JP2018185356A - Image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide means that improves convenience of operation.SOLUTION: In an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus can communicate with each other, the image forming apparatus includes an apparatus information creation part that creates apparatus information on the basis of user information received from the information processing apparatus, and a communication part that communicates with the information processing apparatus and transmits the apparatus information to the information processing apparatus; the information processing apparatus includes a communication part that communicates with the image forming apparatus and receives the apparatus information, an operation option creation part that creates operation options on the basis of the apparatus information received from the image forming apparatus, and a display part that displays the operation options and receives an operation to select from between the operation options; the information processing apparatus instructs operation to the image forming apparatus on the basis of the selected operation option.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system in which an information processing apparatus such as a mobile terminal and an image forming apparatus are communicably connected.

  A conventional image forming system includes an interface circuit that wirelessly communicates with an IC chip in an image forming apparatus, and writes and reads information on the IC chip (see, for example, Patent Document 1). When the provided information terminal is held over the image forming apparatus, there are some which display the current state information of the image forming apparatus on the information terminal.

JP 2005-140896 A

However, in the conventional technology, the current status information of the image forming apparatus can be displayed on the information terminal, but the processing according to the status of the image forming apparatus cannot be instructed to the image forming apparatus. There is a problem that convenience is insufficient.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to improve the convenience of operation.

  Therefore, the present invention is an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus can communicate with each other, and the image forming apparatus generates apparatus information based on user information received from the information processing apparatus. A communication unit that communicates between the apparatus information generation unit and the information processing apparatus and transmits the apparatus information to the information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus communicates with the image forming apparatus. A communication unit that communicates and receives the device information, an operation option generation unit that generates an operation option based on the device information received from the image forming device, and displays the operation option and the operation option And a display unit that accepts an operation for selecting the image processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus instructs the image forming apparatus to perform an operation based on the selected operation option.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to improve the convenience of operation.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the image forming system and portable terminal in an Example FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming system and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of the operation | movement instruction | indication process in an Example. Explanatory drawing of the administrator information / device information table in the embodiment Explanatory diagram of operation option information in the embodiment Explanatory drawing of the display screen of the portable terminal in an Example Explanatory drawing of the display screen of the portable terminal in an Example Explanatory drawing of device administrator information in the embodiment The block diagram which shows the structure of the image forming system in a modification. Explanatory drawing of the display screen in the modification

  Embodiments of an image forming system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of an image forming system and a portable terminal in the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of an image forming system and an image forming apparatus in the embodiment.
1 and 2, an image forming system 1 is configured such that a portable terminal 100 and an image forming apparatus 200 are connected so as to be capable of wireless communication.

  A portable terminal 100 as an information processing apparatus is, for example, a portable information terminal, and is capable of short-range wireless communication with the image forming apparatus 200. The mobile terminal 100 includes a terminal information storage unit 101, a management unit 102, an operation option determination unit 103, an operation option storage unit 104, an operation instruction input unit 105, a display unit 106, a communication unit 107, and a control unit. 110. The management unit 102, the operation option determination unit 103, the operation option storage unit 104, the operation instruction input unit 105, and the display unit 106 constitute an application unit.

  The terminal information storage unit 101 is a storage unit such as a memory, and includes a user name as user identification information for identifying a user as information related to the mobile terminal 100, an individual identification number for identifying an individual of the mobile terminal 100, and the like Mobile terminal information and various information. Note that the portable terminal 100 and the image forming apparatus 200 in the image forming system 1 use the same user name as user identification information.

  The management unit 102 manages input / output information in the portable terminal 100 and information acquired from the image forming apparatus 200.

  The operation option determination unit 103 as the operation option generation unit determines and extracts operation options that can be instructed to the image forming apparatus 200 based on the apparatus information received from the image forming apparatus 200 via the communication unit 107. Is generated as an operation option. This operation option includes an operation instruction for the image forming apparatus 200 and also includes an operation performed by the mobile terminal 100.

