JP6628830B2 - Information processing apparatus, image processing apparatus, control method, and computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing device, an image processing device, a control method, and a computer program.

  2. Description of the Related Art An information processing apparatus that causes an image processing apparatus such as a printer to execute printing via short-range wireless communication such as NFC (Near Field Communication) is provided. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-163873 realizes printing by transmitting a file from a print pad to an image processing apparatus using NFC so that the image processing apparatus can execute printing by instructing printing from a mobile device. A printing pad is disclosed.

JP 2013-037687 A

  However, the communication speed of NFC and the like disclosed in Patent Document 1 is low, and it takes time to transmit print data.

  Therefore, in this specification, a method of performing communication using handover will be considered. In handover, pairing between devices is performed by NFC, and subsequent actual communication is performed using Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi (registered trademark), which is a wireless communication of a wireless standard having a higher communication speed. This is switching processing. As a result, when relatively large data such as a photograph or a moving image is transferred, it is possible to use a communication standard that is faster and has a longer communication distance. The reduction in data transfer time is promoted, and the time required for touch operation between devices is also reduced.

  However, in a wireless communication standard having a long communication distance, the risk of eavesdropping increases due to the long communication distance. Therefore, complicated procedures are required for communication procedures of these standards. For example, in a Wi-Fi communication procedure, a user must set an access key (an SSID and a password required for connecting an access point) to an information processing device such as a mobile terminal.

  Such a complicated procedure is not required between devices compatible with NFC, and a user can safely and easily acquire an access key only by bringing the information processing apparatus close to an image processing apparatus or the like. The information processing device can communicate with the image processing device over Wi-Fi using the access key.

  However, since the information processing apparatus caches the access key acquired by using NFC as connection information in its own apparatus, if the information processing apparatus is within a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) connection area, the information processing apparatus does not use NFC thereafter. It is possible to freely connect to a Wi-Fi router or an image processing device. For example, even when only printing is desired to be permitted, another function of the image processing apparatus is operated via Wi-Fi. In addition, the network can be used freely within the Wi-Fi range.

  The present invention realizes high-speed data communication and ensures security by deleting connection information for connecting to an image processing device after transmitting data to the image processing device using a plurality of communication wireless communication. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing device that enables the information processing.

An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is an information processing apparatus, and converts connection information used when communicating with a printing apparatus by first wireless communication to a second information different from the first wireless communication . Receiving means for receiving by wireless communication, registration means for storing the connection information received by the receiving means so that it can be reused in the information processing apparatus, and a first means for communicating with the printing apparatus using the connection information . the establishing means for establishing a wireless communication, and transmitting means for transmitting the print data by the printing device the establishing means has established the first radio communication in accordance with said print data has been transmitted, the connection information And control means for performing control so as not to be stored so that it can be reused .

  According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, after transmitting data to the image processing apparatus using a plurality of communication wireless communications, the connection information for connecting to the image processing apparatus is deleted, thereby enabling high-speed data communication. Implementation and security can be ensured.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a mobile terminal. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a printing system provided in the mobile terminal. It is a figure showing an example of NDEF. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of a printing process executed by the mobile terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of a reprint message.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a portable terminal 4 functioning as an information processing device of the present invention and image processing devices 1 to 3. The image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 are connected to a network. The mobile terminal 4 can communicate with the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 directly or via an access point using wireless communication such as NFC or Wi-Fi. In the present embodiment, printing is realized by communication between the mobile terminal 4 equipped with NFC and the image processing apparatus 2.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 4 on which the printing system 100 described later with reference to FIG. 4 operates. The mobile terminal 4 includes SoCs 201 to 212. The flash memory (Flash) 203 stores a program of the printing system 100. The entity that executes various functions of the present invention is a system on a chip (SoC) 201 as hardware, and a printing system 100 stored in a flash memory (Flash) 203 as software.

  The NFC 206 performs short-range communication and communicates with the NFC of the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. The Wi-Fi 205 performs wireless communication and performs wireless communication with the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 202 functions as a temporary working memory of the SoC 201. The NFC 206 and Bluetooth (registered trademark) 204 can perform near field communication with the image processing apparatus 2. When the NFC 206 is used, the NFC 206 performs close proximity communication with the NFC included in the image processing apparatuses 1 to 3. The Wi-Fi 205 performs wireless communication with the image processing apparatus 2 by wireless communication. The Wi-Fi 205 is a wireless communication standard, and has a higher maximum communication speed than the NFC 206.

