JP2007067712A - Network print system, image forming apparatus and image data history managing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively record history information effective for tracking image data, etc. <P>SOLUTION: In a combiner 10, a document register 12 reads a document after inputting information for identifying the registrant and the sending destination of the document, and registers the document with a document ID given thereto in a document storage 20. An electronic mail function processor 14 sends an electronic mail containing the document ID to the designated sending destination (portable terminal 40). When the portable terminal 40 sends a print request including the document ID and the apparatus ID to a combiner 30 by near range communication, a document acquiring processor 32 sends an acquisition request including information for identifying the document ID, the apparatus ID and the place to the combiner 10 to thereby acquire a corresponding electronic document from the combiner 10 and to make a print processor 33 execute the print. A history manager 16 in the combiner 10 registers information on the document ID, etc. contained in the acquisition request to a history information storage 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network print system, and more particularly to history management of processing performed on stored image data.

  In recent years, multifunction devices have become more multifunctional, such as an electronic mail function that sends image data such as scanned documents to specified destinations in addition to the print function, copy function, scanner function, etc. Yes. On the other hand, in mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), models equipped with short-range wireless communication functions such as infrared communication in addition to the conventional electronic mail function have become widespread. Convenience is further improved. Various usage forms, services, and the like have been proposed by effectively utilizing the high functionality of such multifunction devices and portable terminal devices.

  For example, in recent years, there has been an increasing need for taking out and printing out electronic documents in the office anytime and anywhere in business. To meet such needs, network systems including multifunction peripherals and portable terminal devices have been developed. A management server stores image data (electronic documents, etc.) and a correspondence list of image data and identification information of portable terminal devices, transfers the corresponding electronic document according to instructions from the mobile phone, and sends it to the transfer destination. A technique for printing an electronic document has been proposed (Patent Document 1).

  In such a so-called electronic document transfer service, if the mobile phone user notifies the mobile phone by sending the electronic document identification information (hereinafter referred to as “document ID”) to the mobile phone or the like, the mobile phone user can call the mobile phone. The stored document ID is transmitted to a nearby multifunction peripheral using infrared communication, and the multifunction peripheral can take out a necessary electronic document from the management server using the document ID as a key. Thus, the multifunction device prints the extracted electronic document, so that the user of the mobile phone can obtain a necessary document anytime and anywhere when there is a multifunction device that can print. If this technology is used, when distributing a paper document, it is not necessary to perform a work such as copying and distributing the required number of copies.

  However, on the other hand, as a recent social situation, economic loss due to leakage of confidential documents and leakage of personal information stored by companies has become a serious problem. Therefore, in the electronic document delivery service system used in a wide area, in addition to preventing the information leakage itself, if an information leakage accident occurs, the information distribution history is taken to track the cause of the leakage It is important to be able to identify the sources of leakage and leakage. The history information required for tracking can include the location and person and time of scanning a paper document, the location and person and time of printing an electronic document, the contents of the target electronic document, and the relay route of the electronic document. It is convenient, and the more the history information can be acquired, the easier the cause can be traced. As a technique for recording the history information of a paper medium, there is a conventional technique for attaching a RFID tag to a paper medium and writing the printed material information such as the printing date and time of the printed material (for example, Patent Document 2).

  Of course, the use range of information related to the distribution history of electronic documents is not limited to the above-described information leakage countermeasures. For example, accounting management using output history, document search using contextual information such as when and where information is sent from who, and electronic information such as who (where) from who (where) and how much It would be convenient if it could be used to analyze the flow of work and the connection of people by monitoring the distribution of documents.

JP 2002-342057 A JP 2004-310293 A JP 2003-132029 A JP 2004-185612 A

  However, in the conventional electronic document delivery service system, sufficient history information cannot be collected for the electronic document. That is, the electronic document storage source can retain the history of sending the document ID, but cannot collect the history of printing the electronic document at the document ID transmission destination.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system, an apparatus, and the like that can record history information effective for tracking image data. is there.

