JP2018049435A - Information processing device, pinter, conversion device, printing system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a time till a printing start in comparison with a configuration in which printing data of a data kind printable by a printer is created and transmitted to the printer after a user determines the printer for performing printing.SOLUTION: When a printing instruction of certain image data is received, a control part 32 converts image data to be printed into print data of all of a plurality of data kinds preset before a printer for executing print processing is selected. When a user selects a printer, the control part 32 acquires information of data kinds printable by the printer from the printer selected to execute the print processing. Then, the control part 32 selects print data printable by the printer selected to execute the print processing from in the plurality of converted data kinds of print data on the basis of the acquired information of the printable data kind, and transmits the selected print data to the printer through a short-range radio communication part 31 or the like.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

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

  In Patent Document 1, a mobile device uploads a print job to a server, transmits a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating the print job to an MFP (Multifunction Printer), and the MFP that receives the URL prints based on the URL An image recording system that downloads a job and executes a printing process based on the downloaded print job is disclosed.

JP 2014-149666 A

  In a printing system in which print data can be transmitted from a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone to a printing device to execute printing processing, it is determined in advance which printing device the user issues a printing instruction from among a plurality of printing devices. Can't know. In addition, each printing apparatus may have different types of print data that can be printed. For this reason, after the user determines a printing apparatus to execute the printing process, it is necessary to generate print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus and transfer it to the determined printing apparatus.

  The object of the present invention is to compare the configuration up to the start of printing as compared with the configuration in which after the user determines a printing device to print, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated and transmitted to the printing device. To provide an information processing apparatus, a printing apparatus, a conversion apparatus, a printing system, and a program that can shorten the time.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided conversion means for converting image data to be printed into print data of a plurality of data types that are set in advance before a printing apparatus that executes print processing is selected;
Acquisition means for acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired by the acquisition unit, printing is performed in the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process from among the plurality of print data types converted by the conversion unit. An information processing apparatus including a transmission unit that selects possible print data and transmits the selected print data to the printing apparatus.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to an external device before a printing device that executes print processing is selected.
A first acquisition unit that acquires information of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus from a printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired by the first acquisition unit, the data type of the print data for executing the print process is selected in the printing apparatus selected for executing the print process. Second acquisition means for acquiring print data of the selected data type from the external device;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the print data acquired by the second acquisition unit to a printing device selected to execute a printing process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of printing apparatuses that execute print processing based on print data;
A conversion device that converts the transmitted image data into print data of a plurality of preset data types;
Information on data types that can be printed by the printing device from the transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to the conversion device and the printing device selected to execute the printing process among the plurality of printing devices. Based on the first acquisition means to be acquired and the information on the printable data type acquired by the first acquisition means, for executing the print processing in the printing apparatus selected to execute the print processing A data type of the print data is selected, a second acquisition unit that acquires print data of the selected data type from the conversion device, and a print process is executed on the print data acquired by the second acquisition unit An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission means for transmitting to the selected printing apparatus;
Is a printing system composed of

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to an external device together with identification information for specifying the image data;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit a print instruction including the identification information to a printing apparatus selected to execute a printing process.

The present invention according to claim 5 is a receiving means for receiving a printing instruction including identification information for specifying image data to be printed;
A transmission means for transmitting data type information of print data that can be printed by the own apparatus together with the identification information included in the print instruction to an external apparatus;
The printing apparatus includes a printing process execution unit that executes a printing process based on the print data transmitted from the external apparatus.

The present invention according to claim 6 is a receiving means for receiving image data and identification information for specifying the image data;
Conversion means for converting the image data received by the receiving means into print data of a plurality of preset data types;
Storage means for storing the print data converted by the conversion means in association with the identification information;
When information on the type of print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus is received from the printing apparatus together with the identification information on the image data to be printed, the print data of a plurality of data types stored corresponding to the received identification information is included. The printing apparatus includes a transmission unit that selects print data that can be printed in the printing apparatus and transmits the selected print data to the printing apparatus.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conversion step of converting image data to be printed into print data of a plurality of data types set in advance before a printing apparatus that executes a printing process is selected;
An acquisition step of acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired in the acquisition step, printing is performed in the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process from among the print data of the plurality of data types converted in the conversion step. A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of selecting possible print data and transmitting the selected print data to the printing apparatus.

