JP5704336B2 - Printing system, web server, and printing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system, a web server, and a printing method using a printing apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing apparatuses that are connectable to a network and that execute printing in accordance with instructions from other apparatuses connected to the network are known. Patent Document 1 describes an example thereof.

  On the other hand, in recent years, there has been announced a concept of a printing service that allows a user to instruct printing of a desired image by using a printing service website prepared by a service provider. For example, Google Cloud Print is an example of the print service. By using such a printing service, the user can print a desired image without installing a printer driver on his or her PC or mobile terminal. As long as the user has a PC or mobile terminal equipped with a web browser, the user can print an image using the website of the print service. On the website of the print service, it is possible to specify an image to be printed and printing for executing printing. If the image to be printed has already been uploaded to the website of the print service or another website linked to the print service, simply select the image to be printed on those sites and specify the image to be printed. can do. When the image to be printed is not uploaded to the website of the print service or another website linked to the print service, the user prints the image by uploading the image to the website using a PC or the like. An image can be specified.

  The image designated by the user is converted into print data by the service device provided by the service provider and transmitted to the printing device designated by the user. As a result, the user can freely print without worrying about the presence or absence of the printer driver.

JP 2007-122739 A

  However, the above Google Cloud Print uses a Google account of Google in order to prevent the printer from being used by an unspecified number of people. In Google Cloud Print, a Google account and an available printer are managed in association with each other. In order to instruct to print an image using the website of the print service, it is necessary to log in to the print service in advance with the above Google account. As described above, in the conventional printing system, the user needs to create an account provided by the service provider in advance and log in to the printing service with that account in order to perform printing. There is a problem that users who do not have an account cannot use the printing service in the first place.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is not necessary to create a special account for use, and the printer can be prevented from being used by an unspecified number of people. It is an object to provide a printing system, a web server, and a printing method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a printing system including a plurality of printing apparatuses including a printing unit that performs printing, and a web server connected to the printing apparatus via an Internet network. An authentication information storage unit for storing identification information for identifying the printing apparatus and authentication information set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to a printing system in association with each other; The first page, which is a web page capable of inputting the identification information of the printing apparatus that executes printing, the authentication information of the printing apparatus that executes printing, and the electronic file that executes printing, is displayed on the user terminal. First page transmitting means for transmitting to the first page, first acquisition means for acquiring print instruction data including identification information input to the first page, authentication information, and an electronic file; Authentication means for performing authentication based on the identification information and authentication information acquired by the first acquisition means, and the identification information and authentication information stored in the authentication information storage means, and acquired by the first acquisition means Print data creation means for creating print data based on an electronic file, and when the authentication means succeeds, the print data created by the print data creation means is the identification information obtained by the first acquisition means. Print data transmitting means for transmitting to the printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus acquires print data transmitted by the print data transmitting means, and print data acquired by the print data acquiring means. And a printing control unit that executes printing by the printing unit based on the printing unit.

  The web server receives authentication information transmitted from a new printing apparatus which is a printing apparatus to be newly added to the printing system, and receives authentication information input by a user to the new printing apparatus. A storage control unit for storing the identification information newly assigned to the new printing apparatus and the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit in the authentication information storage unit in association with each other. Identification information transmitting means for transmitting the identification information to the new printing apparatus.

Also, the web server comprises a model specifying means for specifying the model of the printing apparatus to execute printing, the print data creating means, the print data corresponding to the model information identified by the machine Tanetoku constant means You may create it.

  The web server includes a model information storage unit that stores the identification information and model information that is information for specifying the model of the printing apparatus in association with each other, and the model specifying unit includes the model information storage unit. Based on the identification information acquired by the one acquisition unit and the identification information and model information stored in the model information storage unit, the model of the printing apparatus that performs printing may be specified.

  The printing apparatus includes a display unit for displaying an image, and the web server creates display data for displaying the print image on the display unit based on the electronic file acquired by the first acquisition unit. Display data creating means, and display data sending means for sending the display data created by the display data creating means to the printing apparatus for the identification information obtained by the first obtaining means, wherein the printing apparatus comprises: Display data acquisition means for acquiring the display data transmitted by the display data transmission means, display control means for displaying the display data acquired by the display data acquisition means on the display unit, and the display data on the display control means Print instruction receiving means for receiving an input of a print instruction after being displayed, and the print control means receives the input of the print instruction. In may execute the printing by the printing unit.

  Further, the display data creating means may create display data of a print image of only a specific page among pages printed based on the print data.

  Further, the web server generates a list of print jobs including information for specifying print data created from an electronic file included in the print instruction data and identification information included in the print instruction data. A list creation unit created in response to the acquisition of the print instruction data by the obtaining unit, and a second page on which the user can specify a desired print job from the list of print jobs created by the list creation unit are transmitted to the user terminal Second page transmitting means and first detecting means for detecting that a print job has been designated by the second page. The print data transmitting means instructs the execution of printing by the first detecting means. When it is detected that the printing has been performed, the print data may be transmitted to the printing apparatus corresponding to the print job specified by the second page.

