WO2019017549A1

WO2019017549A1 - Content transmission using a cloud server

Info

Publication number: WO2019017549A1
Application number: PCT/KR2018/002249
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ha Young Yoon; Jun Young Choi; Jung Hun Kim; Jeong Hun Kim; Yoon Bum No
Original assignee: HP Printing Korea Co Ltd
Current assignee: HP Printing Korea Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-07-19
Filing date: 2018-02-23
Publication date: 2019-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 2020-01-19
Also published as: KR20190009607A

Abstract

A cloud server receives content including a request to transmit the content from an electronic device to a display device designated by the electronic device. The cloud server renders a format of the received content to a predetermined document format, and transmits the content of the document format to the display device.

Description

CONTENT TRANSMISSION USING A CLOUD SERVER

Traditionally, devices such as printers and a Multi Function Printer (MFP) have performed printing or copying on paper. However, to achieve the goal of a future environment where people can live without paper, many replacements for newspapers, books, and meeting materials made of paper are being studied. In recent years, many people have owned at least one display device. Particularly, many households and businesses have a display device such as a television (TV) and electronic devices having display panels, such as smart phones and tablet devices, are widely used for various purposes including business, personal, and educational purposes.

These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the examples, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of a cloud system for printing or copying content stored in a user terminal to a display screen of a television (TV) according to an example;

FIG. 2 is a view of types of electronic devices and display devices that may exist on a cloud system according to an example;

FIG. 3 is illustrates an example of utilizing a function of a display copy in remote offices;

FIG. 4 is a view of a hardware configuration of a cloud server according to an example;

FIG. 5 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for performing a function of a display copy in a cloud system according to an example;

FIG. 6 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for transmitting content including an attached file to a display device according to an example;

FIG. 7 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for transmitting content including a hyperlink to a display device according to an example;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a function of sharing content using an electronic code according to an example;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of transmitting content to a display device using a security code according to an example;

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining a process of an electronic device for performing a function of a display copy when content is transmitted by determining a virtual display device according to an example;

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a process of performing a scan-to-display copy in an image forming apparatus according to an example;

FIG. 12 is a view of a configuration of an electronic device according to an example;

FIG. 13 is a view of a configuration of a display device according to an example;

FIG. 14 is a view of a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an example; and

FIG. 15 is a view of a cloud system using an image forming apparatus according to an example.

A cloud server comprises an application programming interface (API) server to receive content including a request to transmit the content from an electronic device to a display device designated by the electronic device; a rendering server to render a format of the received content to a predetermined document format, and a storage server configured to transmit the content of the document format to the display device.

Throughout the specification, it will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it may be "directly connected" to the other element or "electrically connected" to the other element in a state in which intervening elements are present. In addition, it will be understood that when element is referred to as "comprising" another element, it may not exclude the other element but may further include the other element unless specifically oppositely indicates.

Hereinafter, examples the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present examples may have different forms. A description of details widely known to those of ordinary skill in the art is omitted herein to more clearly explain features of the present examples. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as "at least one of," when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

FIG. 1 is a view of a cloud system for printing or copying content stored in a user terminal to a display screen of a television (TV) according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 1, a cloud system 1 includes a cloud server 10, an electronic device 20, and a display device 30. On the cloud system 1, the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 may be connected to each other via the cloud server 10. However, the cloud system 1 of FIG. 1 may further include other general components not shown in FIG. 1 in addition to the above-described components.

The cloud server 10 on the cloud system 1 may correspond to a server that performs various content processing such as storage, rendering, and transmission of content. The cloud server 10 may be implemented as a single server device or as a group of server devices in which several server devices are logically connected to each other.

The electronic device 20 on the cloud system 1 may correspond to, for example, a smart phone having a mobile communication function. That is, the electronic device 20 may correspond to a device that performs various functions of watching content, storing content, and transmitting/receiving content to/from other devices while being carried by a user. Although the electronic device 20 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as being a smartphone, the electronic device 20 may be other types of devices such as a tablet device, a wearable watch device, a wearable eyeglasses device, and the like. The cloud system 1 may also include a computer such as a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, etc. instead of the electronic device 20 as a device for watching content, storing content, and transmitting/receiving content to/from other devices.

The display device 30 on the cloud system 1 may correspond to, for example, a TV. When the display device 30 corresponds to a TV, the display device 30 may function as a device for watching a broadcast program received from a broadcaster. In addition, the display device 30, like a recently released smart TV, may include a function of displaying content from the Internet, a function of surfing the web, and the like, in addition to a broadcast program. FIG. 1 shows the display device 30 as a TV, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The display device 30 may include various devices having a display screen, for example, a smart phone, a tablet device, a PC, a laptop computer, a large format display (LFD), and the like as described above.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 20 on the cloud system 1 does not necessarily have to be a smart phone, and the display device 30 on the cloud system 1 does not necessarily have to be a TV. In other words, functions of the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 on the cloud system 1 may be performed by various devices of other kinds not shown in FIG. 1 in addition to a smart phone and a TV.

The electronic device 20 may store photographs taken by a camera module included in the electronic device 20, collected via the Internet, or received from another user. Further, the electronic device 20 may display

photographs

1010 and 1020 to a user of the electronic device 20 through a display screen. According to the cloud system 1 of the present disclosure, a user may print or copy the

photographs

1010 and 1020 stored in the electronic device 20 to a display screen of the display device 30. In other words, the electronic device 20 may output photographs stored in the electronic device 20 to the display screen of the display device 30.