  In order to achieve the above object, a network print system according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus that holds image data therein, and a portable terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the image forming apparatus. The image data specified by the image data identification information is acquired from the image forming apparatus in response to a processing request including the device identification information and the image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device, and is printed. In the network print system, each of which is connected so as to be able to exchange information, the printing apparatus is configured to request a print process of the image data specified by the image data identification information. Input means for inputting at least identification information and an acquisition request for image data specified by the image data identification information A transmission means for transmitting to the image forming apparatus including image data related information including at least image data identification information, owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and execution location information of a printing process, and the image forming apparatus. The history information storage means for storing history information relating to the processing performed on the image data, and the image data related information included in the acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus are registered in the history information storage means. And a history management unit configured to collectively manage processing histories related to image data held in the image forming apparatus in the image forming apparatus.

  In addition, the printing apparatus includes a printing result notifying unit that notifies the image forming apparatus of a printing specification when printing processing is executed as printing result information, and the history management unit in the recording image forming apparatus includes the printing device. The printing result information sent from is registered in the history information storage means.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is specified by image data identification information in response to a processing request including portable terminal device and device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. The network printing system includes a printing apparatus that acquires and prints image data to be printed, and is connected to each other so that information can be exchanged. The printing apparatus holds and manages the image data to be printed and specifies the image data. In an image forming apparatus that transmits image data identification information to the portable terminal device, a history information storage unit that stores history information regarding processing performed on image data, and an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus Image data transmission processing means for transmitting the image data specified by the image data identification information, and the printing apparatus History management means for registering image data related information including image data identification information, owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and execution location information of printing processing in the history information storage means included in the obtained acquisition request; And a history of processing related to image data to be held and managed.

  In addition, identification information unique to the mobile terminal device is set as owner identification information of the mobile terminal device.

  In addition, identification information unique to the printing apparatus is set as execution location information of the printing process.

  An image forming apparatus according to another invention includes a data storage device that stores image data therein, and a portable terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the data storage device, each of which can exchange information. The image data specified by the image data identification information is included in the connected network print system and specified by the image data identification information in response to a processing request including the device identification information and the image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. An input unit for inputting at least identification information of an owner of the portable terminal device requesting a print process of image data specified by the image data identification information in an image forming apparatus to be obtained and printed from the data storage device; The acquisition request for image data specified by the identification information includes at least image data identification information, the portable terminal And a sending means for including the image data-related information including exemplary location information of the owner identification information and print processing of transmission to the data storage device.

  The image data history management program according to the present invention is based on image data identification information in response to a processing request including the portable terminal device and device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. A network printing system having a printing device that acquires and prints specified image data, and each of the printing devices is connected to be able to exchange information, and holds and manages the image data to be printed by the printing device. Image data transmission processing for transmitting image data specified by the image data identification information in response to an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus to an image forming apparatus that transmits the specified image data identification information to the portable terminal device Means, image data identification information included in the acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus, and the portable terminal device It is intended to function as a history managing means for registering the image data-related information in the history information storage means including implementation location information of the owner identification information and print processing.

  An image data history management program according to another invention includes a data storage device that stores image data therein and a mobile terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the data storage device, and exchanges information with each other. Image data that is included in a network print system that can be connected and that is specified by image data identification information in response to a processing request that includes device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device Input means for inputting at least identification information of the owner of the portable terminal device that requests the image forming apparatus to print the image data specified by the image data identification information from the data storage device The acquisition request for the image data specified by the data identification information includes at least the image data identification information, the portable information. Is intended to function as a transmission means for transmitting to said data storage device including the image data-related information including exemplary location information of the owner identification information and the print processing of the terminal device.

  According to the present invention, in the delivery of image data created by scanning a paper document, information related to printing such as the place where the image data was printed is sent from the print execution side to the image data holding and management side. Therefore, the scanned location and person and time, the printed location and person and time, and the history related to the image data to be managed can be collectively managed on the image data holding management side. This makes it easy to manage the distribution of image data because it is possible to know who sent what image data from where and from whom and when. In particular, it becomes easy to track when leakage occurs.