The present invention according to claim 8 is a transfer step of transferring image data to be printed to an external device before a printing device that executes a printing process is selected;
A first acquisition step of acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired in the first acquisition step, the data type of the print data for executing the print process is selected in the printing apparatus selected to execute the print process. A second acquisition step of acquiring print data of the selected data type from the external device;
A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of transmitting the print data acquired in the second acquisition step to a printing apparatus selected to execute a printing process.

The present invention according to claim 9 is a transfer step of transferring image data to be printed to an external device together with identification information for specifying the image data;
A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of transmitting a print instruction including the identification information to a printing apparatus selected to execute a printing process.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, compared to a configuration in which, after a user determines a printing device to print, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated and transmitted to the printing device. It is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that can shorten the time until the start of printing.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, after the user determines a printing device to print without generating an excessive processing load on the information processing device, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated. Thus, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of shortening the time until the start of printing, as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus is generated after the user determines the printing apparatus to print without causing an excessive processing load on the information processing apparatus. Thus, it is possible to provide a printing system capable of shortening the time until the start of printing, as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus is generated after the user has determined the printing apparatus to print without causing an excessive processing load on the information processing apparatus. Thus, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of shortening the time until the start of printing, as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, after the user determines a printing device to print without generating an excessive processing load on the information processing device, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated. Thus, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus capable of shortening the time until the start of printing as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the data types that can be printed by the printing apparatus after the user has determined the printing apparatus to be printed without excessively increasing the processing load on the apparatus that issues a print instruction to the printing apparatus. Compared with the configuration in which the print data is generated and transmitted to the printing apparatus, it is possible to provide a conversion apparatus that can shorten the time until the start of printing.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, compared to a configuration in which, after a user determines a printing device to print, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated and transmitted to the printing device. It is possible to provide a program that can shorten the time until the start of printing.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, after the user determines a printing device to print without generating an excessive processing load on the information processing device, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing device is generated. Thus, it is possible to provide a program capable of shortening the time until the start of printing as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, print data of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus is generated after the user determines the printing apparatus to print without excessively processing the information processing apparatus. Thus, it is possible to provide a program capable of shortening the time until the start of printing as compared with the configuration of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the mobile terminal apparatus 10 performs near field communication between the printing apparatuses 41-43. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data types of print data that can be printed by the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, respectively. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the mobile terminal device 10 in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the mobile terminal device 10 in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement at the time of giving the printing instruction | indication with respect to a printing device in the mobile terminal device 10 of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing when a printing instruction is issued to a printing apparatus in the printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence chart for demonstrating the exchange of the information performed between the server apparatus 20, the mobile terminal device 10, and the printing apparatuses 41-43 in the printing system of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing when a printing instruction is issued to a printing apparatus in a printing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence chart for demonstrating the exchange of the information performed between the server apparatus 20, the mobile terminal device 10, and the printing apparatuses 41-43 in the printing system of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing when a printing instruction is issued to a printing apparatus in a printing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a server device 20 that provides a cloud service, a wireless LAN access point 50, and a mobile terminal device (information processing device) such as a smartphone. ) 10 and printing devices 41 to 43 that execute print processing based on the print data.

  The server device 20 and the printing devices 41 to 43 are connected to each other via the Internet 30, and the mobile terminal device 10 is also connected to the Internet 30 via the wireless LAN access point 50.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal device 10 of the present embodiment mutually communicates with the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 via a communication line of a near field communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or WiFi. The configuration is such that data can be transmitted and received.

  The mobile terminal device 10 also supports a near field communication standard called NFC (Near Field Communication), and transmits / receives data to / from the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 via a communication line of this near field communication standard. It has a function that can do.

  By having such a function, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 can perform printing by directly transmitting print data to the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 without using a network such as the Internet 30. It has become.

