JP4127160B2 - Image forming system and partial printing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system and a partial printing method, and more particularly, to an image forming system and a partial printing method for printing a part of a book, a magazine, or the like desired by a customer at a bookstore or a convenience store.

  In recent years, systems for providing information have greatly advanced, and various types of information storage media of small size and high capacity have been provided. In particular, the IC chip has the characteristics that the price is reduced, the amount of information is increased, the rewriting is easy, but the security is strong.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses an information providing system that accesses a server based on information read from an IC chip and prints data downloaded from the server.

  By the way, when a customer looks at a magazine or the like at a bookstore or a convenience store, the magazine may not always be purchased even if the magazine contains the desired information. The cause can be a disproportionation between the desired amount of information and the price of the entire magazine. If the desired information can be obtained at a fee including the copyright fee for only that part, it is considered that there are many customers who want to receive a partial printing service for only the desired page.

  The information providing system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a simple method, but does not suggest a system that prints information that is printed in a magazine or the like taken at a storefront on the spot.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for providing a copy service in which barcodes and glyphs are printed on each page of a book, charging information is read from these pages, and the corresponding page is printed.

According to this copy service providing method, a desired page of a book taken at a store can be printed. However, because it is a billing system on a page basis, for example, if you want to purchase information in chapter units that span multiple pages, it requires cumbersome work, and the information you want to obtain is posted independently on a part of the page However, it is impossible to obtain only a part of it.
JP 2002-342519 A JP 2002-209039 A

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve a copyright problem by using a small IC chip having a relatively large amount of information, and to make a selection of a desired print portion by a simple operation and a book with a wide range of choices. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system and a partial printing method that enable partial printing services for magazines and the like.

In order to achieve the above object, the image forming system according to the present invention includes a unit print unit information and a billing information for each partial print unit stored in the IC chip from an IC chip embedded in the book. Reading means for reading information including at least, an image forming unit for printing information obtained by scanning at least a book, charging information display means for displaying charging information based on the charging information read by the reading means, A selection unit for causing a user to select a portion to be printed from unit information of partial printing read by the reading unit, and a charging request for requesting charging based on a selection result by the user in the selection unit and the charging information means, wherein it is determined whether the user corresponding to the charging request according to the charging request unit, when it is determined that the user has responded Control means for printing, by the image forming unit, information on a portion selected by the selection means among information read by the reading means or information obtained by scanning a book. And

  When one IC chip is embedded for one book (in this case, the IC chip is embedded on the front cover or back cover of the book), one IC chip may be embedded on each page of the book.

  When one IC chip is embedded in one book, billing information for each page of the book is stored in the IC chip. On the other hand, when an IC chip is embedded in each page of a book, chapters, paragraphs, billing information, etc. posted on the page are stored in the IC chip.

The partial printing method according to the present invention is a reading step of reading information including at least unit information of partial printing of the book and charging information for each partial printing unit stored in the IC chip from an IC chip embedded in the book When the a charging information display step of displaying the charging information on the basis of the charging information read by the reading step, a selection step of selecting the portion to be printed from the unit information read portion printed in the reading step to the user, the The charging request step for requesting charging based on the selection result by the user in the selection step and the charging information; whether or not the user responded to the charging request; Of the information or information obtained by scanning the book, the information on the selected portion is used as an image forming unit. Characterized in that and a printing step of printing at.

In the image forming system and the partial printing method according to the present invention, a user selects a portion to be printed from unit information of partial printing of a book read from an IC chip and responds to a billing request, whereby desired partial information is obtained. Printed. The user can print desired partial information in units of pages or in units of chapters or paragraphs.

  Further, the contents of articles published in books or images themselves may be stored in the IC chip. In this case, it is possible to obtain a print with good image quality by printing out the book publication content read from the IC chip.

  The image forming system according to the present invention may include means for accessing an external information storage device. By transmitting the printed information to a publisher's server or the like, the publisher can immediately obtain information on partial printing performed at each store.

  In the present invention, the book means all visible information publications such as a book, a magazine, a weekly magazine, a newspaper, and a pamphlet.

  According to the image forming system and the partial printing method of the present invention, since a small IC chip is used, it can be easily embedded in a book. In addition, since the IC chip has a large storage capacity, it can store most of the information of books necessary for partial printing. The user can obtain a desired partial printed matter by a simple operation of selecting information to be printed for each page or each chapter or paragraph.

  Also, since the information is printed on condition that the user responds to the billing request, there is no possibility of infringing the copyright.

  Embodiments of an image forming system and a partial printing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(IC chip and its embedded form, see FIGS. 1 and 2)
In the image forming system and the partial printing method according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the IC chip 10 is embedded in the cover of a book (which may be a back cover or a back cover). Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2, the IC chip 10 ′ is embedded in each page of the book.