  In addition, since the print specifications such as the paper size and number of prints are notified from the print execution side to the image data holding and management side, the history information collected along with the enhancement of history information management can be used for billing etc. Can be used.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a network print system according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows the multifunction peripherals 10 and 30 and the mobile terminal device 40. The MFPs 10 and 30 are image forming apparatuses equipped with a print function, a copy function, a scanner function, an e-mail function, and a wireless communication function for performing infrared communication with a device such as the portable terminal device 40. It is connected to the LAN 4 together with the server 2. In the present embodiment, since the mobile terminal device 40 is assumed to be a mobile phone, the MFPs 10 and 30 are connected to the mobile terminal device 40 and the electronic device via the mail server 2 and a mobile phone network (not shown). Exchange mail. In the present embodiment, the multifunction machine 10 is used as an image forming apparatus that internally holds and manages an electronic document distributed to a user, and the multifunction machine 30 is used as a printing apparatus that takes out the electronic document from the multifunction machine 10 and prints it.

  The multifunction device 10 includes a document input unit 11, a document registration unit 12, a user information input unit 13, an e-mail function processing unit 14, a document transmission processing unit 15, a history management unit 16, and an information search processing unit 17. The document input unit 11 forms internal image data (electronic document) by scanning a paper document to be printed. The document registration unit 12 registers the electronic document formed by the document input unit 11 in the document storage unit 20. At this time, the document assigning unit 18 included in the document registration unit 12 generates and assigns identification information (hereinafter, “document ID”) for identifying the electronic document. The user information input unit 13 inputs information for specifying the sender and receiver of the e-mail. The e-mail function processing unit 14 implements an e-mail function that the multifunction machine 10 has. The document transmission processing unit 15 takes out the corresponding electronic document from the document storage unit 20 in response to a request from the multifunction machine 30 and returns it. The history management unit 16 receives the notification of the occurrence of access (print related information) related to the electronic document stored in the document storage unit 20 such as a document acquisition request sent from the multifunction device 30, and changes the notification content. The history information generated based on this is registered in the history information storage unit 21. The information search processing unit 17 strolls the history information storage unit 21 in accordance with an input instruction from the user and outputs the history information so that it can be referred to. The output destination is an operation panel of the multifunction machine 10, a paper medium (so-called printing), or a PC used by the user via the LAN 4.

  On the other hand, the multifunction machine 30 includes a print request receiving unit 31, a document acquisition processing unit 32, and a print processing unit 33. The print request receiving unit 31 receives a print request sent from the mobile terminal device 40. The document acquisition processing unit 32 transmits a document acquisition request including the document ID included in the received print request to the multifunction device 10 and acquires the corresponding electronic document from the multifunction device 10. The print processing unit 33 prints the acquired electronic document.

  Note that the multifunction peripherals 10 and 30 are image forming apparatuses having a plurality of functions such as a printing function as described above, and the processing functions inherently possessed by the multifunction peripherals are the same. Furthermore, the hardware configuration is basically the same. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a multifunction peripheral 10 that holds and manages an electronic document. A document input unit 11, a document registration unit 12, a user information input unit 13, an e-mail function processing unit 14, a document transmission processing unit 15, and a history management unit. 16 and the information search processing unit 17 are configured to be included in the multi-function device 30 that prints an electronic document held and managed by the multi-function device 10 in response to an instruction from the mobile terminal device 40, a print request receiving unit 31, a document acquisition processing unit 32, and Although the print processing unit 33 is illustrated, this is for the convenience of description of the present embodiment. That is, although omitted from FIG. 1, the multifunction device 10 has a printing function and a wireless communication function, and an electronic document may be taken out from another multifunction device and printed in accordance with an instruction from the mobile terminal device 40. Therefore, the same components 31 to 33 as those of the multi-function device 30 are mounted. On the other hand, the multi-function device 30 is an image forming apparatus and transmits an electronic document held and managed therein to another multi-function device upon request. Therefore, the same constituent elements 11 to 18 as those of the multifunction machine 10 are mounted.

