JP5886553B2 - Printing system, printing method, and information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing method of specifying the output target data, and an information processing equipment.

  In recent years, multifunction peripherals (MFPs) having a printer, a scan, a card slot, a FAX, a network function, and the like have been widely used. As one of the functions of the multi-function peripheral, there is a function for printing contents such as report paper, graph paper, check list, staff notation, and original paper. This function stores data of these contents in the ROM of the multifunction peripheral, and performs printing using the contents data. Since the user can easily print the contents, there is a demand for adding various contents. On the other hand, there is a demand for the content distribution side to distribute content suitable for each season such as Halloween and Christmas. However, since the capacity of the ROM of the multifunction device is limited, it is difficult to store all the requested contents.

  Patent Document 1 describes that when a user transmits form data from a host computer to a printer, the form data is stored in the RAM of the printer main body and printed. According to Patent Document 1, it is described that when a user mistakenly transmits form data in duplicate, duplicate registration in the RAM of the printer main body is not performed.

JP 2006-240012 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, as long as data does not overlap in the printer, the data is registered in the printer. For this reason, for example, data that is not suitable for the printer is also registered in the printer.

In view of the above problems, a printing system, a printing method in which the data to be output can be appropriately identify, and aims to provide an information processing equipment.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a printing system according to the present invention includes an output device capable of outputting at least one of a plurality of contents stored in a server and classified into a plurality of categories, the server, and the output device. A printing system including an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with the information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus acquires a use condition for each of the plurality of categories and a use condition for each of the plurality of contents; A second acquisition unit configured to acquire device information relating to the output device from the output device; and the second of the plurality of categories based on usage conditions of each of the plurality of categories acquired by the first acquisition unit. The first transmission unit transmits category information for specifying one or more categories corresponding to the device information acquired by the acquisition unit to the output device. And the one or more categories specified by the category information transmitted by the first transmission means based on the use conditions of the plurality of contents acquired by the communication means and the first acquisition means. Content information for specifying one or a plurality of contents corresponding to the device information acquired by the second acquisition unit among the plurality of contents included in the category selected by the user of the output device is output to the output device. Second output means for transmitting to the user, and the output device is a user of the output device among the one or more contents specified by the content information transmitted by the second transmission means. an output means for obtaining the specified content from the server, and outputs the obtained content by, this The features.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately specify data to be output.

It is a figure which shows the structure of a web service system. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an MFP. FIG. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the application of a relay server. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a comparison between an API of an MFP and a relay server and information acquired by the relay server. It is a figure which shows an example of the data management structure of a content provision site. It is a figure which shows an example of the information set to each category. It is a figure which shows an example of the information set to each content. It is a figure which shows the flow of the process at the time of condition check implementation. It is a figure which shows the flow of the process which acquires and displays category information. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process after printing a printing image after a category is specified.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. . The same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a Web service system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an MFP (Multifunctional Peripheral) 101 as a client device is connected to a Web server 103 via a network 110 such as the Internet. These servers are servers that provide, for example, a photo sharing site function to a client device. Hereinafter, the Web server 103 is also referred to as a site 103. The MFP 101 is a system for acquiring content information including URLs and the like of content classified for each category from the content providing site 103 via the relay server 102. The MFP 101 displays the selection screen of the category / content acquired from the content providing site 103 without using the PC from the acquired information, and after the content to be printed is selected by the user, the image data is acquired from the content providing site 103. And execute printing.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the MFP 101. The MFP 101 includes an operation unit 201, a card interface 202, a reading unit 208, and a recording unit 209. The MFP 101 includes a CPU 200, a ROM 203, a RAM 204, a nonvolatile RAM 205, a display unit 206, an image processing unit 210, a compression / decompression unit 211, a driving unit 212, and a sensor unit 213. The CPU 200 controls the entire MFP 101 and executes a program stored in the ROM 203 in accordance with, for example, a user operation input via the operation unit 201. The ROM 203 stores a control command program for the MFP 101 and the like. Further, the MFP 101 includes a wireless network unit 207 and a wired network unit 214. The wireless network unit 207 can wirelessly communicate with a wireless LAN access point that supports standards such as IEEE 802.11a. The wired network unit 214 has an Ethernet (registered trademark) connector to which a twisted pair cable such as 100Base-TX can be connected.

