JP6904205B2 - Information provision system, image processing device, information provision method and program - Google Patents

Description

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

A cloud print service that prints data stored in an information terminal such as a notebook PC (Personal Computer) using an image processing device such as a printer connected to a network is known. In such a cloud print service, for example, data to be printed is registered from the information terminal to the cloud server, and the registered data is downloaded in the image processing device to print the data stored in the information terminal. It can be performed.

In such a service, when printing data using an image processing device, the user provides the user with advertising information provided by the advertiser instead of paying the usage fee associated with the printing process. A system that reduces the usage fee paid by the user is being studied. In this case, the system administrator collects the advertising fee from the advertiser who provides the advertising information to the user, instead of collecting the usage fee from the user who performs the printing process. As a method of providing advertisement information, for example, there is a method of displaying advertisement information such as moving image data provided by an advertiser on an image processing device that executes printing processing and allowing the user to view the advertisement information.

For example, in Patent Document 1, for the purpose of reducing the cost burden on the user due to the printing process, the advertisement information is displayed on an image forming device such as a copier, and the printing process of the user is performed according to the output of the advertisement information. A method of making the accompanying billing amount variable is disclosed.

In the case of the above method, for example, there may be a case where the user who is the user leaves the image forming device on which the advertisement information is displayed and the user does not view the advertisement information. In this case, the effect of providing the advertisement information to the user is diminished, and the advantage of the advertiser paying the advertisement fee is reduced. Further, if the user wants to use another application when executing the printing process using the image forming apparatus, the usage fee will be collected if the advertisement information displayed on the image forming apparatus is hidden. Therefore, the user cannot use other applications in parallel when he / she wants to reduce the burden of the usage fee, which is the charge amount associated with the print process, and execute the print process. Therefore, in the conventional method, there is a problem that the advertisement information cannot be sufficiently transmitted to the user and the usability of the user is impaired.

The information providing system according to the present invention is an information providing system that provides advertisement information to a display device that can be operated by a user, and displays print target information to be printed in the image processing device and the advertisement information. When the acquisition means for acquiring the history information of the user operation for the display device to be displayed and the print execution request for the acquired print target information are received, the processing content for the print target information is based on the acquired history information. An information providing system including a generation means for generating print processing information indicating the above, and a transmission means for transmitting the generated print processing information to the image processing apparatus.

According to the present invention, in an information providing system that provides advertisement information to a display device that can be operated by the user, the content of the advertisement information can be effectively conveyed to the user without impairing the usability of the user. ..

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration of the information providing system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an outline example of the information provision system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware composition of the image processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware configuration of the information providing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware configuration of the information terminal which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the functional structure of the information providing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the functional structure of the image processing apparatus, the advertisement server and the information terminal which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the authentication information management list which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the job management list which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement information management list which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the registration process of job data in the information providing system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the job registration screen which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement information provision screen displayed on the information terminal which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the execution processing of the print job in the information providing system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the job execution screen displayed on the image processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the generation processing of the print processing information in the information providing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the printing method of the advertisement data which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement information management list which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the acquisition process of the advertisement data in the information providing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the selection process of advertisement data in the information providing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement information management list which concerns on the modification 1 of the 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement information management list which concerns on the modification 2 of the 2nd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the registration process of job data in the information providing system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the PIN code notification screen which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the execution process of the print job in the information providing system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the job execution screen displayed on the image processing apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration of the information providing system which concerns on 4th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the functional structure of the information provision system which concerns on 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the generation processing of the print processing information in the information providing apparatus which concerns on 4th Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the execution process of the print job in the information providing system which concerns on 5th Embodiment.

Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description will be omitted.

● First embodiment ●
● System Configuration FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the information providing system according to the first embodiment. The information providing system 1 is a system that provides advertising information to a user according to a printing process in the image processing device 10, and effectively provides the content of the advertising information to the user without impairing the usability of the user. It is a system that can be communicated to. When the user performs the printing process using the image processing device 10, the information providing system 1 can reduce the usage fee associated with the user's printing process by providing the advertisement information to the user.

The information providing system 1 registers, for example, a print job of data stored in the information terminal 90 with respect to the cloud service realized by the information providing device 30. Then, the information providing system 1 executes the printing process of the registered job data by using the image processing device 10. Further, the information providing system 1 provides advertisement information to the user from the information providing device 30 in response to the registration of the print job by the user.

The information providing system 1 includes an image processing device 10, an information providing device 30, an advertising server 50, and an information terminal 90. The image processing device 10, the information providing device 30, the advertising server 50, and the information terminal 90 are connected to the network 5, and each device can communicate with each other. The information providing system 1 may include a plurality of each device. The network 5 is a communication network such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network).

The information providing device 30 is a server device that provides a service by cloud computing. When the information providing device 30 receives the print job registration request by the user, the information providing device 30 provides the advertisement information to the information terminal 90 used by the user. In addition, the information providing device 30 manages the print job registered by the information terminal 90 and the advertisement information received from the advertisement server 50. Then, when the information providing device 30 receives the print execution request of the registered print job, the information providing device 30 notifies the image processing device 10 of the managed print job and the advertisement information. The information providing device 30 provides a service for inserting advertisement information into printing paper, for example, when printing processing of print target information corresponding to a print job is performed using the image processing device 10.

The image processing device 10 is an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) having a scanner function, a printing function, and the like. The image processing device 10 is installed in, for example, a company or a university. A company employee, a university student, or the like uses the image processing device 10 to perform a desired printing process. The image processing device 10 cooperates with the cloud service provided by the information providing device 30 to execute the printing process of the print target information corresponding to the print job registered in the information providing device 30 by the information terminal 90. A trigger (reading request, print execution request, etc.) using the image processing device 10 is performed from the cloud service, and the image processing device 10 can read or print data in accordance with a request from the cloud service.

The advertisement server 50 is a server device that manages advertisement information provided to users. The advertisement server 50 manages the advertisement information registered by the advertiser. Further, the advertisement server 50 transmits the managed advertisement information in response to a request from the information providing device 30. The advertisement server 50 may function as software executed by the image processing device 10 or the information providing device 30.

The information terminal 90 is a terminal device used by the user of the information providing system 1. The information terminal 90 is a terminal that can be realized by using a personal computer having a general configuration such as a tablet terminal. The information terminal 90 can accept the registration request of the print job of the stored data and display the advertisement information provided by the information providing device 30. The information terminal 90 is an example of a display device. The information terminal 90 may be, for example, a mobile phone terminal, a smartphone, a game machine, a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, or the like.

● Schematic FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline example of the information providing system according to the first embodiment. Note that FIG. 2 briefly describes the outline of the information providing system according to the first embodiment, and details of the functions and the like realized by the information providing system 1 will be described with reference to the drawings and the like described later. .. FIG. 2A shows a process in which the user registers the data stored in the information terminal 90 as print target information in the information providing device 30. In FIG. 2A, the information providing device 30 transmits the advertisement information included in the stored advertisement information management list 430 to the information terminal 90. The information terminal 90 reproduces the received advertisement information.

The user who uses the information terminal 90 views the advertisement information being played, and the user who uses the information terminal 90 can register the print job when the reproduction of the advertisement information is completed. The user who uses the information terminal 90 can skip the advertisement information being reproduced and end the reproduction of the advertisement information. The information terminal 90 generates information indicating a user operation for the advertisement information displayed on the information terminal 90 as history information. The history information is, for example, information on whether or not the advertisement information has been viewed, that is, whether or not the advertisement information has been played to the end or whether or not the advertisement information has been skipped.

The information terminal 90 transmits job data and history information to the information providing device 30. The information providing device 30 stores the received job data and history information in the job management list 420. As a result, the user who uses the information terminal 90 can register the job data in the information providing device 30. The job data is an example of print target information to be printed in the image processing apparatus 10.

FIG. 2B shows a process in which the user executes a print process of job data registered in the information providing device 30 by using the image processing device 10. In FIG. 2B, the image processing device 10 transmits a job data print execution request to the information providing device 30 by a user input operation. The information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content of the job data by using the stored job management list 420.

Specifically, the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content of the job data based on the history information of the user operation for the information terminal 90 included in the job management list 420. For example, when the history information includes information indicating a user operation for the advertisement information, the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so as to print the advertisement information together with the job data. On the other hand, when the history information does not include information indicating a user operation for the advertisement information, the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so as to print only the job data. The information indicating the user operation on the advertisement information is, for example, information indicating that the advertisement information has been skipped by the user.

Then, the information providing device 30 generates print processing information including the specified print processing content. The information providing device 30 transmits the requested job data and the generated print processing information to the image processing device 10. The image processing device 10 executes the printing process of the job data based on the printing processing content indicated by the received print processing information. As a result, the image processing device 10 can print the job data based on the print processing information generated by the information providing device 30 based on the history information.

In this way, the information providing system 1 determines whether or not to print the advertisement information together with the job data depending on whether or not the user operates the advertisement information displayed on the information terminal 90, that is, whether or not the user views the advertisement information. .. Therefore, the information providing system 1 can effectively convey the content of the advertisement information to the user without impairing the usability of the user.

● Hardware Configuration FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. The hardware configuration shown in FIG. 3 may have the same configuration in each embodiment, and components may be added or deleted as needed. The image processing device 10 has a controller 120. The controller 120 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) 102, a flash memory 103, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 104, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 105, and a communication unit 106.

The ASIC 105 is a multifunctional device board including a CPU interface, an SDRAM interface, a local bus interface, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus interface, a MAC (Media Access Controller), an HDD interface, and the like.

The CPU 101 reads and executes various programs from the HDD 104 via the ASIC 105. The SDRAM 102 functions as a program memory for storing various programs, a work memory used by the CPU 101 when executing various programs, and the like. Instead of the SDRAM 102, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or a SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) may be used.

The flash memory 103 is a non-volatile memory and stores a boot loader (boot program) and an OS (Operation System) for starting the image processing device 10. Further, the flash memory 103 functions as an application memory for storing each program. Further, the flash memory 103 functions as a service memory for storing software of each service (copy service, print service, facsimile service).

Further, the flash memory 103 functions as a firmware memory for storing firmware and a data memory for storing a network address, a model machine number, and the like. Instead of the flash memory 103, a non-volatile RAM in which a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a backup circuit using a battery are integrated, or another non-volatile memory such as EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) is used. You may.

The HDD 104 is a non-volatile storage medium that stores data regardless of whether the power of the image processing device 10 is turned on or off. The HDD 104 records programs other than the programs and data stored in the flash memory 103, and data. The HDD 104 may be used as a farm memory. The communication unit 106 is an interface that communicates with the information providing device 30, the advertising server 50, and the information terminal 90 according to the instructions of the CPU 101.

The operation unit 107 is connected to the controller 120 by using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable or the like. The operation unit 107 is an interface for a user who operates the image processing device 10. The operation unit 107 includes various operation keys, a character display of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) as a display device, and a touch panel. The image processing device 10 can input data, execute a print job, and display the data by operating the operation unit 107.

