JP2015027039A - Image recording device, relay device, image recording method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording device which can execute recording processing by identifying electronic data that is specified in advance by a user as an image recording target.SOLUTION: A multifunction machine 10 can connect with a service providing device 101 which stores electronic data in association with tag data, via a communication network. Among pieces of electronic data stored in the service providing device 101, the multifunction machine 10 acquires electronic data of which tag data includes a recording target tag indicating an execution target of recording processing, from the service providing device 101 (S17 to S20), and executes the recording processing by using the acquired electronic data (S21).

Description

  The present invention relates to an image storage device, a relay device, an image recording method, and a program that can be connected to a service providing device that stores electronic data together with tag data.

  In recent years, electronic data storage services that can store electronic data in a database on a network prepared by a service provider have become widespread. A user can upload arbitrary electronic data from a mobile terminal or a personal computer to an electronic data storage service via a network. In many electronic data storage services, a user can set an arbitrary tag in electronic data in order to facilitate management of electronic data. As a technique for using such an electronic data storage service, Patent Document 1 describes an image processing apparatus that can upload image data to the electronic data storage service and set a tag specified by the user in the image data. Has been.

JP 2007-188479 A

  When printing image data or document data stored in the electronic data storage service, the user operates a personal computer connected to the image recording apparatus to perform a series of operations for printing. Specifically, the user logs in to the electronic data storage service, opens the target electronic data with a specific application, and presses a print button provided in the user interface of the application. When a plurality of electronic data is recorded as an image, the user needs to repeatedly execute the above-described procedure for each electronic data, so that there is a problem that the user is troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and performs recording processing by specifying electronic data designated in advance as an image recording target by a user from among electronic data stored in an electronic data storage service. Is to provide an image recording apparatus, a relay apparatus, an image recording method, and a program.

  The image recording apparatus described in the present specification is an image recording apparatus that can be connected to a service providing apparatus that stores electronic data together with tag data via a communication network. The tag is composed of a symbol string and indicates one or more tags that can be added to the electronic data. The image recording apparatus controls a recording unit that records an image on a recording medium and the operation of the recording unit. A control unit for performing a recording process for recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium from among the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus. An acquisition means for acquiring the electronic data in which a tag to be recorded indicating that the tag is included is included in the tag data, and the electronic data acquired by the acquisition means The recording process using including recording means to execute the recording unit.

  According to this configuration, since only the electronic data in which the tag to be recorded is included in the tag data is acquired from the service providing apparatus, only the electronic data in which the tag has been included in the tag data in advance by the user is recorded. It becomes the object of. That is, the above-described image recording apparatus can perform the recording process by acquiring only the electronic data designated as the target of the recording process by the user in advance.

  Note that “data” in this specification and “information” to be described later are common in that they are bits or bit strings that can be handled by a computer. The “data” refers to data that can be handled by the computer without taking into account the meaning content indicated by each bit. On the other hand, “information” refers to information that the operation of the computer branches depending on the semantic content indicated by each bit. In addition, even if the format (for example, text format, binary format, flag format, etc.) is changed for each computer, “data” and “information” have the same data and information as long as they are recognized as the same meaning content. Are treated as That is, the same data or information may be held in text format on one computer and in binary format on another computer.

  However, the distinction between the above “data” and “information” is not strict, and exceptional handling is allowed. For example, data may be temporarily treated as information, or information may be temporarily treated as data. Also, what is handled as data in a certain device may be handled as information in another device. Furthermore, information may be extracted from the data, or data may be extracted from the information.

  Further, “acquisition” of electronic data in the image recording apparatus described in this specification means that electronic data is finally obtained, and the processing content and processing order until “acquisition” is completed. It is not limited. In other words, the obtaining unit may select the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus from the electronic data stored in the tag data and receive them from the service providing apparatus. Alternatively, the acquisition unit may receive electronic data from the service providing apparatus based on a wider range of conditions, and may select the received electronic data from which the tag to be recorded is included in the tag data. .

  According to the image recording device, the relay device, the image recording method, and the program described in this specification, the electronic data specified in advance by the user as the target of the recording process from among the electronic data stored in the electronic data storage service And recording processing can be executed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an image management / recording system 1. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the multifunction machine 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the multifunction machine 10. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the terminal device 40. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram of the online recording process. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the selection process. FIG. 8 is an example of a list created by the multifunction machine 10, where (A) shows the list after the sorting process, and (B) shows the list after the sort process. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the recording process. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 after the recording process is completed. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of processing for uploading electronic data from the terminal device 40 to the service providing device 101. FIG. 12 is a display example of the display unit 43 of the terminal device 40, where (A) shows the electronic data selection screen 60, (B) shows the multifunction device selection screen 63, and (C) shows the execution condition selection screen 66. (D) shows the cycle selection screen 74, and (E) shows the user selection screen 77. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of tag data recorded on a recording sheet by the multifunction machine 10. FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of the relay device 90 according to the modification. FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram of online recording processing according to the modification.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The embodiment described below is merely an example of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the embodiment of the present invention can be changed as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Outline of Image Management / Recording System 1]
With reference to FIG. 1, an outline of an image management / recording system 1 in the present embodiment will be described. The image management / recording system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a multifunction device 10, a terminal device 40, and a service providing device 101. The multifunction machine 10 and the terminal device 40 in the present embodiment are installed in the same LAN (abbreviation of Local Area Network) 102. The LAN 102 is connected to the Internet 103 via a default gateway (not shown). The service providing apparatus 101 is connected to the Internet 103. That is, the multifunction device 10, the terminal device 40, and the service providing device 101 can communicate with each other via the LAN 102 and the Internet 103. The Internet 103 and the LAN 102 are examples of the communication network of the present invention.

  The service providing apparatus 101 is installed on the Internet 103 by a service provider that provides an electronic data storage service. The electronic data storage service is a service that stores arbitrary electronic data held by a user of the service (hereinafter referred to as “service user”) in the service providing apparatus 101. The service providing apparatus 101 stores electronic data uploaded via the Internet 103 from the terminal apparatus 40 operated by the service user. Note that the service providing apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment stores uploaded electronic data in units of files. That is, each file shown in FIG. 5 is an example of the electronic data of the present invention.

  For example, the service providing apparatus 101 and the terminal apparatus 40 perform communication using HTTP (abbreviation of HyperText Transfer Protocol) or HTTPS (abbreviation of HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). The service providing apparatus 101 has functions as a well-known Web server and storage server. The service providing apparatus 101 may be a single computer or may be configured by a plurality of computers connected to be communicable with each other.

  The service user can add a tag to the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101. The service providing apparatus 101 stores tag data indicating a tag added to the electronic data together with the electronic data. A tag is composed of an arbitrary symbol string. Symbols that can be used for tags in Japan are, for example, alphabets, numbers, hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Also, special characters such as hyphens, underscores, periods, and slashes may be used as symbols. For example, “print_MFC1_once_user1” and “property_A4_600_gray” shown in FIG. 5 are examples of the tag of the present invention. However, the symbols that can be used are appropriately changed according to the country, the language area, and the specifications of the service providing apparatus 101.

  One or more tags can be added to the electronic data. In the example of FIG. 5, two tags are added to “test.pdf”, and three tags are added to “memo.txt”. Also, the same tag can be added to a plurality of electronic data. In the example of FIG. 5, the “property_A4” tag is added to five files, and the “property_gray” tag is added to two files. Furthermore, a tag does not have to be added to the electronic data as in “file.jpg” shown in FIG.

