JP6200295B2 - Billing server and billing printing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a billing server and a billing printing system that accurately execute a billing process based on a print result actually printed by a printing apparatus without causing an increase in cost or a decrease in response.

  A terminal device such as a personal computer that generates a print job, a printing device that performs printing, a print job that is generated and transmitted by the terminal device, receives an accounting process, and transfers the print job received from the terminal device to the printing device Generally, a network printing service system including a charging server is well known.

  In Patent Literature 1, a print management device connected to a terminal device and a printing device via a network functions as a charging server, and the print management device temporarily receives a print job generated by the terminal device and prints it. A technique is described in which a predetermined charging process is performed based on the data amount of the job, and then the print job is transferred to the printing apparatus for printing.

JP-A-9-185474

  However, in the print management apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since the accounting process is executed when the print job received from the terminal apparatus is transferred to the printing apparatus, the print contents actually executed by the printing apparatus are not necessarily included. There was a problem that the corresponding printing fee could not be charged accurately.

  For example, when a user cancels a print job because a paper jam or the like occurs while printing is being charged by the printing apparatus, printing is actually performed by the printing apparatus rather than the charge charged by the print management apparatus. The price was lower.

  On the other hand, for example, when the user executes printing on the printing apparatus other than the print contents instructed by the print job, such as a sample print (trial print), the printing apparatus actually performs more than the fee charged by the print management apparatus. The fee printed on was higher.

  In addition, since the print management apparatus described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 charges based on the data amount of the print job received from the personal computer, the printing according to the print contents actually executed by the printing apparatus is not necessarily performed. There was also a problem that charges could not be charged accurately. In other words, there are various printing styles such as single-sided printing, double-sided printing, color / monochrome, paper size, etc. in the printing method in the printing apparatus, and the charge varies depending on the combination of each style. In the case of charging, the printing fee actually printed by the printing apparatus may differ from the printing fee calculated by the charging process.

  Here, it is conceivable to analyze and aggregate various types of printing such as single-sided printing and double-sided printing of print jobs received from the terminal device, color printing, and paper size in the print management device. When such an analysis is performed, the processing load of the print management apparatus becomes large, leading to an increase in cost and a decrease in response.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and accurately executes a charging process based on a printing result that is actually charged and printed by a printing apparatus without causing an increase in cost or a decrease in response. An object is to provide a charging server and a charging printing system.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first feature of a billing server according to the present invention is a billing server that receives a print job transmitted by a terminal device, performs billing processing, and transfers the print job to the printing device. The print job including the charge print instruction information indicating the charge print instruction content is received from the terminal device, the charge print instruction information is acquired from the print job, and the print job is transferred to the print device. Print job transfer means; charge information storage means for storing the charge print instruction information acquired by the print job transfer means as charge information; and charge print instruction information included in the print job transferred to the printing apparatus; When the printing device does not match the charging print count information actually printed and counted based on the print job, the charging information storage Charging information updating means for updating the charging information stored in the stage so as to match the charging print count information; charging processing means for executing charging processing based on the charging information stored in the charging information storage means; It is in having.

  A charging server according to a second aspect of the present invention is a charging server that receives a print job transmitted from a terminal device, performs charging processing, and transfers the print job to a printing device to perform charging printing. Print that receives the print job including charge print instruction information indicating the charge print instruction content from the terminal device, acquires the charge print instruction information from the print job, and transfers the print job to the print device If the charge print instruction information acquired by the job transfer means and the print job transfer means does not match the charge print count information printed and counted by the printing device based on the print job, the charge print count information And charging processing means for executing charging processing based on the above.

  Further, a third feature of the accounting server according to the present invention is that the print job transfer means has received accounting server job identification information for uniquely identifying a plurality of print jobs in the accounting server from the terminal device. It is added to the print job and transferred to the printing apparatus.

