JP2013149214A - Program for portable terminal, portable terminal device, electronic apparatus linkage system and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program that is the program for a portable terminal such as a smartphone and can easily provide a user with utilization information of an electronic apparatus positioned at a periphery thereof, and the like.SOLUTION: A program that causes a controller of a portable terminal device to execute processing of providing information corresponding to an electronic apparatus causes the controller to execute: an acquisition step of acquiring electronic apparatus information containing model identification information of the electronic apparatus from the electronic apparatus; a retrieval step of converting the acquired electronic apparatus information to retrieval information, transmitting the retrieval information to a retrieval site and receiving information replied from the retrieval site; and a display step of displaying a retrieval result on a display section of the portable terminal device on the basis of the received information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a program for a mobile terminal such as a so-called smartphone, and more particularly to a program for providing a user with information related to an electronic device used from the mobile terminal.

  Smartphones are widely used as multi-function mobile phones having communication functions via the Internet and various information processing functions. One major feature of this smartphone is that it has a function as a kind of mobile computer and can execute various information processing by installing application software (hereinafter referred to as application). The smartphone application is provided from a common providing site linked with a billing mechanism, that is, a so-called market or store. A smartphone user downloads and uses a desired application from the providing site.

  As one of the future uses of such smartphones, it is expected to cooperate with electronic devices located around such as printers.

  In relation to the cooperation, the following Patent Document 1 has proposed a cooperation between a terminal device such as a personal computer and a peripheral device. In this document, when a peripheral device is connected to a personal computer, the connection information stored in the peripheral device is read, and a driver for the peripheral device is installed from a server on the Internet based on the connection information. It is described.

  Further, in Patent Document 2 below, a proposal for improving user convenience regarding the use of a mobile terminal is made. This document describes that a function that is likely to be selected by the user based on the environment surrounding the mobile phone is displayed at a position where it can be selected with fewer operating procedures. .

JP 2003-122573 A JP 2009-33256 A

  When the above-described smartphone and peripheral electronic devices are linked, it is necessary to download an application for the electronic device or related to the electronic device to the smartphone. Since various applications are prepared and the number is expected to increase in the future, it is complicated for the user to find an application for a desired electronic device from among the large number of applications.

  In addition to applications, it is convenient for users if information for using electronic devices (hereinafter referred to as usage information) such as consumables and usage methods of electronic devices can be easily obtained from smartphones. is there.

  However, Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot solve these problems.

  Smartphone users want to pursue their multi-functionality, and electronic device manufacturers want their devices to be used in a variety of ways, so electronic device usage information is expected to be easily provided from smartphones. The

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a program for a portable terminal such as a smartphone, which can easily provide usage information of electronic devices located in the vicinity to the user.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a control device of a mobile terminal device to execute an information providing process corresponding to an electronic device from the electronic device to identify the model of the electronic device. An acquisition step of acquiring electronic device information including information, a search step of converting the acquired electronic device information into search information, transmitting the search information to a search site, and receiving information returned from the search site, and the received And causing the control device to execute a display step of displaying a search result on the display unit of the mobile terminal device based on the information.

  In the above invention, the preferable aspect is that in the display step, a search result of usage information corresponding to the electronic device is displayed, a selection step of selecting usage information from the search result, and the selected usage information is displayed. And the step of acquiring is further executed by the control device.

  In the above invention, one aspect is characterized in that, in the display step, the received information is displayed in accordance with the order of search results ranked by the search site.

  Furthermore, in the above invention, a preferable aspect thereof is characterized in that the acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed by short-range wireless communication with the electronic device.

  In the above invention, another aspect is characterized in that acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed by a barcode provided from the electronic device.

  Furthermore, in the above-described invention, a preferred aspect is characterized in that the electronic device information acquired in the acquisition step includes status information of the electronic device.

  In the above invention, a preferable aspect thereof is that the information received in the search step includes information on application software related to the electronic device and / or information on a location where the related information of the electronic device is posted. It is characterized by.

  In the above invention, one aspect is characterized in that, in the display step, the received information is displayed in an order based on a usage record in the portable terminal device.

  In the above invention, one aspect is characterized in that acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed for two or more electronic devices.

  In order to achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention provides a mobile terminal device that includes a control unit, a wireless communication unit, and a display unit, and provides information corresponding to an electronic device. Electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device is acquired from the device, the acquired electronic device information is converted into search information, transmitted to the search site via the wireless communication unit, and returned from the search site. Information is received via the wireless communication unit, and based on the received information, a search result is displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal device.