[Multifunction machine 10]
The multifunction device 10 is a device that executes a recording process for recording an image indicated by electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 on a recording sheet. Specifically, the multifunction device 10 refers to the tag data of each electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101, selects electronic data to be subjected to recording processing based on the tag data, and selects the selected electronic data. A recording process using data is executed. The “recording process using electronic data” refers to a process of recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the multifunction machine 10 includes a printer unit 11, a display unit 13, an operation unit 14, a communication I / F 15, a clock unit 20, a CPU 16, and a storage unit 17. Prepare mainly. In addition, each component constituting the multifunction machine 10 is connected to each other via a communication bus 18 as shown in FIG. The printer unit 11 is a part having a print function for recording an image on a recording sheet, and mainly includes a paper feed tray 30, a paper discharge tray 31, a transport unit 26, a recording unit 27, and a tray sensor 28. . The multifunction machine 10 may further include a scan function for reading an image recorded on a document, a FAX function for performing FAX transmission / reception, and the like. The multifunction machine 10 is an example of an image recording apparatus of the present invention. The recording paper is an example of the recording medium of the present invention.

[Components of Printer Unit 11]
As shown in FIG. 2, the paper feed tray 30 is detachably attached to the printer unit 11 through an opening 29 formed on the front surface of the printer unit 11. The paper feed tray 30 is configured to be able to selectively store a plurality of sizes of recording paper. The paper discharge tray 31 is disposed above the paper feed tray 30. The transport unit 26 picks up the recording paper stored in the paper feed tray 30 and transports the recording paper along a transport path partitioned in the printer unit 11. The recording unit 27 records an image on the recording paper conveyed by the conveying unit 26 by any known method typified by an inkjet method or an electrophotographic method. The recording sheet on which the image is recorded is discharged to the discharge tray 31 by the transport unit 26. The tray sensor 28 outputs a detection signal based on the insertion / extraction state of the paper feed tray 30. Specifically, the tray sensor 28 outputs a detection signal to the CPU 16 when the paper feed tray 30 is mounted to the back of the opening 29 of the printer unit 11. The tray sensor 28 can be realized by an arbitrary method such as a mechanical type or an optical type.

[Display unit 13]
As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 13 is arranged at a substantially central portion on the front surface of the multifunction machine 10 and displays various information. Although the specific configuration of the display unit 13 is not particularly limited, for example, a liquid crystal display (abbreviation of Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display (abbreviation of Organic Electro-Luminescence Display), or the like can be employed.

[Operation unit 14]
As shown in FIG. 2, the operation unit 14 includes a plurality of push buttons 14 </ b> A provided on both outer sides of the display unit 13. The operation unit 14 outputs various operation signals associated with the pressed push button 14 </ b> A to the CPU 16. Further, the operation unit 14 may include a film-like touch sensor superimposed on the display screen of the display unit 13. That is, the display unit 13 may be configured as a touch panel display. For the touch sensor, a known method such as a capacitance method or a resistance film method can be adopted. In that case, the push button 14A is not necessarily an essential configuration, and the function of the push button 14A may be replaced by a touch sensor.

[Communication I / F15]
The communication I / F 15 is an interface for communicating with an external device through a communication network. Note that the communication I / F 15 in this embodiment is an interface for connecting to the LAN 102. For example, the printer unit 11 acquires data from the service providing apparatus 101 through the communication I / F 15 and records an image included in the acquired data on a recording sheet. For example, the printer unit 11 transmits a list of tags stored in the storage unit 17 to the terminal device 40 through the communication I / F 15. Note that a communication method for connecting the communication I / F 15 to the LAN 102 may be wired or wireless.

[Clock 20]
The clock unit 20 outputs a time signal indicating the current time to the CPU 16. The time signal includes information specifying the year, month, day, and time. The clock unit 20 includes a crystal resonator or the like for synchronizing the time signal with the actual time.

[CPU16]
A CPU (abbreviation of Central Processing Unit) 16 controls the overall operation of the multifunction machine 10. The CPU 16 acquires various programs (to be described later) from the storage unit 17 based on the operation signal output from the operation unit 14, the detection signal output from the tray sensor 28, the time signal output from the clock unit 20, and the like. Run. That is, CPU16 and the memory | storage part 17 comprise an example of the control part of this invention.

[Storage unit 17]
The storage unit 17 includes a program storage area 17A and a data storage area 17B. The storage unit 17 includes, for example, a RAM (abbreviation of Random Access Memory), a ROM (abbreviation of Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (abbreviation of Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), and an HDD (abbreviation of CPU 16). It is configured by a buffer or the like or a combination thereof.

  The storage unit 17 may be a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium is a non-transitory medium. Non-transitory media include recording media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM in addition to the above examples. On the other hand, electrical signals that carry programs downloaded from servers on the Internet are not included in non-transitory media.

  The program storage area 17A stores various programs including an OS (abbreviation for Operating System) 19, a user information reception program 21, an electronic data acquisition program 22, a recording program 23, a tag editing program 24, and a tag list output program 25. . These programs will be described later. 3, 4, and 14, the program is expressed as “PG”. The data storage area 17B stores data necessary for executing various programs. The data stored in the data storage area 17B includes, for example, electronic data and tag data acquired from the service providing apparatus 101, apparatus specifying information for specifying the own apparatus, a list of condition setting tags supported by the MFP 10, and the like. Is mentioned.

  Various programs stored in the program storage area 17A are executed by the CPU 16. However, in this specification, the operation of each program may be described with the CPU 16 omitted. That is, in the following description, the description that “the program A executes the process A” may indicate that “the CPU 16 executes the process A described in the program A”. The same applies to the terminal device 40 and the relay device 90 described later.

  The OS 19 provides an API (abbreviation for Application Programming Interface) for controlling the printer unit 11, the display unit 13, the operation unit 14, the communication I / F 15, the clock unit 20, and the like that are hardware constituting the multifunction machine 10. It is a basic program. That is, each program described above controls each hardware by calling an API provided by the OS 19. However, in this specification, the operation of each program will be described with the OS 19 omitted. That is, in the following description, the description “the program B controls the hardware C” may refer to “the program B controls the hardware C through the API of the OS 19”. The same applies to the terminal device 40 and the relay device 90 described later.

[Terminal device 40]
For example, the terminal device 40 is a device that uploads electronic data to the service providing apparatus 101, adds a tag to the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101, and displays a list of tags acquired from the multifunction device 10. . The terminal device 40 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet PC, or a personal computer. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the terminal device 40 in the present embodiment mainly includes a display unit 43, an operation unit 44, a communication I / F 45, a CPU 46, and a storage unit 47. Each component constituting the terminal device 40 is connected to each other via a communication bus 48.

  Since the display unit 43, the operation unit 44, the communication I / F 45, the CPU 46, and the storage unit 47 are common to the display unit 13, the operation unit 14, the communication I / F 15, the CPU 16, and the storage unit 17 included in the multifunction machine 10. The description will not be repeated. However, various programs including the OS 49, the upload execution program 50, the tag data acquisition program 51, and the tag data display program 52 are stored in the program storage area 47A of the storage unit 47. The upload execution program 50 includes a tag list acquisition program 53, a selection reception program 54, and a tag setting program 55. These programs will be described later.

  When the terminal device 40 is configured as a mobile terminal, the display unit 43 is a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display exposed on the surface of the casing, and the operation unit 44 is a touch sensor or push button superimposed on the display unit 43. Etc. When the terminal device 40 is configured as a personal computer, the display unit 43 is a display device, and the operation unit 44 is a mouse and a keyboard. However, this configuration is merely an example, and the configurations of the display unit 43 and the operation unit 44 are appropriately changed depending on the size and use of the terminal device 40. The display unit 43 is an example of the display device of the present invention.

[Management of Electronic Data in Service Providing Device 101]
An example of electronic data and tag data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 is shown in FIG. The service providing apparatus 101 manages electronic data for each user ID. FIG. 5 shows electronic data that can be referred to by a user whose user ID is “user1”. Also, electronic data that is not subject to execution of recording processing such as audio data is omitted in FIG. 5, and only electronic data that is subject to execution of recording processing by the multifunction device 10 such as image data and document data is shown. .

