JP6690258B2 - Program, information processing device, communication system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a program, an information processing device, and a communication system.

  It is convenient if the user holding the terminal can use the function of the device by communicating the terminal with another device such as an image forming apparatus by wireless communication, because a wired connection is not required. However, a terminal often needs parameters for wireless communication in order to perform wireless communication with the device, and setting wireless communication parameters in the device is not always easy.

  Therefore, there has been conventionally devised a technique of setting wireless communication parameters in a terminal without user setting or with minimum user setting (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, information stored in a user's NFC (Near Field Communication) chip is read so that a wireless communication device can connect to the same device by using different wireless communication parameters, and a home is read according to the information. There is disclosed a management device that sets a wireless communication parameter for a mobile communication device or a wireless communication parameter for a destination to a wireless communication device.

  However, the wireless communication parameter setting method disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem that unnecessary communication occurs. For example, if the terminal can connect to a plurality of networks and the user selects a wireless communication parameter that should not be used, unnecessary communication will occur. In some cases, the terminal is already connected to some network, and in this case, the terminal tries to connect to the connected network, so that unnecessary communication is likely to occur.

  A specific example will be described. For example, assume that the image forming apparatus is connected to an employee network for employees and a guest network for visitors. In this case, if the wireless communication parameters for each network are stored in the NFC chip, the terminal carried by the user can read the wireless communication parameters from the NFC chip and set them in the terminal. However, in general, the visitor should not be connected to the employee network, and the employee should communicate with the device via the employee network that is shielded from the outside rather than the guest network. That is, the user should connect to the image forming apparatus via an appropriate network, but it is often difficult for the user to determine which wireless communication parameter should be selected even if the wireless communication parameter can be acquired. .

  Further, even if the user is an employee and the user selects the wireless communication parameter for the employee, the user cannot connect to the image forming apparatus in a state where the terminal is connected to a network other than the employee network such as 3G or LTE. However, since the terminal tries to connect to the image processing apparatus via a network that is currently communicating, such as 3G or LTE, useless communication occurs.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program for connecting to an appropriate one of a plurality of networks when a terminal transmits a request to a device connectable to the plurality of networks. And

In view of the above problem, the present invention provides an identification information for identifying a user of an information processing apparatus that requests a device connectable to a plurality of networks to perform processing via any one of the plurality of networks. Identification information receiving means for receiving a plurality of pieces of communication information including first communication information for connecting to the device via a first network;
Any of an authentication result acquisition means for acquiring an authentication result by the authentication device, and a first network and a second network different from the first network according to the authentication result acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. Different from the first network in the case where the determination result for determining whether to request the device to the device through the network and the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful are acquired by the authentication result acquisition unit. The information processing device that communicates via the third network is caused to switch from the third network to the first network to perform communication, and the authentication result indicating that the authentication result indicates that the authentication is successful is displayed. If not acquired, the information processing apparatus is caused to switch from the third network to the second network for communication. Requesting means for performing a communication switching control means, the request processing via the first network or the second network to the devices that are determined to make requests before the SL processing by the determining means functions as, Providing a program for

  It is possible to provide a program for connecting to an appropriate network among a plurality of networks when a terminal transmits a request to a device connectable to a plurality of networks.

FIG. 4 is an example of a diagram illustrating a main use case assumed by the printing system of the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an example of a printing system. It is a hardware block diagram of an example of a portable terminal. It is a hardware block diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus and an information medium. It is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of an authentication server. It is a functional block diagram of an example of a printing system. It is a figure for explaining an example of communication information. It is a figure which shows an example of an authentication information input screen. 7 is a sequence of an example of print processing. It is a flow chart of an example of connection propriety judgment processing. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the application displayed on the display device of a portable terminal. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the application displayed on the display device of a portable terminal. It is a figure for demonstrating another example of communication information. 9 is a flowchart of an example of connection availability determination processing using priority. It is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure in which the portable terminal stores the storage of the employee ID and the password in the information storage unit. It is a flowchart of an example of a connection availability determination process (Example 2). FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an example of a printing system (second embodiment). 9 is a sequence of an example of print processing (third embodiment). FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an example of a printing system (Example 4). It is an example of the figure explaining URL information and URL. It is an example of a diagram for explaining the function of the server unit using a sequence diagram. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram of an example of print processing for acquiring the IP address of the image forming apparatus (Example 4). FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of an example of print processing (Example 4).

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Use Case of Printing System of this Embodiment>
First, main use cases assumed by the printing system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram illustrating main use cases assumed by the printing system 1 of the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 20 is connected to a network N1 corresponding to an in-house LAN or the like. The image forming apparatus 20 is also capable of communication via the network N2 that communicates by P2P (Peer to Peer). An authentication server 80 (an example of an authentication device) is connected to a network N3 that can connect to the Internet. Further, the network N1 has an access point 7 for wireless communication.

・ Use case 1
Use case 1 is a case where the visitor 9 wirelessly communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 for printing or the like using his / her mobile terminal 10. This will be described with reference to FIG.
(1) First, the visitor 9 brings the mobile terminal 10 close to (closes) the short-range wireless communication device 301 included in the image forming apparatus 20. Thereby, the mobile terminal 10 has the first communication information 1100 for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, the second communication information 1300 for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2, and The authentication connection information 900 for connecting to the authentication server 80 via the network N3 is acquired.
(2) Next, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 connects to the authentication server 80 using the authentication connection information 900. However, since the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 cannot accept the input of valid authentication information (employee ID and password) for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, the authentication can be received from the authentication server 80. Absent.
(3) Since the authentication cannot be received, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 attempts communication using the second communication information 1300. Since it is possible to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 by using the second communication information 1300, the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 is started via the network N2.

  Therefore, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 without going through the network N1 that is the in-house LAN. Even if the network N3 can be connected, the authentication server 80 cannot be authenticated and the image forming apparatus 20 cannot be connected. Therefore, the connection range of the visitor 9 can be limited to the authentication server 80 or the network N2.

・ Use case 2
Use case 2 is a case where the employee 8 wirelessly communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 in another department or the like which is not normally used because the employee 8 uses the mobile terminal 10 to print. This will be described with reference to FIG.
(1) First, the employee 8 brings the mobile terminal 10 close to (closes up) the short-range wireless communication device 301 of the image forming apparatus 20. Thereby, the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the first communication information 1100 for communicating via the network N1, the second communication information 1300 for communicating via the network N2, and the authentication server 80 via the network N3. The authentication connection information 900 for performing is acquired.
(2) Next, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 connects to the authentication server 80 using the authentication connection information 900, and transmits the authentication information (employee ID and password) together with the authentication request. If the correct authentication information is transmitted, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 can receive the authentication OK (authentication successful) from the authentication server 80.
(3) Since the authentication OK is received, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 attempts communication using the first communication information 1100. Since the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 has the authority to connect to the network N1, the mobile terminal 10 can connect to the in-house LAN via the access point 7 and communicate with the first communication information 1100. Therefore, the mobile terminal 10 starts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1.

  Therefore, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 can be authenticated through the network N3 that is the in-house LAN and can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 through the network N1 that is the in-house LAN. Even if the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 cannot be authenticated or cannot connect to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 must also connect to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. Since it is possible, it is possible to perform temporary printing or the like via the network N2.

  As described above, the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment reduces the labor for the user to set the communication information and enables the user such as the visitor 9 or the employee 8 to automatically select an appropriate network. .

<About terms>
Employee ... One of specific examples of users of the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 and has authority to connect to the in-house LAN (the wireless communication parameters for connecting to the in-house LAN are preset in the mobile terminal 10). ) Be a user. This user does not have to be called employee 8, and may be any name such as staff, employee, or staff.
Visitor: This is one of the specific examples of users of the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20, and is a user who does not have the authority to connect to the in-house LAN. All users other than employees are included in the visitor 9. The visitor 9 may be called in any way.

<System configuration>
The system configuration of the printing system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The printing system 1 is an example of a communication system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of the printing system according to the present embodiment. The printing system 1 of FIG. 2 includes a mobile terminal 10, one or more image forming apparatuses 20, and an authentication server 80. The mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are configured to be connectable by wire or wirelessly via the network N1 and the network N2. The mobile terminal 10 and the authentication server 80 are configured to be connectable by wire or wirelessly via the network N3.

  Since the mobile terminal 10 is an information processing apparatus that can be carried by a user as described later, the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 or the authentication server 80 can be wirelessly connected via the networks N1 to N3. It is preferably configured. "Connectable" means having a function of connecting, and whether or not it can actually be connected depends on the judgment described with reference to FIGS.

  Both the network N1 and the network N2 use wireless LAN but are different networks. In the present embodiment, different networks mean that different wireless communication parameters are required for connection, for example, different SSID (Service Set Identifier).

  When the mobile terminal 10 is carried by the visitor 9, the mobile terminal 10 is not connected to the networks N1 and N3, but is connected to the network N2 on demand. Further, the employee 8 has the authority to connect to the networks N1 and N3 in advance. Therefore, when the mobile terminal 10 is carried by the employee 8, the SSID and password of the access point 6 and the SSID and password of the access point 7 are preset in the mobile terminal 10. Therefore, the mobile terminal 10 carried by the employee 8 can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 if the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 is known, and can communicate with the authentication server 80 if the IP address of the authentication server 80 is known.

  In the following, as an example, the networks N1 and N3 are networks such as an in-house LAN for connecting the mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 via a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), while the network N2 is Wi. In the following description, the network is a network for directly connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 by P2P using Fi Direct. However, the networks N1 to N3 are not limited to these. The networks N1 and N3 may include a WAN, the Internet, or a part of a mobile phone network in addition to a network such as an in-house LAN. The network N2 may be a network for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via an ad hoc mode of a wireless LAN, a mobile phone network, infrared communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like. That is, any network that does not enter the company, such as an in-house LAN, may be used. Further, the network N2 may be, for example, an in-house LAN for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via a wireless LAN as long as it is appropriately set such as being isolated from the networks N1 and N3 (for example, A network whose network address is different from the networks N1 and N3).

  Further, although the network N1 is connected to the access point 7 and the network N3 is connected to the access point 6 in FIG. 1, the networks N1 and N3 may be connected to the same access point. In this case, for example, if the SSIDs are different, at least the logical access points when connecting to the networks N1 and N3 are different. Even if the SSIDs are the same as the access points of the networks N1 and N3, if the network addresses of the networks N1 and N3 are different, the mobile terminal 10 can be prevented from simultaneously accessing the networks N1 and N3. Assuming that only employees can access the network N1, the networks N1 and N3 may be networks having the same network address (that is, the same LAN).

  An information medium 30 is attached to the housing of the image forming apparatus 20 so that the mobile terminal 10 and the information medium 30 can communicate with each other via short-range wireless communication.

  The mobile terminal 10 is a portable information processing device such as a smartphone operated by a user. The mobile terminal 10 may be a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet terminal, a game machine, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, a wearable PC, a notebook PC, or the like. The mobile terminal 10 is equipped with an application (installation) that can request the image forming apparatus 20 to provide a function (for example, to issue a print instruction to print target data, scan a document, send a fax, copy, etc.). Therefore, the mobile terminal 10 generates a print job including the print target data related to the print instruction, a scan job, a FAX transmission job, a copy job, and the like, and transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus 20.