  Further, the web server generates a list of print jobs including information for specifying print data created from an electronic file included in the print instruction data and identification information included in the print instruction data. A list creation unit that is created in response to the acquisition of print instruction data by the acquisition unit, and job identification information that is information for specifying the print job after the print instruction data is acquired by the first acquisition unit. A job identification information transmitting means for transmitting to the terminal, and a third page for transmitting to the user terminal a third page in which a user can designate a print job by inputting the desired job identification information in order to execute printing. Page transmission means, and second detection means for detecting that a print job has been designated by the third page, and the print data transmission means comprises the second detection means. When it is detected that the print job is specified by means for the printing device that corresponds to the print job designated by the third page may transmit the print data.

  Further, the web server includes a first IP address acquisition unit that acquires a first IP address that is an IP address of the plurality of printing apparatuses, and a second IP address acquisition unit that acquires a second IP address that is an IP address of a user terminal. The printing apparatus installed near the location of the user terminal is identified based on the first IP address acquired by the first IP address acquisition unit and the second IP address acquired by the second IP address acquisition unit And a fourth page transmitting unit that transmits a fourth page to the user terminal, which is a web page that displays a list of printing apparatuses specified by the specifying unit.

  The present invention is also the web server of a printing system comprising a plurality of printing devices having a printing unit for performing printing, and a web server connected to the printing device via an Internet network, the printing device being Authentication information storage means for storing identification information to be identified and authentication information set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to the printing system, and a printing apparatus for executing printing 1st page transmission which transmits the 1st page which is a web page which can input identification information, the authentication information of the printing apparatus which performs the said printing, and the electronic file which performs printing to a user terminal Means, first identification means for obtaining print instruction data including identification information input to the first page, authentication information, and an electronic file, and obtained by the first obtaining means Authentication information for authenticating based on identification information and authentication information stored in the authentication information storage means, and print data based on the electronic file acquired by the first acquisition means Print data creation means for creating the print data, and when the authentication means succeeds, the print data created by the print data creation means is transmitted to the printing apparatus of the identification information obtained by the first acquisition means And a transmission means.

  According to the present invention, the user uses the printing apparatus by inputting authentication information set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to the printing system on the first page. It becomes possible. According to the present invention, it is not necessary to create an account in advance for use, and the printer can be prevented from being used by an unspecified number of people.

  According to the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the user can set desired authentication information on the printing apparatus when adding the printing apparatus to the printing system.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to create print data corresponding to a plurality of types of printing apparatuses. The user can print with a printer of a favorite model.

  According to the present invention, the model can be specified based on the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit. For this reason, when the user instructs printing, the user only needs to input identification information to specify the printing apparatus, and does not need to input information for specifying the model separately.

  According to the present invention, a user can execute printing after confirming a print image with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the printed matter from being taken away by a third party who has not instructed printing, and the user from apologizing and taking away the printed matter of another person.

According to the present invention, since display data of a print image for only a specific page is created, the CPU usage rate of the web server can be reduced and the amount of display data to be transmitted can be reduced.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to display a second page on a user terminal owned by a user and instruct execution of a desired print job from a list of print jobs.

  According to the present invention, a user can execute printing by inputting job identification information on the third page. The web server transmits the job identification information to the user terminal to which the identification information, the authentication information, and the electronic file are input on the first page. For this reason, since it is possible to prevent leakage of job identification information to a user who has not instructed printing, only the user who has instructed printing on the first page instructs execution of printing on the third page. be able to.

  According to the present invention, a user can specify a printing device installed near him from a plurality of printing devices.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a printing system 10. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a printing system 10. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of a storage area of a storage unit 130. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of a storage area of a storage unit 230. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a printer management table. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a print job management table. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing system 10. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing system 10. It is the schematic which showed an example of the print page. It is the schematic which showed an example of the printing failure page. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a print queue page. It is the schematic which showed an example of the printer starting request page. It is the schematic which showed an example of the printing completion page. It is the schematic which showed an example of the preview screen. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing system 10 when a user performs a printer search operation. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a printer list page. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing system 10 when a user instructs printing again. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing system when a new printer is registered in the printing system. It is the schematic which showed an example of the PIN code input screen. It is the schematic which showed an example of the printer ID display screen. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing system 10 when updating latitude information and longitude information of the printer 100. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the printing system 10 of 2nd Embodiment when a user instruct | indicates printing again.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The drawings to be referred to are used for explaining technical features that can be adopted by the present invention. The configuration of the apparatus described, flowcharts of various processes, and the like are merely illustrative examples. It is not intended to limit the present invention only to that.
<Outline of printing system 10>
With reference to FIG. 1, the outline of the printing system 10 which is 1st Embodiment which actualized this invention is demonstrated. The printing system 10 includes a plurality of printers 100 and a web server 200. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, three printers 100, that is, a printer 100 </ b> A, a printer 100 </ b> B, and a printer 100 </ b> C are arranged. The printer 100A, the printer 100B, and the printer 100C all have the same configuration. In the description of the present embodiment, when any one of the printer 100A, the printer 100B, and the printer 100C is described, it is simply referred to as the printer 100.

