JP6229442B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that operates in conjunction with a so-called SNS server.

  Conventionally, recording media on which messages are written are exchanged, such as New Year's cards, summer greetings, or Christmas cards. Thus, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of reading address data and name data of a government postcard and registering it as address book data. In recent years, the exchange of messages using SNS (Social Networking Service) has been spreading.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-164652

  The number of SNS users who can exchange messages more easily than New Year's cards is increasing. On the other hand, it is a fact that many people dare use time-consuming New Year's cards to produce a special feeling. Thus, although the method of exchanging messages is diversified, they are not linked to each other.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to perform information processing in which message exchange by a recording medium and message exchange via a server device are linked by taking advantage of both advantages. To provide an apparatus.

  The information processing apparatus described in this specification accesses a communication unit that communicates with a server apparatus that manages information of a plurality of users, and information that is managed by the server apparatus as a principal user among the plurality of users. A storage unit for storing the account information and a control unit. The server device stores, in a storage area associated with a user identifier for identifying each user, related user information including the user identifier of another user associated with the user and a message acquired from the other user. doing. The control unit obtains image data indicating an image recorded on the recording medium, and sender specifying information for specifying the sender of the recording medium from the image data acquired by the acquiring unit Using the account information stored in the storage unit, communication preparation means for receiving permission to access information managed by the server device as the principal user, and the principal user A selection means for selecting the user identifier of the user related to the sender specified by the sender identification information from among the user identifiers included in the related user information, and identification by the user identifier selected by the selection means The message to be stored in the storage area of the user to be output to the server device through the communication unit And an output means that.

  According to the information processing apparatus described in this specification, for example, when a recording medium in which a message is written is received, a message related to the recording medium can be quickly transmitted to a person related to the sender. As a result, the two message exchange methods can be linked using the advantages of both.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an information processing system 100 in the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of address information. FIG. 3 is an example of information managed by the server device 70. FIG. 4 is a specific example of the information shown in FIG. 3, where (A) shows profile information A, (B) shows friend user information A, and (C) shows friend user information C. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing executed by the information processing apparatus 50. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the message transmission process. It is a figure which shows the New Year's card 80 sent from the user A to the user C, (A) shows the address surface 81, (B) shows the communication surface 82. FIG. FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 53, where (A) shows a transmission confirmation screen and (B) shows a friend approval screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The embodiment described below is merely an example of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the embodiment of the present invention can be changed as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an information processing system 100 in the present embodiment. An information processing system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a multifunction machine 10, an information processing apparatus 50, and a server apparatus 70. The multifunction machine 10, the information processing apparatus 50, and the server apparatus 70 can communicate with each other via the communication network 102. Although the specific example of the communication network 102 is not specifically limited, For example, wired LAN (abbreviation of Local Area Network), wireless LAN, WAN (abbreviation of Wide Area Network), or these combination may be sufficient.

[Multifunction machine 10]
As shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction machine 10 includes a printer unit 11, a scanner unit 12, a display unit 23, an operation unit 24, a communication unit 25, a CPU 27, a storage unit 28, and a communication bus 29. Is mainly provided. Each component constituting the multifunction machine 10 is connected to each other via a communication bus 29. The multifunction machine 10 is an example of an image processing apparatus or an information processing apparatus.

  The printer unit 11 executes print processing for recording an image indicated by image data acquired from an external device on a recording sheet. The printing method of the printer unit 11 is not particularly limited. For example, a known method such as an ink jet method or an electrophotographic method can be adopted. The scanner unit 12 executes a scan process for reading an image recorded on a recording sheet and generating image data. The scanner unit 12 is an example of a reading unit. The multifunction machine 10 may further include a copy function for recording an image indicated by the image data generated by the scanner unit 12 on a recording sheet by the printer unit 11, a FAX function for performing FAX transmission / reception, and the like. .

[Display unit 23]
The display unit 23 includes a display screen that displays various types of information. Although the specific configuration of the display unit 23 is not particularly limited, for example, a liquid crystal display (abbreviation of Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display (abbreviation of Organic Electro-Luminescence Display), or the like can be employed.

[Operation unit 24]
The operation unit 24 detects a user operation for selecting an object displayed on the display screen of the display unit 23. Specifically, the operation unit 24 includes, for example, a push button, and outputs various operation signals associated with the pushed push button to the CPU 27. Further, the operation unit 24 may include a film-like touch sensor superimposed on the display screen of the display unit 23. That is, the display unit 23 may be configured as a touch panel display. For the touch sensor, a known method such as a capacitance method or a resistance film method can be adopted.