More specifically, the electronic device 20 may transmit an image file (e.g., a photograph file) related to images (e.g., photographs 1010 and 1020) stored in the electronic device 20 to the cloud server 10. The cloud server 10 converts a file format of the received image file into a predetermined document file format that can be displayed by the display device 30. That is, the cloud server 10 converts the image file into an image file in a specific document file format that can be displayed by the display device 30. The specific file format converted by the cloud server 10 may include, for example, a Portable Document Format (pdf), an Extensible Markup Language (xml) Paper Specification (xps) document file, etc.

The cloud server 10 transmits the image files (e.g., photograph files 1010 and 1020) to the display device 30. The display device 30 may complete an operation of a display copy requested from the electronic device 20 by displaying the received image files on the display screen.

In the present disclosure, the term "display copy" may be broadly defined as a function of outputting content stored in any source device (e.g., the electronic device 20) to a display screen of at least one target device (e.g., the display device 30). In more detail, the term "display copy" may refer to a series of cloud service processes in which, when a source device (e.g., the electronic device 20) transmits content to the cloud server 10, the cloud server 10 renders/converts the received content into content in a predetermined document file format that can be displayed by a target device (e.g., the display device 30), and the target device (display device 30) receives the content in the rendered/converted file format and displays it on the display screen. Furthermore, the term "display copy" may also be defined to include functions and operations of various cloud services to be processed in the cloud system 1, which will be described below.

That is, the display copy is displayed through a process of rendering/converting the content by involvement of the cloud server 10 so as to conform to a display format of a target device, so that the display copy is different from a process in which content is directly transmitted from a source device to a target device and simply displayed.

Furthermore, the display copy is also different from display mirroring technology. In general, display mirroring is different from a concept of the display copy of the present disclosure, since the display mirroring means only a technique for controlling a display of an identical screen like a mirror between different display devices.

As described above, the display copy may be defined as a function to output content stored in a source device (e.g., the electronic device 20) to a display screen of a target device (e.g., the display device 30) as

content

1030 and 1040. Thus, the display copy may be understood to be a paradigm different from a hard copy or a soft copy.

FIG. 2 is a view of types of electronic devices and display devices that may exist on a cloud system according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 2, electronic devices 500 and target devices 600 on the cloud system 1 may be connected to each other via the cloud server 10.

The electronic devices 500 may include the electronic device 20 (smart phone), an electronic device 51 (tablet device), a personal computer (PC) 52, a laptop computer 53, an image forming apparatus 54, and the like. All of the electronic devices 500 have various functions for controlling content such as a function of storing contents such as photographs, moving pictures, and document files, a function of editing content, and a function of transmitting content to other devices, and may include various devices in addition to the electronic device 20 (smart phone), the electronic device 51 (tablet device), the PC 52, the laptop computer 53, and the image forming apparatus 54 shown in FIG. 3.

The target devices 600 may include an electronic device 21 (smart phone), the display device 30 (TV), an image forming apparatus 55, an electronic device 62 (tablet device), a laptop computer 63, a PC 64, and the like. All of the target devices 600, which have a display screen, have a function of displaying content such as photographs, moving pictures, document files, and the like. However, the target devices 600 may include various devices in addition to the electronic device 21 (smart phone), the display device 30 (TV), the image forming apparatus 55, the electronic device 62 (tablet device), the laptop computer 63, and the PC 64 shown in FIG. 2.

As will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 below, one of the electronic devices 500 may store a document to be shared with one or more of the target devices 600. For example, one of the electronic devices 500 may store a WORD document related to minutes. In that case, the electronic device 500 storing the WORD document may transmit a document file 2001 (“minutes.doc”) corresponding to the stored WORD document to the cloud server 10. The cloud server 10 may render/convert a format of the document file 2001 into a format that can be displayed by one or more of the target devices 600. For example, the cloud server 10 may convert the document file 2001 into a pdf formatted document file 2002 for use by the one or more of the target devices 600.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of utilizing a function of a display copy in remote offices.

Referring to FIG. 3, it is assumed that a user A, who uses the electronic device 20, works in a Seoul office and a user B, who uses the display device 30, works in a New York office.

In the Seoul office, the user A may store, in the electronic device 20, a WORD document 3001 related to minutes. The user A may wish to show a WORD document 3004 to the user B who works in the New York office. Here, the user A may not want to simply transmit the WORD document 3001 but may want the WORD document 3001 to be displayed on the display device 30 used by the user B. That is, the user A may want to display a copy of the WORD document 3001 stored in the electronic device 20 on the display device 30 used by the user B. This may be performed, for example, when the user A, who works in the Seoul office, and the user B, who works in the New York office, are in real-time videoconferencing.

The electronic device 20 transmits a document file 3002 ("minutes.doc") corresponding to the stored WORD document 3001 to the cloud server 10.

The cloud server 10 renders/converts a format of the document file 3002 (“minutes.doc") into a document format that can be displayed by the display device 30, for example, a document file format such as pdf, xps, etc. In general, the display device 30 such as a TV cannot display content of each page of a document file such as a Microsoft Word® file, a Microsoft PowerPoint® file, etc., so that processing of rendering/conversion by the cloud server 10 may be required. Thus, in an example, a document may be converted into a general document file format. A document file format may include a standard file format for digital documents that can be read or printed by a corresponding operating system while a font, image, graphics, and document type of an original document is maintained.

The cloud server 10 transmits a document file 3003 ("minutes.pdf") generated by rendering/conversion to the display device 30.

The display device 30 displays each page 3004 of the received document file 3003 ("minutes.pdf") on the display screen. Thus, the user B may view and share the WORD document 3001 stored in the electronic device 20 by a display copy requested by the user A on the display screen. In addition, since the converted file 3003 retains a font, image, graphics, and document type of the original document, the user B may search desired words or photographs in each page 3004 of the document file 3003.