  The printer 100, the web server 200, the PC 500, the service device 600, and the service device 700 are connected to one another via the Internet network 400. The printer 100, the web server 200, the PC 500, the service device 600, and the service device 700 exchange data with each other according to the TCP / IP protocol. The PC 500 is a so-called personal computer owned by a user. A web browser is installed in the PC 500.

  The printer 100 has a printing function. Further, the printer 100 can acquire print data from the web server 200 and perform printing using the print function of the printer 100.

  The web server 200 may be any device having a known web server function. The web server 200 may be prepared by the manufacturer of the printer 100, but it is also possible to use a known rental server or a virtual machine represented by Amazon EC2. The web server 200 may be configured by a single physical device, but may be configured by a plurality of devices connected to each other via a network. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that the device is physically a single device.

  When receiving an address search request from another device connected to Internet network 400, service device 600 is a device that executes an address search service that transmits address information of the device to the device that has transmitted the address search request. is there. Service device 600 stores an address table in which an IP address and address information corresponding to the IP address are stored in association with each other. The address search request includes an IP address. The service device 600 searches the address table for address information corresponding to the IP address included in the address search request. Then, the address information extracted from the address table is transmitted to the device that has transmitted the address search request.

When the service device 700 receives a latitude / longitude conversion request from another device connected to the Internet network 400, the service device 700 sends latitude / longitude information corresponding to the device to the device that has transmitted the latitude / longitude return request. It is a device that executes a latitude / longitude conversion service to be transmitted. Service device 700 stores a latitude / longitude table in which address information and latitude information and longitude information corresponding to the address information are stored in association with each other. The latitude / longitude conversion request includes address information. The service device 700 searches the latitude / longitude table for latitude information and longitude information corresponding to the address information included in the latitude / longitude conversion request. Then, the latitude information and longitude information extracted from the latitude / longitude table are transmitted to the device that is the transmission source of the latitude / longitude conversion request <Hardware Configuration of Printing System 10>
The hardware configuration of the printing system 10 will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the printer 100, the web server 200, the PC 500, the service device 600, and the service device 700 are connected to each other via the Internet network 400.

  A hardware configuration of the printer 100 will be described. The printer 100 includes a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, a storage unit 130, a display unit 150, a printing unit 160, and an operation unit 180.

  The communication unit 110 is a device for communicating with other devices connected to the network. As the communication unit 110, a known network card can be adopted.

  The control unit 120 includes a CPU (not shown) and ROM and RAM connected to the CPU. The CPU controls the operation of the printer 100 according to a program stored in the ROM. The ROM stores a program for transmitting / receiving various data via the web server 200 and the Internet network 400. The RAM is a storage device that temporarily stores various data.

  The storage unit 130 is a non-volatile storage device such as a NAND flash memory. As shown in FIG. 3, the storage unit 130 includes a printer identifier storage area 131, a model code storage area 132, an address storage area 133, and a program storage area 134.

  The printer identifier storage area 131 is an area for storing a printer identifier. The printer identifier is a serial number assigned by the printer manufacturer to manage its own product.

  The model code storage area 132 is an area for storing a model code. The model code is a code assigned by the printer manufacturer so as to uniquely identify the model of the printer.

  The address storage unit 133 is an area in which the address of the web server 200 is stored. Specifically, the URL of the web server 200 is stored.

  The program storage area 134 is an area for storing a program for controlling the operation of the printer 100. Specifically, the program storage area 134 stores a program for controlling operations as the printing system 10 described later, an XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presentation Protocol) client program, and the like.

  The display unit 150 is a display device including a known display such as an LCD. The display unit 150 displays and outputs various types of information in accordance with instructions from the control unit 120.

  The printing unit 160 is a device that prints an image in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 120.

  The operation unit 180 includes a plurality of operation buttons operated by the user and a touch panel arranged on the LCD of the display unit 150, and transmits a signal corresponding to the user's pressing operation to the control unit 120. is there. The user can input a desired instruction by operating the operation unit 180.

  A hardware configuration of the web server 200 will be described. In the description of the present embodiment, the web server 200 is described as one physically existing server. However, as described above, the web server 200 includes a plurality of physical devices in cooperation with each other. It may be a virtual machine such as EC2 that functions as a server.

  The web server 200 includes a communication unit 210, a control unit 220, and a storage unit 230.

  The communication unit 210 is a device for communicating with other devices connected to the network. As the communication unit 210, a known network card can be adopted.

  The control unit 220 includes a CPU (not shown), and a ROM and a RAM connected to the CPU. The CPU controls the operation of the web server 200 in accordance with the program stored in the ROM and the storage unit 230. The RAM is a storage device that temporarily stores various data.

  The storage unit 230 is a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk drive. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the storage unit 230 includes a printer management table storage area 231, a print job management table storage area 232, a creation method management table storage area 233, a preview data storage area 235, and a print data storage area 236. And an address storage area 237 and a program storage area 238.

