JP7075049B2 - Image forming device, job execution system and job execution method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a job execution system, and a job execution method.

Conventionally, various multifunction devices considering universal design have been proposed.

Patent Document 1 describes a multifunction device that acquires the execution state of a job from a terminal dedicated to the visually impaired to the multifunction device and transmits voice data based on the execution state to the terminal dedicated to the visually impaired. There is.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is that it is difficult for the user to grasp the position of the image forming apparatus for executing the job by sound.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is an image forming apparatus that executes a job that is an execution command generated by a terminal device, has a speaker that outputs a notification sound, and has predetermined information in advance. Has a user information storage unit that stores the information , outputs the notification sound based on the notification information that is information about the notification sound given to the job by the terminal device, executes the job, and the notification information is the information. The user information storage unit corresponds to the user information and the notification information other than the user information, including user information, notification necessity information, sound type information, and output duration, which are information about the user of the terminal device. The speaker is an image forming device that stores the attached table and outputs the notification sound based on the notification information associated with the user information .

According to the present invention, the position of the image forming apparatus in which the user executes a job can be grasped by sound.

It is a system block diagram of 1st Embodiment. It is a hardware block diagram of the image forming apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a hardware block diagram of the terminal apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the usage form of a terminal device. This is an example of a screen for inputting notification information. It is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus of 1st Embodiment. This is an example of a broadcast information table. It is a functional block diagram of the terminal apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the terminal apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the image forming apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the processing of the system of 1st Embodiment. It is a system block diagram of the 2nd Embodiment. It is a hardware block diagram of the image forming apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the terminal apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the image forming apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of the processing of the system of 2nd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each drawing for explaining the embodiment of the present invention, components such as members and components having the same function or shape are once described by assigning the same reference numerals as much as possible. Then, the explanation is omitted.

First, the system configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a system diagram of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 100 and a terminal apparatus 200 such as a PC (Personal Computer) are connected by a network 1000. Here, the network 1000 is a concept including a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, the Internet via a LAN, and the like. The terminal device 200 may be connected to the network 1000 by wire, or may be a so-called mobile terminal having a wireless connection. A plurality of terminal devices 200 may be connected to one image forming device 100.

The image forming apparatus 100 has a copy function, a fax function, a print function, a scanner function, a function of storing and distributing an input image (a document read by the scanner function, an image input by the printer function or the fax function), and the like. This is a so-called MFP (MultiFaction Peripheral) multifunction device. In the present embodiment, the "image" processed by the image forming apparatus 100 includes not only image data but also data that does not include image data, that is, data that contains only text information.

The terminal device 200 generates and outputs a job that is a processing content executed by various functions of the image forming device 100. The job output from the terminal device 200 is input to the image forming apparatus 100 via the network 1000 and executed by the image forming apparatus 100. As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 may be a job execution device for executing a job, the terminal device 200 may be a job generation device for generating a job, and the system S1 may be a job execution system.

Next, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 100 includes an operation panel 11 that receives an operation input to the image forming apparatus 100, and a CPU (Central Processing) that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 based on the input from the operation panel 11 and the like. Unit 12, ROM (Read Only Memory) 13 and HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 15, which are storage media for storing programs and data necessary for the operation of the CPU 12, and a work area (work) when the CPU 12 executes the program. A wireless communication interface between a communication I / F (interface) 16 which is a communication interface between a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14 which is an area) and an external device of an image forming apparatus 100 and an external device of an image forming apparatus 100. It has a certain wireless communication I / F 17, an engine unit 18 which is a hardware configuration for realizing various functions such as a copy function based on the control of the CPU 12, and a speaker 19 which outputs sound based on the control of the CPU 12. These are connected to each other via the system bus B1.

The operation panel 11 receives various inputs according to the operation of the operator, and also receives various information (for example, information indicating the accepted operation, information indicating the operating status of the image forming apparatus 100, and the setting state of the image forming apparatus 100). Information to be shown, etc.) is displayed. The operation panel 11 is composed of a liquid crystal display device (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display) equipped with a touch panel function as an example, but is not limited thereto. For example, it may be configured by an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display device equipped with a touch panel function. Further, in addition to or in place of this, an operation unit such as a hardware key and a display unit such as a lamp may be provided.

