JP2014151475A - Image formation device and system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to easily and efficiently print an advertisement even though there are a time and a distance gap between a printing instruction and an actual printing due to that a printing output apparatus (an image formation device) is placed separately from a printing instruction apparatus.SOLUTION: An image formation device comprises: advertisement preview means 80 for displaying advertisement information received form a server 104; advertisement selection means 74 for selecting any of advertisement contents displayed by the advertisement preview means 80; printing means 76 for printing the print contents on both sides of a printing medium; printing result determination means 77 for determining whether the printing result is normal; and printing result transmission means 78 for transmitting the result determined by the printing result determination means 77.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and system, and more particularly, to improvement in usability when an image forming apparatus and a means for commanding image formation are separated.

  Background art related to a technique for printing by adding an advertisement to a printed material includes, for example, those described in Patent Documents 1 to 4.

  The technology described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4783802) is an image forming system that reads an advertisement image from an advertisement management server via a network and synthesizes and outputs the advertisement image to a detected blank area. It is already known that a search key is extracted from the character information and an advertisement is selected based on the search key.

  As a technique described in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent No. 3851079), a system used for remote management of a copying machine is used to quickly and efficiently provide an advertisement that satisfies an advertiser's needs to customers. It is already known that an advertisement is added to the edge of a sheet based on information such as the location of a printing apparatus and printed to charge an advertisement fee to an advertiser for the purpose of providing it well.

  As an art described in Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent No. 3470444), an image forming system that reads an advertisement image from an advertisement management server via a network and synthesizes and outputs the advertisement image to a detected blank area. An advertisement image and advertisement images of various sizes are stored in advance, and an advertisement image that fits the detected margin area is selected evenly using a pseudo-random number or the number of past prints, and the selected advertisement image is a manuscript image. What is synthesized and output is already known.

  As a technique described in Patent Document 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-108578), in addition to personal identification information held by a portable electronic device such as a cellular phone and environmental information of a printing apparatus, advertisement information on the Internet is carried. There is already known a technique for printing in addition to a print result of information held by an electronic device and reducing the charge when printing advertisement information.

  However, in the conventional technique or a combination thereof, when the print output device (image forming apparatus) is located away from the print command device and there is a time or distance gap between the print command and actual printing, the location of the output device is There was a problem that information could not be selected or advertisements could not be selected efficiently when the situation changed from the time of the print command.

  Also, in the case of a mechanism that allows printing by specifying the printing user and using points etc., if you want to handle points such as when printing is not actually performed when points are consumed at the time of print command, or if you want to change the printing conditions at the time of output There was a problem in the user's ease of use.

  In addition, there is a problem that the opportunity for presenting an advertisement is limited to a limited portion such as an empty space of a print page or a header area or a footer area of the print page.

  In addition, in the method of synthesizing and outputting an advertisement image to the edge of the paper or the detected margin area, a method for reducing the print content to create a margin at the edge, an image or keyword in the margin portion existing in the print content Since the layout and the appearance are not intended by the user, such as being inserted, there is a problem that it is difficult to see the print result.

  Also, when printing an advertisement in the margin, the advertisement is limited depending on the size and location of the margin, and if an advertisement not intended by the user is inserted in a location not intended by the user, the effect of the advertisement itself may be significantly impaired. There was a problem.

  Further, when an advertisement is printed in the margin, there is a problem that the layout of the advertisement is not intended for the advertisement source depending on the size and location of the margin.

  In addition, in the case of printing an advertisement on the back side of the paper, a technique for presenting an advertisement that matches the printed content and the suggestion thereof are not included, and there is a problem that a user who uses printing loses the opportunity to become more interested in the advertisement. .