  The “data ID” in the first column from the left in FIG. 5 uniquely identifies the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101. The uploaded electronic data is managed by automatically adding a data ID by the service providing apparatus 101. The “file name” in the second column from the left is the name of a file that is a unit of electronic data. The left side of the file name “.” Is the name of the file, and the right side is the extension indicating the file type. For example, electronic data with extensions “.jpg” and “.bmp” is image data. The electronic data with the extension “.txt” is character string data. The electronic data with the extension “.pdf” is data in which character strings and images are arranged in an arbitrary layout.

  The “share setting” in the third column from the left indicates whether or not the share setting is made such that the electronic data can be referred to by other users. Electronic data having a sharing setting of “Yes” (hereinafter referred to as “shared electronic data”) is electronic data that can be referred to by a user who is different from the user who uploaded the electronic data. On the other hand, electronic data whose sharing setting is “none” is electronic data that can be referred to only by the user who uploaded the electronic data. In the sharing setting, all users who can access the service providing apparatus 101 can be allowed to refer to, or a user ID that can be referred to can be designated. The sharing setting is arbitrarily set by the user who uploaded the electronic data.

  “Recording target tag”, “condition setting tag”, and “recorded tag” in the fourth to sixth columns from the left are tags added to the electronic data. These tags are composed of a plurality of partial tags separated by “_”. Hereinafter, the nth partial tag from the left is referred to as an nth partial tag. Note that the arrangement order of the partial tags is not limited to the example of FIG.

  The recording target tag is a generic term for tags whose first partial tag is “print”, and is added to electronic data to be subjected to recording processing. The recording target tag shown in FIG. 5 includes three or four partial tags. In the example of “print_MFC1_once_user1”, the first partial tag is “print”, the second partial tag is “MFC1”, the third partial tag is “once”, and the fourth partial tag is “user1”.

  The partial tags “MFC1” and “MFC2” shown in FIG. 5 are device specifying information indicating which MFP 10 performs the recording process using the electronic data. The device identification information uniquely identifies the multifunction device 10 and is, for example, the model number or serial number of the multifunction device 10. Electronic data to which a recording target tag including “MFC1” is added is recorded only by the multi-function device 10 specified by MFC1. The device identification information can be omitted. When the device specifying information is omitted, this electronic data indicates that recording processing can be performed by an arbitrary multifunction device 10.

  The partial tags “once”, “daily”, “monthly”, “weekly”, and “everytime” shown in FIG. 5 are cycle information indicating how often the recording process using the electronic data is performed. is there. For example, “once” indicates that the electronic data is an execution target of the recording process only once. “Daily” indicates that the electronic data is an execution target of the recording process only once a day. “Weekly” indicates that the electronic data is an execution target of the recording process only once a week. “Monthly” indicates that the electronic data is to be subjected to recording processing once a month. “Everytime” indicates that the electronic data becomes an execution target of the recording process every time the MFP 10 accesses the service providing apparatus 101. Note that the period information can be omitted. When the period information is omitted, this electronic data may be a target for executing the recording process only once.

  The partial tags “user1” and “user2” shown in FIG. 5 are user specifying information indicating which user is to execute the recording process of the electronic data set to be shared. The user identification information uniquely identifies the user, and is, for example, a user ID when logging into the service providing apparatus 101. In other words, electronic data to which a recording target tag including “user1” is added becomes an execution target of a recording process only when logged in to the service providing apparatus 101 with the user ID of “user1”. The user specifying information can be omitted. When the user specifying information is omitted, the electronic data is recorded by all users who can access the electronic data. For electronic data that is not set to share, the user identification information is not included in the recording target tag.

  The condition setting tag is a generic term for tags whose first partial tag is “property”, and designates an execution condition of a recording process using the electronic data. The condition setting tag is added to the electronic data through the terminal device 40, for example. The condition setting tag shown in FIG. 5 includes two partial tags. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the second partial tag of the condition setting tag includes “A4”, “photoL”, “B5”, “300”, “600”, “gray”, “color”, and the like.

  Condition setting tags whose second partial tags are “A4”, “photoL”, “B5”, and the like are size tags that specify the size of the recording paper used in the recording process. As an example of the size of the recording paper designated by the size tag, there are A series and B series standardized by ISO 216, photo size called L size and service size, and the like. For example, “A4” indicates the A4 size of the A series, “B5” indicates the B5 size of the B series, and “photoL” indicates the L size.

  Condition setting tags whose second partial tags are “300”, “600”, and the like are resolution tags that specify the resolution in the recording process. For example, “300” indicates 300 dpi (abbreviation of Dots Per Inch), and “600” indicates 600 dpi. The condition setting tag whose second partial tag is “gray”, “color”, or the like is a color tag that specifies whether the recording process is executed in color or monochrome. For example, “gray” indicates that the recording process is executed only with black ink, and “color” indicates that the recording process is executed with black ink and color ink.

  The condition setting tag can be omitted. When the condition setting tag is omitted, the multi-function device 10 may perform the recording process according to a preset default execution condition. Also, the supported condition setting tags are different for each multifunction device 10. For this reason, the multifunction machine 10 may execute the recording process by replacing the unsupported condition setting tag with the default execution condition.

  The recorded tag is a generic term for tags whose first partial tag is “record”, and is added to electronic data that has been recorded in the past. The recorded tag is added by the multifunction device 10 after the recording process using the electronic data is executed. The recorded tag shown in FIG. 5 consists of two partial tags. Examples of the second partial tag of the recorded tag include “complete” and “yyyymmdd”, as shown in FIG.

  The recorded tag whose second partial tag is “complete” corresponds to a recording target tag that does not include period information or a recording target tag whose period information is “once”. That is, the electronic data with the data ID “0001” to which the “record_complete” tag is not added indicates that the recording process has not yet been executed. On the other hand, the electronic data with the data ID “0005” to which the “record_complete” tag is added indicates that the recording process has already been executed.

  The recorded tag whose second partial tag is “yyyymmdd” corresponds to a recording target tag including periodic information other than “once” and “everytime”, and the execution time of the recording process using the electronic data It is time information which shows. In other words, “yyyymmdd” is a combination of a four-digit number “yyyy” representing the year, a two-digit number “mm” representing the month, and a two-digit number “dd” representing the day. That is, the electronic data with the data ID “0003” to which the “record_2013030” tag is added indicates that the recording process was executed on May 20, 2013, and the data ID “2013_613” to which the “record_20133063” tag was added. The electronic data “0004” indicates that the recording process was executed on June 13, 2013.

  Note that the tag data shown in FIG. 5 is an example, and may be appropriately changed by those skilled in the art. For example, the recording target tag, the condition setting tag, and the recorded tag may be composed of more partial tags. Thereby, the conditions for selecting the electronic data to be subjected to the recording process and the execution conditions for the recording process can be specified in more detail.

[Online recording process flow]
The multi-function device 10 acquires electronic data to be subjected to recording processing based on the recording target tag and the recorded tag added to each electronic data among the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101. Further, the multifunction machine 10 executes a recording process using the acquired electronic data in accordance with a recording process execution condition specified by the condition setting tag. Hereinafter, this series of operations executed by the multifunction machine 10 is referred to as online recording processing. The flow of the online recording process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the CPU 16 displays a menu screen on the display unit 13 on condition that the power of the multifunction machine 10 is turned on or has returned from the sleep state (S11). The menu screen displays a list of various functions that can be executed by the multifunction machine 10. Examples of this function include document scanning, FAX transmission, list recording processing described later, and the like in addition to online recording processing. The user can select one of the listed functions by operating the operation unit 14 while referring to the menu screen. When the MFP 10 executes online recording processing, the user selects “online recording processing” from the functions displayed on the menu screen. The CPU 16 executes the user information reception program 21 on the condition that the operation signal corresponding to the “online recording process” is acquired from the operation unit 14.

