JP4437634B2 - Printing system and printing output charging system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing system that prints out information and the like that can be browsed from an information providing server by a mobile phone using a printing apparatus connected to the Internet, and a printing output charging system suitable for charging for printing output.
[0002]
[Prior art]
  A mobile phone user uses an information providing server connected to the Internet using the mobile phone.InVarious information such as a map, various battery tickets, and electronic coupons can be acquired by accessing. Information acquired by the mobile phone user can be stored in the memory of the mobile phone and recalled to the display when necessary. In addition, data stored in a mobile phone is mail-transferred to an application server such as a computer, and the application server prints out the mail.
[0003]
For example, in the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-339237, the application server converts mail into print data using a printer adapter and transmits the print data to the printer, and the printer prints the received print data.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, if the amount of information acquired by the mobile phone user from the information providing server is large, the information is temporarily displayed on the display of the mobile phone, but is not stored in the memory built in the mobile phone. It may not be saved (ie, it will overflow from memory). In such a case, there is a problem that even if the acquired information is transmitted to an application server such as a computer, only a part of the information can be printed.
[0005]
Conventionally, when a mobile phone user accesses the information providing server while going out, the display of the mobile phone is small, so if the provided information is to be printed, immediate printing cannot be performed. Of course, if a small printer is always carried, printing is possible. However, this type of printer is not small and lightweight and is not suitable for carrying.
[0006]
An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of printing out information that can be browsed from an information providing server by a mobile phone by using a printing apparatus connected to the Internet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a print output billing system suitable for billing for print output.
[0007]
  The printing system of the present invention is a portable telephone.And aboveA printing system comprising: an information providing server for providing information to a mobile phone; and a printing apparatus connected to the information providing server via the Internet,Print request means for the mobile phone to make a print request to the information providing server, address acquisition means for accessing the printing apparatus and acquiring the address of the printing apparatus, and address acquired by the address acquisition means Address transmitting means for transmitting to the information providing server, the information providing server receiving a print request from the portable telephone, and an address for receiving the address transmitted by the address transmitting means When the receiving unit and the print request receiving unit receive the print request, the information corresponding to the print request is converted into a print file in a file format that can be output, and the address receiving unit receives the print device at the address received. Print file transmission means for transmitting a print file, and the printing apparatus includes the print file transmission means When the print file is received, a password is created, the password and the received print file are stored in association with each other, and the password is provided and transmitted to the information providing server. The server transmits the password transmitted from the password creation / transmission means to the mobile phone, and the printing apparatus determines that the input password matches the password stored by the password creation / transmission means. The print file stored in association with the password is printed.
[0008]
  The mobile phone may acquire the address of the printing apparatus via a wireless interface and input the password to the printing apparatus via a wireless interface.
[0009]
  Another printing system of the present invention is a printing system including an information providing server that provides information to a mobile phone, and a printing device connected to the information providing server via the Internet, The information providing server receives a print request from the mobile phone, an address receiving unit that receives the address of the printing apparatus from the mobile phone, and the print request receiving unit receives the print request. And print file transmission means for converting the information corresponding to the print request into a print file in a file format that can be output, and transmitting the print file to the printing apparatus at the address received by the address receiving means. An apparatus which accepts access from the portable telephone and responds with an address of the terminal itself; When the print file is received from the file transmission means, a password is created, and the password and the received print file are stored in association with each other, and the password creation / transmission means for sending the password to the information providing server is provided. The information providing server transmits the password received from the password creation / transmission means to the mobile phone, and the printing device matches the password stored by the password creation / transmission means. The above print file stored in association with the password is printed.
[0010]
  The print output billing system of the present invention is a print output billing system using the above-described printing system, and charges the user of the portable telephone for the print output of the information by the printing apparatus. It is what.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a printing system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the printing system 1 includes an Internet facsimile machine 101, a mobile phone 102, a mobile phone communication system 103, and an information providing server 104.
