JP2018014006A - system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which: a user can intuitively select an image forming apparatus in which a print job is executed through NFC communication; however, the user needs to touch the periphery of an NFC module of the image forming apparatus to transmit a print job to the image forming apparatus from a portable terminal; the user does not find out, when executing the job, if a function set by the user on an application of the portable terminal is designed for the image forming apparatus until the user touches the periphery of the NFC module.SOLUTION: An advertising packet transmitted from a BLE-enabled device is made to include information on a print function designed for the device. A user can thus find out before execution of a job if a function set on an application of the user's portable terminal that has received the advertising packet is designed for the device with which the user desired to print the job.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention can utilize the functions of an image forming apparatus by linking an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) or a printer with a portable terminal (such as a smartphone or a tablet PC) having a short-range wireless communication function. Related to the system.

  In recent years, a short-range wireless communication function is installed in many portable terminals such as smartphones and tablet PCs. For example, there are many communication standards such as NFC (Near Field Communication) and ZigBee (registered trademark). Among them, Bluetooth (registered trademark) and Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) are equipped with a communication function in both widely used iPhone (registered trademark) and Android (registered trademark) mobile phones.

  Although there are a plurality of communication functions as described above, the user selects and uses a communication standard according to the device to be connected. Therefore, in order to enjoy the advantages (low power, high speed communication) of each communication standard, a device cooperation technique is known in which the communication standard is switched (handed over) (see Patent Document 1).

  Such switching of communication standards is effective when exchanging heavy data such as image data. For example, when comparing NFC and Wi-Fi, the speed of wireless communication using NFC does not reach 1 Mbps, whereas the speed of communication using Wi-Fi is several hundred Mbps, which is the latest standard in recent years. It reaches several Gbps. For this reason, communication can be completed in a shorter time by switching the communication standard to a higher speed transmission. And since a communication distance also becomes long, it is not necessary to continue touching until communication is completed.

  As described above, a technique for reading Wi-Fi connection information from an image forming apparatus using NFC, performing Wi-Fi handover, and printing data in the portable terminal from the image forming apparatus is known (Patent Document 2). reference).

JP 2004-364145 A JP 2014-050015 A

  However, in the prior art, an image forming apparatus that executes a print job by NFC communication by touch can be intuitively selected. However, in order to transmit a print job from a portable terminal to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus must It was necessary to touch near the NFC module.

  For this reason, there is a problem that it is not known whether the image forming apparatus corresponds to the function set by the user on the application of the portable terminal until the user touches when executing the job.

  The present invention determines from the information in the advertising packet periodically transmitted from the image forming apparatus whether the image forming apparatus corresponds to the function set on the application by the user. If there is a function that is not supported, notify the user before executing the job, change the settings and execute the job, or select an image forming device that supports the set function. An object is to provide a method for re-searching.

In order to achieve the above object, a system according to the present invention provides:
A system comprising a mobile terminal having wireless communication means and an image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus broadcasts information for connecting to the mobile terminal and information regarding the function of the image forming apparatus. A determination unit configured to determine the image forming apparatus from information received from the image forming apparatus; and whether the print job setting desired to be executed from the information received from the image forming apparatus can be executed by the image forming apparatus. Judgment means for judging is provided.

  According to the system of the present invention, the information in the advertising packet periodically transmitted from the image forming apparatus can determine whether the image forming apparatus corresponds to the function set by the user on the application. Is possible. As a result, if there is a function that is not supported, notify the user before the job is executed and change the settings to execute the job, or an image corresponding to the set function. The forming device can be re-searched.

1 is a schematic diagram of an entire image forming system in the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the portable terminal in this embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows control of communication establishment of the portable terminal and image forming apparatus using BLE in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the portable terminal in this embodiment. It is an example of the screen displayed with the image forming apparatus cooperation application in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the device selection setting operation | movement of the portable terminal in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the function execution operation | movement of the portable terminal in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the BLE connection operation | movement of the portable terminal in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the Wi-Fi connection operation | movement of the portable terminal in this embodiment. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for determining whether a setting in the present embodiment corresponds to an image forming apparatus. 13 is an example of a screen displayed by the image forming apparatus cooperation application in FIG. 12.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the entire image forming system.