  Specifically, by tapping (approaching) the mobile terminal device 10 to a reading device such as an IC card reader provided in each of the printing devices 41 to 43, print instructions to the printing devices 41 to 43 are given. Is done. Then, the mobile terminal device 10 and the printing devices 41 to 43 establish the short-range wireless communication line by exchanging the short-range wireless communication setting information such as Bluetooth and WiFi via the close-range wireless communication. Print data is transferred from the terminal device 10 to each of the printing devices 41 to 43.

  Here, when a printing instruction is given to each of the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, image data to be printed is printed by a PDL (Page Description Language) that can be printed by each of the printing apparatuses 41 to 43. It is necessary to convert it to the print data described.

  This PDL has various data types (data formats) such as PS (Post Script (registered trademark)), PCL (Printer Command Language), and simple PDL, and each of the prints 41 to 43 can be printed. The data type of the print data is different.

  In recent printing apparatuses, not only print data described in PDL, which is a dedicated language for print data, but also a PDF direct function that enables direct printing without converting PDF (Portable Document Format) data into PDL data. Some are also available. Furthermore, recent printing devices have an office direct function that enables direct printing without converting Microsoft Office (registered trademark) data such as Word, Excel, and PPT (Power Point), which are Microsoft document creation software, into PDL data. Some have.

  Then, what kind of PDL is supported, or the corresponding status to the PDF direct function and the office direct function differ depending on the model of the printing apparatus, the price range, and the like.

  An example of data types of print data that can be printed by the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 is shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the higher the price of the printing apparatus, the larger the number of print data types (data formats) that can be printed. For example, since the printing apparatus 41 is a relatively low-priced apparatus, it supports only print data described by simple PDL that requests print data close to a bitmap image.

  Since the printing device 42 is a higher-priced device than the printing device 41, the printing device 42 has a function of printing print data described in PCL and PDF data.

  Further, the printing device 43 is a so-called multifunction device having a plurality of functions such as a printing (printing) function, a scanning function, a copying (copying) function, and a facsimile function, and is more expensive than the printing devices 41 and 42. It is a device. Therefore, the printing apparatus 43 has a function capable of printing print data described in PCL and PS, PDF data, and office data.

  Thus, since the types of print data that can be printed are different in the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, the type of print data required depends on which printing apparatus is selected from the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 to execute the printing process. Will also change. However, it may take time to convert the image data to be printed into the print data. If the user selects the printing apparatus that performs the printing process and generates the print data, the printing process is not performed. Sometimes it takes time to get started.

  Therefore, in the printing system of the present embodiment, the time until the start of printing is shortened by performing the following operation.

  Next, FIG. 4 shows a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal apparatus 10 in the printing system of the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile terminal device 10 includes printing devices 41 to 43 via a CPU 11, a memory 12, a storage device 13 such as a flash memory, a short-range wireless communication line such as Bluetooth, and a close wireless line such as NFC. A wireless communication interface (IF) 14 that transmits and receives data to and from the user, and a user interface (UI) device 15 that includes a touch panel or a liquid crystal display. These components are connected to each other via a control bus 16.

  The CPU 11 controls the operation of the mobile terminal device 10 by executing a predetermined process based on a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13. In the present embodiment, the CPU 11 has been described as reading and executing a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13, but the program is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM and stored in the CPU 11. It is also possible to provide.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the mobile terminal apparatus 10 realized by executing the control program.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile terminal device 10 according to the present embodiment includes a short-range wireless communication unit 31, a control unit 32, a data storage unit 33, a display unit 34, an operation reception unit 35, and a proximity wireless communication. And a communication unit 36.

  The short-range wireless communication unit 31 transmits and receives data to and from the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 via the communication line such as Bluetooth or WiFi described above. The proximity wireless communication unit 36 transmits and receives data to and from the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 via an NFC communication line.

  The data storage unit 33 temporarily stores image data to be printed or stores PDL data after the image data is converted. The display unit 34 displays various images to the user. The operation reception unit 35 inputs an operation from the user.

  The control unit 32 controls the short-range wireless communication unit 31, the close-up wireless communication unit 36, the data storage unit 33, the display unit 34, the operation reception unit 35, and the like, and is instructed to print via the operation reception unit 35. Controls such as conversion of image data into PDL data and transmission of the converted PDL data to a printing apparatus are performed.

