JP2018073108A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system that is capable of smoothly performing printing requested by a user from a mobile terminal device owned by the user.SOLUTION: A printing system 24 includes a mobile terminal device 41, a multifunction machine 11a as an information processing apparatus capable of radio connection to a mobile terminal device, and a plurality of multifunction machines 11b and 11c respectively communicable with the information processing apparatus. The multifunction machine comprises a derivation part, a list generation part, and a multifunction transmission control part in a multifunction control part 12. The derivation part derives how many requested print jobs can be performed based on respective printable job information. The list generation part generates a list indicating how many requested print jobs can be performed in the respective multifunction machines derived by the derivation part. The mobile terminal device comprises a display control part that displays information of the list transmitted from the multifunction transmission control part on a touch panel 45.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system.

  In a printing apparatus typified by a multifunction peripheral, light is irradiated on a photoconductor based on image data to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor. Thereafter, charged toner is supplied onto the formed electrostatic latent image to form a visible image. Then, after transferring the toner to the paper, the toner is fixed to the paper. The sheet on which the toner is fixed is discharged out of the apparatus.

  In recent years, there is a case where a printing apparatus receives image data from a portable terminal device by wireless communication or the like and prints it. Technologies related to wireless communication in a printing apparatus are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-241940 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-251823 (Patent Document 2), and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-241114 (Patent Document 3). Has been.

  An image information communication system disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a plurality of network-connected image forming apparatuses with a communication function, and a portable device that has a display unit and can transmit image information to the image forming apparatus via a wireless communication network. Terminal device. In the image information communication system disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the output amount of image information 9 is transmitted from the portable terminal device to one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the image forming apparatus If the image forming apparatus is in an image output disabled state, the image forming apparatus searches for an image forming apparatus in a printable state from other image forming apparatuses connected to the network, and obtains information on the image forming apparatus in the printable state. It transmits to the said portable terminal device, It displays on the said display part, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  The wireless printing system disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes an information processing device and a printing device, and communication using proximity wireless is possible between the information processing device and the printing device. When the information processing apparatus detects that the communication by the proximity wireless communication with the printing apparatus is enabled, and detects that the communication by the proximity wireless communication is enabled by the detection means A generating unit that generates print data in a format printable by the printing apparatus for a document displayed on a display unit included in the printer, and the print data generated by the generating unit using the proximity wireless communication Transmitting means for transmitting to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus prints the print data received from the information processing apparatus via the proximity wireless communication.

  The image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 3 establishes a wireless connection by a short-range communication unit with the proximity of a mobile terminal device, and can perform a short-distance communication over a longer range than the short-range communication unit. After receiving the communication setting information for the means, the wireless setting is established by the short-range communication means using the communication setting information, and the data received by the short-range communication means from the portable terminal device Data processing is performed by the data processing unit, and data output by the data processing unit is output by the printer unit. When the image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 3 determines that the data received by the short-range communication unit includes data related to image processing control, the data processing unit Alternatively, a control unit for controlling processing contents performed by the printer unit is provided.

JP 2003-241940 A JP 2009-251823 A JP 2010-241114 A

  According to Patent Document 1, after an output request is made to an image forming apparatus, it is necessary to make an output request to an alternative image forming apparatus again. Such an operation is cumbersome for the user and is not desirable.

  In Patent Document 2, it is possible to simplify a user operation required for output. However, it is unclear whether or not the printing is desired by the user, and as a result, it may be necessary to perform printing again. As a result, useless printing occurs or the user's operation is troublesome.

  Also in Patent Document 3, if the ability of the selected image forming apparatus is not what the user desires, it is necessary to perform NFC (Near Field Communication) communication until an image forming apparatus having the desired ability is selected. The user's work may increase.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system that can perform printing requested by a user from a mobile terminal device owned by the user more smoothly.