  In the present embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 includes a wireless LAN communication unit 11, a Bluetooth communication unit 12, and an image forming apparatus 20 including a wireless LAN communication unit 21 and a Bluetooth communication unit 22.

  The mobile terminal 10 is a mobile phone such as a smartphone, a tablet personal computer, a notebook personal computer, or a PDA. The controller 100 in the portable terminal 10 is electrically connected to the wireless LAN communication unit 11, the Bluetooth communication unit 12, and the UI unit 13, and controls each of them. Details inside the controller 100 are shown in FIG.

  The wireless LAN communication unit 11 is an antenna unit connected to a wireless LAN controller 110 included in the controller 100 described later.

  The Bluetooth communication unit 12 is an antenna unit connected to the Bluetooth controller 114 included in the controller 100.

  The UI unit 13 is a user interface unit that is configured by a display unit 106, a touch panel 108, and keys 109, which will be described later, for a user to operate the mobile terminal 10.

  The image forming apparatus 20 is an MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral) having a plurality of functions.

  The controller 100 in the portable terminal 10 is electrically connected to the middle wireless LAN communication unit 11, the Bluetooth communication unit 12, and the UI unit 13, and controls each of them.

  The controller 200 in the image forming apparatus 20 is electrically connected to the wireless LAN communication unit 21, the Bluetooth communication unit 22, the scanner unit 23, the printer unit 24, and the UI unit 25, and controls each of them. Details inside the controller 200 are shown in FIG.

  The wireless LAN communication unit 21 is an antenna unit connected to a wireless LAN controller 210 included in the controller 200 described later.

  The Bluetooth communication unit 22 is an antenna unit connected to the Bluetooth controller 211 included in the controller 200.

  The scanner unit 23 is a scan control unit that executes control such as document detection 208 described later and document reading, and transmits read data to the controller 200.

  The printer unit 23 is a printing unit that receives the image data processed by the controller 200 with a signal that can be processed by the printer unit 23 and executes printing.

  The UI unit 25 is a user interface unit for the user to operate the image forming apparatus 20. The UI unit 25 includes a key and a display unit (not shown). Details of each function will be described with reference to the hardware configuration block diagrams of FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 10 shown in FIG.

  The mobile terminal 10 includes a controller 100, a display unit 106 belonging to the UI unit 13, a touch panel 108, keys 109, and a Bluetooth communication unit 11. These units are linked together to realize the function of the mobile terminal device 10.

  A CPU 101 in the controller 100 is a central processing unit that controls the entire mobile terminal, and is connected to each unit via a system bus 116. The RAM 102 is a work memory for the operation of the CPU 101, and stores arithmetic data and various programs of the CPU 101. The ROM 103 stores an application that operates in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 20 such as a program and image data used by the CPU 101 of the mobile terminal 10.

  The storage device 104 is a non-volatile secondary storage device for storing large programs and data. For example, the memory device may be a standard memory device such as an SD card or SSD, or may be a part of the ROM 103 area. Stored programs and data having a large size are expanded in the RAM 102 and used.

  The display unit 106 performs various displays using the display controller 105, and the touch panel 108 and the keys 109 are configured to perform various operations using the operation unit controller 107 and can be operated in conjunction with each other. The user can execute the application described in the present embodiment by operating the devices belonging to the UI unit 13.

  The wireless LAN controller 110 is an interface for performing wireless communication with an external apparatus such as an image forming apparatus via the wireless LAN communication unit 11.

  The communication unit 112 performs communication via a different path from the wireless LAN communication unit 11 and the Bluetooth communication unit 12. For example, a communication interface of USB or a proprietary standard. It is also possible to connect an external input interface device to the wireless LAN controller 110 and the communication unit 112 to supplement the input / output function of the UI unit 13.