  The mobile terminal 10 also includes a short-range wireless communication device such as an NFC chip, which will be described later. A user holds a plurality of pieces of communication information including an IP address for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 by holding the mobile terminal 10 over the information medium 30 attached to a predetermined position of the housing of the image forming apparatus 20. To get. Then, the mobile terminal 10 can execute the print job in the image forming apparatus 20 by transmitting the print job generated based on the acquired communication information to the image forming apparatus 20 to print the print target data. .

  The application may be software such as a browser that communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 and requests the image forming apparatus 20 to execute a job, document creation software, or a viewer.

  The image forming apparatus 20 is a device such as a printer that receives a print job or the like from the mobile terminal 10 and prints the print target data. The image forming apparatus 20 may be a multifunction peripheral such as an MFP having a plurality of functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, and a FAX function in addition to the print function.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 20 is, for example, a scanner device, a facsimile device, an image projection device (projector), a rear projection device, a HUD (Head Up Display) device, an electronic blackboard, an output device such as a digital signage, or a speaker device. The sound output device may be the same. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a case of a printing system will be described as an example of an information processing system, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an image output system using an image output device instead of the image forming device 20 or an image forming device. A sound output system using a speaker device instead of 20 may be used. That is, in the present embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 that generates various jobs, images and data that can be converted into images, and the devices that output various jobs, images and data that can be converted into images (received from the mobile terminal 10) This embodiment can be applied to various systems using the image forming apparatus 20). Further, the mobile terminal 10 and the device may simply perform wireless communication without outputting data.

  The information medium 30 is a short-range wireless communication device such as an NFC chip attached to a predetermined position of the housing of the image forming apparatus 20. That is, the information medium 30 is an NFC tag or the like. The information medium 30 stores communication information including the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 to which the information medium 30 is attached. More specifically, the information medium 30 includes communication information for the mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, and communication information for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. And authentication connection information for communicating with the authentication server 80 via the network N3 are stored. That is, the information medium 30 stores communication information according to the number of networks to which the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 can be connected.

  The mobile terminal 10 can acquire the communication information stored in the information medium 30 via the near field communication. Then, as described above, the mobile terminal 10 executes the print job in the image forming apparatus 20 by transmitting the print job to the image forming apparatus 20 based on the communication information acquired from the information medium 30. You can It should be noted that the storage of the communication information 1000 and the transmission to the mobile terminal 10 are not limited to the information medium 30 such as the NFC tag. Assuming that the image forming apparatus 20 stores the communication information, for example, another communication method such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or infrared ray that can directly communicate with the mobile terminal 10 without requiring an address or the like is used. The communication information 1000 may be transmitted to the mobile terminal 10 by means of the above. In this case, the mobile terminal 10 also needs a corresponding communication function (such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or infrared).

  The authentication server 80 is an information processing device for authenticating the mobile terminal 10. The authentication server 80 receives the authentication information (employee ID and password) from the mobile terminal 10 and determines whether or not the employee is authenticated based on the employee ID and password. If the authentication is successful, the authentication OK is returned to the mobile terminal 10, and if the authentication is not successful, the authentication NG (authentication not successful) is returned to the mobile terminal 10.

  In the printing system 1 described above, the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are configured to be connectable via two networks, the network N1 and the network N2. May be an arbitrary number of 1 or more (3 or more).

  Further, the printing system 1 described above may be configured to include, for example, a print server that stores print jobs transmitted from the mobile terminal 10. Further, the printing system 1 may be configured to have one or more mobile terminals 10 in an arbitrary number.

<Hardware configuration>
≪Mobile device≫
The mobile terminal 10 according to the present embodiment is realized by a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 3, for example. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of the mobile terminal according to the present embodiment. The mobile terminal 10 shown in FIG. 3 includes an input device 101, a display device 102, an external I / F 103, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 104, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 105, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 106, and a communication I / F 107. , SSD (Solid State Drive) 108, short-distance wireless communication device 109, and the like, which are connected to each other by a bus B.

  The input device 101 is, for example, a touch panel, and is used to input each operation signal to the mobile terminal 10. The input device 101 may be a keyboard or a mouse. The display device 102 is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays the processing result by the mobile terminal 10.

  The external I / F 103 is an interface with an external device. The external device includes a recording medium 103a and the like. The recording medium 103a can store a program for realizing the embodiment. The mobile terminal 10 can read and / or write to the recording medium 103a via the external I / F 103.

  The recording medium 103a is, for example, a recording medium such as an SD memory card. The recording medium 103a may be a recording medium such as a USB memory (Universal Serial Bus memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), a CD (Compact Disk), or a flexible disk.

  The RAM 104 is a volatile semiconductor memory (storage device) that temporarily holds programs and data. The ROM 105 is a non-volatile semiconductor memory (storage device) that can retain programs and data even when the power is turned off. The ROM 105 stores programs and data such as a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) executed when the mobile terminal 10 is started, OS settings, and network settings.

  The CPU 106 is an arithmetic device that realizes control and functions of the entire mobile terminal 10 by reading programs and data from the storage device such as the ROM 105 and the SSD 108 onto the RAM 104 and executing processing.

  The communication I / F 107 is an interface for performing communication via the network N1 and the network N2. For example, the communication I / F 107 is an interface for connecting the mobile terminal 10 to an in-house LAN or the like via a wireless LAN. The communication I / F 107 is an interface for connecting to the image forming apparatus 20 via Wi-Fi Direct. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 10 can perform data communication via the communication I / F 107. The communication I / F 107 may be an interface for connecting to a mobile phone network, the Internet, or the like.

  The SSD 108 is a non-volatile storage device that stores the program 108a and data. The stored programs 108a and data include, for example, an OS (Operating System) that is basic software that controls the entire mobile terminal 10 and application software (hereinafter simply referred to as an application) that provides various functions on the OS. The SSD 108 manages stored programs and data by a predetermined file system and / or DB (database). The mobile terminal 10 may include an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like instead of the SSD 108 or in addition to the SSD 108.

  The short-range wireless communication device 109 is, for example, a communication device that communicates with an NFC chip or Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy. As a result, the mobile terminal 10 can perform data communication via the short-range wireless communication device 109.

  The mobile terminal 10 according to the present embodiment can realize various types of processing to be described later with the above hardware configuration.

<< Image forming device and information medium >>
The image forming apparatus 20 and the information medium 30 according to this embodiment are realized by the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 4, for example. FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of the image forming apparatus and the information medium according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 20 illustrated in FIG. 4 includes a controller 201, an operation panel 202, an external I / F 203, a communication I / F 204, a printer 205, and the like. Further, a short-range wireless communication device 301 is attached to the outside (housing) of the image forming apparatus 20 as a configuration for realizing the information medium 30.

  The controller 201 has a CPU 211, a RAM 212, a ROM 213, an NVRAM 214, and an HDD 215. The ROM 213 stores various programs and data. The RAM 212 temporarily holds programs and data. The NVRAM 214 stores, for example, setting information and the like. Further, the HDD 215 stores various programs 215a and data.

  The CPU 211 reads the program 215a, data, setting information, and the like from the ROM 213, NVRAM 214, HDD 215, and the like onto the RAM 212, and executes the processing to realize the control and functions of the entire image forming apparatus 20.

  The operation panel 202 includes an input unit that receives an input from a user and a display unit that displays. The external I / F 203 is an interface with an external device. The external device includes a recording medium 203a and the like. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 20 can read and / or write the recording medium 203a via the external I / F 203. The recording medium 203a includes a flexible disk, CD, DVD, SD memory card, USB memory and the like.

  The communication I / F 204 is an interface for performing communication via the network N1 and the network N2. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 20 can perform data communication via the communication I / F 204. The printer 205 is a printing device for printing and outputting print target data.

  The short-range wireless communication device 301 is, for example, a communication device that communicates with an NFC chip or Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy. The information medium 30 is built in the nonvolatile memory of the short-range wireless communication device 301. When the short-distance wireless communication device 301 detects the approach of the short-distance wireless communication device 109 of the mobile terminal 10, the short-distance wireless communication device 109 communicates with the short-distance wireless communication device 109 to read the information of the information medium 30, and the information of the information medium 30 is read to the mobile terminal 10. Can be sent. The short-range wireless communication apparatus 301 is configured outside the image forming apparatus 20, such as an NFC chip attached to a predetermined position of the housing of the image forming apparatus 20. In this case, it is preferable that the NFC chip is attached to a position where short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal 10 is easy. The information on the information medium 30 can be rewritten by the user of the image forming apparatus 20 using an NFC reader / writer or the like.

  The short-range wireless communication device 301 is not formed outside the image forming device 20, but is formed inside the image forming device 20 within a range where short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal 10 is possible. May be. Further, the short-range wireless communication device 301 does not need to be integrated with the image forming device 20, and may be disposed near the image forming device 20 or on a guide plate installed on a route leading to the image forming device 20. .

  The image forming apparatus 20 and the information medium 30 according to the present exemplary embodiment can realize various types of processing described below by the above hardware configuration.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the authentication server 80. The authentication server 80 has a CPU 330, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, an HDD 305, a display 308, a network I / F 309, a keyboard 311, a mouse 312, a media drive 307, and an optical drive 314 connected to the bus 310. The CPU 330 executes the program 320 stored in the HD 304 to control the entire operation of the authentication server 80. The ROM 302 stores a program used for driving the CPU 330 such as an IPL. The RAM 303 is used as a work area for the CPU 330. The HD 304 is a storage device equipped with a non-volatile memory and stores a program 320 for performing authentication, an OS, and the like.

  An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 305 controls the reading or writing of various data with respect to the HD 304 under the control of the CPU 330. The display 308 displays various information such as a cursor, a menu, a window, characters, and an image. The network I / F 309 is an interface with the network N3. The keyboard 311 and the mouse 312 are input / output devices, and the keyboard 311 is provided with a plurality of keys for inputting characters, numerical values, various instructions, etc., and accepts inputs from these. The mouse 312 receives movement of the mouse pointer, selection and execution of various instructions, selection of processing target, and the like.

  The media drive 307 controls reading or writing (storage) of data with respect to the medium 306 such as a flash memory. The optical drive 314 controls reading or writing of various data with respect to a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) 313 as an example of a removable recording medium.

  The program 320 may be an installable or executable file, and may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as the medium 306 or the CD-ROM 313 for distribution. Alternatively, the program 320 may be distributed in the form of being downloaded from any server-type information processing device.

  The authentication server 80 may be realized by cloud computing. That is, the hardware configuration of the illustrated authentication server 80 does not need to be housed in one housing or provided as a group of devices, and the hardware elements that the authentication server 80 preferably has are Show.

<Software configuration>
The printing system 1 according to the present embodiment can be represented by functional blocks as shown in FIG. 6, for example. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an example of the printing system according to the present embodiment.

<< About mobile device functions >>
The mobile terminal 10 of the printing system 1 includes an authentication request unit 11, an information acquisition unit 12, a connection availability determination unit 13, a UI display unit 14, a communication unit 15, an information storage unit 16, an operation reception unit 17, a communication switching control unit 18, and the like. Have. The communication unit 15 also includes a first communication unit 151, a second communication unit 152, a server communication unit 159, and the like.

  The information acquisition unit 12 is realized by the CPU 106, the short-range wireless communication apparatus 109, and the like, and a plurality of communication information and an authentication server 80 for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 from the information medium 30 via the short-range wireless communication. The authentication connection information 900 for communication is acquired.

  The connection availability determination unit 13 is realized by the CPU 106 or the like, and communicates via any one of a plurality of networks connectable to the image forming apparatus 20 based on a plurality of communication information acquired from the information medium 30. Or select. In this embodiment, specifically, based on a plurality of pieces of communication information acquired from the information medium 30, which network, the network N1 or the network N2, is used to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 is selected.