In this embodiment, the operation options are “contact the device administrator”, “cancel printing (print cancel)”, “continue printing with another image forming apparatus (separate printer)”, “continue printing in monochrome”, “consumables” At least one of the options of "Application for purchase" and "Inquiry about failure details".
The operation option storage unit 104 stores information on an operation instructed to the image forming apparatus 200 and information on an operation performed by the mobile terminal 100 as operation option information.

  The display unit 106 displays operation options that are operation options to be instructed to the image forming apparatus 200. The display unit 106 receives a user input operation on the displayed screen. Thus, in the present embodiment, the display unit 106 is an operation display unit such as a touch panel, and displays operation options and accepts a user's operation for selecting the operation options.

The operation instruction input unit 105 receives an operation instruction from a user (user) input on the screen displayed on the display unit 106. When the operation option displayed on the display unit 106 is selected by the user, the operation instruction input unit 105 inputs the selected operation option as an operation instruction.
The communication unit 107 performs wireless communication with the image forming apparatus 200.

  The control unit 110 is configured by control means such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and based on a control program stored in a storage unit such as a memory, the terminal information storage unit 101, the management unit 102, the operation option determination unit 103, the operation The option storage unit 104, the operation instruction input unit 105, the display unit 106, and the communication unit 107 are controlled to control the operation of the mobile terminal 100 as a whole.

  The portable terminal 100 according to the present embodiment displays operation options on the display unit 106 under the control of the control unit 110, accepts an operation for selecting the operation options, and allows the image forming apparatus 200 to perform operations based on the selected operation option. Instruct the operation.

  The image forming apparatus 200 is, for example, a printer that receives print data as a print job from an external device such as a host computer, forms an image on a recording medium, and performs printing. The image forming apparatus 200 includes a communication unit 201, a device information determination unit 202, an administrator information storage unit 203, a print information storage unit 204, a print data development unit 205, a print data processing unit 206, and an operation panel 209. And a control unit 210.

The image forming apparatus 200 is managed by a user having administrator authority (hereinafter referred to as “apparatus administrator” or “administrator”), and maintenance that can be performed by a user who does not have administrator authority. Item is restricted.
The communication unit 201 performs wireless communication with the mobile terminal 100.

  The device information determination unit 202 as the device information generation unit is determined based on user information acquired from the mobile terminal 100 as user information, administrator information of the image forming apparatus 200, and print information of the image forming apparatus 200. To generate device information to be passed to the mobile terminal 100.

  Here, the device information includes information on whether or not the user of the portable terminal 100 is a device manager of the image forming apparatus 200, and whether or not the user of the portable terminal 100 has instructed printing on the image forming apparatus 200. Information, device manager contact information, consumables purchase application destination information, failure content inquiry information, device status information, and the like. Details of the device information will be described later.

The administrator information storage unit 203 is a storage unit such as a memory, and stores information such as the user name and inquiry destination of the device administrator as administrator information.
The print information storage unit 204 is a storage unit such as a memory, and stores information such as the status of the job being printed and the status of the image forming apparatus 200 including the user name as print information.

The print data expansion unit 205 expands the received print data into printable data.
The print data processing unit 206 performs printing based on the data developed by the print data development unit 205.

The operation panel 209 is an operation display unit that displays various types of information and receives user input operations.
The control unit 210 includes a control unit such as a CPU, and based on a control program stored in a storage unit such as a memory, the communication unit 201, device information determination unit 202, administrator information storage unit 203, and print information storage unit 204. The print data development unit 205, the print data processing unit 206, and the operation panel 209 are controlled to control the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 200.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
In the image forming system, the process in which the portable terminal holds the image forming apparatus and instructs the image forming apparatus to perform an operation according to the step represented by S in the flowchart of the operation instruction process in the embodiment of FIG. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

  S100: The user holds the portable terminal 100 over an NFC (Near Field Radio Communication) reader of an arbitrary image forming apparatus 200.

S200: The communication unit 107 of the portable terminal 100 and the communication unit 201 of the image forming apparatus 200 start short-range wireless communication using NFC. At this time, the mobile terminal 100 transmits the user name stored in the terminal information storage unit 101 to the image forming apparatus 200.
This user name is user identification information for identifying a user who is permitted to use the image forming system 1 and may be a user ID or the like as long as it is information for identifying a user.