  The “object” refers to an image that can be selected by the user operating the operation unit 24. As an example, the object is a character string displayed on the display unit 23. One of the objects is highlighted when the direction key of the operation unit 24 is pressed, and the object is highlighted by pressing the enter button of the operation unit 24. A light-displayed object may be selected. As another example, an object when the operation unit 24 is a touch panel is an icon, a button, a link, or the like displayed on the display unit 23, and the object displayed at the touch position may be selected.

[Communication unit 25]
The communication unit 25 is an interface for communicating with an external device through the communication network 102. That is, the multifunction machine 10 outputs various data or various information to the information processing apparatus 50 or the server apparatus 70 through the communication unit 25, and acquires various data or various information from the information processing apparatus 50 or the server apparatus 70 through the communication unit 25. .

[CPU 27]
A CPU (abbreviation of Central Processing Unit) 27 controls the overall operation of the multifunction machine 10. The CPU 27 acquires various programs (to be described later) from the storage unit 28 based on the operation signal output from the operation unit 24 and various information or various data acquired from the information processing device 50 or the server device 70 through the communication unit 25. And execute. That is, the CPU 27 and the storage unit 28 constitute an example of a control unit.

[Storage 28]
The storage unit 28 includes a program storage area 28A and a data storage area 28B. The program storage area 28A stores an OS (abbreviation for Operating System) 20 and an image processing program 31. Note that the image processing program 31 may be a single program or an aggregate of a plurality of programs. Data or information necessary for executing the image processing program 31 is stored in the data storage area 28B.

  Note that “data” and “information” in this specification are common in that they are bits or bit strings that can be handled by a computer. “Data” refers to data that can be handled by the computer without taking into account the meaning of each bit. On the other hand, “information” refers to information that the operation of the computer branches depending on the semantic content indicated by each bit. Furthermore, the “instruction” is a control signal for prompting the destination apparatus to perform the next operation, and may include information or itself has a property as information. There is also.

  In addition, even if the format (for example, text format, binary format, flag format, etc.) is changed for each computer, “data” and “information” have the same data and information as long as they are recognized as the same meaning content. Are treated as For example, information indicating “two” is stored as text information “0x32” in ASCII code in one computer, and binary format information “10” in binary notation in another computer. May be.

  However, the distinction between the above “data” and “information” is not strict, and exceptional handling is allowed. For example, data may be temporarily treated as information, or information may be temporarily treated as data. Also, what is handled as data in a certain device may be handled as information in another device. Furthermore, information may be extracted from the data, or data may be extracted from the information.

  The storage unit 28 includes, for example, RAM (abbreviation of Random Access Memory), ROM (abbreviation of Read Only Memory), EEPROM (abbreviation of Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), and HDD (abbreviation of HardDr) 27 (HDD). It is configured by a buffer or the like or a combination thereof. The storage unit 28 may be a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium is a non-transitory medium. Non-transitory media include recording media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM in addition to the above examples. On the other hand, electrical signals that carry programs downloaded from servers on the Internet are not included in non-transitory media.

  The program stored in the program storage area 28A is executed by the CPU 27. However, in this specification, the operation of each program may be described with the CPU 27 omitted. That is, in the following description, the description that “the program A executes the process A” may indicate that “the CPU 27 executes the process A described in the program A”. The same applies to the information processing apparatus 50 described later.

  The OS 30 provides an API (abbreviation for Application Programming Interface) for controlling the printer unit 11, the scanner unit 12, the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the communication unit 25, and the like that are hardware constituting the multifunction peripheral 10. It is a basic program. In other words, each of the above programs controls each hardware by calling an API provided by the OS 30. However, in this specification, the operation of each program will be described with the OS 30 omitted. That is, in the following description, the description “the program B controls the hardware C” may refer to “the program B controls the hardware C through the API of the OS 30”. The same applies to the information processing apparatus 50 described later.

[Information processing apparatus 50]
As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 50 mainly includes a display unit 53, an operation unit 54, a communication unit 55, a CPU 57, a storage unit 58, and a communication bus 59. The display unit 53, the operation unit 54, the communication unit 55, the CPU 57, the storage unit 58, and the communication bus 59 included in the information processing device 50 are the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the communication unit 25, and the CPU 27 included in the multifunction machine 10. Since it is common with the storage unit 28 and the communication bus 29, the description thereof will be omitted. However, the OS 60 and the information processing program 61 are stored in the program storage area 58A of the storage unit 58. The information processing apparatus 50 may be, for example, a PC (abbreviation for personal computer), a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like.

  In the data storage area 58B of the information processing device 50, account information for logging in to the server device 70 as the principal user is stored. For example, the account information may be a combination of a user ID and a password, or may be a token or the like. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that account information of user C, which will be described later, is stored in the data storage area 58B as the account information of the principal user.