  A configuration of an information processing apparatus such as a general PC is used for the relay server 102 and the site 103 shown in FIG. That is, the relay server 102 and the site 103 have a general display unit such as a CPU, ROM, RAM, HDD, and display, and an input unit such as a pointing device and a keyboard. For example, in each of the above devices, the CPU develops a program read from a hard disk, a ROM, or the like on the RAM and executes it. The HDD stores a program for executing processing shown in various flowcharts and image data. The display displays a user interface or the like, and the user can input various instructions by operating on the user interface using a pointing device, a keyboard, or the like.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the application of the relay server 102. The relay server 102 is a server whose main function is an API conversion function that mediates information acquisition between the MFP 101 and the content providing site 103 that provides a content providing function as a Web application server. A general-purpose Web server configuration is used as the server hardware configuration. The relay server 102 functions as a Web server in the relationship with the MFP 101, and functions as a client in the relationship with the content providing site 103. The main function of the relay server 102 is an API conversion function, which acquires category list and content list information from the content providing site 103 based on the “MFP-API” request defined with the MFP 101.

  FIG. 4 is a table showing a comparison between “MFP-API” which is an API of the MFP 101 and the relay server 102 and information acquired by the relay server 102 in response to the request. When the MFP 101 requests the condition check request API-R1 from the relay server 102, the relay server 102 determines whether or not the content providing function is supported by a check function to be described later and returns it to the MFP 101. When the MFP 101 requests the relay server 102 for the category list request API-R5, the relay server 102 acquires the category list from the content providing site 103 and returns the result filtered by the filter function described later to the MFP. To do. Similarly, when the MFP 101 requests the content list request API-R6 from the relay server 102, the relay server 102 acquires the content list from the content providing site 103, and filters the result of filtering by the filter function described later to the MFP. Send back.

As shown in FIG. 3, the relay server 102 further has the following functions.
Parser function: Interpret the category list and content list, which are uniquely defined information, using a parser suitable for each list. For example, if each list is written in XML, an XML parser is required.
Filter function: Specifies data to be sent to the MFP 101 among data acquired from the content providing site 103. Then, data other than the data specified as such is deleted. The data not sent to the MFP 101 includes, for example, expired contents, files other than the file format specified by the MFP 101, image data having a file size exceeding the upper limit, and the like. Such a file is specified as data that is not sent to the MFP 101. Further, such data is deleted from the memory of the relay server 102. Details of the filter function will be described later.
Check function: In response to a condition check request from the MFP 101, based on the model name of the MFP 101, destination information, IP address, and information to be sent, it is checked whether or not connection to the content providing site 103 is possible.
Cache function: When a category list and a content list are requested from the content providing site 103 for each request from the MFP 101, the load on the content providing site 103 increases. Therefore, by caching the category list and content list acquired once, the load on the content providing site 103 can be reduced, and the response speed to the category list request API-R5 and the content list request API-R6 can be increased.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data management configuration of the content providing site 103 which is a Web application server. As shown in FIG. 5, it is composed of three categories, three contents, one category list, and one content list. Each category holds a display image for category selection. Each content holds four images: a display image, an A4 print image, a B5 print image, and an LTR print image. Each category list and content list holds one XML file, for example. Here, the category list and the content list may hold formats other than the XML file.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of information set in each category. Each category holds information on the target model, the provision start date / time, and the provision end date / time for which the category is valid. For example, category B indicates that it is valid only for the period from April 1, 2011 to January 1, 2012 for model 1 and model 2 MFPs. A category list that is a summary of these pieces of information is held in the content providing site 103.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of information set in each content. Each content holds information on the use conditions for using the target category, such as the target model for which the content is valid, the use expiration date / time information on the provision start date / time and the provision end date / time. For example, it is indicated that the content 2 is valid only for the period from April 1, 2011 to October 1, 2011 for the model 1 and model 2 MFPs. In addition, since only category B is targeted, this content can be displayed and printed only when category B is selected in the category selection of the filtering process described later. A content list in which these pieces of information are collected is held in the content providing site 103.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the user can select one category, and then can view and print one or more images registered in the selected category. In addition, since each content can belong to a plurality of categories, for example, the same content can be displayed in a plurality of categories like the content 3.