  S300: The communication unit 201 of the image forming apparatus 200 receives a user name from the mobile terminal 100 as user information. The device information determination unit 202 of the image forming apparatus 200 is based on the user name received by the communication unit 201, the information stored in the administrator information storage unit 203, and the information stored in the print information storage unit 204. It is determined whether or not the user who holds the terminal 100 is an apparatus manager registered in the image forming apparatus 200 in advance.

  The information on the device manager stored in the manager information storage unit 203 is, for example, the device manager information 2031 shown in FIG. This device administrator information 2031 is composed of, for example, a device administrator name 2031a, a contact (TEL) 2031b, a contact (Email) 2031c, a consumable purchase application destination 2031d, a failure content inquiry destination 2031e, and the like. is there. Note that TEL represents a telephone number, and Email represents an e-mail address.

Information on the device manager is input in advance on an operation panel 209 as an operation unit provided in the image forming apparatus 200, and is stored and registered in the manager information storage unit 203 by the control unit 210.
In addition, the device information determination unit 202 compares the user name received by the communication unit 201 with the user name included in the print job being printed by the print data processing unit 206, and determines whether or not they match. It is determined whether or not the user holding the terminal 100 is a user of a print job being printed.

  S301: The device information determination unit 202 of the image forming apparatus 200 generates an administrator information / device information table including the determination result in S300, and carries the administrator information / device information table as device information via the communication unit 201. It transmits to the terminal 100.

  As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the administrator information / device information table as device information is information indicating whether or not the user who holds the portable terminal 100 is a device administrator registered in the image forming apparatus 200 in advance. The phone number or email address to be contacted to the device administrator registered in the URL, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to which the consumables are purchased, the information indicating the failure content inquiry destination, the user holding the portable terminal 100 This is composed of information indicating whether or not the user is a print job being printed, and apparatus status which is information indicating the state of the image forming apparatus 200.

  FIG. 4A shows an administrator information / device information table 2032a as an example of a case where the user holding the portable terminal 100 is a general user who is not a device administrator and is a user of a print job. FIG. 4B shows an administrator information / device information table 2032b as an example in which the user who holds the portable terminal 100 is a general user who is not a device administrator and is not a user of a print job. FIG. 4C shows an administrator information / device information table 2032a as an example of a case where the user holding the portable terminal 100 is the device manager and not the user of the print job.

  S201: The operation selection determination unit 103 of the portable terminal 100 selects an operation option for the image forming apparatus 200 from information stored in the operation option storage unit 104 based on the administrator information / device information table received via the communication unit 107. To extract.

  Here, the information stored in the operation option storage unit 104 is, for example, operation option information 1041 shown in FIG. The operation option information 1041 includes, as options, “Contact device administrator”, “Print cancel”, “Continue printing with another printer”, “Continue printing in monochrome”, “Application for purchase of consumables”, “Inquiry about failure contents” In addition, the values for determining whether or not the option can be selected are classified into “general user”, “printing user”, “device manager”, “device error / warning”, and “K toner remaining”. It has been done.

  It should be noted that “◯” in the operation option information 1041 indicates that an option corresponding to the value can be selected, and a blank indicates that an option corresponding to the value cannot be selected. The K toner represents black (black) toner. Further, an error represents an abnormal state of the apparatus that cannot perform a printing operation, and a warning represents a warning state that is approaching an abnormality that can perform a printing operation but cannot perform a printing operation.

  For example, when the administrator information / device information table received by the operation selection determination unit 103 is the administrator information / device information table 2032a shown in FIG. 4A, the operation selection determination unit 103 is a user holding the portable terminal 100. Are “general user” and “printing user”, the apparatus status is “magenta toner out”, “cyan toner LOW”, and it is determined that a sufficient amount of K toner remains because it is not LOW. The operation option information 1041 shown in FIG. “LOW” represents a state where printing can be performed but the remaining amount of toner is low.