  The charge printing system according to the present invention is characterized in that a terminal device that generates and transmits a print job, receives the print job transmitted by the terminal device, performs charging processing, and sends the print job to the printing device. A charging printing system comprising a charging server for transferring and a printing device for receiving a print job from the charging server and executing printing, wherein the terminal device stores charging print instruction information indicating charging print instruction contents. Generating and adding the generated charging print instruction information to the print job and transmitting it to the charging server. The charging server receives the print job from the terminal device and obtains the charging print instruction information from the print job. And print job transfer means for transferring the print job to the printing apparatus, and the charge print instruction information acquired by the print job transfer means. Charge information storage means for storing as gold information, the charge print instruction information included in the print job transferred to the printing apparatus, and the charge print count information actually printed and counted by the printing apparatus based on the print job Is different from the charging information update means for updating the charging information stored in the charging information storage means so as to match the charging print count information, and based on the charging information stored in the charging information storage means Charging processing means for executing charging processing, and the printing apparatus executes printing based on the print job transferred from the charging server, and the printing means actually executes the printing job based on the print job. Charging print count information generating means for generating charging print count information indicating a count value printed on the printer, and included in the print job The charging print instruction information is compared with the charging print count information generated by the charging print count information generating means, and if the charging print instruction information and the charging print count information do not match, the charging print count information is And a comparison processing means for transmitting to the billing server.

  According to the first feature of the accounting server according to the present invention, when the accounting print instruction information included in the print job and the accounting print count information actually printed and counted by the printing apparatus based on the print job do not match Because the charging print instruction information stored in the charging server is updated to match the charging print count information, the printing result is printed by actually charging the printing apparatus without causing an increase in cost or a decrease in response. The billing process can be executed accurately based on this.

  In addition, by including the charging print instruction information in the footer information of the print job, the printer driver of the terminal device updates the charging print instruction information while sequentially transmitting the page data of the print job, and finally all the page data Since the accounting print instruction information obtained by collecting the accounting print instruction information can be set and transmitted as the footer information of the print job, the accounting process can be executed more accurately.

  According to the second feature of the billing server according to the present invention, the billing print instruction information included in the print job does not match the billing print count information actually printed and counted based on the print job by the printing apparatus. In this case, since the charge print instruction information is updated to match the charge print count information, the charge is accurately charged based on the print result that is actually charged and printed by the printing apparatus without causing an increase in cost or a decrease in response. Processing can be executed. In addition, by including the charging print instruction information in the footer information of the print job, the printer driver of the terminal device updates the charging print instruction information while sequentially transmitting the page data of the print job, and finally all the page data Since the accounting print instruction information obtained by collecting the accounting print instruction information can be set and transmitted as the footer information of the print job, the accounting process can be executed more accurately.

  According to the third feature of the accounting server according to the present invention, the accounting server job identification information for uniquely identifying a plurality of print jobs in the accounting server is added to the print job received from the terminal device and printed. Since it is transferred to the device, it is possible to uniquely identify the print job on the billing server and the printing device side, and to reliably and easily obtain the billing print count information from the printing device based on the billing server job identification information. Etc. becomes possible.

  Further, according to the feature of the charge printing system according to the present invention, the charge print instruction information included in the print job and the charge print count information actually printed and counted by the printing apparatus based on the print job are inconsistent The billing print instruction information stored in the billing server is updated so as to match the billing print count information, so that the billing process is accurately executed based on the print result that is actually billed and printed by the printing apparatus. Can do.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of an accounting printing system including an accounting server according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process in each of the accounting server, the terminal device, and the printing apparatus which comprise the accounting printing system of the Example which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the print job which a terminal device produces | generates and transmits to an accounting server in the accounting printing system of the Example which concerns on this invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of charging print instruction information included in footer information of a print job in the charging printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the print job which added the job identification information for accounting servers by the accounting server of the Example which concerns on this invention.

  Embodiments of a charging server, a charging printing system, and a charging server program according to the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a charging printing system including a charging server 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the billing printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a billing server 1 and a plurality of terminals (here, for convenience of explanation, the number is three, but is not limited to this number). Similarly, a plurality of printing apparatuses 3 (two for convenience of explanation here, but not limited to this number) are connected to the apparatus 2 via a wired or wireless network 4. The charging server 1 receives the print job generated and transmitted by each terminal device 2, transfers the print job to the designated printing device 3, and executes the charging process.

  The billing server 1 controls the operation of the billing server 1 as a whole, and stores a print job, a CPU 11 that functions as a print job transfer unit 11a, a billing information update unit 11b, and a billing processing unit 11c, and serves as a billing information storage unit. Connected to the network 4, a memory 12 for storing charging information, a program storage unit 13 storing a charging server program for causing the CPU 11 to function as the print job transfer unit 11 a, charging information update unit 11 b and charging processing unit 11 c. Network I / F unit 14 and the like. In the embodiment according to the present invention, the billing processing means 11c subtracts the printing fee from a prepaid (prepaid) billing process, that is, a prepaid card such as a magnetic card or IC card charged by a user in advance. A description will be given assuming that charging is performed.