  The printer management table storage area 231 is an area for storing a printer management table. An example of the printer management table is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the printer management table associates a printer ID, a PIN code, a printer identifier, a model code, a status, an IP address, latitude information, longitude information, and a registration date. It is a table to memorize. The printer ID is an ID assigned to the printer 100 by the web server 200 in order to identify the printer 100. The PIN code is a PIN code input by the user in the process described later. The printer identifier is a printer identifier acquired by the web server 200 from the printer 100 in the process described later. The model code is a model code acquired by the web server 200 from the printer 100 in the process described later. The status is information indicating whether the printer 100 is communicable with the web server 200. When the printer 100 is in a state where communication with the web server 200 is possible, information “ONLINE” is stored as a status. Further, when the printer 100 is in a state where it cannot communicate with the web server 200, information “OFFLINE” is stored as the status. The IP address is the IP address of the printer 100. The latitude information is information indicating the latitude of the position where the printer 100 is installed. The longitude information is information indicating the longitude of the position where the printer 100 is installed. As the registration date, information indicating the date and time when the printer 100 is registered in the web server 200 is stored.

  The print job management table storage area 232 is an area in which the print job management table is stored. An example of the print job management table is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the print job management table is a table that stores a job ID, a preview data path, a print data path, a registration date, and a printer ID in association with each other. In the following description, a set of information including a job ID, a preview data path, a print data path, a registration date, and a printer ID is referred to as a print job. The print job in the present invention is information including at least two types of information: information for specifying print data created from an electronic file included in the print instruction data, and identification information included in the print instruction data. . The print job of this embodiment includes a print data path as information for specifying print data, but may include binary data of the print data itself as information for specifying print data.

  The job ID is an ID that the web server 200 assigns to the print instruction every time the user issues a print instruction. The preview data path is information indicating the storage position of the preview data in the storage unit 230. The print data path is information indicating the storage position of the print data in the storage unit 230. The registration date is information indicating the date and time when the web server 200 receives a user's print instruction. The printer ID is the printer ID of the printer 100 designated as a printer for printing by the user.

  The creation method management table storage area 233 is an area in which the creation method management table is stored. The creation method management table is an area for storing the model code of the printer 100, information for specifying the print data creation method, and information for specifying the preview data creation method in association with each other. Using the creation method management table, the web server 200 can specify a print data creation method and a preview data creation method corresponding to the printer 100 that executes printing.

  The preview data storage area 235 is an area in which preview data created by the web server 200 is stored.

  The print data storage area 236 is an area in which print data created by the web server 200 is stored.

  The address storage area 237 is an area in which the address of the service device 600 and the address of the service device 700 are stored. Specifically, the URL of service device 600 and the URL of service device 700 are stored.

  The program storage area 238 is an area in which a program for controlling the operation of the web server 200 is stored. Specifically, the program storage area 238 stores a program for controlling the operation of the printing system 10 described later, an XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presentation Protocol) server program, and the like.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the PC 500 will be described. The PC 500 may be a known personal computer with a web browser installed.

  The PC 500 includes a communication unit 510, a control unit 520, a storage unit 530, a display unit 550, and an operation unit 580.

  The communication unit 510 is a device for communicating with other devices connected to the network. As the communication unit 510, a known network card can be employed.

  The control unit 520 includes a CPU (not shown) and ROM and RAM connected to the CPU. The CPU controls the operation of the PC 500 according to the program stored in the ROM and the storage unit 530. The RAM is a storage device that temporarily stores various data.

  The storage unit 530 is a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk drive. The storage unit 530 stores application programs such as a web browser.

  The display unit 550 is a display device including a known display such as an LCD. Display unit 550 displays and outputs various types of information in accordance with instructions from control unit 520.

The operation unit 580 is a device that includes a plurality of operation buttons operated by the user and transmits a signal corresponding to the pressing operation of the user to the control unit 520. The user can input a desired instruction by operating the operation unit 580.
<Operation of Printing System 10>
Next, the operation of the printing system 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. The operation of the printer 100 described below is executed by the control unit 120 executing a program stored in the ROM and controlling the hardware of the printer 100. In addition, the operation of the web server 200 is executed by the control unit 220 executing a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 230 and controlling the hardware of the web server 200. Further, the operation of the PC 500 is executed by the control unit 520 executing the program stored in the ROM and the storage unit 530 and controlling the hardware of the PC 500.
<Operation when printing>
The operation of the printing system 10 when the user executes printing using the printing system 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  A user can issue a print instruction to the printer 100 using a print page provided by the web server 200. In order to use the printing system 10, the user needs to start a web browser of the PC 500.

  When the web browser is activated, first, the PC 500 accepts a print page access operation (S100). The print page access operation is an operation performed by the user to display the print page. A specific operation performed by the user is, for example, an operation of inputting a URL of a print page into a web browser.

  After receiving the print page access operation, the PC 500 transmits a print page request to the web server 200 (S101).

  The web server 200 receives the print page request transmitted by the PC 500 (S102).

  Receiving the print page request, the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the print page to the PC 500 (S103).

  The PC 500 receives the print page HTML document transmitted by the web server 200 (S104).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the print page displays the print page (S105). An example of the print page is shown in FIG. The print page includes an input box 90, a search button 91, an input box 92, an input box 93, a reference button 94, an input box 95, an input box 96, an input box 97, a send button 98, A cancel button 99 is arranged.

  The input box 90 is an input box for the user to input a printer ID. The printer ID is an ID assigned by the web server 200 to the printer 100. The search button 91 is a button that the user presses when searching for the printer 100 near the user. In the following description, an operation in which the user presses the search button 91 is referred to as a printer search operation.