  Note that the constituent elements 11 to 18 included in the multifunction peripheral 10 and the constituent elements 31 to 33 included in the multifunction peripheral 30 include a software program that performs a processing function of each constituent element and hardware resources of the multifunction peripherals 10 and 30. Realized by cooperative action.

  As described above, the mobile terminal device 40 is assumed to be a mobile phone. The mobile phone used in this embodiment has a wireless communication function such as infrared communication in addition to an electronic mail function. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal device 40 includes a mail function processing unit 41 and a print request unit 42. The mail function processing unit 41 is a means that uses an e-mail function. Reference numeral 42 denotes a means for issuing a print request to the multifunction machine 30 using a wireless communication function.

  Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, an electronic document is registered in the multi-function device 10 and processing until the other party who wants to distribute the electronic document by e-mail notifies the electronic document to the multi-function device 10 after the other party receives the e-mail. Can be roughly divided into processing from taking out to printing. First, the former process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  A user who wants to use the electronic document transfer service provided by the network print system according to the present embodiment, information that can specify a partner (document transmission destination) to which a paper document is to be distributed from the multifunction device 10, and the paper document to the multifunction device 10. The user to input, that is, information that can identify himself / herself is designated by operating an operation panel (not shown) of the multifunction machine 10. In this embodiment, as information that can identify each individual, a mobile phone number or a terminal identification number (manufacturing number) of a personally owned mobile phone can be considered. In this embodiment, a telephone number is used as its own identification information. The mail address is used as the destination identification information. Although a plurality of document transmission destinations can be specified, it is assumed here that the document is transmitted to only one person for the sake of simplicity.

  The e-mail address may be key-inputted from the operation panel of the multi-function device 10, but the following method is also conceivable.

  For example, it is a method of transferring a recipient's mail address from the address book of his / her mobile phone. When this operation is performed, the telephone number of the mobile phone held by the sender is also transferred at the same time. As a more specific implementation method, specific information (email address, phone number) of the mobile phone is described in a specific part of the Vcard information, for example, a memo field in the Vcard format email address information to be transferred. There is a method in which the multi-function device 10 receiving the mail address information analyzes the data in the Vcard format and obtains the specific information of the mobile phone. Alternatively, the mobile phone number may be transferred as an operation different from the mail address transfer. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that infrared communication is used as a communication method between the mobile phone and the MFP 10, but other methods such as RFID communication or via a network may be used. . Also, the document transmission destination and its own identification information may be set in the multifunction machine 10 by different methods. In any case, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to register each identification information of the provider and the user of the electronic document in advance by using the short-range wireless communication between the mobile phone and the multifunction device 10. So convenient.

  The user information input unit 13 in the multifunction machine 10 inputs identification information of the transmission source (self) and transmission destination of the document input and set by the user by any of the above-described methods (step 101). When an entity that sends and receives this document is input, the document input unit 11 reads a paper document to be printed at the transmission destination and generates an electronic document (step 102). In this embodiment, since the document is read after confirming that the information related to the sender / receiver is input, the information related to the sender / receiver remaining in the history information can be obtained with certainty. When the electronic document is formed, the document registration unit 12 generates a document ID for identifying the electronic document (step 103), and registers the document ID in the document storage unit 20 in association with the electronic document (step 104). ). The document ID is generated including a code for identifying the document and a code for specifying the multifunction machine 10 that stores the document.

  In this example, the paper document is digitized using the scanning function of the multifunction machine 10 and stored in the document storage unit 20; however, this method is not limited to this. For example, an electronic document can be transferred from a PC used by the user to the LAN 4. It may be transferred to the multifunction machine 10 via the network and stored in the document storage unit 20.