  The data storage area 58B stores a plurality of address information. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the address information includes name information and attached information associated with each other. That is, each row shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to address information. The name information is information indicating a name. The attached information is information representing a person indicated by corresponding name information. The attached information in the present embodiment includes information indicating an address, a telephone number, and a mail address, but examples of attached information are not limited to these. The attached information is not an indispensable item, and there may be an item for which information is not set, such as an e-mail address corresponding to the name information “Jojiro”.

[Server device 70]
The server device 70 is, for example, an SNS (Social Networking Service) server. The server device 70 manages information on a plurality of users. As shown in FIG. 3, the server device 70 in the present embodiment stores profile information, article data, a message, and friend user information in a storage area associated with a user identifier that identifies each user. ing. That is, each row shown in FIG. 3 indicates the contents stored in the storage area of each user. Note that the user storage area does not need to be a physically collected area in the storage device included in the server device 70, but may be an area for storing the user information and the like.

  The user identifier is information for identifying a user whose information is managed by the server device 70 (hereinafter referred to as “user of the server device 70”), and is uniquely assigned by the server device 70. Profile information is information representing the user. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the user information includes information indicating the name, address, telephone number, mail address, and the like of the user. The user information may include any information related to the user such as hobbies, birthplaces, occupations, educational backgrounds, and the like. User information is registered in the server device 70 by each user. However, not all items included in the user information need be registered in the server device 70. The article data is arbitrary data generated by the user, such as a diary, a blog article, and a tweet. This article data is registered in the server device 70 by the user for the purpose of allowing other users to browse, for example.

  The message is information or data transmitted / received between users registered in the server device 70. That is, messages acquired from other users are stored in the storage area of each user. The message includes an arbitrary message composed of arbitrary character string data, image data, or a combination thereof, and a control message for instructing the server device 70 to perform predetermined processing. Also, header information is added to the arbitrary message and the control message. The header information includes at least information indicating the user identifier of the message transmission source user and the user identifier of the destination user.

  The friend user information is information including a user identifier of a user registered as a friend. In the friend user information A of the user A, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, a user C, a user D, and a user X are registered. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4C, for example, user A, user D, and user E are registered in the friend user information C of user C. The friend user information of each of the two users registered as friends includes a mutual user identifier. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C, the user C is included in the friend user information A of the user A, and the user A is included in the friend user information of the user C. Although illustration is omitted, user A and user C are included in friend user information D of user D. The friend user information is an example of related user information including a user identifier of another user associated with the user.

  In addition, the user of the server apparatus 70 can browse other users' profile information, article data, and friend user information. Each user can set a range of users who can view his / her profile information, article data, and friend user information. Although the specific example of a browsing range is not specifically limited, For example, all the users of the server apparatus 70 may be browseable, only the user registered as a friend may be browseable, and anyone browses. You don't have to.

[Operation of Information Processing System 100]
The operation of the information processing system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. The following description is based on the assumption that the user C has received the New Year's card 80 shown in FIG. A New Year card 80 shown in FIG. 7 is an example of a recording medium.

  First, the image processing program 31 of the multifunction machine 10 causes the scanner unit 12 to execute a scan process for the New Year's card 80 set in the scanner unit 12 by the user (S11). The scanner unit 12 generates image data indicating an image recorded on the address surface 81 shown in FIG. 7A and image data indicating an image recorded on the communication surface 82 shown in FIG. 7B. To do. Further, the image processing program 31 outputs the image data generated by the scanner unit 12 to the information processing apparatus 50 through the communication unit 25. The information processing program 61 of the information processing apparatus 50 acquires the image data from the multifunction machine 10 through the communication unit 55. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that acquires image data in step S11 is an example of an acquisition unit.

  Next, the information processing program 61 extracts sender identification information from the image data of the address plane 81 acquired from the multifunction machine 10 (S12). The sender identification information is information for identifying the sender of the New Year card 80. Specific examples of information included in the sender identification information are not particularly limited. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, name information indicating the name of the sender, address information indicating the address of the sender, and the e-mail address of the sender. The mail address information shown may be included. In the present embodiment, the information processing program 61 includes name information “Jojiro”, address information “Yaku-Zyo, WW-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka-shi”, and mail address information “abc@def.ghi”. Extract specific information. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S12 is an example of an extraction unit. The mail address is an example of destination information indicating the destination of the electronic mail to the sender.

