JP2017068755A - Information processing device, point management system, and point management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lighten an operation load for updating point information in a point system that requires preserving information in a user's portable article.SOLUTION: Provided is a point management method in which points are returned in correspondence to the executed amount of image processing by an image processing device 1 and point information is stored for use in a portable client terminal 2, characterized by managing information on a use amount by the image processing device 1 due to that image processing is executed, generating information on points to be returned on the basis of information on the use amount, accepting an authentication request from the client terminal 2 for use of the information processing device 1, outputting point information to be notified to the authenticated client terminal 2 in accordance with the authentication result of the authentication request, and notifying the client terminal 2 about information on outputted points.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 14

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a point management system, and a point management method.

  A service is provided in which the operating state of an information processing apparatus such as an image forming apparatus in an office or the like is managed in the cloud via a network, and points corresponding to the device usage fee are returned to the user. For example, in order to provide services suitable for individual users, a system has been proposed in which the number of uses for each device is converted into points and stored (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the granted points are held in a server or the like that manages the system. Therefore, in the case of a point service that requires information to be retained in a user's portable object, such as electronic money, the user needs to access the management system to update the information in order to reflect the latest point information. It is an operation burden.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to reduce an operation burden for updating point information in a point system that needs to store information in a user's portable object.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to one embodiment of the present invention, points are reduced according to the amount of image processing performed by an image processing apparatus, and information on the points is stored and used in a portable information processing terminal. An information processing apparatus for managing a point management system, wherein a usage amount management unit that manages usage amount information of the image processing apparatus when image processing is executed; A point management unit generated based on the authentication information and an authentication result of an authentication request made when the portable information processing terminal uses the image processing apparatus, and notifies the authenticated portable information processing terminal And a point information output unit that outputs information on power points.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the operation burden for the update of the point information in the point system which needs to preserve | save information in a user's portable thing can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the operation | use form of the point management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows typically the hardware constitutions of the information processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement outline | summary of the system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement outline | summary of the system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement outline | summary of the system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement outline | summary of the system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the client terminal which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the content of the client application which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the point management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the counter information table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the service information table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the user information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the point information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the information of use restrictions which concern on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a point management system that manages the operational status of devices such as printers and MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals) used in offices and the like via a network and performs point reduction according to the usage amount of devices will be described as an example. To do. In addition, the points returned in the system according to the present embodiment are managed and used as information by an application installed in a smart device such as a smart phone or a tablet terminal. In such a system, it is an object according to the present embodiment to reduce a user's operation burden for reflecting the returned points on the smart device side.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation mode of the point management system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the device management system according to the present embodiment includes a network A to which an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) 1a, a printer 1b (hereinafter generally referred to as “image processing apparatus 1”) and a client terminal 2 are connected. The network B to which the service management server 3 is connected is connected via a public line such as the Internet.

  The network A is a network of service users who use the service of the point management system according to the present embodiment, that is, a user side network. Network B is a service provider network, that is, a provider network. Each of the networks A and B is a closed network such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

  The printer 1b is an image forming apparatus that performs image forming output based on a print job input via the network in the network A. The MFP 1a is a multifunction device including functions such as a scanner, a copier, and a file server in addition to a printer function as an image forming apparatus. The MFP 1 a and the printer 1 b transmit the operation content to the service management server 3 while operating in the network A.

  The client terminal 2 is a portable information processing terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet terminal, or a mobile phone. In addition to a wireless communication function capable of communication over a certain distance such as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), the client terminal 2 performs communication over a very short distance such as NFC (Near Field Communication). Has a wireless communication function.

  The service management server 3 performs point reduction processing for each user according to the operation content received from the image processing apparatus 1. The point information generated by the point reduction process is stored in the service management server 3 and transmitted to the client terminal 2 at a timing when information is exchanged with the client terminal 2. The timing at which the point information is transmitted to the client terminal 2 is one of the features according to the present embodiment.