FIG. 3 describes that a display copy function is performed remotely between the Seoul office and the New York office. However, if the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 are in a network environment connected to each other via the cloud server 10, the display copy function as described above may be performed without limitation.

FIG. 4 is a view of a hardware configuration of a cloud server according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 4, the cloud server 10 may include an Application Programming Interface (API) server 11, a rendering server 12, a control server 13, an authentication server 14, and a storage server 15. However, the cloud server 10 of FIG. 4 may be implemented by additionally including other components not shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the above-described components.

The implementation of the cloud server 10 may vary. For example, if at least one of the API server 11, the rendering server 12, the control server 13, the authentication server 14, and the storage server 15 is a physically separate server device, the cloud server 10 may be implemented by building a framework to virtualize independent server devices into a single server device and logically connect each other. Alternatively, the cloud server 10 may be implemented as a single server device, and the API server 11, the rendering server 12, the control server 13, the authentication server 14, and the storage server 15 may be implemented in the single server device as software modules or hardware modules. The hardware modules may include various components necessary to perform functions of the server. For example, the hardware modules may include one or more of a transmitter, a receiver, a processor, a controller, a storage device such as memory, an input/output device, an interface device, a display device, a connector device, and the like. However, the implementation of the cloud server 10 is not limited thereto.

The API server 11 functions as a gateway so that a device outside the cloud server 10 may access the cloud server 10. The API server 11 may be implemented as, for example, a Rewritable State Transfer Application Programming Interface (REST API) module, a RESTful API modules, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

The API server 11 is also a standardized protocol server for transmitting messages between different devices (e.g., the electronic device 20 and the display device 30) via the cloud server 10. For example, the API server 11 may be implemented as an open protocol-based server such as an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) server, but may be implemented as a server using other types of protocols without being limited thereto.

The rendering server 12 renders content received from a source device (e.g., the electronic device 20) to be suitable for a display format of a target device (e.g., the display device 30). That is, the rendering server 12 may correspond to a rendering engine that renders/converts content. As described above, the rendering server 12 may render/convert, for example, a WORD file (e.g., "minutes.doc") received from the electronic device 20 to a general document file (e.g., "minutes.pdf"). In general, a printer driver renders/converts a document file (e.g., a doc file or a ppt file), an image file (e.g., a JPG file or a GIF file), etc. into a language (e.g., a page description language (PDL)) that can be interpreted by a printer. However, the rendering server 12 may display content on the display device 30 and render/convert the content into a document file format that can maintain the original format.

The rendering server 12 may include a plurality of rendering modules corresponding to the format of a content file. The rendering server 12 may include a plurality of rendering modules corresponding to formats of all files such as an image file format, a document file format, and a moving image file format in which content can be represented. The rendering server 12 may convert received content into a predetermined document format content using a rendering module corresponding to a file format of the content. A document format is a standard file format for digital documents that can be read or printed by a corresponding operating system while a font, image, graphics, and document type of an original document is maintained. For example, the document format may be a pdf or xps format.

The control server 13 controls functions and operations of each of the other servers in the cloud server 10, that is, the API server 11, the rendering server 12, the authentication server 14, and the storage server 15. Meanwhile, when an application is executed on the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 shown in FIG. 1 or the like, the control server 13 may process information in a chat room, for example, transmission/reception of chat messages, a request for a display copy, and the like.

The authentication server 14 is a server for authenticating a user connected to the cloud server 10. For example, if authentication is required to transmit content of a document file format to the display device 30, the authentication may be performed via the authentication server. In an example, the authentication server 14 may be replaced with an external authentication server (e.g., a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), etc.).

The storage server 15 stores various information processed in the cloud server 10, content transmitted from a source device (the electronic device 20), rendered content, etc.

The cloud server 10 may be implemented as an Infrastructure as a Services (Iaas) such as an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Alternatively, the cloud server 10 may be implemented in a form having a cloud architecture that is independently established for Business to Business (B2B) without depending on an Iaas provider or a Platform as a Services (Paas) provider. That is, the architecture implementation of the cloud server 10 is not limited thereto.

FIG. 5 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for performing a function of a display copy in a cloud system according to an example.

The electronic device 20 may transmit various identification information and a name of the display device 30 to the cloud server 10 using an application so that the electronic device 20 may register the display device 30 in the cloud server 10. Here, the identification information of the display device 30 may include a MAC address, a serial number, an IP address, and the like of the display device 30. The specific name of the display device 30 may be a nickname arbitrarily set by a user with respect to the display device 30. The electronic device 20 may also use the application to transmit login information of a user of the electronic device 20 to the cloud server 10 (e.g., a web address URL of the API server 11). Thereafter, the electronic device 20 may log in to the cloud server 10 using the login information of a user.

The display device 30 may also receive various control information for displaying content from the cloud server 10 (e.g., the control server 13) using the application. For example, the control information may include information about display styles (e.g., a display time, screen switching intervals, etc.) of content, the page number of content to be displayed, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 5, content stored in the electronic device 20 may be displayed on a display screen of the display device 30 via the cloud server 10.

In operation 501, the electronic device 20 designates content and a display device for which a display copy is requested and transmits the content and the display device to the API server 11. That is, the electronic device 20 shares content with the cloud server 10.

In operation 502, the API server 11 transmits the content transmitted from the electronic device 20 to the control server 13. That is, the API server 11 shares the content with the control server 13.

In operation 503, the control server 13 may control the storage server 15 so that the transmitted content is stored in the storage server 15.

