JP2015087924A - Print management device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide advertisement appropriate for a print user.SOLUTION: A content selection section 36 acquires from a printer 70 feature information indicating the feature of a print user who instructs printing of print object data with the printer 70. Then, the content selection section 36 selects information on advertisement corresponding to the feature of the print user on the basis of advertisement provision history information indicating the correlation between information on advertisement that has been provided to the printer 70, and the features of users who have used the printer 70 while the advertisement has been provided. A data transmission section 24 transmits the print object data to the printer 70, and the advertisement transmission section 38 transmits the information on the advertisement selected to the printer 70.

Description

  The present invention relates to a print management apparatus and a program.

  A device such as a printing device or a vending machine may be used as an advertising medium.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a system that combines original image data and advertisement image data and prints for the purpose of using a device such as a copying machine or a FAX on a network as an advertisement medium.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus that analyzes customer operations and prints guidance information for the purpose of shortening the operation time required for customer print orders.

  Patent Document 3 discloses an apparatus that selects content based on attribute information of a vending machine user and outputs the content with the vending machine for the purpose of supporting business through the vending machine. Has been.

JP 11-192760 A JP 2006-340290 A JP 2011-90407 A

  By the way, when printing is performed using a printing device on the network, the user who registers the data to be printed may differ from the user who prints the registered data, and an advertisement suitable for the printing user is provided. It is desirable to do.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an advertisement suitable for a printing user.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a feature information acquisition unit that acquires feature information indicating characteristics of a print user who requests printing of print target data using a printing apparatus, and information related to an advertisement provided in the past to the printing apparatus. And information related to the advertisement corresponding to the characteristics of the printing user based on the advertisement providing history information indicating the correspondence between the characteristics of the user who used the printing apparatus when the advertisement was provided in the past A print management apparatus comprising: selection means; and output means for outputting print target data and information relating to a selected advertisement to a printing apparatus used by the printing user.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the advertisement provision history information includes information related to advertisements provided in the past to the printing apparatus, registered users who registered print target data requested to be printed in the past, and advertisements provided in the past. And a selection relationship between the print user's characteristics and the print request requested by the print user based on the advertisement providing history information. The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information related to an advertisement corresponding to a registered user of the target data is selected.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the selection means selects information related to the advertisement based on the advertisement provision history information and the number of times information related to the advertisement has been displayed or printed in the past. The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print management apparatus is a print management apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 4 further includes storage means for storing registered user hobby information indicating the characteristics and hobbies of the registered user who registered the print target data, and the selecting means includes the registered user characteristics and the printing user. The print management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein information related to an advertisement related to the hobbies of the registered user is selected when the characteristics match.

  The invention according to claim 5 stores printing user hobby information indicating a correspondence relationship between a registered user who has registered printing target data and a hobby of a user who has requested printing of printing target data registered by the registered user in the past. A storage unit, wherein the selection unit specifies a user's hobby corresponding to the registered user of the print target data requested by the printing user based on the printing user hobby information; The print management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein information related to related advertisements is selected.

  The invention according to claim 6 is provided in the past to the printing apparatus, the characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring the characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the printing user who requests the printing of the print target data using the printing apparatus. Information related to the advertisement corresponding to the characteristics of the printing user based on the advertisement providing history information indicating the correspondence between the information related to the advertisement and the characteristics of the user who has used the printing apparatus when the advertisement was provided in the past Is a program that functions as an output unit that outputs a selection unit that selects the print target data and information about the selected advertisement to a printing apparatus used by the printing user.

  According to the first and sixth aspects of the invention, an advertisement suitable for the user who prints is provided.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the advertisement suitable for the user who prints the printing object data registered by the common registration user is provided.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, the advertisement according to the frequency | count of an advertisement display or printing is provided.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, the advertisement more suitable for the user who prints is provided.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the advertisement suitable for the user relevant to a registered user is provided.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a registered user attribute table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a registered user hobby table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a content advertisement setting table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a recommendation advertisement history table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a printing user characteristic table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the content printing history table classified by user. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the content printing log | history table classified by characteristic. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a content advertisement setting table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a recommendation advertisement history table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a printing user characteristic table. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the content printing history table classified by user. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the content printing log | history table classified by characteristic. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a community hobby table. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing according to the third embodiment.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printing system according to the present embodiment includes a print management apparatus 10 and a printing apparatus 70, which are connected via a communication path such as a network. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, one printing apparatus 70 is connected to the printing management apparatus 10, but a plurality of printing apparatuses 70 may be connected to the printing management apparatus 10.

  The print management apparatus 10 stores data to be printed (hereinafter referred to as “print target data”), and transmits the print target data to the printing apparatus 70 in response to a request for the print target data. Further, the print management apparatus 10 transmits information related to the advertisement displayed on the printing apparatus 70 to the printing apparatus 70.

  The printing apparatus 70 receives the print target data from the print management apparatus 10 and prints it. For example, when receiving a print reservation number, the printing apparatus 70 prints print target data corresponding to the reservation number. Further, the printing apparatus 70 receives information related to the advertisement from the print management apparatus 10 and displays the advertisement. For example, the printing apparatus 70 is installed in a convenience store, a supermarket, a hotel, a library, or the like. Note that the printing apparatus 70 may have a copy function and a facsimile function in addition to the print function.

  Next, the configuration of the print management apparatus 10 will be described. The print management apparatus 10 includes a user registration unit 12, a data registration unit 14, a data storage unit 16, a content registration unit 18, an advertisement information storage unit 20, a data identification unit 22, a data transmission unit 24, and a process. Unit 30, advertisement transmission unit 38, result reception unit 40, history management unit 42, and database (DB) 50. The processing unit 30 includes a user specifying unit 32, a determination unit 34, and a content selection unit 36. The database (DB) 50 includes a registered user DB 52, an advertisement history DB 54, a user feature DB 56, and a print history DB 58.