  The input box 92 is an input box for the user to input a PIN code. The user needs to input a PIN code set for the printer 100 when the printer 100 is registered in the printing system 10.

  The input box 93 is an input box for inputting a path of an electronic file that the user wants to print. The reference button 94 is a button that the user presses when displaying the file selection dialog. Although the file selection dialog is not shown, the user can select a desired electronic file in the file selection dialog. When a file is selected in the file selection dialog, the input box 93 is input with the path of the electronic file selected by the user.

  In the input box 95, the size of the recording paper to be printed can be input. When the user presses the input box 95, a pull-down menu of a list of recording paper size candidates is displayed. When the user selects a desired size from the list of recording paper sizes, the size of the recording paper selected by the user is input to the input box 95.

  The input box 96 is an input box for the user to input a print range. When the user presses the input box 96, a pull-down menu in which two menu items “all” and “page designation” are arranged is displayed. When the user selects any menu item, either “All” or “Page designation” is input to the input box 96 as a print range. The “all” menu item is a menu item selected when printing all pages of print data created from an electronic file to be printed. The “page designation” menu item is a menu item selected when only a predetermined page of print data created from an electronic file to be printed is printed. The input box 97 is an input box for inputting a page to be printed by the user when the user selects “page designation” as the print range.

  The send button 98 is a button that the user presses to send print instruction data to the web server 200. After inputting necessary information in each input box, the user presses a transmission button 98 to transmit print instruction data. In the following description, an operation in which the user inputs necessary information in each input box and then presses the transmission button 98 is referred to as a print instruction data transmission operation.

  The cancel button 99 is a button that the user presses to collectively delete information input in each input box. When the cancel button 99 is pressed, all information input to the input box is deleted.

  The PC 500 displaying the print page as described above accepts an input operation (S106). In S <b> 106, the user can input desired information into the input box of the print page using the operation unit 580. The PC 500 updates the display of the input box of the print page in accordance with the user input operation. In S106, when the PC 500 receives a printer search operation or a print instruction data transmission operation, the PC 500 performs the next process of S107.

  The PC 500 that has received the input operation determines whether or not the operation input by the user is a printer search operation (S107). As described above, the printer search operation is an operation in which the user presses the printer search button 91.

  If it is a printer search operation (S107: Yes), the printing system 10 performs a search process (S108) and returns to S105. Details of the search process will be described later.

  If it is not a printer search operation, that is, if the operation input by the user is a print instruction data transmission operation (S107: No), the print instruction is transmitted to the web server 200 (S109). The print instruction data transmitted at this time includes the printer ID input in the input box 90, the electronic file specified by the path input in the input box 93, the PIN code input in the input box 92, and the input box. The data includes the size of the recording paper input in 95, the print range input in the input box 96, and the number of pages input in the input box 97. When the user designates “all” as the print range, the number of pages included in the print instruction is a NULL value.

  The print instruction data transmitted by the PC 500 is received by the web server 200 (S110).

  The web server 200 that has received the print instruction data searches the printer management table for the PIN code, model code, and status using the printer ID included in the received print instruction data as a key (S111). Specifically, the PIN code, model code, and status corresponding to the received printer ID are extracted from the printer management table and stored in the RAM.

  Next, the web server 200 determines whether the authentication is successful based on the PIN code received from the PC 500 in S110 and the PIN code extracted from the printer management table in S111 (S112). The web server 200 determines that the authentication is successful if the PIN code received in S110 matches the PIN code extracted in S111, and if the PIN code received in S110 and the PIN code extracted in S111 are different. Judge that authentication failed.

  When the authentication fails (S112: No), the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the authentication failure page to the PC 500 (S113).

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the authentication failure page transmitted by the web server 200 (S114).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the authentication failure page displays the authentication failure page (S115). An example of the authentication failure page is shown in FIG. On the authentication failure page, a message for notifying the user that the authentication has failed “PIN code authentication failed” is arranged.

  If the authentication is successful (S112: Yes), the web server 200 creates print data and issues a new job ID (S116). The web server 200 creates print data of the electronic file received in S110. The print data here is data in a format that can be printed by the printer 100. Data in any format may be used as long as the printer 100 can print. For example, when the printer 100 can print only with data described in a predetermined printer language, the web server 200 creates print data in a printer language that the printer 100 can understand based on the attached electronic file. For this reason, the web server 200 includes a printer driver corresponding to each model of the printer 100. Further, when the printer 100 has a function capable of executing printing from data in a predetermined file format such as PDF format, the web server 200 creates an electronic file in PDF format as print data based on the electronic file of the image. May be. Of course, in this case, if the attached file is originally an electronic file in PDF format, the web server 200 may not create a new electronic file in PDF format.

  When creating the print data, the web server 200 creates the print data by the print data creation method corresponding to the model code extracted in S111 described above. The creation method of the print data corresponding to the model code can be specified by the creation method management table stored in the creation method management table storage area 233. Using the creation method management table, the web server 200 can specify which printer driver should create the print data or which format should be converted into an electronic file such as PDF. Therefore, the web server 200 can create print data corresponding to each printer 100. A printer driver for creating print data, a program for converting the format of an electronic file, and the like are stored in the storage unit 230.