  In addition, since the keyword is extracted from the print contents and the user information is determined only by a single method, there is a problem that the advertisement cannot be distributed efficiently.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and even when the print output device (image forming apparatus) is located away from the print command device and there is a time or distance gap between the print command and actual printing. The purpose is to print advertisements that are easy to use and efficient for the user.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an ID reading unit that reads ID information of a user who outputs a print medium, an ID transmission unit that transmits ID information read by the ID reading unit, and a print content Print content receiving means, advertisement preview means for displaying advertisement information received by the print content receiving means, advertisement selection means for selecting any of the advertisement contents displayed by the advertisement preview means, and printing Printing means for printing the print contents on both sides of the medium, printing result determination means for determining whether the printing result has been normally performed, and printing result transmission means for transmitting the result determined by the printing result determination means; It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, even when the print output device (image forming apparatus) is located away from the print command device and there is a time or distance gap between the print command and the actual printing, the user can use it easily and efficiently. An advertisement can be printed.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of Embodiment 2 of this invention. 3 is a basic flowchart for performing advertisement printing in the image forming system as shown in FIG. 2. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the network structural example in Embodiment 4 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 shows a functional configuration of the present embodiment. The user issues a print command using a print command means (device) 10 such as a PC, tablet terminal, mobile phone, or Internet TV. The print command is received by the server 104 and stored until the user issues an output command at the image forming apparatus 70. At this time, the user inputs or refrains from ID information. In this case, the ID information may be assigned to an individual, assigned to a group, or used for each printing. It is also possible to select whether or not to print an advertisement on the back side at the time of a print command, and to select an advertisement classification and a payment method.

  The ID reading unit 72 reads ID information of a user who outputs a print medium. The ID transmission unit 73 transmits the ID information read by the ID reading unit 72 to the server 104. The print content receiving unit 75 receives print content from the server 104.

  The advertisement preview unit 83 displays the advertisement information received by the print content receiving unit 75. The advertisement print selection unit 81 selects one of the advertisement contents displayed by the advertisement preview unit 83 based on a user operation. Therefore, the advertisement print selection selection means 81 is an interface for selecting whether or not the user prints an advertisement.

  The printing unit 76 performs printing on both sides of the recording sheet. Further, the print content received by the print content receiving means 75 is printed. The print result determination unit 77 determines whether the print result has been normally performed. The print result transmission unit 78 transmits the result determined by the print result determination unit 77.

  The user acquires a printed material from the image forming apparatus 70 installed at a remote position. At this time, ID information is input by the ID reading means 72 built in or connected to the image forming apparatus 70. As a method for inputting the ID information, a method of inputting by the user himself, a magnetic card or a non-contact type IC card may be used.

  The ID information acquired at this time is transmitted to the server 104 by the ID transmission means 73. Also, after an output command is issued, an advertisement is determined from the print contents of the ID information and the information (location, etc.) of the image forming apparatus 70, and is combined with the reverse side of the print information designated by the user. The combined print content is received by the print content receiving unit 75 of the image forming apparatus 70 and printed by the printing unit 76.

  A print result determination unit 77 in the image forming apparatus 70 determines whether printing is normally executed, and the determination result is transmitted to the server 104. If the printing is executed normally, the server 104 counts the advertisement and deletes the printed content. If the printing is not executed normally, the server 104 does not count the advertisement. Also, the print contents designated by the user can be held (may be held or a user judgment process) and output by a different image forming apparatus.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration of the present embodiment. A case where the print command means (device) 10 has print data will be described with reference to FIG. When the print command means (apparatus) 10 has the print data (the form shown in FIG. 2), the user information 15 that issued the print command is transmitted to the server 104 and stored. The user information 15 includes user ID information. Further, the print data 13 designated by the user is transmitted to the server 104 and stored in the server 104 until a user output command (request) is received. At this time, information on the print command means (device) 10, file information on the print data 13, meta information, and the like may be transmitted in addition to the print contents.

  The print data transmitted to the server 104 is analyzed by the print data analysis means 20, and an advertisement to be printed on the back side of the paper is determined from other user information and image forming apparatus (output device) information 14. The timing for determining the advertisement is preferably when the user issues an output command from the image forming apparatus (output device). However, the print data is received by the server 104 for analysis such as decomposing the print data into keywords and selecting OCR and related words. Can be done at any time afterwards (can be processed in advance).

  The print data analysis means 20 performs analysis for printing on the back side of the paper from the received information. The analysis here refers to a method of extracting a keyword group from a character string in the print contents, extracting a frequently occurring keyword from the extracted keyword group, and a related word from the extracted keyword group. Extracting or selecting a field. Analyzing information from the user ID information such as the gender and the fields that the user himself / herself selects the desired or undesired advertisement, and analyzing the information such as the installation location of the device and the expected user from the device ID information Any one of them.

