JP5024537B2 - Image forming apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that displays information other than a normal operation screen such as advertisement information.

  In recent years, image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers have been installed not only in offices but also in places where a large number of unspecified people gather, such as convenience stores, libraries, and city halls. In addition, a display device provided in an image forming apparatus for displaying an operation screen is also increased in size. For this reason, information other than the normal operation screen such as advertisement information is displayed on the display device of the image forming apparatus to effectively use the display device.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an advertising system that updates a plurality of image data in a certain time. In this technique, the advertisement display image is displayed on the display device of the image forming apparatus and switched according to time.

JP 2004-112595 A

  However, if information that is out of date continues to be displayed, there is a risk of misleading the viewer of the information. In addition, when information is managed manually, management man-hours are greatly generated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing information other than a normal operation screen that has become obsolete from being displayed.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a display unit that displays information other than a normal operation screen and a normal operation screen in which an expiration date is set, and a normal display that is displayed by the display unit. Determining means for determining whether or not the expiration date set in information other than the operation screen has expired, and control means for controlling the display content displayed by the display means based on the determination result by the determining means; Have According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent information other than a normal operation screen that has become obsolete from being displayed.

  Preferably, the control means continues displaying the normal operation screen when the expiration date set in the information has expired. According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operation screen from being erased due to stale information.

  Preferably, when the expiration date set in the information has expired, the control means displays information different from the information. According to the present invention, the latest information can always be displayed.

  Preferably, when the expiration date set in the information has expired, the control means displays that fact. According to the present invention, it can be recognized that information is obsolete.

  Preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes mail transmission means for transmitting mail to a preset mail address based on an expiration date set in the information. According to the present invention, the expiration date of information can be recognized.

  Preferably, the e-mail transmission means transmits an e-mail when the expiration date set in the information has expired. According to the present invention, it can be recognized that stale information exists.

  Preferably, the e-mail transmission unit transmits an e-mail when a period until an expiration date set in the information becomes a predetermined period. According to the present invention, before information becomes obsolete, it can be recognized that stale information is present.

  Preferably, the information other than the normal operation screen is at least one of an HTML format, an XML format, and an image file. According to the present invention, the use efficiency of information can be improved.

  Preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes an authenticating unit for authenticating an individual, and the determination unit determines whether an expiration date set for each individual authenticated by the authenticating unit has expired for information other than a normal operation screen. Determine whether or not. According to the present invention, the expiration date of information can be adjusted by the user.

  The program according to the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a screen switching control method for switching between a normal operation screen and a screen for displaying information other than the normal operation screen. A computer is caused to execute a determination step for determining whether or not an expiration date set in the information has expired, and a control step for controlling display contents based on the determination result.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent information other than the normal operation screen that has become obsolete from being displayed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image processing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing system of the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 10 and an advertisement information distribution server 30 that are connected via a network 40. The advertisement information distribution server 30 stores various types of advertisement information to be displayed on the display device of the image forming apparatus 10 and distributes the advertisement information to the image forming apparatus 10 based on a preset procedure. The image forming apparatus 10 is a multifunction machine having a printing function, a copying function, a facsimile transmission / reception function, and a scanning function.

  In this embodiment, the case where advertisement information is used as information other than the normal operation screen will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to advertisement information such as railway operation status, nearby tourist guidance information, and event information. This information can be similarly applied to the case where the information is displayed on the display device of the image forming apparatus 10 as information other than the normal operation screen.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the appearance of the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a display device 11 for displaying a normal operation screen and advertisement information, an authentication device 12, a receiver 13, a charging device 14, and a paper tray 15. is doing.

  The authentication device 12 authenticates an individual who has an authentication card by reading information stored in an authentication card such as a contactless IC card. The handset 13 is connected to a general public telephone line and can be used as a normal telephone. When the facsimile function of the image forming apparatus 10 is used, the receiver 13 is first used to connect to the telephone line, and after confirming the transmission destination, the facsimile data can be transmitted.