  The user registration unit 12, the data registration unit 14, and the content registration unit 18 include, for example, a user interface that accepts input of information by the user, and registers information input by the user in the print management apparatus 10.

  The user registration unit 12 creates account information of the registered user 100 that registers print target data in the print management apparatus 10 and stores the account information in the registered user DB 52. The account information includes information indicating the attribute of the registered user 100. The attribute is, for example, the date of birth and sex of the registered user 100. FIG. 2 shows an example of the attribute of the registered user 100. For example, the user registration unit 12 receives information indicating the date of birth and gender input by the registered user 100, a registered user ID for identifying the registered user 100, a date of birth and sex of the registered user 100, The registered user attribute table showing the correspondence relationship is created, and the registered user attribute table is stored in the registered user DB 52.

  The user registration unit 12 may receive information indicating the hobby of the registered user 100 input by the registered user 100 and store the information indicating the hobby in the registered user DB 52. In FIG. 3, an example of the hobby of the registered user 100 is shown. For example, the user registration unit 12 receives information indicating hobbies input by the registered user 100, and creates a registered user hobby table indicating the correspondence between the registered user ID of the registered user 100 and the hobby category of the registered user 100. Then, the registered user hobby table is stored in the registered user DB 52. The hobby category indicates the type of hobby of the registered user 100. For example, meals and movies are registered as hobby categories. When registering a plurality of hobbies for the same registered user 100, the registered user 100 may prioritize each hobby.

  Note that the user registration unit 12 may acquire an SNS (social networking service) account of the registered user 100 and specify the hobby of the registered user 100 based on the account. Further, the user registration unit 12 may specify the hobby of the registered user from the contents by analyzing the contents described in the print target data registered by the registered user 100. For example, if the content relates to sports, the user registration unit 12 determines the hobby of the registered user 100 as “sports”. In this way, by automatically specifying the hobby of the registered user 100, the trouble of inputting the registered user 100 can be saved.

  The data registration unit 14 receives print target data input by the registered user 100 and stores the print target data in the data storage unit 16. In addition, the data registration unit 14 issues a reservation number for printing the print target data in the printing apparatus 70. For example, the data registration unit 14 stores the registered user ID and reservation number of the registered user 100 in the data storage unit 16 in association with the print target data. The information indicating the reservation number may be transmitted to the terminal device of the registered user 100 by e-mail, for example, or may be printed.

  The content registration unit 18 stores content information relating to content to be advertised, advertising information indicating an advertisement of the content, and user feature information indicating a feature of a user who is a target (target) of the advertisement in association with each other. Store in the unit 20. The content registration unit 18 associates the advertisement information and the content information with a content advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information and the content information. For example, when the advertising target is a restaurant such as a restaurant or a tavern, the content information is information indicating a meal coupon used at the restaurant. When the advertising target is a movie theater, the content information is information indicating a movie coupon used in the movie theater. In addition, when the advertising target is related to sports watching, the content information is information indicating a coupon used in the sports watching. The advertisement information is an image displayed on the printing apparatus 70, and is a banner image (banner advertisement) as an example. An example of the user's characteristics is the user's age group and gender. The content information, the advertisement information, and the user characteristic information are input by the content registrant 110, for example.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of advertisement information and content information registered by the content registration unit 18. The content registration unit 18 is a content advertisement indicating a correspondence relationship between a content advertisement ID, a target age group, a target gender, a target hobby category, a content reservation number, an advertisement wording, an advertisement image address, and a content classification. A setting table is created, and the content advertisement setting table is stored in the advertisement information storage unit 20. The target age group is the age group of the user who is the target of the advertisement, and the target sex is the gender of the user who is the target of the advertisement. The target age group and the target sex are examples of target user characteristics. The target hobby category is a hobby type of the user who is the target of the advertisement, and is determined and registered by the content registrant 110, for example. This target hobby category is an item that may or may not be used in the advertisement information and content information extraction process described below. An advertisement wording is a wording displayed with the display of an advertisement. The advertisement image path is an address where an advertisement image (for example, a banner image) is stored. An advertisement wording and an advertisement image are examples of advertisement information. The content classification is a type of content such as a meal coupon or a movie coupon. Here, a meal coupon, a movie coupon, etc. correspond to an example of content information.

  The data specifying unit 22 specifies data requested from the printing apparatus 70. For example, when the printing device 70 requests acquisition of print target data, the data specifying unit 22 acquires the requested print target data from the data storage unit 16 and outputs the data to the data transmitting unit 24 and the user specifying unit 32. . Specifically, when the data specifying unit 22 receives information indicating the file name or reservation number of the print target data from the printing apparatus 70, the data specifying unit 22 stores the print target data corresponding to the file name or the reservation number in the data storage unit 16. Get from. In addition, when the printing apparatus 70 requests acquisition of content information, the data specifying unit 22 acquires the requested content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20 and outputs the acquired content information to the data transmission unit 24.

  The data transmission unit 24 transmits the print target data and content information output from the data specifying unit 22 to the printing apparatus 70.

  The user specifying unit 32 specifies a registered user 100 (for example, a registered user ID) that has registered the print target data requested from the printing apparatus 70. For example, when the file name or reservation number of the print target data is specified, the user specifying unit 32 specifies the registered user ID associated with the print target data corresponding to the file name or the reservation number, The registered user ID is output to the determination unit 34.