The CPU 12 controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 based on an operation instruction by an input from the operation panel 11 or an input by communication from an external device. The CPU 12 controls the operation of the entire image forming apparatus 100 by executing a program stored in the ROM 13 or the HDD 15 using the RAM 14 as a work area (work area), and controls the operation of the entire image forming apparatus 100, and has the above-mentioned copy function, scanner function, fax function, and printer function. Realize various functions such as. The operation of executing these various functions (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a job) can be saved in the HDD 15 as an operation log of the image forming apparatus 100 each time.

The communication I / F 16 is a communication interface with an external device, and can be connected to the Internet, LAN, the Internet via LAN, and the like. The image forming apparatus 100 can communicate with the terminal apparatus 200, a general-purpose mobile communication terminal, a server apparatus, and the like via the network 1000 by means of the communication I / F16.

The wireless communication I / F 17 is a communication interface for wireless communication with an external device, and can also wirelessly communicate with a device having a wireless I / F. Further, it is possible to connect to a network connection such as an in-house LAN via the access point P. The image forming apparatus 100 can also communicate with the terminal apparatus 200, other general-purpose mobile communication terminals, server apparatus, and the like, for example, by the wireless communication I / F17.

The engine unit 18 is hardware that performs general-purpose information processing and processing other than communication in order to realize a copy function, a fax function, a printer function, a scanner function, and the like. It has a copy unit 181 that performs a copy function, a FAX unit 182 that performs a FAX function, a printer unit 183 that performs a printer function, and a scanner unit 184 that performs a scanner function. The printer function may employ, but is not limited to, an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method as a method capable of printing on a recording medium such as paper. In addition, the engine unit 18 may also be provided with specific options such as a finisher for sorting printed recording media and an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) for automatically feeding documents.

The speaker 19 is hardware that outputs sound so that it can be heard outside the image forming apparatus 100 based on the control of the CPU 12. The speaker 19 outputs a notification sound, which is a sound for notifying the user of information. The notification sound may be a sound that outputs a language indicating the content of the information, or may be a sound that is associated with the information in advance.

Next, the hardware configuration of the terminal device 200 will be described. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the terminal device of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal device 200 includes an input means 21 that accepts an input, a CPU 22 that controls the operation of the terminal device 200 based on the input from the input means 21 and the like, and programs and data necessary for the operation of the CPU 22. Communication I / F (interface) 26, which is a communication interface between ROM 23 and HDD 25, which are storage media for storage, RAM 24, which is a work area (work area) when the CPU 22 executes a program, and an external device of the terminal device 200. It has a wireless communication I / F 27 which is a wireless communication interface with an external device of the image forming apparatus 100, and a display 28 which displays necessary data for the operator of the terminal device 200, and these provide a system bus B2. They are connected to each other via.

The input means 21 accepts various inputs according to the user's operation. For example, it is composed of a keyboard, a mouse, a tablet equipped with a touch panel function, a microphone for voice input, and the like, but the present invention is not limited to these. For example, it may be an IC card reader or the like that reads an IC card used when logging in to operate the terminal device 200.

The CPU 22 controls the operation of the entire terminal device 200 by executing a program stored in the ROM 23 or the HDD 25 using the RAM 24 as a work area (work area), and realizes various functions of the terminal device 200.

The communication I / F 26 is a communication interface with an external device, and can be connected to the Internet, LAN, the Internet via LAN, and the like. The terminal device 200 can communicate with the image forming device 100, a general-purpose mobile communication terminal, a server device, and the like via the network 1000 by the communication I / F 26 as an example.

The wireless communication I / F 27 is a communication interface for wireless communication with an external device. Similarly, it is possible to communicate with a device having a wireless LAN I / F. Further, it is possible to connect to a network connection such as an in-house LAN via the access point P. The terminal device 200 can also communicate with the image forming device 100, other general-purpose mobile communication terminals, server devices, and the like, for example, by the wireless communication I / F27.

The display 28 has various information, for example, information indicating an operation accepted by the terminal device 200, data created by an operator in the terminal device 200, information indicating an operating status of the terminal device 200 and the image forming device 100, and a terminal device. Information indicating the setting state of the 200 and the image forming apparatus 100 is displayed. As an example, the display 28 is composed of a liquid crystal display device (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display) and an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display device, but is not limited thereto. Further, it may be equipped with a touch panel function and function as an input means 21.