  In this embodiment, the MFP 101 first performs a condition check and determines whether or not connection to the content providing site 103 is possible. Thereafter, in order to specify data desired to be printed, category information is acquired and a desired category is selected. The flow of processing is to specify content registered in a desired category, acquire print data, and perform printing. The flow of this process will be described with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow of processing when the condition check is performed. Upon receiving a “API-R1” condition check request from the MFP 101 (S801), the relay server 102 performs a determination process (S802). The relay server 102 uses a check function to compare information such as the model name, destination information, and IP address transmitted from the MFP 101 with restriction information of the content providing site 103 stored in the relay server 102 in advance. Then, the relay server 102 determines whether the MFP can be connected to the content providing site 103, and returns a condition check result to the MFP 101 (S803).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow of processing for acquiring and displaying category information. Upon receiving the “API-R5” category list request from the MFP 101 (S901), the relay server 102 issues a category list request to the content providing site 103 (S902). Thereafter, the relay server 102 acquires the category list and the information shown in FIG. 6 (S903). In the present embodiment, the category list is acquired from the content providing site 103, but cache information held in the relay server 102 may be used by the cache function of the relay server 102. Subsequently, the relay server 102 parses the category list from the information of the MFP 101 acquired by “API-R5”, the category list acquired from the content providing site 103, and the date / time information of the relay server by the parser function. Then, the category filtering process is performed (S904). Here, the information of the MFP 101 is, for example, information such as a file format that can be printed by the MFP 101, a display resolution of the display unit, and color printing or monochrome printing.

  For example, when the MFP 101 is the model 1 and the date and time indicated by the date and time information of the relay server 102 is August 1, 2011, as shown in FIG. 6, since the category A is later than the provision end date and time, only the category B is included. Extracted. Further, for example, when the MFP 101 is the model 3 and the date and time indicated by the date and time information of the relay server 102 is May 1, 2011, as shown in FIG. The date and time of the relay server 102 is entered between However, since category B does not target model 3, only category A is extracted. Also, for example, when the MFP 101 is model 2 and the date and time of the relay server 102 is May 1, 2011, the date and time of the relay server 102 is entered between the provision start date and time and the provision end date and time for both categories A and B. Yes. Therefore, categories A and B are extracted.

  Thereafter, the relay server 102 returns a category list as a result of the filtering process to the MFP 101 (S905). In order to display the category thumbnail image for category selection on the display unit of the main body, the MFP 101 sends the thumbnail image data of the category specified by the user to the content providing site 103 based on the received category information list. An HTTP Get request is issued (S906). The MFP 101 acquires thumbnail image data (S907) and displays a category image for selection on the main body. The MFP 101 acquires a thumbnail image designated by the user every time the category is switched and displayed for the user to select a category, as shown in S906 and S907. This acquisition is repeatedly performed based on the URL of the thumbnail image data described in the category list acquired in S905. Finally, category selection is performed in accordance with an instruction from the user (S908).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow from browsing the content information in the category to specifying the print image and printing after the category is specified. Upon receiving a content list request of “API-R6” from the MFP 101 (S1001), the relay server 102 issues a content list request to the content providing site 103 (S1002). Thereafter, the relay server 102 acquires the content list and the information shown in FIG. 7 (S1003: an example of first acquisition). In the present embodiment, the content list is acquired from the content providing site 103, but cache information held in the relay server 102 may be used by the cache function of the relay server 102. Subsequently, the relay server 102 determines the content from the information of the MFP 101 acquired by “API-R6” (second example of acquisition), the content list acquired from the content providing site 103, and the date / time information of the relay server. The list is parsed by the parser function, and content filtering processing is performed (S1004). Here, the information of the MFP 101 is, for example, information such as a file format that can be printed by the MFP 101, a display resolution of the display unit, and color printing or monochrome printing.

  For example, when the MFP 101 is the model 1 and the date and time of the relay server 102 is August 1, 2011, only the category B is extracted as described in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the model 1 targets all contents, the category B targets contents 2 and 3, and the contents 2 and 3 are valid indicated by the provision start date and the provision end date and time. Meet the deadline conditions. Therefore, when the user selects category B, contents 2 and 3 are extracted.