  Subsequently, the e-mail function processing unit 14 includes the newly generated document ID in the e-mail body and sends e-mail with the e-mail address of the transmission destination input in step 101 as the destination (step 105). In the present embodiment, if information other than a mail address is input and specified as the identification information of the destination in step 101, it is necessary to separately input a mail address for mail transmission of the document ID in step 105. is there.

  When the above e-mail transmission ends normally, the history management unit 16 records information relating to the transmission of the child e-mail as history information in the history information storage unit 21 (step 106). A configuration example of history information recorded in the history information storage unit 21 is shown in FIG. Information to be recorded as history information includes document ID, e-mail transmission time (date), location information, sender, recipient (destination), e-mail subject, electronic document attribute information (number of pages, data capacity, etc. ) Is included. In addition, the electronic document itself to be transmitted may be included. The location information is information for specifying the location where the e-mail is transmitted. In the present embodiment, the IP address of the MFP 10 used for mail transmission is used. Since a multi-function device is a device that is usually not easily portable, once it is installed, it has a feature that it stays at a certain place for a certain period of time. Therefore, it is possible to use the information specifying the multifunction device as information indicating the location. Alternatively, information indicating the installation location (for example, character information such as “2F conference room”) can be set and stored in the MFP main body. Note that the information specifying the multifunction device 10 is also applicable to the multifunction device 30 described later.

  As described above, it is possible to leave history information indicating that information relating to the electronic document has been transmitted elsewhere, but according to the present embodiment, not only the transmission source but also information relating to the transmission destination is combined as history information. Since it is left, it can be used for tracking when an electronic document leaks in future processing.

  Next, processing from when the e-mail recipient receives the e-mail to when the electronic document is taken out from the multi-function peripheral 10 and printed will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the mail function processing unit 41 in the mobile terminal device 40 receives the electronic mail sent from the multifunction device 10 (step 211), the received mail is displayed on the mobile terminal device 40 in accordance with the operation by the owner of the mobile terminal device 40. indicate. When the owner of the portable terminal device 40 recognizes that the document needs to be printed by referring to the electronic mail, the portable terminal device 40 locally connects the portable terminal device 40 to the nearby multifunction device 30 for printing the document. Here, the local connection is assumed to use near field communication such as infrared communication or Bluetooth as described above. However, it is not necessary to limit to wireless communication. For example, a wired connection such as USB or a connection using a card reader or the like may be used. Then, the print request unit 42 in the mobile terminal device 40 transmits a print request including the document ID included in the e-mail body and the device ID of the mobile terminal device 40 to the multi-function device 30 in response to a user operation ( Step 212). Here, the device ID is information for uniquely identifying the mobile terminal device 40, and for example, a manufacturing number, a telephone number, a mail address, or the like of the mobile terminal device 40 can be considered. In the present embodiment, the telephone number of the mobile terminal device 40 is used as the device ID.

  In the MFP 30, when the print request reception unit 31 receives a print request output from the locally connected mobile terminal device 40, the document acquisition processing unit 32 displays the document ID, location information, and transmission source included in the print request. An acquisition request including information is transmitted to the multifunction machine 10 (step 213). The location information is information for specifying the location that is the transmission source of the document acquisition request, and in this embodiment, the IP address of the MFP 30 to which the mobile terminal device 40 has issued the print request is used. I did it. The reason for using the IP address of the multi-function device 30 is that, as described above, the multi-function device is a device that cannot be easily carried around, and has been installed in a certain place for a certain period. The transmission source information is information for identifying the person who requested the document acquisition, and may be the manufacturing number, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. of the mobile phone that is the mobile terminal device 40. The telephone number of the terminal device 40 is used. The multi-function device 30 uses the device ID included in the received print request as transmission source information included in the document acquisition request.