[0017]
The Internet facsimile machine 101 is connected to the Internet 100. The “Internet facsimile machine” is a network compatible facsimile machine capable of sending and receiving electronic mail. There are many different ways to connect to the Internet. For example, a dial-up connection type Internet facsimile machine may be connected to a provider with a flat fee per month and always connected, and a LAN connection type Internet facsimile machine may be connected to a LAN by a dedicated line.
[0018]
The mobile phone 102 can make a normal call via the mobile phone communication system 103 and can be connected to the information providing server 104. Note that the mobile phone 102 and the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 can transmit and receive data via a wireless interface such as Bluetooth.
[0019]
The portable telephone communication system 103 includes a number of base stations 1031 and a gateway 1032, which are interconnected by a portable telephone line network 1033. The information providing server 104 is a WEB site (application service provider) provided on the Internet 100 for providing various services. In the present embodiment, the information providing server 104 can transmit information requested to be printed to an Internet facsimile machine on the Internet 100 (or a device with a printing function equivalent thereto) in response to a user request. .
[0020]
  In FIG. 1, the information providing server 104 is connected to the Internet 100, but may be an information site in a portable telephone network that is not connected to the Internet 100.
  The information providing server also has means for providing image information to the display of the mobile phone, means for receiving instruction information (for example, next page load instruction code, menu selection instruction code) from the mobile phone, for example, a printing device Image information transmitting means, instruction information issuing means for causing the printing apparatus to print the image information, and the like. Here, the image information means visual information such as characters, diagrams, and photographs.
  In the present invention, the mobile phone includes a so-called “mobile phone” and “PHS”, and the printing device includes a device with a printer function having an address connected to the Internet, such as an Internet facsimile device.
  Further, as described above, Bluetooth (a communication standard developed and studied by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG)) can be employed as the wireless interface. As a result, the mail address of the Internet facsimile apparatus in the vicinity of the user of the mobile phone can be acquired and transmitted without manually inputting the address to the information providing server. In addition, the password acquired from the information providing server can be transmitted without manual input to a printing apparatus in the vicinity of the user of the mobile phone.
[0021]
With reference to FIG. 2, an example of the entire sequence of the printing system 1 of FIG. First, it is assumed that the user accesses the information providing server 104 on the Internet 100 using the mobile phone 102 and browses appropriate information (F101). Transmission / reception of information between the mobile phone 102 and the information providing server 104 is performed by packets.
[0022]
When the information providing server 104 is accessed from the mobile phone 102 (that is, from the user), the information providing server 104 can display a print menu on the display of the mobile phone 102 (FIG. 3A). This print menu can be displayed constantly, or can be displayed only when specific information (for example, large-capacity information) is displayed. The print menu may be a soft button. In this case, for example, an item may be selected by operating a seesaw key. The print menu may be designated by a numeric keypad or may be designated by a key assigned to a key other than the numeric keypad.
[0023]
In FIG. 2, when the user of the mobile phone 102 performs a print request operation, the print request information is transmitted to the information providing server 104 via the gateway 1032 (F102). Upon receiving the print request information, the information providing server 104 displays an address input menu of the Internet facsimile apparatus on the display of the mobile phone 102. In this menu, the address of the nearby Internet facsimile machine 101 can be acquired by performing an automatic address acquisition operation using a wireless interface such as Bluetooth (see FIG. 3B) (F103). Of course, the user can directly input the address of the Internet facsimile machine 101 (see FIG. 3C).
[0024]
  Thus, the address of the Internet facsimile machine 100ButIs transmitted to the information providing server 104 (F104). Even if the mobile phone 102 does not acquire the address of the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 via the wireless interface, for example, a telephone number registered in advance in the mobile phone may be called and transmitted to the information providing server 104. Good. Also, information on the location where the mobile phone 102 is located (for example, station name, store number, address) is sent to the information providing server 104, and the information providing server 104 searches for the installation location of the nearby Internet facsimile machine 101, and Installation location information (information such as a map) may be transmitted to the mobile phone 102. Also in this case, the user of the mobile phone 102 specifies the setting location information (for example, specifies the store where the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 is installed), thereby specifying the Internet facsimile apparatus 101. In this case, the mobile phone 102 does not transmit the address of the Internet facsimile machine 101 to the information providing server.