  The charging device 14 is a device for charging the usage fee of the image forming apparatus 10 to a user who is not authenticated. By inserting coins into the billing apparatus 14, the user can use the image forming apparatus 10 for a fee corresponding to the inserted coins. That is, by providing such a charging device 14, various functions of the image forming apparatus 10 can be used even for a user who does not have an authentication card.

  The paper tray 15 is a tray for setting a document to be copied, a document to be read by a scanner, and a document to be transmitted by facsimile.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU 16, a memory 17, a storage device 18 such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a printing device 19, and an external device such as an advertisement information distribution server 30 via a network 40. A communication interface (IF) 20 for transmitting and receiving data, a touch panel, a user interface (UI) device 21 including an operation button or a display lamp, a scanner 22, a display device 11, a charging device 14, and an authentication device 12. These components are connected to each other via a control bus 23.

  The CPU 16 controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 by executing predetermined processing based on the image processing program stored in the memory 17 or the storage device 18. The advertisement information distribution server 30 also has a hardware configuration that can operate as a computer that performs data communication via a network, such as the CPU 16, the memory 17, the storage device 18, and the communication IF 20.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 realized by executing the image processing program.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an advertisement information acquisition unit 51, an expiration date determination unit 52, an advertisement display determination unit 53, a display control unit 54, a mail transmission unit 55, and a display device 11. And.

  The advertisement information acquisition unit 51 acquires advertisement information distributed from the advertisement information distribution server 30 via the network 40. The advertisement information acquisition unit 51 acquires the advertisement information when the output indicating that the advertisement information is acquired is received from the advertisement display determination unit 53 or the display control unit 54 described later. Such advertisement information is at least one of an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format, an XML (Extensible Markup Language) format, and an image file, and is stored in the storage device 18 of the advertisement information distribution server 30.

  The advertisement display determination unit 53 determines whether or not a period in which no operation is performed by a user exceeds a predetermined period set in advance. If the period in which there is no operation exceeds a predetermined period, an output indicating that advertisement information is acquired Is output to the advertisement information acquisition unit 51.

  The expiration date determination unit 52 determines the expiration date of the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 51. More specifically, the expiration date determination unit 52 determines whether the expiration date of the advertisement information has expired, and outputs the determination result to the display control unit 54 and the mail transmission unit 55. Further, the expiration date determination unit 52 determines whether or not the period until the expiration date of the advertisement information has become a predetermined period set in advance, and if the period until the expiration date has become the predetermined period, this is indicated. Output to the mail transmission unit 55. The expiration date of the advertisement information will be described in detail later.

  The display control unit 54 generates image data for displaying a normal operation screen for operating the image forming apparatus 10 by application software such as a WWW (World Wide Web) browser, and displays the operation screen on the display device 11. indicate. The display control unit 54 generates image data for displaying the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 51 by application software such as a WWW browser, and displays the advertisement information on the display device 11.

  Further, the display control unit 54 receives the determination result from the expiration date determination unit 52 and controls the content displayed on the display device 11 when the expiration date of the advertisement information has expired. More specifically, when the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired, the display control unit 54 continues displaying the normal operation screen and does not display the advertisement information on the display device 11.

  The mail transmitting unit 55 transmits a mail to a preset mail address based on the expiration date set in the advertisement information. More specifically, when receiving a notification from the expiration date determination unit 52 that the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired, the email transmission unit 55 transmits an email to that effect. Further, when the mail transmission unit 55 receives a notification from the expiration date determination unit 52 that the period until the expiration date set in the advertisement information has reached a predetermined period, the email transmission unit 55 transmits an email to that effect. For example, the mail transmission unit 55 transmits such mail to the administrator.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an expiration date set in the advertisement information.
As shown in FIG. 5, an expiration date is set for each piece of data related to advertisement information. The expiration date is expressed, for example, in the format of year / month / day (MM month DD day of YYYY). Such an expiration date is stored in the advertisement information distribution server 30 as an expiration date database in an updatable manner. Therefore, when the image forming apparatus 10 acquires advertisement information from the advertisement information distribution server 30, the expiration date set in the acquired advertisement information can be recognized.