  Next, a hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus for realizing the image processing apparatus 1, the client terminal 2, the service management server 3, and the like according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as a general server, PC, or the like. That is, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 40, and an I / F 50. Connected through. In addition, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 60, an operation unit 70, and an engine 80 are connected to the I / F 50.

  The CPU 10 is a calculation means and controls the operation of the entire information processing apparatus. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 10 processes information. The ROM 30 is a read-only nonvolatile storage medium and stores a program such as firmware. The HDD 40 is a non-volatile storage medium that can read and write information, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

  The I / F 50 connects and controls the bus 90 and various hardware and networks. The LCD 60 is a visual user interface that displays various types of information for the user to check the state of the information processing apparatus. The operation unit 70 is a user interface for a user to input information to the information processing apparatus, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a hard key. The engine 80 is a unit that realizes a dedicated function such as a printer engine or a scanner engine in the MFP 1. The service management server 3 according to the present embodiment is operated as a server. Therefore, user interfaces such as the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 can be omitted.

  In such a hardware configuration, the software control unit is configured by the CPU 10 performing calculations in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 30 or a program read to the RAM 20 from a storage medium such as the HDD 40 or an optical disk (not shown). A functional block that realizes functions of the image processing apparatus 1, the client terminal 2, the service management server 3, and the like according to the present embodiment is configured by a combination of the software control unit configured as described above and hardware.

  Next, an outline of the operation of the point management system according to the present embodiment will be described. As described above, the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment has a short-range wireless communication function such as NFC, and the client terminal 2 approaches the NFC communication unit provided in the image processing apparatus 1 to transmit information. Exchanges take place. Hereinafter, the operation of bringing the client terminal 2 closer to the NFC communication unit provided in the image processing apparatus 1 is referred to as a touch operation.

  In the present embodiment, a touch operation is performed in a state where a dedicated application is activated on the client terminal 2, whereby the client terminal 2 acquires communication setting information from the image processing apparatus 1 as illustrated in FIG. 3. As a result, the client terminal 2 can be connected to the network A via Wi-Fi.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the client terminal 2 that has performed the Wi-Fi connection transmits a user authentication request for using the image processing apparatus 1 to the image processing apparatus 1 via NFC. Upon receiving the authentication request, the image processing apparatus 1 transfers the authentication request to the service management server 3 and acquires the point information of the authenticated user together with the authentication result. Acquisition of point information at this timing is one of the gist according to the present embodiment.

  The image processing apparatus 1 that has acquired the authentication result and the point information from the service management server 3 transmits the acquired authentication result and the point information to the client terminal 2 via NFC. In the touch operation shown in FIG. 4, the authentication request shown in FIG. 4 to the authentication result and point information notification shown in FIG. 5 are performed.

  Upon receiving the notification of the authentication result and the point information, the client terminal 2 updates the point information held therein by the function of the application according to the present system. Thereafter, the client terminal 2 receives an authentication result and transmits an image processing job such as a print job via a network such as Wi-Fi as shown in FIG.

  Next, the functional configuration of the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 200, a network I / F 210, and a near field communication I / F 220 in addition to the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 described in FIG. The controller 200 includes a network control unit 201, an operation control unit 202, a display control unit 203, a near field communication control unit 204, and a client application 205.

  The network I / F 210 is an interface for the client terminal 2 to communicate with other devices via the network, and interfaces such as Ethernet (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) are used. The near field communication I / F 220 is an interface for the client terminal 2 to communicate with other devices by near field communication, and an interface such as NFC is used. The network I / F 210 and the short-range communication I / F 220 are realized by the I / F 50 shown in FIG.

  The controller 200 is configured by a combination of software and hardware. The controller 200 is a control unit that controls the entire client terminal 2. The network control unit 201 acquires information input via the network I / F 210 and transmits information to other devices via the network I / F 210.

  The near field communication control unit 204 acquires information input via the near field communication I / F 220 and transmits information to other devices via the near field communication I / F 220. The near field communication control unit 204 according to the present embodiment exchanges information with the image processing apparatus 1 via the near field communication I / F 220 in the touch operation described above.