In operation 504, the control server 13 generates a command of a rendering job for content of which a display copy has been requested, and transmits the command of the rendering job to the rendering server 12. Here, the rendering job is for rendering/converting a file format of the content into a document file format that can be displayed on the display device 30. The rendering server 12 may store the received rendering job in a queue.

In operation 505, when the rendering job comes to be processed, the rendering server 12 requests the storage server 15 to transmit content to be rendered.

In operation 506, the storage server 15 transmits the content to be rendered to the rendering server 12.

In operation 507, the rendering server 12 renders/converts a file format of the content transmitted from the electronic device 20 into a document file format that can be displayed on the display device 30. For example, the rendering server 12 may render doc, pptx, xlsx, and other files to files in pdf, xps, and other formats.

In operation 508, when the rendering is completed, the rendering server 12 stores the rendered content (general document files or a compressed file of the general document files) in the storage server 15.

In operation 509, the API server 11 may receive a content request and authentication information from the display device 30 designated by the electronic device 20. Alternatively, according to another example, the API server 11 may request content and authentication information from the display device 30.

In operation 510, the API server 11 may transmit a request to the control server 13 to confirm the authentication information of the display device 30.

In operation 511, the control server 13 may transmit a request to the authentication server 14 to confirm the authentication information of the display device 30.

In operation 512, the authentication server 14 may perform authentication of the display device 30 by comparing previously stored authentication information with the authentication information received from the display device 30. When the authentication is performed, the authentication server 14 may transmit the authentication information to the control server 13.

In operation 513, the control server 13 may request the storage server 15 to transmit the rendered content.

In operation 514, the storage server 15 may transmit the rendered content to the display device 30. The storage server 15 may provide the display device 30 with a storage directory in the storage server 15, for example, the web address URL, wherein an application of the display device 30 may access the storage directory in the storage server 15. The display device 30 may access the web address URL and download the rendered content.

In operation 515, the display device 30 is controlled such that content of which a display copy has been requested is displayed on the display screen of the display device 30.

FIG. 6 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for transmitting content including an attached file to a display device according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 6, the electronic device 20 transmits a document file ("My Documents.pptx") 610, of which a display copy has been requested, to the rendering server 12. As described above, it can be assumed that the document file 610 created by Microsoft PPTX (R) software corresponds to a file format that cannot be displayed directly on the display device 30.

The document file ("My Documents.pptx") 610 may include content of a total of three

pages

611, 612, and 613. For example, in the document file 610, the content of the first page 611 may correspond to photographs, and the content of the second and

third pages

612 and 613 may correspond to essays (i.e., text). Also, the document file ("My Documents.pptx") 610 may include an attached file ("A.docx") in the document. It can be assumed that the attached file corresponds to a file format that cannot be displayed directly on the display device 30.

The rendering server 12 may confirm whether an attached file is inserted by unzipping the document file ("My Documents.pptx") 610 and confirming whether an embeddings folder exists for each format. Link information of the attached file may be confirmed by unzipping the document file 610, and thus it can be determined which page of the document file 610 the attached file is linked to.

The rendering server 12 renders/converts each of the

pages

611, 612, and 613 of the document file 610 to be suitable for a display format of the display device 30. For example, the rendering server 12 may render/convert each of

pages

611, 612, and 613 of a document file 610 to a document file format such as pdf, xps, etc. In addition, the rendering server 12 may render/convert an attached file ("A.docx") linked to the page 613 to a document format.

Thereafter, the rendering server 12 may generate each of rendered/converted

pages

621, 622, and 623 and an attached file 614 as a single content file ("My Documents.pdf") 620.

The rendering server 12 transmits the content file ("My Documents.pdf") 620 of the converted document format to the display device 30. The display device 30 may complete a displayed copy requested from the electronic device 20 by displaying document content in each of the

pages

621, 622, and 623. When display of a specific page (for example, 623 (page 3)) is commanded from the control server 13, the display device 30 may first display the commanded page 3, that is, the page 623.

Furthermore, when a user selects an attached file ("A.pdf"), the display device 30 may display a rendered attached file on a screen.

FIG. 7 is a view of an operation of a cloud server for transmitting content including a hyperlink to a display device according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 7, the electronic device 20 transmits a document file ("My Documents.pptx") 710 of which a display copy has been requested to the rendering server 12. The document file ("My Documents.pptx") 710 may include content of a total of two

pages

711 and 712. Furthermore, the document file ("My Documents.pptx") 710 may include a hyperlink ("http://www.xxxx.com") 713 in the document.

Formats such as pdf, xps, doc, ppt, xls, pptx, docx, xlsx, etc. from among document formats may include a hyperlink in the document. The hyperlink refers to an icon, image, text, or the like that, when clicked, leads to another part of a current page or to a completely different page. Hyperlinks included in a document may not be maintained by rendering in a manner that prints the document. Thus, a hyperlink document rendered simply as an image file or a document file may be less useful when displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to convert hyperlink information into a hyperlink format that can be used in a general document file so that the hyperlink can be maintained even in a converted document.

Rendering server 12 may parse a document file to determine whether hyperlink information is included in the document. Rendering server 12 may parse the document file ("My Documents.pptx") 710 to confirm the hyperlink 713 and may convert the hyperlink 713 to hyperlink information that can be used in a document format of pdf, xps, etc.

The rendering server 12 renders/converts each of the

pages

711 and 712 of the document file 710 to be suitable for a display format of the display device 30. For example, the rendering server 12 may render/convert each of the

pages

711 and 712 of a document file 710 to a document file format such as pdf, xps, etc. Furthermore, the rendering server 12 converts the hyperlink 713 included in the page 712 into a hyperlink 723 in a form that can be used in a general document file format (pdf, xps, etc.), and inserts the hyperlink 723 into the second page 712 to generate a converted content file ("My Documents.pdf") 720.