  A printing system according to the present invention includes a mobile terminal device, an information processing device capable of wireless connection with the mobile terminal device, and a plurality of printing devices each capable of communicating with the information processing device. The mobile terminal device includes a display unit that displays information, a display control unit, a mobile terminal device transmission control unit, and a mobile terminal device reception unit. The display control unit controls to display information on the display unit. The portable terminal device transmission control unit controls to transmit request print job information requested to the information processing device. The mobile terminal device receiving unit receives information transmitted from the outside. Each printing apparatus includes a printing apparatus transmission control unit, a printing apparatus reception unit, and a printing unit. The printing apparatus transmission control unit controls to transmit printable job information, which is a print job that can be printed by the printing apparatus, to the information processing apparatus. The printing device reception unit receives a print job from the mobile terminal device. The printing unit executes and prints the print job received by the printing device reception unit. The information processing device includes an information processing device reception unit, a derivation unit, a list generation unit, and an information processing device transmission control unit. The information processing device receiving unit receives request print job information transmitted from the mobile terminal device and printable job information transmitted from each printing device. The deriving unit derives how much the requested print job can be executed based on each printable job information. The list generation unit generates a list indicating how much the requested print job can be executed in each printing apparatus derived by the deriving unit. The information processing device transmission control unit controls the information of the list generated by the list generation unit to be transmitted to the mobile terminal device. The display control unit controls the display unit to display information on the list transmitted by the information processing device transmission control unit and received by the mobile terminal device reception unit.

  According to such a printing system, information on a list indicating how much printing can be performed is transmitted to the mobile terminal device based on printable job information in each printing device for a requested print job requesting printing. And displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal device. Then, it is possible to acquire information on a printing apparatus that can execute a requested print job without connecting communication with each printing apparatus. Therefore, printing requested by the user can be performed more smoothly from the mobile terminal device owned by the user.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the image forming system shown in FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction machine control unit. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when a print job is requested to one of the multifunction peripherals for image data stored in a portable terminal device and printing is performed. It is a figure which shows an example of the touchscreen with which the list was displayed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display on the touch panel when execution of a requested print job is incomplete.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an appearance of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing system shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the printing system 24 includes a mobile terminal device 41 owned by a user and multifunction devices 11a, 11b, and 11c as three printing devices. The multifunction peripherals 11a, 11b, and 11c can communicate with each other, and are connected via a LAN (Local Area Network) -connected network 23. One multifunction device 11a functions as an information processing device capable of wireless connection with the mobile terminal device 41. That is, the information processing apparatus included in the printing system 24 according to the embodiment of the present invention is also used as the multifunction device 11a that is one of the plurality of multifunction devices 11a to 11c. The portable terminal device 41 can establish a connection with any of the multifunction peripherals 11a, 11b, and 11c, request printing, and perform printing.

  First, the configuration of the mobile terminal device 41 will be described. The mobile terminal device 41 includes a mobile terminal device control unit 42, a mobile terminal device communication unit 43 as a mobile terminal device reception unit, a mobile terminal device storage unit 44, a touch panel 45 as a display unit for displaying information, and a numeric keypad. 46 and a function selection key 47. The mobile terminal device control unit 42 controls the entire mobile terminal device 41. The mobile terminal device communication unit 43 is an interface for connecting to an external device, specifically, the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c. The portable terminal device storage unit 44 stores image data and various data. The touch panel 45 displays information of the mobile terminal device 41 and serves as an input interface. The user can input numerical values from 0 to 9, alphabets from A to Z, and the like by pressing the numeric key 46. Further, the user can perform various operations by pressing a predetermined portion of the function selection key 47. For example, the mobile phone function in the mobile terminal device 41 is selected, and the call is started or the call is ended by pressing the function selection key 47.

  In addition, the mobile terminal device control unit 42 includes a display control unit 48, a mobile terminal device transmission control unit 49, and a selection receiving unit 50. The display control unit 48 controls to display information on the touch panel 45. The portable terminal device transmission control unit 49 controls the requested print job information to be transmitted to the multifunction peripheral 11a as the information processing device. The selection receiving unit 50 receives selections of the multifunction peripherals 11 a to 11 c that execute the requested print job from a list that will be described later displayed on the touch panel 45.

  Next, the configuration of the multifunction machine 11a will be described. The other multifunction peripherals 11b and 11c have the same configuration as that of the multifunction peripheral 11a, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  The multifunction device 11 a is connected to the multifunction device control unit 12, the operation unit 13, the image reading unit 14, the image forming unit 15 as a printing unit, the paper feed cassette 16, the multifunction device hard disk 17, and the network 23. A multifunction machine network interface unit 18 and a multifunction machine communication unit 25.