  The advertisement determination unit 30 includes an advertisement selection unit 31, an advertisement information storage unit 32, and an advertisement information update unit 33. These may exist in the same device or may be distributed on the network. Further, in the case where the same device is not connected, the advertisement can be updated manually by a user or a service person via a memory device or the like without being connected to the network.

  The advertisement determination means 30 of the server 104 selects an optimal advertisement from a plurality of information extracted by the print data analysis means 20 such as keywords, fields, user information, and device installation locations. A plurality of advertisements may be selected at this time. In addition, when the user selects aggregate printing or the like, it is also possible to select to aggregate advertisement printing.

  Further, the advertisement determination unit 30 has an advertisement count unit 60. The advertisement counting means 60 counts the number of times the advertisement is printed. The counted numbers can be presented as results to the advertiser.

  The image forming apparatus 70 prints the advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit 30 of the server 104 and the print content requested by the user on different surfaces. At this time, it is desirable to print the print content requested by the user on the second side after printing the advertisement on the first side of the recording sheet. The advantage of printing advertisement first is that if the printing result is disturbed due to an error or malfunction of the device, if you print the advertisement first, the user will do it again after dealing with the error or malfunction, or will not print, The problem is that the counting of advertisements is less likely to be disturbed.

  FIG. 3 is a basic flowchart for performing advertisement printing in the image forming system as shown in FIG. The flowchart in FIG. 3 starts when a print command is generated (S101), and first the print data is received by the server 104 (S102). At this time, the print data may be on the server 104, and the print command means may be a display device that displays information on the server 104 (the description of this alternative form will be described later with reference to FIG. 4).

  Thereafter, the user authenticates the user with the image forming apparatus 70 (output device) (S103), determines whether or not advertisement printing is performed (S104), and if there is no desire for advertisement printing, the advertising printing flow is not processed. Quit. At this time, although not shown, printing is performed without printing the advertisement in the normal printing process of the image forming apparatus 70 (S111).

  When advertisement printing is selected (S104, Yes), the output information output by the print commander is acquired by the print content acquisition unit of the server 104 (S105). Here, the output information refers to a plurality of pieces of data such as character data and image data of print contents, file type to be printed, meta information, device information of command means, and user information.

  The information acquired by the print data acquisition unit of the server 104 is analyzed by the print data analysis unit 20 (S106). The print data analysis means 20 performs analysis for printing the advertisement on the back side of the paper from the received information. The analysis here refers to a method of extracting a keyword group from a character string in the print contents, extracting a frequently occurring keyword from the extracted keyword group, and a related word from the extracted keyword group. Extracting or selecting a field. Analyzing information from the user ID information such as the gender and the fields that the user himself / herself selects the desired or undesired advertisement, and analyzing the information such as the installation location of the device and the expected user from the device ID information Anything like that.

  Advertisement information is acquired based on the plurality of data analyzed by the print data analysis means 20 (S107), and the advertisement is printed and output on the back side of the paper by the image forming apparatus 70 (S108).

  If it is determined that the printing operation has been normally performed after printing (S109, Yes), the printed advertisement is counted (S110). If it is determined that the printing operation has not been performed normally, the advertisement is not counted.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 4 shows a functional configuration of the present embodiment. Another form of the basic configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present invention, a form in which the print command device does not have print data is also possible. In this case, the print command device is a device such as a personal computer, a mobile phone, or a tablet terminal on an Internet TV or a thin client, and the print command device displays the data and issues a print command to the image forming means. It is.

  When the print command is not held by the print command means (in the form shown in FIG. 4), the user ID information that issued the print command is transmitted to the server and stored. The print data supported by the user is stored in the server 104 until a user output command (request) is received. At this time, in addition to the print contents, information of the print command means, file information of the print data, meta information, etc. may be transmitted.