The rendering server 12 transmits the content file ("My Documents.pdf") 720 of the converted document format to the display device 30. The display device 30 may complete a displayed copy requested from the electronic device 20 by displaying document content in each of the

pages

721 and 722. When display of a specific page (for example, page 2, 722) is commanded from the control server 13, the display device 30 may first display the commanded

page

2, 722.

Furthermore, when a user selects the hyperlink 723, the display device 30 may display a job linked to the hyperlink 723. That is, if the electronic device 20 accesses a web page through the hyperlink 713, the display device 30 may also access the same web page through the hyperlink 723.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a function of sharing content using an electronic code according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 8, the electronic device 20 may request the insertion of an electronic code when transmitting content to the cloud server 10. The electronic device 20 transmits a document file ("My Documents.doc") 801 including the request for the insertion of an electronic code to the rendering server 12. For example, the document file ("My Documents.doc") 801 may include an image content 802.

The cloud server 10 may render/convert the image content 802 included in the document file 801 into content 804 of a document format to be suitable for a predetermined document format, and may generate an electronic code 805 corresponding to the content of the document format 804 to insert the electronic code 805 into content 803 of a document format. The electronic code 805 may be a quick response (QR) code, a bar code, etc. The electronic code 805 may include identification information (a MAC address, a serial number, an IP address, etc.) of the electronic device 20, an address where the content 803 of a document format is stored, identification information of the content 803 of a document format, etc.

The cloud server 10 may transmit the content 803 of a document format including the electronic code 805 to the display device 30.

The display device 30 may display the content 803 of a document format including the electronic code 805. That is, the electronic code 805 may be displayed on a display screen of the display device 30.

The electronic device 21 may scan an electronic tag on the display device 30 by using a camera module, a bar code reader, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device, or the like. The electronic device 21 may be connected to the cloud server 10, in which the content 803 of a document format is stored, by scanning the electronic code 805.

The cloud server 10 may transmit content 806 ("My Documents.pdf") of a rendered document format to the electronic device 21 connected to the cloud server 10 by scanning the electronic code 805. The cloud server 10 may transmit the content 806 ("My Documents.pdf") of a document format not including the electronic code 805 or content of a document format including the electronic code 805. In an example, the content 806 ("My Documents.pdf") of a document format may be transmitted by the electronic device 20 and may include the rendered image content 804.

The electronic device 21 may display the content 806 ("My Documents.pdf") of a document format received from the cloud server 10.

When the electronic device 21 receives the content of a document format including the electronic code 805, the content may be shared by other electronic devices.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of transmitting content to a display device using a security code according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 9, the electronic device 20 may designate the display device 30 to receive content from the cloud server 10, may set an authentication method necessary for browsing the content, and may transmit the authentication method to the cloud server 10 in operation 901. The authentication method is a security process required to display the content received from the cloud server 10 by the display device 30. For example, the authentication method may include an ID/PW input, a fingerprint input, a personal identification number (pin) code input, authentication by a device, authentication by a release code, or the like.

In operation 901, the electronic device 20 may transmit content with an authentication method using a security code to the cloud server 10.

In operation 902, the cloud server 10 may generate a security code, for example, a pin code.

In operation 903, the cloud server 10 may transmit a security code to the electronic device 20. The security code may be provided to a user by being displayed on a screen of the electronic device 20 or another device owned or operated by the user of the electronic device 20.

In operation 904, the cloud server 10 may render/convert content including electronic code information into content of a document format.

In operation 905, the cloud server 10 may transmit a request for a security code to the display device 30 designated by the electronic device 10. For example, the cloud server 10 may transmit a request or otherwise control such that a security code input window is displayed on a screen of the display device 30.

In operation 906, a user of the display device 30 may input an electronic code generated by the cloud server 10 using a user interface unit or a remote controller of the display device 30. An application of the display device 30 may transmit identification information of the display device 30, which may include a MAC address, an IP address, a serial number, or the like, and an input security code to the cloud server 10.

In operation 907, the cloud server 10 may compare the generated security code with the received security code and may transmit content of a rendered document format to the display device 30 if the security codes match or the security process is otherwise successful.

In operation 908, the display device 30 may display the received content of the document format.

According to another example, the cloud server 10 may transmit content of an encrypted document format to the display device 30. The display device 30 may input the security code in order to view the content of the rendered document format. If the input security code is equal to the security code generated by the cloud server 10, the display device 30 may display content of a document format.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining a process of an electronic device for performing a function of a display copy when content is transmitted by determining a virtual display device according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 10, the electronic device 20 may transmit content without designating a display device in operation 1001.For example, the electronic device 20 may designate a virtual display device and transmit content to the cloud server 10 at the same time.

In operation 1002, the cloud server 10 may generate a security code, for example, a pin code.

In operation 1003, the cloud server 10 may transmit a security code to the electronic device 20. The security code may be provided to a user by being displayed on a screen of the electronic device 20 or another device owned or operated by the user of the electronic device 20.

In operation 1004, the cloud server 10 may render/convert content including electronic code information into content of a document format.

In operation 1005, an undesignated device, for example, the image forming apparatus 55 may request content from the cloud server 10.

In operation 1006, the cloud server 10 may request a security code from the image forming apparatus 55 undesignated by the electronic device 10. For example, the cloud server 10 may be controlled such that a security code input window is displayed on a screen of the image forming apparatus 55.

In operation 1007, a user of the image forming apparatus 55 may input an electronic code generated by the cloud server 10 using a user interface unit or remote controller of the image forming apparatus 55. An application of the image forming apparatus 55 may transmit identification information of the image forming apparatus 55, which may include a MAC address, IP address, serial number, or the like, and an input security code to the cloud server 10.

