JP2017108359A - Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible, when a plurality of terminal devices are present as candidates for connection, to easily specify a terminal device to be connected compared with a case where a user designates a terminal device to be connected from all candidates.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 requests, to a terminal device, specification information for specifying a terminal device 12 to be connected. The terminal device 12 detects the specification information according to the request. The terminal device 12 includes, for example, an acceleration sensor, and the acceleration sensor detects a movement (gesture) of the terminal device 12 as the specification information. The terminal device 12 to be connected is specified on the basis of the detected specification information (for example, information showing the gesture).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and a program.

  In some cases, communication is established between a plurality of devices using wireless communication such as Wi-Fi communication or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  In the system described in Patent Document 1, identification information of a connection request source such as a mobile phone is transmitted in advance to a connection destination device by an infrared method, and a search packet including the identification information of the connection request source is transmitted on the wireless LAN. Broadcast. The device that has received the connection request returns a special packet when the identification information of the connection request source set in advance by the infrared method is the same as the identification information included in the search packet. The connection request source recognizes the device that has returned the special packet as a device to be connected, and establishes a connection with the device.

JP 2007-259385 A

  By the way, when a plurality of devices exist as connection target candidates, it may not be known to which device the communication should be established from among the plurality of devices. In order to cope with this, there is a case where information on a plurality of devices is displayed, and a user selects a connection target device from among the plurality of devices, thereby specifying the connection target device. However, since the user needs to select a device to be connected, it takes time and effort for the user. Moreover, when the number of candidates is enormous, the effort is increased.

  An object of the present invention is to easily identify a terminal device to be connected when a plurality of terminal devices exist as candidates for connection compared to a case where a user designates a terminal device to be connected from among all candidates. There is to be able to do it.

  The invention according to claim 1 is specific information for specifying the terminal device to be connected, and receives the specific information detected by the terminal device from the terminal device, and based on the received specific information An information processing device having a specifying means for specifying a terminal device to be connected.

  The invention according to claim 2 further includes request means for requesting specific information from the terminal device, and the receiving means receives from the terminal device specific information detected by the terminal device in response to the request. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the specific information is gesture information representing a user's movement detected by the terminal device.

  The invention according to claim 4 further includes display means for displaying gesture information, wherein the specifying means determines a terminal device to be connected based on a comparison result between the displayed gesture information and the received gesture information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information processing apparatus is specified.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the specifying means specifies a terminal device that has detected gesture information matching the displayed gesture information as a terminal device to be connected. Information processing apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the specifying means specifies a terminal device to be connected based on a comparison result between gesture information selected from a plurality of different gesture information and the received gesture information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the result of comparing the gesture information randomly selected from the plurality of different gesture information or gesture information selected by the user with the received gesture information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a terminal device to be connected is specified based on the information.

  The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the specifying means specifies a terminal device that has detected gesture information matching the selected gesture information as a terminal device to be connected. 7. The information processing apparatus according to 7.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of terminal devices to be connected are specified based on the specifying information, the specifying means is a terminal at the shortest distance from the own device among the plurality of terminal devices. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is specified as a terminal device to be connected.

  The invention according to claim 10 includes an information processing device and a terminal device, and the information processing device has request means for requesting the terminal device for specific information for specifying the terminal device to be connected, and the terminal The apparatus includes detection means for detecting specific information in response to the request, and transmission means for transmitting the detected specific information to the information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus is detected by the terminal apparatus The information processing system further includes a receiving unit that receives the specified information and a specifying unit that specifies a terminal device to be connected based on the received specific information.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided receiving means for receiving, from the terminal device, specific information which is specific information for identifying a terminal device to be connected and detected by the terminal device, and the received specific information. Is a program that functions as specifying means for specifying the terminal device to be connected based on the above.

  According to the first, second, tenth, and eleventh aspects of the present invention, when a plurality of terminal devices exist as connection target candidates, compared to a case where the user designates a connection target terminal device from among all candidates, It becomes possible to easily identify the terminal device to be connected.

  According to the third, fourth, and fifth aspects of the invention, the terminal device to be connected is specified by a simple technique called gesture.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 6, 7, and 8, security improves compared with the case where the same gesture information is utilized.