  The operation control unit 202 acquires a signal of the operation content by the user with respect to the operation unit 70 and inputs it to a module operating in the client terminal 2 such as the client application 205. The display control unit 203 causes the LCD 60 to display the state of the client terminal 2 such as a GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the client application 205.

  The client application 205 is a software module that provides various functions in the client terminal 2, and is configured by a software program corresponding to each function. The client application 205 according to the present embodiment includes a function for using the function of the image processing apparatus 1 and a function for holding point information given by the service management server 3.

  Here, functions included in the client application 205 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the client application 205 according to the present embodiment includes a point management application 251 and a job control application 252.

  The point management application 251 holds the point information given by the service management server 3 as described above. Payment processing using points managed by the point management application 251 is performed by, for example, the touch operation described above. When a touch operation for payment processing is performed, the point management application 251 subtracts the value of the points used for payment from the balance of the stored points.

  The job control application 252 provides a function for using the function of the image processing apparatus 1. Therefore, the job control application 252 has functions for performing the information acquisition process shown in FIG. 3, the authentication request process shown in FIG. 4, the authentication result acquisition process shown in FIG. 5, and the job transmission process shown in FIG.

  Next, the functional configuration of the service management server 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, the service management server 3 according to the present embodiment includes a service management controller 300 and a network I / F 310. The service management controller 300 includes a network control unit 301 and a server application 302.

  The network I / F 310 is an interface for the service management server 3 to communicate with other devices via the network, and Ethernet (registered trademark) is used. The service management controller 300 is configured by a combination of software and hardware. The service management controller 300 is a control unit that controls the entire service management server 3. The network control unit 301 acquires information input via the network I / F 310 and transmits information to other devices via the network I / F 310.

  The server application 302 is a software module that provides various functions in the service management server 3, and is configured by software programs corresponding to the respective functions. As shown in FIG. 9, the server application 302 according to the present embodiment includes a counter control application 303, a point management application 304, and an authentication control application 305.

  The counter control application 303 receives operation history information to be transmitted to the service management server 3 when the image processing apparatus 1 receives a job from the client terminal 2 and executes processing, and manages the contents as a counter. That is, the counter control application 303 is a usage amount management unit that manages information on the usage amount of the image processing apparatus 1 when image processing is executed in the image processing apparatus 1. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of the counter information table managed by the counter control application 303.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the counter information table is a table in which information on “device”, “counter”, “user ID”, “job type”, and “last execution date” is associated. “Device” is identification information for identifying a target device such as the MFP 1a or the printer 1b shown in FIG. The “counter” is a count value that is incremented according to the usage amount of the device as described above.

  “User ID” is an identifier for identifying a user who uses the device. “Job type” is information indicating the type of job executed in each device, such as “color print” and “monochrome print”. That is, in the counter information table according to the present embodiment, a “counter” is held for each combination of “device”, “user ID”, and “job type”. “Last execution date / time” is information indicating the date / time when the job was last executed in the combination of “device”, “user ID”, and “job type”.

  The point management application 304 is an application responsible for a point processing function in the service management server 3 and holds a service information table. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a service information table according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the service information table according to the present embodiment is a table in which “service ID”, “application condition”, “service content”, and “service target” information are associated with each other.

  “Service ID” is an identifier for identifying a plurality of types of point return services. “Applicable condition” is information indicating a condition for applying the point return service. “Service content” is information indicating the content of the point return service. “Service target” is information indicating a target to which points are given by the point return service. In the case of the “service 001” point return service shown in FIG. 11, 100 points are awarded to the user's electronic money that satisfies the condition of “color print count value 500”.

  The point management application 304 determines the “applicable condition” shown in FIG. 11 based on the “counter” information in the counter information table shown in FIG. I do. That is, the point management application 304 is a point management unit that generates point information based on the information shown in FIG. The point information generated thereby is managed in the authentication control application 305 in association with the “user ID”.