  The determination unit 34 receives print user characteristic information indicating the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120 who intends to print using the printing apparatus 70 from the printing apparatus 70, and the characteristics of the print user 120 and the user It is determined whether or not the characteristics of the registered user 100 specified by the specifying unit 32 match. Specifically, the determination unit 34 refers to the registered user attribute table stored in the registered user DB 52, and information indicating the date of birth and gender corresponding to the registered user ID specified by the user specifying unit 32. To get. Then, the determination unit 34 compares the characteristics (age group and gender) of the printing user 120 with the characteristics (age group and gender obtained from the date of birth) of the registered user 100, and whether both characteristics match. Determine whether or not. The determination unit 34 outputs the determination result to the content selection unit 36.

  The content selection unit 36 receives print user feature information indicating the features (age group and gender) of the print user 120 who intends to print using the printing device 70 from the printing device 70, and matches the features of the print user 120. Advertisement information and content information are selected from the advertisement information storage unit 20 and extracted. In addition, the content selection unit 36 may select advertisement information and content information based on the history of advertisements displayed in the printing device 70 in the past and the characteristics of the print user 120, or print in the past. The advertisement information and the content information may be selected based on the history of displaying or printing the content information on the device and the characteristics of the print user 120. When the characteristics of the registered user 100 and the characteristics of the printing user 120 match, the content selection unit 36 refers to the registered user hobby table and selects advertisement information and content information based on the hobbies of the registered user 100. May be. The content selection unit 36 corresponds to an example of a feature information acquisition unit and a selection unit.

  The advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information (for example, a banner image) selected by the content selection unit 36 to the printing device 70.

  The result receiving unit 40 receives the print result of the content information from the printing apparatus 70 and outputs the print result to the history management unit 42.

  The history management unit 42 manages, as a recommended advertisement history, a history in which advertisements have been displayed in the printing apparatus 70 in the past and a history in which content information has been displayed or printed in the printing apparatus in the past. Information indicating the history is stored in the advertisement history DB 54.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a recommended advertisement history. For example, the history management unit 42 sets the correspondence relationship between the history ID, the registered user ID, the print user age group, the print user sex, the content advertisement ID, the advertisement transmission date / time, the update date / time, and the request status. The recommended advertisement history table shown is created, and the recommended advertisement history table is stored in the advertisement history DB 54. The history ID is an ID for managing the recommended advertisement history. The registered user ID is the ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data requested in the past by the print user 120. The registered user ID is specified by the user specifying unit 32, for example. The print user age group is the age group of the print user 120 who requested printing in the past, and the print user sex is the gender of the print user 120 who requested printing in the past. The print user age group and the print user gender are examples of features of the print user 120 who requested printing in the past. The content advertisement ID is information for identifying advertisement information and content information. The advertisement transmission date and time is the date and time when the print management apparatus 10 transmits advertisement information to the printing apparatus 70. The update date and time is the date and time when the content information is requested from the printing apparatus 70 after the advertisement is displayed. The request status is a usage status of content information in the printing apparatus 70. For example, when content information (for example, a coupon) is displayed on the printing apparatus 70, the request state is “display complete”. When the content information is printed by the printing apparatus 70, the request state is “printing complete”. By referring to this recommended advertisement history table, it is specified what kind of characteristics the print target data registered by a registered user has been printed by, and what kind of data is printed at that time. Advertisement and content information are provided to the printing device 70 to determine whether the content information has been printed. For example, when the history ID “T10000” is described, the print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is requested to be printed by the print user 120 who is a man in his 30s, and at that time, the content advertisement ID The advertisement “C0001” is transmitted to the printing apparatus 70, and it is specified that the content information has been printed. The history management unit 42 manages each item of the recommended advertisement history table, and updates the history each time processing related to advertisement is performed.

  The registered user DB 52 stores a registered user attribute table shown in FIG. 2 and a registered user hobby table shown in FIG. The advertisement history DB 54 stores a recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG.

  The user feature DB 56 stores the print user feature information indicating the feature of the print user 120 that requested the print target data in association with the registered user ID of the registered user 100 that registered the print target data. FIG. 6 shows an example of the association. For example, the history management unit 42 registers the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data requested by the print user 120, the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120 who requested the print target data, Is created, and the print user feature table is stored in the user feature DB 56. The history management unit 42 prints the print user feature table based on the print user feature information transmitted from the printing apparatus 70 when the print target data is requested and the registered user ID of the registered user 100 specified by the user specifying unit 32. May be created. Alternatively, the history management unit 42 may extract the registered user ID and the print user feature from the recommended advertisement history table illustrated in FIG. 5 to create the print user feature table. This print user feature table shows a print user usage history for each registered user ID (for each registered user). That is, by referring to the print user feature table, it is specified what kind of features the print target data registered by a registered user has been printed by. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, the registered user ID “user001”, the print user age group “30s”, and the print user sex “male” are associated with each other. Therefore, it is specified that the print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is requested to be printed by the print user 120 who is a male in his 30s.