  In the multifunction device 10, when receiving the document acquisition request from the multifunction device 30 (step 111), the document transmission processing unit 15 searches the document storage unit 20 using the document ID included in the document acquisition request as a key. The electronic document to be transmitted is taken out and transmitted to the requesting transmission source multifunction device 30 (step 112). When the above document transmission processing ends normally, the history management unit 16 receives the information included in the document acquisition request received by the document transmission processing unit 15, that is, the document ID, the location information, and the transmission source information. The included history information is generated and recorded in the history information storage unit 21 (step 113). An example of registration of the history information is shown in FIG. As the date and time set in the receiving side history information, the time when the multifunction machine 10 receives the document acquisition request is set, but the time recorded as the history information may be used. Alternatively, the multifunction device 30 may transmit the time including the time in the document acquisition request. The location information is the IP address of the multifunction device 30, and the output requester is the telephone number of the mobile terminal device 40 that issued the print request. In the present embodiment, history information is managed for each document. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the sender history information and the receiver history information are grouped for each document using the document ID as a key. However, the recording format of the history information is not limited to this.

  In the multifunction device 30, when the document acquisition processing unit 32 acquires the electronic document sent from the multifunction device 10 in response to the document acquisition request (step 214), the print processing unit 33 prints the acquired electronic document (step 214). 215). Thereby, the owner of the portable terminal device 40 can print and obtain a document anytime and anywhere by using the nearest multifunction device 30 without storing the electronic document to be printed in some storage means and carrying it. Can do.

  According to the present embodiment, in the delivery of an electronic document obtained by scanning a paper document, the scanned location and person and time, the printed location and person and time, and the target electronic document can be left as a history. . Therefore, even if the electronic document is processed at a location other than the multifunction device 10 on the electronic document management side (the multifunction device 30 in this embodiment), the electronic document is processed by the multifunction device 10. It is possible to centrally manage the history of processing performed on the system. In the above description, the destination of the e-mail including the electronic ID is set to one person for convenience, but the output requester is recorded in the receiving side history information even if it is transmitted to a plurality of portable terminal devices 40. You can easily identify who the person is. Thereby, even if the electronic document leaks, it is possible to easily trace the cause of the leak by referring to the history information recorded in the history information storage unit 21.

  Note that the date and time of the reception history information recorded in the history information storage unit 21 is the time when the multifunction device 10 receives a document acquisition request as described above, but not strictly the time printed by the multifunction device 30. In the electronic document transfer service, since the multifunction device 10 transmits an electronic document in response to a print request issued by the mobile terminal device 40, the transmitted electronic document is printed immediately, so that a document acquisition request is received. It can be considered that there is no problem in considering the printed time as the printed time.

  In the present embodiment, the IP addresses of the multifunction peripherals 10 and 30 are used as the location information included in the history information on the assumption that the multifunction peripherals 10 and 30 do not move. However, recent mobile phones that are equipped with a function for specifying a position using a signal from a GPS or a base station are commercially available. Therefore, as the information used as the location information, the location information acquired by the mobile phone may be used instead of the specific information such as the IP address of the multifunction machine 10 or 30. In this case, the mobile phone includes the location information together with the device ID and the document ID in the print request, and the document acquisition processing unit 32 includes the location information in the document acquisition request instead of its own IP address. Will be sent to. In this way, by using more specific position information, even if there is no information about where the multi-function peripheral is installed, and even if the multi-function peripheral 30 is relocated, it is possible to ensure the location where printing has been executed. Can be specified.

  In the above embodiment, only the document ID is included in the history information as information for specifying the electronic document. As described above, the number of pages, paper size, data capacity, etc. are included in the history information as primary information (attribute information), but depending on the data capacity, the image data itself, thumbnail images, or OCR processing The text information or the like may be included in the history information as specific information (secondary information) of the electronic document. Including text information is effective for history information retrieval by the information retrieval processing unit 17.