  The authentication control application 305 performs an authentication process in response to an authentication request that the client terminal 2 makes in order to use the system. Therefore, the authentication control application 305 holds user information. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of user information according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the user information according to the present embodiment is a table in which information on “user ID”, “password”, “name”, “point calculation period”, and “registered device type” is associated. “User ID” is an identifier for identifying a user, and corresponds to “User ID” in FIG. “Password” is authentication information for authenticating the user. “Name” is the name of the user.

  The “point calculation period” is information indicating the timing for updating the point information of the user. As shown in FIG. 12, the “point calculation period” is designated as “weekly”, “monthly”, “difference”, or the like. In the case of “weekly”, the day of the week and the time are designated as “month X: XX”. In addition, in the case of “weekly”, a monthly update date and time are designated as “29 days X: XX”. In the case of “difference”, a point reduction process based on the count value of the difference from the previous login is performed at the time of login.

  “Registered device type” is information of a device registered as a device that can be used by each user. The authentication control application 305 receives information indicating “user ID”, “password”, and “authentication target device” as an authentication request, and the “user ID”, “password”, and “registered device type” information shown in FIG. Approve the authentication request if it matches.

  Further, as described above, the authentication control application 305 holds point information notified by the point management application 304. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating point information held by the authentication control application 305. As shown in FIG. 13, the point information is associated with “user ID” and managed in association with the “service ID” shown in FIG.

  When the authentication control application 305 approves the authentication request as described above, it extracts the point information associated with the “user ID” of the approved user from the managed point information as shown in FIG. And notified with the authentication result. In other words, the authentication control application 305 is an authentication processing unit and a point information output unit that outputs information on points to be notified to the authenticated target. As a result, the latest point information is notified to the client terminal 2.

  However, when the “point calculation period” shown in FIG. 12 is “difference”, points are calculated based on a difference counter from the previous login each time the user logs in. Therefore, when the “point calculation period” of the approved user is “difference”, the point information based on the information shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is calculated in real time for the user.

  Next, the operation of the system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, first, an application for the present system is activated by a user operation on the client terminal 2 (S1401). The application activated in S1401 is the job control application 252.

  The client terminal 2 requests and obtains connection information from the image processing apparatus 1 via NFC when the client terminal 2 is touched to the NFC communication portion of the image processing apparatus 1 in a state where the application is activated on the client terminal 2. (S1402). The connection information required in S1402 is, for example, an SSID (Service Set IDentifier) or a security key for Wi-Fi connection.

  The client terminal 2 that acquired the connection information by the process of S1402 performs network connection by performing network settings based on the acquired information (S1403). As a result, the client terminal 2 can transmit image processing job information to the image processing apparatus 1 via network communication.

  Next, when the user operates the application screen on the client terminal 2 and inputs information, the setting of the job to be executed and the authentication information for using the image processing apparatus 1, that is, the user ID and password are input. To do. Thereby, the client terminal 2 receives the input information (S1404).

  When the user finishes setting the job and inputting authentication information, the user touches the image processing apparatus 1 again with the client terminal 2. As a result, the client terminal 2 transmits an authentication request to the image processing apparatus 1 via NFC (S1405). In S1405, the user ID and password input by the user are transmitted.

  The image processing apparatus 1 that has received the authentication request via NFC transfers the authentication request to the service management server 3 (S1406). In other words, in S1405, the image processing apparatus 1 accepts an authentication request and forwards it functions as an authentication request accepting unit. At this time, in addition to the user ID and password received from the client terminal 2, the image processing apparatus 1 provides information indicating itself as information on the authentication target device. Thereby, in S1406, information of “user ID”, “password”, and “authentication target device” is transmitted.

  In the service management server 3 that has received the authentication request from the image processing apparatus 1, the authentication control application 305 performs an authentication process as described above (S1407). When the user is approved, the authentication control application 305 acquires the point information shown in FIG. 13 based on the “user ID” of the approved user (S1408).