  S202: The management unit 102 of the mobile terminal 100 displays an operation instruction screen on the display unit 106 using the options extracted from the operation option information 1041 by the operation selection determination unit 103 as operation options. This operation instruction screen is, for example, the operation instruction screen 61 shown in FIG. 6A, and includes “contact device manager”, “cancel printing”, “continue printing with another printer”, and “continue printing in monochrome”. It is the screen which displayed the operation choice so that selection was possible by a user's operation.

  When the administrator information / device information table received by the operation selection determination unit 103 is the administrator information / device information table 2032b shown in FIG. 4B, the operation selection determination unit 103 is a user holding the portable terminal 100. Is a “general user”, not a “printing user”, and the apparatus status is “magenta toner out” and “cyan toner LOW”, and it is determined that a sufficient amount of K toner remains because it is not LOW. Further, “contact device manager” is extracted as an option with reference to the operation option information 1041 shown in FIG.

  The management unit 102 selects an operation instruction screen that uses the options extracted from the operation option information 1041 by the operation selection determination unit 103 as an operation option, for example, an operation option “contact device administrator” as shown in FIG. The operation instruction screen 62 displayed so as to be selectable by the operation is displayed on the display unit 106.

  Furthermore, when the administrator information / device information table received by the operation selection determination unit 103 is the administrator information / device information table 2032c shown in FIG. 4C, the operation selection determination unit 103 is a user who holds the portable terminal 100. Is “device manager”, the state of the device is “magenta toner out”, “cyan toner LOW”, and it is determined that a sufficient amount of K toner remains because it is not LOW, and the operation option information shown in FIG. With reference to 1041, “consumable purchase purchase” and “failure content inquiry” are extracted as options.

  The management unit 102 is an operation instruction screen using the options extracted from the operation option information 1041 by the operation selection determination unit 103 as operation options, for example, “consumable purchase purchase” and “failure content” as shown in FIG. The operation instruction screen 63 is displayed on the display unit 106 in such a manner that the operation option of “inquiry” can be selected by the user's operation.

  S101: It is assumed that the user performs an operation of selecting an operation option on the operation instruction screen displayed on the display unit 106 of the mobile terminal 100.

  S203: The management unit 102 of the portable terminal 100 inputs an operation instruction (command) corresponding to the user's selection operation on the operation instruction screen received by the display unit 106 by the operation instruction input unit 105, and receives an image via the communication unit 107. Transmit to forming apparatus 200.

  When the operation option is not executed by the image forming apparatus 200 but executed by the mobile terminal 100, an operation corresponding to the operation option is executed on the mobile terminal 100 in this step.

  For example, in S101, when the operation option “contact device administrator” on the operation instruction screen is selected, the management unit 102 of the portable terminal 100 is for contacting the device administrator shown in FIG. A screen 71 is displayed on the display unit 106. The screen 71 for contacting the device administrator is displayed to the device administrator based on the information of “contact information of the device administrator” included in the administrator information / device information table 2032a shown in FIG. TEL (telephone) and Email are displayed as options of “call device manager” and “device manager mail”.

  Further, not only “magenta toner out” that is an apparatus error but also “cyan toner LOW” that is an apparatus warning is displayed at the same time. Consumables that are about to be replaced are displayed at the same time. As a result, the user can grasp the status of all consumables with a single operation, and can request replacement.

  When “call device manager” is selected, the management unit 102 of the portable terminal 100 calls the phone number of the device manager, and when “device manager mail” is selected, the management unit 102 An e-mail is sent to the email address of the device manager along with the contents.

  Similarly, in S101, when the “consumable purchase purchase” operation option on the operation instruction screen is selected, the management unit 102 of the mobile terminal 100 applies for the purchase of the consumable as shown in FIG. The screen 72 is displayed on the display unit 106. The screen 72 for applying for purchase of consumables, for example, purchases consumables based on the information of “consumable purchase purchase destination” included in the administrator information / device information table 2032c shown in FIG. “Open consumables purchase application destination” associated with the URL of the application destination is displayed as an option. When the management unit 102 detects that the “open consumables purchase application destination” is pressed, the management unit 102 connects to the corresponding URL, displays the consumables purchase destination homepage screen on the display unit 106, and can purchase the consumables. To be. At this time, designation of necessary consumables based on the value of the device status may be automatically input to the field on the screen on the URL.