  According to the invention of claim 9, the terminal device of the user who intends to use the image forming apparatus is specified.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the terminal device which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of gesture information. It is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing by the image forming system according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the image forming apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the terminal device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the process by the image forming system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 shows an example of an image forming system as an information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system includes, for example, an image forming apparatus 10 as an information processing apparatus and one or a plurality of terminal devices 12. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, three terminal devices 12 are included in the image forming system. However, this is an example, and the number of terminal devices 12 other than three may be included in the image forming system. . Of course, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 may be included in the image forming system.

  The image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal device 12 are connected by a communication path. The communication path is established by wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi communication. The communication area 14 is an area constructed by the wireless communication. In the communication area 14, the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal device 12 can be connected by wireless communication. Outside the communication area 14, the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal apparatus 12 are not connected by wireless communication. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the communication area 14 is a communication area constructed by Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  The image forming apparatus 10 is an apparatus having at least one of a scan function, a print function, a copy function, and a facsimile function, for example. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 has a function of transmitting / receiving data to / from other apparatuses.

  The terminal device 12 is a portable terminal device such as a smartphone, a tablet PC (personal computer), or a mobile phone, and has a function of transmitting and receiving data to and from other devices.

  In the image forming system according to the present embodiment, for example, communication is established between the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal apparatus 12, whereby data is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10 to the terminal apparatus 12, or the terminal apparatus Data is transmitted from 12 to the image forming apparatus 10.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10.

  The communication unit 16 is a communication interface having a short-range wireless communication function, and has a function of transmitting data to other devices and a function of receiving data from other devices. For example, the communication unit 16 has a function of performing short-range wireless communication using Bluetooth (registered trademark). Hereinafter, communication using Bluetooth (registered trademark) is referred to as “BT communication”. Of course, the communication unit 16 may have a function of performing other wireless communication such as Wi-Fi communication. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 may include a communication interface having a wired communication function.

  The image forming unit 18 has a function of executing processing related to image formation. The image forming unit 18 executes, for example, copy processing, print processing, scan processing, facsimile processing, and the like. In the copy process, the document is copied. In the printing process, an image is printed on a recording medium such as paper. In the scanning process, a document is read and image data is generated. In the facsimile processing, image data is transmitted or received by facsimile. Further, a scan transfer process may be executed. In the scan transfer process, image data is generated by executing the scan process, and the image data is transmitted to an external apparatus such as the terminal apparatus 12. An image based on the image data may be printed on paper by transmitting image data from an external device such as the terminal device 12 to the image forming apparatus 10 and executing a print process.

  The UI unit 20 is a user interface and includes a display unit and an operation unit. The display unit is a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The operation unit is an input device such as a touch panel or a keyboard.

  The storage unit 22 is a storage device such as a hard disk. The storage unit 22 stores information (for example, job information) indicating an image formation command, image data to be printed, image data generated by scan processing, various control data, various programs, and the like. Is done. Of course, they may be stored in separate storage devices or may be stored in one storage device.

  In addition, definition information 24 is stored in the storage unit 22. The definition information 24 is information defining specific information. The identification information is information for identifying the terminal device 12 (connection target terminal device 12) connected to the image forming apparatus 10. The specific information is, for example, gesture information representing a movement (gesture) to be performed by the user. The gesture information is, for example, a moving image or a still image representing the user's gesture, an animation thereof, a character string indicating the gesture, and the like. A plurality of different gestures may be defined, and a plurality of gesture information representing them may be stored as definition information 24 in the storage unit 22. In this case, each piece of gesture information is associated with gesture identification information for identifying the gesture information. The specific information may be information other than information representing the user's gesture, for example, voice information or character information.

  The control unit 26 has a function of controlling the operation of each unit of the image forming apparatus 10. For example, the control unit 26 displays an animation representing a gesture, a character string, a still image, or the like on the display unit of the UI unit 20 according to the definition information.

  The control unit 26 includes a determination unit 28. The determination unit 28 compares the specific information transmitted from the terminal device 12 with the specific information stored as the definition information 24 in the storage unit 22 and transmits the specific information based on the comparison result. It is determined whether 12 is the terminal device 12 to be connected. When the specific information transmitted as the definition information 24 is included in the specific information transmitted from the terminal device 12, the terminal device 12 is specified as the connection target terminal device 12. For example, if both pieces of identification information match, the terminal device 12 is specified as the terminal device 12 to be connected.