  As described above, when the “point calculation period” of the approved user is “difference”, the authentication control application 305 notifies the point management application 304 of “user ID” and requests generation of point information. As a result, the authentication control application 305 acquires the point information generated by the point management application 304.

  When acquiring the point information, the authentication control application 305 transmits the authentication result and the point information to the image processing apparatus 1 as a response to the authentication request (S1409). If the authentication process is not approved due to a password mismatch or the like, the authentication control application 305 transmits only the authentication result without acquiring the point information.

  The image processing apparatus 1 that has acquired the authentication result and the point information from the service management server 3 transfers the information to the client terminal 2 via NFC (S1410). That is, in S1410, the function of notifying the client terminal 2 of the authentication result and the point information in the image processing apparatus 1 functions as a point information notification unit. For this reason, the user of the client terminal 2 maintains the state in which the client terminal 2 is touch-operated from S1405 to S1410. This period is generally about several seconds and does not require the user to wait for a long time, but may display on the screen of the client terminal 2 that the touch operation is maintained as necessary. preferable. Such a display can be easily realized as a function of the job control application 252.

  In the client terminal 2 that has received the authentication result and the point information, the point management application 251 updates the stored point information based on the received point information (S1411). Thereafter, the job control application 252 receives the result of the approval of the authentication request, and transmits job information to the image processing apparatus 1 via the Wi-Fi network (S1412).

  The image processing apparatus 1 that has received the job information executes processing according to the content of the received job (S1413). Then, a counter update request is transmitted to the service management server 3 based on the information of the operation content corresponding to the content of the executed job (S1414). The information in S1414 includes information indicating the “job type” described in FIG. 10 and information on the amount by which “counter” is incremented. The information on the amount by which the “counter” is incremented is, for example, the number of pages that have been printed out or scanned.

  In the service management server 3 that has received the counter update request, the counter control application 303 updates the content of the counter information table shown in FIG. 10 according to the content of the received update request (S1415). By such processing, the operation of the system according to the present embodiment is completed.

  As described above, in the system according to the present embodiment, the point information is updated in the authentication process for using the image processing apparatus 1 via the client terminal 2. Therefore, the user does not need to perform another operation for updating the point information, and the operation burden on the user can be reduced. As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce an operation burden for updating point information in a point system that needs to store information in a user's portable object.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the authentication request is transferred to the service management server 3 and the authentication process is performed in the service management server 3 has been described as an example. However, this is merely an example. For example, the image processing apparatus 1 may acquire point information from the service management server 3 only when the image processing apparatus 1 is authenticated and approved.

  In the above embodiment, when an authentication request for executing a job is made, point information already generated in the service management server 3 at that time or point information generated based on a counter value already held is The client terminal 2 is notified. Therefore, the contents of the job executed by the authentication request are not reflected in the point information acquired at that time.

  On the other hand, the information on the job to be executed has already been input to the client terminal 2 in S1404 in FIG. 14, and can be notified to the service management server 3 by the processes in S1405 and S1406. Therefore, the service management server 3 may generate the point information after updating the counter based on the information of the job scheduled to be executed that is notified at the time of the authentication request. This makes it possible to notify the client terminal 2 of point information that also considers the latest job executed by the authentication request.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the execution amount of processing based on the operation history of the image processing apparatus 1 is managed by the service management server 3 using the counter information table illustrated in FIG. 10 has been described as an example. However, this is an example, and for example, the image processing apparatus 1 may also serve as the function of the service management server 3. In this case, the function of the server application 302 described in FIG. 9 is realized in the image processing apparatus 1.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the case where the authentication function and the point management function were implement | achieved in the service management server 3 was demonstrated as an example. In addition, for example, the authentication function and the point management function may be realized by separate servers. In this case, the counter control application 303 and the point management application 304 shown in FIG. 9 are realized by a point management server, and the authentication control application 305 is realized by an authentication server. Each server exchanges information to realize the same function as described above.