  Moreover, the specific extraction method of sender specific information is not specifically limited, For example, you may extract by the following method. The information processing apparatus 50 stores name information, address information, mail address information, and the like of the user C who is the principal user in the data storage area 28B. The information processing program 61 reads a character string from the image data on the address surface 81 by OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Next, the information processing program 61 extracts name information from the character string read by the OCR. Then, the information processing program 61 extracts name information that is different from the name information stored in the data storage area 28B from the extracted name information as sender identification information. The same applies to address information and e-mail address information.

  A known method can be used as a method for extracting name information and the like from a character string read by OCR. In addition, when receiving a New Year's card 80 using a government-made postcard in which the layout of the address surface 81 is determined in advance, the information processing program 61 may extract sender identification information based on the layout of the government-made postcard. . That is, the information processing program 61 according to the present embodiment may extract information described in the lower left area of the address plane 81 as sender identification information. In this embodiment, the example in which the sender identification information is extracted from the address plane 81 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the sender identification information may be extracted from the communication plane 82.

  Next, the information processing program 61 compares the sender identification information extracted in step S12 with a plurality of pieces of address information stored in the data storage area 58B (S13). Then, the information processing program 61 determines that the name information included in the sender identification information matches the name information included in one of the plurality of address information (S13: Yes). Other information included in the sender identifying information is added to the included information included (S14). The information processing program 61 in the present embodiment adds “abc@def.ghi” included in the sender identification information to the mail address column of “Jojiro” shown in FIG. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S13 is an example of an editing unit. Note that “according to” in the present specification indicates that the processing described after the character string is executed when the condition described before the character string is satisfied. Note that the timing at which the process is executed may be after the condition is satisfied, and is not necessarily immediately after the condition is satisfied.

  On the other hand, in response to the fact that the name information included in the sender identification information does not match the name information included in all address information (S13: No), the information processing program 61 Then, the address information that associates the attached information that is other information included in the sender identification information is stored in the data storage area 58B (S15). The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S15 is an example of a registration unit.

  Next, the information processing program 61 logs in to the server device 70 using the account information of the user C stored in the data storage area 58B (S16). The login is a process of receiving permission to access information managed by the server device 70 as the user C. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S16 is an example of a communication preparation unit. Note that the information processing program 61 does not always need to store the account information of the user C in the data storage area 58B, and may acquire account information from the user through the operation unit 24 at the timing of logging in to the server device 70. Good.

  Next, the information processing program 61 includes the user identifier of the sender user that matches the sender specified by the sender identification information in the friend user information C of the user C (hereinafter, “the sender is registered as a friend”). It is determined whether or not (S17). For example, the information processing program 61 collates the profile information of each of the users A, D, and E included in the friend user information C with the sender specifying information extracted in step S12. In the present embodiment, the name information, address information, and mail address information extracted in step S12 match the profile information A shown in FIG. That is, the degree of coincidence between the sender identification information extracted in step S12 and the profile information A is 75%. The degree of coincidence is a value calculated using the total number of items included in the profile information as the denominator and the number of items matching the sender identification information as the numerator.

  Then, in response to the fact that the matching degree between the sender identification information and the profile information A exceeds a threshold value (for example, 70%), the information processing program 61 determines that the user identifier associated with the profile information A, that is, the user A It is determined that it is the user identifier of the sending user (S17: Yes). That is, the information processing program 61 in this embodiment selects the user A as the user identifier of the sending user. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that selects the user identifier of the sending user in step S17 is an example of a first selection unit. Then, the information processing program 61 executes a message transmission process in response to the sending user being registered as a friend (S17: Yes) (S18). The message transmission process will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  First, the information processing program 61 transmits a receipt message indicating that the New Year's card 80 has been received to the user A who is the sending user through the server device 70 (S31). Specifically, the information processing program 61 outputs a receipt message with header information added to the server device 70 through the communication unit 25. The received message is an example of an arbitrary message including an arbitrary character string such as “Thank you for New Year's card”. The header information includes information indicating that the transmission source user of the receipt message is the user C, the destination user is the user A (in other words, a message to be stored in the storage area of the user A), and the like. Is included. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S31 is an example of an output unit. The same applies to steps S20, S21, S22, and S36 described later.

  The server device 70 that has acquired the receipt message with the header information added stores the receipt message in the storage area of the user A by referring to the header information. Then, the user A who has logged into the server device 70 can view the receipt message from the user C stored in the storage area. That is, the arbitrary message in this specification refers to a message that allows the destination user to view the message itself output from the transmission source user. In addition to the receipt message “Thank you for the New Year's card”, the server device 70 may notify the user A that the transmission source of the receipt message is the user C based on the header information.