Further, the controller 120 includes a fax control unit 108, a USB 109 to which the storage medium 109a can be attached and detached via the PCI bus 114, an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 1394 (110), a plotter engine 111, a scanner engine 112, and the like. A BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) module 113 or the like is connected. As a result, the image processing apparatus 10 can provide each service such as a copy service, a print service, and a facsimile service. The plotter engine 111 may employ either an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method.

The configuration shown in FIG. 3 is only an example, and the hardware configuration of the image processing device 10 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. For example, the communication unit 106 may be connected to the PCI bus 114. Further, the communication unit 106 may be connected to the network by wire or may be connected by wireless such as a wireless LAN. Further, the communication unit 106 may have a DSU (Digital Service Unit) or a modem connected to the telephone line network. You may have a communication device that connects to the mobile phone network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information providing device according to the first embodiment. The hardware configuration shown in FIG. 4 may have the same configuration in each embodiment, and components may be added or deleted as needed. The information providing device 30 includes a CPU 301, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 302, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 303, a storage 304, an input / output interface (I / F) 305, a communication unit 306, and a bus 307.

The CPU 301 is an arithmetic unit that realizes each function of the information providing device 30 by reading a program or data according to the present invention stored in a ROM 302, a storage 304, or the like on a RAM 103 and executing a process. The information providing device 30 realizes the information providing method according to the present invention, for example, by executing the program according to the present invention by the CPU 301.

The ROM 302 is a non-volatile memory that can hold programs and data even when the power is turned off. The ROM 302 is composed of, for example, a flash ROM or the like. An SDK (Software Development Kit) corresponding to various uses is installed in the ROM 302, and it is possible to realize the functions of the information providing device 30, network connection, and the like by using the application of the SDK. The RAM 303 is a volatile memory used as a work area or the like of the CPU 301.

The storage 304 is, for example, a storage device such as an HDD or an SSD (Solid State Drive). The storage 304 stores the OS, application programs, various data, and the like. The input / output interface (I / F) 305 is an interface for connecting an external device to the information providing device 30. The external device includes, for example, a recording medium 305a such as a USB memory, a memory card, and an optical disk, various electronic devices, and the like.

The communication unit 306 is an interface that communicates with the image processing device 10, the advertisement server 50, and the information terminal 90 according to the instructions of the CPU 301. The communication unit 306 may be connected to the network using wired communication, or may be connected to the network using wireless communication such as a wireless LAN. Further, the communication unit 306 may have a DSU or a modem connected to the telephone line network. Further, the communication unit 306 may have a communication device connected to the mobile phone network.

The bus 307 is connected to each of the above components and transmits an address signal, a data signal, various control signals, and the like. The CPU 301, ROM 302, RAM 303, storage 304, input / output interface (I / F) 305, and communication unit 306 are connected to each other via the bus 307. Although the hardware configuration of the information providing device 30 is shown in FIG. 4, the advertising server 50 may also have the same configuration.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information terminal according to the first embodiment. The hardware configuration shown in FIG. 5 may have the same configuration in each embodiment, and components may be added or deleted as needed. The information terminal 90 includes a CPU 901, a ROM 902, a RAM 903, a storage 904, an input unit 905, a display interface (I / F) 906, an input / output interface (I / F) 907, a communication unit 908, and the like.

The CPU 901 controls the entire information terminal 90. The CPU 901 is an arithmetic unit that realizes each function of the information terminal 90 by reading a program or data stored in a ROM 902, a storage 904, or the like on a RAM 903 and executing a process. The RAM 903 is a volatile memory used as a work area or the like of the CPU 901. The ROM 902 is a non-volatile memory that can hold programs and data even when the power is turned off.

The storage 904 is, for example, a storage device such as an HDD, an SSD, or a flash ROM, and stores an OS, an application program, various data, and the like. The input unit 905 is an interface for the operator to input various instructions to the information terminal 90. For example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a voice input device, and the like.

The display interface (I / F) 906 displays various information contained in the information terminal 90 on the display 906a in the form of a cursor, a menu, a window, characters, an image, or the like at the request of the CPU 901. The display interface (I / F) 906 is, for example, a graphic chip or a display interface. The input / output interface (I / F) 907 is an interface for connecting another device to the information terminal 90. Other devices include, for example, a recording medium 907a such as a USB memory, a memory card, and an optical disk, various electronic devices, and the like.

The communication unit 908 is a communication interface that communicates (connects) with the image processing device 10, the information providing device 30, and the advertising server 50 via the network 5. The communication unit 908 includes an antenna, a radio unit, a MAC unit, and the like.

The bus 909 is connected to each of the above components and transmits an address signal, a data signal, various control signals, and the like. The CPU 901, ROM 902, RAM 903, storage 904, input unit 905, display interface (I / F) 906, input / output interface (I / F) 907, and communication unit 908 are connected to each other via a bus 909.

● Functional configuration FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the information providing device according to the first embodiment. The functions realized by the information providing device 30 shown in FIG. 6 include a transmission / reception unit 31, an authentication unit 32, a display image processing unit 33, a job management unit 34, an advertisement information management unit 35, a storage / reading unit 36, and a storage unit 37. It is a function to include.

The transmission / reception unit 31 is a function of exchanging data with an external device via the network 5. For example, the transmission / reception unit 31 receives the acquisition request of the registration screen of the print job transmitted from the information terminal 90, and transmits the advertisement data 41 to the information terminal 90. Further, the transmission / reception unit 31 receives job data 40 (an example of print target information) to be printed by the image processing device 10 and history information of user operations on the information terminal 90. The reception timing of the job data 40 and the history information is not particularly limited as long as the job data 40 and the history information are associated with each other. For example, the corresponding history information may be received after the job data 40 is received. Details of the history information will be described later. Further, the transmission / reception unit 31 receives the print job download request transmitted from the image processing device 10, and also transmits the job data 40 corresponding to the requested print job to the image processing device 10. The print job download request is an example of a print execution request for the job data 40. The transmission / reception unit 31 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the communication unit 306 and the CPU 301 of the information providing device 30 shown in FIG. The transmission / reception unit 31 is an example of an acquisition means and a transmission means.

The authentication unit 32 is a function of performing user authentication of the information providing system 1 in response to a user authentication request transmitted from the information terminal 90 or the image processing device 10. Specifically, the authentication unit 32 uses the authentication information managed by the authentication information management DB 371, which will be described later, to authenticate the user of the information providing system 1. The authentication unit 32 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG. The function of the authentication unit 32 may be provided in the external authentication server. The authentication unit 32 is an example of an authentication means.

The display image processing unit 33 is a function of generating a display image to be displayed on the image processing device 10 or the information terminal 90. The display image processing unit 33 generates, for example, a job registration screen 910 to be displayed on the information terminal 90 in response to a request from the information terminal 90. Further, the display image processing unit 33 generates a job execution screen 210 to be displayed on the image processing device 10 in response to a request from the image processing device 10. The display image processing unit 33 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG.

The job management unit 34 is a function of managing print jobs registered by the information terminal 90. For example, the job management unit 34 registers the job data 40 corresponding to the print job transmitted by the information terminal 90 in the job management DB 372 and generates the job management list 420. Details of the job management list 420 will be described later. Further, when the job management unit 34 receives the download request of the job data 40 from the image processing device 10, the job management unit 34 specifies the print processing content of the job data 40 based on the history information associated with the requested job data 40. The history information is information indicating a user operation on the advertisement information displayed on the information terminal 90, and is, for example, information indicating whether or not the user has viewed the advertisement information. Further, the job management unit 34 generates print processing information including the specified print processing content. The job management unit 34 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG. The job management unit 34 is an example of a generation means.

The advertisement information management unit 35 is a function of managing the advertisement information transmitted from the advertisement server 50. For example, the advertisement information management unit 35 registers the advertisement data 41 transmitted by the advertisement server 50 in the advertisement information management DB 373 and generates the advertisement information management list 430. The advertisement data 41 is moving image data or still image data indicating the content of the advertisement information. The details of the advertisement information management list 430 will be described later. Further, the advertisement information management unit 35 selects the advertisement data 41 to be displayed on the information terminal 90 from the advertisement information management list 430. The advertisement information management unit 35 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG. The advertisement information management unit 35 is an example of the selection means.

The storage / reading unit 36 is a function of storing various data in the storage unit 37 and reading various data from the storage unit 37. The storage / reading unit 36 and the storage unit 37 are realized by, for example, a program executed by the ROM 302, the storage 304, and the CPU 301 shown in FIG. The storage unit 37 is an example of a storage means. Further, in the storage unit 37, an authentication information management DB 371, a job management DB 372, and an advertisement information management DB 373 are constructed.

○ Authentication information management DB
Here, the authentication information management DB 371 will be described with reference to FIG. The authentication information management DB 371 manages the authentication information management list 410 as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the authentication information management list according to the first embodiment. The authentication information management list 410 manages the authentication information of the user registered in the information providing system 1.

The authentication information management list 410 stores the "user ID" and the "password" in association with each other. The "user ID" is identification information that identifies a user registered in the information providing system 1. The "password" is an example of authentication information corresponding to the user ID. The authentication unit 32 of the information providing device 30 performs user authentication processing using the authentication information transmitted from the image processing device 10 or the information terminal 90 and the authentication information management list 410 shown in FIG.

○ Job management DB
Subsequently, the job management DB 372 will be described with reference to FIG. The job management DB 372 manages the job management list 420 as shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a job management list according to the first embodiment. The job management list 420 stores information of "job ID", "file name", "print setting information" 421, "paid / free flag" 422, and "advertisement ID" 423 in association with each other. The "file name", "print setting information" 421, "paid / free flag" 422, and "advertisement ID" 423 are examples of registration information associated with the "job ID". The "job ID" is print job identification information assigned to each print job for which a registration request has been sent from the information terminal 90. The "file name" is the file name of the job data 40 corresponding to the print job for which the registration request has been sent from the information terminal 90.

The “print setting information” 421 is setting information when the job data 40 is printed, which is transmitted from the information terminal 90 together with the print job registration request. As shown in FIG. 9, the print setting information 421 includes information related to print settings such as "number of copies", "color", "double-sided / single-sided", and "margin". The print setting information 421 is set when the print job is registered by the information terminal 90. The items including the print setting information 421 can be appropriately set and changed according to the function of the image processing device 10 that executes the print process.

The "paid / free flag" 422 is a flag for determining whether to print the advertisement data 41 together with the job data 40 when the job data 40 is printed. The paid / free flag 422 is set to the free flag when it is determined that the advertisement data 41 has been viewed by the information terminal 90. For example, the paid / free flag 422 sets the free flag as if the advertisement data has been viewed when it is determined that the advertisement data 41 provided by the information providing device 30 has been played to the end by the information terminal 90. To do. On the other hand, the paid / free flag 422 is set with the paid flag when it is determined by the information terminal 90 that the advertisement data 41 is not viewed. For example, the paid / free flag 422 sets the paid flag on the assumption that the advertisement data 41 is not viewed when it is determined that the advertisement data 41 provided by the information providing device 30 is skipped in the middle.