  Further, as described above, when points are given according to the usage amount of the image processing apparatus 1, there is a possibility that uselessness may be performed. Therefore, it is preferable to limit use. The use restriction can be performed at the time of authentication by the authentication control application 305, for example. In that case, the authentication control application 305 holds use restriction information as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 15, in the use restriction information, “restriction target” and “use restriction content” are stored in association with each other. In the case of the example in FIG. 15, “user001” is subject to usage restrictions such as “printed XX sheets / month. Scanned XX sheets / week”. When the authentication control application 305 performs the authentication process in step S1407 of FIG. 14, the authentication control application 305 determines use restriction in addition to the above-described authentication process based on the “user ID”, “password”, and “authentication target device”.

  That is, the authentication control application 305 refers to the contents of the counter information table illustrated in FIG. 10 and also refers to the use restriction information illustrated in FIG. 15 to confirm whether the usage amount of the target user exceeds the use restriction. Approve the authentication request only if it does not exceed. Thereby, useless specifications for the purpose of points can be suppressed.

  In addition, by notifying the system administrator of the counter information table shown in FIG. 10 and the point information shown in FIG. 13, the system administrator assists the appropriate setting of the usage restriction information shown in FIG. Is possible. Such a function can be easily realized by setting an information notification rule for the server application 302.

1 Image processing apparatus 1a MFP
1b printer 2 client terminal 3 service management server 10 CPU
20 RAM
30 ROM
40 HDD
50 I / F
60 LCD
70 Operation Unit 80 Engine 90 Bus 200 Controller 201 Network Control Unit 202 Operation Control Unit 203 Display Control Unit 204 Near Field Communication Control Unit 205 Client Application 210 Network I / F
220 Short range communication I / F
251 Point management application 252 Job control application 300 Service management server 301 Network control unit 302 Server application 303 Counter control application 304 Point management application 305 Authentication control application 310 Network I / F

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-044733

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus that manages a point management system in which points are reduced according to the amount of image processing performed by an image processing apparatus, and information on the points is stored and used in a portable information processing terminal,
A usage amount management unit for managing information on the usage amount of the image processing apparatus by executing image processing;
A point management unit for generating information on points to be returned based on the usage amount information;
Point information output for outputting point information to be notified to the authenticated portable information processing terminal according to an authentication result of an authentication request performed when the portable information processing terminal uses the image processing apparatus And an information processing apparatus.   The point information output unit acquires the authentication request, performs an authentication process, and outputs information of a point to be notified to the portable information processing terminal authenticated thereby. The information processing apparatus described.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the point information output unit outputs information of the points generated in advance by the point management unit. The point management unit generates information of a point to be notified to the authenticated portable information processing terminal when the authentication request is authenticated,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the point information output unit outputs information of the points generated when the authentication request is authenticated.   When the point management unit acquires information indicating the content of image processing scheduled to be executed in an authentication request that is made when the portable information processing terminal uses the image processing apparatus, and the authentication request is authenticated The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the point information is generated in consideration of the acquired image processing content to be executed. A point management system in which points are reduced according to the amount of image processing performed by an image processing apparatus, and information on the points is stored and used in a portable information processing terminal,
A usage amount management unit for managing information on the usage amount of the image processing apparatus by executing image processing;
A point management unit for generating information on points to be returned based on the usage amount information;
An authentication request receiving unit that receives an authentication request for using the image processing apparatus from the portable information processing terminal;
In accordance with the authentication result of the authentication request, a point information output unit that outputs information on points to be notified to the authenticated portable information processing terminal;
A point information notifying unit for notifying the portable information processing terminal of the output point information; A point management method in which points are reduced according to the amount of image processing performed by an image processing apparatus, and information on the points is stored and used in a portable information processing terminal,
Managing information on the amount of use of the image processing apparatus by executing image processing;
Generate information on points to be reduced based on the usage information,
Receiving an authentication request for using the image processing apparatus from the portable information processing terminal;
According to the authentication result of the authentication request, output information on the point to be notified to the authenticated portable information processing terminal,
A point management method comprising: notifying the portable information processing terminal of the output point information.