  Note that the expiration date database may be stored in the image forming apparatus 10. In this case, the image forming apparatus 10 can recognize the expiration date of the advertisement information without accessing the advertisement information distribution server 30. The expiration date management method is not particularly limited, and the expiration date may be managed by other methods. For example, the expiration date may be set as an attribute of data related to advertisement information.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
First, it is assumed that the display control unit 54 displays a normal operation screen on the display device 11.
Under such a state, as shown in FIG. 6, in step 100 (S100), the advertisement display determination unit 53 determines whether or not a predetermined period has elapsed since the user's operation is not performed. When there is no user operation for a predetermined period, the advertisement display determination unit 53 proceeds to the process of S102, and when the user operation is performed before the predetermined period elapses, the image forming apparatus 10 ends the advertisement display control process. .

  In step 102 (S102), the advertisement display determination unit 53 outputs a notification that the advertisement information is acquired to the advertisement information acquisition unit 51. The advertisement information acquisition unit 51 acquires advertisement information from the advertisement information distribution server 30 via the network 40.

  In step 104 (S104), the expiration date determination unit 52 determines whether or not the expiration date of the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement display determination unit 53 has expired. If the expiration date has expired, the image forming apparatus 10 ends the advertisement display control process. In this case, the advertisement information is not displayed on the display device 11. That is, a normal operation screen remains displayed on the display device 11. On the other hand, if the expiration date has not been entered, the expiration date determination unit 52 proceeds to the process of S106.

In step 106 (S106), the expiration date determination unit 52 outputs a determination result indicating that the expiration date of the advertisement information has not expired to the display control unit 54. The display control unit 54 displays the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 51 on the display device 11.
In this way, the image forming apparatus 10 switches between a normal operation screen and a screen displaying advertisement information.

Next, an image forming apparatus 10 according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is different from the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment in that when the advertisement information has expired, the image forming apparatus 10 displays that the expiration date has expired.

  Specifically, in the image forming apparatus 10, when the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired, the display control unit 54 displays that effect. For example, in this case, the display control unit 54 displays an error message indicating the expiration date on the display device 11.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. Of the processes shown in FIG. 7, the same reference numerals are assigned to substantially the same processes as those shown in FIG. 6.
As shown in FIG. 7, the advertisement information is acquired and the expiration date is determined in the processes of S100 to S104. If the expiration date has expired, the expiration date determination unit 52 outputs that fact to the display control unit 54 in step 200 (S200). When the display control unit 54 receives an output indicating that the expiration date has expired from the expiration date determination unit 52, the display control unit 54 displays that fact on the display device 11.

Next, an image forming apparatus 10 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is different from the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment in that the advertisement information different from the advertisement information is displayed when the expiration date of the advertisement information has expired. Different.

  Specifically, in the image forming apparatus 10, the display control unit 54 controls the advertisement information acquisition unit 51 to acquire the next advertisement information when the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired. In this case, the advertisement information acquisition unit 51 acquires the next advertisement information from the advertisement information distribution server 30. With respect to the newly acquired advertisement information, the expiration date determination process is executed again, and if it is within the expiration date, the display control unit 54 displays the newly acquired advertisement information on the display device 11.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. Of the processes shown in FIG. 8, the same reference numerals are assigned to the processes substantially the same as those shown in FIG. 6.
As shown in FIG. 8, when it is determined in S104 that the expiration date has expired, the expiration date determination unit 52 outputs that fact to the display control unit 54, and the display control unit 54 The advertisement information acquisition unit 51 is controlled to acquire the next advertisement information. Therefore, in this case, the image forming apparatus 10 returns to the process of S102, and the next advertisement information is acquired. The advertisement information acquired in this way and determined to be within the expiration date is displayed on the display device 11 in the process of S106.

Next, an image forming apparatus 10 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
When the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired or when the period until the expiration date set in the advertisement information becomes a predetermined period, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment has a preset email address Is different from the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment in that a mail is transmitted.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. Of the processes shown in FIG. 9, the same reference numerals are assigned to the processes substantially the same as those shown in FIG.
As illustrated in FIG. 9, when it is determined in the process of S104 that the expiration date has expired, the expiration date determination unit 52 proceeds to the process of S402.