  The UI display unit 14 is realized by the CPU 106, the display device 102, and the like, and generates and displays a UI (user interface) screen.

  The communication unit 15 is realized by the communication I / F 107 and the like, and communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 and the authentication server 80. More specifically, the first communication unit 151 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, and the second communication unit 152 receives the image via the network N2 according to the selection result of the connection availability determination unit 13. It communicates with the forming device 20. The server communication unit 159 also communicates with the authentication server 80 via the network N3.

  The operation reception unit 17 is realized by the CPU 106 executing an application and cooperating with the input device 101, and receives a user operation.

  The information storage unit 16 is realized by the CPU 106, the ROM 105, the SSD 108, and the like, stores the communication information 1000 acquired by the information acquisition unit 12, and reads the stored information. Further, the information storage unit 16 stores the authentication information (employee ID and password) of the user of the mobile terminal 10 whose input is accepted by the operation accepting unit 17.

  The authentication requesting unit 11 is realized by the CPU 106 or the like, communicates with the authentication server 80 based on the authentication connection information 900 acquired from the information medium 30, transmits the authentication information (employee ID and password), and outputs the authentication result (authentication OK, authentication). NG) is received.

  The communication switching control unit 18 is realized by the CPU 106 or the like, and when it is determined that a job request is made to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, and when it is connected to a network different from the network N1, the communication switching control unit 18 changes from the network N1 to the network N1. Switch to communicate.

<< Function of image forming device >>
On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 20 of the printing system 1 has a print function unit 21 and the like. The print function unit 21 is realized by the printer 205 or the like, and prints the print target data included in the print job requested to be executed by the mobile terminal 10. In addition to the print function unit 21, the image forming apparatus 20 includes a scan function unit for generating image data (electronic data) from a read document, a copy function unit for copying the read document, a read document or electronic document. It may have a FAX function unit for FAX-transmitting data via a telephone line network or the like.

  The information medium 30 is realized by the short-range wireless communication apparatus 301 and stores communication information 1000 for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 to which the information medium 30 is attached. Further, the information medium 30 transmits the communication information 1000 stored in the information medium 30 to the mobile terminal 10 via short-range wireless communication in response to a request from the information acquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10.

<< About the function of the authentication server 80 >>
The authentication server 80 has a transmission / reception unit 81 and an authentication unit 82. The authentication server 80 also has an authentication DB 83 built in the HD 304, the ROM 302, or the like.

表１は認証情報テーブルの一例を示す。認証ＤＢ８３には、表１に示されているような認証情報テーブルが記憶されている。認証情報テーブルには、社員ＩＤとパスワードが１組になって、画像形成装置を使用しうる全ての社員の社員ＩＤとパスワードが登録されている。社員ＩＤは画像形成装置２０が配置されている企業の社員を一意に識別するために使われる言語、文字、記号、又は各種のしるし等の識別情報である。

Table 1 shows an example of the authentication information table. The authentication DB 83 stores an authentication information table as shown in Table 1. In the authentication information table, employee IDs and passwords are paired, and employee IDs and passwords of all employees who can use the image forming apparatus are registered. The employee ID is identification information such as a language, characters, symbols, or various indicia used to uniquely identify the employee of the company in which the image forming apparatus 20 is arranged.

  The transmission / reception unit 81 is realized by the CPU 330 executing the program 320 and cooperating with the network I / F 309. The transmission / reception unit 81 receives the authentication information (employee ID and password) with the mobile terminal 10 via the network N3, and outputs the authentication result. return it.

  The authentication unit 82 searches the authentication information table for the same employee ID / password pair as the employee ID / password pair received by the transmission / reception unit 81. If there is an employee ID / password pair that matches the received employee ID / password pair in the authentication information table, authentication OK is returned to the mobile terminal 10. If there is no matching employee ID / password pair, the authentication NG is returned to the mobile terminal 10. Return to.

<Communication information 1000 stored in the information medium 30>
The communication information 1000 stored in the information medium 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The communication information 1000 stored in the information storage unit 16 of the mobile terminal 10 has the same configuration. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an example of communication information.

  Communication information 1000 illustrated in FIG. 7A includes authentication connection information 900 for communicating with the authentication server 80 via the network N3, and first communication for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1. The information 1100 includes availability information 1200 indicating availability of communication via the network N2, and second communication information 1300 for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. That is, the communication information 1000 has a plurality of communication information such as the authentication connection information 900, the first communication information 1100, the second communication information 1300.

  The authentication connection information 900 is information necessary for the mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the authentication server 80 via the network N3 (for example, a company LAN connected via a wireless LAN). The authentication connection information 900 includes information such as the authentication server 80 IP address, which is the IP address of the authentication server 80 in the network N3, and SSL communication indicating whether SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) communication is used in the network N3. By the authentication, only the employee 8 can be connected to the in-house LAN without connecting the visitor 9 to the in-house LAN.

  The authentication connection information 900 does not include the SSID or password for connecting from the access point 6 to the in-house LAN or the like. This is because, as described above, it is assumed that the employee 8 will connect to the network N3, and the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 has the SSID and password set in advance. However, even if the SSID or password for the in-house LAN or the like is set in the authentication connection information 900, the authentication server 80 authenticates the user as to whether or not it is an employee, so the security is not greatly deteriorated.

  The authentication connection information 900 does not necessarily need to be acquired from the image forming apparatus 20, and may be stored in the mobile terminal 10 in advance.

  The first communication information 1100 is information necessary for the mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 (for example, an in-house LAN connected via a wireless LAN). The first communication information 1100 includes a first IP address which is an IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N1, information such as SSL communication indicating whether or not to use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) communication in the network N1. In addition, the first communication information 1100 includes information that can identify the network such as SSID such as in-house LAN. In addition, even if a password is set in addition to the SSID, in the present embodiment, the authentication of the employee is performed before the communication with the image forming apparatus 20, so that the security is not significantly deteriorated.

  However, security can be improved by not storing a password or the like in the first communication information 1100. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7B, the first communication information 1100 having no encryption method, password, HTTP port number, and HTTPS port number is stored in the information medium 30. If the portable terminal 10 is connectable to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, it should already have a password or the like for connecting to the network N1. In addition, it is not preferable in terms of security to provide a password or the like to the mobile terminal 10 that is not permitted to connect to the network N1. Therefore, the first communication information 1100 as shown in FIG. 7B is preferable.

  Further, the SSID and password of the first communication information 1100 may be encrypted to enhance security. The decryption key for decryption is stored in the mobile terminal 10 in advance, or is transmitted from the authentication server 80 when the authentication is established.

  The communication information in which only the information capable of identifying the network as described above or the communication information in which the SSID and the password are encrypted is referred to as “communication information for employees (an example of the first communication information in claims)”. Sometimes called.

  The availability information 1200 indicates communication via the network N2 when the employee authentication is not established or when the connection availability determining unit 13 determines that the image forming apparatus 20 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1. This is information indicating whether or not to perform. For example, in the communication information 1000 of FIG. 7, the usability information 1200 is set to “Yes”. Therefore, in this case, as will be described later in detail, if the connection permission / inhibition determination unit 13 does not establish the authentication of the employee, or if it is determined that the image forming apparatus 20 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, the mobile phone The terminal 10 performs a process of attempting communication with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. On the other hand, when the availability information 1200 is set to “No”, the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2.

  The availability information 1200 is used for charging control, for example. The usage fee of the image forming apparatus 20 may be charged on a pay-per-use basis such as the number of printed sheets. For example, when the image forming apparatus 20 is installed in the company A, the usage fee is billed to the company A regardless of whether the employee 8 of the company A prints or the visitor 9 of the company A prints. Be seen. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 20 or the like installed in a place where there are many visitors 9, the company A may not want to permit printing by the visitors 9 at all.

  On the other hand, for example, at a city hall or a library, it is necessary to meet the request from the visitor 9 for printing. Therefore, a coin mech is arranged together with the image forming apparatus 20 in a highly public place, and the printing by the visitor 9 is permitted within the range of the amount of money input by the user.

  Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 20 arranged in a place where billing is possible or a place where the number of prints by the visitor 9 is small, printing by the visitor 9 may be permitted. In this way, the availability information 1200 can control whether the visitor 9 can use the image forming apparatus 20 itself.

  Note that the availability information may also be set for the first communication information 1100. For example, it is possible to prevent the employee 8 from communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 when the network N1 has a security problem.

  The second communication information 1300 is information necessary for the mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 (for example, P2P by Wi-Fi Direct). The second communication information 1300 includes a second IP address which is the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N2, an SSID (Service Set Identifier) for identifying the network N2, an encryption method in the network N2, a password, and a network N2. The information includes information such as the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) port number or the HTTPS (HTTP over SSL / TLS) port number of the image forming apparatus 20 when performing communication via the device. If the image forming apparatus 20 does not communicate by encrypting data, the communication itself is possible without a password. The communication information in which the SSID and the password are stored may be referred to as "communication information usable by the visitor (an example of the second communication information in the claims)".

  The information included in the authentication connection information 900, the first communication information 1100, and the second communication information 1300 described above is an example, and various information necessary for performing communication via the network N3, the network N1, and the network N2, respectively. May be included. Further, in the communication information 1000 shown above, the first IP address and the second IP address are different, but they may be the same IP address.

  Note that, for example, when the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are further configured to be connectable via the network N4, the communication information 1000 indicates whether or not the communication via the network N4 can be used. It may have information and third communication information for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N3.

<About employee ID and password>
Input of the employee ID and password will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the authentication information input screen 941. On the authentication information input screen 941, a message 942 “Please enter employee ID and password to communicate with the MFP”, MFP icon 943, employee ID input field 944, password input field 945, OK button 946, and cancel. It has a button 947. When the user inputs the employee ID in the employee ID input field 944, inputs the password in the password input field 945 and presses the OK button 946, the input employee ID and password are stored in the information storage unit 16.

  The authentication information input screen 941 may be displayed on the display device 102 when the user wants the user to store the employee ID and password in the mobile terminal 10. If the employee ID and password are not stored in the information storage unit 16, the employee ID and password may be displayed immediately before the mobile terminal 10 makes an authentication request to the authentication server 80.

  The application installed in the mobile terminal 10 can be widely distributed to users of the image forming apparatus 20. Therefore, each user can arbitrarily store the employee ID and password in the mobile terminal 10. However, as described below, whether or not the employee ID and the password are stored in the mobile terminal 10 differs depending on the mobile terminal 10.

  For example, in the company A, when the employee 8 authenticates the employee 8 when using the image forming apparatus 20 with the mobile terminal 10, the employee ID and password are often stored in the mobile terminal 10 of the employee of the company A. it is conceivable that. Similarly in the company B that authenticates the employee 8, the employee ID and password of the company B are stored in the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 of the company B. It is possible that the employee ID and password are not stored in the mobile terminal 10 even if the employee 8 of the company C, who does not have the image forming apparatus 20 operable by the mobile terminal 10, installs the application because he / she uses the application on the go. Is considered to be high. Further, even the employees 8 of companies A and B may not store the employee ID and password in the mobile terminal 10. Therefore, there are mobile terminals 10 in which the employee ID and password are not stored.

<Details of processing>
Next, details of the processing of the printing system 1 will be described.

<< Printing >>
First, the flow of printing processing of the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 is an example sequence of the printing process according to the present embodiment.