  In the present embodiment, since the information search processing unit 17 is provided in the multi-function device 10, it is possible to monitor the distribution of electronic documents (from where, from who, where, to whom, when, what, how much, etc.). . The relationship between people from such information distribution channels, the depth of human-human relationships from the amount and frequency of information distribution, and the contents of the documents are further linked to the content of the document, so who and who For this purpose, it is possible to analyze information such as what relationship is connected. For example, if a problem occurs, by analyzing the information distribution status related to the keyword representing the problem, it is possible to grasp the person who is likely to be related to the problem, its connection, the flow of work, etc. . This enables efficient problem solving.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the information search processing unit 17 is provided as a history information search unit in the multifunction peripheral 10 that centrally manages history information, but is provided in other devices such as the multifunction peripheral 30. May be. That is, for example, the history information search unit may be provided in the multifunction device 30 so that the history information storage unit 21 can be searched by displaying a search screen on an operation panel (not shown) of the multifunction device 30. Note that a multifunction device equipped with the history information storage unit 21 to be searched can be identified by referring to the communication history recorded by the standard function of the multifunction device 30.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the feature that history information can be centrally managed is effectively used for a charging service.

  The fee for using a printer or a multi-function device is usually a fee system based on pay-as-you-go based on the number of printed sheets. As described in the first embodiment, information such as when, where, by which MFP, and which electronic document is output is recorded as history information. However, information on what specifications (color / monochrome, paper size, presence / absence of imposition, contents, etc.) are not managed on the receiving side of the electronic document. For example, according to the contents of the electronic document, color printing for color manuscripts, black and white printing for black and white manuscripts, output on A4 paper for paper sizes of A4 manuscripts, and fixed output specifications such as imposition and duplex printing Although the method of managing the contents on the side is also conceivable, the user has no flexibility and the service level is lowered. Alternatively, there is a method of paying each time on the printing side, but there is a problem that the user needs to pay later and it takes time and effort.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the electronic document is transferred from the multifunction device 10 on the electronic document transmission side to the multifunction device 30 on the reception side, and information indicating what print specifications the multifunction device 30 has output after printing is completed. Therefore, a function for notifying the multifunction machine 10 as a print completion report is added.

  FIG. 5 shows a block configuration diagram of the network print system in the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 in the first embodiment, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the present exemplary embodiment, the configuration shown in the first exemplary embodiment has a configuration in which a print result notification processing unit 34 is added to the multi-function device 30 and a notification reception processing unit 19 is added to the multi-function device 10.

  The operation in the present embodiment and the added components will be described together. When the print processing in the print processing unit 33 is completed, the print result notification processing unit 34 displays the print specifications (color / monochrome, paper size, etc.). Received from the print processing unit 33, adds the document ID to the specification information, and notifies the multifunction peripheral 10 as print result information. When the printing result information is sent from the multifunction device 30, the notification reception processing unit 19 of the multifunction device 10 sends it to the history management unit 16. The history management unit 16 records the printing result information in the history information storage unit 21.

  In this way, it is possible to develop a billing system that uses history information by collecting printing result information together, and the system administrator can easily perform collective management and settlement of usage fees. .

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the electronic document printed when the multifunction device 30 finishes printing is automatically deleted from the multifunction device 30. Therefore, in the above description, the electronic document transmission, The history of processing such as printing was recorded. If the multifunction device 30 transfers the electronic document to another multifunction device or the like, the transfer process is a process related to the electronic document, and therefore, the multifunction device 10 that holds and manages the electronic document. It becomes a history management target.

  In addition, the present embodiment is characterized in that a history of processing related to an electronic document, specifically processing related to printing at the transmission destination of the electronic document, is centrally managed on the transmission side. Therefore, the history information storage unit 21 does not necessarily have to be held inside the multifunction machine 10, and may be stored in another device such as a database server.

1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a network print system according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing until the electronic document is registered in the multifunction peripheral and notification of the registration is sent to the other party who wants to distribute by electronic mail in the first embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of history information recorded in a history information storage unit in Embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing from when an e-mail recipient receives an e-mail until an electronic document is printed in the first embodiment. It is the block block diagram which showed other embodiment of the network print system which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  2 Mail server, 4 LAN, 10, 30 MFP, 11 Document input unit, 12 Document registration unit, 13 User information input unit, 14 E-mail function processing unit, 15 Document transmission processing unit, 16 History management unit, 17 Information search Processing unit, 18 Document giving unit, 19 Notification reception processing unit, 20 Document storage unit, 21 History information storage unit, 31 Print request reception unit, 32 Document acquisition processing unit, 33 Print processing unit, 34 Print result notification processing unit, 40 Mobile terminal device, 41 mail function processing unit, 42 print request unit.