  Further, in S101, when the operation option “inquiry of failure content” is selected on the operation instruction screen, the management unit 102 of the mobile terminal 100 displays a screen 73 for inquiring about the failure content shown in FIG. Displayed on the display unit 106. The screen 72 for inquiring about the content of the failure corresponds to the inquiry destination of the failure content based on the information of “inquiry destination of the failure content” included in the administrator information / device information table 2032c shown in FIG. 4C, for example. The attached “Inquire about failure details” is displayed as an option. When the management unit 102 detects the pressing of “inquire about failure details”, the management unit 102 connects to a corresponding failure content inquiry destination. At this time, as shown in the screen 73 of FIG. 7C, a photograph or a moving image of the image forming apparatus 200 is taken by the portable terminal 100 as necessary, and can be sent to the in-fault inquiry destination together with the apparatus status. And It is assumed that the inquiry destination of the failure contents can be any inquiry destination such as an in-house database or an email address of a specific person in charge.

  Thus, the portable terminal 100 shall perform the operation | movement selected using functions, such as a telephone function, an e-mail function, a camera function, a browser.

  S302: The image forming apparatus 200 that has received the operation instruction from the portable terminal 100 executes the instructed operation according to the received operation instruction.

  For example, in the case where the image forming apparatus 200 holds the administrator information / device information table 2032a shown in FIG. 4A, the “print” is displayed from the portable terminal 100 displaying the screen 61 shown in FIG. When “Cancel” is instructed, the image forming apparatus 200 cancels (cancels) a print job in which the print data processing unit 206 has stopped printing due to magenta toner running out.

  Also, the image forming apparatus 200 that holds the administrator information / device information table 2032a shown in FIG. 4A is out of magenta toner, but has enough K toner, so “continue printing in monochrome”. When the operation instruction is received, monochrome printing with K toner is possible, so printing of subsequent pages is continued with only K toner.

  S303: In S203, the image forming apparatus 200 determines whether or not the operation instruction received from the portable terminal 100 is “continuous printing with another printer”, and when it is determined that “continuous printing with another printer”. The print data processing unit 206 transmits a print job (print data being printed) whose printing has been stopped due to magenta toner exhaustion to the mobile terminal 100, and the mobile terminal 100 receives the print job transmitted from the image forming apparatus 200. And stored in the storage unit. On the other hand, when the operation instruction is not “continuous printing with another printer”, the image forming apparatus 200 ends the process.

  The print job may be transmitted by short-range wireless communication by NFC, or by a communication method such as establishing and transmitting a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication at the time of short-range wireless communication by NFC. Any communication method may be used as long as it can transmit a print job.

  S102: It is assumed that the user holds the portable terminal 100 that has received the print job and stored in the storage unit over the NFC reader of another image forming apparatus 200 that continues printing.

  S204: The communication unit 107 of the portable terminal 100 establishes short-range wireless communication using NFC with the communication unit 201 of another image forming apparatus 200, and starts NFC communication. The mobile terminal 100 that has established short-range wireless communication transmits a print job to the image forming apparatus 200 as another image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus 200 receives the print job transmitted from the mobile terminal 100 and stores it in the storage unit. Remember.

  Note that the transmission of the print job from the portable terminal 100 to the image forming apparatus 200 may be performed by short-range wireless communication using NFC, and wireless LAN communication is established and transmitted during short-range wireless communication using NFC. The communication method may be used, and any communication method can be used as long as it can transmit a print job.

  S400: The print data expansion unit 205 and the print data processing unit 206 of the image forming apparatus 200 that have received a print job from the portable terminal 100 start printing and perform printing using the received print job.