  In step S601, the user selects desired print target data from the application installed in the mobile terminal 10 via the UI display unit 14 and issues a print instruction. As a result, a print job including the print target data selected by the user is generated.

  In step S <b> 602, when the UI display unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the print job execution notification, the UI display unit 14 requests the information acquisition unit 12 to acquire the communication information 1000. Then, the mobile terminal 10 is in a standby state until it detects the start of short-distance wireless communication by the short-distance wireless communication device 109. During this period, the display device 102 may display a screen prompting the user to hold the mobile terminal 10 over the position of the NFC chip (information medium 30) of the image forming apparatus 20.

  In step S603, when the user holds the mobile terminal 10 over the information medium 30, the information acquisition unit 12 detects the start of short-range wireless communication with the information medium 30 and acquires the communication information 1000 from the information medium 30.

  In step S604, the information acquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10 stores the communication information 1000, which has acquired the communication information 1000 from the information medium 30, in the information storage unit 16.

  In step S605, the information storage unit 16 of the mobile terminal 10 reads the employee ID and password and requests the authentication requesting unit 11 to perform authentication using the authentication connection information 900 included in the communication information 1000.

  In step S606, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 connects to the authentication server 80 using the authentication connection information 900, and transmits the authentication information (employee ID and password) together with the authentication request. As a result, the authentication request unit 11 acquires the authentication result (OK, NG) from the authentication server 80. Subsequent processing differs depending on the authentication result, but details will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S <b> 607, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 issues a request for determining which communication information of the plurality of communication information included in the communication information 1000 is used to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. 13 is sent.

In step S608, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 performs a connection availability determination process. In the present embodiment, in the connection availability determination process, the connection availability determination unit 13 produces one of the following results. The details of this connection availability determination processing will be described later.
(1) The mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via either the network N1 or the network N2 (the selection result is not communicable).
(2) The mobile terminal 10 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 (the selection result is communicated by the first communication unit).
(3) The mobile terminal 10 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 (the selection result is communicated by the second communication unit).

  When the selection result by the connection availability determination unit 13 is (1) above, the UI display unit 14 performs the process of step S610. When the selection result by the connection availability determination unit 13 is the above (2), the communication unit 15 performs the process of step S612. When the selection result by the connection availability determination unit 13 is (3) above, the communication unit 15 performs the process of step S615.

  In step S609, the connection permission / inhibition determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 makes a UI request to display a screen (communication disabled screen in FIG. 12B) indicating that the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. It is transmitted to the display unit 14.

  In step S610, when the UI display unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the display request for the communication disabled screen, the UI display unit 14 generates the notification disabled screen and causes the display device 102 to display it. As a result, the user is notified that the portable terminal 10 operated by the user cannot communicate with the desired image forming apparatus 20.

  In step S <b> 611, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 transmits a print job execution request to the first communication unit 151.

  In step S612, when the first communication unit 151 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the print job execution request, the first communication unit 151 transmits the print job execution request to the image forming apparatus 20. That is, the mobile terminal 10 sends a print job to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 (for example, an in-house LAN connected via a wireless LAN).

  In step S613, when the print function unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 20 receives the print job from the mobile terminal 10, the print function unit 21 executes the print job and prints the print target data. As a result, the user can print desired print target data on the image forming apparatus 20.

  In step S 614, the connection permission / inhibition determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 transmits a print job execution request to the second communication unit 152.

  In step S615, when the second communication unit 152 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the print job execution request, the second communication unit 152 transmits the print job execution request to the image forming apparatus 20. That is, the mobile terminal 10 transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 (for example, P2P by Wi-Fi Direct).

  When the print function unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 20 receives the print job from the mobile terminal 10 in step S616, the print function unit 21 executes the print job and prints the print target data. As a result, the user can print desired print target data on the image forming apparatus 20.

  As described above, in the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 acquires a plurality of pieces of communication information for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 from the information medium 30. Then, the mobile terminal 10, after being authenticated whether or not the user is an employee, communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 based on any one of the plurality of pieces of communication information to perform printing. be able to. That is, the mobile terminal 10 selects any one of a plurality of networks connected to the image forming apparatus 20 and transmits a print job to the image forming apparatus 20 via the selected network to print. It can be performed.

<< Authentication result and connection availability judgment processing >>
Next, the connection availability determination processing of step S608 according to the authentication result of step S606 in the print processing described above will be described with reference to FIGS. The connection availability determination process is performed based on which of the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300, the image formation is performed for the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300 included in the communication information 1000 acquired by the information acquisition unit 12. This is a process of selecting whether to communicate with the device 20. In other words, it is a process of selecting which network of the plurality of networks connected to the image forming apparatus 20 is used for communication.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of the connection availability determination process according to the present embodiment. 11 and 12 are diagrams showing examples of screens of applications displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. The process flow of FIG. 10 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  First, the user selects print target data from a list of print target data displayed on the display device 102 by the application. Then, as shown in FIG. 11A, the print condition screen 901 is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. On the print condition screen 901, print target data 902, an icon 903 of the image forming apparatus 20, a number of print copies 904, color / monochrome 905, and a paper size 906 are displayed. The number of copies to be printed 904, the color / monochrome 905, and the paper size 906 display initial setting values preset by the application, and hold the setting values set last by the user. Therefore, when the user causes the image forming apparatus 20 to print using the mobile terminal 10, the user can print with the set value (printing condition) desired by minimizing the change in setting.

  Note that the usage advice 907 includes, for example, an icon 907a and a message 907b “Touch the MFP to start printing”, and the user sets the mobile terminal 10 to the near field communication device 301 (NFC chip) of the image forming apparatus 20. Prompt to hold over the position. The information acquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10 acquires the communication information 1000 from the information medium 30 by holding it. The process of FIG. 10 starts upon acquisition of the communication information.

  In step S701 of FIG. 10, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 determines whether the authentication result acquired from the authentication server 80 is authentication OK. The judgment method is explained for each use case. In the use case 1 in which the user is the visitor 9, since the mobile terminal 10 cannot connect to the access point 6 in the first place, the authentication result cannot be acquired from the authentication server 80 (the above-mentioned case when the image forming apparatus 20 is located in the company A). Employee of company B). In the use case 1, the employee 8 of the company C is similar in that the employee 8 cannot connect to the access point 6, but since the employee ID and the password have not been input to the mobile terminal 10 (display the authentication information input screen 941). However, if it is not input), the authentication requesting unit 11 determines that the authentication is unsuccessful without trying to request the authentication server 80 for authentication. Thereby, communication for authentication can be omitted.

  Further, in use case 2 (the employee of the company A described above) in which the user is the employee 8, the mobile terminal 10 can often connect to the authentication server 80 via the access point 6 and obtain the authentication result. In this case, an authentication request is made to the authentication server 80 via the network N3 based on the authentication connection information 900 included in the communication information 1000, and the authentication result is acquired. When the authentication result is authentication OK, the process proceeds to step S702, and when the authentication result is authentication NG, the process proceeds to step S706.

  As described above, the authentication server 80 authenticates the user, so that a user other than the employee 8 can be prevented from connecting to the network N1 that is the in-house LAN. In addition, since the employee 8 is authenticated, the employee 8 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 which is an in-house LAN, so that communication can be performed in a highly secure communication environment. Further, it is possible to prevent a user other than the employee from trying to connect to an IP address on the network N1 to which the user other than the employee cannot connect, and prevent unnecessary communication from occurring.

  Next, the connection availability determination unit 13 determines whether the SSID included in the first communication information is the same as the SSID of the network that is currently communicating (S702). If they are different, the communication switching control unit 18 switches the connected network to the network identified by the first communication information 1100 (S711). If the SSID and password included in the first communication information 1100 are encrypted, the SSID and password may be decrypted by acquiring information (decryption key) for decryption from the authentication server 80, The SSID and the password may be decrypted using the decryption information (decryption key or the like) in which the decryption information is stored in the mobile terminal 10 in advance. When the information for decryption is stored in the mobile terminal 10 in advance, it is preferable from the viewpoint of security that the first communication information 1100 including the SSID is deleted in the case of authentication NG.

  In step S703 of FIG. 10, since the user can be authenticated as the employee 8, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 forms an image via the network N1 based on the first communication information 1100 included in the communication information 1000. The first communication unit 151 is requested to communicate with the device 20. Then, the first communication unit 151 attempts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 using the first communication information 1100. Since the communication radio wave spreads in the space and reaches both the image forming apparatus 20 and the access point 7, the first communication unit 151 causes the device indicated by the first IP address included in the first communication information 1100 (here, the image forming apparatus 20). ) Try to communicate with. Note that the mobile terminal 10 permitted to communicate by 3G or LTE may attempt communication with the device indicated by the first IP address via the base station of the carrier.

  While the first communication unit 151 is trying to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20, the connecting screen 911 shown in FIG. 11B is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. On the connection-in-progress screen 911, the fact that connection is in progress is displayed by an icon 912 and characters 913. Also, a cancel button 914 for allowing the user to cancel the connection or print job is displayed.

  Returning to FIG. 10, in step S704, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 determines whether or not the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has been successful via the network N1 based on the communication result by the first communication unit 151. If the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 is possible via the network N1, the process proceeds to step S705, while if the communication is not possible, the process proceeds to step S706.

  Here, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determines whether or not the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has been successful using the first communication information 1100 as follows. For convenience of explanation, the use cases are explained separately.

・ Use case 1
The mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 is determined to be authentication NG in step S701. Therefore, in use case 1, it is not determined in step S704 whether communication is possible.

・ Use case 2
It is considered that the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 can often communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 based on the first communication information 1100. In this case, for example, the determination is made by any of the following methods (1) to (3).
(1) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire MIB (Management Information Base) information of the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1. Then, when the MIB information can be acquired, it is determined that the image forming apparatus 20 can be communicated, and when the MIB information cannot be acquired, it is determined that the image forming apparatus 20 cannot be communicated. The MIB information may be a standard MIB or an extended MIB. If the standard MIB can be acquired, it can be understood that at least some device (including the possibility of being the image forming apparatus 20) can communicate data, and if the extended MIB can be acquired, the application of the mobile terminal 10 assumes the image forming apparatus 20 ( It is understood that the application can communicate data with an image forming apparatus 20 of a specific maker or model). Further, even when the MIB information can be acquired, the device information included in the acquired MIB information is the device information of the image forming apparatus 20 to be communicated (this is, for example, communication acquired from the information medium 30). (Included in the information 1000), it may be determined that communication could not be performed. As a result, the connection availability determination unit 13 can reliably determine that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 having the information medium 30 that has read the communication information 1000 has been successful. Here, the device information is information that uniquely identifies the image forming apparatus 20, such as a manufacturing unique number (serial number) and a MAC (Media Access Control) address of the image forming apparatus 20.
(2) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire device information by using a Web API (Web Application Programming Interface) provided by the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1. The WebAPI is an agreement (a process request method, a data specifying method, etc.) when the device A and the device B perform processing via the network. Web API is stored in advance in the information storage unit 16 of the mobile terminal 10. Then, when the device information can be acquired, it is determined that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has been successful. On the other hand, when the device information cannot be acquired, it is determined that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has failed. That is, when the WebAPI is not unique to the maker of the image forming apparatus 20, it is possible to communicate data with at least some device (including the possibility of being the image forming apparatus 20). When the Web API is unique to the maker of the image forming apparatus 20, it can be understood that the device information can be acquired to enable data communication with the image forming apparatus 20 assumed by the application of the mobile terminal 10. Furthermore, even if the device information can be acquired, if the acquired device information differs from the device information of the desired image forming apparatus 20, it may be determined that communication has not been possible. As a result, the connection availability determination unit 13 can reliably determine that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 having the information medium 30 that has read the communication information 1000 has been successful.
(3) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire the MAC address of the image forming apparatus 20 by ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) via the network N1. When the MAC address can be acquired, it is determined that the image forming apparatus 20 can be communicated with. On the other hand, if the MAC address cannot be acquired, it is determined that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has failed. If the MAC address can be acquired, the device (image forming device 20) having the IP address stored in the information medium 30 exists, and it is possible to specify with high accuracy that data can be communicated with the image forming device 20 having the information medium 30. . Further, even if the MAC address can be acquired, if the acquired MAC address is different from the MAC address of the image forming apparatus 20 (assumed to be acquired from the information medium 30), it is determined that communication cannot be performed. You may. As a result, the connection availability determination unit 13 can reliably determine that the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 in which the information medium 30 is arranged can be performed.