  The call unit 113 is connected to a microphone or speaker (not shown), connected to a public line, and configured to operate as a telephone.

  The Bluetooth controller 114 controls communication via the Bluetooth communication unit 12. For example, an interface of a wireless communication standard that performs communication using Bluetooth or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 shown in FIG. For convenience of explanation, a block diagram of a part of the external environment is also shown.

  The image forming apparatus 20 includes a controller 200, a printer unit 23, a scanner unit 24, a UI unit 25, and a Bluetooth communication unit 22. These units are linked to realize functions such as printing, scanning, copying, and FAX.

  A CPU 201 in the controller 200 is a central processing unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus 20, and is connected to each unit via a system bus 215. A RAM 202 is a work memory for the operation of the CPU 201, and stores calculation data and various programs of the CPU 201. The RAM 202 is also used as an image memory for holding image data that has been subjected to various image processing by the image processing unit 206 during printing or the like. The ROM 203 stores programs, image data, and setting data used by the CPU 201 of the image forming apparatus 20.

  The storage device 204 is a non-volatile secondary storage device for storing large programs and data, and the stored large programs and data are used in the RAM 202. For example, it may be a standard memory device such as an HDD or SSD, or a configuration that is a part of the ROM 203 area.

  The scanner unit 24 is responsible for reading a document, the printer unit 23 is responsible for printing print data on paper, and the UI unit 25 is responsible for various setting operations and display of alarms and the like. A document detection sensor 208 for detecting a document is connected to the scanner.

  The document detection sensor 208 is provided in each of a pressure plate unit (document table scanner unit) and an ADF unit (Auto Documento Feeder unit). In the case of the pressure plate unit, when a document is placed on the platen glass, it is detected that the document has been placed, and the scanner unit 24 is notified. In the case of the ADF unit, when a document is placed on the feeder, the fact that the document is placed is detected and notified to the scanner unit 24. The scanner unit 24 that has received data from the controller 100 optically reads a document image, converts it into image data, and transmits the image data to the controller 100.

  The printer 23 performs data communication via the engine I / F 206. The printer 23 that has received data from the controller 100 feeds the sheet, prints image data on the fed sheet, and discharges the printed sheet.

  The UI unit 25 performs data communication via the operation unit controller 210.

  The operation unit controller 210 may be included in the UI unit 25. Communication with the outside is configured to be able to communicate via each external I / F.

  The wireless LAN controller 209 is an interface for performing wireless communication with an external device such as a portable terminal via the wireless LAN communication unit 21. The Bluetooth controller 211 performs communication via the Bluetooth communication unit 12. For example, an interface of a wireless communication standard that performs communication using Bluetooth or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

  In this embodiment, a description will be given with a configuration assuming BLE in which power saving is prioritized. The USB I / F 212 is locally connected to an information device (hereinafter referred to as a PC) such as a personal computer (not shown) via a USB connector and performs USB communication.

  The network I / F 213 is connected to the LAN 26 via a LAN I / F connector and performs network communication with a communication destination PC. A wireless LAN access point (not shown) is also connected to the LAN 26, and performs network communication with the mobile terminal 10 and the PC via the wireless LAN communication unit 21. The FAX I / F 214 is connected to the public line network 27 via a modular jack, and performs FAX transmission / reception with a FAX apparatus as a communication destination.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a series of control procedures for establishing BLE communication (establishment from discovery to connection) in this embodiment.

  The Bluetooth function described in the present embodiment assumes a BLE function. The state transition until the mobile terminal 10 finds and connects to the image forming apparatus 20 is as follows. The center arrow indicates the state of BLE packet communication.