In operation 1008, the cloud server 10 may compare the generated security code with the received security code and may transmit content of a rendered document format to the image forming apparatus 55 if the security codes match or the security process is otherwise successful.

In operation 1009, the image forming apparatus 55 may display the received content of the document format.

According to another example, the cloud server 10 may transmit content of an encrypted document format to the image forming apparatus 55 which is not designated. The image forming apparatus 55 may input the security code in order to view the content of the rendered document format. If the input security code is equal to the security code generated by the cloud server 10, the image forming apparatus 55 may display content of a document format.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a process of performing a scan-to-display copy in an image forming apparatus according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 11, a cloud system includes the cloud server 10, the image forming apparatus 54, and the display device 30. On the cloud system, the image forming apparatus 54 and the display device 30 may be connected to each other via the cloud server 10. Compared with the cloud system 1 of FIG. 1, the cloud system of FIG. 11 is the image forming apparatus 54 including a source device for requesting a display copy, wherein the source device is not the electronic device 20. Thus, instead of requesting a display copy for content stored in the electronic device 20 as described above, the cloud system of FIG. 11 may request a display copy for a document scanned by the image forming apparatus 54.

More specifically, the image forming apparatus 54 scans a document 1101 to generate scanned data 1102 and transmits the scanned data 1102 to the cloud server 10. The cloud server 10 converts a file format of the received scanned data 1102 into a document file format that can be displayed by the display device 30. That is, the cloud server 10 converts the scanned data 1102 into scanned data 1103 in a predetermined document file format that can be displayed by the display device 30.

The cloud server 10 transmits the scanned data 1103 to the display device 30. The display device 30 may complete a job of a display copy requested from the image forming apparatus 54 by displaying the received scanned data 1103 on a display screen as a display image 1104.

As described above, a function of outputting a document scanned by the image forming apparatus 54 to the display screen of the display device 30 may be defined as "Scan-to-Display Copy". Alternatively, such a function may also be defined as another term having a similar meaning to the "Scan-to-Display Copy".

FIG. 12 is a view of a configuration of an electronic device according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 12, the electronic device 20 may include a user interface unit 201, a controller 202, and a network interface unit 203.

The user interface unit 201 may display photographs, documents, images, or moving images of a photo-gallery application installed on the electronic device 20. In addition, the user interface unit 201 may display web pages running in a web browsing application, images included in the web pages, and attached documents, attached pictures, an e-mail body, etc. of a mail application. Further, the user interface unit 201 may display the screen of a chat room and chat messages in a messenger application installed on the electronic device 20, and a print application capable of performing a display copy. That is, the user interface unit 201 may display various running screens of applications installed on the electronic device 20 and content provided by the applications.

The user interface unit 201 may receive a user input for selecting a variety of content in the running applications or a user input for creating content (documents).

The electronic device 20 may use the user interface unit 201 and the display device 30 may set output options as display settings. For example, a screen display area, screen display magnification, displayed text, N-up, a paper orientation, color or black and white, or the like may be set.

The setting of the screen display area is related to the position of an area in which content is to be displayed or the position of a margin area. For example, the display device 30 may set an upper margin, a lower margin, a left margin, and a right margin as display settings of the screen display area. Content of which a display copy has been requested may be displayed on the remaining area other than the margin areas.

The setting of the screen display magnification is related to a proportion of an area occupied by content to be displayed on a screen of the display device 30. For example, if the screen display magnification is 80%, only 80% of the entire screen of the display device 30 is set as an area where content is to be displayed and the remaining 20% is set as a margin area. For example, if the screen display area is set to the upper margin and the screen display magnification is set to 80%, the display device 30 sets the top 20% of the entire screen to a margin area and the bottom 80% to an area where content is to be displayed.

N-up means a number of pages of a document to be displayed on the screen of the display device 30. For example, when the N-up of content is set to three, three pages included in the content may be displayed on the screen of the display device 30.

In addition, the electronic device 20 may designate the display device 30 by inputting an ID of the display device 30 using the user interface unit 201. In addition, the electronic device 20 may input the number of display devices that can be shared for each content, an authentication method for transmitting the type and content of the display device 30 to the cloud server 10, and an authentication method for receiving content of a document format from the display device 30 using the user interface unit 201.

The controller 202 may control operations of the electronic device 20. For example, the controller 202 may run a photo-gallery application, a web-browsing application, an e-mail application, a document creation application, or the like. Furthermore, the controller 202 may run a messenger application, a print application, or the like. Accordingly, a user may select content for which a display copy is requested through the user interface unit 201 or directly create content for which a display copy is requested by using the applications run by the controller 202. Meanwhile, the user may share the content for which a display copy is requested by using the messenger application run by the controller 202 or the messenger application run in the printer application.

If a display copy of content is requested, the network interface unit 203 may transmit the content to the cloud server 10. The network interface unit 203 may include one or more components for performing communication between the electronic device 20 and the cloud server 10 or between the electronic device 20 and other external devices. For example, the network interface unit 203 may include a short-range wireless communication unit, a mobile communication unit, and a broadcast receiver.

The short-range wireless communication unit may include, but is not limited to, a Bluetooth communication part, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication part, a near field wireless communication part, a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication part, a ZigBee communication part, an infrared Data Association (IrDA) communication part, a Wi-Fi Direct (WFD) communication part, an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication part, or an Ant+ communication part.

The mobile communication unit transmits and receives wireless signals to and from at least one selected from a base station, an external terminal, a server on a mobile communication network, or the like. Here, the wireless signal may be a voice call signal, a video call signal, or data in any one of various formats according to transmission and reception of a text/multimedia message.