The information regarding the paid / free flag 422 is generated by the information terminal 90 that reproduces the advertisement data 41 and is transmitted to the information providing device 30. The paid / free flag 422 may be information indicating whether or not the advertisement data 41 has been determined to have been viewed by the information terminal 90. For example, the paid / free flag 422 may be information indicating whether or not the advertisement data 41 is skipped. The paid / free flag 422 is an example of history information of user operations on the information terminal 90. The paid / free flag 422 is set, for example, when a user operation is performed on the advertisement data 41 displayed on the information terminal 90, that is, when the advertisement data 41 is skipped by the user. On the other hand, the paid / free flag 422 is set as a free flag, for example, when the user operation is not performed on the advertisement data 41 displayed on the information terminal 90, that is, when the advertisement data 41 is not skipped by the user. Will be done.

The "advertisement ID 423" is identification information for identifying the advertisement data 41 provided to the user. In the job data 40 printing process, the job management list 420 stores the advertisement IDs associated with each registered job data 40 in order to provide the user with the advertisement data 41 managed in the advertisement information management list 430 described later. doing.

○ Advertising information management DB
Subsequently, the advertisement information management DB 373 will be described with reference to FIG. The advertisement information management DB 373 manages the advertisement information management list 430 as shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement information management list according to the first embodiment. The advertisement information management list 430 stores information of "advertisement ID", "video name", and "still image name" in association with each other.

The "advertisement ID" is the identification information of the advertisement data 41 assigned to each advertisement data 41 received from the advertisement server 50. The advertisement ID is the same as the advertisement ID 423 included in the job management list 420 shown in FIG. The advertisement ID is assigned by the advertisement information management unit 35. The advertisement ID may be assigned by the advertisement server 50 that transmits the advertisement data.

The "video name" is a file name of the advertisement data 41 as the video data received from the advertisement server 50. The "still image name" is a file name of the advertisement data 41 as the still image data received from the advertisement server 50. As shown in FIG. 10, the advertisement information management list 430 stores moving image data and still image data in association with one advertisement ID. The moving image data and the still image data associated with one advertisement ID are advertisement information having the same or related contents. For example, the video data and the still image data associated with one advertisement ID are advertisement information provided by a common advertiser.

The advertisement information management unit 35 selects the advertisement ID of the advertisement data 41 to be provided to the user from the advertisement data stored in the advertisement information management list 430. Then, when the advertisement data 41 is transmitted to the information terminal 90 used by the user who registers the print job, the advertisement information management unit 35 provides the moving image data associated with the selected advertisement ID. On the other hand, when the advertisement data 41 is transmitted to the image processing device 10 that executes the print processing of the job data 40 corresponding to the registered print job, the advertisement information management unit 35 is still associated with the selected advertisement ID. Send image data. As a result, common advertising information can be provided to the same user who prints the job data 40.

Subsequently, the functional configurations of the image processing device 10, the advertisement server 50, and the information terminal 90 will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the image processing device, the advertisement server, and the information terminal according to the first embodiment. The image processing device 10, the advertisement server 50, and the information terminal 90 can communicate with the information providing device 30 via the network 5.

First, the mechanical configuration of the image processing device 10 will be described. The function realized by the image processing device 10 shown in FIG. 7 is a function including a transmission / reception unit 11, a display control unit 12, a reception unit 13, a print processing unit 14, a storage / reading unit 15, and a storage unit 16.

The transmission / reception unit 11 is a function of exchanging data with an external device via the network 5. The transmission / reception unit 11 receives, for example, the job execution screen 210 transmitted from the information providing device 30. Further, the transmission / reception unit 11 transmits, for example, a print execution request for the job data 40 to the information providing device 30, and receives the job data 40 and the print processing information from the information providing device 30. Details of the job execution screen 210 will be described later. The transmission / reception unit 11 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the communication unit 106 and the CPU 101 shown in FIG. The transmission / reception unit 11 is an example of a request transmission means.

The display control unit 12 is a function of displaying the job execution screen 210 received by the transmission / reception unit 11 on the operation unit 107 shown in FIG. The display control unit 12 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 101 shown in FIG.

The reception unit 13 is a function of receiving user input to the operation unit 107 shown in FIG. The reception unit 13 receives, for example, an input of authentication information from a user of the information providing system 1. Further, the reception unit 13 accepts the input of the print execution request of the print job included in the job execution screen 210. The reception unit 13 is realized by a program or the like executed by the CPU 101 shown in FIG.

The print processing unit 14 is a function of executing the print processing of the job data 40 transmitted from the information providing device 30. The print processing unit 14 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 101 shown in FIG. The print processing unit 14 is an example of the print processing means.

The storage / reading unit 15 is a function of storing various data in the storage unit 16 and reading various data from the storage unit 16. The storage / reading unit 15 and the storage unit 16 are realized by, for example, a program executed by the flash memory 103, the HDD 104, and the CPU 101 shown in FIG. Further, the storage unit 16 stores the job data 40. The job data 40 is data that is transmitted from the information providing device 30 and is a target of printing processing in the image processing device 10.

Next, the functional configuration of the advertisement server 50 will be described. The function realized by the advertisement server 50 shown in FIG. 7 is a function including a transmission / reception unit 51, an advertisement information management unit 52, a storage / reading unit 53, and a storage unit 54.

The transmission / reception unit 51 is a function of exchanging data with an external device via the network 5. The transmission / reception unit 51 transmits, for example, the advertisement data 41 stored in the storage unit 54 to the information providing device 30. The transmission / reception unit 51 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the communication unit 306 and the CPU 301 shown in FIG.

The advertisement information management unit 52 is a function of managing the advertisement information provided by the advertiser. The advertisement information management unit 52 manages, for example, the advertisement data 41 stored in the storage unit 54. The advertisement information management unit 52 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG.

The storage / reading unit 53 is a function of storing various data in the storage unit 54 and reading various data from the storage unit 54. The storage / reading unit 53 and the storage unit 54 are realized by, for example, a program executed by the ROM 302, the storage 304, and the CPU 301 shown in FIG. In addition, the storage unit 54 stores the advertisement data 41. The advertisement data 41 is data provided by the advertiser, and includes video data and still image data.

Next, the functional configuration of the information terminal 90 will be described. The function realized by the information terminal 90 shown in FIG. 7 is a function including a transmission / reception unit 91, a display control unit 92, a reception unit 93, a storage / reading unit 94, and a storage unit 95.

The transmission / reception unit 91 is a function of exchanging data with an external device via the network 5. The transmission / reception unit 91 receives, for example, the job registration screen 910 transmitted from the information providing device 30. Details of the job registration screen 910 will be described later. Further, the transmission / reception unit 91 transmits, for example, a registration request for a print job of the document / image data 96 stored in the storage unit 95 to the information providing device 30. The transmission / reception unit 91 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the communication unit 908 and the CPU 901 shown in FIG.

The display control unit 92 is a function of displaying the job registration screen 910 received by the transmission / reception unit 91 on the display 906a shown in FIG. The display control unit 92 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 101 shown in FIG.

The reception unit 93 is a function of receiving a user's input operation to the input unit 905 shown in FIG. The reception unit 93 receives, for example, an input of authentication information from a user of the information providing system 1. In addition, the reception unit 93 receives input from the user for a registration request for a print job of the document / image data 96 stored in the storage unit 95. The reception unit 93 is realized by a program or the like executed by the CPU 901 shown in FIG.

The storage / reading unit 94 is a function of storing various data in the storage unit 95 and reading various data from the storage unit 95. The storage / reading unit 94 and the storage unit 95 are realized by, for example, a program executed by the ROM 902, the storage 904, and the CPU 901 shown in FIG. In addition, the storage unit 95 stores the document / image data 96. The document / image data 96 is data that is the target of a print job registration request to the information providing device 30, and corresponds to the job data 40.

● Advertising Information Providing Processing Next, the advertising information providing processing in the information providing system according to the first embodiment will be described. First, the print job registration process by the information terminal 90 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of job data registration processing in the information providing system according to the first embodiment.

In step S101, the information terminal 90 transmits the authentication information input by the user to the information providing device 30. Specifically, the transmission / reception unit 91 of the information terminal 90 transmits the authentication information received by the reception unit 93 to the information providing device 30 by the input operation of the user. In step S102, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 outputs the received authentication information to the authentication unit 32. In step S103, when the authentication unit 32 of the information providing device 30 detects the output authentication information, the user authentication process is performed using the authentication information management list 410 shown in FIG.

In step S104, the authentication unit 32 of the information providing device 30 outputs the authentication result to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S105, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the authentication result to the information terminal 90. By performing the above processing, the user authentication of the user who uses the information terminal 90 is completed, and the authenticated user can use the cloud service provided by the information providing device 30.

In step S106, the information terminal 90 receives a request for acquiring the print job registration screen from the user authenticated by the authentication unit 32. Specifically, the reception unit 93 of the information terminal 90 receives a request for acquisition of a print job registration screen by accessing a predetermined URL (Uniform Resource Locator) using a browser by a user input operation. In step S107, when the transmission / reception unit 91 of the information terminal 90 receives the acquisition request of the print job registration screen, the transmission / reception unit 91 transmits the print job registration screen acquisition request to the information providing device 30.

In step S108, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the acquisition request of the print job registration screen, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the acquisition request of the received print job registration screen to the display image processing unit 33. In step S109, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output print job registration screen, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the acquisition request of the advertisement data 41 to the advertisement information management unit 35.

In step S110, when the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output advertisement data 41, the advertisement information management list 430 is read out to the storage unit 37. Specifically, the advertisement information management unit 35 outputs a read request of the advertisement information management list 430 to the storage / reading unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output reading request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads out the advertisement information management list 430 stored in the authentication information management DB 371 included in the storage unit 37.

In step S111, the storage unit 37 of the information providing device 30 outputs the advertisement information management list 430 to the advertisement information management unit 35. Specifically, the storage unit 37 outputs the advertisement information management list 430 corresponding to the read request to the storage / read unit 36. Then, the storage / reading unit 36 outputs the output advertisement information management list 430 to the advertisement information management unit 35.

In step S112, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 selects the advertisement information to be provided to the user from the output advertisement information management list 430. Specifically, the advertisement information management unit 35 selects the advertisement ID of the advertisement information to be provided to the user from the output advertisement information management list 430. Then, the advertisement information management unit 35 reads out the advertisement data 41 corresponding to the video data associated with the selected advertisement ID. The advertisement information to be provided to the user may be selected based on a predetermined criterion set in advance, or may be randomly selected.

In step S113, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 outputs the selected advertisement data 41 to the display image processing unit 33. In step S114, the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 outputs the output advertisement data 41 and the job registration screen 910 to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S115, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the output job registration screen 910 and advertisement data 41 to the information terminal 90.