  In addition, when creating print data, the web server 200 creates print data in a range specified by the print range and the number of pages received in S110.

  The web server 200 that created the print data stores the created print data in the print data storage area 236 (S117). After storing the print data, the web server 200 performs the process of S130 shown in FIG.

  The web server 200 storing the print data determines whether the printer 100 is online (S130). The web server 200 determines whether the printer 100 is online based on the status extracted from the printer management table in S111 described above. If the extracted status is “ONLINE”, it is determined that the printer 100 is online. If the extracted status is “OFFLINE”, it is determined that the printer 100 is offline. As will be described later, after the printer 100 is registered in the printing system 10, the printer 100 operates as an XMPP client. The web server 200 operating as an XMPP server manages whether or not communication with the printer 100 is possible according to the XMPP protocol, and updates the status of the printer management table as needed.

  If the printer 100 is online (S130), the web server 200 creates preview data (S131). The web server 200 creates preview data by a creation method corresponding to the model code extracted in S111 described above. The web server 200 can specify the creation method corresponding to the model code based on the creation method management table stored in the creation method management table storage area 233. Note that a program for creating preview data corresponding to each model is stored in the storage unit 230. Note that the preview data is image data of a print image indicating an image when actually printed on paper. In the present embodiment, print images of all pages that are output when printing is executed are not created, but a print image of only the first printed page is created as preview data. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a print image of only a page on which a characteristic image is printed may be created as preview data, or a print image of a plurality of pages or all pages to be printed may be created as preview data.

  The web server 200 that has created the preview data saves the preview data (S132). The web server 200 stores the created preview data in the preview data storage area 236.

  The web server 200 that has saved the preview data transmits the saved preview data and the new job ID issued in S116 described above to the printer 100 (S133). Note that the printer 100 receives the job ID and preview data transmitted by the web server 200. The user can issue a print instruction in the printer 100 that has received the preview data. The operation of the printer 100 that has received the preview data will be described later.

  After transmitting the job ID and preview data in S133, or when it is determined in S130 that the printer 100 is not online (S130: No), the web server 200 updates the print job management table (S134). Specifically, the web server 200 adds a print job including a combination of a job ID, a preview data path, a print data path, a registration date, and a printer ID to the print job management table. The added job ID is the ID newly issued by the web server 200 in S116. The path of the preview data to be added is a path indicating the storage position of the preview data stored in the preview data storage area 235 in S132 described above. The added print data path is a path indicating the storage position of the print data stored in the print data storage area 236 in S117 described above. The added registration date is the date and time at that time. The added printer ID is the printer ID received from the PC 500 in S110 described above.

  The web server 200 that created the print queue transmits the HTML document of the print queue page to the PC 500 (S135). In the above description, the printer 100 that has received the preview data has been described as being able to instruct printing of the print data created by the web server 200. However, the user of the printing system 10 has received the print queue page. It is also possible to instruct printing of print data using the PC 500. The print queue page is a page for the user to instruct printing of print data. The web server 200 creates an HTML document for the print queue page corresponding to the printer ID received in S110 described above, and transmits the created HTML document for the print queue page to the PC 500.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the print queue page. FIG. 11 shows an example of a print queue page corresponding to the printer 100 to which “xxxxxxxx” is assigned as the printer ID when the print job management table is stored as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, a character string 111 of “Job ID: 2000124”, a character string 112 of “Confirm Print Contents”, and a print button 113 are arranged on the print queue page. The user can issue a print instruction for the print data created by the web server 200 by pressing the print button 113. In the following description, an operation in which the user presses the print button 113 is referred to as a print instruction operation. The character string 111 is a character string for notifying the user of the job ID. The character string 112 is a character string that the user presses to confirm the print contents. The character string 112 is underlined. The underline of the character string 112 is for the user to identify that the character string 112 is a character string that can be pressed. When the user presses the character string 112, the PC 500 acquires preview data from the web server 200 and displays it. The preview data displayed here may be the same as the preview data transmitted from the web server 200 to the printer 100, or may be other data created for the preview of the PC 500 by the web server 200. Note that a program for creating preview data to be displayed on the PC 500 and preview data created by the program are stored in the storage unit 230.

  In the example shown in FIG. 11, a set of combinations of a character string 111, a character string 112, and a print button 113 is displayed. When N print jobs with the same printer ID are registered in the print job management table, the print queue page includes a set of the character string 111, the character string 112, and the print button 113 as the number of print jobs. N are arranged according to the above. The HTML document on the print queue page includes a URL indicating the location of preview data to be displayed when the character string 112 is pressed.

  Next, the operation of the printing system 10 when the user issues a print data print instruction will be described. Here, first, the operation of the printer 100 that receives the preview data transmitted by the web server 200 in the above-described S133 will be described. The operation of the PC 500 after receiving the print queue page HTML document as described above will be described later.

  The printer 100 receives the job ID and preview data transmitted by the web server 200 in S133 (S136).