  In order to achieve the above object, still another aspect of the present invention provides an electronic device cooperation system including a mobile terminal device and an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device. The mobile terminal device acquires electronic device information of the electronic device from the electronic device, converts the acquired electronic device information into search information, transmits the search information to a search site, and returns information from the search site And displaying the search result on the display unit of the portable terminal device based on the received information.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing method related to an electronic device in a mobile terminal device, wherein the mobile terminal device includes model identification information of the electronic device from the electronic device. An acquisition step of acquiring electronic device information, and a search step in which the mobile terminal device converts the acquired electronic device information into search information and transmits it to a search site, and receives information returned from the search site, The mobile terminal device includes a display step of displaying a search result on a display unit of the mobile terminal device based on the received information.

It is a block diagram which concerns on the example of embodiment of a terminal device provided with the program for portable terminals to which this invention is applied. It is the flowchart which illustrated the procedure of the provision process of utilization information. It is the figure which illustrated the acquisition method of model ID from barcode information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, but extends to the matters described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram according to an embodiment of a terminal device including a mobile terminal program to which the present invention is applied. A usage information providing program 121 shown in FIG. 1 is a program for a portable terminal to which the present invention is applied. With this program, the mobile terminal 1 acquires the model ID (identification information) of the electronic equipment 2 (2A, 2B) located in the vicinity, generates a search keyword (search information) from the information, and searches on the Internet. 4 (4a, 4b) is used to obtain usage information about the electronic device 2 and display the information to the user in a predetermined order. Thereby, the user can easily obtain the usage information of the electronic device 2 used in cooperation with the mobile terminal 1, such as downloading an application related to the electronic device 2 or purchasing a consumable for the electronic device 2. It becomes possible to perform without complicated operation.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile terminal 1 and an electronic device 2 located in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 1 and used in cooperation with the terminal device 1 are referred to as an electronic device cooperation system 100 in the present embodiment.

  The mobile terminal 1 is a smartphone in the present embodiment and has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. Note that the hardware configuration of the portable terminal 1 is the same as the conventional one.

  The control unit 11 is a part that controls the operation of each unit of the mobile terminal 1, and includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The ROM stores a basic program that controls the basic functions of the portable terminal 1, and the CPU operates according to the program and a program (application program) stored in a storage unit (to be described later), whereby the process of the control unit 11 is executed. The

  The storage unit 12 is a part that mainly stores application software, and can be composed of various memories and a hard disk drive HDD. FIG. 1 shows only programs and data related to the present invention as software stored in the storage unit 12.

  As described above, the usage information provision program 121 is an application that manages the usage information provision processing that is a feature of the mobile terminal 1, and is downloaded in advance from a predetermined site on the Internet 3 (for example, an application provision site 4a described later). And installed in the storage unit 12. Specific processing contents by the program will be described later.

  The conversion table 122 is a table for converting the model ID of the electronic device 2 into a search keyword. The search keyword is information that is input to a search system provided at the site when searching for desired use information at the search site 4 to be described later. The search system retrieves related use information based on the information. Search for. Specifically, related vocabularies such as the general name, manufacturer name, model number, technical field, field of use, and consumable name of the electronic device are associated with the model ID of the electronic device. For example, when the electronic device 2 is a printer (2A), vocabularies such as a printer, XX company, printing, drawing, photo, ink, and printing paper are stored in the conversion table 122 as search keywords. When the electronic device 2 is a projector (2B), vocabularies such as a projector, xx company, projection, 3D, game, and projection screen are stored in the conversion table 122 as search keywords. The conversion table 122 is downloaded together with the usage information providing program 121 in advance and installed in the storage unit 12.

  The record information 123 is information of applications downloaded to the mobile terminal 1 and URL information accessed from the mobile terminal 1 so far, and stores the total number of downloads or accesses for each field.

  Next, the near field communication unit 13 is a part that performs so-called NFC (Near Field Communication), that is, a near field communication. As a specific communication method, a conventional communication method can be used. In the portable terminal 1, the short-range communication unit 13 is used to acquire the model ID from the peripheral electronic device 2.

  The photographing unit 14 is a part that controls the camera function of the smartphone, and shoots still images and moving images.

  The display unit 15 is a part that displays images and characters to the user, and usage information of the electronic device 2 is also displayed here.