In step S116, the information terminal 90 reproduces the received advertisement data 41. Specifically, when the display control unit 92 of the information terminal 90 receives the advertisement data 41 which is the moving image data by the transmission / reception unit 91, the display control unit 92 displays the advertisement information providing screen 920 on the display 906a and reproduces the advertisement data 41. Do.

Here, the job registration screen 910 and the advertisement information providing screen 920 displayed on the information terminal 90 will be described. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a job registration screen according to the first embodiment. The job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the display 906a by the display control unit 92 of the information terminal 90. The job registration screen 910 is screen information for registering (uploading) the document / image data 96 to be printed using the image processing device 10 in the information providing device 30 as a print job. The job registration screen 910 is displayed on the information terminal 90 that has transmitted the acquisition request of the print job registration screen by accessing the URL of the job registration screen 910 provided by the information providing device 30, for example, by a user input operation. Will be done.

The job registration screen 910 includes a "reference icon" 911, a "print setting" icon 912, a "registration" icon 913, and the like. The job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12 shows a state in which no print job is registered. The information terminal 90 reads out the data to be registered from the document / image data 96 stored in the information terminal 90 by selecting the "reference" icon 911 by the user who uses the information terminal 90.

Further, the information terminal 90 sets the print setting of the document / image data 96 to be registered by selecting the "print setting" icon 912 by the user who uses the information terminal 90. The print settings can be set to the processing contents that can be executed by the image processing apparatus 10, such as the number of copies to be printed, black-and-white / color, double-sided printing / single-sided printing, presence / absence of margins, and presence / absence of aggregation. The set print setting information is stored as the print setting information 421 included in the job management list 420 shown in FIG.

When the user who uses the information terminal 90 selects the "registration" icon 913, the information terminal 90 transmits a registration request for the read document / image data 96 to the information providing device 30. As a result, the user who uses the information terminal 90 can register the document / image data 96 to be printed in the information providing device 30 as job data 40. The layout of the job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12 is not limited to this.

Subsequently, the provision screen of the advertisement data 41 displayed on the information terminal 90 will be described. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement information providing screen displayed on the information terminal according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13A, the advertisement information providing screen 920a is screen information for reproducing the moving image data which is the advertising data 41 and allowing the user who uses the information terminal 90 to view the moving image data.

The advertisement information providing screen 920a includes a "skip" icon 921. When the "skip" icon 921 is selected during the reproduction of the moving image data by the user who uses the information terminal 90, the information terminal 90 ends the reproduction of the moving image data being reproduced and ends the provision of the advertisement data. On the other hand, the information terminal 90 ends the provision of the advertisement data even when the "skip" icon 921 is not selected and the reproduction of the video data being reproduced is completed to the end. The selection of the "skip" icon 921 is an example of a user operation on the advertisement data 41.

FIG. 13B is a modified example of the advertisement information providing screen 920a shown in FIG. 13A. The advertisement information providing screen 920b shown in FIG. 13B includes reference information 922 that presents the processing performed when the advertisement data 41 is skipped to the user. As shown in FIG. 13B, for example, when the moving image data is skipped, the reference information 922 displays a message that the advertisement data 41 is printed together with the job data 40. The advertisement information providing screen 920b can alert the user who uses the information terminal 90 by specifically displaying the content of the processing performed when the advertisement data 41 is skipped. The layout of the advertisement information providing screen 920 shown in FIG. 13 is not limited to this.

Returning to FIG. 11, the description of the print job registration process by the information terminal 90 will be continued. In step S117, the information terminal 90 transmits a print job registration request to the information providing device 30. The information providing device 30 receives the print job registration request transmitted from the information terminal 90 (an example of the acquisition step). Specifically, when the information terminal 90 finishes reproducing the advertisement data 41 on the advertisement information providing screen 920 shown in FIG. 13, the job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12 is displayed and the print job can be registered. That is, the information terminal 90 cannot register the print job until the reproduction of the advertisement data 41 is completed. This is because if the advertisement data 41 is played back after the registration of the print job is completed, there is a high possibility that the user skips the advertisement data 41 in the middle.

The information terminal 90 reads the document / image data 96 as a print job on the job registration screen 910, and selects the "registration" icon 913 to transmit the print job registration request. The print job registration request is a user for the document / image data 96 read on the job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12, the information set by the "print setting" icon 912, and the advertisement data 41 displayed on the information terminal 90. Includes operation history information, etc.

Here, "the reproduction of the advertisement data 41 ends" means "the case where the advertisement data 41 is reproduced to the end and ends" and "the case where the advertisement data 41 ends because the advertisement data 41 is skipped in the middle". .. In the case of "ending due to the advertisement data 41 being skipped in the middle", it is assumed that the user has not viewed the advertisement data 41, and the information indicating the user operation for the advertisement data 41 is used as history information in the information providing device 30. Send to. The information indicating the user operation on the advertisement data 41 is, for example, information indicating that the advertisement data 41 has been skipped by the user. On the other hand, in the case of "when the advertisement data 41 is played to the end and ends", it is assumed that the user has viewed the advertisement data 41, and the user operation for the advertisement data 41 is added to the history information transmitted to the information providing device 30. Do not include the information shown.

Further, the user who uses the information terminal 90 performs a process of playing the advertisement data 41 to the end or skipping the advertisement data 41 in the middle, and registers the print job unless the viewing of the advertisement data 41 is finished. Can't do. Therefore, the information providing device 30 can grasp the presence / absence of the advertisement data 41 by the user.

In step S118, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the print job registration request, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the print job registration request to the job management unit 34. In step S119, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates the job management list 420 when it detects the output print job registration request. Specifically, the job management unit 34 creates the job management list 420 shown in FIG. 9 by using the information included in the output print job registration request. The job management unit 34 associates the job data 40 included in the print job registration request, the print setting information, and the history information of the user operation with respect to the information terminal 90, and adds them to the job management list 420.

In step S120, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 stores the generated job management list 420 in the storage unit 37. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs the generated job management list 420 to the storage / reading unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output job management list 420, the storage / reading unit 36 stores the job management list 420 stored in the job management DB 372 included in the storage unit 37.

Subsequently, the execution process of the print job in the image processing apparatus 10 will be described. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a print job execution process in the information providing system according to the first embodiment. Note that FIG. 14 will be described assuming that the print job is registered in the information providing device 30 by the process shown in FIG.

In step S201, the image processing device 10 transmits the authentication information input by the user to the information providing device 30. Specifically, the transmission / reception unit 11 of the image processing device 10 transmits the authentication information received by the reception unit 13 to the information providing device 30 by the input operation of the user. In step S202, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 outputs the received authentication information to the authentication unit 32. In step S203, when the authentication unit 32 of the information providing device 30 detects the output authentication information, the user authentication process is performed using the authentication information management list 410 shown in FIG.

In step S204, the authentication unit 32 of the information providing device 30 outputs the authentication result to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S205, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the authentication result to the image processing device 10. By performing the above processing, user authentication of the user who uses the image processing device 10 is completed. Then, the authenticated user can use the cloud service provided by the information providing device 30 by using the image processing device 10.

In step S206, the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquiring the print job execution screen from the user authenticated by the authentication unit 32. Specifically, the reception unit 13 of the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquiring a print job execution screen by a user input operation. In step S207, when the transmission / reception unit 11 of the image processing device 10 receives the acquisition request of the print job execution screen, the transmission / reception unit 11 transmits the print job execution screen acquisition request to the information providing device 30.

In step S208, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the acquisition request of the print job execution screen, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the received print job execution screen acquisition request to the display image processing unit 33. In step S209, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output print job execution screen, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the acquisition request of the job data 40 to the job management unit 34. Specifically, the display image processing unit 33 outputs a job data 40 acquisition request associated with the user who has sent the print job execution screen acquisition request to the job management unit 34.

In step S210, when the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output job data 40, the job management list 420 is read out to the storage unit 37. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs a read request of the job management list 420 to the storage / read unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output read request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads the job management list 420 stored in the job management DB 372 included in the storage unit 37.

In step S211 the storage unit 37 of the information providing device 30 outputs the job management list 420 to the job management unit 34. Specifically, the storage unit 37 outputs the job management list 420 corresponding to the read request to the storage / read unit 36. Then, the storage / reading unit 36 outputs the output job management list 420 to the job management unit 34.

In step S212, when the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 detects the output job management list 420, it outputs the job management list 420 to the display image processing unit 33. In step S213, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the output job management list 420, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the job execution screen 210 to the transmission / reception unit 31. Specifically, the display image processing unit 33 extracts the job data 40 associated with the user who has sent the acquisition request of the job execution screen 210 included in the job management list 420, and generates the job execution screen 210 described later. .. Then, the generated job execution screen 210 is output to the transmission / reception unit 31.

In step S214, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 detects the output job execution screen 210, the transmission / reception unit 31 transmits the job execution screen 210 to the image processing device 10. In step S215, when the image processing apparatus 10 receives the job execution screen 210, the image processing apparatus 10 selects a print job to execute the print process by a user input operation on the displayed job execution screen 210. Specifically, the display control unit 12 of the image processing device 10 causes the operation unit 107 to display the received job execution screen 210. Then, the reception unit 13 of the image processing device 10 selects a print job to execute the print process from the print job list included in the displayed job execution screen 210 by a user input operation.

Here, the job execution screen 210 displayed on the image processing device 10 will be described. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a job execution screen displayed on the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. The job execution screen 210 shown in FIG. 15 is screen information displayed on the operation unit 107 by the display control unit 12 of the image processing device 10. The job execution screen 210 is screen information for allowing the user to select a print job for which printing processing is to be performed using the image processing device 10 from the print jobs registered in the information providing device 30.

The job execution screen 210 shown in FIG. 15 includes a print job list 211 and an “execute” icon 212. The print job list 211 is a list of print jobs registered in the information providing device 30 by a user who has been authenticated by the image processing device 10. In the print job list 211, information of "job ID", "file name", and "registration date" is associated with each registered print job. The user selects one print job from the print job list 211 and selects the "execute" icon 212. Then, the image processing device 10 transmits a download request for the selected print job to the information providing device 30. The print job download request is an example of a print execution request for the job data 40.

As a result, the user of the information providing system 1 can print the document / image data 96 registered using the information terminal 90 using the image processing device 10. The layout of the job execution screen 210 shown in FIG. 15 is not limited to this.

Returning to FIG. 14, the description of the print job execution process in the image processing device 10 will be continued. In step S216, the image processing device 10 transmits a download request for the selected print job to the information providing device 30. In step S217, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 outputs the received download request to the job management unit 34. In step S218, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content of the job data 40 corresponding to the output download request, and generates print processing information including the specified print processing content (generation step). An example).

Here, the details of the print processing information generation processing in the information providing device 30 will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of printing processing information generation processing in the information providing apparatus according to the first embodiment. When the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 detects the download request of the print job in step S301, the job management unit 34 shifts the process to step S302. On the other hand, if the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 has not detected the download request for the print job, the process of step S301 is repeated.