In addition to the above, the terminal device 200 has an interface for connecting to an IC card reader for reading an IC (Integrated Circuit) card as an external connection I / F, and an external storage medium such as a USB (Universal serial Bus) or an SD card. It may have an interface or the like for connecting to.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a usage mode of the terminal device according to the present embodiment. The usage mode of the terminal device 200 by the operator will be described with reference to FIG.

The HDD 25 of the terminal device 200 stores a print image creation application (hereinafter, may be referred to as a print application) 2001 and a printer driver 2002, which are programs that can be executed by the CPU 22.

The print application 2001 is an application that creates a printed image according to the input by the input means 21. Here, the printed image is an image to be printed on a storage medium such as paper. The printer driver 2002 prints based on various print-related settings (hereinafter, may be referred to as print settings) input by the operator of the terminal device 200 using the input means 21, such as image quality, number of copies, page allocation, and tray. It is an application that converts an image into print data. Here, the print data is data that can be interpreted by the image forming apparatus 100 and formed on a storage medium by the engine unit 18.

As an operation of the terminal device 200, the operator of the terminal device 200 launches the print application 2001 and creates a print image. When the operator inputs a print instruction for the created print image, the printer driver 2002 starts up, and the operator inputs print settings to the printer driver 2002. At this time, the printer driver 2002 may output a screen for assisting the input of print settings such as image quality, number of copies to be printed, page allocation, tray, etc. by the operator on the display 28. In this case, the operator can input the print settings to the printer driver 2002 while looking at the output screen.

Then, the printer driver 2002 converts the print image into print data based on the print image created by using the print application 2001 and various input print settings. The printer driver 2002 outputs at least print data and print settings from the communication I / F 26 as a job (hereinafter referred to as a print job) including an execution command of a print function of the image forming apparatus 100. The image forming apparatus 100 that has received the job output through the network 1000 executes printing by the printer unit 183.

As described above, the case where the printer unit 183 executes the print job generated by the printer driver 2002 has been described, but the job is not limited to this as long as it is an execution instruction for various functions executed by the image forming apparatus 100. Further, there is known an image forming apparatus in which a user authenticates by an authentication device provided in the image forming apparatus and instructs a job execution after receiving a job. However, the image forming apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is, as an example, a terminal. The present invention will be described as an image forming apparatus designated by the apparatus 200 by an IP address or the like, accepting a job, and executing the job without authenticating an IC card or the like.

FIG. 5 is an example of an input screen for notification information displayed on the terminal device 200. It is displayed on the display 28 to assist the user in inputting print settings. The screen example shown in FIG. 5 is displayed when the printer driver 2002 is started up, or after the printer driver 2002 is started up, when the user further selects an image forming apparatus whose job is to be executed, or the like. The user can input each item of the print setting and the notification information by using the input means 21 while looking at the screen shown in FIG.

In the screen example shown in FIG. 5, "printing method", "original size", "printing paper size", "paper type", "paper feed tray", "paper ejection destination", "color / black and white", "aggregation", "page arrangement", and "double-sided" Items labeled as / Bookbinding, Staple, Punch, and Sort can be entered by selecting from the pull-down menu. The "original orientation" can be input by selecting it with the radio button. A numerical value can be entered for "number of copies". You can enter the "partition line" by checking the check box. As described above, in the screen example shown in FIG. 5, each item of these print settings can be input.

In the screen example shown in FIG. 5, the area indicated by R is the notification information which is the information related to the notification sound which is the sound for notifying the user, for example, the notification necessity information, the sound type information, and the output duration. This is an area where you can enter information.

Here, each item in the area R will be further described. The user can input the notification necessity information by the item indicated as "necessity". Specifically, it is possible to input by selecting a button whether or not it is necessary to output a notification sound, that is, to make a sound by a speaker. The user can input sound type information by the item "notification sound". Specifically, it is the sound type information of the notification sound, and can be input by selecting "Melody 1", "Melody 2", etc. from the pull-down menu as an example. In addition, the user can input the output duration information by the item "duration". Specifically, it is possible to input by selecting the time information for continuing the output of the notification sound, for example, "30 seconds", "1 minute", etc. from the pull-down menu.

In this way, the user inputs into each item shown in the area R indicated by "voice guidance" and gives a print instruction, so that the image of executing the job in the direction in which the notification sound output by the image forming apparatus 100 can be heard. It is known that the forming device 100 is located, and by moving toward that position, the image forming device 100 that executes the job can be reached. That is, it is possible to receive so-called voice guidance.