The broadcast receiver receives a broadcast signal and/or information about a broadcast via an external broadcast channel. The broadcast channel may include a satellite channel and a terrestrial channel. According to an example, the electronic device 20 may not include the broadcast receiver.

FIG. 13 is a view of a configuration of a display device according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 13, the display device 30 may include a display unit 301, an audio output unit 302, a controller 303, a network interface unit 304, a memory 305, and a memory card connector 306.

The display unit 301 may be implemented in various types such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a 3-dimensional (3D) display, an electrophoretic display, etc.

The display unit 301 may display broadcast data if the display device 30 is a TV, and the display unit 301 may display an advertisement, a guidance screen, broadcast data, etc. if the display device 30 is an LFD. Further, as described above in FIG. 3, since the display device 30 may correspond to the electronic device 21 (smart phone), the electronic device 62 (tablet device), the image forming apparatus 55, the laptop computer 63, the PC 64, or the like, execution screens of various applications may be displayed.

The audio output unit 302 outputs audio of the broadcast data. Furthermore, the audio output unit 302 may also output an audio signal (e.g., a call signal receiving sound, a message receiving sound, a notifying sound, or the like) related to capabilities performed by the display device 30. The audio output unit 302 may include a speaker, a buzzer, or the like.

The controller 303, which is hardware implemented as at least one processor, may control general functions and operations of components in the display device 30.

The controller 303 may execute an agent application for supporting a cloud service such as a display copy.

The network interface unit 304 may receive a broadcast signal and/or information about a broadcast via a broadcast channel such as a satellite channel and a terrestrial channel from the outside by using a broadcast receiving module. In addition, the network interface unit 304 may access the Internet or the Intranet by wire or wirelessly using a Wi-Fi module, an Ethernet module, or the like. The display device 30 may communicate with the cloud server 10 using the network interface unit 304.

The memory 305 may store a program for processing and controlling the controller 303, and various data (e.g., broadcast data, advertisement data, applications, and content (documents, photographs, images, and the like)). In particular, the memory 305 may store the agent application for supporting a cloud service, such as a display copy. Furthermore, the memory 305 may store various pieces of identification information, a unique name, and the like of the display device 30. Here, the identification information of the display device 30 may include a MAC address, a serial number, an IP address, and the like of the display device 304. A specific name of the display device 30 may be a nickname arbitrarily set by a user with respect to the display device 30.

The memory 305 may include at least one type of storage medium from among memory of a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, or a card type (for example, SD or XD memory), random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (static RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable ROM (PROM), magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The memory card connector 306 is hardware for connecting with external portable storage devices such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device, a Secure Digital (SD) card, or the like. The memory card connector 306 may receive data stored in the USB device, the SD card, or the like.

The controller 303 may complete a display copy operation by controlling rendered content (content of a document format) received from the cloud server 10 to be displayed through the display unit 301. If a compressed file is received from the cloud server 10, the controller 303 decompresses the compressed file to extract the content of a document format. The controller 303 may complete a display copy operation by controlling the extracted content of a document format to be displayed through the display unit 301.

FIG. 14 is a view of a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an example.

Referring to FIG. 14, components of the image forming apparatus 54 may correspond to only components related to a display copy operation, but are not limited thereto. Although not shown in FIG. 14, the image forming apparatus 54 may further include other general components. In addition, operations of the image forming apparatus 54, which are described in other drawings of this specification, may be performed by components of the electronic device 20 shown in FIG. 12.

A scanner 541 scans a document to generate scanned data (e.g., a scanned image file or a scanned document).

A controller 542 may control general operations of the image forming apparatus 54. For example, the controller 542 may control a scanning operation of the scanner 541, control the display of information through an operation panel 543, process information input through the operation panel 543, or control data transmission/reception of a network interface unit 544. The controller 542 may execute a print application, a messenger application, and the like that support the function of a scan-to-display copy, which are installed in the image forming apparatus 54.

The operation panel 543 displays the print application or the messenger application that supports the function of the scan-to-copy display. If the scanning by the scanner 541 is completed, the operation panel 543 may display a user interface screen for setting a target device (e.g., the display device 30) for requesting a scan-to-display copy for scanned data by displaying the print application or the messenger application. The operation panel 543 may receive a user input designating the target device (e.g., the display device 30) through the user interface screen. That is, the operation panel 543 corresponds to input/output hardware for displaying information processed by the image forming apparatus 54, or receiving information from a user.

The network interface unit 544 may transmit the scanned data (e.g., a scanned image file, or a scanned document) to the cloud server 10 when a scan-to-display copy is requested. In addition, the network interface unit 544 may transmit information on the target device (e.g., the display device 30) of the scan-to-display copy to the cloud server 10. The network interface unit 544 may access the Internet or the Intranet by wire or wirelessly using wired or wireless communication devices such as a Wi-Fi module, an Ethernet module, or the like.

A display unit 545 may be implemented in various types such as an LCD, a TFT-LCD, an OLED, a 3D display, and an electrophoretic display.

Referring to FIG. 15, a cloud system may include an image forming apparatus 100 that is connected to at least one of a user terminal 200 or a server 300. The user terminal 200 may include an input/output unit 210, a controller 220, a communicator 230, and a memory 240.

The controller 220 may control an image forming job by executing a program stored in the memory 240 and transmitting a signal or data generated as a result of executing the program to the image forming apparatus 100 through the communicator 230.