  Next, the information processing program 61 determines whether or not the notification information is included in the image data acquired from the multifunction machine 10 (S32). Notification information refers to information for notifying the date and time, location, contents, etc. of an event. Although the specific method of determining whether notification information is included is not specifically limited, For example, the following method can be considered. First, the information processing program 61 reads a character string from the image data on the communication surface 82 by OCR. Next, the information processing program 61 extracts a predetermined character string indicating notification information from the character string read by the OCR. And the information processing program 61 extracts the information contained in the predetermined area | region containing the said character string as notification information according to the number of the extracted character strings exceeding the threshold value (S32: Yes).

  For example, among the character strings shown in FIG. 7B, “lecture”, “held”, and the like may be stored in the data storage area 58B as character strings indicating notification information. In addition, “Live”, “Alumni Association”, “Different Industry Exchange Meeting”, and the like may be stored in the data storage area 58B as character strings indicating notification information. The predetermined area including the character string may be, for example, an area in which a character having substantially the same font size as the character string is described, or may include the character string and have a predetermined size. It may be an area surrounded by a blank area. In the example shown in Fig. 7 (B), "We will hold a lecture at the xx conference hall on the month and day. (Line feed) Please come. (Line feed) http: www. Extracted as CPU57 of information processor 50 which extracts notice information in Step S32 is another example of an extraction means.

  Next, in response to the fact that the notification information is included in the image data (S32: Yes), the information processing program 61 has a friend who is common to the user C who is the principal user and the user A who is the sending user. It is determined whether or not to perform (S33). That is, the information processing program 61 determines whether there is a user identifier that is commonly included in the friend user information A and C. In the example of FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C, the user D is commonly included in the friend user information A and C. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S33 is an example of a second selection unit. Moreover, CPU57 of the information processing apparatus 50 which selects the user identifier of the user relevant to a sender in step S17, S33 is an example of a selection means. That is, the “user associated with the sender” may be, for example, a user who matches the sender, or a user who has registered as a friend with the sender.

  Next, the information processing program 61, in response to the presence of a common friend for the users A and C (S33: Yes), for example, as shown in FIG. 8A, the notification information extracted in step S32 And the information which specifies the friend common to the users A and C selected by step S33 is displayed on the display part 53 (S34). The transmission confirmation screen shown in FIG. 8A is a screen for requesting permission from the principal user to transmit the notification information extracted in step S32 to the user selected in step S33. In the transmission confirmation screen shown in FIG. 8A, a “Send” button and a “Cancel” button are displayed. CPU57 of information processor 50 which performs processing of Step S34 is an example of a reporting means.

  The information processing program 61 then notifies the notification message including the notification information extracted in step S32 in response to the operation unit 54 detecting an operation of pressing the “Send” button on the transmission confirmation screen (S35: Yes). Is transmitted to the user D selected in step S33 through the server device 70 (S36), and the message transmission process is terminated. The notification message is another example of the arbitrary message. Pressing the “send” button on the transmission confirmation screen is an example of an output instruction for outputting a notification message. That is, the CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that executes the process of step S35 is an example of a reception unit.

  Specifically, the information processing program 61 outputs a notification message to which the header information is added to the server device 70 through the communication unit 25. The header information includes information indicating that the transmission source user of the notification message is the user C and that the destination user is the user D (in other words, the message stored in the storage area of the user D). Is included. The server device 70 that has acquired the notification message with the header information added stores the notification message in the storage area of the user D by referring to the header information. Since the subsequent processing is common to the case of the receipt message, the description thereof will be omitted.

  On the other hand, the information processing program 61 skips step S36 and terminates the message transmission process when the operation unit 54 detects an operation of pressing the “cancel” button on the transmission confirmation screen (S35: No). . Further, the information processing program 61 skips steps S34 to S36 and ends the message transmission process in response to the fact that there is no common friend between the users A and C (S33: No). Furthermore, the information processing program 61 skips steps S33 to S36 and terminates the message transmission process in response to the fact that the notification information is not included in the image data (S32: No).

  Returning to FIG. 5, the information processing program 61 determines that the sending user's A, D, and E profile information and the sender specifying information are all equal to or less than the threshold value, the friend user information C includes the sending user's information. It is determined that the user identifier is not included (S17: No). Next, the information processing program 61 determines whether or not the sender user information is managed by the server device 70 (S19). Specifically, the profile information of each of the plurality of users managed by the server device 70 is compared with the sender specifying information.

  Then, the information processing program 61 determines that the user identifier associated with the profile information is the user identifier of the sending user when the degree of coincidence between the sender identification information and the profile information exceeds a threshold value ( S19: Yes). The method for calculating the degree of coincidence may be the same as in step S17. The CPU 57 of the information processing apparatus 50 that searches for the user identifier of the sending user in step S19 is an example of a search unit.