  Even in use case 2, a packet transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 may not reach the image forming apparatus 20 as a rare situation. In such a situation, when the power of the router on the route from the access point 7 closest to the mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 is OFF, or the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 is changed, It is possible that it is not reflected in the medium 30.

  In these cases, the connection availability determination unit 13 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 based on the first communication information 1100 by detecting a time-out or a communication error (for example, a status code of 400 returns in HTTP). To judge.

  If there is a communication error or the like, retry may be performed, and if it is determined that the communication cannot be performed according to (1) to (3), it may be determined that the communication cannot be performed in one attempt.

  Even when communication is attempted by 3G or LTE, timeout and communication error are similarly detected.

  If the SSID cannot be switched in step S711 (for example, if the first communication information 1100 does not include the password and the mobile terminal 10 has never connected to the in-house LAN until now, the mobile terminal 10 uses the password. Since it is not stored, it is not possible to connect to the network N1), and it may be determined that the connection cannot be made without performing any of the processes of (1) to (3) above.

  When it is possible to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 in step S705, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 forms an image via the network N1 based on the first communication information 1100 included in the communication information 1000. It is determined to communicate with the device 20.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 12A, a transmission completion screen 921 is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. The transmission completion screen 921 is a screen indicating that the transmission of the print job from the mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 is completed. On the transmission completion screen 921, a message 922 “transmission completed” and an icon 923 indicating that the transmission is completed are displayed. The transmission completion screen 921 is automatically displayed after being displayed for a certain period of time, and the print condition screen 901 shown in FIG. 11A is displayed. The printing condition screen 901 in FIG. 11A may be displayed by the user pressing (touching) the icon 923.

  It returns to FIG. 10 and demonstrates. If it is determined in step S701 that the authentication is unsuccessful, or if it is determined in step S704 that communication is not possible, the process proceeds to step S706.

  In step S706, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 refers to the availability information 1200 included in the communication information 1000 and determines whether the network N2 is available. If the network N2 is available, the process proceeds to step S706, and if the network N2 is not available, the process proceeds to step S709.

  Thereby, for example, even if the network N2 can connect the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 by P2P such as Wi-Fi Direct, it can be determined whether or not the connection by P2P is permitted. This is because, in addition to the above-mentioned reason for charging, in general, the P2P connection tends to have lower security and the like than the connection via the in-house LAN using the wireless LAN. That is, when the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 cannot connect to the network N1, the employee 8 does not perform the P2P connection even temporarily. In this way, security can be improved by the determination in step S705.

  Here, the SSID included in the second communication information 1300 is compared with the SSID of the network currently communicating, and if different, the connected network is switched.

  In step S707, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 requests the second communication unit 152 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 based on the second communication information 1300 included in the communication information 1000. Then, the second communication unit 152 tries to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 based on the second communication information 1300. That is, the second communication unit 152 attempts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 indicated by the second IP address included in the second communication information 1300.

  In step S708, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 determines whether or not the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has been successful via the network N2 based on the communication result by the second communication unit 152. If the image forming apparatus 20 can be communicated with via the network N2, the process proceeds to step S709. If the communication is not possible, the process proceeds to step S710. The connection screen of FIG. 11B is continuously displayed during the determination in step S708.

  Here, the connection availability determination unit 13 determines as follows whether or not the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 has been successful using the second communication information 1300. In the determination in step S708, both use cases 1 and 2 are similarly determined.

  That is, it is considered that the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 and the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 can use the second communication information 1300 to send and receive packets to and from the image forming apparatus 20. Therefore, for example, it is possible to make the determination based on the determination criteria (1) to (3) in step S704.

  Although rare, the mobile terminal 10 is not connected to the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 because power is not supplied to the communication I / F 204 of the image forming apparatus 20 or communication failure occurs in the communication I / F 204. It is possible that packets cannot be sent or received. In this case, the connection availability determination unit 13 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 using the second communication information 1300 by not receiving any response from the image forming apparatus 20, detecting a timeout, or detecting a communication error. Determine that you cannot.

  When it is possible to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 in step S708, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 forms an image via the network N2 based on the second communication information 1300 included in the communication information 1000. It is determined to communicate with the device 20.

  In this case, the transmission completion screen 921 of FIG. 12A is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. That is, the same screen is displayed regardless of whether the print job is transmitted via the network N1 or the network N2, and therefore the user does not need to be aware of the difference between the networks. The mobile terminal 10 may display on the display device 102 whether the print job is transmitted via the network N1 or the network N2. As a result, the user as the employee 8 can confirm whether or not the highly secure in-house LAN can be used. Further, the user as the visitor 9 can understand that his / her print job has been transmitted via the P2P network.

  Returning to FIG. 10, in step S710, when communication with the image forming apparatus 20 is not possible in either the network N1 or the network N2, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 does not communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. Judge that you can't.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 12B, the communication disabled screen 931 is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. On the non-communication screen 931, a message 932 “Cannot connect to device” and an OK button 933 are displayed. When the user presses (touches) the OK button 933, the print condition screen 901 shown in FIG. 11A is displayed on the display device 102.

  As described in the processing of FIG. 10, in the printing system 1 of this embodiment, the user sets the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300 to the image forming apparatus 20 connected to the plurality of networks. While reducing the labor, each user can automatically select an appropriate network. Since the employee 8 first tries to communicate with the network N1 and tries to communicate with the network N2 only when communication is not possible, communication through the network N2 is possible while giving priority to the safe network N1. Further, it is possible to prevent the visitor 9 from connecting to the network N1, which is an in-house LAN, and permit communication via the network N2. Further, by switching the network, the employee 8 can access the IP address described in the first communication information 1100 via the network such as 3G or LTE which is different from the network N1 which is guaranteed to have high security. Unnecessary communication such as trying to communicate with will not occur. That is, it is possible to prevent unnecessary communication that causes a security problem.

<< About another form of communication information >>
In step S703, the connection availability determination unit 13 attempts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 using the first communication information 1100, and in step S707 attempts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 using the second communication information 1300. It was That is, the order of the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300 to be attempted to connect is the order of the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300 recorded in the communication information 1000 of FIG. 7 (for example, address order). It was fixed by.

  Here, it is considered that the connection availability determination unit 13 first attempts communication with the second communication information 1300, and attempts communication with the first communication information 1100 when communication is not possible. In this case, when it is determined that the authentication is OK (that is, the employee 8), the communication is tried with the second communication information 1300, so that the employee 8 can communicate with the second communication information 1300. However, it is not preferable that the employee 8 always connects to the network N2. When it is determined that the authentication is NG (that is, the visitor 9), the connection availability determination unit 13 tries communication using the first communication information 1100, and thus the visitor 9 can connect to the access point 7. The visitor 9 cannot communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 at all. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is preferable that the first communication information 1100 for employees be first and the second communication information 1300 that can be used by a visitor be later in the order in which communication is attempted.

  According to the same concept, when the communication information 1000 includes the third communication information, if the third communication information is for an employee, the communication connection is attempted before the second communication information 1300, and the third communication information is If the communication information can be used by the visitor, the communication connection should be attempted after the first communication information 1100.

  The priority of communication information may be used as a method of controlling the order of such connection attempts.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining another example of communication information. In FIG. 13, the first communication information 1100 of the network N1 among the plurality of networks has the priority 1, and the second communication information 1300 of the network N2 has the priority 2. When the priority of each network (each communication information) is registered in the communication information 1000 in this way, the connection availability determination unit 13 determines whether the first communication information 1100 (network N1) or the second communication information 1300 (network N2). The communication with the image forming apparatus 20 is tried in order.

  Therefore, even when the first communication information 1100 is not stored at the very beginning of the information medium 30, it is possible to flexibly control the network used by the user according to the priority. That is, when controlled by priority, the company in which the image forming apparatus 20 is installed gives the first communication information 1100 for employees a higher priority than the second communication information 1300 available to visitors. Just give it.

  For example, when the communication information 1000 includes the third communication information, the company in which the image forming apparatus 20 is installed gives a higher priority than the second communication information 1300 if the third communication information is for employees. If the third communication information is communication information that the visitor can use, a lower priority than the first communication information 1100 is given. That is, the communication information for employees is given a priority lower than a certain threshold (the lower the numerical value, the higher the priority), and the communication information usable by the visitor is given a priority equal to or higher than the threshold.

  When the communication information 1000 to which the priority is given is stored in the information medium 30, the connection availability determination unit 13 processes as follows.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example of the connection availability determination processing using the priority. Note that FIG. 14 mainly describes differences from FIG. 10.

  If the authentication is OK in step S701, as shown in step S7100, all connections using communication information whose priority is less than the threshold value (threshold value = 2 in the communication information in FIG. 13) are tried. Of course, the order in which the connections are attempted is in priority order. If there is communication information that can be communicated among them, it is determined that the communication unit 15 corresponding to the communication information communicates as shown in step S705.

  If communication is not possible even if the communication information whose priority is less than the threshold is used (Yes in S7100), the process proceeds to step S706, and the connection using the communication information whose priority is equal to or higher than the threshold is tried in order of priority.

  If the authentication is NG in step S701, as shown in step S7200, a connection is attempted using communication information whose priority is equal to or higher than a threshold. If there is communication information that can be communicated, it is determined that the communication unit 15 corresponding to the communication information communicates as shown in step S709.

  By doing so, the printing system 1 can preferentially connect the employee 8 to the in-house network N1 and connect the visitor to the P2P network N2 by using the priority.

<< Communication attempt based on IP address >>
Furthermore, based on the IP address of the mobile terminal 10 and the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20, it may be determined through which network of the plurality of networks the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 is attempted. For example, the IP address of the mobile terminal 10 is "192.160.0.4", the first IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N1 is "192.160.0.3", and the first IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N2 is the first. 2 Assume that the IP address is "192.168.20.1". In this case, on the user side of the image forming apparatus 20, the network N1 having the same subnetwork address portion "192.160.0.0" is set as a network that can communicate with the communication information for employees, and the network N2 is a visitor. Set the network to communicate with the communication information that can be used by. By doing so, when communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1, the communication is performed within the same subnet (within the same LAN), so it is possible to prevent an increase in network traffic.