In step S302, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 reads out the registration information associated with the job ID corresponding to the detected download request. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs a read request of the job management list 420 to the storage / read unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output read request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads the job management list 420 stored in the job management DB 372 included in the storage unit 37. The storage / reading unit 36 outputs the read job management list 420 to the job management unit 34.

In step S303, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S304 when the registration information included in the read job management list 420 includes the "paid" flag. On the other hand, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S310 when the "paid" flag of the registration information included in the read job management list 420 is not included. In step S310, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so as to print only the job data 40 corresponding to the download request. In this case, the advertisement data is not printed on the paper on which the job data 40 is printed.

In step S304, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 reads out the advertisement data 41 corresponding to the advertisement ID included in the registration information. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs a read request for the advertisement information management list 430 to the storage / read unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output read request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads the advertisement information management list 430 stored in the advertisement information management DB 373 included in the storage unit 37. The storage / reading unit 36 outputs the read advertisement information management list 430 to the job management unit 34.

In step S305, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S306 when the print setting information included in the registration information is single-sided printing. In step S306, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so that the advertisement data 41 read in step S304 is printed on the back surface of the paper on which the job data 40 corresponding to the download request is printed. To do.

On the other hand, in step S305, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S307 when the print setting information included in the registration information is double-sided printing. In step S307, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S308 when the print setting information included in the registration information has a margin. In step S308, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so that the advertisement data 41 read in step S304 is printed in the margin of the paper on which the job data 40 corresponding to the download request is printed. To do.

On the other hand, in step S307, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S309 when the print setting information included in the registration information has no margin. In step S309, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so that the advertisement data 41 read in step S304 is printed as a watermark on the paper on which the job data 40 corresponding to the download request is printed. To do.

In step S311 the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates print processing information based on the print processing contents specified in the processes of step S306, step S308, step S309 and step S310. For example, in the print processing information generated for the processing in step S306, job data 40 and advertisement data 41 are arranged alternately.

Here, a method of printing the advertisement data 41 by the image processing device 10 will be described. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a printing method of advertising data according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16, the image processing device 10 determines the printing method of the advertisement data 41 based on the print setting information associated with the job data 40.

For example, in the case of step S306 shown in FIG. 16, as shown in FIG. 17A, the advertisement data 41 is printed on the back surface of the printing paper with respect to the job data 40. Further, in the case of step S308 shown in FIG. 16, as shown in FIG. 17B, the advertisement data 41 is printed outside the frame of the printing paper with respect to the job data 40. Further, in the case of step S309 shown in FIG. 16, as shown in FIG. 17C, the advertisement data 41 is printed through the background of the printing paper with respect to the job data 40.

The printing method of the advertisement data 41 shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 is not limited to this, and may be configured such that the advertisement data 41 is inserted into the last page of the job data 40, for example. Further, the printing method of the advertisement data 41 may be configured to be set by default without going through the processes of steps S305 to S309 shown in FIG.

Returning to FIG. 14, the description of the print job execution process in the image processing device 10 will be continued. In step S219, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 outputs the requested job data 40 and the generated print processing information to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S220, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the output job data 40 and the print processing information to the image processing device 10 (an example of the transmission step).

In step S221, when the image processing apparatus 10 receives the job data 40 and the print processing information, the image processing apparatus 10 executes the print processing of the job data 40 based on the print processing information. Specifically, the print processing unit 14 of the image processing device 10 executes the print process of the job data 40. As a result, the information providing system 1 can print the job data 40 requested by the user and provide the advertisement data 41. Further, when the user performs the print processing of the job data 40 registered by using the image processing device 10, the user simply selects the print job to be printed from the print job list 211 included in the job execution screen 210. The job data 40 can be printed.

The print setting information has been described as an example of inserting the advertisement data 41 into the job data 40, but the print setting information is not limited to this. For example, when a paper on which only the advertisement data 41 is printed in advance is set in the image processing device 10, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 requests the paper corresponding to the set printing method of the advertisement data 41. , The print setting information may be generated so as to print the job data 40.

● Effects of the First Embodiment As described above, the information providing system according to the first embodiment uses the image processing device 10 based on the presence or absence of user operation on the advertisement data 41 displayed on the information terminal 90. Generates print processing information indicating the processing content used. Then, the information providing system 1 notifies the image processing device 10 that executes the printing process of the job data 40 of the generated print processing information. Therefore, when the information providing system 1 provides the advertisement data 41 to the user when printing the job data 40, the content of the advertisement information is effective for the user without impairing the usability of the user. Can be communicated.

● Second embodiment ●
Next, the information providing system according to the second embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the second embodiment stores the advertisement information management list 430a including the number of times of receiving and the number of times of viewing of the advertisement data 41 in the advertisement information management DB 373 of the information providing device 30. As a result, the information providing system according to the second embodiment can preferentially provide the advertisement data 41 that has not yet been provided to the user and the advertisement data 41 that is determined not to be viewed by the user. The value provided can be increased. The same configurations and the same functions as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement information management list according to the second embodiment. The advertisement information management list 430a shown in FIG. 18 includes information of “reception count” 431 and “view count” 432 in addition to the information included in the advertisement information management list 430 shown in FIG.

The “reception count” 431 is information indicating the number of times the corresponding advertisement data 41 has been received from the advertisement server 50. For example, when the advertisement information management unit 35 receives the advertisement data 41 from the advertisement server 50, the advertisement information management unit 35 adds 1 to the number of receptions associated with the same advertisement ID as the received advertisement data 41. On the other hand, the number of times the advertisement data 41 that has never been received from the advertisement server 50 is received is 0.

The “view count” 432 is information indicating the number of times that the advertisement data 41 transmitted from the information providing device 30 is determined to have been viewed by the information terminal 90. For example, when the paid / free flag 422 transmitted from the information terminal 90 is free, the advertisement information management unit 35 assumes that the advertisement data 41 has been viewed, and sets the number of views associated with the advertisement ID of the advertisement data 41 to 1. Is added. On the other hand, the advertisement information management unit 35 adds the number of views, assuming that the advertisement data 41 is not viewed when, for example, the paid / free flag 422 transmitted from the information terminal 90 is charged. Not performed.

Here, the process of acquiring the advertisement data 41 from the advertisement server 50 in the information providing device 30 will be described. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of an advertisement data acquisition process in the information providing device according to the second embodiment.

In step S401, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S402 when there is an advertisement ID in the advertisement information management list 430a for which the number of receptions 431 is not counted by 1 or more. In step S402, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 sends a request to the advertisement server 50 for transmission of advertisement data associated with the advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more. Send to.

On the other hand, in step S401, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S403 when there is no advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more. Let me.

In step S403, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 has an advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more, and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. If present, the process proceeds to step S404. In step S404, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 assigns the advertisement ID that the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. The transmission request of the associated advertisement data 41 is transmitted to the advertisement server 50.

On the other hand, in step S403, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 does not count the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a by 1 or more, and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. If the advertisement ID does not exist, the process proceeds to step S405.

In step S405, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 transmits a transmission request of the advertisement data 41 associated with the advertisement ID having the least number of views 432 included in the advertisement information management list 430a to the advertisement server 50. To do. In step S405, when the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 has the same number of advertisement data 41 associated with the advertisement ID having the smallest number of views 432 included in the advertisement information management list 430a, the number of views 432 is the largest. A transmission request may be randomly transmitted from the advertisement data 41 associated with a small number of advertisement IDs.

In step S406, the advertisement server 50 receives the transmission request of the advertisement data 41 transmitted from the information providing device 30. Specifically, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the advertisement server 50 receives the transmission request of the advertisement data 41 transmitted from the information providing device 30 by the processing of step S402, step S404 or step S405.

In step S407, the requested advertisement data 41 of the advertisement server 50 is read from the storage unit 54. Specifically, the advertisement information management unit 52 of the advertisement server 50 outputs a read request for the advertisement data 41 to the storage / reading unit 53. Then, when the storage / reading unit 53 detects the output reading request, the storage / reading unit 53 reads the advertisement data 41 stored in the storage unit 54. The storage / reading unit 53 outputs the read advertisement data 41 to the advertisement information management unit 52.

In step S408, the advertisement server 50 transmits the read advertisement data 41 to the information providing device 30. Specifically, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the advertisement server 50 transmits the advertisement data 41 output by the advertisement information management unit 52 to the information providing device 30.

In step S409, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 stores the advertisement data 41 received from the advertisement server 50 in the advertisement information management DB 373 configured by the storage unit 37. Specifically, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 outputs the advertisement data 41 received from the advertisement server 50 to the advertisement information management unit 35. Then, the advertisement information management unit 35 generates the advertisement information management list 430 for the output advertisement data 41. The advertisement information management unit 35 stores the generated advertisement information management list 430 in the advertisement information management DB 373 configured by the storage unit 37.

As a result, the information providing device 30 can acquire the advertisement data 41 from the advertisement server 50. Further, since the information providing device 30 can select the advertisement data 41 acquired from the advertisement server 50 based on the number of times the advertisement data 41 is received and the number of times of viewing, the advertisement data 41 suitable for the user of the information providing system 1 Can be obtained. The advertisement data acquisition process shown in FIG. 19 is an example, and is not limited to this. For example, the timing of acquiring the advertisement information may be transmitted from the advertisement server 50 at predetermined fixed intervals.

Subsequently, the selection process of the advertisement data 41 to be transmitted to the information terminal 90 in the information providing device 30 will be described. FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the advertisement data selection process in the information providing device according to the second embodiment. Note that FIG. 20 will be described assuming that the advertisement data 41 is stored in advance in the advertisement information management DB 373 by the processing or the like shown in FIG.

In step S501, when the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the advertisement data 41, the process shifts to step S502. On the other hand, if the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 does not detect the acquisition request of the advertisement data 41, the process of step S501 is repeated.

In step S502, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 reads out the advertisement information management list 430a stored in the advertisement information management DB 373. Specifically, the advertisement information management unit 35 outputs a read request of the advertisement information management list 430a to the storage / reading unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output read request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads the advertisement information management list 430a stored in the advertisement information management DB 373 included in the storage unit 37. The storage / reading unit 36 outputs the read advertisement information management list 430a to the advertisement information management unit 35.

In step S503, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S504 when there is an advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the read advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more. .. In step S504, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 selects the advertisement data associated with the advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more.

On the other hand, in step S503, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S505 when there is no advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more. Let me.

In step S505, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 has an advertisement ID in which the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more, and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. If present, the process proceeds to step S506. In step S506, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 assigns the advertisement ID that the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a is not counted by 1 or more and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. Select the associated advertisement data 41.

On the other hand, in step S505, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 does not count the number of receptions 431 included in the advertisement information management list 430a by 1 or more, and the number of views 432 is not counted by 1 or more. If the advertisement ID does not exist, the process proceeds to step S507.

In step S507, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 selects the advertisement data 41 associated with the advertisement ID having the least number of views 432 included in the advertisement information management list 430a. In step S507, when the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 has the same number of advertisement data 41 associated with the advertisement ID having the smallest number of views 432 included in the advertisement information management list 430a, the number of views 432 is the largest. You may randomly select from the advertisement data 41 associated with a small number of advertisement IDs.