  Initially, both the mobile terminal 10 and the link layer of the image forming apparatus 20 are initially in a standby state. In the standby state, transmission / reception is not performed. From this state, according to the program, the image forming apparatus 20 transmits the advertising packet, transits to the advertising state, and transmits the advertising packet at a constant period. At this time, the transmission destination is broadcast, not an arbitrary scanner device (mobile terminal 10). The packet type (Protocol Data Unit type) is assumed to be a response to the connection request from the mobile terminal 10 and is therefore transmitted by ADV_IND. The mobile terminal 10 transitions to the scanning state and receives the advertising packet from the image forming apparatus 20. At this time, the scan state in which the advertising packet is received is called passive scan. However, depending on the state of the application, there may be a state where neither the passive scan nor the broadcast from the image forming apparatus 20 is received. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus cooperation application described later is activated, the Bluetooth function is valid, and the scan state is entered. In the passive scan, when the device advertised from the received packet (advertiser) is from the image forming apparatus 20, the application process is activated. The mobile terminal 10 sends a scan request (SCAN_REQ) to the image forming apparatus 20 to acquire further information. This information acquisition scan state is called active scan. Information obtained by scanning the mobile terminal 10 is stored, and the connection destination is determined by the processing flow of FIG. After the connection destination is determined by the image forming apparatus 20 and the user, the mobile terminal 10 transitions to the initiating state. Therefore, after receiving an advertising packet from the image forming apparatus 20 to be connected, a connection request (CONNECT_REQ) is transmitted to shift to a connection state. When the connection is completed, the portable terminal 10 becomes a master and the image forming apparatus 20 becomes a slave. Note that the mobile terminal 10 estimates the distance from the image forming apparatus 20 from Tx Power Level in the advertising packet from the image forming apparatus 20.

  Next, processing executed on the mobile terminal 10 side in the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In the description, an example of a screen of an image forming apparatus cooperation application (hereinafter referred to as a cooperation application) displayed on the display unit 106 of the mobile terminal 10 in FIG. 6 is used.

  In this embodiment, a cooperative function of printing a print image selected by the mobile terminal 10 by the image forming apparatus 20 is executed. The flowchart in FIG. 5 is realized by the CPU 101 executing the program stored in the ROM 103 or the storage device 104 of the controller 100 shown in FIG. Based on the program, the hardware shown in FIG. 2 including the Bluetooth controller 114 is controlled. The application executed here is a cooperative application.

  First, in order to realize the present embodiment, it is necessary that the cooperative application is activated (S501). An example of a state in which the cooperative application is activated is shown in FIG. FIG. 6A is an example of a TOP screen of the cooperative app, and is a screen for selecting a function to be executed in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 20. From here, the user can select a desired function such as printing or scanning. In addition, the configuration is not limited because function expansion and the like such as providing a shortcut key for starting an application that refers to an image or a document stored in the ROM 103 or the storage device 104 of the mobile terminal 10 such as a gallery is considered. Since the user who has not activated the cooperation application in S501 is a user who does not use the cooperation function of the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20, this flow ends.

  In S502, it is determined whether the Bluetooth function of the mobile terminal 10 is enabled while the cooperative application is activated. If the Bluetooth controller 114 is enabled, the process proceeds to S506.

  If the Bluetooth controller 114 is disabled, the process proceeds to S503, and a screen to be promoted is displayed on the display unit 106 in a pop-up manner to notify the user to enable the Bluetooth of the mobile terminal 10 (S503). An example of a pop-up screen for promoting the activation of Bluetooth is shown in FIG.

  In step S504, the user waits for selection of whether or not to enable the Bluetooth function. Here, if the Bluetooth setting is selected on the screen shown in FIG. 6B, the CPU 101 activates the Bluetooth controller 114 in cooperation with the OS system setting of the mobile terminal 10, and the process proceeds to S506. . If the activation of the Bluetooth function is canceled here, the process proceeds to S505.

  In step S505, the user who activates the linked application but does not enable the Bluetooth function selects the subsequent process. An example of a screen pop-up displayed on the display unit 106 of the portable terminal 10 in this step is shown in FIG. If the Bluetooth function is not enabled, the user is notified that the present embodiment cannot be used. When “Return” in FIG. 6C is pressed, the process returns to S504 once again, and the user selects the activation of the Bluetooth function. When “OK” in FIG. 6C is pressed, it is determined that the user does not intend to use the cooperation function of this embodiment, and this flow is ended.