  The multifunction device control unit 12 controls the entire multifunction device 11a. The multi-function device control unit 12 includes a CPU and the like, and includes a main memory 19 that temporarily stores data. The operation unit 13 includes a touch panel type display screen 21 that displays information transmitted from the multifunction peripheral 11a side and user input contents. The operation unit 13 accepts input from the user regarding image formation such as the number of copies to be printed and image forming conditions such as gradation. The image reading unit 14 includes an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 22 as a document transport device that transports a document set at the set position to the read position. The image reading unit 14 reads an image of a document set on the ADF 22 or a mounting table (not shown). A plurality of paper feed cassettes 16 are provided, each of which can store a plurality of sheets. The image forming unit 15 forms an image on a sheet conveyed from the sheet feeding cassette 16 or the like based on the image data of the original read by the image reading unit 14 or the image data transmitted via the network 23. The multi-function device hard disk 17 stores data relating to image formation such as transmitted image data and input image forming conditions. The multi-function device communication unit 25 is an interface for connecting to an external device, specifically, a mobile terminal device 41 or a tablet PC (not shown). The multi-function device 11a receives image data and a print request command transmitted from an external device during communication through the multi-function device communication unit 25. The multi-function device communication unit 25 as a printing device reception unit receives image data and a print job transmitted from the mobile terminal device communication unit 43.

  Next, the configuration of the multifunction machine control unit 12 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the multifunction machine control unit 12. Referring to FIG. 3, the multifunction device control unit 12 includes a derivation unit 31, a list generation unit 32, and a multifunction device transmission control unit 33 as a printing apparatus transmission control unit. The deriving unit 31 derives how much the requested print job can be executed based on each printable job information. The list generation unit 32 generates a list of how many requested print jobs can be executed in each of the multifunction peripherals 11 a to 11 c derived by the deriving unit 31. Here, the request print job is a print job requested by the user via the mobile terminal device 41. The printable job information is information on print jobs that can be printed in each of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c. The multifunction device transmission control unit 33 performs control so that the list information generated by the list generation unit 32 is transmitted to the mobile terminal device 41. These configurations will be described in detail later.

  Next, a case where the print system 24 according to the embodiment of the present invention requests a print job from any of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c based on the image data stored in the mobile terminal device 41 and performs printing. explain. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a print job is requested to one of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c for image data stored in the portable terminal device 41 and printing is performed.

  Referring to FIG. 4, first, the user selects image data of a file for which printing is requested from among image data of files stored in portable terminal device storage unit 44 according to his / her request. Then, a print job is set for the image data of the selected file. This print job is a request print job requested by the user.

  Then, the mobile terminal device 41 receives a print job setting (in FIG. 4, step S11, hereinafter “step” is omitted). Here, a print job for printing on a full-color B5 size paper is set. After completing the print job setting, the connection between the portable terminal device 41 and the multifunction peripheral 11a is established (S12). In this case, a wireless connection such as Wi-fi is established.

  Thereafter, in a state where the communication between the portable terminal device 41 and the multifunction device 11a is established, the information of the requested print job is transmitted from the portable terminal device 41 to the multifunction device 11a (S13). The multifunction device 11a receives the information of the set requested print job (S14). In other words, the multifunction peripheral 11a receives information of a requested print job for printing on a full-color B5 size paper.

  Thereafter, the multifunction machine 11a acquires information on printable jobs of the multifunction machines 11a, 11b, and 11c (S15). In this case, information is acquired via the network 23 connected to the LAN. Specifically, for the multifunction peripheral 11b, printable job information indicating that full-color printing is possible and printing on A4 size, A3 size, and B4 size paper is acquired. For the multifunction peripheral 11c, printable job information is acquired such that full-color printing is possible and printing on A4 size, A3 size, B4 size, and B5 size paper is possible. Note that the multifunction peripheral 11a has printable job information indicating that only monochrome printing is possible and that printing is possible only on A4 size paper, and the MFP 11a itself acquires the printable job information. Shall.

  Thereafter, the deriving unit 31 included in the multifunction machine 11a derives how much the requested print job can be executed (S16). That is, the deriving unit 31 derives how much the requested print job can be executed based on each printable job information. In this case, it is determined that all the requested print jobs can be executed for the multifunction peripheral 11c. It is derived that the multifunction machine 11b can handle full-color printing but cannot print on B5-size paper. That is, it is determined that an incomplete request print job can be handled. Further, it is determined that the multi-function device 11a, that is, the printer itself cannot cope with both full-color printing and B5-size printing, and the requested print job cannot be executed at all. In this case, it is derived that the requested print job cannot be executed at all for the multifunction device 11a, and that it is possible to execute a partially requested print job for the multifunction device 11b incompletely. It is derived that the requested print job can be executed.

  Then, a list is generated by the list generation unit 32 based on the derivation result (S17). That is, the list is generated based on the degree of execution for the requested print job.

