JP4390985B2 - Output device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, output equipment, and more particularly, on the basis of the Internet URL read from the portable electronic devices, an output equipment for performing output to download the information of the earth drawing, etc., Internet services and network about the output equipment that can be applied to printing.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Currently, portable electronic devices typified by mobile phones are becoming popular. Unlike conventional PCs, portable electronic devices are very easy to use by specializing in single-purpose applications. Examples of portable electronic devices include cellular phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance), which have a telephone function and hold schedule management information, address book information, telephone book information, and the like. In addition, the recent movement of these portable electronic devices is compatible with the Internet.
[0003]
For example, E-mail can be used to communicate with people from all over the world in real time and anywhere using a home location phone, and information on the Internet can be directly retrieved and data can be retrieved using a web browser. be able to. Also, by applying such functions, you can search for maps provided on the Internet, online shopping, ticket arrangements, and even bank transfers using a mobile phone.
[0004]
On the other hand, there are cases where printing means are not provided as a weak point of these portable electronic devices. This is because the software (printer driver) for using the printer does not work on the portable electronic device because it is specialized for a single purpose, and because portability was emphasized, there was no connector to connect to the printer. There is a wear factor.
[0005]
In the situation described above, portable electronic devices are generally provided with only a small display panel. Therefore, if you want to see the information referred to in the portable electronic device in a large display state, you must always use paper. This is especially strong in the field of map search that requires large images. However, since the portable electronic device is very inexpensive, it is impossible for the user to purchase a dedicated printer that is several to several tens of times more expensive than the portable electronic device body.
[0006]
Copiers installed in convenience stores and general offices are now almost digitized and converted to MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), and have a printing function that responds to printing requests from PCs and other devices. Are often connected to a network and shared on an intranet / Internet. Therefore, there is a demand for a system that connects an MFP installed in such a convenience store or office to a portable electronic device and provides printing means for the field of maps, for example. In this system, high-resolution print information that can withstand actual printing is acquired and printed from e-mail information held by the mobile electronic device or a URL that specifies relatively low-resolution information referenced from the mobile electronic device. A function that can be used is desired.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances described above, the output equipment having a function of portable electronic devices to obtain information such as the reference destination URL information from the example, high resolution information for printing and held output Is intended to provide.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention of claim 1 is connectable to a portable electronic device, and includes a low-resolution map content information for a portable electronic device displayed on the portable electronic device and a URL of the map content information for the portable electronic device. An output device that can be connected to a map content information storage server that stores high-resolution general-purpose map content information whose storage location is defined by a one-to-one URL, and the portable electronic device stores the bookmark as a bookmark Extraction means for extracting the URL of the map content information for the mobile electronic device, and conversion means for converting the extracted URL of the map content information for the mobile electronic device into the corresponding URL of the map content information for general use The map content information for the general public is converted into the URL based on the converted URL of the general content information. And means for downloading from FIG content information storage server, is obtained by comprising: an output means for outputting the public map content information download,.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the invention, in the invention of claim 1, said output means is obtained by being a means for outputting to print the public content information the downloaded.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus which is an embodiment of an output apparatus according to the present invention. Hereinafter, each component of the printing apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described.
The printing unit 1 can execute printing upon receiving a print processing request from the central processing unit 2. In addition, the current number of prints can be notified to the central processing unit 2.
[0019]
The central processing unit 2 can issue a print processing request to the printing unit 1. In addition, it is possible to receive a user request through the operation unit 3 and to notify the user of the apparatus status and warning information. Further, communication with other devices connected to the network through the network interface unit 4 is possible. Further, it is possible to communicate one-to-one with a device such as a mobile phone through the one-to-one interface unit 5. Further, it controls processing such as URL extraction, map information download, and print instruction according to the present invention.
[0020]
The operation unit 3 is connected to the central processing unit 2 and has an information display function and an input function such as a “print” button.
The network interface unit 4 has a function for connecting to a network, can transmit information to and from other OA devices, and has a unique network identifier. Further, a request from the central processing unit 2 is sent to the network, and information from the network is transmitted to the central processing unit 2.
[0021]
The one-to-one interface unit 5 is an interface for one-to-one connection with a portable electronic device such as a cellular phone. The one-to-one interface unit 5 converts the request of the central processing unit 2 and transmits the request to the cellular phone. It can be transmitted to the central processing unit 2.
[0022]
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a configuration between OA devices on which the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 operates. The printing apparatus 10 is connected to a portable electronic device 20 such as a mobile phone by the one-to-one interface unit 5 shown in FIG. One-to-one connection is possible, and the network interface unit 5 can be connected to the Internet 30. The printing apparatus 10 can access the map information content server 40 via the Internet 30 to search and download information.