  As an example, gesture information is detected by the terminal device 12, and the gesture information is transmitted from the terminal device 12 to the image forming apparatus 10. The determination unit 28 compares the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12 with the gesture information stored as the definition information 24 in the storage unit 22 and transmits the gesture information based on the comparison result. It is determined whether 12 is the terminal device 12 to be connected. When the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12 includes the gesture information stored as the definition information 24, the terminal device 12 is identified as the connection target terminal device 12. For example, when both pieces of gesture information match, the terminal device 12 is specified as the terminal device 12 to be connected.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the terminal device 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the terminal device 12.

  The communication unit 30 is a communication interface having a short-range wireless communication function, and has a function of transmitting data to other devices and a function of receiving data from other devices. As an example, the communication unit 30 has a function of performing near field communication using Bluetooth (registered trademark). Of course, the communication unit 30 may have a function of performing other wireless communication such as Wi-Fi communication. The terminal device 12 may include a communication interface having a wired communication function.

  The UI unit 32 is a user interface and includes a display unit and an operation unit. The display unit is a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The operation unit is an input device such as a touch panel or a keyboard.

  The detection unit 34 has a function of detecting specific information. The detection unit 34 is, for example, an acceleration sensor, and is a sensor that detects the movement, tilt, orientation, and the like of the terminal device 12. The detection unit 34 detects the movement of the terminal device 12 as a gesture. Thereby, gesture information indicating the movement (gesture) is detected.

  The sound output unit 36 is a device that outputs sound such as sound.

  The storage unit 38 is a storage device such as a hard disk. The storage unit 38 stores image data, various control data, various programs, and the like. Of course, they may be stored in separate storage devices or may be stored in one storage device.

  In addition, definition information 40 is stored in the storage unit 38. The definition information 40 is the same information as the definition information 24 stored in the image forming apparatus 10. That is, the definition information 40 is information defining the specific information. The specific information is, for example, gesture information. A plurality of different gestures may be defined, and a plurality of pieces of gesture information representing them may be stored as definition information 40 in the storage unit 22. In this case, each piece of gesture information is associated with gesture identification information for identifying the gesture information. The specific information may be information other than gesture information, for example, voice information or character information.

  The control unit 42 has a function of controlling the operation of each unit of the terminal device 12.

  The control unit 42 includes a determination unit 44. The determination unit 44 compares the specific information detected by the detection unit 34 with the specific information stored as the definition information 40 in the storage unit 38. When the specific information detected as the definition information 40 is included in the specific information detected by the terminal device 12, the communication unit 30 connects to the image forming apparatus 10 using BT communication, Terminal identification information for identifying the terminal device 12) is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10. For example, when the two pieces of specific information match, the terminal identification information is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10.

  As an example, gesture information is detected by the detection unit 34, and the determination unit 44 compares the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 with the gesture information stored as the definition information 40 in the storage unit 38. When the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 includes the gesture information as the definition information 40, the terminal identification information is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10. For example, when both pieces of gesture information match, the terminal identification information is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10.

  Hereinafter, the image forming system according to the first embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 4 shows an example of gesture information. The gesture information is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10. For example, an image 48 schematically representing the terminal device and gesture information 50 indicating the movement (gesture) to be performed by the user are displayed on the screen 46 of the display unit. The gesture information 50 is displayed as an animation as an example. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the gesture information 50 is an animation showing a curved movement. Of course, the gesture need not be an animation. For example, a character string indicating a gesture such as “↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ (within 1 second)” or a still image may be displayed as gesture information. In addition, sound indicating a gesture may be output.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5, processing by the image forming system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the processing. In the following, it is assumed that the scan transfer process is executed. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that a plurality of terminal devices 12 exist in the communication area 14 as candidates for connection targets.

  The communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 waits for an advertisement (Service UUID) provided by the image forming apparatus 10. The advertisement is for notifying that the image forming apparatus 10 is providing a service to the peripheral terminal apparatus 12. For example, advertisement using BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is executed.

