JP2014174957A - Device server and information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique to request an appropriate device to perform processing by transmitting an email to a representative mail address.SOLUTION: A device server causing information processing devices to execute processing on the basis of a received email comprises a mail processing unit which receives an email whose destination is a representative mail address associated with the plurality of information processing devices, a device management unit which stores a property of at least one information processing device among the plurality of information processing devices in association with the representative mail address, a device selection unit which selects at least one among the information processing devices on the basis of the property when the email whose destination is the representative mail address is received, and a processing request unit which requests the selected information processing device to perform processing on the basis of the email.

Description

  The present invention relates to a device server and an information processing system.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing system having a function of printing an e-mail text or attached file is known.

JP 2012-159915 A

  However, a technique that can request processing from an appropriate device by transmitting an electronic mail to a representative mail address has not been known. That is, in the conventional printing system, since an e-mail address is assigned to each printer, the user must specify the e-mail address of the printer corresponding to the desired processing and request printing. For example, in order to request printing on a paper size that only a specific printer supports, it is necessary to send an e-mail to an e-mail address assigned to that printer.

  The device server of the present invention is a device server that causes an information processing device to execute a process based on a received electronic mail, and receives an electronic mail whose destination is a representative mail address associated with a plurality of the information processing devices. A mail processing unit, a device management unit for storing an attribute of at least one information processing device among the plurality of information processing devices in association with the representative email address, and an email addressed to the representative email address When received, a device selection unit that selects at least one of the information processing devices based on the attribute, and a processing request unit that requests the selected information processing device to perform processing based on the email.

  According to the present invention, the user can request processing from an appropriate device by transmitting an electronic mail to the representative mail address.

The conceptual diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. The block diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. The data structure figure concerning embodiment of this invention. The sequence chart concerning embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the corresponding component in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

1. Outline of Printing System FIG. 1 shows an outline of a printing system as an embodiment of the remote information processing system of the present invention. The printing system includes a device server 1 and one or more printers P1, P2, P3, and P4. The device server 1 selects a print request destination in accordance with the e-mail transmission source address. For example, for the emails M1 and M2 sent from the user U1, printing is requested to one of the printers P1, P2 and P3, and for the email M3 sent from the user U2, the printers P2 and P4 are requested. One of these is required to print. The device server 1 also selects a print request destination according to the destination address of the e-mail. For example, for the e-mail M2 addressed to the representative e-mail address “epson@multiprint.com”, printing is requested to one of the printers P1, P2 and P3, and the e-mail M2 addressed to the representative e-mail address “jpson@multiprint.com” is not shown. For e-mail, printing is requested to one of a plurality of printers (not shown). In this way, an arbitrary user can request printing to an appropriate printer by sending an electronic mail to the representative mail address.

2. Configuration of Device Server As shown in FIG. 2, the device server 1 includes a mail processing unit 10, a processing request unit 11, a device communication unit 12, a device selection unit 13, a device management unit 14, and a setting unit 15. It is. The functions of the mail processing unit 10, the processing request unit 11, the device communication unit 12, the device selection unit 13, the device management unit 14, and the setting unit 15 are realized by a processor (not shown) executing a predetermined program.

  The mail processing unit 10 transmits and receives electronic mail that conforms to SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). The email received by the mail processing unit 10 is addressed to the representative mail address assigned to the mail processing unit 10. The representative mail address is assigned to each of one or more printers that execute processing according to the electronic mail transmitted to the same electronic mail address. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the representative mail address “epson@multiprint.com” is assigned to the printers P1, P2, P3, and P4. A plurality of such representative mail addresses can be set in the mail processing unit 10. That is, the mail processing unit 10 receives all e-mails destined for one of a plurality of representative mail addresses set in the mail processing unit 10.

  The device management unit 14 includes a device DB (Data Base) 141 that stores a representative email address and printer attributes in association with each other. The device DB 141 is configured by a part of a storage area of a nonvolatile storage device such as a hard disk device (not shown).

  The device DB 141 stores data in association with various data tables such as the function attribute table T1 shown in FIG. 3A and the address attribute table T2 shown in FIG. 3B. The printer and the function attribute of each printer are associated with each other by the function attribute table T1. Correspondence between the printer, the representative mail address, and the transmission source address (usage permission mail address) of the e-mail at which each printer accepts a print request is associated by the address attribute table T2. The sender e-mail address that receives the print request is also an attribute of the printer. Here, the printers P1, P2, P3, and P4 are identified by device IDs “E001”, “E002”, “E003”, and “E004”, respectively, and A4 size monochrome printing is supported by all printers. The function attributes of the printer are recorded.