[0023]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a portable electronic device connected to the printing apparatus, in which 50 is a mobile phone, 51 is a display unit, 52 is a mobile phone interface, 53 is a cable connection end cover, and 54 is an interface cable. , 60 is a portable information device, 61 is a portable information device body, 62 is a display unit, 63 is a pen-type input device, and 64 is a portable information device interface.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 3, for example, a portable information device 60 capable of inputting information by a pen-type input device 63 may be connected to the one-to-one interface unit 5 of the printing apparatus 10 using a portable information device interface 64. Alternatively, the mobile phone 50 may be directly connected using the mobile phone interface 52. That is, when the mobile phone 50 holds information such as an electronic mail including a URL, the mobile phone 50 may be directly connected to the printing apparatus 10, and the mobile phone 50 and the portable information device 60 May be connected to transfer information including the URL to the portable information device 60, and then the portable information device 60 may be connected to the printing apparatus 10 for use. In the embodiment described below, an example in which the mobile phone 50 is used as the mobile electronic device 20 connected to the printing apparatus 10 will be described. However, as described above, the mobile electronic device 20 is portable as shown in FIG. Similar processing is possible by connecting the type information device 60 and downloading data.
[0025]
( Reference Example 1)
First, a third party connects to the Internet using a personal computer or the like, searches for map information from a server that provides a map service, and sends the searched contents to the mobile phone 50 by e-mail as shown in FIG. 4, for example. To do. The point here is that the URL searched with a personal computer or the like is stored in the e-mail as it is.
[0026]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing until URL data is downloaded by the mobile phone 50 that has received an e-mail created by a third party as described above. The mobile phone 50 that has received the e-mail created by the third party is connected to the printing apparatus 10 using the one-to-one interface unit 5 shown in FIG. 1 (step S1).
[0027]
The central processing unit 2 of the printing apparatus 10 reads and extracts one line of the URL portion of the e-mail received by the mobile phone 50 using a predetermined algorithm (step S2), and stores the pattern URL pattern search data stored in advance. Is compared to determine whether there is an equal one (step S3). FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of map URL pattern search data held by the printing apparatus 10.
[0028]
In step S3, if there is no map URL that is equal to the stored map URL, the process proceeds to the end of processing (step S4). If there is an equal map URL, a display for confirming the printing intention to the user is displayed through the operation unit 3. This is performed (step S5). When the user inputs that the print is approved (step S6), the central processing unit 2 sends the map information data according to the corresponding URL extracted through the network interface unit 4 via the Internet 30 to the map information content server 40. (Step S7), and printing is performed by the printing unit 1 (step S8).
[0029]
Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating a more detailed example of a process for reading URL from the e-mail portable electronic device holds. First, a user who wants information (for example, map information) connects the mobile phone 50 to the printing apparatus 10 of the present invention, and transmits an e-mail held by the mobile phone 50 to the printing apparatus 10 (step S11). To S12).
[0030]
The printing apparatus 10 that has received the e-mail confirms the model and data format of the mobile phone 50 (step S13). That is, for example, when the data format differs depending on the communication method of a normal mobile phone and PHS, or a mobile phone, such processing is necessary.
[0031]
The printing apparatus 10 confirms whether the URL data is included in the e-mail data according to the data format confirmed by the confirmation process (step S14). If the URL data is directly included in the e-mail data, it is further determined whether or not the URL is placed in a certain position based on the data format confirmed in step S13 (step S15). If so, the URL placed at that position is read (step S16).
[0032]
If the position where the URL is placed is not determined in step S15, that is, if it is sent with data that does not know where the URL is placed, all the data other than the basic data of the e-mail is read (step S15). S20) Compared with a pre-stored URL fixed format (step S21), data conforming to the fixed format is read as a URL (step S16).
[0033]
If the URL is not included in the e-mail in step S14, if there is attached data, the attached data is opened and the presence or absence of the URL is confirmed (steps S17 to S18). If the URL is included, the process proceeds to step S15, where the position of the URL is determined according to the format of the attached data, and the URL is read according to the result. If the URL is not included in step S18, the fact is notified to the user (step S19).
[0034]
( Example)
First, a third party connects to the Internet 30 using a personal computer or the like, searches for map information from the map information content server 40 that provides a map service, adds a comment, and saves it as a document on the server. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the above document. In the map server, the document to which a comment is added is stored as content for general use and content for portable electronic device, and at this time, the URLs of the content of both are one-to-one. Is associated with.
[0035]
The user uses the mobile phone 50 to refer to the document stored in the server, and when the user likes the referred document, the URL holding means called “bookmark” or the like is used to store the document including map information. Save the URL.
[0036]
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining processing until URL data is downloaded by the mobile phone 50 that has received an e-mail created by a third party as described above. The user connects the mobile phone 50 storing the URL to the printing apparatus 10 (step S31). The central processing unit 2 of the printing apparatus 10 reads and extracts the “bookmark” URL stored in the mobile phone 50 (step S32), and compares it with the pattern URL pattern search data stored in advance ( If there is no map URL that is equal to the stored map URL and the bookmark is to be ended, the process proceeds to the determination of the end of the process (step S34). Through the confirmation display, confirmation of the printing intention to the user is performed (steps S35 to S36).