  The user information reception program 21 is a program that receives from a user an input of a user ID and password used for logging in to the service providing apparatus 101. First, the user information reception program 21 displays an input screen for allowing the user to input a user ID and a password on the display unit 13. The user inputs a user ID and password through the operation unit 14 (S12). The user information reception program 21 stores the input user ID and password in the data storage area 17 </ b> B of the storage unit 17. The CPU 16 that executes the user information receiving program 21 is an example of a receiving unit of the present invention.

  Next, the CPU 16 executes the electronic data acquisition program 22. The electronic data acquisition program 22 is a program for acquiring electronic data to be subjected to recording processing among electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101.

  First, the electronic data acquisition program 22 requests login to the service providing apparatus 101 using the user ID and password input in step S12 (S13). After confirming that the user ID and password are valid, the service providing apparatus 101 generates session information, which is an identifier for identifying the logged-in user, and transmits it to the multifunction machine 10 (S14). The electronic data acquisition program 22 stores the session information in the data storage area 17B of the storage unit 17. Thereafter, in the communication between the multifunction machine 10 and the service providing apparatus 101, presentation of session information by the multifunction machine 10 and confirmation of the session information by the service providing apparatus 101 are performed, which are omitted in the following description.

  The electronic data acquisition program 22 includes a data ID of all electronic data that can be referred to by the user ID, tag data added to the electronic data, and a list of presence / absence of sharing setting for the electronic data (hereinafter referred to as a “data ID list”). ”Is requested to the service providing apparatus 101 (S15). The electronic data that can be referred to by the user ID “user1” includes the electronic data uploaded by the user having the user ID “user1” and the user ID “user1” that is uploaded by the user having the other user ID and allowed to refer to the user The shared electronic data is set to be shared. The service providing apparatus 101 generates a list of data IDs and the like of electronic data that can be referred to by the user ID “user1”, and transmits the list of data IDs and the like to the multifunction machine 10 (S16).

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 executes a selection process for selecting the data ID of the electronic data to be recorded from the list of acquired data IDs (S17). Details of the sorting process will be described later with reference to FIG. 7. Here, among the data IDs “0001” to “0008” shown in FIG. 5, the data IDs “0001” and “0001” shown in FIG. It is assumed that three electronic data specified by “0002” and “0008” are selected as execution targets of the recording process.

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 executes a sorting process for sorting the three data IDs shown in FIG. 8A using the size tag added to each electronic data as a key (S18). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 8B, a list in which the data IDs to which the same size tag is added is continuous is generated. The electronic data acquisition program 22 adds a size tag for designating the size of the recording paper used for the recording process executed immediately before among the plurality of size tags included in the list shown in FIG. The sorting process may be performed so that the data ID of the electronic data is the first.

  That is, when an A4 size recording sheet is used in the immediately preceding recording process, as shown in FIG. 8B, the data ID “0001” of the electronic data to which the size tag “property_A4” is added, Sort processing is performed so that “0008” is preceded by the data ID “0002” of the electronic data to which the size tag “property_photoL” is added first. On the other hand, when B5 size recording paper is used in the immediately preceding recording process, the sorting process may be performed in an arbitrary order.

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 requests the service providing apparatus 101 to transmit the electronic data specified by the head data ID in the list of data IDs shown in FIG. 8B (S19). The service providing apparatus 101 transmits electronic data specified by the requested data ID to the multi function device 10 (S20). The CPU 16 that executes the electronic data acquisition program 22 is an example of an acquisition unit of the present invention.

  Next, the CPU 16 executes the recording program 23. The recording program 23 causes the printer unit 11 to execute recording processing using the electronic data received from the service providing apparatus 101 (S21). The printer unit 11 executes a recording process using the electronic data in accordance with the execution condition indicated by the condition setting tag added to the electronic data. As a result, the image indicated by the electronic data is recorded as an image on the recording paper. The CPU 16 that executes the recording program 23 is an example of the recording means of the present invention.

  The loop processing from step S19 to step S21 is executed in order from the top for all the data IDs in the list shown in FIG. That is, the recording process for the A4 size recording paper is continuously executed, and then the recording process for the photoL size recording paper is executed. The execution order of the above recording processes may be reversed. On condition that the loop processing from step S19 to S21 has been executed for all data IDs, the CPU 16 displays a recording completion screen indicating that the online recording processing is completed on the display unit 13 (S22). .

[Details of Sorting Process (S17)]
Details of the selection process in step S17 are shown in the flowchart of FIG. The electronic data acquisition program 22 determines whether or not the electronic data specified by the data ID received from the service providing apparatus 101 satisfies the conditions of steps S31 to S35, and records the electronic data that satisfies all the conditions as the target of the recording process. (S36), electronic data that does not satisfy any of the conditions is excluded from the target of the recording process (S37). The processes in steps S31 to S37 are repeatedly executed for all data IDs received from the service providing apparatus 101 (S38).

  First, the electronic data acquisition program 22 determines whether or not a recording target tag is set in the electronic data (S31). That is, the electronic data acquisition program 22 determines whether or not a tag including the partial tag “print” is included in the tag data. For the data ID in which the recording target tag is set (S31: Yes), the determination in step S32 is performed. On the other hand, the electronic data specified by the data ID for which the recording target tag is not set (S31: No) is excluded from the recording process execution target (S37).

  In the example of FIG. 5, among the data IDs “0001” to “0008”, for the data IDs “0001” to “0006” and “0008” in which the recording target tags are set (S31: Yes), step A determination of S32 is made. On the other hand, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0007” for which no recording target tag is set (S31: No) is excluded from the execution target of the recording process (S37).

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 responds to the data ID for which the recording target tag is set (S31: Yes) and the device identification information included in the recording target tag and the data storage area 17B. The device identification information of the device is compared (S32). Then, for the data ID in which the device identification information of the own device is included in the record target tag (S32: Yes), the determination in step S33 is performed. On the other hand, the electronic data specified by the data ID whose device identification information is not included in the recording target tag (S32: No) is excluded from the execution target of the recording process (S37).

  In the example of FIG. 5, assuming that the device specifying information of the multifunction machine 10 is “MFC1”, the data ID “0001” including “MFC1” in the recording target tag among the data IDs “0001” to “0006”. ˜ “0005” and the data ID “0008” in which the device identification information is not included in the recording target tag (S32: Yes), the determination in step S33 is performed. On the other hand, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0006” including “MFC2” in the recording target tag (S32: No) is excluded from the execution target of the recording process (S37).

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 determines whether or not a valid recorded tag is set for the data ID in which the device identification information included in the recording target tag matches with the own device (S32: Yes). Is determined (S33). Note that the processing in step S33 differs depending on the period information included in the recording target tag. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5, the process of step S33 is demonstrated for every period information.

  First, the electronic data acquisition program 22 determines only whether or not the recorded tag “record_complete” is set for the data IDs “0001” and “0005” whose cycle information is “once” (S33). . For the data ID “0001” in which the recorded tag is not set (S33: Yes), the determination in step S34 is performed. On the other hand, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0005” in which the recorded tag is set (S33: No) is excluded from the recording process execution target (S37). For the data ID “0008” whose cycle information is “everytime” (S33: Yes), the determination in step S34 is performed.

  The electronic data acquisition program 22 sets valid recorded tags for the data IDs “0002”, “0003”, and “0004” whose cycle information is “daily”, “monthly”, and “weakly”. It is determined whether or not (S33). An effective recorded tag refers to a recorded tag in which the time information and the current time belong to the same cycle. For the data IDs in which the time information included in the recorded tag and the current time belong to different periods, that is, over the period indicated by the period information (S33: Yes), the determination in step S34 is performed. Is called. On the other hand, the electronic data (S33: No) specified by the data ID belonging to the same period in the time information included in the recorded tag and the current time is excluded from the recording process execution target (S37).