  The terminal device 2 includes a CPU 21 that controls the operation of the entire terminal device 2, a memory 22, a document creation application program (hereinafter referred to as a document creation application) 23 a that creates a print job such as a document, and a printer driver program (hereinafter referred to as a document driver application). This includes a program storage unit 23 in which various programs such as a printer driver 23b are stored, a network I / F unit 24 connected to the network 4, an input unit 25 such as a keyboard, a display unit 26, and the like.

  The printing apparatus 3 controls the operation of the entire printing apparatus 3 and also functions as the charged print count information generating means 31a and the comparison processing means 31b of the present invention, the memory 22, and the CPU 31 as the charged print count information generating means 31a. And a program storage unit 33 storing a program for causing it to function as the comparison processing unit 31b, a network I / F unit 34 connected to the network 4, and a print job transferred from the billing server 1 for printing. Printing section 35 and the like.

  Next, accounting processing in the accounting printing system including the accounting server 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing processing in each of the charging server 1, the terminal device 2, and the printing device 3 included in the charging printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, first, in the terminal device 2, the CPU 21 executes the document creation application 23a and the like stored in the program storage unit 23, creates document data including text, images, and the like, and starts the printer driver 23b. A print job is generated based on the document data (S101).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a print job D that is generated by the terminal device 2 and transmitted to the charging server 1 in the charging printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the print job generated by the terminal device 2 and transmitted to the charging server 1 in the charging printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes header information D1 and one page (Page 1) to n pages ( Page data D2 that is print image data up to Page n) and footer information D3.

  Identification information indicating the MAC address of the terminal device 2, the creation date and time of the print job D, and the like is added to the header information D1.

  The footer information D3 is charged with detailed charge print instruction information D31 of the page data D2 included in the print job D, that is, each page data D2 from page 1 (Page 1) to page n (Page n). When printing, instruction information indicating charging printing instruction contents such as “single / double-sided”, “color / monochrome”, “size” such as A4 size or A3 size, and “number of sheets” is added. Yes.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of charging print instruction information D31 included in the footer information D3 of the print job D.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the charge printing instruction information D31 included in the footer information D3 includes a “size” (symbol: 101) such as A4, A3, B4, and “single / double-sided” that instructs single-sided printing or double-sided printing. ”(Symbol: 102),“ color / monochrome ”(symbol: 103) for instructing color printing or monochrome printing, and“ number of sheets ”(symbol: 104) for instructing the number of prints are associated with print job D. Is set by the printer driver 23b of the terminal device 2 as instruction information indicating the contents of the charge printing instruction.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the terminal device 2 sends the print job D including the charge print instruction information D31 shown in FIG. 4 in the footer information D3 to the charge server 1 via the network I / F unit 24 and the network 4. Transmit (S105).

  The CPU 11 of the billing server 1 that has received the print job D functions as the print job transfer means 11a. First, the print job D from the terminal device 2 is received and stored in the memory 12, and the footer information D3 of the print job D is received. The charging print instruction information D31 is acquired from the data as charging information and stored in the memory 12 (S107).

  Next, when user login is requested (S109), the CPU 11 of the accounting server 1 determines whether or not the user who has transmitted the print job from the terminal device 2 is authenticated by the printing apparatus 3 that executes the accounting printing. (S111). Here, if it is determined that the user who transmitted the print job has been previously logged in by the user and has been authenticated by the user before the charge printing is executed by the printing apparatus 3, the printing apparatus 3 The authentication result “OK” is transmitted to the accounting server 1.

  When the charging server 1 is notified of user authentication “OK” from the printing apparatus 3 that is to execute charging printing, the CPU 11 of the charging server 1 functions as the print job transfer unit 11 a and receives it from the terminal device 2. The accounting server job identification information D11 that can be uniquely identified by the accounting server 1 is added to the stored header information D1 of the print job D and transferred to the printing apparatus 3 (S113).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the print job D to which the charging server job identification information D11 is added in the charging server 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the CPU 11 of the accounting server 1 identifies the accounting server job identification that can be uniquely identified by the accounting server 1 in the header information D1 of the print job D configured as shown in FIG. 3 received from the terminal device 2. Information D11 is added.