  The operation unit 16 is a part where the user performs an operation on the mobile terminal 1. For example, when the mobile terminal 1 is a smartphone provided with a touch panel, the operation unit 16 is formed by displaying an area to be operated on the display unit 15.

  The voice processing unit 17 processes and emits voice data from a wireless communication unit 18 (to be described later) during a telephone call, collects the user's voice, converts it into voice data, and transmits the voice data to the wireless communication unit 18. Part.

  The wireless communication unit 18 is a part that performs wireless communication during a call and data communication with the Internet 3, and transmits the search keyword described above to the search site 4 when providing usage information of the electronic device 2 to the user. The search result in the search site 4 is received here.

  Next, the electronic device 2 is a general electronic device such as a printer (2A) or a projector (2B) existing around the portable terminal 1, and each electronic device 2 has its own model ID (identification information). ) Is provided (ID providing unit, not shown). The function can be configured as a wireless tag that communicates with the short-range communication unit 13 of the mobile terminal 1 and passes model ID information.

  Next, the search site 4 is a publicly available site on the Internet 3, and is a URL search site that searches and provides the application providing site 4a that provides an application for a smartphone and the location of information. 4b. These are operated by providers on the Internet, information service companies, and the like, and have been widely used in the past.

  The application providing site 4a is provided with a system that provides application information related to an input search keyword to a smartphone and transmits the application in response to a request from the smartphone. In addition, the URL search site 4b includes a system that searches for a URL where related information exists for a search keyword input from a terminal device such as a smartphone and returns the information to the terminal device.

  As described above, the electronic device cooperation system 100 according to the present embodiment having the configuration as described above has a feature in the usage information provision processing regarding the electronic device, and the specific processing procedure will be described below.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the usage information provision process. Here, it is assumed that the user of the mobile terminal 1 that is a smartphone tries to obtain information such as an application related to the electronic device 2. 2 is described as processing of the control unit 11 by the usage information providing program 121.

  First, the user activates the usage information providing program 121 by a predetermined operation on the terminal device. When the activation operation is input to the terminal device (step S1), the application by the usage information providing program 121 is activated, and the control unit 11 issues an instruction to acquire the model ID information of the electronic device 2 existing in the vicinity. Take out to part 13.

  After the activation operation, the user brings the mobile terminal 1 close to the electronic device 2 from which usage information is to be obtained. By this operation, the short-range communication unit 13 performs short-range wireless communication with the ID providing unit of the electronic device 2 and acquires model ID information of the electronic device 2. The acquired model ID information is passed to the control unit 11 (step S2).

  Next, the control unit 11 accesses the conversion table 122, acquires a search keyword stored in the conversion table 122 corresponding to the acquired model ID information, and converts the model ID information into a search keyword ( Step S3).

  Thereafter, the control unit 11 issues an instruction to transmit the acquired search keyword information to the search site 4 to the wireless communication unit 18, and the search keyword information is searched from the wireless communication unit 18 via the Internet 3 according to the instruction. A search request is sent to the site 4 (step S4). The site for which a search request is made can be set in advance for an application by the usage information providing program 121. Here, the setting for making a search request to both the application providing site 4a and the URL inspection site 4b. Suppose that

  In the search request, for example, when the electronic device 2 that is close to the mobile terminal 1 is a printer (2A), the search keyword is a printer, printing, ink, printing paper, etc., and applications related to these keywords And retrieval of information is required.

  When a search request is made to the search site 4 in this way, the search site 4 executes a search process and returns the search result to the mobile terminal 1. From the application providing site 4a, application information related to the search keyword is ranked according to a predetermined rule and transmitted. The ranking is performed based on, for example, the strength of relevance with the search keyword and the number of past installations. Further, information on the field to which the searched application belongs (classification information) or the like may be transmitted together. Further, the URL search site 4b returns the URL information where information related to the search keyword exists in the same manner and returns the same.

  When the search keyword is related to the printer as described above, the search result related to the application is information such as a driver for the electronic device 2 (printer), a photo editing application, a creation application such as a New Year's card, and the like. The search result is information such as a URL that provides instructions for handling the electronic device 2 (printer), a URL of the manufacturer's website, and a URL where ink used in the printer is sold.

  The search result is received by the control unit 11 via the wireless communication unit 18 (step S5). Thereafter, the control unit 1 determines the order of displaying the retrieved search results, that is, the usage information of the electronic device 2 to the user (step S6).