[0025]
Upon receipt of the print request information, the information providing server 104 converts the print requested information into a file format that can be output by the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 based on the print request information, and sends the mail to the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 (F105). ).
[0026]
The information providing server 104 includes a database, in which information (address, location, printable format of image file that can be printed, etc.) of the Internet facsimile machine 101 installed in each store is registered. For example, the computer of each store can connect to a registration site prepared for an administrator, and various information of the Internet facsimile machine 101 is registered in advance here.
[0027]
When there is a print request from the user, the information providing server 104 returns an error mail to the user when an address other than a pre-registered address is specified. Further, the information providing server 104 may convert the file format of the information requested to be printed and create print data each time, but prepares data with higher image quality and data suitable for printing in advance. You may make it send mail to the internet facsimile apparatus 101. FIG.
[0028]
When the Internet facsimile machine 101 receives a mail including print information from the information providing server 104, the Internet facsimile machine 101 expands the print information and temporarily stores it in the memory. This expansion information includes image information or mail information before expansion. For example, a mail including print information is identified by extracting a keyword such as “Print Request” written in the subject part of the mail.
[0029]
The Internet facsimile machine 101 creates a password at random and stores it in a memory together with print information. The Internet facsimile machine 101 transmits the created password to the information providing server 104 (F106).
[0030]
At this time, the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 transmits the password as a reply mail of the mail received as the print information, thereby notifying the information providing server 104 of the correspondence between the print information and the password. For example, a reply with a SUBJECT part “Re: Print Request: xxxx” is returned. The Internet facsimile machine 101 is in a standby state until the next print information mail is received or a password is input by the user.
[0031]
The information providing server 101 can confirm whether or not the Internet facsimile machine is operating normally by receiving the reply mail including the password from the Internet facsimile machine 101. When the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 is operating normally, the mail with the password is transferred to the user's portable telephone 102 corresponding to the received reply mail (F107).
[0032]
When the information providing server 104 receives the above-described error mail from the Internet facsimile apparatus 101, the information providing server 104 transmits an e-mail indicating that the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 cannot be printed to the user's portable telephone 102. The user who has received the mail including the password by the portable telephone 102 inputs the password to the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 through the wireless interface or manually (F108).
[0033]
If the password is correct, the Internet facsimile machine 101 prints out the information requested for printing (F109). After the printing is completed, the billing information is displayed on the display of the Internet facsimile apparatus 101. Further, an e-mail describing the billing information is transmitted to the information providing server 104 (F110). The information providing server 104 accumulates the billing information for each user and separately charges the user for payment of the usage fee (F111). The information providing server 104 may be charged with the use fee of the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 at the same time as the communication use fee of the mobile phone 102 in cooperation with the communication carrier, or the card use in cooperation with the credit card company. You may make it charge in the form of withdrawal from the bank account etc. of a charge.
[0034]
3A to 3C show examples of screens displayed on the display D of the mobile phone 102. FIG. The user instructs printing from the print menu (displayed as “print” in FIG. 3A) with the information to be printed out displayed on the screen.
The screen of the display D is switched to a screen showing the input form of the address of the Internet facsimile machine 101 that wants to print out the information instructed to print (FIG. 3B).
[0035]
When “direct input” is selected in FIG. 3B, the screen is switched to a screen including an input field (FIG. 3C), and the user is prompted to input an address directly. Although not shown, when “Select from list” is selected, a screen for selecting the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 to be designated (for example, XX in the order of prefecture → administrative district → town) (for example, XX) is selected. Switch to the YY store in front of the station center exit, or the ZZ station south exit premises). When an Internet facsimile machine is selected, its address is displayed in the input field. Although not shown in the figure, when “Acquire via Bluetooth” is selected, the nearest Internet facsimile machine is searched to automatically establish a link to obtain an address, and the address is entered in the address column.