<Summary>
As described above, in the printing system 1 according to the present exemplary embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 uses the information medium 30 to perform authentication connection information 900 for communicating with the authentication server 80 and a plurality of pieces of information for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20. Get the communication information of. Then, the mobile terminal 10 receives the authentication of being an employee from the authentication server. The mobile terminal 10 can determine whether to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 based on any one of the plurality of pieces of communication information according to the authentication result. That is, the mobile terminal 10 selects any one of a plurality of networks connected to the image forming apparatus 20 according to the authentication result, and prints the print job via the selected network. You can print by sending to. Therefore, the user can communicate on an appropriate network without having to set communication information in his / her own mobile terminal 10 among the plurality of networks. As a result, the user of the printing system 1 and the labor of management are reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above specifically disclosed embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

  In the first embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 communicates with the authentication server 80 and is authenticated every time the mobile terminal 10 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20. In the present exemplary embodiment, the printing system in which the mobile terminal 10 holds only the authentication information authenticated by the authentication server 80 in advance and does not need to communicate with the authentication server 80 when communicating with the image forming apparatus 20 will be described. To do.

  In the present specification, the components denoted by the same reference numerals have the same functions, and thus the description of the components once described may be omitted or only the differences may be described.

<Memory of employee ID and password in information storage section>
FIG. 15 is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure in which the mobile terminal stores the employee ID and password in the information storage unit 16. The process of FIG. 15 is started when the user performs an operation to activate the application and receive authentication.

  In step S <b> 901, when the user holds the mobile terminal 10 over the information medium 30, the information acquisition unit 12 detects the start of short-range wireless communication with the information medium 30 and acquires the communication information 1000 from the information medium 30.

  In step S902, the information acquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10 stores the communication information 1000 acquired from the information medium 30 in the information storage unit 16.

  In step S903, the information storage unit 16 of the mobile terminal 10 requests the UI display unit 14 to display the authentication information input screen 941.

  In step S904, the UI display unit 14 displays the authentication information input screen 941 on the display device 102.

  In step S905, when the user inputs the employee ID and the password, the operation reception unit 17 sends the employee ID and the password to the UI display unit 14.

  In step S906, the UI display unit 14 sends the employee ID and password input by the user to the authentication requesting unit 11.

  In step S907, the authentication requesting unit 11 reads the communication information 1000 from the information storage unit 16. Thereby, the authentication requesting unit 11 can communicate with the authentication server 80 using the authentication connection information 900. If the user already knows the IP address of the authentication server 80, the user may input the IP address of the authentication server 80 into the application without reading the authentication connection information 900.

  In step S908, the authentication requesting unit 11 transmits the employee ID and password to the authentication server 80 together with the authentication request. As a result, the authentication request unit 11 acquires the authentication result (OK, NG) from the authentication server 80.

  In step S909, the authentication requesting unit 11 stores the employee ID and password in the information storage unit 16 only when the authentication result is authentication OK. Therefore, the employee ID and password are stored in the information storage unit 16 only when the authentication of the mobile terminal 10 is established. Note that when the mobile terminal 10 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20, it is not necessary to authenticate with the employee ID and password, so that information stored in the information storage unit 16 may be information indicating that the information has been authenticated.

  In step S910, the information storage unit requests the connection availability determination unit 13 to perform the connection availability determination process. Subsequent processing follows the processing from step S608 onward in the sequence diagram of FIG. 9 of the first embodiment.

<< Authentication result and connection availability judgment processing >>
The connection availability determination processing according to the authentication result will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an example of the connection availability determination process according to the present embodiment. Since the processing after step S702 in FIG. 16 is the same as that in FIG. 10, the difference will be mainly described.

  In step S701-2 of FIG. 16, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 determines whether the information storage unit 16 stores the authentication information. In this embodiment, it is determined whether or not the authentication information is stored in the information storage unit 16 regardless of the use case. For example, in the case of the employee A and the employee B described in the first embodiment, if the authentication by the authentication server 80 has been completed, the determination in step S701-2 becomes Yes. However, the employee B cannot connect to the network N1, which is the in-house LAN, only with the first communication information 1100, so it is determined in step S704 that communication is not possible, and communication is performed via the network N2.

  Since the employee C has not been authenticated by the authentication server 80, the determination in step S701-2 is No.

  As described above, also in this embodiment, it is possible to prevent the visitor 9 from connecting to the network N1 that is the in-house LAN, and connect the visitor 9 and the employee 8 to an appropriate network.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, since the mobile terminal 10 stores the authentication information authenticated by the authentication server 80 in advance, it is possible to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. Communication with the authentication server 80 can be eliminated.

  Although it has been described in the first embodiment that the image forming apparatus 20 may be an apparatus such as an image projecting apparatus (projector), in the present embodiment, the case where the image forming apparatus 20 is the image projecting apparatus (projector) will be described.

  In the present specification, the components denoted by the same reference numerals have the same functions, and thus the description of the components once described may be omitted or only the differences may be described.

  FIG. 17 is a functional block diagram of an example of the printing system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 17, the configuration of the mobile terminal 10 is similar to that of FIG. On the other hand, in FIG. 17, the mobile terminal 10 communicates with the image projecting device 22 instead of the image forming device 20. An information medium 30 is arranged in the image projection device 22, and the image projection device 22 has an image projection unit 23. The information medium 30 is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  The image projection device 22 modulates image data by a DLP (Digital Right Processing) system or a liquid crystal system, and projects an image on a screen, a wall, or the like. The image data is transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 via the network N1 or N2. The image projecting unit 23 is realized by a CPU of the image projecting device 22 and a projection engine of a DLP system or a liquid crystal system, and generates a projected image based on image data.

  FIG. 18 is an example sequence of the printing process according to the present embodiment. Since the processing of FIG. 18 differs from that of FIG. 9 of the first embodiment in steps S609 to S614, the processing of steps S609 to S614 will be described.

  In step S609, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 transmits a request for image projection to the first communication unit 151.

  In step S610, when the first communication unit 151 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the image projection request, the first communication unit 151 transmits the image projection request to the image projection device 22. That is, the mobile terminal 10 transmits image data to the image projection device 22 via the network N1 (for example, an in-house LAN connected via a wireless LAN). This image data is generated from, for example, the image currently displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10 or the image selected by the user.

  In step S <b> 611, the image projecting unit 23 of the image projecting device 22 projects this image upon receiving a request for image projection from the mobile terminal 10. This allows the user to project a desired image with the image projection device 22.

  In step S612, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 transmits a request for image projection to the second communication unit 152.

  In step S613, when the second communication unit 152 of the mobile terminal 10 accepts the image projection request, the second communication unit 152 transmits the image projection request to the image projection device 22. That is, the mobile terminal 10 transmits the image data to the image projection device 22 via the network N2 (for example, P2P by Wi-Fi Direct).

  In step S614, when the image projection unit 23 of the image projection device 22 receives a request for image projection from the mobile terminal 10, it projects this image. This allows the user to project a desired image with the image projection device 22.

  When the mobile terminal 10 causes the image forming apparatus 20 to print, if the mobile terminal 10 sends a print job to the image forming apparatus 20, the mobile terminal 10 may wait until the printing is completed. On the other hand, when the mobile terminal 10 causes the image projection device 22 to project an image, the mobile terminal 10 needs to project the image a plurality of times.

  For example, when the still image displayed on the display device 102 by the mobile terminal 10 is updated (images are switched, enlargement / reduction, change of display range, etc. are included) and the user selects again, image data is displayed. To send. When the mobile terminal 10 is displaying a moving image on the display device 102, it periodically captures an image, creates image data, and transmits the image data. The format of the image data may be any format such as JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, etc. as long as the image projection device 22 supports it.

  In addition, the mobile terminal 10 may directly transmit the file including the image. For example, a PDF file, an MPEG file, etc. can be transmitted. In this case, the image projection device 22 opens the file, converts it into an image, and then projects it.

  As described above, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the printing system of the present embodiment can communicate necessary data such as image data by communicating with the mobile terminal 10 via an appropriate network that wirelessly communicates.

  In this embodiment, the printing system 1 in which the mobile terminal 10 constructs a server and the image forming apparatus 20 sends a request to the server so that the mobile terminal 10 acquires the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N1 or N2. explain.

<Software configuration>
FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of an example of the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment. Note that, in the present embodiment, the constituent elements denoted by the same reference numerals in FIG. 5 perform the same functions, and thus only the main constituent elements of the present embodiment may be mainly described.

<< About mobile device functions >>
The mobile terminal 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment newly includes a near field communication unit 41, a job control unit 42, a network switching unit 43, and a server construction unit 44. The server section 44a indicated by the dotted line will be described later.

  The near field communication unit 41 is realized by the CPU 106 and the near field wireless communication apparatus 109 shown in FIG. 3, and performs wireless communication with the image forming apparatus 20 existing within a distance of several meters. As will be described later, the main information received by the near field communication unit 41 is the communication information 1000, and the main information to be transmitted is the URL information 5000 described later, which will be described later. The near field communication unit 41 communicates according to the communication standard of Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy (hereinafter, referred to as BLE), but the communication procedure is publicly known, and thus the details are omitted.

  Further, in this embodiment, the communication information 1000 does not include the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20. Table 5 shows an example of the communication information 1000 of this embodiment.

表２の通信情報１０００には、第１通信情報１１００、第２通信情報１３００のどちらにも画像形成装置２０のＩＰアドレスが含まれていない。これは、ＩＰアドレスは画像形成装置２０が携帯端末１０のサーバ部４４ａと通信する際に、画像形成装置２０から携帯端末１０に通知されるためである。なお、第２通信情報１３００には、実施例１〜３と異なり「携帯端末のサーバのポート番号」が含まれている。「携帯端末のサーバのポート番号」は、画像形成装置２０がサーバ部４４ａと通信するために使用される。

In the communication information 1000 of Table 2, neither the first communication information 1100 nor the second communication information 1300 includes the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20. This is because the IP address is notified from the image forming apparatus 20 to the mobile terminal 10 when the image forming apparatus 20 communicates with the server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10. The second communication information 1300 includes "port number of server of mobile terminal" unlike the first to third embodiments. The "port number of the server of the mobile terminal" is used by the image forming apparatus 20 to communicate with the server unit 44a.

  The job control unit 42 is realized by the CPU 106 and the like shown in FIG. 3, and performs processing for requesting a job such as printing to the image forming apparatus 20.

  The network switching unit 43 switches the connection destination of the mobile terminal 10 from the network N1 (or another network to which the mobile terminal 10 is connected) to the network N2. Specifically, the second communication unit 152 to which the second communication information 1300 is applied is created (the second communication information 1300 is set in the second communication unit 152). However, depending on the OS of the mobile terminal 10, user permission or operation is required to switch networks. The mobile terminal 10 may not be connected to the network at all. In this case, the mobile terminal 10 may be connected to the network N2.

  The server construction unit 44 is realized by the CPU 106 and the like shown in FIG. 3 and constructs a server in the mobile terminal 10. The constructed server is the server unit 44a. Building a server means preparing a response corresponding to an HTTP (or HTTPS) request. The function of the server unit 44a will be described later with reference to FIG. In general, it is impossible to access the mobile terminal 10 from the outside (by the image forming apparatus 20 or the like) for security reasons. However, by creating the server unit 44a, it becomes possible to communicate with the mobile terminal 10 from outside by HTTP communication or the like.

  The server construction unit 44 also creates URL information 5000 for accepting communication with the constructed server unit 44a. The URL information 5000 includes information for the image forming apparatus 20 to generate the URL of the server unit 44a. A method of creating the URL information 5000 will be described later with reference to FIG. The URL information 5000 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 20 by the near field communication unit 41.