  Next, the information processing program 61 transmits a friend application message for applying for a friend to the user A to the server device 70 in response to the discovery of the user identifier of the user A who is the sending user (S19: Yes). (S20). Specifically, the information processing program 61 outputs the friend application message to which the header information is added to the server device 70 through the communication unit 55. The friend application message is an example of an application message that causes the server device 70 to execute a process for receiving permission to include the user A in the friend user information of the user C. In other words, the friend application message can also be expressed as an application message that causes the server device 70 to execute a process for receiving permission to include the user C in the friend user information of the user A. The header information includes information indicating that the transmission source user of the friend application message is the user C, and that the destination user is the user A (in other words, the partner who requests friend registration is the user A). Is included.

  The server device 70 that has acquired the friend application message causes the friend approval screen to be displayed on the display screen of the user A who has logged into the server device 70. For example, in the friend approval screen shown in FIG. 8B, the message “Friend request has arrived from user C. Do you want to register user C as a friend?” And “Approve” to approve user C's friend application. Includes buttons and non-approved “unapproved” buttons. Then, the server device 70 adds the user C to the friend user information A of the user A and adds the user A to the friend user information C of the user C in response to the “approval” button being pressed.

  That is, the friend application message is an example of a control message that causes the server device 70 to execute the above processing. As described above, the control message in this specification is not the message itself output from the transmission source user being browsed by the destination user, but the result of the processing executed by the server device 70 in accordance with the control message. Refers to the message to be received. The “result of the process executed by the server device 70” indicates, for example, the display of the friend approval screen and the addition of the user C to the friend user information A of the user A. That is, the user A who is the destination user of the friend application message can browse the friend approval screen and confirm that the user C has been added to the friend user information A.

  On the other hand, in response to the fact that the user identifier of the sender is not found (S19: No), the information processing program 61 transmits to the sender an SNS invitation email that prompts the server device 70 to register the sender information (No). S21). Specifically, the information processing program outputs an SNS invitation mail addressed to the mail address included in the sender identification information to a mail server (not shown) through the communication unit 55. If the sender identification information does not include an email address and the sender address information includes an email address, the information processing program 61 sends an SNS invitation email to the email address included in the address information. do it. On the other hand, when the e-mail address is not included in both the sender specifying information and the address information, the information processing program 61 may skip step S21.

  The information processing program 61 that has executed any of steps S18, S20, and S21 uploads the image data acquired in step S11 as a diary (S22), and ends the process of FIG. Specifically, the information processing program 61 outputs the article data including the image data to the server device 70 through the communication unit 55 in order to store the article data in the storage area of the user C. As a result, the image data acquired in step S11 is stored in the storage area of the user C as the article data of the user C.

[Operational effects of this embodiment]
According to this embodiment, the receipt message of the New Year's card 80 can be quickly transmitted to the sending user through the server device 70 (S31). In this way, the exchange of the New Year's card 80 and the exchange of messages through the server device 70 can be linked using the advantages of both. Further, when the sending user is not registered as a friend (S17: No), a friend application message is transmitted, and when the sender is not registered in the server device 70 (S19: No), an SNS invitation mail is transmitted. In this way, it is possible to expect the possibility that the exchange through the server device 70 will start with the receipt of the New Year card 80.

  Moreover, the notification information described in the New Year's card 80 can be quickly transmitted to a friend who is common to the principal user and the sending user (S36). Thereby, notification information can be spread efficiently. In step S36 of the present embodiment, the example in which the notification information itself extracted from the image data is output has been described. However, the notification message in the present invention is not limited to this, and the notification message is based on the extracted notification information. May be extracted.

  As an example, the notification information extracted in step S32 may include location information indicating the location on the Internet of detailed information indicating the details of the notification information. The location information may be information in a URL (abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator) format, for example, “http: //www.xxx.yyy.zzz” in FIG. 7B. In this case, the information processing program 61 may output a notification message including detailed information indicated by the location information to the server device 70 through the communication unit 55 (S32).

  As another example, the information processing program 61 uses the character string included in the notification information extracted in step S32 to search for article data related to the notification information from the article data of the sending user. Good. Then, in response to the discovery of article data related to the notification information, the information processing program 61 outputs a notification message including the location information of the article data or the article data itself to the server device 70 through the communication unit 55. (S32). Although the method for determining that the article data is related to the notification information is not particularly limited, for example, the degree of coincidence described in step S17 may be used.

  It goes without saying that the recording medium to be scanned is not limited to the New Year's card 80 in step S11 of the present embodiment. That is, the recording medium scanned in step S11 may be a summer greeting, a Christmas card, a moving notice, or the like. Further, the recording medium of the present invention is not limited to a government-made postcard, and may be a postcard having an arbitrary format, a sealed letter, or the like.