  For example, assuming that the current time acquired from the clock unit 20 is “June 14, 2013”, the cycle information is “monthly” and the time information of the recorded tag is “May 20, 2013”. The data ID “0003” belongs to a different month from the current time (S33: Yes). That is, for the data ID “0003”, the determination in step S34 is performed. On the other hand, the data ID “0004” whose cycle information is “weakly” and the time information of the recorded tag is “June 13, 2013” belongs to the same week as the current time (S33: No). That is, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0004” is excluded from the recording process target (S37). Furthermore, for the data ID “0002” for which no recorded tag is set (S33: Yes), the determination in step S34 is performed.

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 determines whether or not the electronic data specified by the data ID is shared electronic data for a data ID for which no valid recorded tag is set (S33: Yes). Judgment is made (S34). For the data ID that is the shared electronic data (S34: Yes), the determination in step S35 is performed. On the other hand, for data IDs that are not shared electronic data (S34: No), step S35 is skipped. In the example of FIG. 5, the determination in step S35 is performed for the data IDs “0001” and “0003” that are shared electronic data, and step S35 is performed for the data IDs “0002” and “0008” that are not shared electronic data. Skipped.

  Next, the electronic data acquisition program 22 compares the user identification information included in the recording target tag added to the shared electronic data with the user ID input in step S12 of FIG. 6 (S35). Then, the electronic data specified by the data ID that matches the user specifying information included in the recording target tag and the input user ID (S35: Yes) is the target of the recording process (S36). On the other hand, electronic data specified by a data ID in which the user specifying information included in the recording target tag is different from the input user ID (S35: No) is excluded from the target of the recording process (S37). Further, the data ID determined not to be the shared electronic data in step S34 (S34: No) is set as the target of the recording process (S36).

  Assuming that the user ID input in step S12 is “user1”, the electronic data (S35: Yes) in which the user identification information “user1” is identified by the data ID “0001” included in the recording target tag, and sharing The electronic data (S34: No) specified by the data IDs “0002” and “0008” that are not electronic data are subject to recording processing (S36). On the other hand, the electronic data (S35: No) in which the user identification information “user2” is specified by the data ID “0003” included in the recording target tag is excluded from the target of the recording process (S37).

  That is, when the sorting process shown in FIG. 7 is executed for all the electronic data shown in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. 8A, the data IDs “0001”, “0002”, “0008” The electronic data specified by “” is selected as the execution target of the recording process, and the electronic data specified by the data IDs “0003” to “0007” is excluded from the execution target of the recording process. The execution order of steps S31 to S35 is not limited to the example of FIG.

[Details of Recording Process (S21)]
Details of the recording process in step S21 are shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the recording program 23 compares the size of the recording paper specified by the size tag added to the electronic data received in step S20 of FIG. 6 with the size of the recording paper used in the immediately preceding recording process ( S41). If the size of the recording paper is different between the previous recording process and the current recording process (S41: Yes), the recording program 23 displays a message prompting the replacement of the recording paper on the display unit 13 (S42). Then, the recording program 23 executes the recording process of the electronic data received in Step S20 (S44) on condition that the replacement of the recording sheet is detected (S43: Yes). On the other hand, when the recording paper sizes match in the immediately preceding recording process and the current recording process (S41: No), the recording program 23 skips steps S42 and S43 and records the electronic data received in step S20. The process is executed (S44).

  Among the electronic data shown in FIG. 8B, the size tags added to the electronic data specified by the data IDs “0001” and “0008” are the same. That is, in the recording process using the electronic data specified by the data ID “0008”, steps S42 and S43 are skipped. On the other hand, the size tags added to the electronic data specified by the data IDs “0008” and “0002” are different. That is, in the recording process using the electronic data specified by the data ID “0002”, steps S42 and S43 are executed. Specifically, in step S42 of the recording process using the electronic data specified by the data ID “0002”, a message “Please set a photoL size paper in the paper feed tray” is displayed on the display unit 13. Is done.

  The method for detecting the replacement of the recording paper in step S43 is not particularly limited. For example, the recording program 23 detects the removal and insertion of the paper feed tray 30 based on the detection signal output from the tray sensor 28. In this case, it may be determined that the recording paper has been replaced. Specifically, the recording program 23 detects that the paper feed tray 30 has been removed on the condition that the output of the detection signal from the tray sensor 28 has stopped, and the output of the detection signal from the tray sensor 28 has resumed. As a condition, insertion of the paper feed tray 30 is detected.

  Further, the recording program 23 executes a recording process using the electronic data in accordance with the execution condition specified by the condition setting tag added to the electronic data (S44). That is, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0001” is recorded on an A4 size recording sheet as a monochrome image having a resolution of 600 dpi. Also, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0008” is recorded on A4 size paper under the default execution condition of the multifunction machine 10. Further, the electronic data specified by the data ID “0002” is recorded on a photoL size sheet as a color image having a resolution of 300 dpi. Each time the recording program 23 executes the recording process, the recording program 23 stores the size of the recording paper used for the recording process in the data storage area 17B. This information is used in step S41 of the next recording process.

  Next, the CPU 16 executes the tag editing program 24. The tag editing program 24 updates the recorded tag of the electronic data for which the recording process (S44) has been executed (S45). In addition, the process of step S45 changes for every period information contained in a record object tag. The CPU 16 that executes the tag editing program 24 is an example of tag editing means of the present invention.

  First, a recording target tag including period information “once” is added to the electronic data specified by the data ID “0001”. Therefore, the tag editing program 24 adds a recorded tag “record_complete” to the electronic data as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the tag editing program 24 may delete the recording target tag from the tag data after the recording process using the electronic data to which the recording target tag including the period information “once” is added. The same applies to electronic data to which a recording target tag not including period information is added.

  In addition, a recording target tag including cycle information “dairy” is added to the electronic data specified by the data ID “0002”. Therefore, the tag editing program 24 adds a recorded tag “record — 201306014” including the execution time of the recording process acquired from the clock unit 20 to the electronic data. Note that, even when a recording process using electronic data to which recording target tags including period information “weakly” and “monthly” are added, a recorded tag including the execution time of the recording process is added. On the other hand, since the cycle information “everytime” is added to the electronic data specified by the data ID “0001”, the recorded tag is not added in step S45.

[Uploading electronic data and tag data]
In order for the MFP 10 to execute the above-described online recording process, the user needs to upload electronic data to the service providing apparatus 101 in advance and add a recording target tag and a condition setting tag to the electronic data. . Although uploading of electronic data and tag data can be performed by any method, an example of a method using the terminal device 40 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

  First, the CPU 46 of the terminal device 40 displays the electronic data selection screen 60 shown in FIG. 12A on the display unit 43 (S51). The electronic data selection screen 60 is a screen for allowing the user to select electronic data to be uploaded to the service providing apparatus 101. On the electronic data selection screen 60, a file name of electronic data stored in the data storage area 47B of the storage unit 47, a check box 61 provided corresponding to each file name, and an OK button 62 are displayed. . The user selects the electronic data corresponding to the selected check box 61 by selecting the check box 61 corresponding to the electronic data to be uploaded and pressing the OK button 62. In the example of FIG. 12A, “image.bmp” is selected.

  Next, the CPU 46 executes a tag list acquisition program 53 that is a part of the upload execution program 50. The tag list acquisition program 53 is a program for acquiring a list of condition setting tags from the multifunction machine 10. First, the tag list acquisition program 53 searches for the multifunction device 10 connected to the same LAN 102 as the terminal device 40 and acquires device identification information from each of the found multifunction devices 10. Next, the tag list acquisition program 53 displays the multifunction device selection screen 63 shown in FIG. 12B on the display unit 43 (S53). The multifunction device selection screen 63 is a screen for allowing the user to select the multifunction device 10 that executes the recording process. On the multifunction device selection screen 63, as shown in FIG. 12B, device identification information of the found multifunction device 10, a radio button 64 associated with each device identification information, and an OK button 65 are displayed. Is done.