<< Image forming device >>
The image forming apparatus 20 according to the present exemplary embodiment newly includes the near field communication unit 36 and the communication unit 35. The near field communication unit 36 is realized by the CPU 211 and the near field wireless communication device 301 shown in FIG. 4, and performs wireless communication with the mobile terminal 10 existing within a distance of several meters. As described later, the main information received by the near field communication unit 36 is the URL information 5000, and the main information transmitted is the communication information 1000.

  The communication unit 35 has a third communication unit 351 and a fourth communication unit 352. The third communication unit 351 connects to the network N1 to communicate with the mobile terminal 10, and the fourth communication unit 352 connects to the network N2 to communicate with the mobile terminal 10. The third communication unit 351 has the IP address of the first communication information 1100 of the first to third embodiments, and the fourth communication unit 352 has the IP address of the second communication information 1300 of the first to third embodiments.

  The image forming apparatus 20 also has a communication information DB 31. The communication information DB 31 is a storage unit built in the HDD 215, the RAM 212, the ROM 213, the NVRAM 214, or the like illustrated in FIG. The communication information 1000 shown in Table 2 is stored in the communication information DB 31.

  In the present embodiment, the short-range wireless communication devices 109 and 301 will be described as performing communication using BLE. However, the short-range wireless communication devices 109 and 301 may be devices capable of NFC reader / writer or infrared rays.

<URL information 5000>
The URL information 5000 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 20 is an example of a diagram for explaining the URL information and the URL. The URL information 5000 created by the server construction unit 44 of the mobile terminal 10 has three pieces of information, that is, the IP address of the mobile terminal 10, the port number, and the one-time password.
The IP address of the mobile terminal 10 is an IP address fixed to the mobile terminal 10 or given by the DHCP server. The IP address can be detected by a command such as “ipconfig” and is known to the mobile terminal 10.
The port number is the “port number of the mobile terminal server” in the second communication information 1300 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 20. The port number is used by the mobile terminal 10 to wait for communication from the image forming apparatus 20.
The one-time password is information for the mobile terminal 10 to authenticate the image forming apparatus 20, and is changed every time the server construction unit 44 creates the URL information 5000. The one-time password is, for example, any random alphanumeric combination. That is, the image forming apparatus 20 that specifies the one-time password and connects to the mobile terminal 10 is authenticated as the image forming apparatus 20 to which the mobile terminal 10 has transmitted the URL information 5000.

  In this way, the URL information 5000 provides information necessary for the image forming apparatus 20 to communicate with the server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10, such as an IP address and a port number. The communication unit 35 (both the third communication unit 351 and the fourth communication unit 352) of the image forming apparatus 20 uses the URL information 5000 to create a URL according to the HTTP communication specifications. As a result, the communication unit 35 of the image forming apparatus 20 can communicate with the server unit 44a built in the mobile terminal 10. The server construction unit 44 of the mobile terminal 10 may send the URL itself to the image forming apparatus 20 instead of the URL information 5000.

  Since the URL is address information for the image forming apparatus 20 to communicate with the server unit 44a, when the server unit 44a and the image forming apparatus 20 communicate with each other, the mobile terminal 10 indicates that the image forming apparatus 20 communicates using the URL information 5000. I can judge.

  The URL information 5000 is transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 for each of the networks N1 and N2 (every time the network is switched). The IP address depends on the one fixed or attached to the mobile terminal 10 by the DHCP server, and the port number depends on the “port number of the mobile terminal server” transmitted by the image forming apparatus 20. Therefore, the URL information 5000 does not have to be changed except for the one-time password. The URL information 5000 is transmitted every time the network is switched because the IP address of the URL information 5000 may change due to the network switching, and thus the image forming apparatus 20 may start communication with the server unit 44a. This is because it serves as a trigger and for transmitting the one-time password.

  The IP address portion of the mobile terminal 10 in the URL information may be transmitted by the host name instead of the IP address. In this case, the server construction unit 44 registers the IP address (URL excluding the port number) of the mobile terminal 10 and the host name in a DNS (Domain Name System) server in association with each other.

<Function of the server unit 44a>
First, the server refers to a service providing unit (computer or device) that provides the other computer with its own functions, services, data, etc. in the network. The service providing unit is specifically called a server or a server device. The server unit 44a of this embodiment also operates as a server having such a meaning. However, the server unit 44a has a function of detecting that the image forming apparatus 20 can be connected to the mobile terminal 10 and a function of acquiring address information of the image forming apparatus 20. The address information of the image forming apparatus 20 is information for uniquely identifying the image forming apparatus 20 on the network N1 or N2. Specifically, the URI, URL, host name or IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 may be used. In this embodiment, an IP address will be described as an example.

  FIG. 21 is an example of a diagram for explaining the function of the server unit 44a using the sequence diagram. FIG. 21 shows the processing after the URL information 5000 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 20.

  S1: Since the mobile terminal 10 has the server unit 44a as described above, the image forming apparatus 20 can access the mobile terminal 10 by designating the URL and requesting HTTP communication.

  S2: The server unit 44a acquires the password transmitted by the above URL and determines whether or not the password matches the password included in the URL information 5000.

  S3: If they match, the server unit 44a transmits communication OK (status code 200) to the image forming apparatus 20 via the first communication unit 151 or the second communication unit 152. Communication OK (status code 200) indicates that the communication is successful.

  S4: If they do not match, the server unit 44a transmits the communication NG (status code 401) to the image forming apparatus 20 via the first communication unit 151 or the second communication unit 152. Communication NG (status code 401) indicates that authentication has failed (Unauthorixed). The status code 401 may be another status code in the 400s.

  S5: The server unit 44a acquires the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20. When the first communication unit 151 or the second communication unit 152 receives the request, the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 included in the IP header transmitted / received in the TCP / IP layer can be acquired.

  S6 to S8: The image forming apparatus 20 repeatedly transmits a request for HTTP communication to the server unit 44a (because it is unknown whether the request in step S1 has arrived other than communication OK). The constructed server unit 44a returns communication OK only to the first request after the construction, and returns communication NG (status code 404) to the second and subsequent requests even if the passwords match. The status code 404 indicates that the requested resource has not been found (Not Found). Note that other responses in the 400s may be created for the second and subsequent requests.

  By returning communication NG for the second and subsequent requests, even if the mobile terminal 10 receives a request transmitted from a device other than the image forming device 20, it is possible to prevent the device from being mistaken for the image forming device 20. .

  By thus creating the server unit 44a, it is possible to obtain the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 without the mobile terminal 10 obtaining the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 by BLE or the like from the image forming apparatus 20. It will be possible.

<Details of processing>
Next, details of the processing of the printing system 1 will be described.

<< Overall operation >>
The flow of the printing process of the printing system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram of an example of print processing for acquiring the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20.

  S1: The user operates the screen displayed by the UI display unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 to instruct execution of printing. The operation reception unit 17 of the mobile terminal 10 receives an operation for printing. The user selects desired print target data from an application installed in the mobile terminal 10 and gives an instruction to execute printing. As a result, a print job including the print target data selected by the user is generated. By executing printing, the printing condition screen 901 of FIG. 11A is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10.

  S2: The user brings the mobile terminal 10 closer to the short-range wireless communication apparatus 301 of the image forming apparatus 20 according to the instruction on the screen. As BLE, devices can communicate with each other at a distance of about several meters. However, since the plurality of image forming apparatuses 20 may be arranged close to each other, the mobile terminal 10 detects that the user has intentionally brought the mobile terminal 10 close to the image forming apparatus 20 within a certain distance. Specifically, the proximity communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 detects that the mobile terminal 10 has approached the image forming apparatus 20 within a distance shorter than about 10 to 50 cm. This fixed distance may be settable by the user.

  The detection of the distance will be described. The image forming apparatus 20 transmits an advertisement packet within a range (several meters) in which BLE can communicate. The advertisement packet includes the output of the short-range wireless communication device 301. Also, the short-range wireless communication device 109 detects the radio field intensity when receiving the BLE radio wave. The near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 converts the difference or ratio between the output and the radio field intensity into a distance using a predetermined conversion formula or table. Accordingly, the near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 can detect the distance from the image forming apparatus 20.

  The near field communication unit 41 may start communication with the image forming apparatus 20 without determining whether the distance is within a certain distance.

  S2.1: The close proximity communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 starts receiving the radio wave when the image forming apparatus 20 approaches within a few meters. Repeat the distance detection.

  S2.2: When the near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 determines that the near field communication unit 41 has come within a certain distance from the image forming apparatus 20, the near field communication unit 41 starts communication with the image forming apparatus 20 (declares the start of communication). . As a result, the near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the BLE network.

  S2.3: Next, the near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 requests the communication information 1000 from the image forming apparatus 20 via the BLE network. Specifically, the communication information 1000 is requested by specifying the characteristic that requests the communication information 1000. The near field communication unit 36 of the image forming apparatus 20 acquires the request for the communication information 1000, reads the communication information 1000 from the communication information DB 31, and transmits the communication information 1000 to the mobile terminal 10. The near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 stores the communication information 1000 in the information storage unit 16.

  Subsequent steps S2.4 to S5.1 are executed for the mobile terminal 10 to acquire the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N1 and the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the network N2 (for the network Repeated a number).

  S2.4: The network switching unit 43 switches the network connected to the mobile terminal 10 from the network N1 (or another network to which the mobile terminal 10 is connected) to the network N2. This process may not be performed when the mobile terminal 10 is already connected to the network N1.

  S2.5: When the mobile terminal 10 connects to the BLE network, the server construction unit 44 of the mobile terminal 10 constructs the server unit 44a. Further, the server construction unit 44 creates the URL information 5000 using the communication information 1000 acquired from the image forming apparatus 20. The IP address of the mobile terminal 10 is known, the “port number of the server of the mobile terminal” is described in the second communication information 1300, and the one-time password can be arbitrarily created.

  S2.6: The near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 transmits the URL information 5000 to the image forming apparatus 20 via the BLE network. Specifically, the URL information 5000 is transmitted by designating the characteristic to be transmitted and storing the URL information 5000.

  It is preferable that the near field communication unit 41 encrypts the URL information 5000. A fixed value preset in the program 108a of the mobile terminal 10 and the program 215a of the image forming apparatus 20 may be used for encryption. In addition, the BLE communication may be exchanged at the start of communication in step S2.2.

  If the near field communication unit 36 of the image forming apparatus 20 acquires a characteristic that does not exist in the image forming apparatus 20 (not in the above data list), an error is detected and the subsequent processing is not performed. .

  When the mobile terminal 10 transmits the URL information 5000, the display screen 102 of the mobile terminal 10 displays a connecting screen 911 shown in FIG. 11B.

  S2.6.1.1: The communication unit 35 of the image forming apparatus 20 uses the URL information 5000 to create a URL as shown in FIG. The communication unit 35 of the image forming apparatus 20 attempts to communicate with the server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10 via the network N1 when the URL information 5000 is acquired. Even if the third communication unit 351 of the image forming apparatus 20 is already connected to the network N1, and the fourth communication unit 352 of the image forming apparatus 20 is already connected to the network N2 or is not connected. There shall be no hindrance to the connection.

  S3: The server unit 44a of the image forming apparatus 20 waits for a HTTP communication request for a predetermined waiting time after the proximity communication unit 41 transmits the URL information 5000. The waiting time is, for example, several seconds, but is not limited to this, and it is preferable that the user can set it from the screen. The third communication unit 351 of the image forming apparatus 20 specifies the IP address and the port number of the server unit 44a by the URL and transmits the HTTP communication request. The request includes a one-time password. Although there are various methods for requesting HTTP communication, for example, POST or GET is used. In this embodiment, any method may be used. This is because the HTTP communication request is made for the image forming apparatus 20 to notify the mobile terminal 10 of the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20. Since the IP protocol may be used to notify the IP address, the communication protocol higher than the IP protocol is not limited to HTTP communication. For example, HTTPSs, HTTP / 2, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), etc. may be used. Also, UDP may be used instead of TCP.