At the time of input to the screen example shown in FIG. 5, the input content of the screen may be notified to the user by voice by the speaker included in the terminal device 200. Further, the user may input the voice to the microphone included in the terminal device 200 to accept the input to the screen shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 100 of the first embodiment.

The image forming apparatus 100 has received an input receiving unit 110 that accepts input, a display control unit 120 that controls display on the operation panel 11, and a communication control unit 130 that controls communication with the outside of the image forming apparatus 100. A job processing unit 140 that processes jobs, a storage unit 150 that stores various data and programs related to the image forming apparatus 100, and a read / write processing unit 160 that reads / writes various data / programs to the storage unit 150. Have.

The input receiving unit 110 is realized by the processing of the operation panel 11 and executes a function of receiving an input according to a user's operation. Information necessary for the operation may be displayed to the user.

The display control unit 120 is realized by the CPU 12 executing a program stored in the HDD 15, and executes a function of controlling a display screen displayed on the input reception unit 110.

The communication control unit 130 is realized by processing communication I / F16 or wireless communication I / F17, transmits various data such as image information to a network or an external device, and transmits various data and various setting information via the network. Performs functions such as acquiring from an external device.

The job processing unit 140 is realized by the CPU 12 executing a printer application, a copy application, a FAX application, etc. stored in the HDD 15, and executes the accepted job.

The storage unit 150 is executed by the processing of the HDD 15, and executes a function of storing programs, document data, various setting information necessary for the operation of the image forming apparatus 100, an operation log of the image forming apparatus 100, and the like.

The read / write processing unit 160 is executed by the processing of the HDD 15, and executes a function of storing various data in the storage unit 150 and reading various data stored in the storage unit 150.

The storage unit 150 includes a sound type storage unit 151 in which sound data is stored in advance, and a user information storage unit 152 in which user information is stored in advance. Sound data and user information can be registered from the input reception unit 110, and the input reception unit 110 functions as a sound data registration unit and a user information registration unit.

Here, the notification information table stored in the sound type storage unit 151 and the user information storage unit 152 of FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

The sound type storage unit 151 stores in advance a table in which the sound type and the output data are associated with each other by the system administrator or the like. That is, the sound type name, which is an example of the notification information input by the user from the terminal device 200 in the area R of the display screen of FIG. 5, is associated with the output file name of the sound data that can be output by the speaker 19. It is a table. As an example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the sound data name “Melody 1” and the output file name “Melody 1” are associated and stored.

The user information storage unit 152 stores in advance a table to which the following notification information is associated with the system administrator or the like. That is, the user information which is the information about the user input from the input means 21 of the terminal device 200, the login ID input when using the terminal device 200 as an example, and the notification information other than the user information are associated with each other. It is a table. As an example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the login ID “1234”, the necessity information “required”, the output file name “Melody1”, and the duration “1 minute” are associated with each other. Further, for the login ID "3456", the necessity information "required" and the output file name "bird2" are associated with each other, but the duration is not associated with the login ID "3456". It is not necessary that the login ID and all the notification information are associated with each other in this way. Further, the login ID "5678" is associated with the necessity information "No". Therefore, since the notification sound is not output for the login ID "5678", the output file name and the duration are not associated with each other.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the terminal device of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal device 200 includes an input receiving unit 210 which is a terminal input receiving unit that receives input to the terminal device 200, and a display control unit 220 that executes a function of controlling a display screen displayed on the display 28. The terminal device 200 has a communication control unit 230 that executes a function of controlling communication with the outside, and a job output unit 240 that outputs a job instructed to the image forming device 100.

The input receiving unit 210 is realized by the processing of the input means 21, and executes a function of receiving various inputs by the user.

The display control unit 220 is realized by the CPU 22 executing a program stored in the HDD 25, and executes a function of controlling the display screen displayed on the display 28.

The communication control unit 230 is realized by processing communication I / F26 or wireless communication I / F27, transmits various data such as image information to a network or an external device, and transmits various data and various setting information via the network. Performs functions such as acquiring from an external device.

The job output unit 240 is realized by the CPU 22 executing a program installed in the HDD 25, for example, a print application 2001 and a printer driver 2002, and outputs a job that is a request for execution of various functions to the image forming apparatus 100. Perform the function.