  The print data stored in the server 104 is analyzed by the print data analysis unit 20, and an advertisement to be printed on the back side of the paper is determined from other user information and image forming apparatus (output device) information. The timing of the advertisement decision is preferably when the user issues an output command from the image forming apparatus (output device). However, the print data is received by the server for analysis such as disassembly of print data into keywords and selection of OCR and related terms. Can be performed at any time (can be processed in advance).

  The print data analysis means 20 performs analysis for printing on the back side of the paper from the received information. The analysis here refers to a method of extracting a keyword group from a character string in the print contents, extracting a frequently occurring keyword from the extracted keyword group, and a related word from the extracted keyword group. Extracting or selecting a field. Analyzing information from the user ID information such as the gender and the fields that the user himself / herself selects the desired or undesired advertisement, and analyzing the information such as the installation location of the device and the expected user from the device ID information Any one of them.

  The advertisement determination unit 30 of the server 104 includes an advertisement selection unit, an advertisement information storage unit, and an advertisement information update unit. These may exist in the same device or may be distributed on the network. Further, in the case where the same device is not connected, the advertisement can be updated manually by a user or a service person via a memory device or the like without being connected to the network.

  The advertisement determination means 30 of the server 104 selects an optimal advertisement from a plurality of information extracted by the print content analysis means, such as keywords, fields, user information, and device installation locations. A plurality of advertisements may be selected at this time. In addition, when the user selects aggregate printing or the like, it is also possible to select to aggregate advertisement printing.

  The image forming apparatus 70 prints the advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit 30 and the print content requested by the user on different surfaces. At this time, it is desirable to print the print content requested by the user on the second side after printing the advertisement on the first side of the recording sheet. The advantage of printing advertisement first is that if the printing result is disturbed due to an error or malfunction of the device, if you print the advertisement first, the user will do it again after dealing with the error or malfunction, or will not print, The problem is that the counting of advertisements is less likely to be disturbed.

<Embodiment 4>
A plurality of examples of the image forming system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration example according to the present embodiment. The difference is where the print content analysis means and the advertisement determination means 30 are provided in the system.

  In the first embodiment, the personal computer No. 1 to execute a print command, and copy machine No. A case where a printed matter is output at 1 will be described. In this case, the personal computer no. The server 104 receives the print command issued from 1. The server 104 analyzes the print content by the print content analysis unit, and determines the advertisement by the advertisement determination unit 30.

  The user is a personal computer no. 1 after executing the print command, the copying machine no. Move to 1, perform ID authentication and execute an output command. At this time, the advertisement is determined based on the authenticated ID information, the analysis result of the print data, information on the image forming apparatus (output device), information on the print command device (means), and the like.

  In the second embodiment, the copying machine No. A case where advertisement printing is performed is described in FIG. In the second embodiment, print data, print content analysis means, and advertisement determination means 30 are all present in the advertisement server 110.

  In this case, the advertisement server 110 receives the print command output from the tablet terminal 120, and the advertisement server 110 analyzes the print content by the print content analysis unit. The advertisement server 110 determines an advertisement by the advertisement determination unit 30 based on the information analyzed by the print content analysis unit, and transmits the determined advertisement information to the copying machine (image forming unit) 102. The copying machine (image forming means) 102 prints the print contents instructed by the user and the advertisement selected and sent by the advertisement server 110 by double-sided printing.

<Effect of embodiment>
According to the above-described embodiment, when the print output device (image forming apparatus) is located away from the print command device and there is a time or distance gap between the print command and the actual printing, the time and state of the print command are different. Even if it changes, it is possible to select an advertisement efficiently.

  Further, according to the above embodiment, even in a mechanism in which a printing user is specified and printing can be performed using points or the like, the latest point information can be referred to by checking whether or not points are consumed at the time of output, and points are not consumed in advance. Therefore, the user's selection can be increased so that points can be used more effectively. The options can be increased without restricting the point consumption and reservation at the time of the print command.

  In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, an advertisement that can be related to the information of the document included in the characters or images of the document is presented to the user who uses printing or copying, so that the user has an opportunity to have a stronger interest in the advertisement. Can be provided.