  The setting unit 15 is an interface for the administrator of each printer to register data in the device DB 141 and associate the printer ID with a representative mail address, a function attribute of the printer, and an e-mail address that permits use. The setting unit 15 communicates with the administrator terminal of each printer in accordance with HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), whereby data such as a representative mail address, a use-permitted email address, a device ID, and function attributes are stored in the device DB 141. sign up.

  When the mail processing unit 10 receives an e-mail, the device selection unit 13 acquires a destination e-mail address, a transmission source e-mail address, an attached file attribute, print setting information included in the text, and the like as selection element information from the e-mail. Then, a printer is selected based on the acquired selection element information, the attribute of each printer stored in the device DB 141, and a selection condition described later.

  The processing request unit 11 requests the printer selected by the device selection unit 13 to perform processing based on the email received by the mail processing unit 10 via the device communication unit 12.

  The device communication unit 12 communicates with each printer by combining a real-time communication protocol such as XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) and HTTP.

3. Operation of Printing System Next, the operation of the printing system will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.
A user who uses the printing system uses one of the representative e-mail addresses registered in the device server 1 as the destination, describes the print settings in the text as necessary, and sends an e-mail with the file to be printed attached Create (S10). If no file is attached, the body of the e-mail may be printed. The print settings are described according to a predetermined format. Such an e-mail may be created by a user using a general MUA (Mail User Agent), but an application program that can create an e-mail describing the destination and print settings without entering text is printed on the printer. It is preferable to provide it to the administrator.

  When an e-mail addressed to the representative e-mail address is transmitted from an arbitrary information processing terminal such as a smartphone (S11), the e-mail processing unit 10 receives the e-mail.

  When the mail processing unit 10 receives an email addressed to the representative email address, the processing request unit 11 acquires the destination email address, the transmission source email address, and the print settings from the email as selection element information (S20). The print setting can be acquired not only from the body of the e-mail but also from the attribute information of the attached file. For example, if the attached file includes the paper size as attribute information, this can be acquired as the print paper size setting, and the type of color image, monochrome image, text, or figure can be determined from the extension of the attached file. When specified, color or monochrome print settings and print resolution settings can be acquired from the extension.

  Next, the device selection unit 13 specifies all the printers corresponding to the destination address and the transmission source address acquired from the e-mail, and acquires the attributes of all the specified printers from the device DB 141 (S21). As a result, a printer that permits a print request to the transmission source address is selected. The condition used for this selection is called the first selection condition. That is, the first selection condition is “the printer permits a print request to the transmission source address”.

  Next, the device selection unit 13 selects at least one printer and its processing attribute based on the selection element information, the printer attribute stored in the device DB, and the second selection condition (S13). As a result, a printer that satisfies the first selection condition and the second selection condition and its processing attribute are selected. Here, the second selection condition is “being a printer corresponding to the print setting acquired from the e-mail”.

  For example, when the correspondence is recorded as shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, “kaihatsu@epson.com” corresponds as the source address (usable email address) to the email M2 shown in FIG. The printers P1, P2, and P3 with the attached device IDs “E001”, “E002”, and “E003” satisfy the first selection condition, and are compatible with A3 size color printing among the printers P1, P2, and P3. Since only the printer P3 with the device ID “E003” satisfies the second selection condition, the printer P3 is selected. Then, among the function attributes of the printer P3, “A3” size and “color” that match the print settings acquired from the e-mail are selected as process attributes of the process requested to the printer P3.

  If there are multiple printers that satisfy the first selection condition and the second selection condition, you can select one at random, or select the first printer in ascending or descending order of device ID. But you can.

  If there is no printer whose function attribute completely corresponds to the print setting acquired from the e-mail, a printer that supports a paper size larger than the paper size acquired from the e-mail is selected. That is, the third selection condition is “corresponding to a paper size larger than the paper size acquired from the e-mail”. If there is no printer that satisfies the third selection condition, an e-mail notifying that there is no printer that can print with the print settings specified in the e-mail is sent to the sender address, but color printing is changed to monochrome printing. You may change and request printing. In this case, even if color printing is acquired as the selection element information, monochrome printing different from that is selected as an attribute of processing required for the printer.

  Next, the processing request unit 11 creates a print job from the attached file according to the processing attribute of the selected printer (S24). For example, for the e-mail M2 shown in FIG. 1, a print job is created for causing the printer P3 to print the attached file with the print settings of “A3” paper size and “color”. At this time, the attached file may be color-converted or screened to generate a print job.

  Next, the processing request unit 11 transmits the created print job to the selected printer through the device communication unit 12 (S25). In other words, the processing request unit 11 requests the selected printer to perform processing based on the email. When the device communication unit 12 communicates with the selected printer according to XMPP and acquires a print job request from the printer, the device communication unit 12 transmits the print job to the printer according to HTTP.

  When the printer acquires a print job from the device server 1, the printer executes printing based on the acquired print job (S30). As a result, printing based on the email received by the device server 1 is executed by the printer associated with the representative email address that is the destination of the email.