  When receiving a print instruction for certain image data, the control unit 32 converts the image data such as document data to be printed into all of a plurality of preset values before the printing apparatus that executes the printing process is selected. Convert to print data of the data type.

  Here, all the data types mean all types of PDL data that can be generated in the mobile terminal device 10. Further, when printing devices that can be selected in advance are known, all types of print data that can be printed by the plurality of printing devices may be set as all data types. Also, the data types of print data that may be selected when issuing a print instruction may be determined in advance, and the data types may be all data types.

  For example, when the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 as shown in FIG. 3 exist, the print data of all data types are simple PDL data, PCL data, PS data, PDF data, and office data.

  Then, when the control unit 32 detects surrounding printing devices via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 and displays a list via the display unit 34, the user executes a printing process from the printing devices displayed as a list. Select a printing device for. Alternatively, the user himself / herself approaches the printing apparatus that executes the printing process and taps the mobile terminal device 10 on the reading unit of the printing apparatus, thereby selecting the printing apparatus for executing the printing process.

  In this way, when the printing device is selected by the user, the control unit 32 acquires data type information that can be printed by the printing device from the printing device selected to execute the printing process.

  Then, the control unit 32 performs printing that can be performed by the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process from among the converted print data of the plurality of data types based on the acquired printable data type information. Data is selected, and the selected print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 or the like.

  Next, the operation when the mobile terminal apparatus 10 of the present embodiment issues a print instruction to the printing apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the mobile terminal device 10 specifies image data to be printed by the user, and performs print settings such as the number of prints (step S101).

  Then, the control unit 32 starts converting the image data to be printed into all kinds of PDL format print data (step S102).

  Then, the control unit 32 searches for printing devices existing in the vicinity by wireless communication via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 (step S103), and displays a list of found printing devices on the display unit 34 (step S104). .

  When the user selects a printing device that executes the printing process from the displayed list of printing devices, the control unit 32 is selected via the operation accepting unit 35 and receives information about the printing device.

  Then, the control unit 32 acquires information on the data type of print data that can be printed by the printing device from the printing device selected by the user via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 (step S105).

  For example, when the user selects the printing device 42 shown in FIG. 3 as a printing device that executes the printing process, the control unit 32 acquires two types of information such as PCL and PDF as printable data types.

  Then, the control unit 32 determines one data type of the print data to be transmitted for executing the printing process from the plurality of acquired data types (step S106), and prints the print data of the determined data type. Transmit to the device (step S107).

  When the user selects a printing device that executes the printing process by tapping the mobile terminal device 10 on the printing device, the control unit 32 uses the NFC line via the proximity wireless unit 36 to connect the printing device. Information on the data type of print data that can be printed may be acquired.

  An example of processing performed in this way will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 shows an example in which the mobile terminal device 10 selects the printing device 43 and executes the printing process.

  First, when image data (document data) to be printed is selected and print settings are made, the mobile terminal device 10 performs processing for converting this image data into all types of print data. In FIG. 7, image data to be printed is converted into all types of print data that can be converted, such as PS data, PCL data, simplified PDL data, PDF data, and office data.

  Then, the mobile terminal device 10 acquires information on the data types that can be printed from the printing device 43 selected to perform the printing process. Here, since the data types that can be printed by the printing apparatus 43 are PCL, PS, PDF, and office document, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 acquires this information.

  Then, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 selects one type from the acquired print data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus 43. Here, it is assumed that the control unit 32 has selected the PCL data.

  Then, the control unit 32 selects PCL data from a plurality of types of print data that have already been generated, and transmits the PCL data to the printing apparatus 43. The printing apparatus 43 receives the transmitted PCL data and executes a printing process.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a printing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the printing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the server device 20 executes conversion processing of image data to be printed into print data with respect to the printing system according to the first embodiment described above. The only difference is that

  Therefore, in the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals, and differences from the operations in the first embodiment will be described.

  In the present embodiment, the server device 20 that provides a cloud service functions as a conversion device that converts transmitted image data into print data of a plurality of preset data types.

  Then, the control unit 32 transfers the image data to be printed to the server device 20 that is an external device before the printing device that executes the printing process is selected.

  And the control part 32 acquires the information of the data type which the printing apparatus can print from the printing apparatus selected in order to perform a printing process via the near field communication part 31 grade | etc.,.