  The Power 207 is a power supply of the mobile terminal 4. Voice / Audio 208 is an input / output unit such as a microphone and a speaker. Touch Panel 209 is a touch panel on which the user operates with his / her finger, and LED (Light emitting Diode) 210 performs display display using the LED. The Camera 211 captures a photograph, a video, and the like. The Sensor 212 is a sensor unit for GPS (Global Positioning System), acceleration, geomagnetism, proximity, and the like. The Wi-Fi access point 13 is a Wi-Fi access point. The processing described in the present embodiment is realized by the SoC 201 reading a program recorded in the Flash 203 into the RAM 202 and executing the program. In this embodiment, the OS is assumed to be, for example, Android (registered trademark) of Google (registered trademark), but is not limited thereto.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatuses 1 to 3 are multifunction peripherals that perform printing, facsimile, and scanning, and may be apparatuses that perform only printing. Hereinafter, the image processing apparatus 2 will be described as an example. The image processing device 2 includes a scanner unit 30 and a printer unit 31. The scanner unit 30, which is an image input device, illuminates an image drawn on a document and scans a CCD line sensor (not shown) to read the image and convert it into electrical signals as raster image data. The user sets the document sheet on the tray 303 of the document feeder 302 and instructs reading from the operation unit 304. Then, in response to an instruction from the controller CPU, the scanner unit 30 starts up and performs an operation of reading a document image. Document sheets are fed one by one by a feeder 302.

  The printer unit 31, which is an image output device, converts the electrical raster image data into a visible image on paper. The conversion method includes an electrophotographic method using a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, an ink jet method in which ink is ejected from a minute nozzle array and an image is printed directly on paper, and the like, but any method may be used. Upon receiving an instruction from the controller CPU, the printer unit 31 starts up.

  The printer unit 31 is provided with a plurality of paper feed stages so that different paper sizes or different paper orientations can be selected. Paper cassettes 306, 307, 308, and 309 show an example of a paper feed stage. The paper discharge tray 310 receives the printed paper. The short-range search unit 311 starts short-range communication between the mobile terminal 4 and the image processing apparatus 2 when the user holds the mobile terminal 4 over the short-range search unit 311.

  In the present embodiment, NFC is assumed as the short-range search unit, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, FeliCa (registered trademark), MIFARE (registered trademark), RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), Transfer Jet (registered trademark), or the like may be used. The communication unit 312 performs network communication such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet (registered trademark).

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the printing system 100. The printing system 100 includes a search unit 101, an information acquisition unit 102, a short-range communication unit 103, a rendering unit 104, a communication unit 105, a job control unit 106, a UI (User Interface) unit 107, a data holding unit 108, and a printing unit 109. Prepare. The applications 113 and 114 are applications such as a document creation application that uses the printing system 100.

  The search unit 101 searches for an image processing device using multicast. The protocol uses, but is not limited to, SLP or Multicast-DNS. Also, broadcast may be used instead of multicast. The information acquisition unit 102 acquires information such as a model name and an installation location from the image processing apparatus. The short-range communication unit 103 recognizes the image processing apparatus using short-range communication (for example, NFC). In the present embodiment, NFC is assumed as the short-range search unit, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  The rendering unit 104 renders a document generated or displayed by the applications 113 and 114 into a PDL (Page Description Language) or an image that can be printed by the image processing apparatus 2. The communication unit 105 performs network communication with the image processing apparatus 2 and the access point 213 using Wi-Fi. The connection information required for communication is cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4 at the time of the first connection, and is used at the time of the next connection.

  The job control unit 106 performs job control such as queuing a print job. The UI unit 107 is a user interface. The data holding unit 108 accesses a storage or an SD card in the mobile terminal, holds files such as documents and images, and caches connection information obtained by NFC. The printing unit 109 transmits a document or PDL to the image processing device 2 using the rendering unit 104 and the communication unit 105. The printing unit 109 monitors the printing process, such as whether printing has been completed normally or whether a transmission error has occurred.

  FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example of NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) acquired by the portable terminal 4 from the image processing device 2 using short-range wireless communication. NDEF is a data format used when exchanging data with NFC, and official technical data is available at http: // www. nfc-form. org /. NDEF includes zero or more NDEF Messages (NDEF messages usually include one NDEF Message, and NDEF Messages include a plurality of NDEF Records).

  For example, the description of PAYLOAD 501 indicates that the Mac address of the Wi-Fi connection access point is “ff: ff: ff: ff: ff: ff”. The description of PAYLOAD 502 indicates that the password of the Wi-Fi connection access point is “ABCDEFG”. The description of PAYLOAD 503 indicates that document data or PDL is transmitted to the image processing apparatus having the address of “111.11.11.111”. A setting indicating whether to cache connection information can be described in PAYLOAD 503, and an example in which this setting is described is shown in PAYLOAD 504 in FIG. 5B. PAYLOAD 504 describes “Record.data =“ 111.11.11.111, OFF ””, which indicates that the cache deletion setting is off.