  The user selects one of the radio buttons 64 displayed on the multifunction device selection screen 63 and presses the OK button 65, thereby selecting the multifunction device 10 associated with the radio button 64 (S54). ). In the example of FIG. 12B, “MFC1” is selected as the device specifying information. Then, the tag list acquisition program 53 requests the multifunction device 10 selected in step S54 to transmit a list of condition setting tags that can be executed in the multifunction device 10 (S55). Then, the tag list acquisition program 53 of the terminal device 40 receives a list of condition setting tags from the multifunction machine 10 (S56). The process described in the tag list acquisition program 53 is an example of a list acquisition step of the present invention.

  On the other hand, the CPU 16 of the multifunction machine 10 that has received the request for sending the list of condition setting tags executes the tag list output program 25. The tag list output program 25 transmits a list of condition setting tags stored in the data storage area 17B to the terminal device 40 (S56). The CPU 16 that executes the tag list output program 25 is an example of output means of the present invention. The list of condition setting tags transmitted here includes all condition setting tags indicating execution conditions executable by the printer unit 11 of the multifunction machine 10. In addition, the list of condition setting tags may be transmitted as data in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format, for example.

  For example, the MFP 10 capable of recording an image on A4 size, B5 size, and photoL size recording paper includes a “property_A4” tag, a “property_B5” tag, and a “property_photoL” tag in the list of condition setting tags. Send to. The multi-function device 10 may further include a display name associated with each condition setting tag in the list of condition setting tags. The display name is a name representing a condition setting tag displayed on an execution condition selection screen 66 described later. The display name is not particularly limited as long as it can be easily recognized by the user. For example, the display name of the “property_A4” tag is “A4”, the display name of the “property_B5” tag is “B5”, and “property_photoL”. Is displayed as “photoL”. Note that the multifunction machine 10 may include an icon image representing each condition setting tag in the list of condition setting tags instead of the display name. The same applies to the resolution tag and the color tag.

  Next, the CPU 46 executes a selection receiving program 54 that is a part of the upload execution program 50. The selection receiving program 54 is a program that allows the user to select one or more condition setting tags from the list of condition setting tags acquired from the multifunction machine 10. First, the selection receiving program 54 displays an execution condition selection screen 66 shown in FIG. 12C on the display unit 43 (S57). The process described in the selection reception program 54 is an example of the selection reception step of the present invention.

  The execution condition selection screen 66 is a screen that allows the user to select a condition setting tag that specifies the size of the recording paper used for the recording process, the resolution of the image to be recorded, and the color of the image. In the execution condition selection screen 66, as shown in FIG. 12C, a paper size selection unit 67 for selecting a recording paper size by a pull-down menu 68, and a resolution selection unit 69 for selecting a resolution by a radio button 70 A color selection unit 71 for selecting color or monochrome by the radio button 72 and an OK button 73 are displayed.

  The pull-down menu 68 of the paper size selection unit 67 displays a list of display names included in the list of condition setting tags. Then, the selection reception program 54 receives selection of a condition setting tag corresponding to the display name on condition that one of the plurality of display names is selected from the pull-down menu 68 (S58). The same applies to the resolution tag and the color tag. In the example of FIG. 12C, the condition setting tags “property_A4”, “property_600”, and “property_color” are selected.

  Further, the selection receiving program 54 displays a cycle selection screen 74 shown in FIG. On the cycle selection screen 74, a radio button 75 for selecting the cycle of the recording process and an OK button 76 for executing the selection process are displayed. In the example of FIG. 12D, “monthly” is selected as the period information. Further, the selection receiving program 54 displays a user selection screen 77 shown in FIG. On the user selection screen 77, a radio button 78 for selecting a user to execute the recording process and an OK button 76 are displayed. In the example of FIG. 12E, “user2” is selected as the user specifying information. The user specifying information displayed on the user selection screen 77 is stored in the data storage area 47B of the storage unit 47 in advance.

  Next, the CPU 46 executes a tag setting program 55 that is a part of the upload execution program 50. The tag setting program 55 uses the electronic data selected on the electronic data selection screen 60 shown in FIG. 12A to display tags representing various types of information selected on the screens shown in FIGS. It is a program to be added to. In the example of FIGS. 12A to 12E, the recorded tag “print_MFC1_monthly_user2” and the condition setting tags “property_A4”, “property_600”, and “property_color” are added to the electronic data “image.bmp”.

  Next, the tag setting program 55 requests login to the service providing apparatus 101 based on the user ID and password (S60). The user ID and password may be stored in advance in the data storage area 47B of the storage unit 47, or may be input by the user through the operation unit 44. After confirming that the user ID and password are valid, the service providing apparatus 101 generates session information and transmits it to the terminal apparatus 40 (S61). The tag setting program 55 stores the session information in the data storage area 47B of the storage unit 47. Thereafter, in the communication between the terminal device 40 and the service providing apparatus 101, presentation of session information by the terminal apparatus 40 and confirmation of the session information by the service providing apparatus 101 are performed, which are omitted in the following description.

  Next, the tag setting program 55 transmits the electronic data “image.bmp” selected on the electronic data selection screen 60 and tag data including a tag added to the electronic data to the service providing apparatus 101 (S62). ). The service providing apparatus 101 stores the received electronic data and tag data in the storage unit (S63), and transmits a reception completion notification to the terminal apparatus 40 (S64). The tag setting program 55 that has received the reception completion notification displays a transmission completion screen indicating that the uploading of the electronic data and the tag data to the service providing apparatus 101 is completed on the display unit 43 (S65). The process described in the tag setting program 55 is an example of a tag setting step of the present invention.

  In addition, although the example which added the tag to the electronic data memorize | stored in the data storage area 47B of the terminal device 40 and uploaded to the service provision apparatus 101 was demonstrated in FIG. 11, this invention is not limited to this. For example, a tag may be added to electronic data that is already stored in the service providing apparatus 101. In this case, the CPU 46 displays an electronic data selection screen for selecting electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 on the display unit 43 (S51), and accepts selection of electronic data to add a tag (S52). Further, the tag setting program 55 transmits tag data including the generated tag (S59) to the service providing apparatus 101 (S62). The service providing apparatus 101 stores the received tag data together with the electronic data selected in step S52.

[List Recording Process by Multifunction Device 10]
The multifunction machine 10 further has a function of acquiring a list of tags added to the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 and executing a list recording process for recording the acquired list of tags as an image on a recording sheet. It may be. The list recording process is common with part of the online recording process, and will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the CPU 16 executes the user information reception program 21 on the condition that an operation signal corresponding to the “list recording process” selected from the menu screen displayed in step S11 is acquired from the operation unit 14. Since the process executed by the user information receiving program 21 and steps S13 to S16 are the same as those in FIG. Then, the CPU 16 executes the recording program 23 to record the list of tags acquired in step S16 on a recording sheet.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the recording program 23 may convert the information indicated by the acquired tag into a format that can be easily understood by the user and record it on a recording sheet. For example, when the list of tags added to each electronic data shown in FIG. 5 is acquired, the record target tag “print_MFC1_once_user1” of the data ID “0001” is “user1” in the user ID column in FIG. , “MFC1” is displayed in the printer column, and “only once” is displayed in the cycle column. Further, the recorded tag “record_20130520” of the data ID “0004” is represented as “May 20, 2013” in the history column in FIG. In FIG. 13, “-” is displayed for items for which no tag is set. However, the layout of the list of tags recorded on the recording paper is not limited to the example of FIG. For example, tags themselves listed in CSV format may be recorded on recording paper.

[List Display Processing by Terminal Device 40]
The above list recording process may be executed by the terminal device 40. The list display process executed by the terminal device 40 is different from the list recording process in that a list of tags is displayed on the display unit 43 instead of recording a list of tags on a recording sheet. In the list recording process.