  Then, the control unit 32 selects the data type of the print data for executing the print process in the printing apparatus selected to execute the print process based on the acquired information on the printable data type. The print data of the selected data type is acquired from the server device 20.

  And the control part 32 transmits the printing data acquired from the server apparatus 20 to the printing apparatus selected in order to perform a printing process via the near field communication part 31 grade | etc.,.

  Next, in the printing system of this embodiment, the exchange of information performed between the server device 20, the mobile terminal device 10, and the printing devices 41 to 43 will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.

  First, in the mobile terminal device 10, the user specifies image data to be printed, and print settings such as the number of prints are made (step S201). Then, the control unit 32 transmits image data to be printed to the server device 20 (steps S202 and S203).

  Then, the server device 20 executes a process of converting the received image data into all types of PDL format print data (step S204).

  In addition, the control unit 32 searches for printing devices existing in the vicinity by wireless communication via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 (step S205), and displays a list of found printing devices on the display unit 34 (step S206). .

  When the user selects a printing device that executes the printing process from the displayed list of printing devices, the control unit 32 is selected via the operation accepting unit 35 and receives information about the printing device. Here, it is assumed that the printing apparatus 43 has been selected as a printing apparatus that executes the printing process.

  Then, the control unit 32 requests the print device 43 selected by the user via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 for print data type information that can be printed (step S207), and prints from the print device 43. The data type information of the print data that can be acquired is acquired (step S208).

  Then, the control unit 32 determines one data type of the print data to be transmitted for executing the printing process from among the plurality of acquired data types (step S209), and transmits the print data of the determined data type. The server device 20 is requested to do so (step S210).

  Then, the server device 20 transmits the print data of the data type requested by the mobile terminal device 10 to the mobile terminal device 10 from all the converted print data (step S211).

  In the mobile terminal device 10, the control unit 32 transmits the received print data to the printing device 43 (steps S212 and 213), and the printing device 43 executes a printing process based on the transmitted print data (step S212). S214).

  Next, an example of processing performed in this way will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows an example in which the mobile terminal device 10 selects the printing device 43 and executes the printing process.

  First, when image data (document data) to be printed is selected and print settings are made, the mobile terminal device 10 transmits this image data to the server device 20. The server device 20 performs processing for converting the received image data into all types of print data. In FIG. 9, the image data to be printed is converted into all types of print data that can be converted, such as PS data, PCL data, simplified PDL data, PDF data, and office data.

  (1) Then, the mobile terminal device 10 acquires information on the data types that can be printed from the printing device 43 selected to perform the printing process. Here, since the data types that can be printed by the printing apparatus 43 are PCL, PS, PDF, and office document, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 acquires this information.

  (2) Then, the mobile terminal device 10 selects one type from the acquired print data type information that can be printed by the printing device 43. Here, it is assumed that the control unit 32 has selected the PCL data. Then, the control part 32 requests | requires the server apparatus 20 to transmit PCL data.

  (3) Then, the server apparatus 20 selects PCL data from a plurality of types of print data that have already been generated, and transmits the PCL data to the mobile terminal apparatus 10. Therefore, the mobile terminal device 10 acquires the PCL data transmitted from the server device 20.

  (4) Finally, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 transmits the acquired PCL data to the printing apparatus. Therefore, the printing apparatus 43 receives the transmitted PCL data and executes printing processing.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a printing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The printing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention allows the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 to obtain the print data converted by the server apparatus 20 with respect to the printing system according to the second embodiment described above. Only the differences are different.

  Therefore, in the following description, the same components as those in the second embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals, and differences from the operations in the second embodiment will be described.

  In the mobile terminal device 10 in the present embodiment, the control unit 32 transfers the image data to be printed to the server device 20 which is an external device together with a data ID (identification information) for specifying the image data.

  Then, the control unit 32 transmits a print instruction including the data ID (document ID, job ID) to the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process.

  In addition, when receiving the image data and the data ID, the server device (conversion device) 20 according to the present embodiment converts the received image data into print data of a plurality of preset data types. Then, the server device 20 stores all types of converted print data in association with data IDs.