  First, the user selects a scan process using the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10 (S01). As a result, a scan screen is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20.

  Next, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 performs BLE advertisement. That is, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 transmits an advertisement signal using BT communication (S02). This transmission is executed by broadcast, for example. The advertisement signal is a signal indicating that the image forming apparatus 10 provides a service. The transmission of the advertisement signal corresponds to a request for detection and notification of specific information.

  Further, the control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 displays an animation representing a gesture on the display unit of the UI unit 20 according to the definition information 24 stored in the storage unit 22 (S03). For example, the gesture information 50 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed.

  When the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 receives the advertisement signal, the detection unit 34 of the terminal device 12 starts detecting the movement of the terminal device 12 (S04).

  The user refers to the gesture information 50 displayed on the image forming apparatus 10 and moves the terminal device 12 according to the gesture information 50 (S05). The user moves the terminal device 12 in a curved shape, for example. The detection unit 34 of the terminal device 12 detects the movement (gesture) (S06).

  The determination unit 44 of the terminal device 12 approximately calculates the movement (trajectory) of the terminal device 12 detected by the detection unit 34, thereby obtaining gesture information. The determination unit 44 compares the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 with the gesture information stored as the definition information 40 in the storage unit 38 of the terminal device 12. When the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 includes gesture information as the definition information 40, the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 uses the BT communication (for example, communication using BLE) to form an image forming apparatus. 10, terminal identification information for identifying the own apparatus (terminal apparatus 12) is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 (S 07). The terminal identification information is, for example, the name, ID, MAC address, etc. of the terminal device 12. When the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 does not include the gesture information as the definition information 40, the terminal device 12 continues the gesture detection within the preset time limit. If the time limit is exceeded, the terminal device 12 stops detecting the gesture and waits for an advertisement signal.

  When the terminal identification information is transmitted from the terminal device 12, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 receives the terminal identification information. The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 displays the terminal identification information (for example, the terminal name) on the display unit of the UI unit 20 (S08). When gesture information is detected by a plurality of terminal devices 12 and terminal identification information is transmitted from the plurality of terminal devices 12, the display unit of the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10 displays the plurality of terminal devices 12. The terminal name is displayed.

  The user confirms the terminal name displayed on the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10 (S09), and the terminal name indicates the terminal device 12 to be connected (for example, the terminal device 12 of the user). The scan is instructed (S10). Alternatively, when a plurality of terminal names are displayed on the UI unit 20, the user selects a terminal name of the terminal device 12 to be connected from the plurality of terminal names (S09), and instructs scanning (S09). S10). The user sets a document to be scanned on the image forming apparatus 10, sets various parameters, and instructs scanning.

  When the terminal name of the terminal device 12 to be connected (for example, the terminal device 12 of its own) is not displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20 and a re-detection instruction is given by the user, the processing after step S02 Is executed.

  When a plurality of terminal names are displayed on the UI unit 20, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 transmits information indicating that image data is not transmitted to each terminal device 12 not selected by the user. May be. The communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 that has received the information disconnects the BT communication with the image forming apparatus 10 and waits for an advertisement signal.

  When a scan instruction is given by the user, the image forming unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 10 executes a scan process (S11). Thereby, image data is generated. When one terminal device 12 transmits gesture information, since the terminal device 12 is a terminal device 12 to be connected, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 causes the terminal device 12 to generate an image generated by scanning. Data is transmitted using BT communication (S12). When the plurality of terminal devices 12 transmit the gesture information, the terminal device 12 selected by the user from the plurality of terminal devices 12 becomes the connection target terminal device 12. In this case, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 transmits the image data to the terminal device 12 selected by the user.

  The communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 receives image data. The image data is stored in the storage unit 38 of the terminal device 12, for example. The audio output unit 36 of the terminal device 12 generates a sound indicating that the scan transfer process has been completed. Thereby, the user is notified of the completion of the scan transfer process (S13). Note that the user may be notified of completion of the scanning process by vibration of the terminal device 12 or notification to the synchronized wearable terminal.

  In the above example, the determination unit 44 of the terminal device 12 compares the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 with the gesture information as the definition information 40. In this case, since the determination unit 28 of the image forming apparatus 10 is not used, the determination unit 28 may not be provided in the image forming apparatus 10.