  Next, a description will be given of S506 and subsequent steps that are performed when the Bluetooth function has already been enabled in S502, or when the user has selected the Bluetooth function setting in S504 and the Bluetooth controller 114 has been enabled.

  S <b> 506 to S <b> 510 are steps for selecting the image forming apparatus 20 that executes the cooperation function using the cooperation application. In particular, in a large office, there may be a plurality of image forming apparatuses 20 in a range where wireless communication is effective, and it is necessary for the user to select a device. S506 is a step of determining whether or not the mode for determining by “approaching and connecting” the image forming apparatus 20 that executes the cooperation function using the cooperation application is selected. The “approaching and connecting” process will be described in the flowchart of FIG. If the screen is in the “approach and connect” mode as shown in FIG. 6F, the process proceeds to S507.

  If it is determined in step S507 that the device search is not reset by the user, the process proceeds to a function execution subroutine S511 for executing the function of the image forming apparatus 20. If execution of device search resetting is selected by the user, the process proceeds to a device selection setting subroutine S510. In S506, if the image forming apparatus 20 that executes the cooperation function using the cooperation application is not yet selected, the process proceeds to S508.

  S508 is a step for waiting for the device search setting to be executed on the selection screen of the cooperative application. For example, the user selects a device or a function to be executed in the screen example shown in FIG. 6A in order to use the cooperative app. When the device selection is pressed, the screen shifts to a screen as shown in FIG. Alternatively, when a function that requires device designation is selected, the user may be guided to a device selection setting screen as in the screen example shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, printing is executed as an example. Therefore, when the print is pressed in a state where the device is not yet selected, the screen example shown in FIG. 6E is displayed.

  In S508, when canceling without using the cooperative application, the process proceeds to S509 and the processing flow of the cooperative application is terminated. When ending the cooperative app, the user may be allowed to select a termination method (such as whether the Bluetooth function remains valid or invalid) (S512). An example of a screen pop-up displayed on the display unit 106 of the mobile terminal 10 at that time is shown in FIG. Although not shown in the flow of FIG. 5, if the screen example of FIG. 6G in FIG. 5, “Exit Bluetooth while being enabled” is selected, the Bluetooth controller 114 has already been enabled in the previous processing flow, so that Close the linked app. In the case where “End with Bluetooth disabled” is selected, the CPU 101 disables the Bluetooth controller 114 in cooperation with the OS system setting of the mobile terminal 10 and ends the linked application.

  Next, when the device selection setting is executed in S507 or S508, the process proceeds to S510 and the process of the device selection setting flowchart of FIG. 7 is performed. Details of the flowchart of FIG. 7 will be described later.

  If the user selects a device to be connected in S510, the process proceeds to a function execution subroutine S511. Details of the processing flow corresponding to S511 will be described later with reference to FIG. After the function is executed, the end state is selected in S512, and the processing flow of the cooperative application is ended.

  Next, details of the device selection setting subroutine S510 in the process of the flowchart of FIG. 5 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  After shifting to the device selection setting in S510, in S701, the cooperative app sets the operation state of the Bluetooth controller 114 to the scanning state (see FIG. 4, column 10 mobile terminal).

  In step S <b> 702, the Bluetooth controller 114 that has entered the scanning state waits for reception of an advertising packet from another BLE-compatible device via the Bluetooth communication unit 12. Hereinafter, packet data is exchanged via this interface. The advertising packet is broadcasted to start a connection from an advertiser (image forming apparatus 20 in this embodiment) that becomes a slave as shown in FIG.

  When the advertising packet is received, the process proceeds to S703, and it is determined whether the received packet is an advertising packet from a connection target device corresponding to the cooperation application. As the determining means, an address for determining an advertiser included in the advertising packet, UUID, or predetermined arbitrary data that can be determined by the cooperative application is used. Therefore, for example, a filter that the image forming apparatus 20 of XX company is provided. Here, when there is no target device to select and the cooperative app is terminated without selecting a device, the process proceeds to S704 in the same manner as when the process is terminated via S509, and the termination state is selected in S705 and the processing flow of the cooperative app is completed. Exit.