  As described above, in this embodiment, an appropriate operation option can be selected on the display unit 106 of the mobile terminal 100 according to the user who holds the mobile terminal 100 over the image forming apparatus 200 and the state of the apparatus of the image forming apparatus 200. By displaying it, the user can easily perform operations such as contacting the device administrator, canceling the print job, continuing printing with another image forming device, requesting purchase of consumables, and inquiring about the content of the failure. It becomes possible to select, and a more convenient operation can be provided to the user.

Here, a modification of the present embodiment will be described.
In the above-described embodiment, the example using the operation unit of the portable terminal has been described. However, the operation unit (operation display unit) of the image forming apparatus and the operation unit and display unit of the personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) are used. It may be used.

  An image forming system 310 according to a modification is configured such that an image forming apparatus A300, an image forming apparatus B301, and a PC 303 are communicably connected via a LAN 302 as a communication line.

  In FIG. 9, for example, when the user operates the operation panel after logging in to the image forming apparatus A300 using IC card authentication, the user name stored in the IC card or the like is used in S300 of FIG. The operation options may be displayed on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus A300.

  When the user logs in to the PC 303 and operates the operation unit, the user name may be input through the operation unit in S300 of FIG. 3 and the determined operation option may be displayed on the display unit of the PC 303.

  When the operation options are displayed on the display unit of the PC 303, they are displayed on a status monitor screen that displays the state of the image forming apparatus. In this case, when accessing the image forming apparatus from the status monitor, user information of the logged-in user is transmitted, the image forming apparatus selects a display message and transmits it to the status monitor, and the status monitor itself selects an operation option based on the user in use. Shall be displayed in a different manner.

As described above, when the user logs in to the image forming apparatus A300 or the PC 303, information displayed on the operation panel or the display unit is changed based on the logged-in user information.
First, the case where the operation panel of the image forming apparatus A300 is used will be described.

  In this case, an appropriate operation option can be selected on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus A300 according to the user who has logged into the image forming apparatus A300 and the state of the apparatus of the image forming apparatus A300. That is, the image forming apparatus 200 includes the mobile terminal 100 (see FIG. 1) as the information processing apparatus described in the above-described embodiment.

  The operation options displayed on the operation panel are the same as the operation options described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, and “Contact device administrator”, “Application for purchase of consumables”, or “Inquiry about failure contents” are displayed. When selected, the user is prompted to hold the portable terminal over the NFC reader, and the selected operation is performed using functions such as a telephone function, an e-mail function, a camera function, and a browser of the portable terminal.

  When the image forming apparatus A300 is provided with an e-mail function or a browser function, it may be possible to make an e-mail contact or purchase application using the browser on the operation panel.

When “cancel printing” or “continue printing in monochrome” is selected, the above-described operation corresponding to the selected operation option is executed in the image forming apparatus A300.
Further, when “continuous printing with another printer” is selected, the image forming apparatus A300 transmits the print job being printed to another image forming apparatus B301 connected to the LAN 302, and the other image forming apparatus B301. Continue printing.

  When “continuous printing with another printer” is selected, the image forming apparatus A300 displays, for example, a screen 91 shown in FIG. 10 on the operation panel. In this screen 91, when “printer B” is selected as a printer to continue printing by a user operation, the image forming apparatus A300 transmits a print job (print data) being printed to an image forming apparatus B301 which is another image forming apparatus. And printing is continuously performed by the image forming apparatus B301.

Next, a case where the display unit and the operation unit of the PC 303 are used will be described.
The operation options displayed on the display unit are the same as the operation options described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, and “contact the device administrator”, “consumable purchase purchase”, or “failure content inquiry” are displayed. When selected, the user is prompted to hold the portable terminal over the NFC reader, and the selected operation is executed using functions of the portable terminal such as telephone, e-mail, camera, and browser.

  If “cancel printing” or “continue printing in monochrome” is selected, the PC 303 and the image forming apparatus A 300 execute an operation corresponding to the selected operation option. In this case, the PC 303 transmits an instruction to cancel printing or to continue printing in monochrome to the image forming apparatus A300.