  The print history DB 58 stores a history of content information displayed and printed by the printing apparatus 70. The print history DB 58 stores, for example, a display history and a print history for each registered user 100, and a display history and a print history for each feature of the print user 120.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a history for each registered user 100. For example, the history management unit 42 refers to the recommended advertisement history table, and corresponds to the registered user ID, the print user age group, the print user gender, the content classification, the display count, and the print count. Is created for each registered user, and the content print history table is stored in the print history DB 58. For example, the history management unit 42 periodically creates a content printing history table for each registered user. The display count is the number of times the corresponding content information is displayed on the printing apparatus 70. For example, the history management unit 42 counts the number of times the corresponding content information has been transmitted to the printing apparatus 70 as the number of display times. The number of times of printing is the number of times that the corresponding content information has been printed by the printing apparatus 70. The history management unit 42 receives the printing result from the result receiving unit 40 and counts the number of printings based on the printing result. By referring to the number of times of display, what content information is displayed and how many times when the print user 120 having what characteristics and the print target data registered by what registered user 100 is requested to print. It is specified whether or not Also, by referring to the number of times of printing, it is specified how many times the content information has been printed. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the registered user ID “user001”, the print user age group “30s”, the print user gender “male”, the content classification “meal coupon”, and the display count “twice”. The number of times of printing “2 times” is associated. Therefore, when the print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is requested to be printed by the print user 120 who is a man in his thirties by referring to the display count and the print count, the content is displayed. The number of times the information “meal coupon” is displayed on the printing device 70 is “twice”, and the number of times the content information “meal coupon” is printed on the printing device 70 is “twice”. Specified.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a history for each feature of the print user 120. For example, the history management unit 42 refers to the recommended advertisement history table, so that the correspondence relationship among the print user age group, the print user gender, the content classification, the display count, and the print count is classified by feature. A content printing history table is created, and the content printing history table is stored in the printing history DB 58. For example, the history management unit 42 periodically creates a feature-based content printing history table. By referring to the number of times of display, what type of content information is displayed and how many times are specified when a print request is made by the print user 120 having what characteristics. Also, by referring to the number of times of printing, it is specified how many times the content information has been printed. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the print user age group “30s”, the print user gender “male”, the content classification “meal coupon”, the display count “150”, and the print count “36”. It is associated. Therefore, by referring to the display count and the print count, the number of times the content information “meal coupon” is displayed on the printing device 70 when the print request is made by the print user 120 who is a man in his 30s is “150 times”. Furthermore, it is specified that the number of times the content information “meal coupon” has been printed by the printing apparatus 70 is “36 times”.

  Next, the configuration of the printing apparatus 70 will be described. The printing apparatus 70 includes a data request unit 72, a feature extraction unit 74, a feature transmission unit 76, a data reception unit 78, a print control unit 80, an advertisement reception unit 82, and a user interface unit (UI unit) 84. The content requesting unit 86 and the result transmitting unit 88 are included.

  The data request unit 72 requests the print management apparatus 10 for print target data designated by the print user 120. For example, when the print user 120 inputs a file name or reservation number of data to be printed using the UI unit 84, the data request unit 72 transmits information indicating the input file name or reservation number to the print management apparatus 10. To do.

  Note that the registered user 100 and the print user 120 may be different people or the same person. The registered user 100 may print the print target data registered by the registered user 100, or the user different from the registered user 100 may print the print target data registered by the registered user 100. As a scene where the registered user 100 and the print user 120 are different, for example, a scene in which a community leader (registered user 100) registers print target data and a member of the community (print user 120) prints the print target data. is assumed. In this case, a community member receives a file name or reservation number of data to be printed from the reader and requests printing.

  The feature extraction unit 74 extracts the features (age group and gender) of the print user 120 from the image data representing the print user 120, and outputs the print user feature information indicating the feature to the feature transmission unit 76. For example, the printing user 120 is photographed by a camera connected to the printing apparatus 70, and the feature extraction unit 74 extracts the characteristics of the printing user 120 from the image data generated by the photographing. The proficiency level determined from the operation speed of the UI unit 84 (for example, the touch panel) or the strength of the touch on the touch panel may be included in the user characteristics.

  The feature transmission unit 76 transmits print user feature information indicating the features of the print user 120 to the print management apparatus 10.

  The data receiving unit 78 receives data transmitted from the print management apparatus 10. For example, the data receiving unit 78 receives print target data designated by the print user 120 from the print management apparatus 10. In addition, when the print user 120 requests acquisition of content information, the data receiving unit 78 receives the requested content information from the print management apparatus 10.

  The print control unit 80 causes the UI unit 84 to display the data received by the data receiving unit 78 in a format such as a preview. Further, the print control unit 80 prepares to print the data and causes the printing unit (not shown) to print the data. The print control unit 80 outputs the print result to the result transmission unit 88. The print control unit 80 may perform billing processing.

  The advertisement receiving unit 82 receives advertisement information (for example, a banner image) transmitted from the print management apparatus 10.

  The UI unit 84 includes a display unit and an operation unit, displays various types of information, and accepts input of information by the print user 120. When advertisement information is transmitted from the print management apparatus 10, the UI unit 84 displays advertisement information (banner image). At this time, the UI unit 84 displays the advertisement information during print setting of the print target data, during preparation for printing, or after completion of printing. When requesting content information, the print user 120 uses the UI unit 84 to instruct a request for content information. For example, the UI unit 84 displays a button for acquiring content information on a part of the banner image, and the print user 120 requests acquisition of the content information by clicking or touching the button. When content information is transmitted from the print management apparatus 10, the UI unit 84 displays the content information.

  When the print user 120 requests acquisition of content information, the content request unit 86 transmits information indicating the content information acquisition request to the print management apparatus 10.

  The result transmission unit 88 transmits the print result (printing presence / absence) to the print management apparatus 10.

  Next, a specific embodiment of the print management apparatus 10 will be described.

Example 1
Example 1 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. In the first embodiment, advertisement information and content information are selected based on the history of advertisement information and content information and the characteristics of the printing user 120.

  First, when the print user 120 requests the print target data by inputting the file name or reservation number of the print target data using the UI unit 84 of the printing apparatus 70, the data request unit 72 receives the input file name or reservation. Information indicating the number is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 to request acquisition of print target data (S01). As an example, it is assumed that a print target data acquisition request registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is made.