  S705 is the same as the process of S512.

  Next, when it is determined in S703 that the device is a connection target device (here, the image forming apparatus 20), the process proceeds to S706, in which the SCAN_REQ packet is returned in response to the received advertising packet, and the image forming apparatus 20 is updated. Request detailed information. The processing of the image forming apparatus 20 described later with reference to FIG. 9 returns information such as model name, color / monochrome, paper correspondence, etc. as SCAN_RESP in response to the SCAN_REQ.

  The mobile terminal 10 that has received the SCAN_RESP packet from the image forming apparatus 20 analyzes the received data, adds a list of devices to be connected to the display unit 106, and displays the connection target device as shown in FIG. 6D (S707). . This device display may continue to be displayed as long as an advertising packet is transmitted from the connection target device. When the advertising packet is not received for a certain period of time, the connection target device is deleted from the list. The content that the image forming apparatus 20 places as SCAN_RESP packet data is, for example, arbitrary data in a format in which each function is coded (a bit indicates color / monochrome). Then, the function corresponding to the bit is discriminated on the application side, and a list is added to the display unit 106 and displayed as shown in FIG. 6D. Alternatively, code data corresponding to a predetermined model is sent. In correspondence with the model information possessed by the application, a list is similarly added to the display unit 106 and displayed as shown in FIG. 6D. When the number of new target models increases, a mechanism is adopted such as whether to cope with the update of the linked application, or to check with a network server. A method for discriminating this data is not limited and can be created by any method as long as the content transmitted to the image forming apparatus 20 and the cooperative application operating on the mobile terminal 10 are matched. Therefore, in S702 to S707, the devices other than the connection target device are filtered so that only the connection target device is shown to the user, and the devices that are not supported by the cooperative app are not selected.

  In step S708, the user selects the connection target device displayed in step S707. In S708, by selecting “approaching connection mode” shown in the screen example of FIG. 6D, the mode is switched to the connection mode using distance determination in the radio wave intensity of BLE without selecting a specific device. It is possible. By selecting one of the above, the subroutine S510 described in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is terminated, and the process proceeds to S511 of the flowchart of FIG. In the case where the user does not select in S708, the Bluetooth controller 114 remains in the scanning state, so that the receiving and determination of the advertising packet are looped through S709 and the list is updated at a predetermined interval. Here, when the linked app is terminated without a target device that the user wants to use and the device is not selected, the process proceeds to S705 in the same manner as when terminated via S509, and the termination application is selected and the process flow of the linked app Exit.

  Next, the function execution subroutine S511 in the process of the flowchart of FIG. 5 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the user selects data to be printed on the cooperative application and makes various settings for printing (S801).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the user has pressed the print execution button on the cooperative app (S802). If it is determined that the print execution button has been pressed, the process proceeds to a BLE connection subroutine S803.

  The processing flow corresponding to S803 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. In S802, when the user presses the cancel button instead of the print button on the cooperative application (S809), the process ends. If the portable terminal 10 is BLE connected to the image forming apparatus 20 to be printed in S803, the process proceeds to a Wi-Fi connection subroutine S804.

  Details of the processing flow corresponding to S804 will be described later with reference to FIG. When the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the image forming apparatus 20 via Wi-Fi in S804, the subsequent communication processing between the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 is performed via Wi-Fi, so the BLE connection is disconnected here. (S805).

  Next, the portable terminal 10 transmits print data to the image forming apparatus 20 (S806).

  The portable terminal 10 waits for a reception completion notification indicating that print data has been received from the image forming apparatus 20 (S807). Here, the portable terminal 10 that has received the reception completion notification from the image forming apparatus 20 advances the process to S808. In S808, since the mobile terminal 10 has completed the transmission of the print data, the Wi-Fi connection is disconnected, and the processing flow of the function execution subroutine S511 is terminated.