  When the third communication unit 351 of the image forming apparatus 20 transmits a request for HTTP communication, the first communication unit 151 of the mobile terminal 10 accepts the request and notifies the server unit 44a of the request. As described above, when the one-time passwords match, the server unit 44a returns a response with a status code 200 for the first request after the URL information 5000 is transmitted, and returns a status code 404 for the second and subsequent requests. Returns the response. This is because if the status code is not 200, it is unknown to the image forming apparatus 20 whether or not the mobile terminal 10 has received the request, and the request in step S5 is repeatedly transmitted.

  S3.1: The server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10 can acquire the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 (the IP address of the first communication information 1100 of the first to third embodiments not provided as the communication information 1000). The server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10 stores the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in the information storage unit 16.

  S4: Since the server unit 44a becomes unnecessary because the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 has been acquired, the server construction unit 44 deletes the server unit 44a.

  S5: Further, since the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 has been acquired, it becomes unnecessary for the image forming apparatus 20 to transmit the request. Therefore, the close proximity communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 forms an image notification of the end of the request. Send to device 20. Specifically, a predetermined value (zero) is written in the characteristic that notifies the end of the request.

  S5.1: The near field communication unit 36 of the image forming apparatus 20 acquires the request end notification and causes the third communication unit 351 to end the request transmission.

  Subsequently, the process is executed again from step S2.4, and the mobile terminal 10 switches the network N1 connected to itself to N2 and executes steps S2.5 to S5.1. As a result, the second URL information is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 20. Therefore, the server unit 44a of the mobile terminal 10 can acquire the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 (the IP address of the second communication information 1300 in the first to third embodiments that is not provided as the communication information 1000).

  S6: The near field communication unit 41 of the mobile terminal 10 ends the BLE communication (declares the end of communication). As a result, the mobile terminal 10 does not connect to the BLE network.

<< Authentication >>
As described above, the communication information 1000 including the IP address, which is equivalent to those in the first to third embodiments, is obtained, and thus the mobile terminal 10 receives the authentication as in the first embodiment, and determines the connection availability.

  FIG. 23 shows a sequence diagram of an example of the printing process. The process of FIG. 23 is executed subsequent to that of FIG. Note that FIG. 23 mainly describes differences from FIG. 9.

  In the process of FIG. 22, since the communication information 1000 including the IP address is stored in the information storage unit 16, the authentication request unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 reads the employee ID and password from the information storage unit 16 in step S605. .

  In step S606, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 connects to the authentication server 80 using the authentication connection information 900 included in the communication information 1000 and transmits the authentication information (employee ID and password) together with the authentication request. As a result, the authentication request unit 11 acquires the authentication result (OK, NG) from the authentication server 80.

  In step S <b> 607, the authentication requesting unit 11 of the mobile terminal 10 issues a request for determining which communication information of the plurality of communication information included in the communication information 1000 is used to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. 13 is sent.

  In step S608, the connection availability determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 performs a connection availability determination process. The connection availability determination process may be the same as that in the first embodiment.

  After that, the processing of FIG. 10 is executed. In FIG. 10, communication is attempted using the first communication information 1100 in step S703. At this time, since the IP address is not included in the first communication information 1100 of this embodiment, the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 acquired for the first time in step S3.1 of FIG. 22 is used. Similarly, communication is attempted using the second communication information 1300 in step S707. In step S707, the network switching unit 43 of the mobile terminal 10 switches the network N1 to which the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the network N2. At this time, since the second communication information 1300 of this embodiment does not include the IP address, the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 acquired the second time in step S3.1 of FIG. 22 is used.

  In this way, in this embodiment as well, it is determined which of the first communication unit 151 and the second communication unit 152 should communicate, and the first communication unit 151 or the second communication unit 152 communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 and the job is executed. Can be requested to be executed.

  As described in the above processing, in the printing system 1 of the present embodiment, the server unit 44a is built in the mobile terminal 10, so the mobile terminal 10 can acquire the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20. The mobile terminal 10 can be authenticated using the communication information 1000 acquired by BLE, and can request the image forming apparatus 20 to execute a job using the IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 acquired by the server unit 44a. Therefore, for the image forming apparatus 20 connected to a plurality of networks, the user's labor for setting the first communication information 1100 and the second communication information 1300 in the mobile terminal 10 can be reduced, and each user can set an appropriate network. Can be selected automatically.

<Other application examples>
The best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. And substitutions can be added.

  The image forming apparatus 20 is an example of a device, the mobile terminal 10 is an example of an information processing apparatus, the network N1 is an example of a first network, and the network N2 is an example of a second network. The network to which the mobile terminal 10 is connected before connecting to N1 is an example of the third network. The operation reception unit 17 is an example of identification information reception means, the information acquisition unit 12 is an example of an acquisition unit 12, the connection availability determination unit 13 is an example of a determination unit, and the communication switching control unit 18 is a communication switching control unit. The communication unit 15 is an example of a request unit. The authentication request unit 11 is an example of an authentication result acquisition unit, the authentication server 80 is an example of an authentication device, and the information storage unit 16 is an example of an information storage unit.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing system 10 Mobile terminal 11 Authentication request part 12 Information acquisition part 13 Connection availability judgment part 14 UI display part 15 Communication part 17 Operation acceptance part 151 First communication part 152 Second communication part 16 Information storage part 18 Communication switching control part 20 Image forming apparatus 21 Print function unit 30 Information medium 80 Authentication server

Japanese Patent No. 5121212

Claims (11)

An information processing apparatus that requests processing to a device connectable to a plurality of networks via any one of the plurality of networks,
Identification information receiving means for receiving identification information for identifying a user,
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of communication information including first communication information for connecting to the device via a first network;
Authentication result acquisition means for acquiring the authentication result by the authentication device,
The device is requested to perform the processing through any one of the first network and a second network different from the first network according to the authentication result acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. A judgment means for judging whether
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication has been established is acquired by the authentication result acquisition means, the information processing apparatus that communicates via a third network different from the first network is notified from the third network to the information processing apparatus. Switch to the first network to communicate ,
Communication switching control means for causing the information processing apparatus to switch from the third network to the second network to perform communication when the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful is not acquired by the authentication result acquisition means . ,
Program for functioning as a request means, for performing a request for processing via the first network or the second network to the determined said apparatus to perform the required pre Symbol processed by said determining means. When the determination unit determines that the device cannot be requested to perform the process by using the first communication information, the process is performed by the device by using the second communication information acquired by the acquisition unit. The program according to claim 1 , which attempts to determine whether or not the request can be made. Each of the communication information has a priority setting, the first communication information has the priority equal to or higher than a threshold, and the second communication information has the priority smaller than the threshold,
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful is acquired by the authentication result acquisition means,
The determination unit attempts to establish a wireless connection with the device using the first communication information, and then uses the second communication information to connect to the device if the first communication information does not allow a wireless connection to the device. Wireless connection of,
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication is not established is acquired by the authentication result acquisition unit,
The determining means is programmed according to claim 2, using the second communication information attempts to connect by radio with said apparatus. The acquisition means acquires authentication connection information for connecting to the authentication device together with the plurality of communication information,
When authentication information for authenticating the information processing device is stored in the information processing device, the authentication result acquisition unit uses the authentication connection information acquired by the acquisition unit to perform the authentication for the authentication device. Send information and request authentication, obtain the authentication result from the authentication device,
If the authentication information to the information processing apparatus is not stored, claim 1, wherein the authentication result obtaining means determines that acquires the authentication result of the authentication is not established without authentication request to the authentication device The program according to item 1. The authentication result acquisition means transmits the authentication information to the authentication device before the judgment means tries to connect to the device each time the judgment device tries to connect to the device, The program according to claim 4 , which acquires an authentication result. The authentication result acquisition unit stores predetermined information in the information storage unit only when the authentication information is transmitted to the authentication device and an authentication result indicating that the authentication is established is acquired,
The method according to claim 4 , wherein if the predetermined information is stored in the information storage unit before the determination unit attempts to establish a wireless connection with the device, it is determined that an authentication result indicating that the authentication has been established is acquired. Program of. At least one of the plurality of pieces of communication information acquired by the acquisition unit has a connection availability setting, and the determination unit uses only the communication information that is permitted to be connected depending on the connection availability. The program according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which attempts to establish a wireless connection with the device. The program according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the plurality of pieces of communication information from the device or an NFC tag arranged near the device via short-range wireless communication. An information processing apparatus that requests processing to a device connectable to a plurality of networks via any one of the plurality of networks ,
Identification information receiving means for receiving identification information for identifying a user,
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of communication information including first communication information for connecting to the device via a first network;
Authentication result acquisition means for acquiring the authentication result by the authentication device,
The device is requested to perform the processing through any one of the first network and a second network different from the first network according to the authentication result acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. A judgment means for judging whether
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication has been established is acquired by the authentication result acquisition means, the information processing apparatus that communicates via a third network different from the first network is notified from the third network to the information processing apparatus. Switch to the first network to communicate ,
Communication switching control means for causing the information processing apparatus to switch from the third network to the second network to perform communication when the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful is not acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. ,
The information processing apparatus having a request unit that makes a request processed via the first network or the second network to the determined said apparatus to perform the required pre Symbol processed by said determining means. A communication system comprising: a device connectable to a plurality of networks; and an information processing device that requests the device to perform processing via any one of the plurality of networks,
Identification information receiving means for receiving identification information for identifying a user,
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of communication information including first communication information for connecting to the device via a first network;
Authentication result acquisition means for acquiring the authentication result by the authentication device,
The device is requested to perform the processing through any one of the first network and a second network different from the first network according to the authentication result acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. A judgment means for judging whether
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication has been established is acquired by the authentication result acquisition means, the information processing apparatus that communicates via a third network different from the first network is notified from the third network to the information processing apparatus. Switch to the first network to communicate ,
Communication switching control means for causing the information processing apparatus to switch from the third network to the second network to perform communication when the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful is not acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. ,
Communication system having a request unit that makes a request processed via the first network or the second network to the determined said apparatus to perform the required pre Symbol processed by said determining means. An information processing apparatus that requests processing to a device connectable to a plurality of networks via any one of the plurality of networks ,
Identification information receiving means for receiving identification information for identifying a user,
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of communication information including first communication information for connecting to the device via a first network;
Authentication result acquisition means for acquiring the authentication result by the authentication device,
The device is requested to perform the processing through any one of the first network and a second network different from the first network according to the authentication result acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. A judgment means for judging whether
When the authentication result indicating that the authentication has been established is acquired by the authentication result acquisition means, the information processing apparatus that communicates via a third network different from the first network is notified from the third network to the information processing apparatus. Switch to the first network to communicate ,
Communication switching control means for causing the information processing apparatus to switch from the third network to the second network to perform communication when the authentication result indicating that the authentication is successful is not acquired by the authentication result acquisition means. ,
And program for functioning as a request means, for performing a request for processing via the first network or the second network to the determined said apparatus to perform the required pre Symbol processed by said determination means,
A communication system comprising: the device that communicates with the information processing device to provide a predetermined function.

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