  Moreover, according to the said embodiment, since an advertisement is not printed in the position which a user does not intend in order to print an advertisement on the back side, a user can anticipate beforehand the influence which advertisement printing has on the printing content. Not knowing where the advertisement is printed in your print content can be anxious to the user. On the other hand, if it is known that the advertisement is printed on the back side, the negative image given to the user by the print result can be reduced.

  If the advertisement is printed on the back side, the layout, color, and density can be determined in advance. However, when the advertisement is printed on the blank position or the edge, the effect of the color or darkness on the printed content itself or the printed content ( Color, intensity, layout, etc.) can't be expected to affect the ad. Further, according to the above embodiment, the advertisement source can more predict the effect of the advertisement printing without printing the advertisement at an unintended position of the advertisement source in order to print the advertisement on the back side.

  In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, an advertisement that can be related to text or image information included in a document is printed on the back surface, thereby providing an opportunity for a user who uses printing or copying to easily be interested in the advertisement. be able to.

  In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, an advertisement that can be related to the location of the printing instruction device of the document (print content) is printed on the back surface, so that the user who uses printing or copying can easily get interested in the advertisement. Can be provided.

  In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, the user can reduce discomfort due to the advertisement by determining the density and color of the advertisement based on the print density and color of the document (print content).

  In addition, according to the above embodiment, by presenting advertisements to users who are more interested in information on the fields, genders, and ages of which the user is more interested, an opportunity for more efficient advertisement presentation is presented to the advertiser. Can be provided.

  Moreover, according to the said embodiment, the opportunity of a more efficient advertisement presentation can be provided to an advertiser by showing an advertisement for the user who can be interested by an advertisement.

1 Image forming system 10 Print command means
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Advertisement print selection means 12 Print data 13 Command print content 14 Information of command means (device) 15 User information 16 Print content acquisition means 20 Print data analysis means 21 Keyword / image analysis part 22 File information extraction part 23 Command equipment information extraction part 24 user information extraction unit 30 advertisement determination means 31 advertisement selection means 32 advertisement information storage means 33 advertisement information update means 40 printed material 41 execution print contents 42 advertisement 50 print result determination means 60 advertisement count means 70 image forming apparatus 71 user interface 72 ID reading Means 73 ID transmission means 74 Advertisement print selection means 75 Print content reception means 76 Printing means 77 Print result determination means 78 Print result transmission means 79 Payment method selection means 80 Advertisement preview means 81 Advertisement selection means 82 Print content selection means 83 Printing Preview means 100 Network 101 Personal computer 102 Copier 103 Printer 104 Server 110 Advertising server 111 User management server 120 Tablet terminal 121 Mobile phone

Japanese Patent No. 4783802 Japanese Patent No. 3851079 Japanese Patent No. 3470444 JP 2002-108578 A

Claims (6)

ID reading means for reading ID information of a user who outputs a print medium;
ID transmitting means for transmitting ID information read by the ID reading means;
Print content receiving means for receiving the print content;
Advertisement preview means for displaying advertisement information received by the print content receiving means;
An advertisement selecting means for selecting any of the advertisement contents displayed by the advertisement preview means;
Printing means for printing the print contents on both sides of the print medium;
A printing result judging means for judging whether the printing result has been normally performed;
A print result transmitting means for transmitting the result determined by the print result determining means;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit performs advertisement printing on a first surface and prints a print content on a second surface after completion of advertisement printing. An image forming system comprising the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 and a server,
The server
Means for storing advertisement information for storing advertisements;
Advertisement information updating means for updating an advertisement in the advertisement information storage means;
Advertisement acquisition means for acquiring an advertisement from the advertisement information storage means;
Print data analysis means for extracting information on a command device that issues a print command of a keyword, file information, user information, and print content from the print content;
An ad selection means for selecting an ad based on a plurality of extraction results;
An image forming system comprising:   The image forming system according to claim 3, further comprising an advertisement receiving unit configured to receive the advertisement preview data from the server.   A print preview unit that displays information of a print content received by the print content receiving unit, and a print content selection unit that selects whether to print the print content displayed by the print preview unit. Item 5. The image forming system according to Item 3 or 4.   6. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: user information receiving means for receiving user information sent based on the transmitted ID information; and payment method selecting means for selecting a payment method. The image forming system according to item.

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