[0036]
FIG. 4 shows a processing flow in the information providing server 104. The information providing server 104 waits for a print request transmitted from the user's mobile phone 102 (that is, a print request by selecting “print” in FIG. 3A) (S101), and receives the print request. Sends the display information on the screen for selecting the address input method of the Internet facsimile machine (see FIG. 3B) and the display information on the input screen for the address (see FIG. 3C) to the mobile phone 102. Then, these are displayed on the display of the mobile phone 102 (S102). Then, it waits for the input of the address of the Internet facsimile machine from the portable telephone 102 (S103).
[0037]
When the address of the Internet facsimile apparatus is received, it is checked whether or not there is image information prepared for print output in advance for the requested print information (S104). The prepared image information suitable for printing is read from the memory (S105), an e-mail containing the image information (for example, the image information as an attached file) is created, and the e-mail is sent to the designated Internet facsimile machine. (S107). Note that image information suitable for printing is image information that satisfies requirements such as high density, conformity to paper size, and a format that can be received and printed by an Internet facsimile machine. .
[0038]
If there is no image information prepared for print output in advance in step S104, the image information displayed on the mobile phone is converted into a format that can be received and output by the Internet facsimile apparatus. (S106), and mail transmission is performed to the designated Internet facsimile machine (S107).
[0039]
FIG. 5 shows a processing flow when the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 receives print information from the information providing server 104 by mail.
[0040]
The Internet facsimile machine 101 waits for a mail from a user designated in advance (S201). When the mail is received, it is confirmed whether the mail is a mail from the information providing server 104 designated in advance (S202). ) If the received mail is a mail from an information providing server designated in advance, the print information (the received mail itself or image information such as a TIFF file extracted from the received mail) is stored in the memory (S203). If the received mail is not a mail from the information providing server designated in advance in S202, the process returns to S201. At this time, although not shown in FIG. 5, the mail may be discarded.
[0041]
The above-described S202 is a confirmation (filtering) step for printing out only the mail from the designated address. This step can prevent unauthorized use of the Internet facsimile machine 101 by a third party. However, when the present embodiment is extended to a system that is open to the public and allows print output from an unspecified number of information providing servers 104, filtering by the transmission source is not practical, and thus S105 is omitted. Is done.
[0042]
Next, in order to print out the print information stored in the memory, the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 randomly creates a necessary password and stores it in the memory in association with the stored print information (S205). . Then, a mail including the password (for example, a mail in which the password is described in the main body (BODY)) is transmitted to the information providing server 104 (S206).
[0043]
The mail including the password is transferred from the information providing server 104 to the user. By passing through the information providing server 104, the information providing server 104 can know whether the Internet facsimile machine is operating normally. If the status of the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 is monitored by another method (for example, a method of notifying an information provider only when an error occurs or a periodic diagnosis is performed), an email including a password may be directly transmitted to the user. .
[0044]
FIG. 6 shows the flow of print processing in the Internet facsimile machine 101. The Internet facsimile machine 101 waits for the input of a password from the user (S301), and confirms whether or not the password is correct (S302). If there is no password input from the user in S301, the input of the password is awaited. If the password is incorrect in S302, the process returns to S301.
[0045]
The password is input by the user from the operation unit of the Internet facsimile apparatus 101 or by using a wireless interface such as Bluetooth. When inputting from the wireless interface, it is desirable that the input operation is completed in combination with the button operation of the operation unit so that inputs from a plurality of users are not performed simultaneously. In addition, it is desirable to control such that no other password is input until the print output is completely completed.
[0046]
There are various methods for inputting a password using Bluetooth from the user's mobile phone 102, and the method is not limited to a specific method. For example, the user can automatically use Bluetooth only by selecting a password part written in the mail body. Thus, it is desirable that the password be transferred to the Internet facsimile machine 101.