  The IC chips 10 and 10 'are composed of a storage unit and an antenna unit, store data in the storage unit, transmit and receive data with the antenna unit, and read / write data without contact. As shown in FIG. 1, the IC chip 10 embedded in the cover of a book stores in advance a book name, author name, publisher name, print amount per page, publisher server address, and the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the IC chip 10 ′ embedded in each page of the book stores in advance the print amount, book name, author name, publisher name, publisher server address, etc. for each page. Has been.

(See Example 1, FIGS. 3 to 6)
Here, Example 1 will be described. The first embodiment relates to an image forming system and a partial printing method for printing information on a book in which an IC chip 10 is embedded in a cover as shown in FIG.

  First, a schematic configuration of the image forming system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The image forming system 100 includes an image reading unit 101, an image output unit 102, an IC chip reading unit 103, a storage unit 104, a control unit 105, a communication I / F unit 106, a charging unit 107, and a display unit 108. Yes.

  The image reading unit 101 includes a scanner that reads an image of a document placed on a document placement glass. The image output unit 102 prints an image on a sheet based on image data, and is configured by a mechanism for executing a known electrophotographic process.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the IC chip reading unit 103 reads information stored in the IC chip 10 embedded in the cover of the book in a non-contact manner. The reading unit 103 is attached to the cover unit of the image reading unit 101, and simultaneously reads information stored in the IC chip 10 when the image reading unit 101 scans an image of a book.

  The storage unit 104 temporarily holds image data read by scanning the document by the image reading unit 101 and information read by the IC chip reading unit 103. The control unit 105 controls each component of the image forming system 100, and in particular calculates an amount to be charged based on information obtained from the IC chip 10.

  The communication I / F unit 106 is an interface for communicating with other network devices. The billing unit 107 is a part that receives billing from the user with cash or a prepaid card.

  The display unit 108 is configured as a display unit of a normal copying machine. When the partial printing method according to the present invention is executed, the image reading unit 101 reads an image of a book as shown in FIG. The thumbnail image 111 is displayed for each page, the print amount for each page (see reference numeral 112) is displayed, and the total charge amount (see reference numeral 113) is also displayed.

  The display unit 108 is also configured as a touch panel. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, four thumbnail images 111 can be displayed, and page feed is performed for five or more images. Accordingly, keys 114 and 115 for selecting display of the previous page and the next page and an end key 116 are provided as a touch panel.

  Here, a control procedure when performing partial printing of a book in the image forming system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The control here is executed according to a program stored in advance by the CPU of the control unit 105.

  First, when a user looks at a book and places a page to be printed on the image reading unit 101 and presses the start key 120 (see FIG. 5), the IC chip reading unit 103 is stored in the IC chip 10. Data is read (see step S201).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the reading of data of the IC chip 10 is completed (see step S202). At this time, when the IC chip 10 is not set correctly (there is a book placement position defect or the like) or when reading a book that does not have the IC chip 10 fails to read. An error is displayed on the display unit 108 (see step S203), and the execution of step S201 is prompted again. The error display is, for example, “Please set the document properly” or “This document cannot be copied”.

  When the reading of data from the IC chip 10 is completed (YES in step S202), the charge amount of the page is extracted from the read data and stored in the storage unit 104 (see step S204). In step S204, the total amount per page is calculated as the charge amount for each job. At the same time, the image data read by the image reading unit 101 is stored in the storage unit 104 (see step S205).

  The display unit 108 displays the thumbnail image of the read page, the book name, the charge amount, and the total amount of each job as “current price” (see step S206).

  The above processing is repeated until the user presses the reading end key 116 (YES in step S207). When the user instructs completion of reading, the display unit 108 makes a charging request based on the total amount (see step S208).

  When the user finishes charging with charging unit 107 (YES in step S209), the image is printed out from image output unit 102 (see step S210). Alternatively, the image data is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 106 to another device in step S210.

  If the charging is not completed (NO in step S209), an error is displayed on the display unit 108 (see step S211). If the job is not canceled (NO in step S212), the process proceeds to step S208 and a charging request is made. Try again. If the job is canceled (YES in step S212), the job is discarded (see step S213), and this control routine is terminated.

(See Example 2, FIGS. 7 to 13)
Next, Example 2 will be described. The second embodiment relates to an image forming system and a partial printing method for printing information on a book in which an IC chip 10 'is embedded in each page as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the image forming system 100 'basically has the same configuration as the image forming system 100 shown in the first embodiment. The difference is that since the IC chip 10 'is embedded in each page, the reading unit of the IC chip 10 is installed in the image reading unit and configured as an IC chip / image reading unit 101'. Other components are the same as those in the first embodiment, and redundant description is omitted.

  When the contents posted on each page are as shown in FIG. 8, the contents stored in the IC chip 10 ′ embedded in each page are listed as follows (see FIG. 9). ).