  For example, when the MFP 101 is the model 3 and the date and time of the relay server 102 is May 1, 2011, only the category A is extracted as described in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the model 3 targets only the content 1, the category A targets the contents 1 and 3, and the contents 1 and 3 are valid indicated by the provision start date and the provision end date. Meet the deadline conditions. Therefore, when the user selects category A, content 1 is extracted.

  For example, when the MFP 101 is model 2 and the date and time of the relay server 102 is May 1, 2011, the categories A and B are extracted as described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the model 2 targets all contents, and all the contents satisfy the conditions of the expiration date indicated by the provision start date and time and the provision end date and time. Therefore, when the user selects category A, contents 1 and 3 are extracted, and when the user selects category B, contents 2 and 3 are extracted.

  Thereafter, the relay server 102 returns a content list as a result of the filtering process to the MFP 101 (S1005). In order to display the thumbnail image of the content for content selection on the display unit of the main body, the MFP 101 makes an HTTP Get for the specified content thumbnail image data to the content providing site 103 based on the received content list. A request is issued (S1006). The MFP 101 acquires thumbnail image data (S1007) and displays a selection content image on the main body. The MFP 101 repeats acquisition based on the URL of thumbnail image data described in the previously acquired content list every time content is switched and displayed for selection.

  Finally, when the content desired to be printed is specified by the user, the user instructs a print command in the MFP 101 to execute a print process (S1008). At this time, based on the paper size A4 / B5 / LTR selected by the user, the MFP 101 issues an HTTP Get request to the content providing site 103 in order to obtain print image data of the designated paper size ( In step S1009, the image data for printing is acquired from the content providing site 103 (S1010). The MFP 101 expands the acquired image data for printing and executes printing (S1011).

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the relay server acquires the category list and content list from the content providing site 103, acquires information such as the model name from the MFP 101, and compares the information of both. Thus, the data provided to the MFP 101 is filtered. As a result, information suitable for the MFP 101 can be provided to the MFP 101. Further, since the relay server 102 performs filtering based on the date / time information, it is possible to provide the MFP 101 with data suitable for the date / time when the MFP 101 acquires data.

  In the above embodiment, the relay server 102 performs filtering according to the model of the MFP 101 based on the information shown in FIGS. At this time, as described above, information such as the file format and display resolution that can be printed by the MFP 101 may be transmitted from the MFP 101 to the relay server 102, or information indicating the model name of the MFP 101 may be transmitted to the relay server. Also good.

  In the above embodiment, the relay server 102 performs data filtering. However, the server of the content providing site 103 may perform such filtering processing. In this case, the server of the content providing site 103 performs data filtering when a category list or content list is requested in S902 of FIG. 9 or S1002 of FIG.

  Alternatively, the MFP 101 may perform the above filtering by acquiring the information shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 from the content providing site 103 via the relay server 102. At this time, filtering is performed when a category list or content list is acquired in S905 or S1005. When the category list or content list is displayed or printed, the category or content included in the content providing site 103 is displayed and printed so as to indicate the category and content suitable for the MFP 101. For example, categories and contents that are not suitable for the MFP 101 are deleted from the list, and output such as display and printing is performed.

  Further, in the above embodiments, the MFP is described as an example of the client device that communicates with the server. However, the client device is not limited to this, and may be a PC, a mobile phone, a digital camera, or the like. Also good. The data acquired from the server is not limited to printing on the printing device, but the data may be displayed on the display device, stored in the memory, or transferred to a device outside the client device. For example, various output control processes can be performed.

  The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. In addition, the above processing is not limited to being executed by a single processor, but may be executed by a plurality of processors.