  When the printing is completed, the printer transmits a print job completion notification to the device server 1 (S31). When the device communication unit 12 of the device server 1 receives the print job completion notification, the mail processing unit 10 of the device server 1 prints using the email address of the information processing terminal that has sent the email addressed to the representative email address as the destination. The printer that executed the job is described in the text, and an e-mail notifying the completion of the print job is transmitted (S25).

  As described above, according to the device server 1, it is possible to cause an appropriate printer corresponding to the print setting to execute printing without setting an e-mail address corresponding to the printer corresponding to the print setting as a destination. Therefore, the user can use various printers very easily.

4). Other Embodiments The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in various modes as described below.
For example, in the above embodiment, a printer is used as an example of an information processing device. However, the present invention can also be applied to a device server that requests processing using a PC (Personal Computer), a facsimile, an electronic frame, or the like as an information processing device. As selection element information, information specifying the entire function of the information processing device that requests processing, such as printing, file storage, facsimile transmission, and display, may be obtained. For example, when an e-mail having “file save” described in the text is transmitted to the representative mail address, a file save request may be transmitted from the device server to the file server stored in association with the representative mail address. .

  Further, when a plurality of printers satisfy the first selection condition and the second selection condition, one printer having a high priority order may be selected. The priority order may be determined in advance according to the running cost order or the like for each of a plurality of printers having the same representative email address, for example. Further, when there are a plurality of printers that satisfy all the selection conditions, all the printers may be selected and a print request may be transmitted. Also, when there are multiple printers that meet all the selection conditions, specify whether to select all printers or one printer by information described in the e-mail, and use this as selection element information for the device server May get.

  In addition, a representative email address may be set for each function for the same device. For example, for the printer P3 with the device ID 003 and the printer P4 with the device ID 004, the representative email address when requesting color printing is “epsoncolor@multiprint.com”, and the representative email address when requesting monochrome printing is “epsonblack @ multiprinter. com ".

  Furthermore, the status may be stored in association with the device as the device attribute, and the status may be used as selection element information. For example, the device server may acquire statuses of waiting, printing, and error occurrence from each printer by real-time communication, and may select only the waiting printer.

  The setting unit 15 may be configured to set the administrator authority of each printer in stages. For example, it may be set whether or not printing of a large number of copies is permitted for each transmission source address.

  Needless to say, the device server 1 may be composed of a plurality of computer systems, and the data structure for associating the representative email address, the device, and the attribute is not limited to the above-described example.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Device server, 10 ... Mail processing part, 11 ... Processing request part, 12 ... Device communication part, 13 ... Device selection part, 14 ... Device management part, 15 ... Setting part, 141 ... Device DB, M1 ... E-mail, M2 ... E-mail, M3 ... E-mail, P1 ... Printer, P2 ... Printer, P3 ... Printer, P4 ... Printer, T1 ... Function attribute table, T2 ... Address attribute table, U1 ... User, U2 ... User

Claims (7)

A device server that causes an information processing device to execute processing based on a received email,
A mail processing unit that receives an email addressed to a representative email address associated with a plurality of the information processing devices;
A device management unit for storing an attribute of at least one information processing device among the plurality of information processing devices in association with the representative email address;
When receiving an e-mail addressed to the representative e-mail address, a device selection unit that selects at least one of the information processing devices based on the attribute;
A processing request unit that requests the selected information processing device to perform processing based on the e-mail;
Device server with The device selection unit acquires predetermined selection element information from the email, and selects at least one of the information processing devices based on the acquired selection element information, the attribute, and a predetermined selection condition;
The device server according to claim 1. The selection element information includes data that can specify processing attributes of the information processing device selected by the device selection unit.
The device server according to claim 2. The selection element information includes an attribute of data to be processed requested by the processing request unit.
The device server according to claim 2 or 3. The selection element information includes data capable of identifying a sender of the email,
The device server according to any one of claims 2 to 4. The device management unit stores the attribute in association with the representative email address for each of a plurality of different processes of the same information processing device,
The device selection unit selects at least one attribute of the information processing device based on the attribute and a predetermined selection condition,
The processing request unit requests the selected information processing device to process the selected attribute.
The device server according to claim 1. An information processing system comprising a device server and at least one information processing device that executes processing requested by the device server,
The device server is
A mail processing unit that receives an email addressed to a representative email address associated with a plurality of the information processing devices;
A device management unit for storing an attribute of at least one information processing device among the plurality of information processing devices in association with the representative email address;
When receiving an e-mail addressed to the representative e-mail address, a device selection unit that selects at least one of the information processing devices based on the attribute;
A processing request unit that requests the selected information processing device to perform processing based on the e-mail;
Comprising
Information processing system.

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