  The display order determination process is performed when there are two or more pieces of usage information of search results, and can be performed by several methods. One method is a method of keeping the order of the usage information transmitted from the search site 4. Since the ranking in the search site 4 described above is generally meaningful, the ranking is used as it is in this method.

  Alternatively, the display order can be determined based on the application installation record and the URL access record on the mobile terminal 1. In this case, the control unit 11 discriminates the field for each received usage information, and at least one of the number of application installations and the number of access times to the URL in the field is stored in the storage unit 12 as described above. 123. And a display order is determined so that it may display in order with many frequency | counts. The field of each usage information may be determined using information sent from the search site 4 together with the search result, or the control unit 11 may interpret the content of the usage information.

  In addition, the control unit 11 grasps an application already installed in the portable terminal 1 from the record information 123, and if the received usage information includes information on the application, the control unit 11 displays the application without the information. Can be.

  When the display order of the usage information is determined in this way, the control unit 11 displays the received usage information to the user according to the order (step S7). For example, so-called list display in the above order is performed, and when it cannot be displayed on one screen, the screen (page) is switched and displayed. Specifically, the display unit 15 instructs the display unit 15 to display usage information, and the display unit 15 displays the instruction according to the instruction.

  In this display, for example, the names and functions of applications related to the electronic device (printer) 2A are displayed in the above order, and an operation area that can be downloaded by selection is displayed. When the usage information is URL information, they are displayed in the above order, and it is indicated that the URL can be accessed by selecting the URL information.

  As described above, the usage information provision processing by the electronic device cooperation system 100 is performed.

  The user selects a desired application and / or URL from the usage information displayed on the mobile terminal 1, and if it is an application, operates the download operation area to download the application to the mobile terminal, and the URL If it is information, the information is selected and the URL is accessed.

  When the download of the application is operated, the control unit 11 accesses the application providing site 4a and downloads the selected application to the storage unit 12. When the URL information is operated, the control unit 11 accesses the URL and displays information shown there on the display unit 15.

  Thereafter, the user uses the installed application and refers to the displayed URL information.

  In the above-described embodiment, short-range wireless communication is used in the acquisition (S2) of electronic device information (model ID). However, from the barcode information (including model ID information) included in the target electronic device 2. You may make it acquire the model ID. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the acquisition method.

  In the case shown in (a) of FIG. 3, the user takes a picture of the barcode written on the casing of the electronic device 2 (printer 2 </ b> A in the figure) with the photographing unit 14 of the portable terminal 1, and the control unit 11 is photographed. The bar code image is interpreted to obtain the model ID of the electronic device 2.

  In the case shown in FIG. 3B, the electronic device 2 (printer 2A in the figure) prints out the barcode on a sheet by a user operation, and the user photographs the barcode with the photographing unit 14 of the portable terminal 1. Then, the control unit 11 interprets the captured barcode image and acquires the model ID of the electronic device 2. In this case, the printer 2A is preliminarily provided with a function for printing the barcode, and an operation menu for executing the printing is prepared.

  In the case shown in FIG. 3C, the electronic device 2 (projector 2B in the figure) projects the barcode by a user operation, and the user photographs the barcode with the photographing unit 14 of the portable terminal 1, and the control unit 11 interprets the captured bar code image to obtain the model ID of the electronic device 2. In this case, the projector 2B is provided with a function for projecting the barcode, and an operation menu for executing the projection is prepared.

  When the model ID is acquired from the barcode information in this way, after starting the usage information providing program 121, a message for photographing the barcode is displayed on the display unit 15 by the program (control unit 11). The shooting function (camera function) is activated.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the portable terminal 1 acquired model ID from the electronic device 2, you may make it acquire additional information, such as the status information of the electronic device 2, in connection with this. This additional information (status information) includes the state of consumables of the electronic device 2, the operating state, error information, and the like. In this case, the search keyword for each additional information is also stored in the conversion table 122, and the control unit 11 of the mobile terminal 1 that acquired the additional information uses the conversion table 122 from the model ID and each additional information. To generate search keywords.

  For example, when status information indicating insufficient ink is acquired as additional information from the printer 2A, a search keyword “ink sales” is generated. In this case, as a result, URL information or the like that sells ink for the printer is provided. When error information is acquired as additional information from the printer 2A, a search keyword “error cancellation” is generated, and as a result, URL information indicating the error cancellation information of the printer is provided.