  When receiving information on the data type of print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus together with the data ID of the image data to be printed from the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, a plurality of data stored corresponding to the received identification information Print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus is selected from the types of print data, and the selected print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus.

  In addition, when the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 in the present embodiment receive a print instruction including a data ID, the server apparatus transmits information on the data type of print data that can be printed by the self apparatus together with the data ID included in the print instruction. 20 to send. Then, the printing apparatuses 41 to 43 execute printing processing based on the print data transmitted from the server apparatus 20.

  Next, in the printing system of the present embodiment, information exchange performed between the server device 20, the mobile terminal device 10, and the printing devices 41 to 43 will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.

  First, the mobile terminal device 10 specifies image data to be printed by the user, and performs print settings such as the number of prints (step S301). Then, the control unit 32 transmits the image data to be printed to the server device 20 together with the data ID (Steps S302 and S303).

  Then, the server device 20 executes a process of converting the received image data into all kinds of PDL format print data (step S304).

  In addition, the control unit 32 searches for printing devices existing in the vicinity by wireless communication via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 (step S305), and displays a list of found printing devices on the display unit 34 (step S306). .

  When the user selects a printing device that executes the printing process from the displayed list of printing devices, the control unit 32 is selected via the operation accepting unit 35 and receives information about the printing device. Here, it is assumed that the printing apparatus 43 has been selected as a printing apparatus that executes the printing process.

  Then, the control unit 32 issues a print instruction including the data ID of the image data to be printed to the printing apparatus 43 selected by the user via the short-range wireless communication unit 31 or the close-range wireless communication unit 36. Transmit (steps S307 and S308).

  Then, the printing apparatus 43 transmits the data ID received from the mobile terminal apparatus 10 and the print data type information that can be printed by the self apparatus to the server apparatus 20 (step S309).

  Therefore, the server device 20 determines one data type for executing the printing process from the printable data types received from the printing device 43 (step S310), and prints the determined type of print data. It transmits to the apparatus 43 (step S311). Then, the printing apparatus 43 executes a printing process based on the transmitted print data (step S312).

  Next, an example of processing performed in this way will be described with reference to FIG. Also in FIG. 9, the case where the mobile terminal device 10 selects the printing device 43 and executes the printing process will be described as an example.

  (1) First, when image data (document data) to be printed is selected and print settings are made, the mobile terminal device 10 transmits this image data to the server device 20 together with a data ID. Then, the server device 20 performs processing for converting the received image data into all types of print data. In FIG. 11, image data to be printed is converted into all types of print data that can be converted, such as PS data, PCL data, simplified PDL data, PDF data, and office data.

  (2) Furthermore, the mobile terminal device 10 transmits a print instruction including the data ID to the printing device 43.

  (3) Then, the printing apparatus 43 transmits the data ID included in the received print instruction and the print data type information that can be printed by the self apparatus to the server apparatus 20 as a data transmission request. Here, since the data types that can be printed by the printing apparatus 43 are PCL, PS, PDF, and office document, the server apparatus 20 acquires this information.

  (4) Then, the server device 20 selects one type from the acquired print data type information that can be printed by the printing device 43. Here, description will be made assuming that the server device 20 has selected the PCL data. Then, the server device 30 transmits PCL data to the printing device 43 from among a plurality of types of print data stored in association with the received data ID. As a result, the printing apparatus 43 receives the transmitted PCL data and executes printing processing.

  In the present embodiment, before issuing a print instruction from the mobile terminal apparatus 10 to the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, the data ID is transmitted in advance to the surrounding printing apparatuses 41 to 43, and the respective printing apparatuses 41 to 43 are transmitted. Then, the print data corresponding to the received data ID may be downloaded from the server device 20.

  With this configuration, in each of the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, when the print instruction including the data ID is received from the mobile terminal apparatus 10, the print data is already stored, so that it can be performed more quickly. The printing process can be started.

  In such a case, the print data also remains in the printing apparatus that has not been selected as the printing apparatus that executes the printing process. For this reason, in each of the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, when the print data received and stored has not been printed and a predetermined time has passed in advance, the print data is deleted. For example, in each of the printing apparatuses 41 to 43, when the stored print data is not printed and 24 hours have passed, the print data is deleted.

