performed after the advertisement display (S105). However, both operations may be performed at the same time.

  Hereinafter, modified embodiments of the above embodiment will be described. The modified embodiment shown in FIG. 3 operates as shown in FIG. In this modified embodiment, the charge input unit 101 and the charge return unit 102 are not required, but the user information input unit 113 is required.

  In the above-mentioned embodiment, a predetermined copy price is inserted before the start of copying, and cashback is possible by returning the fee only when the answer is correct to the advertisement quiz, but with this configuration, for example, copying at home or company is not possible . Therefore, only when the user is registered in, for example, a point card or an account on the web, the card information or account information is read from the user information input unit 113 to the image forming apparatus 100 before copying (S101a), and the answer to the advertisement quiz is correct. The card or account is given a point that can be used only for purchasing ink or paper (S110a). By doing so, cash back can be implemented even in a system that does not require a fee for copying.

  In addition, when cashback is carried out using this method, the personal information such as date of birth, gender, occupation, school name, etc. that identifies the user registered in the card or account is stored in the server. By reading from 200, it can be used as information that is the basis of advertisement selection.

  The modified embodiment shown in FIG. 5 operates as shown in FIG. In the above-described embodiment, an image is read, and the read image is analyzed and printed. However, the PC 201, the server 200 on the network, an SD card (registered trademark), a USB memory, etc. By adopting a configuration corresponding to an image read from the external storage medium 202, a printer without the image reading unit 103 can be implemented.

  5 includes a network interface 111, an image data receiving unit 114, and an external storage medium reading unit 115 as such a configuration. The network interface 111, the image data receiving unit 114, and the external storage medium reading unit 115 are interfaces with external information storage media and external devices. As shown in FIG. 6, as an alternative to reading an image of an original, image data is input (S102a).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image forming apparatus 101 Charge input part 102 Charge return part 103 Image reading part 104 Image analysis part 105 Image formation part 106 Advertisement storage part 107 Advertisement selection part 108 Screen display part 109 Answer input means 110 Correct / incorrect judgment part 111 Network interface 113 User information Input unit 114 Image data receiving unit 115 External storage medium reading unit

JP 2002-086816 A JP 2002-183590 A

Claims (5)

An image analyzer that extracts keywords based on the image data;
An advertisement selection unit that selects a highly relevant advertisement and a quiz related to the content of the advertisement based on at least one of the extracted keyword and location information of the image forming apparatus;
A screen display for displaying the selected advertisement and quiz;
An image forming unit that performs image processing based on the image data according to the selected advertisement and quiz;
An image forming apparatus comprising: An answer input means for inputting a quiz answer;
A correct / incorrect determination unit that determines whether the answer to the quiz is correct,
The user is given at least one of a price for image processing to be executed and a point devoted to purchasing consumables for the image forming apparatus when the quiz is answered correctly. Image forming apparatus.   An image reading unit that optically reads a document to generate image data, and the image data analyzed by the image analysis unit is image data of a document read by the image reading unit. The image forming apparatus according to 1 or 2.   4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an interface with a network or an external storage medium, wherein the image data analyzed by the image analysis unit is image data input via the interface. The image forming apparatus described in the item. An image analysis step for extracting keywords based on the image data;
An advertisement selection step of selecting a highly relevant advertisement and a quiz regarding the contents of the advertisement based on at least one of the extracted keyword and location information of the image forming apparatus;
A screen display step for displaying the selected advertisement and quiz;
An image forming step of executing image processing based on the image data in accordance with the selected advertisement and quiz;
A control method for an image forming apparatus.

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