As a result, the information providing device 30 can select the advertisement data 41 to be provided to the user who uses the information terminal 90 from the advertisement information management list 430. Further, the information providing device 30 is suitable for the user of the information providing system 1 because the advertisement data 41 to be provided to the user who uses the information terminal 90 can be selected based on the number of times the advertisement data 41 is received and the number of times of viewing. Advertising information can be provided.

● Effect of the Second Embodiment As described above, in the information providing system according to the second embodiment, the information providing device 30 provides the advertisement to the user based on the number of times the advertisement data 41 is received and the number of times the advertisement data 41 is viewed. Select data 41. Therefore, the information providing system according to the second embodiment can preferentially provide the advertising information that has not yet been provided to the user and the advertising information that the user has not viewed, thus increasing the value of providing the advertising information to the user. Can be done.

● Modification 1 of the second embodiment ●
Next, the information providing system according to the first modification of the second embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the first modification of the second embodiment includes information on the number of skips of the advertisement data 41 instead of the information of the number of views 432 included in the advertisement information management list 430a according to the second embodiment. .. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement information management list according to the first modification of the second embodiment. In the advertisement information management list 430b shown in FIG. 21, the "skip count" 433 of the advertisement data 41 is stored in association with each advertisement data 41.

The "skip count" 433 is information indicating the number of times the advertisement data 41 transmitted from the information providing device 30 is skipped by the user who uses the information terminal 90. For example, when the advertisement data 41 is skipped by the user who uses the information terminal 90, the advertisement information management unit 35 adds 1 to the number of skips associated with the advertisement ID of the advertisement data 41.

The advertisement information management unit 35 may select the advertisement data 41 having a large number of skips in the selection process of the advertisement data 41 shown in FIG. In this case, since it is highly possible that the user has not yet viewed the advertisement data 41 having a large number of skips, it is possible to provide new advertisement information to the user. On the other hand, the advertisement information management unit 35 may select the advertisement data 41 having a small number of skips in the selection process of the advertisement data 41 shown in FIG. In this case, the advertisement data 41 having a large number of skips is likely to be advertisement data that does not suit the user's taste or taste. Therefore, the advertisement information management unit 35 can provide the advertisement information that suits the user's taste and taste by selecting the advertisement data 41 with a small number of skips.

● Modification 2 of the second embodiment ●
Next, the information providing system according to the second modification of the second embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the second modification of the second embodiment includes the information of the user ID in addition to the information included in the advertisement information management list 430a according to the second embodiment. FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement information management list according to the second modification of the second embodiment. The advertisement information management list 430c shown in FIG. 22 stores the reception number 431 and the viewing number 432 associated with the advertisement data for each “user ID” 434.

The "user ID" 434 is identification information that identifies a user registered in the information providing system 1. The user ID 434 is the same as the user ID included in the authentication information management list 410 shown in FIG. The advertisement information management unit 35 uses the advertisement information management list 430c shown in FIG. 22 to perform selection processing of the advertisement data 41 shown in FIG. 20. By managing the number of receptions 431 and the number of views 432 of the advertisement data 41 for each user in this way, it is possible to provide advertisement information more suitable for the user of the information providing system 1.

● Third embodiment ●
Next, a third embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the third embodiment is a PIN (Personal Identification) for identifying the registered job data 40 when the document / image data 96 is registered from the information terminal 90 to the information providing device 30. Number) Code is issued. Then, when the print process of the registered job data 40 is executed by using the image processing device 10, the user can perform the print process of the job data 40 by inputting the issued PIN code.

The information providing system according to the third embodiment is, for example, a system used when the image processing device 10 is used as a shared machine in which user authentication is not performed. The same configurations and the same functions as those of the first embodiment and the second embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

● Advertising Information Providing Process FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a job registration process in the information providing system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 23 will be described assuming that the user authentication process of the user who uses the information terminal 90 is not performed unlike the process shown in FIG. Since the processes of steps S601 to S610 are the same as the processes of steps S106 to S115 shown in FIG. 11, the description thereof will be omitted.

In step S611, the information terminal 90 transmits a print job registration request to the information providing device 30. Specifically, the information terminal 90 displays the job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12, and can register a print job. Then, the information terminal 90 registers the document / image data 96 on the job registration screen 910 and selects the “registration” icon 913 to transmit the print job registration request. The print job registration request includes job data 40 attached on the job registration screen 910 shown in FIG. 12, print setting information, and history information of user operations on the information terminal 90.

In step S612, the information terminal 90 reproduces the received advertisement data 41. Specifically, when the display control unit 92 of the information terminal 90 receives the advertisement data 41 which is the moving image data by the transmission / reception unit 91, the display control unit 92 displays the advertisement information providing screen 920 on the display 906a and reproduces the advertisement data 41. Do.

Here, unlike the process shown in FIG. 11, the print job registration request process in step S612 and the advertisement data reproduction process in step S612 are performed in parallel. In the case of the information providing system according to the third embodiment, the PIN code is issued when the print job is registered, and the user cannot execute the registered print job without confirming the PIN code. .. Therefore, the possibility that the advertisement data 41 is skipped in the middle is reduced even if the print job cannot be registered after the reproduction of the advertisement data 41 is completed. As a result, the information providing system according to the third embodiment can simultaneously reproduce the advertisement data 41 and register the print job. The job registration screen 910 and the advertisement information provision screen 920 may be displayed on the display 906a on a single screen.

In step S613, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the print job registration request, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the print job registration request to the job management unit 34. In step S614, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates a PIN code for the print job associated with the output registration request. Further, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates a job management list 420 including the generated PIN code. The job management list 420 generated by the job management unit 34 is the same as that generated in step 119 of FIG. 11, except that the PIN code is stored for each job ID.

In step S615, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 stores the generated job management list 420 in the storage unit 37. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs the generated job management list 420 to the storage / reading unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output job management list 420, the storage / reading unit 36 stores the job management list 420 stored in the job management DB 372 included in the storage unit 37. In step S616, the job management unit 34 outputs the generated PIN code to the display image processing unit 33. The order of processing in steps S615 and S616 may be before or after, or may be performed in parallel.

In step S617, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the output PIN code, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the PIN code notification screen 930 to the transmitting / receiving unit 31. In step S618, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the PIN code notification screen 930 to the information terminal 90.

In step S619, the information terminal 90 displays the received PIN code notification screen 930. Specifically, the display control unit 92 of the information terminal 90 causes the display 906a to display the PIN code notification screen 930 when the PIN code notification screen 930 is received by the transmission / reception unit 91.

Here, the PIN code notification screen 930 displayed on the information terminal 90 will be described. FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a PIN code notification screen according to the third embodiment. On the PIN code notification screen 930 shown in FIG. 24, a PIN code associated with the registered print job is displayed together with a message indicating that the registration of the print job is completed.

In the example shown in FIG. 24, the PIN code is "123456". The user saves the PIN code displayed on the PIN code notification screen 930 by a method such as storing it in the information terminal 90 or writing it down separately. As a result, the user can use the displayed PIN code when performing the print processing of the job data 40 corresponding to the print job registered by using the image processing device 10.

Subsequently, the execution processing of the print job in the image processing apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 25 is a sequence diagram showing an example of job execution processing in the information providing system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 25 will be described assuming that the user authentication process of the user who uses the image processing device 10 is not performed as in the process shown in FIG. 23. Further, as shown in FIG. 23, FIG. 25 will be described assuming that the PIN code is issued to the job data 40 registered in the information providing device 30.

In step S701, the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquisition of the print job execution screen from the user. Specifically, the reception unit 13 of the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquiring a print job execution screen by a user input operation. In step S702, when the transmission / reception unit 11 of the image processing device 10 receives the acquisition request of the print job execution screen, the transmission / reception unit 11 transmits the print job execution screen acquisition request to the information providing device 30.

In step S703, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the acquisition request of the execution screen of the print job, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the acquisition request of the execution screen of the received print job to the display image processing unit 33. In step S704, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output print job execution screen, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the acquisition request of the job data 40 to the job management unit 34.

In step S705, when the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output job data 40, the job management list 420 is read out to the storage unit 37. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs a read request of the job management list 420 to the storage / read unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output read request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads the job management list 420 stored in the job management DB 372 included in the storage unit 37.

In step S706, the storage unit 37 of the information providing device 30 outputs the job management list 420 to the job management unit 34. Specifically, the storage unit 37 outputs the job management list 420 corresponding to the read request to the storage / read unit 36. Then, the storage / reading unit 36 outputs the output job management list 420 to the job management unit 34.

In step S707, when the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 detects the output job management list 420, it outputs the job management list 420 to the display image processing unit 33. In step S708, since the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 includes the PIN code information in the job management list 420, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the job execution screen 210a, which will be described later, to the transmission / reception unit 31.

In step S709, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 detects the output job execution screen 210a, the transmission / reception unit 31 transmits the job execution screen 210a to the image processing device 10. In step S710, when the image processing device 10 receives the job execution screen 210a, the image processing device 10 accepts the input of the PIN code by the user's input operation on the displayed job execution screen 210a. Specifically, the display control unit 12 of the image processing device 10 causes the operation unit 107 to display the received job execution screen 210a. Then, the reception unit 13 of the image processing device 10 accepts the input of the PIN code to the displayed job execution screen 210a by the input operation of the user.

Here, the PIN code input screen displayed on the image processing device 10 will be described. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a job execution screen displayed on the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment. On the job execution screen 210a shown in FIG. 26, an input space for accepting the input of the PIN code and the "execution" icon 212 are displayed. The user inputs the PIN code acquired at the time of registering the print job into the input space 213, and selects the "execute" icon 214 to request the download of the print job corresponding to the input PIN code in the information providing device 30. Can be sent to. The layout of the job execution screen 210a shown in FIG. 26 is not limited to this.

Returning to FIG. 25, the description of the print job execution process in the image processing device 10 will be continued. In step S711, the image processing device 10 transmits the input PIN code to the information providing device 30. In step S712, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 outputs the received PIN code to the job management unit 34.

In step S713, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates print processing information for performing printing processing on the job data 40 corresponding to the output PI code. Specifically, when the job management unit 34 contains the job data 40 corresponding to the PIN code received from the image processing device 10 in the job management list 420, the job management unit 34 prints the job data 40 corresponding to the PIN code. Identify the content. Then, the job management unit 34 generates print processing information including the specified print processing content. The process of specifying the print process content and the process of generating the print process information are the same as the process shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when the job data 40 corresponding to the PIN code received from the image processing device 10 does not exist in the job management list 420, the job management unit 34 specifies the print processing content (generates the print processing information). ) Does not exist, so the process ends. In this case, the information providing device 30 may send a message to the image processing device 10 that the input PIN code is incorrect.