Table of contents information (9-1)
Chapter start and end information (9-2)
Image billing information (9-3)
Information on what page of what chapter (9-4)
Billing information for each chapter and paragraph (9-5)
Image position information (9-6)
Chapter and paragraph position information (9-7)

  The above information is shown below using a specific data format (here, XML format). As shown on page 103 in FIG. 11, when there is data surrounded by tags in the IC chip 10 ′, the control unit 105 recognizes the <table of contents> of the tag and changes from <chapter> to “first chapter”. Get the price of 30 yen. This process is repeated up to </ table of contents> to obtain all table of contents information (9-1).

  Next, data that <page> of page 103 of <contents> and <chapter> 5.3 chapter </ chapter> <end of chapter> 103P </ end of chapter> to the end of chapter 5.3 are on this page. Get. Also, information that the beginning of chapter 5.4 exists in this page is obtained from <chapter> 5.4 chapter </ chapter> <chapter start> 103P </ chapter start>. In this way, information on the beginning and end of the chapter (9-2) is obtained.

  Since chapter 5.3 starts with page 102, it is understood that chapter 5.3 on page 103 is the second page of chapter 5.3, and information on what page number of chapter (9- 4) is obtained. The image charging information (9-3) and the image position information (9-6) are obtained by the control unit 105 detecting the <image> tag. Further, the charging information (9-5) for each chapter and paragraph and the position information (9-7) for the chapter and paragraph are obtained from the position and price when the control unit 105 detects the <chapter> tag.

  The data format of the stored contents of the IC chip 10 'is not limited to XML, and may be text data or binary data.

  Even if the information is other than the information, for example, information on the image itself posted on each page is stored in the IC chip 10 ′, and the stored image is output as a hard copy from the image output unit 102. Compared with the case where the image of each page is scanned and output as a hard copy, the image is not distorted or deteriorated, and the operation and processing are simplified.

  Here, a control procedure when performing partial printing of a book in the image forming system 100 ′ will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. The control here is executed according to a program stored in advance by the CPU of the control unit 105.

  First, the user looks at the book, places a page to be printed on the IC chip / image reading unit 101 ′, and presses the start key 120 (see FIG. 5), the IC chip / image reading unit 101 ′ Data stored in the IC chip 10 ′ is read (see step S401).

  Next, the process proceeds to step S501 shown in FIG. 13, and the read information of the IC chip 10 ′, that is, table of contents information (9-1), image charging information (9-3), charging information for each chapter and paragraph ( As shown in FIG. 10, information such as the table of contents, the price for each chapter, and the chapter or paragraph of the page currently opened on the IC chip / image reading unit 101 ′ is displayed (step 5-5). (See S501).

  When the user selects the page, paragraph, chapter, figure, etc. that he / she wants to print with touch keys 121-124 on display panel 108 (see FIG. 10), control unit 105 stores the selection information (see step S502). ). The data stored in the IC chip 10 ′, that is, the chapter and paragraph selected by the user from the beginning and end information (9-2) of the chapter are currently opened on the IC chip / image reading unit 101 ′. It is determined whether or not all are contained in a certain page (see step S503).

  If it fits like “Chapter 8” shown in FIG. 8 (YES in step S503), the page is read (see step S504), and the extra portion (next chapter, figure) not selected by the user is IC. Based on the information of the chip 10 ′, that is, the position information (9-6) of the image, the position information (9-7) of the chapter and the paragraph, it is erased and stored in the storage unit 104, and the charge amount to be requested from the user Is calculated (see step S505).

  On the other hand, if the chapter or paragraph selected by the user, such as “Chapter 5.2” shown in FIG. 8, does not fit on the currently opened page on the IC chip / image reading unit 101 ′ (NO in step S503). The data stored in the IC chip 10 ′, that is, the information (9-4) of the page number of the chapter and the information selected by the user are compared to determine whether the page is to be read. Determination is made (see steps S506 and S507).

  If it is not the corresponding page to be read (NO in step S507), the fact is displayed on the display panel 108, and the process returns to step S506. If it is a corresponding page to be read (YES in step S507), the page is read (see step S508), and an extra portion not selected by the user is read as information on the IC chip 10 ', that is, image position information (9- 6) Based on the position information (9-7) of the chapter and paragraph, it is erased and stored in the storage unit 104, and the charge amount to be requested from the user is calculated (see step S509).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the chapter or paragraph selected by the user is completed from the information on the IC chip 10 ′, that is, the chapter start and end information (9-2) (see step S510). If not, the process returns to step S506, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S402 shown in FIG.