  The feature extraction unit 74 extracts the features (age group and gender) of the print user 120 from the image data of the print user 120 taken by the camera connected to the printing apparatus 70, and the feature transmission unit 76 Print user characteristic information indicating the characteristic is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S02). As an example, it is assumed that the age group of the print user 120 is “30s” and the gender is “male”.

  The data specifying unit 22 of the print management apparatus 10 receives information indicating the file name and reservation number of the print target data from the printing apparatus 70, specifies the print target data corresponding to the file name and the reservation number, and performs the print The target data is acquired from the data storage unit 16 (S03). Then, the data transmission unit 24 transmits the print target data to the printing apparatus 70 (S04). As an example, print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is transmitted from the print management apparatus 10 to the printing apparatus 70. The data receiving unit 78 of the printing apparatus 70 receives the print target data and outputs the print target data to the print control unit 80. The print control unit 80 prepares printing of the print target data. For example, the print control unit 80 displays the print target data on the UI unit 84 in a format such as a preview, and when the print user 120 instructs to start printing using the UI unit 84, the print control unit 80 causes the print unit to print the print target data. After the printing is completed, the print control unit 80 performs a charging process.

  On the other hand, the content selection unit 36 receives print user feature information indicating the features (age group and gender) of the print user 120 from the printing device 70, refers to the history information stored in the print history DB 58 (S05), and prints. Based on the feature of the user 120 and the history information, advertisement information and content information are selected and extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20 (S06).

  The processes in steps S05 and S06 will be described in detail. The content selection unit 36 corresponds to the characteristics of the print user 120 and the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data by referring to, for example, the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. Of the plurality of pieces of content information, the content information with the largest number of times of printing is selected from the advertisement information storage unit 20 and extracted. As an example, the content selection unit 36 prints out of the content information (“meal coupon” and “movie coupon”) corresponding to the characteristics of the print user 120 (30s, male) and the registered user ID “user001”. Extract “meal coupons” with a large number of times. Then, the content selection unit 36 extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the extracted content information “meal coupon” from the advertisement information storage unit 20.

  As described above, referring to the content printing history table for each registered user, the advertisement information and the content information are selected based on the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data and the characteristics of the print user 120. In the past, the advertisement information and content with the highest number of times of printing among the advertisement information and content information provided in the past to the print user 120 having the same characteristics that requested the print target data registered by the same registered user 100 in the past. Information will be provided. The fact that the content information has been printed in the past is presumed that the printing user 120 has shown interest in the past. Therefore, the printing user having the same characteristics can be obtained by extracting the advertising information and the content information with the largest number of times of printing. For 120, an advertisement that may be of interest is provided.

  It should be noted that the content selection unit 36 may extract the content information having the highest number of display times from the advertisement information storage unit 20 and extract the advertisement information indicating the advertisement associated with the content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20. Good.

  The content selection unit 36 refers to the content printing history table for each characteristic shown in FIG. 8 instead of the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. It may be extracted. In this case, the content selection unit 36 extracts, from the advertisement information storage unit 20, content information with the largest number of times of printing among a plurality of pieces of content information corresponding to the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120. As an example, the content selection unit 36 extracts “movie coupon” having a large number of times of printing out of content information (“meal coupon”, “movie coupon”) corresponding to the characteristics (30's, male) of the print user 120. . Then, the content selection unit 36 extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the extracted content information “movie coupon” from the advertisement information storage unit 20.

  In this way, by referring to the feature-specific content print history table and selecting the advertisement information and the content information based on the feature of the print user 120, the advertisement provided in the past to the print user 120 having the same feature Of the information and the content information, the advertisement information and the content information having the largest number of times of printing are provided. As a result, an advertisement that is likely to be of interest to the printing user 120 having the same characteristics is provided.

  Similar to the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the content selection unit 36 extracts content information having the largest number of display times from a plurality of pieces of content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20 and associates the content information with the content information. Advertisement information indicating an advertisement may be extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20.

  The advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information (for example, a banner image) selected by the content selection unit 36 to the printing device 70 (S07). For example, when the advertisement information of the content information “meal coupon” is extracted by the content selection unit 36, the advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information associated with the content information “meal coupon” to the printing apparatus 70.

  The advertisement receiving unit 82 of the printing apparatus 70 receives the advertisement information, and the UI unit 84 displays the advertisement information (S08). For example, the UI unit 84 displays advertisement information while the print user 120 is performing print settings, during print preparation (for example, during download of print target data), during printing of print target data, or after completion of printing.

  When the print user 120 refers to the advertisement displayed on the UI unit 84 and instructs the acquisition of content information using the UI unit 84 (S09), the content request unit 86 requests the acquisition of the content information. Is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S10).

  When the data specifying unit 22 of the print management apparatus 10 is requested to acquire content information from the printing apparatus 70, the data specifying unit 22 specifies the requested content information and acquires the content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20 (S11). Then, the data transmission unit 24 transmits the content information to the printing apparatus 70 (S12).

  The data receiving unit 78 of the printing apparatus 70 receives the content information from the print management apparatus 10 and outputs the content information to the print control unit 80. The print control unit 80 displays content information on the UI unit 84 in a format such as a preview. When the print user 120 instructs to start printing using the UI unit 84, the print control unit 80 causes the printing unit to print content information (S13). Note that the reception of the content information may be performed in parallel with the reception of the print target data.

  Then, the result transmission unit 88 transmits the print target data and the print result of the content information (information indicating the presence / absence of printing) to the print management apparatus 10 (S14).

  The result receiving unit 40 of the print management apparatus 10 receives the print result and outputs the print result to the history management unit 42. The history management unit 42 updates the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG. 5 based on the print result of the content information (S15). For example, when the content information is printed, the history management unit 42 sets the request state to “printing complete”.