[0047]
In S302, the input password is compared with the password stored in the memory. If there is no password that matches the password stored in the memory, the process returns to S301 as described above. If there is a match, input of another password is prohibited (S303), and the print information stored in association with the input password is printed out (S304). In this case, although not shown, the print information is deleted from the memory when the print output is completed. Thereafter, the input of the password is permitted, and the process returns to step S301.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
  Like the aboveIn the printing system of the present invention, information that can be browsed from the information providing server by the mobile phone can be printed out by a printing device connected to the Internet.In addition, since the print output is not performed until the individual password corresponding to the information to be printed is input to the printing apparatus, the user can print the document printed out from the printing apparatus according to the print instruction of another user. There is no inconvenience of being confused with the document, and it is possible to obtain documents and the like with certainty. In addition, even if the information related to the print request is an image or the like and the amount of information is large, there is an effect that there is no inconvenience that the network traffic increases or the communication time becomes long.
[0049]
  In the print output billing system of the present invention,Mobile phoneThe information regarding the print request is not transmitted from the type telephone to the printing apparatus, and the information is sent from the information providing server to the printing apparatus. Therefore, the information providing server can efficiently manage charging, and can appropriately charge the user of the mobile phone by performing the password verification described above.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a printing system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a time-series explanatory diagram showing an example of the entire sequence of the printing system of FIG.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of a screen displayed on a display of a mobile phone; FIG. 3A is a print menu; FIG. 3B is a screen showing an address input form; and FIG. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in an information providing server.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing flow when the Internet facsimile apparatus receives print information from the information providing server by mail.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of printing processing in the Internet facsimile machine.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Printing system
100 Internet
101 Internet facsimile machine
102 Mobile phone
103 Portable Telephone Communication System
104 Information providing server
1031 base station
1032 Gateway
1033 Portable telephone network

Claims (4)

A portable phone,
An information providing server for providing information to the portable telephone,
A printing system comprising the information providing server and a printing device connected via the Internet,
The mobile phone is
Print request means for making a print request to the information providing server;
Address acquisition means for accessing the printing apparatus and acquiring the address of the printing apparatus;
An address transmitting means for transmitting the address acquired by the address acquiring means to the information providing server;
The information providing server is
Print request accepting means for accepting a print request from the mobile phone;
Address receiving means for receiving the address transmitted by the address transmitting means;
When the print request accepting unit accepts the print request, it converts the information corresponding to the print request into a print file in a file format that can be output, and transmits the print file to the printing device at the address received by the address receiving unit. Print file transmission means for
The printing device is
When the print file is received from the print file transmission means, a password is created, the password and the received print file are stored in association with each other, and a password creation transmission means for sending the password to the information providing server is provided. Prepared,
The information providing server transmits the password transmitted from the password creation and transmission means to the mobile phone,
When the input password matches the password stored by the password creation / transmission unit, the printing apparatus prints the print file stored in association with the password . The mobile phone is
The printing system of claim 1, wherein the address of the printing apparatus acquired via the wireless interface, the password, and transmits to the printing apparatus via the wireless interface. An information providing server for providing information to the mobile phone;
A printing system comprising the information providing server and a printing device connected via the Internet,
The information providing server is
Print request accepting means for accepting a print request from the mobile phone;
Address receiving means for receiving an address of the printing apparatus from the portable telephone;
When the print request accepting unit accepts the print request, the information corresponding to the print request is converted into a print file having a file format that can be output, and the print receiving unit transmits the print file to the printing apparatus having the address received. A print file transmission means,
The printing device is
An address response means for accepting access from the mobile phone and responding to the address of the own terminal;
When the print file is received from the print file transmission means, a password is created, the password and the received print file are stored in association with each other, and the password creation transmission means for sending the password to the information providing server; With
The information providing server transmits the password received from the password creation transmission means to the mobile phone,
When the input password matches the password stored by the password creation / transmission unit, the printing apparatus prints the print file stored in association with the password . A print output billing system using the printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
A print output billing system characterized in that the user of the portable telephone is charged for the print output of the information by the printing device.

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