  Thereafter, the generated list information is transmitted from the multi-function peripheral 11a to the mobile terminal device 41 (S18). The display control unit 48 controls to display the list on the touch panel 45 (S19).

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the touch panel 45 on which a list is displayed. Referring to FIG. 5, list 51 is displayed on touch panel 45. The list 51 illustrates the display 52 of the "print job J" as request a print job, the display 53a of the multifunction device _{X 1} showing the MFP 11a, the display 53b of the MFP _{X 2} indicating the MFP 11b, and the MFP 11c there is a display 53c of the multifunction device _{X 3.} In the list 51, the display mode in the list 51 is controlled to be changed and displayed according to how much the requested print job can be executed. Here, a “!” Mark 54 indicating a caution is displayed beside the display 53b. This mark 54 indicates that the print job is incomplete with respect to the requested print job, although it can be printed once. The display 53a is displayed in so-called gray out. The gray out of the display 53a is indicated by hatching in FIG. There is no particular indication for the display 53c. That is, the display 53c of the MFP X ₃ indicating the MFP 11c shows that fully perform the requested print job.

  The user can grasp which multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c can execute the requested print job by looking at the list 51 displayed on the touch panel 45. In this case, since the display 53c is not grayed out and the mark 54 is not displayed, it can be understood that the requested print job can be completely executed.

Here, the touch panel 45, when detecting the tapping of the area of the display 53c of the MFP _{X 3,} is the determined that the MFP 11c is selected (in S20, YES). That is, the selection receiving unit 50 receives the selection of the multifunction machine 11c that executes the requested print job from the list 51 displayed on the touch panel 45. Then, communication between the selected multifunction machine 11c and the mobile terminal device 41 is established (S21). In this case, similarly to the communication between the mobile terminal device 41 and the multifunction machine 11a, the connection is established by Wi-fi connection.

  Then, after the communication is established, the request print job J is transmitted to the multifunction machine 11c (S22). When the selected multifunction device 11c receives the requested print job J (S23), it prints and outputs it according to the requested print job (S24). In this case, the requested print job such as full color printing and B5 size paper printing can be completely executed.

  According to such a printing system 24, the mobile terminal device 41 indicates how much printing can be performed on the requested print job requesting printing based on printable job information in each of the multifunction peripherals 11 a to 11 c. Information of the list 51 is transmitted and displayed on the touch panel 45 of the mobile terminal device 41. Then, it is possible to acquire information on the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c that can execute the requested print job without connecting communication with the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c. Therefore, printing requested by the user can be performed more smoothly from the mobile terminal device 41 owned by the user.

  In this case, the display control unit 48 controls the display mode in the list 51 to be changed and displayed according to how much the requested print job derived by the deriving unit 31 can be executed. Selection of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c according to the request is facilitated.

  Further, in this case, the display control unit 48 controls the MFP 11a that cannot execute the requested print job to be grayed out and displays the MFP 11a that cannot execute the requested print job more clearly. be able to.

  Further, in this case, the mobile terminal device 41 is configured to include the selection receiving unit 50 that receives the selection of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c that execute the requested print job from the list 51 displayed on the touch panel 45, and therefore, more smoothly. The requested print job J can be executed by selecting the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c that execute the requested print job.

  In this case, the selection receiving unit 50 is configured not to accept the selection of the multifunction machine 11a that cannot execute the requested print job. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate the possibility that the user erroneously selects the multifunction machine 11a.

  If none of the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c is selected in S20 (NO in S20), the process is terminated as it is. In this way, the user can grasp the multifunction peripheral 11c that can completely execute printing for the requested print job.

  Further, for example, when the location where the multifunction peripheral 11c is installed is far from the position of the user currently staying, if the user is satisfied, the incomplete requested print job is executed to the multifunction peripheral 11b. Can be done against. By doing so, it is possible to perform printing that the user is satisfied with.

  In this case, the requested print job is executed incompletely in the multifunction machine 11b. Therefore, if the requested print job is not completely executed by the multi-function device 11b whose selection is received by the selection receiving unit 50, the display control unit 48 may control to display that fact on the touch panel 45.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display on the touch panel 45 when the requested print job is not completely executed. Referring to FIG. 6, a message 56 “Print job execution is incomplete. Check the contents.” Is displayed on touch panel 45. By doing so, it is possible to visually notify the user who owns the mobile terminal device 41 that an incomplete request print job has been executed in the multifunction peripheral 11b. In this case, the content of the incomplete request print job, specifically, information indicating that printing on B5 size paper has not been performed may be displayed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the information processing apparatus is also used as the multifunction machine 11a, which is one of the plurality of multifunction machines 11a to 11c. A computer that can be wirelessly connected to the terminal device 41 and can communicate with the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c may be applied as the information processing apparatus.