  According to the first exemplary embodiment, printing having the same characteristics can be performed by selecting advertisement information and content information based on the history of content information displayed or printed in the past by the printing apparatus 70 and the characteristics of the printing user 120. An advertisement that seems to be of interest to the user 120 is provided. Further, by selecting advertisement information and content information based on the history, the characteristics of the printing user 120, and the registered user ID of the registered user 100, the print target data registered by the same registered user 100 is requested. For print users 120 having the same characteristics, advertisements that are likely to be of interest will be provided.

  Further, by displaying the advertisement during preparation for printing of the print target data, during printing, or after printing is completed, the advertisement is displayed in a manner that does not disturb the printing user.

  Further, the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. 7 and the content printing history table for each feature shown in FIG. 8 are information indicating the display of the content information and the printing history. It is information indicating the effect. Therefore, by providing the advertiser with the content printing history table, useful information regarding the effectiveness of the advertisement is provided to the advertiser.

  In the stage where there is no advertisement display and print history (initial stage), the content selection unit 36 refers to the content advertisement setting table shown in FIG. Select information. When a plurality of advertisement information and content information corresponding to the same feature are set in the content advertisement setting table, the content selection unit 36 randomly selects advertisement information and content information from the plurality of advertisement information and content information. May be. Further, even when the feature of the print user 120 is not included in the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG. 5, the content selection unit 36 matches the feature of the print user 120 by referring to the content advertisement setting table. Select advertisement information and content information.

(Example 2)
Next, Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the second embodiment, advertisement information and content information are selected in consideration of the hobby of the registered user 100.

  As in the first embodiment, a print target data acquisition request is made (S20), and print user characteristic information indicating the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120 is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S21). ). As an example, it is assumed that a print target data acquisition request registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is made. Further, it is assumed that the age group of the print user 120 is “30s” and the gender is “male”.

  As in the first embodiment, the print management apparatus 10 identifies the requested print target data (S22), and transmits the print target data to the printing apparatus 70 (S23). As an example, print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is transmitted from the print management apparatus 10 to the printing apparatus 70. The print control unit 80 prepares to print the print target data, and starts printing in accordance with a print start instruction from the print user 120.

  On the other hand, the user specifying unit 32 of the print management apparatus 10 specifies the registered user ID “user001” corresponding to the information indicating the file name and the reservation number transmitted from the printing apparatus 70, and sends the registered user ID to the determination unit 34. Output (S24).

  The determination unit 34 compares the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120 with the characteristics (age group and gender) of the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001”, and the comparison result is sent to the content selection unit 36. Output.

  When the characteristics of the registered user 100 and the characteristics of the print user 120 match (S25, Yes), the content selection unit 36 refers to the registered user hobby table shown in FIG. 3 and the hobby corresponding to the registered user ID “user001”. Is selected (S26). When a plurality of hobbies are associated with the same registered user ID, the content selection unit 36 may select one hobby at random from the plurality of hobbies, or select a hobby with a high priority. You may choose. As an example, it is assumed that the content selection unit 36 selects “meal” as a hobby of the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001”.

  Further, the content selection unit 36 refers to the history information stored in the print history DB 58 (S27). Then, the content selection unit 36 extracts advertisement information and content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20 based on the hobby or history information of the registered user 100 (S28).

  The process of step S28 will be described in detail. When the hobby of the registered user 100 is selected, the content selection unit 36 extracts content information and advertisement information corresponding to the hobby from the advertisement information storage unit 20. For example, when the hobby is “meal”, the content selection unit 36 selects “meal coupon” as the content information related to “meal”, and extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the content information “meal coupon” To do.

  Further, the content selection unit 36 refers to, for example, the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. 7, so that the characteristics of the printing user 120 and the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data are displayed. Among the plurality of corresponding content information, the content information with the largest number of times of printing is extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20. As an example, the content selection unit 36 extracts “meal coupon” as content information, and extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the content information “meal coupon” from the advertisement information storage unit 20. Alternatively, the content selection unit 36 refers to, for example, the feature-specific content print history table shown in FIG. 8, and selects content information with the largest number of times of printing from among a plurality of content information corresponding to the features of the print user 120. It may be extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20. As an example, the content selection unit 36 extracts “meal coupon” as content information, and extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the content information “meal coupon” from the advertisement information storage unit 20.

  When the content information selected based on the hobby of the registered user 100 is the same as the content information selected based on the history information, the content selection unit 36 selects the advertisement information corresponding to the selected content information. Is output to the advertisement transmitter 38. On the other hand, when the content information selected based on the hobby of the registered user 100 and the content information selected based on the history information are not the same, the content selection unit 36 selects one of the content information. The advertisement information corresponding to the selected content information is output to the advertisement transmission unit 38. For example, the content selection unit 36 may select content information selected based on hobbies, or may select content information extracted based on history information.

  If the characteristics of the registered user 100 do not match the characteristics of the print user 120 (S25, No), the content selection unit 36, based on the characteristics of the print user 120 and the history information, as in the first embodiment. Advertisement information and content information are extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20 (S28).

  The advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information (for example, a banner image) selected by the content selection unit 36 to the printing device 70 (S29). For example, the advertisement transmitting unit 38 transmits the advertisement information associated with the content information “meal coupon” to the printing apparatus 70.

  As in the first embodiment, the UI unit 84 of the printing apparatus 70 displays advertisement information (S30), and when the print user 120 instructs acquisition of content information (S31), the content request unit 86 Information indicating an information acquisition request is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S32). Then, the print management apparatus 10 identifies the requested content information (S33), and transmits the content information to the printing apparatus 70 (S34). When the print user 120 instructs printing start, the printing apparatus 70 prints the content information (S35), and transmits the print result to the print management apparatus 10 (S36). The print management apparatus 10 updates the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG. 5 based on the print result of the content information (S37).