Claims (13)

A printing system including an output device capable of outputting at least one of a plurality of contents stored in a server and classified into a plurality of categories, and an information processing device capable of communicating with the server and the output device,
The information processing apparatus includes:
First acquisition means for acquiring usage conditions for each of the plurality of categories and usage conditions for the plurality of contents;
Second acquisition means for acquiring device information about the output device from the output device;
Based on the usage conditions of each of the plurality of categories acquired by the first acquisition unit, one or more categories corresponding to the device information acquired by the second acquisition unit are specified among the plurality of categories. First transmitting means for transmitting category information to the output device;
The user of the output device from the one or more categories specified by the category information transmitted by the first transmission unit based on the use conditions of the plurality of contents acquired by the first acquisition unit The content information for specifying one or a plurality of contents corresponding to the device information acquired by the second acquisition means among the plurality of contents included in the category selected by the second acquisition means is transmitted to the output device. Two transmission means, and the output device comprises:
Of the one or more contents specified by the content information transmitted by the second transmission means, the contents specified by the user of the output device are acquired from the server, and the acquired contents are Output means for outputting,
A printing system characterized by that. The output device is a printing device, and the server stores a plurality of printing images corresponding to one content and corresponding to a plurality of paper sizes, respectively.
The output means acquires from the server a print image corresponding to a content specified by a user of the output device among the one or more contents and corresponding to a paper size selected by the user; The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the acquired printing image is printed on a printing paper. The first transmission means transmits the category information including first acquisition information for acquiring thumbnail images corresponding to each of the one or more categories,
The output device is
In response to receiving the category information transmitted by the first transmission unit, one or more thumbnail images are acquired based on the first acquisition information included in the category information, and the acquired Display means for displaying one or more thumbnail images;
Requesting means for requesting the information processing device content information of content included in a category corresponding to the thumbnail image selected by the user of the output device among the one or more thumbnail images displayed by the display means; Further comprising
The printing system of claim 2, wherein the this. The second transmission means transmits the content information including second acquisition information for acquiring a thumbnail image corresponding to each of the one or more contents,
In response to reception of the content information transmitted by the second transmission unit, the display unit acquires one or more thumbnail images based on the second acquisition information included in the content information. , Display the acquired one or more thumbnail images,
The output means corresponds to a thumbnail image designated by the user of the output device among the one or more thumbnail images and selected by the user according to a user instruction for display by the display means The printing system according to claim 3, wherein a printing image corresponding to a paper size is acquired from the server.   The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the first acquisition information and the second acquisition information are URLs.   The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the output unit acquires the printing image without using the information processing apparatus.   The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the first acquisition unit acquires usage conditions of each of the plurality of contents from the server.   8. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the use condition of each of the plurality of contents acquired by the first acquisition unit is a use expiration date of each of the plurality of contents. 9. . The second transmission means specifies the one or more contents based on the use expiration date and date information held by the information processing apparatus, and transmits the content information corresponding to the one or more contents. The printing system according to claim 8 . The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a relay server that can communicate with the server and the output apparatus via the Internet.   The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the information processing apparatus further includes a cache unit that caches the category information and the content information. A printing method executed by an output device capable of outputting at least one of a plurality of contents classified into a plurality of categories stored in a server, and an information processing device capable of communicating with the server and the output device There,
The information processing apparatus is
Obtaining usage information for each of the plurality of categories and device information relating to the output device;
Based on use conditions of each of the plurality of categories, category information for specifying one or more categories corresponding to the device information of the plurality of categories is transmitted to the output device,
Obtaining usage conditions for each of the plurality of contents;
Corresponds to the device information among a plurality of contents included in a category selected by the user of the output device from the one or more categories specified by the category information based on usage conditions of the plurality of contents. Content information for specifying one or more contents to be transmitted to the output device;
The output device is
Of the one or more contents specified by the content information, the content specified by the user of the output device is acquired from the server, and the acquired content is output.
A printing method characterized by the above. An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with an output apparatus capable of outputting at least one of a plurality of contents classified into a plurality of categories and stored in a server,
First acquisition means for acquiring usage conditions for each of the plurality of categories and usage conditions for the plurality of contents;
Second acquisition means for acquiring device information about the output device from the output device;
Based on the usage conditions of each of the plurality of categories acquired by the first acquisition unit, one or more categories corresponding to the device information acquired by the second acquisition unit are identified from among the plurality of categories. First transmitting means for transmitting category information to the output device;
Based on the usage conditions of each of the plurality of contents acquired by the first acquisition unit, the one or more categories specified by the category information transmitted by the first transmission unit are used for the output device. Content information for specifying one or more contents corresponding to the device information acquired by the second acquisition means among the plurality of contents included in the category selected by the user is transmitted to the output device. A second transmission means;
An information processing apparatus comprising:

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