The image forming apparatus 100 may include a user interface device 110, a controller 120, a communicator 130, a memory 140, and an image forming job performer 150. The communicator 130 may be connected to the user terminal 200 provided outside the image forming apparatus 100 and may transmit and receive a signal or data to and from the user terminal 200. That is, the communicator 130 of the image forming apparatus 100 may transmit and receive signals or data to and from the communicator 230 of the user terminal 200 via the server 300.

As shown in FIG. 15, the various types of data, such as a file or a program like an application, may be installed and stored in the memory 140. The controller 120 may access the data stored in the memory 140 to use the data, or may store new data in the memory 140. Also, the controller 120 may execute the program installed in the memory 140 and may install an application received from an external source through the communicator 130 in the memory 140.

The image forming job performer 150 may perform an image forming job, such as printing, scanning, or faxing.

Referring to FIG. 15, the image forming job performer 150 may include a printer 151, a scanner 152, and a facsimile 153, but as occasion demands, the image forming job performer 150 may include some of them or may further include a component for performing another type of image forming job.

The printer 151 may form an image on a recording medium via any one of various printing methods, such as an electrophotography method, an inkjet method, a thermal transfer method, and a thermal method.

The scanner 152 may irradiate light onto paper and receive light reflected from the paper to read an image recorded on the paper. Examples of an image sensor for reading an image from paper include a charge-coupled device (CCD) and a contact type image sensor (CIS). The scanner 152 may have a flatbed structure in which paper is located at a fixed location and an image sensor moves to read an image, a document feed structure in which an image sensor is located at a fixed location and paper is transferred, or a combination structure thereof.

The facsimile 153 may share a component for scanning an image with the scanner 152, share a component for printing a received file with the printer 151, transmit a scan file to a destination, or receive a file from an external source.

Terms of components of the above-described image forming apparatus 100 may vary. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to various examples may include at least one of the above-described components, and may omit some components or further include other components.

The user interface device 110 may be provided with a unique control system. That is, the user interface device 110 may include a control system (a controller, a memory, etc.) for controlling a user interface (UI) provided by the user interface device 110, separately from the controller 120 of the image forming apparatus 100. Programs such as an Operating System (OS) for providing the UI and an application for supporting various functions may be installed in the control system of the user interface device 110.

The described examples can be written as computer programs and can be implemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programs using a computer readable recording medium. Furthermore, data structures that may be used in the above-described examples may be recorded in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium via several means. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium may be a magnetic storage medium (e.g., a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.), or an optical reading medium (e.g., a CD ROM, a DVD or the like).

The present disclosure has been described above with reference to examples thereof. Descriptions of features or aspects within each example should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other examples. It should be understood that examples described herein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. While one or more examples have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.

Claims

A cloud server comprising:

an application programming interface (API) server to receive content including a request to transmit the content from an electronic device to a display device designated by the electronic device;

a rendering server to render a format of the received content to a predetermined document format, and

a storage server configured to transmit the content of the document format to the display device.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the rendering server converts the format of the received content into the predetermined document format using a rendering module corresponding to a file format of the content from among a plurality of rendering modules.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the document format comprises a standard file format for digital documents that can be read or printed by a corresponding operating system while at least one of a font, an image, graphics, or a document type of an original document is maintained.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the rendering server confirms an attached file included in the content, renders a format of the attached file to the predetermined document format, and inserts the rendered attached file into content of the document format.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the rendering server confirms a hyperlink included in the content, converts a format of the hyperlink into a format usable in the content of the document format, and inserts the converted hyperlink into content of the document format.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the storage server transmits to a first display device, in response to a request from the electronic device, the content of the document format, which includes an electronic code corresponding to information of the content of the document format, and transmits the content of the document format to a second display device in response to a request from the second display device that has recognized the electronic code of the content of the document format displayed on the first display device.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein, when the electronic device designates a display device including an authentication method, the storage server transmits the content of the document format to the display device upon receiving authentication information corresponding to the authentication method from the display device.
The cloud server of claim 1, further comprising an authentication server,

wherein, when the electronic device designates a display device including a security code authentication method, the authentication server generates a security code corresponding to information of the content of the document format to transmit the security code to the electronic device, and

wherein the storage server transmits the content of the document format to the display device by requesting the security code from the display device and receiving the security code.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein, when the electronic device designates a virtual display device, the storage server stores the rendered content of the document format, and transmits the content of the document format to an undesignated display device upon receiving a request for content including user authentication information from the undesignated display device.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the API server receives a request for a content list including user authentication information from an undesignated display device and transmits a list of content of at least one document format, and, when any one piece of content in the list of content of at least one document format is selected by the display device, requests authentication information corresponding to the selected piece of content of the at least one document format from the undesignated display device.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein the API server receives, from the electronic device, content in which at least one of an ID of the display device, a type of the display device, an authentication method when transmitting the content of the document format in the cloud server, an authentication method when displaying the content of the document format on the display device, whether an electronic code is inserted, or an output option of the content of the document format is set.
The cloud server of claim 1, wherein, when the electronic device comprises an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus scans a document to generate scan data, selects, using an application, a display device to which the scan data is to be transmitted, and sets an output option of the scan data.
A method of operating a cloud server, the method comprising:

receiving content including a request to transmit the content from an electronic device to a display device designated by the electronic device;

rendering a format of the received content to a predetermined document format; and

transmitting the content of the document format to the designated display device.
The method of claim 13, wherein the rendering comprises converting the format of the received content into the predetermined document format using a rendering module corresponding to a file format of the content from among a plurality of rendering modules.
The method of claim 13, wherein the rendering comprises:

confirming an attached file included in the content;

rendering a format of the attached file to the predetermined document format; and

inserting the attached file, of which the format has been rendered, into the content of the document format.