  By using the MAC address information 501 and the password 502 as connection information, the mobile terminal 4 can connect to the access point 213 through a Wi-Fi connection. In addition, communication with the image processing apparatus having the address indicated by the address 503 via the access point 213 is also possible. As described above, the mobile terminal 4 performs pairing between devices according to the data described in NDEF Records using NFC, and then switches the wireless communication to Wi-Fi using the connection information acquired by NFC to perform communication ( Wi-Fi handover).

  Next, a process performed by the mobile terminal 4 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing realized by the portable terminal 4 reading the application (here, the application 113 is described as an example) and the printing system 100 to the SoC 201 and executing the same.

  In step S601, the mobile terminal 4 starts the application 113. The application 113 is a printing application, and can display a document or image to be printed on a screen. In a state where the document or the image to be printed is displayed, the user taps the portable terminal 4 on the short distance search unit 311 of the image processing apparatus 2 in S602. With the tap as a trigger, the short-range communication unit 103 acquires NFC Tag information of the image processing apparatus 2 (S603). Tag information is data encoded in the NFC data exchange format of the message format specified by the NFC Forum Type 2 specification, and has a format as shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the data shown in FIG.

  Next, in steps S604, S605, and S606, the information acquisition unit 102 acquires connection information (mac address information 501 and password 502) and a print destination address (address 503) from the Tag information acquired in step S603. Further, the information acquisition unit 102 acquires the cache deletion setting from the PAYLOAD 504. PAYLOAD 504 describes “Record.data =“ 111.11.11.111, OFF ””, and the cache deletion setting is off.

  In step S607, the printing unit 109 sets a connection information cache deletion flag based on the information acquired in steps S604 to S606, and stores the deletion flag in the data storage unit. For example, when the information acquisition unit 102 acquires information in which the cache deletion setting off is described in S606, the printing unit 109 sets the deletion flag to OFF. Alternatively, if the connection information acquired in S604 has already been cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4, the printing unit 109 sets the deletion flag to OFF. When the deletion flag is other than OFF, the printing unit 109 deletes the cache of the connection information in a flow described later.

  In S608, communication unit 105 connects to the access point. When the communication unit 105 connects to the access point, the communication unit 105 connects to the access point 213 using the connection information acquired in S604. That is, the communication unit 105 uses the connection information acquired by the wireless communication of the NFC 206 to establish a connection with the access point 213 by wireless communication (here, Wi-Fi 205) whose standard maximum communication speed is faster than the wireless communication. Do. At the same time as the connection or after the connection is established, the connection information is cached in the Flash 203 of the mobile terminal 4.

  In step S609, the communication unit 105 executes printing by transmitting the print data to the printing destination acquired in step S605. During printing, the application 113 instructs the printing unit 109 of the printing system 100 to execute printing. The printing unit 109 transmits the document or PDL to the image processing device 2 using the rendering unit 104 and the communication unit 105 according to the instruction.

  In step S610, the printing unit 109 determines whether a transmission error such as a network disconnection has occurred during the printing in step S609. If a transmission error has occurred, the process proceeds to S612. If no transmission error has occurred, the process proceeds to S611. In step S611, the printing unit 109 determines whether another function such as a telephone has priority and the application 113 has entered a suspend state. If the suspended state has been entered, the process proceeds to S614. If not, the process proceeds to S612.

  In S612, printing unit 109 determines whether the cache deletion flag set in S607 is OFF. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is OFF, the flow ends as it is. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is not OFF, the process proceeds to S613.

  In step S <b> 613, the printing unit 109 deletes the connection information cache created in the connection to the access point in step S <b> 608 and held in the Flash 203. Note that the configuration may be such that the connection information cache is always deleted in S613 without the determination process in S612.

  If the application 113 is in the suspended state in step S611, the process advances to step S614. In step S614, the printing unit 109 determines whether the cache deletion flag set in step S607 is OFF. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is OFF, the process proceeds to S616. If it is determined that the cache deletion flag is not OFF, the process proceeds to S615. In S615, the printing unit 109 deletes the cache of the connection information created when connecting to the access point in S608.

  When the connection information cache is deleted, the application 113 shifts to a suspended state in S616. Next, in step S617, the printing unit 109 determines whether the application 113 has returned from the suspend mode. If the application 113 has returned from the suspend state, the process proceeds to S618. In S618, printing unit 109 displays a reprint confirmation message shown in FIG. 7 on the screen of portable terminal 4 via UI unit 107. If a reprint instruction is issued in S619 (if NFC is tapped), the process proceeds to S602, the flow starting from S602 is performed again, and the connection information is obtained again. If the button 701 shown in FIG. 7 is pressed, the printing unit 109 determines that printing is to be stopped, and the flow ends.