  When the printing apparatus 3 receives the print job D to which the charging server job identification information D11 is added from the charging server 1, the printing unit 35 executes the print job D to perform charging printing. At that time, the CPU 31 functions as the charge print count information generating unit 31a, and based on the print contents such as “size” and “color / monochrome” for each print job to be charged print, as well as the total count number for maintenance and the like. Charged print count information is generated by counting and counting actual print results (S115).

  As a result, when printing, the printing apparatus 3 causes a paper jam and the user cancels the print job, or executes a sample print (trial print) that is not included in the charge print instruction information D31. Even in this case, it is possible to generate accurate billing print count information counted and tabulated when the printing apparatus 3 actually charges and prints.

  Next, the CPU 31 of the printing apparatus 3 functions as the comparison processing unit 31b, and compares the charging print count information counted and totaled by the printing apparatus 3 with the charging print instruction information D31 of the footer information D3 of the print job D. If it is determined that they do not match, the result of the comparison is inconsistent, and the actual charging print count information is associated with the charging server job identification information D11 of the print job D in the memory 32 or the like. Store (S119). It should be noted that, even if they match as a result of the comparison, match information indicating that they match may be stored.

  The accounting server 1 accesses the printing device 3 based on the accounting server job identification information D11 at regular intervals (periodically) such as every predetermined time or when the printing device 3 is on standby, and the printing results in each printing device 3 Is requested to obtain job status information (S121).

  When the printing apparatus 3 is requested to acquire job status information, the mismatch information between the charging print instruction information D31 of the print job D from the terminal apparatus 2 and the charging print count information actually printed by the printing apparatus 3 is displayed. If it is stored corresponding to the charging server job identification information D11, the mismatch information is transmitted based on the charging server job identification information D11 (S123). If the matching information is stored in the printing apparatus 3, the matching information may be transmitted in addition to the mismatch information.

  When the billing server 1 acquires the mismatch information between the billing print instruction information D31 and the billing print count information when the print job D is executed from the printing apparatus 3, the CPU 11 functions as the billing information update unit 11b, and based on the mismatch information. Then, an update process is performed to update the charge print instruction information D31 stored as the charge information in the memory 12 to the charge print count information actually charged and printed by the printing apparatus 3 (S125). If the charging print instruction information D31 set by the terminal device 2 and the charging print count information actually printed by the printing apparatus 3 match, the charging print instruction information D31 stored as the charging information in the memory 12 is updated. Processing is not executed.

  Thereafter, the CPU 11 of the billing server 1 functions as the billing processing unit 11c and executes billing processing for the terminal device 2 that has transmitted the print job D based on the billing information stored in the memory 12 (S127). ).

  As described above, according to the charging printing system of the embodiment of the present invention, the charging printing count information counted by charging printing with the printing apparatus 3 and the charging printing instruction set in the footer information D3 of the print job D by the terminal apparatus 2 If the information D31 does not match, the billing server 1 executes the billing process after obtaining the mismatch information from the printing device 3 and updating the billing print instruction information D31 stored as billing information in the memory 12. The terminal device 2 that has transmitted the print job D can be charged accurately based on the actual print result.

  Also, the charge print count information actually counted by charge printing in the printing apparatus 3 is compared with the charge print instruction information D31 set by the terminal device 2 in the footer information D3 of the print job D. Is not matched and the actual charging print count information is transmitted to the charging server 1, so that the charging print count information and the charging print instruction information D31 do not match between the printing apparatus 3 and the charging server 1. In order to achieve matching and the like, useless communication for each print job can be omitted, and performance can be improved.

  In particular, charging server 1 acquires charging print instruction information D31 included in footer information D3 of print job D transmitted from terminal device 2 to charging server 1 as charging information, and does not match actual charging print count information. Since the charging process is executed based on the charging print instruction information D31 after the update, the charging process can be performed without analyzing the page data D2 in the print job D in the charging server 1. As a result, the accounting process can be executed without increasing the cost or reducing the response.

  Further, by adding charging server job identification information D11 to the print job D received from the terminal device 2 by the charging server 1, the charging server 1 and the printing device 3 can uniquely identify the print job D. Therefore, the accounting server 1 can acquire the accounting print count information from the printing apparatus 3 based on the accounting server job identification information D11, and the accounting print count information that is the execution result of the printing job D from the printing apparatus 3 is obtained. Can be acquired reliably and easily.