  Next, details of the BLE connection subroutine S803 in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

  First, the mobile terminal 10 approaches in the device selection setting subroutine S510 of FIG. 5 and determines whether or not a connection is selected (S901). If the connection is selected by the user, the process proceeds to S902. If the user manually selects the image forming apparatus 20 that performs printing from the list, the process advances to step S908.

  First, the flow when the connection is selected by the user in S901 will be described.

  In step S <b> 902, connection distance setting is performed to determine how close the mobile terminal 10 is to the image forming apparatus 20 to connect as a print device. In this embodiment, since the approaching device is selected as a print device and connected, a setting value of about several tens of centimeters (for example, 30 cm) is assumed. However, the distance may be about 1 m in accordance with the use situation of the user, or a farther distance may be set. Although it is assumed that the setting initial value of the connection distance is stored in advance in the ROM 103 in the mobile terminal 10, the user may input the connection distance using the UI unit 13 at the time of printing.

  Next, the reception strength of the advertising packet from the connection target device supported by the cooperation application is measured (S903).

  Further, the distance between the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 that is transmitting the advertising packet is calculated from the Tx Power Level included in the received advertising packet and the receiving strength of the advertising packet measured in S903 ( S904).

  In S905, if the image forming apparatus 20 exists within the connection distance set in S901, the process proceeds to S906. If the image forming apparatus 20 does not exist within the connection distance, the process proceeds to S911.

  In S911, the processing of S903 to S905 is normally repeated until a device exists within the connection distance. However, if the user presses the cancel button on the cooperative app in S911, the process ends here. If there is a device within the set connection distance in S905, the image forming apparatus 20 within the set distance is selected as a print device (S906).

  Next, the process proceeds to a subroutine S907 for confirming whether the setting determined by the user in S801 corresponds to the selected image forming apparatus 20. Subroutine S907 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Next, CONNECT_REQ is transmitted to the selected image forming apparatus 20 to request connection by BLE (S908).

  If the BLE connection is established with the image forming apparatus 20 in S909, the process proceeds to the Wi-Fi connection subroutine S804 shown in FIG. If the BLE connection is not established in S909, the process proceeds to S908, and CONNECT_REQ is transmitted again to the image forming apparatus selected as the print device. The timing at which the portable terminal 10 transmits CONNECT_REQ is after the image forming apparatus 20 transmits the advertising packet. If the cancel button on the cooperative application is pressed by the user in S909, the process ends.

  In step S901, the flow when the user manually selects the image forming apparatus 20 that performs printing from the list is close to the device selected by the user, except that the CONNECT_REQ is directly transmitted (S908). Since it is the same as that of the case where it selected, description is omitted here.

  Next, details of the setting function correspondence confirmation subroutine S907 of FIG. 9 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 12 and the display example of the mobile terminal application of FIG.

  In step S1201, the mobile terminal 10 determines from the information included in the advertising packet received from the image forming apparatus 20 whether all settings determined by the user in step S801 correspond to the selected image forming apparatus 20. Therefore, it is assumed that the advertising packet transmitted by the image forming apparatus 20 includes the corresponding function information of the image forming apparatus 20. For example, at least one piece of information such as color / monochrome, presence / absence of a stapler, presence / absence of double-sided printing is included.

  Next, in S1202, if the image forming apparatus 20 supports all the functions set by the user, the subroutine shown in FIG. 12 is terminated, and the process proceeds to a Wi-Fi connection subroutine S804.

  If there is a non-corresponding function, the process proceeds to S1203. At this time, in S1203, a display example in which functions that the image forming apparatus 20 does not support is displayed on the mobile terminal 10 is shown in FIG. For example, if the selected image forming apparatus 20 is not compatible in step S1202 even though the user has selected color printing or stapling, the display is as shown in FIG.

  In S1204, when all are selected as shown in S12x2 (B), the process proceeds to S1205, and the setting is changed so as to invalidate all non-corresponding functions. Next, the process returns to S908. If no invalid function is selected in S1204, the corresponding image forming apparatus 20 is searched again.