  In step S11 of this embodiment, an example in which image data is generated by causing the scanner unit 12 to scan the New Year's card 80 has been described. However, the method of generating image data is not limited to this. For example, image data may be generated and acquired by photographing the address surface 81 and the communication surface 82 of the New Year's card 80 with a camera mounted on the information processing apparatus 50.

  Moreover, although the information processing program 61 demonstrated the example which extracts sender specific information from image data in step S12 of this embodiment, this invention is not limited to this. For example, the information processing program 61 may output image data to a server device (not shown) through the communication unit 55 and acquire the sender specifying information extracted by the server device through the communication unit 55. The same applies to the process of extracting the notification information in step S32.

  In step S17 of the present embodiment, the example in which the sender identification information and the profile information are collated has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the sender identification information, the address information of the sender, and the profile information are included. By comparing, the sending user may be selected from the friend user information of the principal user. Thereby, improvement of collation accuracy can be expected.

  In step S17 of the present embodiment, the information processing program 61 acquires profile information A, D, and E from the server device through the communication unit 55, and the degree of coincidence between the sender identification information and the profile information A, D, and E, respectively. And the sending user may be selected from the users A, D, and E. Alternatively, the information processing program 61 may output the sender identification information to the server device 70 via the communication unit 55 and acquire the user identifier of the sender selected by the server device 70 via the communication unit 55. The same applies to the processing in steps S19 and S33.

  Further, in step S35 of the present embodiment, the user information is confirmed by the user himself / herself, but information to be output to the server device 70 in the process before the processes of steps S20, S21, S22, and S31 is performed. The principal user may be confirmed. Moreover, it is not always necessary to execute all the processes of steps S20, S21, S22, S31, and S36, and a part of them may be omitted.

  Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrated the example in which the process shown by FIG.5 and FIG.6 was performed by the information processing program 61 of the information processing apparatus 50, this invention is not limited to this. That is, some and all of the processes shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 may be executed by the image processing program 31 of the multifunction machine 10.

  Further, in the MFP 10 and the information processing apparatus 50 according to each embodiment, the various programs stored in the program storage areas 28A and 58A of the storage units 28 and 58 are executed by the CPUs 27 and 57, whereby the control unit of the present invention. An example in which each process executed by is implemented has been described. However, the configuration of the control unit is not limited to this, and part or all of the configuration may be realized by hardware such as an integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC (Integrated Circuit)).

  Furthermore, the present invention may be realized not only as the multifunction machine 10 or the information processing apparatus 50 but also as a program that causes the multifunction machine 10 or the information processing apparatus 50 to execute processing. Then, the program may be provided by being recorded on a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium may include a storage unit mounted on a server device that can be connected to the MFP 10 or the information processing device 50 via the communication network 102 in addition to a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or the like. And the program memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the server apparatus may be delivered via the communication networks 102, such as the internet, as the information or signal which shows the said program.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... MFP 12 ... Scanner part 23, 53 ... Display part 24, 54 ... Operation part 25, 55 ... Communication part 27, 57 ... CPU
28, 58 ... storage unit 31 ... image processing program 50 ... information processing device 61 ... information processing program 70 ... server device

Claims (15)