  Specifically, the tag data acquisition program 51 executed by the CPU 46 executes processing corresponding to steps S11 to S16 in FIG. Since these processes are common to the above-described list recording process, the description thereof will be omitted. Then, the tag data display program 52 executed by the CPU 46 displays a list of tags acquired by the tag data acquisition program 51 on the display unit 43. The list of tags may be displayed on the display unit 43 in the layout shown in FIG. 13, for example. The process described in the tag data acquisition program 51 is an example of a tag data acquisition step of the present invention, and the process described in the tag data display program 52 is an example of a display step of the present invention.

[Effects of Embodiment]
According to the MFP 10 of the present embodiment, a recording process using electronic data in which a tag to be recorded is included in tag data among electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 is executed. As a result, it is possible to perform the recording process only for the electronic data designated in advance by the user as the recording process execution target. In addition, since the recording target tag can include device specifying information, user specifying information, period information, and the like, it is possible to narrow down the electronic data to be subjected to recording processing in detail.

  Further, according to the MFP 10 of the present embodiment, the recording process using the electronic data is executed according to the execution condition specified by the condition setting tag. As a result, the electronic data recording process can be executed under a desired execution condition.

  Further, according to the multifunction machine 10 of the present embodiment, the order of recording processing is rearranged using the size tag as a key, so that recording processing using recording paper of the same size is continuously executed. As a result, when a recording process using a plurality of electronic data is executed, it is possible to reduce the number of times the user replaces the recording paper stored in the paper feed tray 30.

  Further, according to the MFP 10 of the present embodiment, a condition setting tag indicating an execution condition that can be executed by the own apparatus can be transmitted to the terminal apparatus 40. According to the terminal device 40 of the present embodiment, the condition setting tag selected from the condition setting tags acquired from the multifunction machine 10 can be added to the electronic data. As a result, it is possible to suppress the recording process from being executed under an execution condition different from the user's intention due to an erroneous setting of the condition setting tag. Furthermore, it is not necessary to store the condition setting tag supported by each MFP 10 in the terminal device 40.

  Further, according to the MFP 10 of the present embodiment, a list of tag data added to the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 can be acquired and recorded on a recording sheet. Similarly, according to the terminal device 40 of the present embodiment, a list of tag data added to the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101 can be acquired and displayed on the display unit 43. As a result, for example, the user can check the list of tags added to the electronic data before executing the electronic data recording process.

[Modification]
In the above embodiment, the example of the multifunction peripheral 10 that executes online recording processing by directly communicating with the service providing apparatus 101 has been described. On the other hand, in the modification, an example will be described in which the relay device 90 located between the multifunction device 10 and the service providing device 101 causes the multifunction device 10 to perform online recording processing.

[Relay device 90]
A relay device 90 shown in FIG. 14 is a computer that can communicate with each of the MFP 10 and the service providing device 101 via the Internet 103. The relay device 90 is assumed to communicate with a plurality of multifunction peripherals 10 owned by different users. The relay device 90 includes a communication I / F 95, a clock unit 100, a CPU 96, and a storage unit 97. Each component constituting the relay device 90 is connected to each other via a communication bus 98.

  The communication I / F 95, the clock unit 100, the CPU 96, and the storage unit 97 are common to the communication I / F 15, the clock unit 20, the CPU 16, and the storage unit 17 included in the multi-function device 10 in the embodiment. Omitted. However, as shown in FIG. 14, the program storage area 97A of the storage unit 97 stores various programs including an OS 99, a recording request acquisition program 91, a specific program 92, a recording instruction program 93, a tag editing program 94, and the like. The These programs will be described later.

[Online recording process flow]
With reference to FIG. 15, an online recording process that the relay apparatus 90 causes the multifunction machine 10 to execute will be described. In addition, the same step number is attached | subjected to the process which is common in the online recording process shown in FIG. 6, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted, and it demonstrates centering on difference.

  The MFP 10 for which “online recording process” is selected on the menu screen transmits an image recording request for requesting execution of the online recording process to the relay apparatus 90 (S71). This image recording request includes the user ID and password (S12) input by the user and the device specifying information of the own device. On the other hand, the CPU 96 of the relay device 90 executes a recording request acquisition program 91 for acquiring an image recording request from the multifunction machine 10. The CPU 96 that executes the recording request acquisition program 91 is an example of an acquisition unit of the present invention.

  When an image recording request is acquired by the recording request acquisition program 91, the CPU 96 of the relay device 90 executes the specifying program 92. The identification program 92 is a program that identifies electronic data to be subjected to recording processing among electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus 101. The specific program 92 logs in to the service providing apparatus 101 with the acquired user ID and password (S13, S14), acquires a list of data IDs and the like from the service providing apparatus 101 (S15, S16), sort processing (S17), and sort Process (S18) is executed. As a result, the list shown in FIG. 8B is generated in the relay device 90. The CPU 96 that executes the specifying program 92 is an example of specifying means of the present invention.

  Next, the CPU 96 of the relay device 90 executes the recording instruction program 93. The recording instruction program 93 is a program that causes the multi-function device 10 to perform recording processing using the electronic data specified by the specifying program 92. Specifically, the recording instruction program 93 acquires the electronic data included in the list of FIG. 8B from the service providing apparatus 101 (S72), transmits the acquired electronic data to the multi function device 10, and transmits the electronic data A recording process using data is executed (S73). The CPU 96 that executes the recording instruction program 93 is an example of the recording instruction means of the present invention.

  The CPU 16 of the multifunction machine 10 that has acquired the electronic data from the relay device 90 executes the recording program 23. The recording program 23 executes a recording process (S21) using the electronic data. However, the recording program 23 in the modified example does not execute the process (S45) of updating the recorded tag among the recording processes shown in FIG. Then, the recording program 23 transmits a recording completion notification indicating that the recording process using the electronic data acquired in step S73 is completed to the relay device 90 (S74).

  The CPU 96 of the relay apparatus 90 that has received the recording completion notification from the multifunction machine 10 executes the tag editing program 94. The tag editing program 94 updates the recorded tag of the electronic data for which the recording process (S21) has been executed (S75). This process is common to the process of step S45 shown in FIG. Thereafter, the processes of steps S19, S72, S73, S21, S74, and S75 are repeatedly executed for all the electronic data shown in the list of FIG. When the recording process using all the electronic data is completed, the CPU 16 of the multifunction machine 10 displays a recording completion screen on the display unit 13 (S22).

  According to the above modification, online recording processing can be executed without direct communication between the multifunction machine 10 and the service providing apparatus 101. That is, when the communication specifications of the service providing apparatus 101 are changed by the service provider, it is possible to cope with the change by changing the relay apparatus 90, and all the multifunction machines 10 can be changed. There is no need to add. In addition, since the sorting process (S17), the sorting process (S18), and the like are executed by the relay apparatus 90, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the multifunction machine 10.

  In the above-described modification, the example in which all communication between the MFP 10 and the service providing apparatus 101 is relayed to the relay apparatus 90 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the recording instruction program 93 may transmit an acquisition instruction including the location information indicating the location of the electronic data in the service providing apparatus 101 to the multi function device 10 instead of the processing in steps S19, S71, and S72 of FIG. Good. Then, the MFP 10 that has received the acquisition instruction may acquire the electronic data indicated by the location information from the service providing apparatus 101 and execute the recording process (S21) using the acquired electronic data. As a result, it is possible to reduce the load on the communication network associated with relaying electronic data (S71, S72). A specific example of the location information is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, information in a URL (abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator) format.