In step S714, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 outputs the job data 40 corresponding to the input PIN code and the generated print processing information to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S715, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the output job data 40 and the print processing information to the image processing device 10. In step S716, when the image processing apparatus 10 receives the job data 40 and the print processing information, the image processing apparatus 10 executes the print processing of the job data 40 based on the print processing information. Specifically, the print processing unit 14 of the image processing device 10 executes the print process of the job data 40.

As a result, the information providing system 1 can print the job data 40 corresponding to the PIN code input by the user and provide the advertisement data 41. The PIN code is an example of information for identifying the job data 40 registered in the information providing device 30, and may be the job ID or the like shown in FIG. Further, it is preferable that the PIN code is a random number rather than a simple value as shown in FIG. 24 so as not to be guessed by another user.

● Effects of the Third Embodiment As described above, the information providing system according to the third embodiment is issued when the document / image data 96 is registered from the information terminal 90 to the information providing device 30. By inputting the PIN code to the image processing device 10 that executes the printing process of the registered job data 40, the printing process of the job data 40 can be performed. Therefore, in the information providing system according to the third embodiment, the PIN code is associated with each registered job data 40 even when the printing process is executed by using the image processing device 10 in which the user authentication is not performed. Therefore, it is possible to effectively convey the content of the advertisement information to the user without impairing the usability of the user.

● Fourth embodiment ●
● System Configuration Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the fourth embodiment acquires billing amount information indicating the billing amount by the user of the information providing system 1a in addition to the information providing system 1 according to the first to third embodiments. A billing server 70 that manages the billing amount is provided. Even if the advertisement data 41 is skipped when the job data 40 is registered, the information providing system 1a does not allow the advertisement data 41 to be printed by paying the usage fee associated with the printing process of the job data 40. Can be done. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the information providing system according to the fourth embodiment. The same configurations and the same functions as those of the first to third embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The billing server 70 is a server device that stores and manages the billing status by the user of the information providing system 1a. The billing server 70 is connected to the network 5 and can communicate with each of the image processing device 10, the information providing device 30, the advertising server 50, and the information terminal 90. The billing server 70 stores and manages billing amount information indicating information on the billing amount for each user. Further, the billing server 70 transmits the managed billing amount information in response to a request from the information providing device 30. The billing server 70 is an example of billing means.

The billing server 70 may function as software executed by the image processing device 10 or the information providing device 30. Further, the billing server 70 may be a terminal device set in association with the image processing device 10.

● Functional configuration FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the information providing system according to the fourth embodiment. The function realized by the billing server 70 shown in FIG. 28 is a function including a transmission / reception unit 71, a billing amount information management unit 72, a storage / reading unit 73, and a storage unit 74. The functions realized by the information providing device 30, the image processing device 10, the advertising server 50, and the information terminal 90 according to the fourth embodiment are the same as those of the first to third embodiments. The explanation is omitted.

The transmission / reception unit 71 is a function of exchanging data with an external device via the network 5. The transmission / reception unit 71 transmits, for example, the billing amount information 80 stored in the storage unit 74 to the information providing device 30. The transmission / reception unit 71 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the communication unit 306 and the CPU 301 shown in FIG.

The billing amount information management unit 72 is a function of managing the billing status by the user of the information providing system 1a. The billing amount information management unit 72 manages, for example, the billing amount information 80 stored in the storage unit 54. The billing amount information management unit 72 is realized by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 301 shown in FIG.

The storage / reading unit 73 is a function of storing various data in the storage unit 74 and reading various data from the storage unit 74. The storage / reading unit 73 and the storage unit 74 are realized by, for example, a program executed by the ROM 302, the storage 304, and the CPU 301 shown in FIG. In addition, the storage unit 74 stores the billing amount information 80. The billing amount information 80 is information indicating the billing status for each user, such as the billing amount charged by the user of the information providing system 1.

● Advertising Information Providing Process FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing an example of advertising information providing processing in the information providing device according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 29 is a modification of the print setting information generation process shown in FIG. 16, and the processes of steps S301 and S302 shown in FIG. 16 will be described as having already been performed.

In step S801, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S802 when the registration information included in the job management list 420 includes the "paid" flag. On the other hand, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S812 when the "paid" flag of the registration information included in the job management list 420 is not included. In step S812, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so as to print only the job data 40 corresponding to the download request from the information terminal 90. In this case, the advertisement data 41 is not printed on the paper on which the job data 40 is printed.

In step S802, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits a request for acquisition of the billing amount information 80 to the billing server 70. Specifically, the job management unit of the information providing device 30 indicates the billing amount information corresponding to the user of the information terminal 90 who sent the download request when the registration information included in the job management list 420 includes the "paid" flag. The acquisition request of 80 is output to the transmission / reception unit 31. Then, the transmission / reception unit 31 transmits a request for acquisition of the charge amount information 80 corresponding to the user of the information terminal 90 who has transmitted the download request to the charge server 70.

In step S803, the transmission / reception unit 71 of the billing server 70 receives the acquisition request of the billing amount information 80 from the information providing device 30. In step S804, the charge amount information management unit 72 of the charge server 70 reads the requested charge amount information 80 to the storage unit 74. Specifically, the charge amount information management unit 72 outputs a read request for the charge amount information 80 corresponding to the requested user to the storage / read unit 73. Then, when the storage / reading unit 73 detects the output reading request, the storage / reading unit 73 reads the billing amount information 80 stored in the storage unit 74. The storage / reading unit 73 outputs the read billing amount information 80 to the billing amount information management unit 72.

In step S805, the transmission / reception unit 71 of the billing server 70 transmits the read billing amount information 80 to the information providing device 30. In step S806, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 acquires the billing amount information 80 transmitted from the billing server 70. In step S807, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S808 when the balance of the billing amount included in the billing amount information 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. On the other hand, when the balance of the billing amount included in the billing amount information 80 is less than the predetermined threshold value, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 shifts the process to step S811.

Here, the predetermined threshold value is a fee collected from the user when the job data 40 is printed by using the image processing device 10 in the information providing system 1a. For example, the predetermined threshold value may be a fee collected from the user when printing one sheet of job data 40 using the image processing device 10. That is, the process of step S807 determines whether the usage fee can be collected from the user who intends to print the job data 40 based on the billing amount information 80.

Further, the predetermined threshold value may be information on the number of printable sheets set in advance corresponding to the balance of the user's billing amount. In this case, in step S807, when the number of print processes to be executed is smaller than the number of printable sheets included in the charge amount information 80, the process is shifted to step S809, and the number of print processes to be executed is the charge amount information 80. If the number of printable sheets is larger than the number of printable sheets included in, the process proceeds to step S811. The predetermined threshold value is not limited to the above example, and can be appropriately set and changed by the administrator of the information providing system 1a or the like.

In step S808, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 pays the usage fee to the billing server 70 because the balance of the billing amount included in the billing amount information 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. Specifically, the job management unit 34 outputs information regarding the usage fee associated with the printing process to the transmission / reception unit 31. The transmission / reception unit 31 transmits the output information regarding the usage fee to the billing server 70. The information regarding the usage fee may be information on the number of copies to be printed, or may be information obtained by converting the printing process to be executed into a fee.

In step S809, the charge amount information management unit 72 of the charge server 70 reduces the charge amount corresponding to the received usage fee from the charge amount information 80 of the corresponding user stored in the storage unit 74. The billing amount information management unit 72 stores the billing amount information 80 in which the billing amount is reduced in the storage unit 74 again.

In step S810, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content so as to print only the job data 40 corresponding to the download request from the information terminal 90. In this case, since the user pays the usage fee associated with the printing process, the advertisement data is not printed on the paper on which the job data 40 is printed.

In step S811, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 prints the job data 40 corresponding to the download request for the advertisement data 41 because the balance of the billing amount included in the billing amount information 80 is less than a predetermined threshold value. Specify the print processing content so that it prints on paper. The printing method of the advertisement data 41 may be determined by the processing of steps S305 to S309 shown in FIG.

In step S813, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 generates print processing information based on the print processing contents specified in the processes of steps S810, S811 and S812. Then, the information providing device 30 transmits the generated print setting information to the image processing device 10 together with the corresponding job data 40.

● Effect of Fourth Embodiment As described above, the information providing system according to the fourth embodiment includes a billing server 70 that manages the billing amount by the user of the information providing system 1a, and is managed by the billing server 70. Using the billing amount information 80, it is determined whether or not to print the advertisement information together with the registered job data 40. Therefore, even if the advertisement data is skipped when the job data 40 is registered, the information providing system 1a does not print the advertisement data by paying the usage fee associated with the printing process of the job data 40. Therefore, it is possible to improve the usability of the user.

● Fifth embodiment ●
Subsequently, a fifth embodiment will be described. The information providing system according to the fifth embodiment is not only used for printing the document / image data 96 stored in the information terminal 90, but also by the image processing device 10 like the copy function and the scanner function of the image processing device 10. This system is also applicable when printing read document / image data. In the information providing system according to the fifth embodiment, the function realized by the information providing device 30 may be a function as software executed by the image processing device 10.

● Advertising Information Providing Process FIG. 30 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a job execution process in the information providing system according to the fifth embodiment. The job execution process shown in FIG. 30 is different from the job execution process shown in FIG. 14, and the user's request for registering the print job also serves as the print job execution request. Since the user authentication process of steps S901 to S905 is the same as the process of S201 to step S205 shown in FIG. 14, the description thereof will be omitted.

In step S906, the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquiring a print job registration screen from a user authenticated by the authentication unit 32. Specifically, the reception unit 13 of the image processing device 10 receives a request for acquiring a print job registration screen. In step S907, when the transmission / reception unit 11 of the image processing device 10 receives the acquisition request of the print job registration screen, the transmission / reception unit 11 transmits the acquisition request of the print job registration screen to the information providing device 30.

In step S908, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the acquisition request of the print job registration screen, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the acquisition request of the received print job registration screen to the display image processing unit 33. In step S909, when the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output print job registration screen, the display image processing unit 33 outputs the advertisement data acquisition request to the advertisement information management unit 35.

In step S910, when the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 detects the acquisition request of the output advertisement data, the advertisement information management list 430 is read out to the storage unit 37. Specifically, the advertisement information management unit 35 outputs a read request of the advertisement information management list 430 to the storage / reading unit 36. Then, when the storage / reading unit 36 detects the output reading request, the storage / reading unit 36 reads out the advertisement information management list 430 stored in the authentication information management DB 371 included in the storage unit 37.

In step S911, the storage unit 37 of the information providing device 30 outputs the advertisement information management list 430 to the advertisement information management unit 35. Specifically, the storage unit 37 outputs the advertisement information management list 430 corresponding to the read request to the storage / read unit 36. Then, the storage / reading unit 36 outputs the output advertisement information management list 430 to the advertisement information management unit 35.

In step S912, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 selects advertisement data from the output advertisement information management list 430. In step S913, the advertisement information management unit 35 of the information providing device 30 outputs the selected advertisement data 41 to the display image processing unit 33. In step S914, the display image processing unit 33 of the information providing device 30 outputs the output advertisement data 41 and the job registration screen 910 to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S915, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the output job registration screen 910 and advertisement data 41 to the image processing device 10.