  As another example, the terminal device 12 may not compare both pieces of gesture information, and the image forming apparatus 10 may perform the comparison. In this case, the comparison is performed by the determination unit 28 of the image forming apparatus 10. Since the determination unit 44 of the terminal device 12 is not used, the determination unit 44 may not be provided in the terminal device 12. In this other example, when gesture information is detected by the terminal device 12, the gesture information and the terminal identification information of the terminal device 12 are transmitted from the terminal device 12 to the image forming apparatus 10. The determination unit 28 of the image forming apparatus 10 compares the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12 with the gesture information as the definition information 24. When the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12 includes the gesture information as the definition information 24, the terminal device 12 is identified as the terminal device 12 to be connected, and the terminal name of the terminal device 12 is It is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. The image data generated by the scanning process is transmitted to the terminal device 12 to be connected. Even when gesture information is transmitted from a plurality of terminal devices 12, the terminal name of the terminal device 12 that has transmitted the gesture information including the gesture information as the definition information 24 is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. When a plurality of terminal names are displayed, the terminal device 12 having the terminal name selected by the user from the plurality of terminal names is identified as the terminal device 12 to be connected, and the image data generated by the scanning process is And transmitted to the terminal device 12 to be connected.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the user moves the terminal device 12 according to the gesture displayed on the image forming apparatus 10, gesture information for specifying the connection target terminal device 12 is detected and detected. The terminal device 12 to be connected is specified using the gesture information. As an operation for specifying the terminal device 12 to be connected, the user only has to move the terminal device 12 according to a specific gesture, and the terminal device 12 to be connected is selected from all the terminal devices 12 existing in the communication area 14. It is not necessary to specify. Therefore, compared to the case where the user designates the terminal device 12 to be connected from among all the terminal devices 12 existing in the communication area 14, the terminal device 12 to be connected is easily specified.

  The gesture information may not be displayed on the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10. In this case, gesture information is detected by the user moving the terminal device 12 according to a predefined gesture, and the terminal device 12 to be connected is specified using the detected gesture information.

  In the first embodiment, the connection target terminal device 12 may be specified by using gesture information selected from a plurality of different pieces of gesture information. For example, a plurality of pieces of gesture information indicating a plurality of different gestures are stored in the image forming apparatus 10 and the terminal device 12 as definition information. The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 displays a plurality of gesture information on the display unit of the UI unit 20. The specific gesture information selected by the user from the plurality of gesture information is used for the specifying process of the terminal device 12 to be connected. Alternatively, the control unit 26 may select specific gesture information at random from the plurality of gesture information, and display the specific gesture information on the display unit of the UI unit 20. Specific gesture information selected at random is used for the specific process of the terminal device 12 to be connected. By using the gesture information selected by the user or selected at random, the security is improved as compared with the case of repeatedly using the same gesture information. In other words, the selected gesture information functions as if it were a one-time password, so that security is improved.

  Specifically, the detection unit 34 of the terminal device 12 detects the movement (trajectory) of the terminal device 12, and the determination unit 44 stores the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 and the storage unit 38 of the terminal device 12. A plurality of pieces of gesture information stored as the definition information 40 are compared. When the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 includes gesture information as the definition information 40, the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 uses the gesture identification information of the included gesture information as the image forming apparatus 10. Send to. The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 collates the gesture identification information of the specific gesture information selected by the user or selected at random with the gesture identification information transmitted from the terminal device 12. If the two pieces of gesture identification information match, the terminal device 12 that transmitted the gesture identification information is identified as the terminal device 12 to be connected, and the terminal name of the terminal device 12 is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. Is done. When the scan process is executed, the image data generated by the scan process is transmitted to the terminal device 12. If both pieces of gesture identification information do not match, information indicating that image data is not transmitted is transmitted to the terminal device 12 that has transmitted the gesture information.

  As another example, the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 may transmit the detected gesture information to the image forming apparatus 10. In this case, the determination unit 28 of the image forming apparatus 10 compares the specific gesture information selected by the user or randomly selected from the plurality of gesture information and the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12. To do. When the gesture information transmitted from the terminal device 12 includes the selected specific gesture information, the terminal device 12 is specified as the terminal device 12 to be connected.