  If the cache deletion flag is OFF in step S614 and reprinting is instructed in step S619, the process proceeds to step S608, and the cached connection information may be used again to connect to the access point. . In the process of S602, a process of determining whether an identifier for connecting to the access point has been registered in the own device in advance may be performed. Then, an input screen for inputting a password may be displayed when the identifier is not registered in the own device in advance. After inputting the password, the user taps the mobile terminal 4 on the short-range search unit 311 of the image processing apparatus 2 to acquire NFC Tag information. This makes it possible to further secure security.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, after transmitting data to the image processing apparatus using a plurality of communication wireless communications, by deleting the connection information for connecting to the image processing apparatus, high-speed data Communication can be realized and security can be ensured. As described above, after the printing process is executed by tapping the mobile terminal equipped with NFC to the image processing apparatus, the cached connection information is deleted. This makes it possible to prevent the image processing apparatus from being operated by Wi-Fi (registered trademark) connection or Bluetooth (registered trademark) connection after printing is completed. Further, in the case of Wi-Fi connection, it is possible to freely connect to a Wi-Fi router, and it is possible to suppress that the network can be used freely within the Wi-Fi connection area.

  In the present embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking printing as an example. However, even after the facsimile scan process is executed by tapping the mobile terminal to the image processing apparatus, the connection information automatically cached is similarly deleted. Good. As a result, the same effect can be obtained even after the end of the fax scan.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (computer program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus via a network or various storage media. Then, the computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes the program. In this case, the program and a storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

Claims (13)

An information processing device,
Receiving means for receiving connection information used when communicating with the printing apparatus in the first wireless communication by a second wireless communication different from the first wireless communication;
Storage means for storing in the information processing device so that the connection information received by the receiving means can be reused,
Establishing means for establishing the first wireless communication with the printing device using the connection information;
Transmitting means for transmitting print data to the printing apparatus by the first wireless communication established by the establishing means;
An information processing apparatus, comprising: a control unit configured to control the connection information to be in a state where the connection information is not stored in the information processing apparatus so that the connection information can be reused in response to the transmission of the print data.   After the transmission of the print data is started, according to the occurrence of the error that the transmission of the print data cannot be completed, the control unit controls the connection information to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored so that it can be reused. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   If the connection information received by the receiving unit is already stored so that it can be reused, the control unit sets the state in which the connection information is stored so that it can be reused even when the print data is transmitted. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control is performed in such a manner.   A setting unit configured to set whether or not to control the connection information to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored so that the connection information can be reused, according to the transmission of the print data. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the second wireless communication is a short-range wireless communication, and the first wireless communication is a wireless communication using Wi-Fi (registered trademark). An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.   When the predetermined function of the information processing apparatus is preferentially executed in a state where the establishing means has established the first wireless communication with the printing apparatus, the control means re-generates the connection information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is controlled so as not to be stored for use. A method for controlling an information processing device, comprising:
A receiving step of receiving connection information used when communicating with the printing apparatus by the first wireless communication by a second wireless communication different from the first wireless communication;
A storing step of storing the connection information received in the receiving step so that it can be reused in the information processing apparatus,
An establishing step of establishing the first wireless communication with the printing device using the connection information;
A transmitting step of transmitting print data to the printing apparatus by the first wireless communication established in the establishing step;
A control step of controlling the connection information to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored in the information processing apparatus so that the connection information can be reused according to the transmission of the print data. Control method. In information processing equipment,
A receiving step of receiving connection information used when communicating with the printing apparatus by the first wireless communication by a second wireless communication different from the first wireless communication;
A storing step of storing the connection information received in the receiving step so that it can be reused in the information processing apparatus,
An establishing step of establishing the first wireless communication with the printing device using the connection information;
A transmitting step of transmitting print data to the printing apparatus by the first wireless communication established in the establishing step;
Controlling the connection information to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored so that the connection information can be reused in response to the transmission of the print data.   After the transmission of the print data is started, according to the occurrence of an error that the transmission of the print data cannot be completed, the control step controls the connection information to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored for reuse. The program according to claim 8, wherein:   If the connection information received in the receiving step is already registered so that it can be reused, the control step keeps the connection information stored so that it can be reused even if the print data is transmitted. The program according to claim 8, wherein the program is controlled so as to execute the program. The information processing apparatus further includes a setting step of setting whether to control the information processing apparatus to be in a state in which the connection information is not stored so that the connection information can be reused , in accordance with the transmission of the print data. The program according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that:   The second wireless communication is a short-range wireless communication, and the first wireless communication is a wireless communication using Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The program described in.   In the establishing step, when the first wireless communication with the printing apparatus is established, the control step can reuse the connection information in accordance with the execution of the predetermined function of the information processing apparatus with priority. The program according to claim 8, wherein the program is controlled so as not to be stored.

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