  Further, in the above modification, the example in which the specifying program 92 is executed by the relay apparatus 90 on the condition that the image recording request is received from the multifunction machine 10 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the CPU 96 of the relay device 90 may execute the specifying program 92 on the condition that the execution time of the online recording process registered in advance has arrived. In this case, in addition to the execution time of the online recording process, the user ID and password for logging in to the service providing apparatus 101, the apparatus specifying information of the multifunction machine 10 that executes the recording process, and the like are registered in the relay apparatus 90. There is a need. Note that the various types of information described above may be registered through the multifunction device 10 or may be registered through the terminal device 40.

[Other variations]
Further, in the multifunction machine 10 of the present embodiment and the modified example, various processes stored in the program storage area 17A of the storage unit 17 are executed by the CPU 16, thereby realizing each process executed by the control unit of the present invention. An example was described. However, the configuration of the control unit is not limited to this, and part or all of the configuration may be realized by hardware such as an integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC (Integrated Circuit)). The same applies to the terminal device 40 and the relay device 90.

  In addition, the present invention can be realized not only as an image recording apparatus but also as a program for causing an image recording apparatus to execute an online recording process. The program may be provided by being recorded on a non-transitory recording medium, or information or a signal indicating the program may be distributed via a communication network such as the Internet. The same applies to the terminal device 40 and the relay device 90.

10 ... MFP 16 ... CPU
17... Storage unit 21... User information reception program 22... Electronic data acquisition program 23... Recording program 24... Tag editing program 25. ... Terminal device 51 ... Tag data acquisition program 52 ... Tag data display program 53 ... Tag list acquisition program 54 ... Selection acceptance program 55 ... Tag setting program 90 ... Relay device 91 ... Recording request acquisition program 92 ... Specific program 93 ... Recording instruction program 94 ... Tag editing program 101 ... Service providing device 102 ... LAN
103 ... Internet

Claims (18)

An image recording apparatus capable of connecting via a communication network to a service providing apparatus that stores electronic data together with tag data,
The tag data is configured by an arbitrary symbol string and indicates a tag to which one or more can be added to the electronic data,
The image recording apparatus comprises:
A recording unit for recording an image on a recording medium;
A control unit for controlling the operation of the recording unit,
The controller is
Among the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus, the tag data includes a recording target tag indicating that it is an execution target of a recording process for recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium. Obtaining means for obtaining said electronic data;
An image recording apparatus comprising: a recording unit that causes the recording unit to execute the recording process using the electronic data acquired by the acquiring unit. The tag data including the recording target tag further includes a condition setting tag that specifies an execution condition of the recording process,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit causes the recording unit to execute the recording process according to an execution condition indicated by the condition setting tag. The condition setting tag includes a size tag for specifying a size of a recording medium used for the recording process,
The plurality of electronic data acquired by the acquisition means includes a plurality of first electronic data in which the size tag for designating a first size is included in the condition setting tag, and a second size different from the first size. The size tag designating the second electronic data included in the condition setting tag,
The recording unit causes the recording unit to continuously execute the recording process using a plurality of the first electronic data, and the second electronic data is stored before or after the recording process using the first electronic data. The image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording unit used is caused to execute the recording unit. A storage unit for storing a list of the condition setting tags indicating execution conditions executable in the recording unit;
The image according to claim 2, wherein the control unit further includes an output unit that outputs a list of the condition setting tags stored in the storage unit to a terminal device connected via the communication network. Recording device. The control unit further includes tag editing means for adding a recorded tag indicating that the recording process has been executed to the tag data of the electronic data for which the recording process has been executed by the recording means,
The acquisition unit acquires the electronic data in which the tag to be recorded is included in the tag data and the recorded tag is not included in the electronic data stored in the service providing device. 5. The image recording apparatus according to any one of 1 to 4.   5. The image recording according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further includes tag editing means for deleting the recording target tag from the tag data of the electronic data for which the recording processing has been executed by the recording means. apparatus. The recording target tag further includes period information indicating that the recording process is repeatedly executed at a predetermined period,
The tag editing means adds the recorded tag including time information indicating an execution time of the recording process to the tag data,
The acquisition means includes, among the electronic data stored in the service providing device, the tag data includes the recording target tag, and the execution time and current time of the recording process indicated by the time information The image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the electronic data is acquired across a period indicated by the period information. The acquisition means acquires the tag data including the recording target tag from the tag data of the electronic data stored in the service providing device,
The image according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the recording unit causes the recording unit to execute a list recording process of recording a list of the tags included in the tag data acquired by the acquiring unit on a recording medium. Recording device. The recording target tag further includes device specifying information for specifying an image recording device that executes the recording process,
The acquisition means acquires, from the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus, the electronic data in which the tag to be recorded including the device identification information of the image recording apparatus is included in the tag data. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1. The service providing apparatus stores shared electronic data that is the electronic data that permits access to a plurality of users,
The recording target tag further includes user specifying information for specifying a user who executes the recording process,
The control unit further includes accepting means for accepting the user specifying information from a user,
The acquisition unit includes the shared data in which the recording target tag including the user identification information received by the receiving unit is included in the tag data from among the shared electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image recording apparatus acquires electronic data. A service providing apparatus that stores electronic data together with tag data, and a relay apparatus that can be connected to an image recording apparatus that records an image on a recording medium via a communication network;
The tag data is configured by an arbitrary symbol string and indicates a tag to which one or more can be added to the electronic data,
The relay device
Among the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus, the tag data includes a recording target tag indicating that it is an execution target of a recording process for recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium. Identifying means for identifying said electronic data;
A relay apparatus comprising: a recording instruction unit that causes the image recording apparatus to execute the recording process using the electronic data specified by the specifying unit.   The relay apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the recording instruction unit acquires the electronic data specified by the specifying unit from the service providing apparatus, and outputs the acquired electronic data to the image recording apparatus.   The recording instruction unit includes location information indicating the location of the electronic data specified by the specifying unit in the service providing device, and the image recording device receives an acquisition instruction for acquiring the electronic data indicated by the location information. The relay device according to claim 11, which outputs to the relay station. The image processing apparatus further includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image recording request for requesting execution of the recording process using the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus;
The said specifying means specifies the said electronic data in which the said record object tag is contained in the said tag data on the condition that the said image recording request | requirement was acquired by the said acquisition means. The relay device described. An image recording method for recording electronic data stored in a service providing apparatus together with tag data on a recording medium,
The tag data is configured by an arbitrary symbol string and indicates a tag to which one or more can be added to the electronic data,
The image recording method includes:
Of the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus, the electronic data including a recording target tag indicating that it is an execution target of a recording process for recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium An acquisition step to acquire,
A recording step of executing the recording process of the electronic data acquired by the acquiring step. A program that can be connected to a service providing apparatus that stores electronic data together with tag data via a communication network and that is executed by a computer included in an image recording apparatus that includes a recording unit that records an image on a recording medium. And
The tag data is configured by an arbitrary symbol string and indicates a tag to which one or more can be added to the electronic data,
The program
Among the electronic data stored in the service providing apparatus, the tag data includes a recording target tag indicating that it is an execution target of a recording process for recording an image indicated by the electronic data on a recording medium. Obtaining said electronic data; and
A program that causes the computer to execute a recording step that causes the recording unit to execute the recording process of the electronic data acquired in the acquisition step. A program executed by a computer included in a terminal device connectable to the image recording apparatus according to claim 4 and the service providing apparatus via a communication network,
A list acquisition step of acquiring a list of the condition setting tags output from the image recording device;
A selection receiving step for allowing a user to select one or more condition setting tags from the list of condition setting tags acquired in the list acquisition step;
A program that causes the computer to execute a tag setting step of including the condition setting tag selected in the selection receiving step in the tag data of the electronic data. The program
A tag data acquisition step of acquiring the tag data including the recording target tag from the tag data of the electronic data stored in the service providing device;
18. The display step of causing the computer to further execute a display step of causing the display device connected to the terminal device to display a list of the tags included in the tag data acquired in the tag data acquisition step. program.

Images