  In step S402, the charged amount of the read page is extracted from the information stored in the IC chip 10 'and stored in the storage unit 104. The above processing is repeated until the user presses the reading end key 116 (YES in step S403). When the user instructs completion of reading, a charging amount for each job is calculated from the information of the read IC chip 10 ′ and the number of pages of the read image (see step S404), and a charging request is made on the display unit 108 based on the total amount. Is performed (see step S405).

  When the user finishes charging with charging unit 107 (YES in step S406), the image is printed out from image output unit 102 (see step S407). Alternatively, in step S407, the image data is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 106 to another device.

  If the charging is not completed (NO in step S406), an error is displayed on the display unit 108 (see step S408), and if the job is not canceled (NO in step S409), the process proceeds to step S406 and is charged It is determined again whether or not. If the job is canceled (YES in step S409), the job is discarded (see step S410), and this control routine is terminated.

(See Example 3, FIGS. 14 and 15)
In the third embodiment, the address of the server 501 (see FIG. 14) of the book publisher is stored in the IC chips 10 and 10 ′, so that the page numbers purchased by partial printing by the user are tabulated. It is a system that allows publishers to know in real time what is popular with users. If such processing is executed after all of the partial printing processing is completed, the processing speed of partial printing is not affected.

  In the publisher server 501, as shown in FIG. 14, partial print data 504 transmitted from the image forming systems 100 and 100 ′ installed in a bookstore or convenience store is stored as shown in a list 503. ,Tally. The transmission means is performed by a protocol or mail format for accessing the database.

  Next, a control procedure of transmission processing executed in the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This process is executed after the partial printing process in FIGS. 6, 12 and 13 is completed. That is, the control unit 105 of the image forming systems 100 and 100 'determines whether or not the read IC chips 10 and 10' have server address information (see step S601). If there is address information (YES in step S601), the server 501 of the publisher is accessed (see step S602). For security purposes, an account, a password, etc. may be stored in the IC chip 10, 10 'and accessed based thereon. If there is no address information (NO in step S601), this process ends.

  If the server 501 is accessed and there is a reply (YES in step S603), the information of the data 504 is transmitted to the server 501 (see step S604). This transmission is performed until no information is received by the server 501 (see step S605).

  On the other hand, when there is no reply from the server 501 (NO in step S603), the access to the server 501 is repeated until time-out (see step S606).

(Other examples)
The image forming system and the partial printing method according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified within the scope of the gist.

  In particular, details of the configuration of the image forming system, details of information stored in the IC chip, and the like are arbitrary.

1 is a perspective view showing a book used in Example 1. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a book used in Example 2. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an image forming system of Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming system of Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of a display unit in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the control procedure in Example 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming system according to a second exemplary embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the information published in the book. It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of 100 and 101 pages memorize | stored in IC chip in Example 2. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of a display unit in Embodiment 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of 102 and 103 pages memorize | stored in IC chip in Example 2. FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the control procedure in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart (continuation of FIG. 12) illustrating a control procedure in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a system configuration and a transmission list according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure in the third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10 '... IC chip 100, 100' ... Image forming system 101 ... Image reading part 101 '... IC chip / image reading part 102 ... Image output part 103 ... IC chip reading part 105 ... Control part 107 ... Billing part 108 ... Display unit 501 ... Publisher's server

Claims (5)

Reading means for reading from the IC chip embedded in the book information stored at least in the IC chip, including information on the partial printing of the book and charging information for each partial printing unit;
An image forming unit that prints at least information obtained by scanning a book;
Charging information display means for displaying charging information based on the charging information read by the reading means;
Selection means for causing a user to select a part to be printed from unit information of partial printing read by the reading means;
Charging request means for requesting charging based on a selection result by the user in the selection means and the charging information;
Determines whether the user corresponding to the by charging request the charging request unit, when it is determined that the user has responded, among the obtained by scanning the information or books read by the reading means information, said selecting means Control means for causing the image forming unit to print information on a portion selected by
An image forming system comprising:   The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the IC chip includes at least information on chapters and paragraphs published on each page of the book.   3. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising means for accessing an external information storage device, wherein the printed information is transmitted to the external information storage device. A step of reading from the IC chip embedded in the book, the information stored in the IC chip, including at least the unit information of the partial printing of the book and the charging information for each partial printing unit;
A billing information display step for displaying billing information based on the billing information read in the reading step;
A selection step for allowing the user to select a portion to be printed from the unit information of partial printing read in the reading step;
A charging request step for requesting charging based on a selection result by the user in the selection step and the charging information;
It is determined whether or not the user has responded to the billing request, and when it is determined that the user has responded, the information on the selected portion of the read information or the information obtained by scanning the book is displayed as an image forming unit. Printing steps to print at
A partial printing method comprising:   The IC chip includes at least chapter and paragraph information posted on each page of the book. In the selection step, the user selects information to be printed based on the chapter and paragraph information. The partial printing method according to claim 4, wherein:

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