Claims (8)

An image forming apparatus that holds image data therein;
A portable terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the image forming apparatus;
Acquires and prints image data specified by image data identification information from the image forming apparatus in response to a processing request including the device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. A printing device;
In a network print system that is connected so as to exchange information,
The printing apparatus includes:
Input means for inputting at least identification information of the owner of the mobile terminal device requesting the printing process of the image data specified by the image data identification information;
The image forming apparatus including the image data identification information including at least the image data identification information, the owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and the execution location information of the printing process in the image data acquisition request specified by the image data identification information A transmission means for transmitting to,
Have
The image forming apparatus includes:
History information storage means for storing history information relating to processing performed on image data;
History management means for registering image data related information included in an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus in the history information storage means;
A network print system, wherein the image forming apparatus collectively manages processing histories related to image data held in the image forming apparatus. The network print system according to claim 1.
The printing apparatus has a printing result notification means for notifying the image forming apparatus of printing specifications when printing processing is executed as printing result information,
The network management system according to claim 1, wherein the history management unit in the image forming apparatus registers printing record information sent from the printing apparatus in the history information storage unit. Acquires and prints the image data specified by the image data identification information in response to a processing request including the portable terminal device and the device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. The mobile terminal device includes image data identification information for holding and managing image data to be printed by the printing device and specifying the image data. In the image forming apparatus that transmits to
History information storage means for storing history information relating to processing performed on image data;
Image data transmission processing means for transmitting image data specified by the image data identification information in response to an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus;
Registers image data related information including image data identification information included in an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus, owner identification information of the mobile terminal device, and execution location information of printing processing in the history information storage unit History management means to
And an image forming apparatus that collectively manages processing histories related to image data to be held and managed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.
An image forming apparatus, wherein identification information unique to the mobile terminal device is set as owner identification information of the mobile terminal device. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.
An image forming apparatus, wherein identification information unique to the printing apparatus is set as execution location information of the printing process. A data storage device that stores image data therein; and a portable terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the data storage device, each of which is included in a network print system that is connected to be able to exchange information, An image to be acquired and printed from the data storage device for image data specified by the image data identification information in response to a processing request including the device identification information and the image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device In the forming device,
Input means for inputting at least identification information of the owner of the portable terminal device requesting the printing process of the image data specified by the image data identification information;
The data storage device including image data identification information including at least image data identification information, owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and execution location information of a printing process in an image data acquisition request specified by the image data identification information A transmission means for transmitting to,
An image forming apparatus comprising: Acquires and prints the image data specified by the image data identification information in response to a processing request including the portable terminal device and the device identification information and image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device. The mobile terminal device includes image data identification information for holding and managing image data to be printed by the printing device and specifying the image data. The image forming device to be sent to
Image data transmission processing means for transmitting image data specified by the image data identification information in response to an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus;
Image data related information including image data identification information included in an acquisition request sent from the printing apparatus, owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and execution location information of the printing process is registered in the history information storage unit. History management means,
Image data history management program to function as A data storage device that stores image data therein; and a portable terminal device that receives image data identification information transmitted by the data storage device, each of which is included in a network print system that is connected to be able to exchange information, An image to be acquired and printed from the data storage device for image data specified by the image data identification information in response to a processing request including the device identification information and the image data identification information of the portable terminal device sent from the portable terminal device Forming equipment,
Input means for inputting at least identification information of the owner of the portable terminal device requesting the printing process of the image data specified by the image data identification information;
The data storage device including image data identification information including at least image data identification information, owner identification information of the portable terminal device, and execution location information of a printing process in an image data acquisition request specified by the image data identification information Means for sending to,
Image data history management program to function as

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