  When a plurality of terminal names are displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20 in step S08, the control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 forms an image from the plurality of terminal apparatuses 12 that transmitted the terminal identification information. The terminal device 12 that is the shortest distance from the device 10 may be specified as the terminal device 12 to be connected. For example, the control unit 42 of the terminal device 12 receives the advertisement signal from the image forming apparatus 10 and integrates the intensity of the received signal. In step S <b> 07, the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 transmits the integrated value together with the terminal identification information to the image forming apparatus 10. The communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 waits for transmission from the terminal device 12 during a preset period, and the control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10 determines the terminal device 12 that has transmitted the maximum integral value as the connection target. Identifies as a terminal device. The terminal name of the terminal device 12 is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. The closer the terminal device 12 is to the image forming apparatus 10, the greater the intensity of the signal received by the terminal device 12. Therefore, it is estimated that the terminal device 12 that has transmitted a large integral value is closer to the image forming apparatus 10. When the scan transfer process is executed, since the scan setting or the like is normally performed using the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10, a user who has the terminal device 12 that is the shortest distance from the image forming apparatus 10. The user is instructed to execute the scan transfer process (user of the scan process). Therefore, the terminal device 12 at the shortest distance from the image forming apparatus 10 is estimated as the terminal device 12 to be connected. With this processing, even when terminal identification information is transmitted from the plurality of terminal devices 12 to the image forming apparatus 10, the terminal device 12 to be connected is automatically selected from the plurality of terminal devices 12. . Therefore, compared with the case where the user selects the terminal device 12 to be connected from among the plurality of terminal devices 12, the user's trouble is reduced.

[Second Embodiment]
The image forming system according to the second embodiment will be described below. 6 shows the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10A according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the terminal apparatus 12A according to the second embodiment. Similar to the first embodiment, the image forming system according to the second embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 10A and a terminal apparatus 12A, and the image forming apparatus 10A and the terminal apparatus 12A are wireless in the communication area 14 shown in FIG. It can be connected by communication.

  Unlike the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> A does not include the definition information 24 and the determination unit 28 but includes a terminal specifying unit 52. The configuration other than the terminal specifying unit 52 is the same as the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment.

  The terminal identifying unit 52 identifies the terminal device 12 to be connected based on the signal transmitted from the terminal device 12A. For example, the terminal identifying unit 52 acquires a signal (RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indication) indicating the strength of an advertisement signal transmitted by each terminal device 12A, and outputs an advertisement signal having the maximum strength among the plurality of terminal devices 12A. The terminal device 12A to be transmitted is specified as the terminal device 12A to be connected. Or the terminal specific | specification part 52 acquires RSSI of each terminal device 12A several times for every preset period, calculates those integrated values, and connects the terminal device 12A which has the largest integrated value to the terminal device of connection object You may specify as 12A.

  Unlike the terminal device 12 according to the first embodiment, the terminal device 12A does not include the definition information 40 and the determination unit 44. Other configurations are the same as those of the terminal device 12 according to the first embodiment.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 8, processing by the image forming system according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the processing. In the following, it is assumed that the scan transfer process is executed. Further, it is assumed that a plurality of terminal devices 12A exist in the communication area 14 as connection target candidates.

  First, the user turns on the power of his / her terminal device 12A (S20).

  The communication unit 30 of each terminal device 12A transmits an advertisement signal having the same transmission signal strength using BT communication (S21). For example, advertisement using BLE is executed. In this case, when the user instructs activation of a specific application (for example, an application related to scan processing) in the terminal device 12A, an advertisement signal having a transmission signal strength set in advance may be transmitted. Alternatively, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> A requests each terminal apparatus 12 </ b> A existing in the communication area 14 to transmit an advertisement signal having a preset transmission signal strength, and each terminal apparatus In response to the request, 12A may transmit an advertisement signal having a preset transmission signal strength. Thereby, an advertisement signal having the same transmission signal strength is transmitted from each terminal device 12A, and generation of a measurement error based on a difference in transmission signal strength is avoided.

  Next, the user selects scan processing using the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10A (S22). As a result, a scan screen is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20.