The job output unit 240 is generated by a data generation unit 241 that generates various data based on a user's operation, a job generation unit 242 that generates a job from the data generated by the data generation unit 241 and a job generation unit 242. It has a notification information giving unit 243 that gives notification information to a job. The job output unit 240 controls each unit of the data generation unit 241, the job generation unit 242, and the notification information addition unit 243 to output a job.

The data generation unit 241 is realized by the CPU 22 executing a program stored in the HDD 25, for example, a print application 2001, and creates an image to be printed by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the input contents based on the user's operation on the terminal device 200. Perform the function.

The job generation unit 242 is realized by the CPU 22 executing a program stored in the HDD 25, for example, the printer driver 2002, and converts the data into data that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 100 based on the created print image. Generate a job.

The notification information addition unit 243 is realized by the CPU 22 executing a program stored in the HDD 25, for example, the print application 2001 or the printer driver 2002, and inputs the job generated by the job generation unit 242 from the input reception unit 210. The notified information is given. The notification information is information related to the notification sound, which is a sound for notifying the user of information, for example, notification necessity information, sound type information, output duration, user information, and the like. An example of user information is a login ID of a user to the terminal device 200 that outputs a job.

It should be noted that the term given here may mean that the output job and the notification information are associated with each other, that is, the notification information is included as a part of a certain job, and the certain job and the job are It also includes associating with the broadcast information as another data.

The job is an execution instruction of the printer function executed by the image forming apparatus 100, but is not limited to this, and may be any one instructing the execution of the copy function, the FAX function, the scanner function, and various other functions.

Further, the job generation unit 242 and the notification information addition unit 243 are realized by executing the printer driver 2002, but the present invention is not limited to this, and even if another driver that functions as the notification information addition unit 243 is installed, for example. good. Since the printer driver has been installed in the terminal device that outputs the print job to the image forming device, if the printer driver has a function to give the notification information, another driver for adding the notification information is provided. There is no need to develop a new driver or have the user install a new driver other than the printer driver.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the terminal device of the first embodiment. This processing flow is a job output flow that starts when a user inputs an input for generating a job to the terminal device 200.

First, the input receiving unit 210 receives an input to the terminal device 200 as an input receiving step (S1). The job generation unit 242 generates a job as a job generation step based on the received input contents (S2). Then, as a notification information addition step, the notification information addition unit 243 assigns the notification information included in the received input content to the job (S3). Then, as a job output step, the job output unit 240 outputs the job to which the notification information is added to the communication control unit 230 as an example (S4). Then, the communication control unit 230 outputs a job to the image forming apparatus 100 via the network. If there is no notification information input, the process of step S3 may be skipped, or a flag or the like that the input content does not include the notification information may be added.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment. This processing flow is a job processing flow that starts when the image forming apparatus 100 receives a job via the network 1000 or the like.

First, the input reception unit 110 accepts a job as a job acceptance step (S5). Then, the notification processing unit 141 determines whether or not the notification sound needs to be output based on the notification information as an output necessity determination step (S6). The case where the output of the notification sound is required is, for example, the case where the notification necessity information is "required". As another example in which the output of the notification sound is "necessary", "necessary" is associated with the user information which is the notification information as a key when referring to the "necessity" column in the table of FIG. 7 (b). If it has been done.

When the output of the notification sound is "necessary" in step S6, the notification processing unit 141 starts outputting the notification sound by the speaker 19 as the notification sound output step (S7).

In this way, in order to output the notification sound given to the job, the user of the terminal device can grasp the position of the image forming device 100 from the direction of the notification sound and move toward the image forming device 100. That is, the user can be guided to the front of the image forming apparatus 100 that executes the job. For example, as a conventional technique, there is known a multifunction device that acquires the execution state of a job from a terminal dedicated to the visually impaired to the multifunction device and sends voice data based on the execution state to the terminal dedicated to the visually impaired. .. The multifunction device, which is the conventional technique, has a problem that the user of the terminal device cannot grasp the position of the image forming device executing the job, but this problem can be solved. Further, in this prior art compound machine, voice data is output for a job from a dedicated terminal for the visually impaired, that is, there is a problem that a predetermined dedicated terminal must be prepared, but the present invention has a problem. Since the notification sound is output based on the notification information given to the job, there is no need to prepare a special terminal.