  Alternatively, when the printing process is completed in a certain printing apparatus, the mobile terminal apparatus 10 may transmit a message to discard the print data to a printing apparatus other than the printing apparatus. Further, a deletion instruction for deleting the print data corresponding to the data ID may be transmitted from the printing apparatus that has executed the printing process to another printing apparatus.

10 Mobile terminal device (information processing device)
11 CPU
12 Memory 13 Storage Device 14 Wireless Communication Interface (IF)
15 User Interface (UI) Device 16 Control Bus 20 Server Device (Conversion Device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 30 Internet 31 Near field communication part 32 Control part 33 Data storage part 34 Display part 35 Operation reception part 36 Proximity wireless communication part 41-43 Printing apparatus 50 Wireless LAN access point

Claims (9)

Conversion means for converting image data to be printed into print data of a plurality of data types set in advance before a printing apparatus that executes print processing is selected;
Acquisition means for acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired by the acquisition unit, printing is performed in the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process from among the plurality of print data types converted by the conversion unit. Transmitting means for selecting possible print data and transmitting the selected print data to the printing apparatus;
An information processing apparatus comprising: Transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to an external device before a printing device that executes print processing is selected;
A first acquisition unit that acquires information of a data type that can be printed by the printing apparatus from a printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired by the first acquisition unit, the data type of the print data for executing the print process is selected in the printing apparatus selected for executing the print process. Second acquisition means for acquiring print data of the selected data type from the external device;
Transmission means for transmitting the print data acquired by the second acquisition means to a printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
An information processing apparatus comprising: A plurality of printing apparatuses that execute print processing based on print data;
A conversion device that converts the transmitted image data into print data of a plurality of preset data types;
Information on data types that can be printed by the printing device from the transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to the conversion device and the printing device selected to execute the printing process among the plurality of printing devices. Based on the first acquisition means to be acquired and the information on the printable data type acquired by the first acquisition means, for executing the print processing in the printing apparatus selected to execute the print processing A data type of the print data is selected, a second acquisition unit that acquires print data of the selected data type from the conversion device, and a print process is executed on the print data acquired by the second acquisition unit An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission means for transmitting to the selected printing apparatus;
A printing system composed of Transfer means for transferring image data to be printed to an external apparatus together with identification information for specifying the image data;
Transmitting means for transmitting a print instruction including the identification information to a printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
An information processing apparatus comprising: Receiving means for receiving a print instruction including identification information for specifying image data to be printed;
A transmission means for transmitting data type information of print data that can be printed by the own apparatus together with the identification information included in the print instruction to an external apparatus;
Print processing execution means for executing print processing based on print data transmitted from the external device;
Printing device with Receiving means for receiving image data and identification information for identifying the image data;
Conversion means for converting the image data received by the receiving means into print data of a plurality of preset data types;
Storage means for storing the print data converted by the conversion means in association with the identification information;
When information on the type of print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus is received from the printing apparatus together with the identification information on the image data to be printed, the print data of a plurality of data types stored corresponding to the received identification information is included. Transmitting means for selecting print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus and transmitting the selected print data to the printing apparatus;
A conversion device comprising: A conversion step of converting image data to be printed into print data of a plurality of data types set in advance before a printing device that executes a printing process is selected;
An acquisition step of acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired in the acquisition step, printing is performed in the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process from among the print data of the plurality of data types converted in the conversion step. A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of selecting possible print data and transmitting the selected print data to the printing apparatus. A transfer step of transferring image data to be printed to an external device before a printing device that executes a printing process is selected;
A first acquisition step of acquiring data type information that can be printed by the printing apparatus from the printing apparatus selected to execute the printing process;
Based on the printable data type information acquired in the first acquisition step, the data type of the print data for executing the print process is selected in the printing apparatus selected to execute the print process. A second acquisition step of acquiring print data of the selected data type from the external device;
A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of transmitting the print data acquired in the second acquisition step to a printing apparatus selected to execute a printing process. A transfer step of transferring image data to be printed to an external device together with identification information for specifying the image data;
A program for causing a computer to execute a transmission step of transmitting a print instruction including the identification information to a printing apparatus selected to execute a printing process.

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