  Further, when “continuous printing with another printer” is selected, the PC 303 transmits a print job being printed by the image forming apparatus A300 to another image forming apparatus B301 connected to the LAN 302, and the other image forming apparatus. Printing is continued in B301.

  When “continuous printing with another printer” is selected, the PC 303 displays, for example, a screen 91 shown in FIG. 10 on the display unit. When “printer B” is selected as a printer to continue printing by user operation on this screen 91, the PC 303 transmits a print job being printed by the image forming apparatus A 300 to the image forming apparatus B 301, and the image forming apparatus B 301. Continue printing.

  As described above, the operation options may be displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus A300 or the PC 303 which is an apparatus other than the mobile terminal. In this case, the image forming apparatus A300 or the PC 303 corresponds to the information processing apparatus (the portable terminal 100 shown in FIG. 1) in the above-described embodiment.

  Even in the modified example, the user can select operations such as contact with the apparatus administrator, cancellation of the print job, continuous printing with another image forming apparatus, purchase of consumables, and inquiry about the content of the trouble with simple operations. Thus, a more convenient operation can be provided to the user.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the user can easily perform operations such as contacting the apparatus administrator, canceling a print job, continuous printing on another image forming apparatus, application for purchasing consumables, and inquiring about the content of a failure. This makes it possible to select a user with a simple operation, providing a user with a more convenient operation and improving the convenience of the operation.

In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus has been described as a printer. However, the image forming apparatus is not limited thereto, and may be a copier, a facsimile machine, a multifunction peripheral (MFP), or the like.
In addition, the mobile terminal can be any mobile terminal such as a so-called smart phone, tablet terminal, and notebook PC including a mobile phone.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming system 101 Terminal information storage part 102 Management part 103 Operation option determination part 104 Operation option storage part 105 Operation instruction input part 106 Display part 107,201 Communication part 110,210 Control part 200 Image forming apparatus 202 Device information determination part 203 Administrator information storage unit 204 Print information storage unit 205 Print data development unit 206 Print data processing unit 209 Operation panel

Claims (8)

An image forming system in which an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus can communicate,
The image forming apparatus includes:
A device information generation unit that generates device information based on user information received from the information processing device;
A communication unit that communicates with the information processing device and transmits the device information to the information processing device;
Have
The information processing apparatus includes:
A communication unit that communicates with the image forming apparatus and receives the apparatus information;
An operation option generation unit that generates operation options based on the apparatus information received from the image forming apparatus;
A display unit that displays the operation options and receives an operation of selecting the operation options;
Have
The information processing apparatus instructs the image forming apparatus to perform an operation based on the selected operation option. The image forming system according to claim 1,
The device information is
Information on whether or not the user of the information processing apparatus is an apparatus manager of the image forming apparatus;
Information on whether or not the user of the information processing apparatus is a user who has instructed printing on the image forming apparatus;
Contact information of device administrator,
Consumables purchase application information,
Failure details inquiry information,
Device status information,
An image forming system comprising: The image forming system according to claim 1 or 2,
The operation options are:
An image forming system comprising an operation instruction for the image forming apparatus. The image forming system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The operation options are:
An image forming system comprising at least one of options of contacting an apparatus administrator, canceling printing, continuing printing with another image forming apparatus, continuing printing in monochrome, purchasing a consumable, and inquiring about a failure content. The image forming system according to claim 4.
The operation of continuing printing in another image forming apparatus as the operation option is an operation of continuing printing by transmitting print data being printed by the image forming apparatus to another image forming apparatus. . The image forming system according to claim 4.
In the operation of continuing printing in another image forming apparatus as the operation option, the information processing apparatus receives print data being printed by the image forming apparatus from the image forming apparatus, and transmits the data to another image forming apparatus for printing. An image forming system characterized in that the operation continues. The image forming system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The image forming system characterized in that the operation selected by the operation option uses a telephone function, an e-mail function, or a camera function of the information processing apparatus. The image forming system according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The image forming system, wherein the operation option is displayed on a display unit of an apparatus other than the information processing apparatus.

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