[0037]
If the user approves printing in step S36, the URL is converted using the conversion table shown in FIG. 10 stored in advance in the printing apparatus 10 (step S37), and the URL data converted through the network interface unit 4 is converted. Is downloaded from the Internet and printed (steps S38 to S39). That is, the conversion table is for converting a low-resolution URL for a portable electronic device held by the mobile phone 50 into a URL corresponding to high-resolution data for Web.
[0038]
( Reference Example 2 )
As a service for connecting the mobile phone 50 to the Internet, for example, there is i-mode (registered trademark). Among the contents provided by the Internet 30, contents that can be viewed on i-mode (registered trademark) and contents that can be viewed on the Web are usually different. In fact, i-mode (registered trademark) can be accessed even if it is the same, but there is a capacity limit for display, color display is impossible on a monochrome screen, the screen size is small, etc. Since there are many restrictions depending on the model, the site operator actually creates and distributes i-mode (registered trademark) content and Web content separately.
[0039]
In this reference example, when a user browses the homepage of the map information providing service for i-mode (registered trademark) using, for example, i-mode (registered trademark) and thinks that “I want to print out this map”, the i-mode is registered. A map page for (registered trademark) is registered in the bookmark of the mobile phone 50, a cable is connected to the printing apparatus 10 of the present invention, and the corresponding URL is selected from the bookmarks that the printing apparatus 10 sucks up. Then, the printing apparatus 10 appears on the Internet 30 and fetches a map page from the map information content server 40. At that time, a bookmarked i-mode (registered trademark) page is used by using a predetermined algorithm. Instead, it downloads a web page and prints it out.
[0040]
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining processing of the printing apparatus according to the reference example. First, the user uses, for example, an i-mode (registered trademark) mobile phone 50 as a portable electronic device, browses a mobile electronic device homepage (for example, a homepage of a map information providing service), and “want to print out this map”. If so, a portable URL that specifies the map page for the portable electronic device is registered in the bookmark.
[0041]
Next, the mobile phone 50 is connected to the printing apparatus 10 such as a printer or a copier using a cable. Further, the printing apparatus 10 may be provided with an I / F that can directly connect the mobile phone 50.
[0042]
Next, the user selects a URL from the bookmarks held by the mobile phone 50. This selection can be performed, for example, when the user touches a target URL displayed on the selection screen of the printing apparatus 10. Further, the selection screen may be configured to be displayed on the display of the mobile phone 50.
[0043]
If the URL is selected, the printing apparatus 10 goes to the Internet 30 and acquires a map page from the map information content server 40. At this time, as the map displayed on the screen of the printing apparatus 10, either the image of the page for the portable electronic device or the image of the web page is predetermined or can be selected and designated. The printing device 10 downloads the map page information for the Web, not the map page information for the portable electronic device registered in the bookmark, and outputs a print or the like.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a URL that specifies a relatively low-resolution information referred from mobile electronic device to obtain a high-resolution printing information that can withstand actual printing printing Therefore, it is possible to provide an output device and a printing device that are very convenient for the user and can induce profits for the content distributor by increasing the demand for the content.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus that is an embodiment of an output apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a configuration between OA devices on which the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 operates.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a portable electronic device connected to a printing apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which searched contents are sent to a portable electronic device by electronic mail.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing until URL data is downloaded by a portable electronic device that has received an electronic mail created by a third party.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of map URL pattern search data held by the printing apparatus.
7 is a flowchart for portable electronic equipment will be described more detailed example of a process for reading URL from the e-mail held.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a document obtained by searching for map information and adding a comment.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining another process until URL data is downloaded by a mobile electronic device that has received an electronic mail created by a third party.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a URL is converted using a conversion table stored in advance in a printing apparatus.
11 is a diagram for explaining processing executed by the printing apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing part, 2 ... Central processing part, 3 ... Operation part, 4 ... Network interface part, 5 ... One-to-one interface part, 10 ... Printing apparatus, 20 ... Portable electronic device, 30 ... Internet, 40 ... Map information content server , 50 ... mobile phone, 51 ... display unit, 52 ... mobile phone interface, 53 ... cable connection end cover, 54 ... interface cable, 60 ... portable information device, 61 ... display unit, 62 ... portable information device body, 63 ... Pen-type input device, 64 ... Portable information device interface.

Claims (2)

It is connectable with a portable electronic device, and is associated with the low-resolution map content information for portable electronic devices displayed on the portable electronic device and the URL of the map content information for portable electronic devices on a one-to-one basis. An output device connectable to a map content information storage server for storing high-resolution general-purpose map content information whose storage location is defined by a URL,
Extraction means for extracting the URL of the map content information for the portable electronic device stored as a bookmark in the portable electronic device;
Conversion means for converting the URL of the extracted map content information for portable electronic devices into the corresponding URL of the map content information for general use;
Means for downloading the general map content information from the map content information storage server based on the converted URL of the general content information;
And an output means for outputting the downloaded map content information for the general public. The output device according to claim 1,
Output means, the output device, characterized in that the means for outputting to print the public content information the downloaded.

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