Further, since the terminal device 200 has a terminal input receiving unit 210 for receiving input and the notification information is input from the terminal input receiving unit 210, the user can determine the necessity of the notification sound from the terminal device 200 or desire. It is possible to output a notification sound.

Further, since the user information is used as the notification information, it is possible to output the notification sound associated with the login ID or the like when logging in to the terminal device 200.

More specifically, when the notification necessity information includes sound type information in addition to "necessary" as the notification information, the sound type information is further used as a key to show in FIG. 7A. The notification sound is output by referring to the table and playing back the sound data of the associated output file name. Further, when the user information is included as the notification information, and the login ID for logging in to the terminal device 200 is included as an example, the table shown in FIG. 7B is referred to using the login ID as a key, and the notification necessity information is obtained. If is "necessary", a notification sound is output. At this time, if there is an output file name associated with the output file name, the notification sound is output by playing back the sound data of the output file name. In this way, the notification information includes the type of notification sound, and the speaker outputs the notification sound according to the type. Therefore, for example, when a plurality of people execute jobs in an office where image forming devices 100 are lined up, each other Different notification sounds can be output for distinction.

Next, the job execution processing unit 142 starts executing the job as a job execution step (S8). The notification sound may be output after the job execution is started, but by starting the job execution after the notification sound output is started, the user can grasp the position of the image forming apparatus faster.

Then, the job execution processing unit 142 determines whether or not the stop condition is satisfied as the stop condition determination step (S9). If the stop condition is satisfied, the output of the notification sound is stopped (S10), and this flow is terminated. By stopping when the stop condition is satisfied in this way, it is possible to prevent the notification sound from remaining sounding.

More specifically, with respect to step S9, as an example of the stop condition, it is whether or not the output duration, which is an example of the broadcast information, has elapsed. In this case, the user can stop after sounding the notification sound for a desired time. Further, as another example of the stop condition, the operation input by the user for the image forming apparatus 100 may be received by the input receiving unit 110. In this case, the user can stop the notification sound by inputting to the image forming apparatus 100.

In step S6, the output of the notification sound is negative, that is, the notification necessity information which is an example of the notification information is unnecessary, that is, when "No" is input from the terminal device 200, or the table shown in FIG. 7B is referred to. Result If "No" is associated with the login ID of the terminal device 200, which is an example of user information, the job is executed without outputting the notification sound (S11), and this flow is terminated.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the processing of the system of the first embodiment. This processing is a sequence in which the terminal device 200 outputs a job to which the notification information indicating the notification sound output requirement is added, and the image forming apparatus 100 executes the job.

First, the job output unit 240 of the terminal device 200 outputs a job (S101). The communication control unit 230 outputs the job to the image forming apparatus 100 (S102). The input receiving unit 110 of the image forming apparatus 100 accepts a job (S103).

Then, since it is determined that the received job requires notification sound output, the notification processing unit 141 starts outputting the notification sound by the speaker 19 based on the added notification information (S104). Next, the job execution processing unit 142 starts executing the job (S105). After step S105, steps S9 and S10 shown in FIG. 10 are executed in the image forming apparatus 100.

FIG. 12 describes a system configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, in the system S2, the image forming apparatus 100-1, the image forming apparatus 100-2 ..., the terminal apparatus 200 such as a PC, and the server apparatus 300 are connected by a network 1000. Here, the network 1000 is a concept including a LAN, the Internet, the Internet via a LAN, and the like. The terminal device 200 may be connected to the network 1000 by wire, or may be a so-called mobile terminal having a wireless connection.

Although only two image forming devices, 100-1 and 100-2, are shown in FIG. 12, the number of image forming devices is not limited to two, and it is possible to have a plurality of image forming devices. In the description of the second embodiment, the configuration common to the plurality of image forming devices will be described as a configuration of 100-n.

The image forming apparatus 100-n has a copy function, a fax function, a print function, a scanner function, and a function of storing and distributing an input image (a document read by the scanner function or an image input by the printer function or the fax function), etc. It is a so-called MFP (MultiFaction Peripheral) which has a combination of the above. In the present embodiment, the "image" processed by the image forming apparatus 100 includes not only image data but also data that does not include image data, that is, data that contains only text information.

The terminal device 200 generates and outputs a job that is a processing content executed by various functions of the image forming device 100. The output job is input to any of the image forming apparatus 100-n via the network 1000, and is executed by the image forming apparatus 100-n that receives the input.