  In step 402 (S402), the expiration date determination unit 52 outputs a message to that effect to the mail transmission unit 55. For example, the mail transmission unit 55 transmits an email indicating that the advertisement information has expired to the administrator.

  On the other hand, in the process of S104, when it is determined that the expiration date has not expired, the advertisement information is displayed in the process of S106. Further, in step 400 (S400), the expiration date determination unit 52 determines whether or not the remaining period until the expiration date is less than a predetermined period. If the period until the expiration date is less than the predetermined period, the image forming apparatus 10 proceeds to the process of S402 and transmits an email to that effect to the administrator. Otherwise, the process ends.

  Note that the mail transmission process may be executed together in the first to third embodiments.

Next, an image forming apparatus 10 according to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is different from the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment in that the expiration date of the advertisement information is set for each individual authenticated by the authentication device 12.

  Specifically, an expiration date is set for each individual piece of data relating to advertisement information. For example, regarding a certain advertisement information, the expiration date of user A is set to August 31, 2007, the expiration date of user B is set to June 30, 2008, and the current date is July 1, 2007. , The advertisement information is only displayed for two months for user A, but is displayed for twelve months for user B.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. Note that, among the processes shown in FIG. 10, substantially the same processes as those shown in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
As shown in FIG. 10, in step 500 (S500), the authentication card is read by the authentication device 12, and the user is authenticated. In the processes of S100 and S102, the advertisement information is acquired when a predetermined period has elapsed after the user operation is lost.

  In step 502 (S502), the expiration date determination unit 52 determines whether or not the expiration date of the user set in the acquired advertisement information has expired. If the expiration date has expired, that fact is displayed in S200, and if the expiration date has not expired, advertisement information is displayed.

  If the expiration date has expired, the normal operation screen may be continuously displayed as in the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment, or the image forming apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment. Other advertisement information may be acquired and displayed as shown in FIG.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an enlarged view of the appearance of an image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 realized by executing an image processing program. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the expiration date set to advertisement information. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an image forming apparatus 10 according to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Display apparatus 12 Authentication apparatus 16 CPU
17 Memory 18 Storage Device 19 Printing Device 20 Communication Interface (IF)
21 user interface (UI) device 30 advertisement information distribution server 40 network 51 advertisement information acquisition unit 52 expiration date determination unit 53 advertisement display determination unit 54 display control unit 55 mail transmission unit

Claims (6)

Display means for displaying information;
An authentication means for authenticating the user;
An acquisition means for acquiring advertisement information from an external device connected via a network when the operation by the user is not performed for a preset period;
A determination unit that determines whether the acquired advertisement information is within an expiration date set based on an effective period set for each of the users authenticated by the authentication unit;
When it is determined that the acquired advertisement information is within the expiration date, the display means is controlled to display the acquired advertisement information. Otherwise, the advertisement information different from the acquired advertisement information is displayed. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the acquisition unit to acquire from the external device. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mail transmission unit that transmits a mail to a preset mail address based on an expiration date set in the advertisement information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the mail transmission unit transmits the mail when it is determined that the expiration date set in the advertisement information has expired. The determination means determines whether or not a period until an expiration date set in the advertisement information has become a predetermined period,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the e-mail transmission unit transmits an e-mail when it is determined that a period until an expiration date set in the advertisement information has reached a predetermined period. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement information is at least one of an HTML format, an XML format, and an image file. In an image forming apparatus having display means for displaying information,
An authentication step for authenticating the user;
An acquisition step of acquiring advertisement information from an external device connected via a network when the operation by the user has not been performed for a preset period;
A determination step for determining whether the acquired advertisement information is within an expiration date set based on an effective period set for each user authenticated in the authentication step;
When it is determined that the acquired advertisement information is within the expiration date, the display means is controlled to display the acquired advertisement information. Otherwise, the advertisement information different from the acquired advertisement information is displayed. A program for causing a computer to execute a control step of controlling the acquisition step so as to acquire from the external device .

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