  Next, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10A receives an advertisement signal transmitted from each terminal apparatus 12A (S23). At this time, terminal identification information for identifying its own terminal device 12A is transmitted from each terminal device 12A to the image forming apparatus 10A.

  The terminal specifying unit 52 of the image forming apparatus 10A acquires the RSSI of the advertisement signal transmitted by each terminal apparatus 12A (S24), and transmits the maximum strength advertisement signal among the plurality of terminal apparatuses 12A. Is identified as the terminal device 12A to be connected (S25). The terminal identifying unit 52 may identify, for example, the terminal device 12A that transmits an advertisement signal having the maximum strength among the plurality of terminal devices 12A as the terminal device 12A to be connected (identification method 1). Or the terminal specific | specification part 52 may calculate the integrated value of RSSI, and may specify the terminal device 12A which has the largest integrated value as the terminal device 12A of connection object (identification method 2).

  The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10A displays the terminal name of the terminal device 12A to be connected on the display unit of the UI unit 20 (S26). Note that the terminal name of the terminal device 12A that includes the RSSI value or the integrated value of the RSSI within a preset range may be displayed.

  The user confirms the terminal name displayed on the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10A, and selects the terminal name of the terminal apparatus 12A to be connected (for example, the terminal apparatus 12A) (S27). If the terminal name of the terminal device 12A to be connected is not displayed, the process returns to step S25. When the specifying method 1 is executed, the terminal specifying unit 52 specifies the terminal device 12A that transmits an advertisement signal having the next highest strength as the terminal device 12A to be connected. When the specifying method 2 is executed, the terminal specifying unit 52 specifies a plurality of terminal devices 12A included in the range in which the integrated value of RSSI is set in advance as the terminal devices 12A to be connected. The terminal name of the specified terminal device 12A is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. Note that the confirmation and selection process in step S27 may not be executed. In this case, the terminal device 12A specified in step S25 is automatically selected.

  The communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10A requests connection to the user or the automatically selected terminal apparatus 12A (S28). Thereby, communication is established between the selected terminal apparatus 12A and the image forming apparatus 10A. In this case, information indicating that the specific terminal device 12A is connected to the image forming apparatus 10A is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10A (S29).

  The user sets a document to be scanned on the image forming apparatus 10A, sets various parameters, and instructs scanning (S30). A scan process is executed by the image forming unit 18 (S31), thereby generating image data. The image data is transmitted to the terminal device 12A to be connected (S32). When the image data is received by the terminal device 12A, the completion of the scan transfer process is notified to the user by voice, vibration, or notification to the wearable terminal (S33).

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the terminal device 12A to be connected is specified based on the strength of the advertisement signal transmitted by the terminal device 12A. As an operation for specifying the terminal device 12A to be connected, the user only has to turn on the power of the terminal device 12A, and the terminal device 12A to be connected is selected from all the terminal devices 12A existing in the communication area 14. It is not necessary to specify. Therefore, compared with the case where the user designates the terminal device 12A to be connected from among all the terminal devices 12A existing in the communication area 14, the terminal device 12A to be connected is easily specified.

(Modification)
Hereinafter, an image forming system according to a modification will be described. The image forming apparatus according to the modification has the same configuration as the image forming apparatus 10A according to the second embodiment, and the terminal apparatus according to the modification has the same configuration as the terminal apparatus 12 according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the process which concerns on a modification is demonstrated.

  First, the user selects a scan process using the UI unit 20 of the image forming apparatus 10A. As a result, a scan screen is displayed on the display unit of the UI unit 20. The communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> A enters a reception waiting state for an advertisement signal transmitted from each terminal device 12.

  The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10A displays preset gesture information on the display unit of the UI unit 20. For example, the gesture information 50 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. This gesture information is information stored in advance in the storage unit 22 of the image forming apparatus 10A. The definition information 40 stored in the terminal device 12 defines the same information as the preset gesture information.

  The user refers to the gesture information 50 displayed on the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> A and moves the terminal device 12 according to the gesture information 50. The detection unit 34 of the terminal device 12 detects the movement (gesture).