The server device 300 stores the job output from the terminal device 200. Further, the server device 300 can output the stored job to the image forming device 100-n.

Since the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 100-n of the second embodiment is the same as that of the image forming apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted. Further, since the terminal device 200 and the server device 300 of the second embodiment are the same as the terminal device 200 of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 100-n according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, it has a position information output unit 143 that outputs the position information of the image forming apparatus to the outside, and a job acquisition unit 144 that acquires a job output by the terminal device 200. ..

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of the terminal device 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the configuration of the terminal device 200 of the first embodiment, the position information of the image forming device determination unit 244 that determines the image forming device closest to the terminal device 200, the image forming device 100-n, and the terminal device 200 itself is obtained. It has a position information storage unit 251 to be stored.

The processing flow of the terminal apparatus of the 2nd Embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a job generation processing flow of the terminal device 200. This process is a flow that starts when the user inputs an input for generating a job to the terminal device 200.

First, the input receiving unit 210 receives an input to the terminal device 200 as an input receiving step (S12). The job generation unit 242 generates a job as a job generation step based on the received input content (S13). Then, as a notification information addition step, the notification information addition unit 243 assigns the notification information included in the received input content to the job (S14).

Next, the job output unit 240 outputs the job by transmitting the job to the server device 300 as an output step to the server device (S15). Then, the image forming apparatus determination unit 244 requests each position information from n image forming apparatus in the system as a position information request step (S16). The image forming apparatus determination unit 244 acquires by receiving n position information n from each image forming apparatus as a position information acquisition step (S17). The image forming apparatus determination unit 244 determines the image forming apparatus 100N, which is the closest image forming apparatus to the terminal apparatus 200, based on the position information n, with reference to the position information storage unit 251 as an image forming apparatus determination step (S18). ). Then, the image forming apparatus determination unit 244 outputs a job execution request to the nearest image forming apparatus 100n determined as a job execution request step (S19).

By making a job execution request to the image forming apparatus closest to the terminal apparatus 200 in this way, the user can easily go to the image forming apparatus based on the notification sound. Since the notification sound output is executed by the job execution request, the job execution request can also be called a notification processing execution request.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a job acceptance processing flow of the image forming apparatus of the second embodiment. The image forming apparatus in this process will be described as being the image forming apparatus 100N, which is the image forming apparatus closest to the terminal apparatus 200.

First, the position information output unit 143 receives the position information request output from the terminal device 200 as the position information request reception step (S20). Then, the position information output unit 143 outputs its own position information to the terminal device 200 as the position information output step (S21). Then, since the image forming apparatus in this process is the image forming apparatus 100N closest to the terminal apparatus 200, the input receiving unit 110 receives the job execution request from the terminal apparatus 200 (S22). Then, the job acquisition unit 144 requests a job from the server device 300 as a job acquisition step (S23). Then, the input reception unit 110 accepts the job stored in the server device 300 (S24), and the job acceptance processing flow ends. After receiving the job, the image forming apparatus 100N executes steps S5 to S11 shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing the processing of the image forming apparatus 100, the terminal apparatus 200, and the server apparatus 300 of the second embodiment. This processing is a sequence from the output of the job to which the notification information is added by the terminal device 200 to the execution of the job by the image forming apparatus 100.

First, the job output unit 240 of the terminal device 200 outputs a job (S201). The communication control unit 230 outputs the job to the server device 300 (S202). The server device 300 stores the job (S203).

The terminal device 200 requests position information from the image forming device 100-1 (S204). The image forming apparatus 100-1 outputs the position information 1 which is its own position information to the terminal device 200 (S205). The terminal device 200 further requests position information from the image forming device 100-2 (S206). The image forming apparatus 100-2 outputs the position information 2 which is its own position information to the terminal device 200 (S207). Although only the image forming apparatus 100-1 and 100-2 are shown in FIG. 17, the terminal apparatus 200 requests the position information from all n image forming apparatus 100-n in the image system, and the image forming apparatus 100 is used. -N outputs its own position information n to the terminal device 200.

The terminal device 200 determines the image forming device 100N closest to the terminal device 200 from the position information n (S208). In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100-2 will be described below as the closest image forming apparatus 100N. The terminal device 200 outputs the job execution request by transmitting the job execution request to the nearest image forming device 100-2 (S209).