A communication unit that communicates with a server device that manages information of a plurality of users;
A storage unit for storing account information for accessing information managed by the server device as a principal user among a plurality of users;
A control unit, and
The server device stores a storage area associated with a user identifier for identifying each user.
Related user information including the user identifiers of other users associated with the user;
Remembers messages obtained from other users,
The controller is
Obtaining means for obtaining image data indicating an image recorded on the recording medium;
Extracting means for extracting sender specifying information for specifying the sender of the recording medium from the image data acquired by the acquiring means;
Communication preparation means for receiving permission to access information managed by the server device as the principal user using the account information stored in the storage unit;
Selecting means for selecting the user identifier of the user related to the sender specified by the sender identification information from among the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user;
An information processing apparatus comprising: output means for outputting the message to be stored in the storage area of the user identified by the user identifier selected by the selection means to the server apparatus through the communication unit. Profile information representing the user is stored in the storage area of each user,
The selecting means collates the sender identification information with the profile information, thereby determining, from among the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user, the user identifier of the sender that matches the sender. Selected,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs a reception message indicating that the recording medium has been received to the server apparatus through the communication unit so as to be stored in the storage area of the sending user. In response to the fact that the user identifier of the sender user is not included in the related user information of the principal user, the control unit collates the sender identification information with the profile information, and Search means for searching for the user identifier of the sending user from among a plurality of managed users,
The output means performs processing for receiving permission to include the user identifier of the sender user in the related user information of the principal user in response to the user identifier of the sender user being found by the search means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an application message to be executed by the server apparatus is output to the server apparatus through the communication unit. The sender identification information includes destination information indicating a destination of an e-mail to the sender,
The output means indicates, by the destination information, an e-mail prompting to register the sender information in the server device in response to the fact that the user identifier of the sender is not found by the search means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information processing apparatus outputs to a destination through the communication unit. Profile information representing the user is stored in the storage area of each user,
The extracting means extracts information included in a predetermined region including the character string of the image data as notification information in response to a predetermined character string being included in the image data,
The selection means includes
A first selection for selecting the user identifier of the sender matching the sender from the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user by collating the sender identification information with the profile information Means,
And second selection means for selecting the user identifier commonly included in the related user information of the principal user and the related user information of the sending user selected by the first selection means,
The output means passes through the communication unit in order to store the notification message generated based on the notification information extracted by the extraction means in the storage area of each user selected by the second selection means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus outputs the information to the server apparatus. The notification information includes location information indicating a location on the Internet of detailed information indicating details of the notification information,
The output means stores the notification message including the detailed information indicated by the location information in the storage area of each user selected by the second selection means in the server device through the communication unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 for outputting. The storage area of each user stores article data generated by the user and viewed by other users,
The output unit stores the notification message including the location information indicating the location of the article data of the sending user related to the notification information in the storage area of each user selected by the second selection unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, further outputting to the server apparatus through the communication unit. The controller is
Informing means for informing the notification message;
Receiving means for receiving an output instruction for causing the output means to output the notification message notified by the notification means,
In response to the output instruction being received by the receiving means, the output means sends the notification message to the storage area of each user selected by the second selection means through the communication unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information processing apparatus outputs the information to the server apparatus. In the storage area of each user, article data generated by the user and viewed by other users can be stored,
The output unit outputs the image data acquired by the acquisition unit to the server device through the communication unit in order to store the image data as the article data in the storage area of the principal user. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The sender specifying information includes name information indicating a name of the sender,
The storage unit stores a plurality of address information including the name information and attached information associated with each other,
The control unit, when the name information included in the sender identification information matches the name information included in one of the plurality of address information, the attached information included in the address information The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an editing unit that adds other information included in the sender identification information to the information. The sender specifying information includes name information indicating a name of the sender,
The storage unit stores a plurality of address information including the name information and attached information associated with each other,
The control unit, in response to the fact that the name information included in the sender identification information and the name information included in all the address information does not match, the name information included in the sender identification information, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising registration means for storing the address information in association with the attached information, which is other information included in the sender identification information, in the storage unit. Profile information representing the user is stored in the storage area of each user,
The selection means matches the sender from the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user by collating the sender identifying information and the address information of the sender with the profile information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the user identifier of a sending user is selected.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reading unit that reads an image recorded on a recording medium and generates the image data. A communication unit that communicates with a server device that manages information of a plurality of users;
A reading unit that reads an image recorded on a recording medium and generates image data;
A storage unit for storing account information for accessing information managed by the server device as a principal user among a plurality of users;
A control unit, and
The server device stores a storage area associated with a user identifier for identifying each user.
Related user information including the user identifiers of other users associated with the user;
Remembers messages obtained from other users,
The controller is
Obtaining means for obtaining the image data generated by the reading unit;
Extracting means for extracting sender specifying information for specifying the sender of the recording medium from the image data acquired by the acquiring means;
Communication preparation means for receiving permission to access information managed by the server device as the principal user using the account information stored in the storage unit;
Selecting means for selecting the user identifier of the user related to the sender specified by the sender identification information from among the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user;
An information processing system comprising: output means for outputting the message to be stored in the storage area of the user identified by the user identifier selected by the selection means to the server device through the communication unit. A program executed by a computer including a communication unit and a storage unit that communicate with a server device that manages information of a plurality of users,
In the storage unit, account information for accessing information managed by the server device as a principal user among a plurality of users is stored,
The server device stores a storage area associated with a user identifier for identifying each user.
Related user information including the user identifiers of other users associated with the user;
Remembers messages obtained from other users,
The program
Obtain image data indicating the image recorded on the recording medium,
Extracting sender specifying information for specifying the sender of the recording medium from the image data;
Using the account information stored in the storage unit, receiving permission to access information managed by the server device as the principal user,
From the user identifiers included in the related user information of the principal user, select the user identifier of the user related to the sender specified by the sender identification information,
A program that causes the computer to execute a process of outputting the message to be stored in the storage area of the user identified by the selected user identifier to the server device.

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