  The determination unit 44 of the terminal device 12 determines whether or not the gesture information detected by the detection unit 34 is preset gesture information. When the gesture information as the definition information 40 is included in the detected gesture information, it is determined that the detected gesture information is preset gesture information. In this case, the communication unit 30 of the terminal device 12 transmits an advertisement signal to the image forming apparatus 10A.

  The communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> A receives the advertisement signal transmitted from the terminal device 12. The control unit 26 of the image forming apparatus 10A identifies the terminal device 12 to be connected in accordance with the order of reception of the advertisement signals. For example, the terminal device 12 with the earliest reception order is identified as the terminal device 12 to be connected. The communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10A requests connection to the terminal device 12 to be connected. Hereinafter, as in the first and second embodiments described above, the image data generated by the scanning process is transmitted to the terminal device 12 to be connected.

  When the image forming apparatus 10A receives the advertisement signal from the plurality of terminal apparatuses 12, the terminal names of the one or more terminal apparatuses 12 that have transmitted the advertisement signal received within a preset period are stored in the UI unit 20. May be displayed. In this case, when the user selects the terminal device 12 to be connected from the displayed one or more terminal names, the communication unit 16 of the image forming apparatus 10A requests connection to the selected terminal device 12. Hereinafter, similarly to the first and second embodiments described above, the image data generated by the scanning process is transmitted to the selected terminal device 12.

  In the first and second embodiments and the modified examples described above, the case where the scan transfer process is executed has been described, but processes other than the scan transfer process may be executed. Also in this case, the terminal device to be connected is specified by the above-described specifying process.

  The image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A described above are realized by cooperation of hardware resources and software as an example. Specifically, the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A include a processor such as a CPU (not shown). The processor reads out and executes a program stored in a storage device (not shown), thereby realizing the functions of the units of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A. The program is stored in the storage device via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication path such as a network. Alternatively, each unit of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A may be realized by hardware resources such as a processor and an electronic circuit. In the realization, a device such as a memory may be used. As another example, each unit of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A may be realized by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or the like.

  10, 10A image forming device, 12, 12A terminal device, 14 communication area, 16, 30 communication unit, 18 image forming unit, 20, 32 UI unit, 22, 38 storage unit, 24, 40 definition information, 26, 42 control Part, 28, 44 determination part, 34 detection part, 36 voice output part, 52 terminal identification part.

Claims (11)

Receiving means for receiving from the terminal device specific information that is specific information for identifying the terminal device to be connected and detected by the terminal device;
Identifying means for identifying a terminal device to be connected based on the received identification information;
An information processing apparatus. A request means for requesting the specific information from the terminal device;
The receiving means receives the specific information detected by the terminal device in response to the request from the terminal device;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The specific information is gesture information representing a user's movement detected by the terminal device.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. It further comprises display means for displaying gesture information,
The specifying means specifies a terminal device to be connected based on a comparison result between the displayed gesture information and the received gesture information.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3. The specifying unit specifies a terminal device that has detected gesture information that matches the displayed gesture information as a terminal device to be connected.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. The specifying means specifies a terminal device to be connected based on a comparison result between gesture information selected from a plurality of different gesture information and the received gesture information;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3. The specifying unit is a terminal device to be connected based on a comparison result between gesture information randomly selected from the plurality of different gesture information or gesture information selected by a user and the received gesture information Identify
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6. The specifying unit specifies a terminal device that has detected gesture information matching the selected gesture information as a terminal device to be connected.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: When a plurality of terminal devices to be connected are specified based on the specifying information, the specifying means sets a terminal device located at the shortest distance from the own device as the terminal device to be connected from among the plurality of terminal devices. Identify,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. Including an information processing device and a terminal device;
The information processing apparatus includes:
Having request means for requesting the terminal device for specific information for identifying the terminal device to be connected;
The terminal device
Detecting means for detecting specific information in response to the request;
Transmitting means for transmitting the detected specific information to the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Receiving means for receiving the specific information detected by the terminal device;
A specifying unit that specifies a terminal device to be connected based on the received specifying information;
Information processing system. Computer
Receiving means for receiving, from the terminal device, specific information for identifying the terminal device to be connected and detected by the terminal device;
Identification means for identifying a terminal device to be connected based on the received identification information;
Program to function as.

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