  As shown in FIG. 13C, the corresponding image forming apparatuses 20 are listed from all the image forming apparatuses 20 that have received the advertising packet in S1206, and the process returns to S1201.

  Next, the details of the Wi-Fi connection subroutine S804 of FIG. 8 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the mobile terminal 10 requests the image forming apparatus 20 to transmit Wi-Fi connection information (S1001).

  If it is determined in S1002 that the connection information has been received, the process proceeds to S1003. If connection information has not been received, the process proceeds to S1005. If the linked application is not canceled by the user, the process returns to S1002, and waits until connection information is received. If the user presses the cancel button on the cooperative application in S1005, the process ends.

  Next, Wi-Fi connection processing is executed in S1003. If Wi-Fi connection is established in S1004, the processing flow of Wi-Fi subroutine S804 is terminated. If a Wi-Fi connection is not established, the process returns to S1005.

  Processing executed on the image forming apparatus 20 side in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  Since a cooperative operation with the mobile terminal 10 is also included, the function execution flow corresponding to step S511 on the flowchart of the mobile terminal 10 shown in FIG.

  The image forming apparatus 20 is in the advertising state and transmits an advertising packet (S1101). At this time, the transmission destination is broadcast, not an arbitrary scanner device (mobile terminal 10). Examples of information included in the advertisement packet include Local Name (device name), Tx Power Level (device setting transmission power), and Service UUID (device function). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that at least Tx Power Level is included in order for the mobile terminal 10 to measure the distance from the image forming apparatus 20.

  At this time, the image forming apparatus 20 confirms whether or not the CONNECT_REQ from the portable terminal has been received (S1102). If CONNECT_REQ is received, the process proceeds to S1103.

  In step S1102, the process returns to step S1101 until CONNECT_REQ is received, and the transmission of the advertising packet is continued.

  After receiving CONNECT_REQ in S1102, BLE connection processing is executed in S1103.

  Then, it waits until there is a Wi-Fi connection information transmission request from the portable terminal 10 (S1104).

  When there is a Wi-Fi connection information transmission request from the mobile terminal, the image forming apparatus 20 transmits Wi-Fi connection information to the mobile terminal 10 (S1105).

  Next, if there is a Wi-Fi connection request in S1106, Wi-Fi connection processing is executed (S1107). If there is no Wi-Fi connection request, the process ends here.

  Next, in step S1108, if a Wi-Fi connection is established, the process proceeds to step S1109. If a Wi-Fi connection is not established, the process returns to step S1107, and the Wi-Fi connection process is executed again. When the Wi-Fi connection is established, the BLE connection is disconnected (S1109).

  Next, in S1110, the printer waits for the reception of print data from the portable terminal 10, and when the print data is received, the image forming apparatus 20 transmits a reception completion notification to the portable terminal 10 (S1111).

  Next, the image forming apparatus 20 executes print processing for the received print data (S1112).

  In step S1113, the process waits for completion of the print process. When the print process is completed, the Wi-Fi connection is disconnected (S1114). Here, the processing flow executed on the image forming apparatus 20 side in this embodiment is finished.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, whether the image forming apparatus corresponds to the function set by the user on the application from the information in the advertising packet periodically transmitted from the image forming apparatus. It is possible to judge. As a result, if there is a function that is not supported, notify the user before the job is executed and change the settings to execute the job, or an image corresponding to the set function. The forming device can be re-searched.

10 mobile terminals, 11 wireless LAN communication units, 12 Bluetooth communication units,
20 image forming apparatus, 21 wireless LAN communication unit, 22 Bluetooth communication unit

Claims (1)

A system comprising a mobile terminal having a wireless communication means and an image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Means for broadcasting information for connecting to the portable terminal and information regarding the function of the image forming apparatus;
The portable terminal is
Discriminating means for discriminating the image forming apparatus from information received from the image forming apparatus;
And a determination unit that determines whether the setting of a print job to be executed can be executed by the image forming apparatus from information received from the image forming apparatus.