  According to the second embodiment, when the characteristics of the printing user 120 match the characteristics of the registered user 100, the advertisement information and content information corresponding to the hobby of the registered user 100 are selected. Advertisement will be provided. That is, if the user's age group and gender are the same, it is presumed that the field of interest is common, so providing the advertisement based on the hobby of the registered user 100 may be of interest to the printing user 120. Advertisement is provided.

(Example 3)
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the third embodiment, the advertisement information and the content information are selected in consideration of the hobby of the print user 120 who has requested the print target data registered by the registered user 100 in the past, not the hobby of the registered user 100 itself.

  11 to 16 show tables according to the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, similarly to the first and second embodiments, the content advertisement setting table (FIG. 11), the recommended advertisement history table (FIG. 12), the print user feature table (FIG. 13), and the contents for each registered user. A print history table (FIG. 14) and a feature-specific content print history table (FIG. 15) are stored in each database and storage unit.

  In the third embodiment, history information indicating the hobby of the print user 120 who has requested printing in the past is stored in the print history DB 58. For example, the history management unit 42 refers to the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG. 12 or the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. 14, and print target data registered by the same registered user 100. Is extracted in the past, and information indicating the hobby of the printing user 120 is extracted and stored in the print history DB 58.

  For example, the history management unit 42 extracts the registered user ID and the content information associated with the registered user ID by referring to the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. The hobby of the printing user 120 is estimated from the information. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the history management unit 42 extracts the registered user ID “user001” and the content information “movie coupon” associated with the registered user ID “user001”. Then, based on the content information “movie coupon”, the history management unit 42 estimates the hobby “movie” of the print user 120 that has requested the print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001”. As described with reference to FIG. 7, the content print history table shown in FIG. 14 includes the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data and the age of the print user 120 who requested the print target data in the past. In order to show the association between the layer and gender and the content information provided to the printing user 120, the registered user ID and the content information (hobby) are extracted from the content printing history table, so that the registered user ID and The association with the hobby of the printing user 120 is created. The history management unit 42 creates a community hobby table showing the correspondence between the registered user ID and the hobbies of the printing user 120. FIG. 16 shows an example of the community hobby table. Here, the community means a set of a plurality of print users 120 who have requested print target data registered by the same registered user 100 (for example, the registered user 100 of “user001”) in the past. It can be said that this is a hobby common to a plurality of printing users 120. For example, the hobbies of a plurality of print users 120 (communities) who have requested print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” in the past are “movie” and “sports”. Note that when there are a plurality of community hobbies corresponding to the same registered user 100, the history management unit 42 may prioritize each hobby based on the number of times content information corresponding to the hobby is printed. For example, the history management unit 42 increases the priority of hobbies corresponding to content information with a large number of prints. The history management unit 42 may create a community hobby table based on the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG.

  Next, processing according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As in the first embodiment, a print target data acquisition request is made (S40), and print user characteristic information indicating the characteristics (age group and gender) of the print user 120 is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S41). ). As an example, it is assumed that a print target data acquisition request registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is made. Further, it is assumed that the age group of the print user 120 is “30s” and the gender is “male”.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, the print management apparatus 10 specifies the requested print target data (S42), and transmits the print target data to the printing apparatus 70 (S43). As an example, print target data registered by the registered user 100 with the registered user ID “user001” is transmitted from the print management apparatus 10 to the printing apparatus 70. The print control unit 80 prepares to print the print target data, and starts printing in accordance with a print start instruction from the print user 120.

  On the other hand, the user specifying unit 32 of the print management apparatus 10 specifies the registered user ID “user001” corresponding to the information indicating the file name and the reservation number transmitted from the printing apparatus 70 (S44).

  Then, the content selection unit 36 refers to the community hobby table shown in FIG. 16, and selects a community hobby corresponding to the registered user ID “user001” (S45). When a plurality of hobbies are associated with the same registered user ID, the content selection unit 36 may select one hobby at random from the plurality of hobbies, or select a hobby with a high priority. You may choose. As an example, it is assumed that the content selection unit 36 selects “movie” as a hobby of the community.

  Further, the content selection unit 36 refers to the history information stored in the print history DB 58 (S46).

  Then, the content selection unit 36 extracts advertisement information and content information from the advertisement information storage unit 20 based on community hobbies or history information (S47).

  Here, the process of step S47 will be described in detail. The content selection unit 36 extracts content information and advertisement information corresponding to the hobby of the community from the advertisement information storage unit 20. For example, when the hobby of the community is “movie”, the content selection unit 36 selects “movie coupon” as the content information related to “movie”, and the advertisement information indicating the advertisement associated with the content information “movie coupon” To extract.

  Further, the content selection unit 36 refers to, for example, the content printing history table for each registered user shown in FIG. 14, so that the characteristics of the printing user 120 and the registered user ID of the registered user 100 who registered the print target data are displayed. Among the plurality of corresponding content information, the content information with the largest number of times of printing is extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20. As an example, the content selection unit 36 selects “movie coupon” as content information, and extracts advertisement information indicating an advertisement associated with the content information “movie coupon” from the advertisement information storage unit 20. Alternatively, the content selection unit 36 refers to, for example, the content-specific content printing history table illustrated in FIG. 15, and selects content information with the largest number of times of printing from among a plurality of pieces of content information corresponding to the features of the printing user 120. It may be extracted from the advertisement information storage unit 20.