  The printer 100 that has received the preview data displays a preview screen (S137). An example of the preview screen is shown in FIG. The printer 100 displays a preview screen on the display unit 150. On the preview screen, preview data received by the printer 100 is displayed. A print button 141 is arranged on the preview screen. The print button is a button that a user presses to execute printing of print data created by the web server 200. In the following description, an operation in which the user presses the print button 141 is referred to as a print instruction operation.

  The printer 100 displaying the preview screen accepts a print instruction operation (S138).

  The printer 100 that has received the print instruction operation transmits the print instruction to the web server 200 (S139). The print instruction at this time includes the job ID received in S136 described above.

  Next, the operation of the PC 500 when the user instructs to print the print data using the PC 500 will be described.

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the print queue page transmitted by the web server 200 in S135 (S140). The HTML document of the print queue page includes a job ID and a preview data URL to be displayed on the PC 500.

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the print queue page displays the above-described print queue page (S141).

  The PC 500 displaying the print queue page accepts a print instruction operation (S142). The print instruction operation at this time is an operation in which the user presses the print button 113.

  The PC 500 that has received the print instruction operation transmits the print instruction to the web server 200 (S143). The print instruction includes a job ID displayed corresponding to the pressed print button 113.

  The web server 200 receives the print instruction transmitted by the printer 100 in S139 described above or the print instruction transmitted by the PC 500 in S143 (S150).

  The web server 200 that has received the print instruction searches for print data corresponding to the job ID included in the received print instruction (S151). Specifically, the web server 200 acquires the print data path corresponding to the received job ID from the print job management table to the RAM.

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the print data retrieves the status (S152). Specifically, the web server 200 first acquires a printer ID corresponding to the job ID received in S150 from the print job management table. Next, the status of the printer 100 corresponding to the acquired printer ID is acquired in the RAM from the printer management table.

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the status determines whether the printer 100 is online (S153). Specifically, if the status acquired in the RAM in S152 is “ONLINE”, the web server 200 determines that the printer 100 is online. If the status acquired in the RAM in S152 is “OFFLINE”, the web server 200 determines that the printer 100 is not offline.

  If the printer 100 is not online (S153: No), the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the printer activation request page to the PC 500 (S154).

  The HTML document of the printer activation request page transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the PC 500 (S155).

  The PC 500 having received the HTML document for the printer activation request page displays the printer activation request page (S156). FIG. 12 shows an example of the printer activation request page. As shown in FIG. 12, the printer activation request page includes a message that prompts the user to “activate the printer” to activate the printer 100. By confirming the printer activation request page on the PC 500, the user can confirm whether the printer 100 has been activated normally and whether the printer 100 is connected to the Internet network 400.

  When the printer 100 is online (S153: Yes), the web server 200 transmits print data to the printer 100 (S157). Specifically, the web server 200 transmits the print data stored in the path acquired in the RAM to the printer 100 in S151 described above.

  The web server 200 that has transmitted the print data deletes the transmitted print data, the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data, and the print job (S158). Specifically, the web server 200 deletes the print data transmitted to the printer 100 from the print data storage area 236. Further, the web server 200 deletes the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data from the preview data storage area 235. Further, the web server 200 deletes the print job having the job ID received in S150 described above from the print job management table.

  The web server 200 that has deleted the print data and the like transmits the HTML document of the print completion page to the PC 500 (S159).

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the print completion page transmitted by the web server 200 (S160).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the print completion page displays the print completion page (S161). An example of the print completion page is shown in FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the print completion page includes a message for notifying the user that the web server 200 has transmitted print data to the printer 100, “I have issued a print instruction to the printer”. . As a result, the PC 500 can confirm that the user is printing on the printer 100.

  In S157 described above, the printer 100 receives the print data transmitted by the web server 200 (S162).

The web server 200 that has received the print data performs printing in accordance with the received print data (S163). As a result, the user can cause the desired printer 100 to print the electronic file stored in the PC 500.
<Operation during printer search>
Next, the operation of the printing system 10 when the user performs a printer search operation will be described with reference to FIG. If it is determined in S107 (see FIG. 7) that the printer search operation has been performed (S107: Yes), the PC 500 performs S200 in FIG.

  When the printing system 10 starts the printer search process, first, the PC 500 transmits a printer search request to the web server 200 (S200).

  The web server 200 receives the printer search request transmitted from the PC 500 (S201).

  The web server 200 that has received the printer search request transmits an address search request to the service device 600 (S202). The address search request includes the IP address of the PC 500 that has transmitted the printer search request. The web server 200 uses the transmission source address of the printer search request received in S201 as the IP address of the PC 500. Since the address of the service device 600 is stored in the address storage area 237 in advance, the web server 200 can specify the transmission destination of the address search request.

  The address search request transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the service device 600 (S203).

  Receiving the address search request, the service device 600 performs an address search corresponding to the IP address of the PC 500 included in the address search request (S204). Specifically, the service device 600 extracts address information corresponding to the received IP address from the address table described above.

  The service device 600 that has performed the address search transmits the address information extracted from the address table to the web server 200 (S205).

  The address information transmitted by the service device 600 is received by the web server 200 (S206).