  In the above-described embodiment, the display control unit 48 controls the display mode in the list 51 to be changed and displayed according to how much the requested print job derived by the deriving unit 31 can be executed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the display control unit 48 may perform control so that only the multifunction peripheral 11 c that can completely execute the requested print job is displayed as the list 51. In this way, the requested print job can be executed more reliably.

  In the embodiment described above, the mobile terminal device 41 may be configured not to include the selection receiving unit 50. Also by doing this, the user can grasp the multifunction peripherals 11a to 11c that can execute the requested print job by the display of the list 51.

  The acquired printable job information may be stored in the mobile terminal device storage unit 44 and reused. That is, information of the list 51 that is a list of printable jobs may be stored in the mobile terminal device storage unit 44.

  If the distance to the user is close to the multifunction device 11c that executes printing, the portable terminal device 41 and the multifunction device 11c are connected by NFC communication and a print job of the multifunction device 11c is transmitted. Also good. In communication, connection information may be acquired using a QR code (registered trademark) or a two-dimensional barcode.

  It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and are not restrictive in any aspect. The scope of the present invention is defined by the scope of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the scope of the claims.

  The printing system according to the present invention is particularly effectively used when a smooth printing request is requested from the mobile terminal device owned by the user.

  11a, 11b, 11c MFP, 12 MFP control unit, 13 operation unit, 14 image reading unit, 15 image forming unit, 16 paper feed cassette, 17 MFP hard disk, 18 MFP network interface unit, 19 main memory, 21 display screen, 22 ADF, 23 network, 24 printing system, 25 MFP communication unit, 31 derivation unit, 32 list generation unit, 33 MFP transmission control unit, 41 mobile terminal device, 42 mobile terminal device control unit, 43 mobile phone Terminal device communication unit, 44 mobile terminal device storage unit, 45 touch panel, 46 numeric keypad, 47 function selection key, 48 display control unit, 49 mobile terminal device transmission control unit, 50 selection receiving unit, 51 list, 52, 53a, 53b, 53c display, 54 marks, 56 messages.

Claims (7)

A printing system including a portable terminal device, an information processing device capable of wireless connection with the portable terminal device, and a plurality of printing devices each capable of communicating with the information processing device,
The portable terminal device
A display for displaying information;
A display control unit that controls to display information on the display unit;
A portable terminal device transmission control unit configured to control transmission of requested print job information requested to the information processing device;
A mobile terminal device receiving unit for receiving information transmitted from the outside,
Each of the printing devices
A printing apparatus transmission control unit that controls to transmit printable job information, which is a print job that can be printed by the printing apparatus, to the information processing apparatus;
A printing device receiver for receiving a print job from the mobile terminal device;
A printing unit that executes and prints the print job received by the printing device reception unit;
The information processing apparatus includes:
An information processing device receiving unit that receives the requested print job information transmitted from the portable terminal device and the printable job information transmitted from each of the printing devices;
A derivation unit for deriving how much the requested print job can be executed based on each printable job information;
A list generation unit that generates a list indicating how much the requested print job can be executed in each of the printing apparatuses derived by the deriving unit;
An information processing device transmission control unit that controls to transmit the information of the list generated by the list generation unit to the mobile terminal device;
The printing system, wherein the display control unit controls the display unit to display information on the list transmitted by the information processing device transmission control unit and received by the mobile terminal device reception unit. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is also used as one of the plurality of printing apparatuses. 3. The display control unit according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit performs control so as to change and display a display mode in the list according to how much the requested print job derived by the deriving unit can be executed. Printing system. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the display control unit controls the printing apparatus that cannot execute the requested print job to be displayed in gray. The said portable terminal device is further provided with the selection reception part which receives selection of the said printing apparatus which performs the said request | requirement print job from the said list displayed on the said display part, The statement in any one of Claims 1-4 The printing system described. The printing system according to claim 5, wherein the selection receiving unit does not receive a selection of the printing apparatus that cannot execute the requested print job. The display control unit controls to display on the display unit if the execution of the requested print job by the printing apparatus whose selection has been received by the selection receiving unit is incomplete. 7. The printing system according to 6.

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