  When the content information selected based on the community hobby and the content information selected based on the history information are the same, the content selection unit 36 advertises advertisement information corresponding to the selected content information. The data is output to the transmission unit 38. On the other hand, when the content information selected based on the hobby of the community and the content information selected based on the history information are not the same, the content selection unit 36 selects and selects one of the content information The advertisement information corresponding to the content information thus output is output to the advertisement transmission unit 38. For example, the content selection unit 36 may select content information selected based on hobbies, or may select content information selected based on history information.

  The advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information (for example, a banner image) selected by the content selection unit 36 to the printing device 70 (S48). For example, the advertisement transmission unit 38 transmits the advertisement information associated with the content information “movie coupon” to the printing apparatus 70.

  As in the first embodiment, the UI unit 84 of the printing apparatus 70 displays advertisement information (S49). When the print user 120 instructs acquisition of content information (S50), the content request unit 86 Information indicating an information acquisition request is transmitted to the print management apparatus 10 (S51). Then, the print management apparatus 10 specifies the requested content information (S52), and transmits the content information to the printing apparatus 70 (S53). When the printing user 120 instructs printing start, the printing apparatus 70 prints the content information (S54), and transmits the printing result to the print management apparatus 10 (S55). The print management apparatus 10 updates the recommended advertisement history table shown in FIG. 12 based on the print result of the content information (S56).

  According to the third embodiment, since advertisement information and content information corresponding to a hobby of a community (a group of print users 120) are selected, an advertisement that is likely to be of interest to the print user 120 belonging to the community is provided. become. That is, since it is assumed that the fields related to the same registered user 100 (a set of printing users 120) are common, by providing advertisements based on the hobbies of the community, Advertisements that may be of interest to the print user 120 to which they belong are provided.

  The print management apparatus 10 described above is realized by cooperation of hardware resources and software as an example. Specifically, the print management apparatus 10 includes a processor such as a CPU (not shown). When the processor reads and executes a program stored in a storage device (not shown), the user registration unit 12, the data registration unit 14, the content registration unit 18, the data identification unit 22, the data transmission unit 24, the processing unit 30, The functions of the advertisement transmission unit 38, the result reception unit 40, and the history management unit 42 are realized. The program is stored in the storage device via a storage medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication path such as a network.

  Moreover, the printing apparatus 70 mentioned above is implement | achieved by cooperation of a hardware resource and software as an example. Specifically, the printing apparatus 70 includes a processor such as a CPU (not shown). The processor reads and executes a program stored in a storage device (not shown), whereby a data request unit 72, a feature extraction unit 74, a feature transmission unit 76, a data reception unit 78, a print control unit 80, and an advertisement reception unit 82. The functions of the content request unit 86 and the result transmission unit 88 are realized. The program is stored in the storage device via a storage medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication path such as a network.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Print management apparatus, 12 User registration part, 14 Data registration part, 16 Data storage part, 18 Content registration part, 20 Advertisement information storage part, 22 Data specification part, 24 Data transmission part, 30 Processing part, 32 User specification part, 34 determination unit, 36 content selection unit, 38 advertisement transmission unit, 40 result reception unit, 42 history management unit, 50 database (DB), 52 registered user DB, 54 advertisement history DB, 56 user feature DB, 58 print history DB, 70 Printing device, 72 Data request part, 74 Feature extraction part, 76 Feature transmission part, 78 Data reception part, 80 Print control part, 82 Advertisement reception part, 84 User interface part (UI part), 86 Content request part, 88 Result Transmitter.

Claims (6)

Feature information acquisition means for acquiring feature information indicating characteristics of a print user who requests printing of data to be printed using a printing apparatus;
The printing user based on the advertisement providing history information indicating the correspondence between the information related to the advertisement provided in the past to the printing apparatus and the characteristics of the user who used the printing apparatus when the advertisement was provided in the past. A selection means for selecting information about the advertisement corresponding to the characteristics of
Output means for outputting data to be printed and information relating to the selected advertisement to a printing apparatus used by the printing user;
A print management apparatus. The advertisement provision history information uses information related to advertisements provided in the past to the printing apparatus, registered users who registered print target data requested to be printed in the past, and the printing apparatus when advertisements were provided in the past. Shows the relationship between the user's characteristics and
The selection means selects information related to the advertisement corresponding to the characteristics of the print user and the registered user of the print target data requested by the print user to print based on the advertisement provision history information.
The print management apparatus according to claim 1. The selection means selects information related to the advertisement based on the advertisement provision history information and the number of times information related to the advertisement has been displayed or printed in the past by the printing apparatus.
The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print management apparatus is a print management apparatus. A storage unit for storing registered user hobby information indicating characteristics and hobbies of registered users who have registered the print target data;
The selection means selects information related to an advertisement related to the hobbies of the registered user when the characteristics of the registered user and the characteristics of the printing user match.
The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print management apparatus is a print management apparatus. A storage unit for storing print user hobby information indicating a correspondence relationship between a registered user who has registered print target data and a hobby of a user who has requested printing of print target data registered by the registered user in the past;
The selection unit specifies a user's hobby corresponding to a registered user of print target data requested by the printing user based on the printing user hobby information, and selects information related to an advertisement related to the specified hobby. To
The print management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print management apparatus is a print management apparatus. Computer
Feature information acquisition means for acquiring feature information indicating characteristics of a print user who requests printing of data to be printed using a printing apparatus;
The printing user based on the advertisement providing history information indicating the correspondence between the information related to the advertisement provided in the past to the printing apparatus and the characteristics of the user who used the printing apparatus when the advertisement was provided in the past. A selection means for selecting information about the advertisement corresponding to the characteristics of
Output means for outputting data to be printed and information relating to the selected advertisement to a printing apparatus used by the printing user;
Program to function as.