  Further, even when the charging server 1 transmits a plurality of print jobs D to the printing apparatus 3 at a time to instruct charging printing, continuous printing is possible, and the charging print count that is the execution result of each printing job D is possible. Information can be acquired reliably, and productivity can be improved while ensuring the reliability of billing. For example, even when there are a plurality (N) of accounting servers 1 and an N-to-1 connection is made to one printing apparatus 3, a unique key (part of accounting server job identification information D11) ( For example, by adding a MAC address of the accounting server 1), ID conflict between a plurality of accounting servers 1 can be avoided, and an N-to-1 connection form for one printing apparatus is also possible.

  In the embodiment according to the present invention, the billing processing unit 11c of the billing server 1 has been described as executing a prepaid billing process using a prepaid card or an IC card charged with a predetermined amount. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and is not limited to such a prepaid billing process. The billing printing fee is later withdrawn from a bank account or the like, and a normal billing process of paying with cash is executed. But of course.

  In the embodiment according to the present invention, the CPU 11 of the charging server 1 stores the charging print instruction information acquired from the print job in the memory 12 as the charging information, and the charging print instruction information stored in the memory 12 and the printing device 3 Although the description has been made so as to compare the counted charge print count information, the charge print instruction information acquired from the print job is not stored in the memory 12 without being limited to this, and the charge print instruction information acquired from the print job is printed. The charge print count information counted by the device 3 may be directly compared.

1 ... billing server 11 ... CPU
11a: Print job transfer means 11b: Charge information update means 11c: Charge processing means 12 ... Memory (charge information storage means)
13 ... Program storage unit 14 ... Network I / F
2 ... Terminal device 21 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 ... Memory 23 ... Program memory | storage part 23a ... Document creation application program 23b ... Printer driver program 24 ... Network I / F
25 ... Input unit 26 ... Display unit 3 ... Printing device 31 ... CPU
31a ... accounting print count information generating means 31b ... comparison processing means 32 ... memory 33 ... program storage unit 34 ... network I / F
35. Printing section (printing means)
4 ... Network

Claims (2)

A terminal device that generates and transmits a print job; a charging server that receives the print job transmitted by the terminal device and performs charging processing; and that transfers the print job to the printing device; and a print job from the charging server A charging printing system including a printing device that receives and executes charging printing,
The terminal device
Generating charging printing instruction information indicating the charging printing instruction content, adding the generated charging printing instruction information to a print job and transmitting the information to the charging server;
The printing apparatus includes:
Printing means for executing printing based on the print job transferred from the accounting server;
Charging print count information generating means for generating charging print count information indicating a count value printed by the printing means based on the print job;
When the charge print instruction information included in the print job is compared with the charge print count information generated by the charge print count information generation means, and the charge print instruction information and the charge print count information do not match, Comparison processing means for storing the mismatch information and the billing print count information in the storage means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the mismatch information and the charging print count information to the charging server in response to a print result acquisition request from the charging server;
The billing server
Print job transfer means for receiving the print job from the terminal device, acquiring the charging print instruction information from the print job, and transferring the print job to the printing device;
Charging information storage means for storing the charging print instruction information acquired by the print job transfer means as charging information;
Based on the mismatch information between the charge print instruction information and the charge print count information when the print job acquired from the printing apparatus is executed, the charge information stored in the charge information storage unit is converted to the charge print count. Billing information updating means for updating to match the information;
Charging processing means for executing charging processing based on the charging information stored in the charging information storage means;
A charging printing system comprising: A terminal device that generates and transmits a print job; a charging server that receives the print job transmitted by the terminal device and performs charging processing; and that transfers the print job to the printing device; and a print job from the charging server A charging printing system including a printing device that receives and executes charging printing,
The terminal device
Generating charging printing instruction information indicating the charging printing instruction content, adding the generated charging printing instruction information to a print job and transmitting the information to the charging server;
The printing apparatus includes:
Printing means for executing printing based on the print job transferred from the accounting server;
Charging print count information generating means for generating charging print count information indicating a count value printed by the printing means based on the print job;
When the charge print instruction information included in the print job is compared with the charge print count information generated by the charge print count information generation means, and the charge print instruction information and the charge print count information do not match, Comparison processing means for storing the mismatch information and the billing print count information in the storage means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the mismatch information and the charging print count information to the charging server in response to a print result acquisition request from the charging server;
The billing server
Print job transfer means for receiving the print job from the terminal device, acquiring the charging print instruction information from the print job, and transferring the print job to the printing device;
Charging processing means for executing charging processing based on the charging print count information in the mismatch information between the charging print instruction information and the charging print count information when the print job acquired from the printing apparatus is executed;
A charging printing system comprising:

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