  In this case, means for returning the additional information in response to a request from the portable terminal 1 is provided in the control unit of the electronic device 2.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the conversion table 122 was provided in the portable terminal 1, the server system which can communicate is provided, the conversion table 122 is provided there, and each portable terminal 1 is converted into a search keyword. When necessary, the search keyword may be acquired by accessing the server system.

  In the above embodiment, the model ID is acquired from one electronic device 2, but the model ID may be acquired from a plurality of electronic devices 2. That is, the usage information may be provided for a plurality of electronic devices 2 together. Also in this case, as described above, additional information can be acquired together. After acquisition, similarly, conversion into a search keyword and acquisition of usage information are performed. In this case, information related to all the electronic devices 2 that have acquired the model ID is preferentially obtained. For example, when the electronic devices are the printer 2A and the projector 2B, presentations related to both the electronic devices 2 are obtained. Application information is provided preferentially.

  As described above, in the electronic device cooperation system 100 according to the present embodiment, the user can obtain usage information such as an application related to the electronic device 2 by a simple operation such as bringing the mobile terminal 1 close to the electronic device 2. Can be obtained. Accordingly, various uses of the mobile terminal 1 and the electronic device 2 are promoted, and the convenience for the user is improved, and an increase in demand for the device manufacturer can be expected.

  In addition, by acquiring status information of the electronic device 2 and providing usage information related thereto, the information providing function can be used not only when the electronic device 2 is introduced but also for maintenance.

  In addition, since the provided usage information is displayed based on the usage record of the mobile terminal 1, it is possible to provide information according to the user preference of the mobile terminal 1.

  Further, as described above, since information can be obtained for two or more electronic devices 2, user convenience is improved in this respect as well, and use of the electronic device 2 is promoted.

  In the above embodiment, the mobile terminal 1 is a smartphone, but can be replaced with a terminal device having an equivalent function.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile terminal, 2 (2A, 2B) Electronic device, 3 Internet, 4 (4a, 4b) Search site, 11 Control part (control apparatus), 12 Memory | storage part, 13 Near field communication part, 14 Image | photographing part, 15 Display part , 16 operation unit, 17 voice processing unit, 18 wireless communication unit, 121 usage information providing program, 122 conversion table, 123 record information

Claims (12)

A program for causing a control device of a mobile terminal device to execute information providing processing corresponding to an electronic device,
An acquisition step of acquiring electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device from the electronic device;
A search step of converting the acquired electronic device information into search information and transmitting it to a search site, and receiving information returned from the search site;
A program causing the control device to execute a display step of displaying a search result on a display unit of the mobile terminal device based on the received information. In claim 1,
In the display step, a search result of usage information corresponding to the electronic device is displayed,
A selection step of selecting usage information from the search results;
A program for causing the control device to further execute the step of acquiring the selected usage information. In claim 1 or 2,
In the display step, the received information is displayed in accordance with the order of search results ranked by the search site. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
Acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed by short-range wireless communication with the electronic device. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
Acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed by a barcode provided from the electronic device. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4,
The electronic device information acquired in the acquisition step includes status information of the electronic device. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6,
The information received in the search step includes information about application software related to the electronic device and / or information about a location where the related information about the electronic device is posted. In claim 1 or 2,
In the display step, the received information is displayed in an order based on a usage record in the mobile terminal device. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 8,
Acquisition of electronic device information in the acquisition step is performed for two or more electronic devices. A mobile terminal device comprising a control unit, a wireless communication unit, and a display unit, and providing information corresponding to an electronic device,
The controller is
Obtaining electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device from the electronic device;
The acquired electronic device information is converted into search information and transmitted to the search site via the wireless communication unit, and information returned from the search site is received via the wireless communication unit,
A search result is displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal device based on the received information. The mobile terminal device. An electronic device cooperation system including a mobile terminal device and an electronic device,
The electronic device includes electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device,
The portable terminal device acquires electronic device information of the electronic device from the electronic device, converts the acquired electronic device information into search information, transmits the search information to a search site, and receives information returned from the search site And a search result is displayed on the display part of the said portable terminal device based on the received information. An electronic equipment cooperation system characterized by things. An information providing method regarding an electronic device in a portable terminal device,
The mobile terminal device acquires electronic device information including model identification information of the electronic device from the electronic device; and
The mobile terminal device converts the acquired electronic device information into search information, transmits the search information to a search site, and receives information returned from the search site; and
The mobile terminal device includes a display step of displaying a search result on a display unit of the mobile terminal device based on the received information.

Images