In step S916, the image processing device 10 reproduces the received advertisement data 41. Specifically, the display control unit 12 of the image processing device 10 reproduces the advertisement data 41, which is moving image data, when the advertisement data is received by the transmission / reception unit 11. The reproduction process of the advertisement data 41 in step S916 is the same as the process of step S116 shown in FIG.

In step S917, the image processing device 10 transmits a print job registration request to the information providing device 30. Here, in step S917, the registration of the job data 40 is not selected from the stored document / image data 96 as in the process of step S117 shown in FIG. 11, but is a copy of the image processing device 10. The job data 40 is registered by reading the document / image data using the function or the scan function. The other processes for transmitting the print job registration request are the same as the processes in step S117 shown in FIG.

In step S918, when the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 receives the print job registration request, the transmission / reception unit 31 outputs the print job registration request to the job management unit 34. In step S919, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 specifies the print processing content for the job data 40 corresponding to the output registration request. Then, the job management unit 34 generates print processing information including the specified print processing content. The process of specifying the print process content and the process of generating the print process information in step S919 are the same as the process of step S218 shown in FIG.

In step S920, the job management unit 34 of the information providing device 30 outputs the job data 40 corresponding to the registration request and the generated print processing information to the transmission / reception unit 31. In step S921, the transmission / reception unit 31 of the information providing device 30 transmits the output job data 40 and the print processing information to the image processing device 10.

In step S922, when the print processing unit 14 of the image processing apparatus 10 receives the job data 40 and the print processing information, the print processing unit 14 of the image processing device 10 executes the printing process of the job data 40 based on the print processing information. As a result, the information providing system 1 can print the job data 40 requested by the user and provide the advertisement data 41.

● Effects of the Fifth Embodiment As described above, the information providing system according to the fifth embodiment includes not only the printing process of the document / image data 96 stored in the information terminal 90 but also the image processing device 10. Even when printing the document / image data read by the image processing device 10 such as the copy function and the scanner function, the content of the advertisement information can be effectively displayed to the user without impairing the usability of the user. I can tell.

● Summary ●
As described above, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention provides information providing advertisement data 41 (an example of advertising information) to an information terminal 90 (an example of a display device) that can be operated by a user. The system 1 acquires job data 40 (an example of print target information) to be printed by the image processing apparatus 10 and history information of user operations on the information terminal 90 that displays the advertisement data 41. Then, when the information providing system 1 receives the print execution request of the acquired job data 40, the information providing system 1 generates print processing information indicating the processing contents for the job data 40 based on the acquired history information, and the generated print. The processing information is transmitted to the image processing device 10. Therefore, the information providing system 1 can effectively convey the content of the advertisement information to the user without impairing the usability of the user.

Further, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention prints the print processing information so as to print only the job data 40 associated with the history information when the history information does not include the information indicating the user operation for the advertisement data 41. When the history information is generated and includes information indicating a user operation on the advertisement data 41, the print processing information is generated so as to print the advertisement data 41 together with the job data 40. Therefore, since the information providing system 1 determines whether or not to print the advertisement information together with the job data 40 depending on whether or not the user has viewed the advertisement information, the information providing the advertisement information to the user without impairing the usability of the user. Can convey the content effectively.

Further, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention selects the advertisement data 41 having a small number of views by the user using the information terminal 90, and before acquiring the selected advertisement data 41 as the job data 40. It is transmitted to the information terminal 90. Therefore, the information providing system 1 can preferentially provide the advertisement data that has not yet been provided to the user and the advertisement data that the user has not viewed, so that the provision value of the advertisement information can be increased.

Further, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention authenticates the user in response to an authentication request including the authentication information by the user, and generates print processing information for the job data 40 associated with the authenticated user. .. Therefore, since the information providing system 1 specifies the print processing content for each authenticated user, the security of the information providing system 1 can be improved and the value of providing the advertisement information to the user can be increased.

Further, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention stores the PIN code in association with the acquired job data 40, and when the PIN code input by the user matches the stored PIN code, the PIN code is stored. Generates print processing information for the job data 40 associated with the code. Therefore, even when the information providing system 1 executes the printing process using the image processing device 10 in which the user authentication is not performed, the PIN code is associated with each registered job data 40, so that the user's usability is convenient. It is possible to effectively convey the content of the advertising information to the user without impairing it.

Further, the information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention acquires the billing amount information 80 indicating the billing amount according to the printing process of the job data 40, and also stores the billing amount information 80 for each user. (Example of billing means), when the history information includes information indicating a user operation for the advertisement data 41 and the billing amount indicated by the billing amount information 80 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the advertisement data 41 is printed together with the job data 40. Print processing information is generated so as to be performed. Therefore, even if the advertisement data 41 is skipped when the job data 40 is registered, the information providing system 1a prints the advertisement data 41 by paying the usage fee associated with the printing process of the job data 40. Since it can be omitted, the usability of the user can be improved.

Further, the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is an information providing method executed by the information providing system 1 that provides the advertisement data 41 to the information terminal 90 that can be operated by the user, and is the information providing method executed by the image processing apparatus 10. When the acquisition step of acquiring the job data 40 to be printed in the above and the history information of the user operation for the information terminal 90 displaying the advertisement data 41 and the print execution request of the acquired job data 40 are received, the acquisition is performed. Based on the generated history information, a generation step of generating print processing information indicating the processing content for the job data 40 and a transmission step of transmitting the generated print processing information to the image processing device 10 are executed. Therefore, the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention can effectively convey the content of the advertisement information to the user without impairing the usability of the user.

The functions of each embodiment can be realized by a computer-executable program described in a legacy programming language such as an assembler, C, C ++, C #, or Java (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language, or the like, and can be realized by a computer-executable program such as ROM or EPROM. (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), Flash Memory, Flexible Disc, CD (Compact Disc) -ROM, CD-RW (Re-Writable), DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM , DVD-RW, Blu-ray disc, SD card, MO (Magneto-Optical disc) and other devices can be stored in a readable recording medium or distributed via a telecommunications line.

In addition, some or all of the functions of each embodiment can be implemented on a programmable device (PD) such as FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or implemented as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Circuit configuration data (bit stream data) to be downloaded to PD to realize the functions of each embodiment on PD, HDL (Hardware Description Language) to generate circuit configuration data, VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated) Circuits Hardware Description Language), Verilog-HDL, etc. can be distributed as data described by a recording medium.

Although the information providing system, the image processing apparatus, the information providing method and the program according to one embodiment of the present invention have been described so far, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and other embodiments and additions are made. , Changes, deletions, etc. can be made within the range that can be conceived by those skilled in the art, and are included in the scope of the present invention as long as the actions and effects of the present invention are exhibited in any of the embodiments.

1 Information provision system 10 Image processing device 11 Transmission / reception unit (an example of request transmission means)
14 Printing processing unit (an example of printing processing means)
30 Information providing device 31 Transmission / reception unit (example of acquisition means and transmission means)
32 Authentication unit (example of authentication means)
34 Job management unit (an example of generation means)
35 Advertising Information Management Department (Example of selection method)
37 Storage unit (an example of storage means)
50 Advertising server 70 Billing server (an example of billing means)
90 Information terminal (example of display device)

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-82581

Claims (14)

An information providing system that provides advertising information to a display device that can be operated by a user.
An acquisition means for acquiring print target information to be printed in the image processing device and history information of user operations on the display device for displaying the advertisement information.
When the print execution request of the acquired print target information is received, the generation means for generating the print processing information indicating the processing content for the print target information based on the acquired history information, and the generation means.
A transmission means for transmitting the generated print processing information to the image processing device, and
Information provision system equipped with. When the history information does not include information indicating the user operation with respect to the advertisement information, the generation means generates the print processing information so as to print only the print target information.
The print processing information according to claim 1, wherein when the history information includes information indicating the user operation with respect to the advertisement information, the generation means generates the print processing information so as to print the advertisement information together with the print target information. Information provision system. The information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the information indicating the user operation with respect to the advertisement information is information indicating that the advertisement information has been skipped by the user. The advertisement information includes video data and still image data associated with the video data.
The display device displays the moving image data as the advertising information, and displays the moving image data.
The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the generation means generates the print processing information using the still image data as the advertisement information. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and further.
A selection means for selecting the advertisement information to be provided to the user is provided.
An information providing system that transmits the selected advertisement information to the display device before acquiring the print target information. The information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the selection means selects the advertisement information that is viewed less frequently by the user. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, and further.
A storage means for associating and storing the acquired print target information and history information is provided.
The generation means is an information providing system that generates the print processing information based on the history information associated with the stored print target information when the print execution request of the stored print target information is received. The information providing system according to claim 7, further
An authentication means for authenticating the user in response to an authentication request including the authentication information by the user is provided.
The storage means stores the print target information and the history information for each user, and stores the print target information and the history information.
The generation means is an information providing system that generates print processing information for print target information associated with the authenticated user. The storage means stores the PIN code in association with the acquired print target information, and stores the PIN code.
The information provision according to claim 7, wherein the generation means generates print processing contents for print target information associated with the PIN code when the PIN code input by the user matches the stored PIN code. system. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further
A billing means for acquiring the billing amount information indicating the billing amount according to the printing process of the print target information and storing the billing amount information for each user is provided.
When the history information includes information indicating the user operation with respect to the advertisement information and the charge amount indicated by the charge amount information is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the generation means prints the advertisement information together with the print target information. An information providing system that generates the print processing information so as to be performed. An information providing system including an information providing device that provides advertisement information to a display device that can be operated by a user, and an image processing device that executes printing processing of print target information.
The information providing device is
An acquisition means for acquiring the print target information and history information of user operations on a display device that displays the advertisement information, and
When the print execution request of the acquired print target information is received, the generation means for generating the print processing information in the image processing apparatus based on the acquired history information, and the generation means.
A transmission means for transmitting the generated print processing information to the image processing apparatus is provided.
The image processing device is
A request transmitting means for transmitting the print execution request input by the user to the information providing device, and
A print processing means that executes a print process of the print target information based on the print process information, and
Information provision system equipped with. An image processing device capable of communicating with an information providing device that provides advertising information to a display device that can be operated by the user.
A request transmission means for transmitting a print execution request for print target information input by the user to the information providing device, and
A print processing means for executing a print process on the print target information based on the print process information of the print target information generated based on the history information of the user operation on the display device displaying the advertisement information.
An image processing device comprising. It is an information providing method executed by an information providing system that provides advertising information to a display device that can be operated by a user.
An acquisition step of acquiring print target information to be printed in the image processing device and history information of user operations on the display device displaying the advertisement information, and
When the print execution request of the acquired print target information is received, a generation step of generating print processing information indicating the processing content for the print target information based on the acquired history information, and a generation step.
A transmission step of transmitting the generated print processing information to the image processing device, and
Information provision method to execute. A program that causes a computer to execute the information providing method according to claim 13.

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