The image forming apparatus 100-2 requests a job from the server apparatus 300 (S210), and acquires the job stored in the server apparatus 300 (S211). Then, the input receiving unit 110 of the image forming apparatus 100 accepts the job (S212).

Then, the notification processing unit 141 starts outputting the notification sound by the speaker 19 based on the added notification information (S213). Then, the job execution processing unit 142 starts executing the job (S214). After step S105, steps S9 and S10 shown in FIG. 10 are executed in the image forming apparatus 100-2.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the technical gist thereof, and all the technical matters included in the technical idea described in the claims can be made. Is the subject of the present invention. Although the above embodiment shows a suitable example, those skilled in the art can realize various modified examples from the disclosed contents. Such modifications are also included in the technical scope described in the claims.

100 Image forming device 110 Input receiving unit 140 Job processing unit 141 Notification processing unit 142 Job execution processing unit 143 Position information output unit 144 Job acquisition unit 150 Storage unit 151 Sound type storage unit 152 User information storage unit 200 Terminal device 210 Input reception unit 240 Job output unit 241 Data generation unit 242 Job generation unit 243 Notification information addition unit 244 Image forming device Judgment unit 300 Server device

JP 2006-155267

Claims (16)

An image forming device that executes a job that is an execution command generated by a terminal device.
It has a speaker that outputs a notification sound, and has a speaker.
It has a user information storage unit that stores predetermined information in advance, and has a user information storage unit.
The notification sound is output based on the notification information which is the information regarding the notification sound given to the job by the terminal device.
Execute the above job
The notification information includes user information, notification necessity information, sound type information, and output duration, which are information about the user of the terminal device.
The user information storage unit stores a table in which the user information is associated with the notification information other than the user information.
The speaker is an image forming apparatus that outputs the notification sound based on the notification information associated with the user information . The notification information includes notification necessity information for determining whether or not the image forming apparatus needs to output the notification sound, and when the notification necessity information is required, the speaker outputs the notification sound. Image forming device. The output of the notification information is started, and
After that, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which starts executing the job. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the notification information includes the type of the notification sound, and the speaker outputs the notification sound according to the type. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the notification information includes an output duration of the notification sound, and the speaker outputs the notification sound until the output duration elapses. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which has an input receiving unit for receiving input by a user. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the input receiving unit receives an input after starting the output of the notification sound, the output of the notification sound is stopped. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the table can be input from the input receiving unit . The terminal device has a terminal input receiving unit that receives input by a user, and the notification information is an image forming device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 input from the terminal input receiving unit . It has a printer unit that executes the printer function, and has a printer unit.
The job is a print job that is an execution command for the printer function by the printer unit.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the print job is generated by a printer driver installed in the terminal apparatus. In response to the request for location information from the terminal device, it outputs its own location information and outputs it.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, which outputs the notification sound after receiving a job execution request from the terminal device and executes the job . The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, which receives the stored job from a server device that stores the job received from the terminal device, and executes the accepted job . A terminal device that generates a job that is an execution instruction,
A job execution system having a job execution device that executes the job.
The job execution device has a speaker that outputs a notification sound.
The terminal device imparts notification information, which is information on the notification sound, to the job.
The job execution device is
The notification sound is output based on the notification information, and the notification sound is output.
Execute the above job
The notification information includes user information, notification necessity information, sound type information, and output duration, which are information about the user of the terminal device.
The job execution device has a user information storage unit that stores a table in which the user information and the notification information other than the user information are associated with each other.
A job execution system that outputs the notification sound based on the notification information associated with the user information . Having a plurality of the job execution devices,
The terminal device is
Obtaining each position information from the plurality of job execution devices,
The job execution device closest to the terminal device is determined based on the location information, and the job execution device is determined.
The job execution system according to claim 13, wherein the nearest job execution device executes the job. Has a server device and
The terminal device outputs the job to the server device,
The server device stores the job and
The terminal device outputs a job execution request, which is a request to execute the job, to the nearest job execution device.
The job execution system according to claim 14, wherein the nearest job execution device receives the stored job from the server device and executes the job. A job generation step that generates a job that is an execution command to a job execution device that has a speaker that outputs a notification sound, and
User information that is information about the notification sound in the job and information about the user of the terminal device that generates the job, notification necessity information, sound type information, and output duration associated with the user information. The notification information giving step for giving the notification information including
A notification sound output step that outputs the notification sound based on the notification information, and
A job execution method including a job execution step for executing the job.

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