  The web server 200 that has received the address information transmits a latitude / longitude conversion request to the service device 700 (S207). The latitude / longitude conversion request includes the address information received from the service device 600. Since the address of the service device 700 is stored in advance in the address storage area 237, the web server 200 can specify the transmission destination of the latitude / longitude conversion request.

  The service device 700 receives the latitude / longitude conversion request transmitted by the web server 200 (S208).

  Upon receiving the latitude / longitude conversion request, the service device 700 converts the address information included in the received latitude / longitude conversion request into latitude information and longitude information (S209). Specifically, the service device 700 extracts latitude information and longitude information corresponding to the address information included in the latitude / longitude conversion request from the latitude / longitude table described above.

  The service device 700 that has extracted the latitude information and the longitude information transmits the extracted latitude information and the longitude information to the web server 200 (S210).

  The web server 200 receives the latitude information and longitude information transmitted by the service device 700 (S211).

  The web server 200 that has received the latitude information and the longitude information searches for the printer 100 installed near the PC 500 based on the received latitude information and longitude information (S212). Specifically, the web server 200 calculates the distance between the coordinates of each printer 100 registered in the printing system 10 and the coordinates of the PC 500 used by the user. Then, the printer ID of the printer 100 in which this distance falls within a predetermined value is extracted from the printer management table. The coordinates of each printer 100 registered in the printing system 10 can be obtained from latitude information and longitude information stored in the printer management table. The coordinates of the PC 500 used by the user can be obtained from the latitude information and longitude information received in S211.

  After searching for the printer 100 installed near the PC 500, the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the printer list page to the PC 500 (S213). FIG. 16 shows an example of the printer list page. On the printer list page, a printer list 141 that displays search results is arranged. The printer list is a list that displays two items of “printer ID” and “status”. In “Printer ID”, the printer ID extracted in S212 described above is displayed. In “Status”, a character string “ONLINE” or “OFFLINE” is displayed to indicate whether or not the printer 100 is online. The information displayed in the “status” of the printer list 141 can be specified by referring to the “status” of the printer management table described above. The printer list 141 includes a plurality of selection buttons 142 corresponding to the extracted printer 100. The user can select the printer 100 to be used by pressing the selection button 142. In order to clearly indicate which printer 100 is selected by the user, the selection button 142 pressed by the user is displayed in a different display mode from the other selection buttons 142. A selection determination button 143 is arranged below the printer list 141. The selection determination button 143 is a button that the user presses to determine the printer 100 selected by the selection button 142 as a printer to be printed. When the selection determination button 143 is pressed, the printer ID of the printer 100 selected by the selection button 142 is input to the above-described input box 90 (see FIG. 9). In the following description, an operation in which the user presses the selection button 142 and presses the selection determination button 143 is referred to as a printer selection operation. The web server 200 creates an HTML document of the printer list page as described above and transmits it to the PC 500.

  The HTML document of the printer list page transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the PC 500 (S214).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the printer list page displays the printer list page (S215).

  The PC 500 displaying the printer list page accepts the above-described printer selection operation (S216). After receiving the printer selection operation, the PC 500 returns to S105 described above and displays the print page again (see FIG. 7). In this case, the printer ID of the printer 100 selected by the user is entered in the print page input box 90 displayed at this time.

In this way, the user can easily search for the printer 100 installed near his current position, and can easily input the printer ID of the printer 100 he wishes to use.
<Operation of the printing system 10 when the user instructs printing again>
As described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, when the user issues a print instruction on the print page and the printer 100 desired by the user is not connected to the Internet network 400, the user I can't print. When the printer 100 is not connected to the Internet network 400, a printer activation request page is displayed on the PC 500 (see S155 in FIG. 8). In this case, after the user activates the printer 100 and connects to the Internet network 400, the user can instruct printing from the print queue page using the PC 500 again. With reference to FIG. 17, the operation of the printing system 10 when the user instructs printing again will be described.

  In order to issue a print instruction again using the PC 500, the user needs to start the web browser of the PC 500 and display the above-described print queue page (see FIG. 11). For this reason, when a print instruction is issued again, the user needs to start a web browser in advance. When the web browser is activated, the PC 500 accepts an input page access operation (S300). The input page is a page for the user to input the printer ID of the desired printer 100 in order to display the print queue page of the desired printer 100. The input page access operation is an operation performed by the user to display the input page. Specifically, the operation performed by the user is, for example, an operation of inputting the URL of the input page into the web browser.

  After receiving the input page access operation, the PC 500 transmits an input page request to the web server 200 (S301).

  The web server 200 receives the input page request transmitted by the PC 500 (S302).

  Receiving the input page request, the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the input page to the PC 500 (S303).

  The HTML document of the input page transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the PC 500 (S304).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the input page displays the input page (S305). Although the input page is not shown, an input box for inputting the printer ID of the printer 100 for which the print queue page is to be displayed and a transmission button for instructing transmission of the input printer ID are arranged. In the following description, an operation in which a user inputs a printer ID in an input box and then presses a transmission button is referred to as an ID input operation.

  The PC 500 displaying the input page as described above accepts an ID input operation (S306).

  The PC 500 that has received the ID input operation transmits the printer ID input by the user in S306 to the web server 200 (S307).

  The printer ID transmitted by the PC 500 is received by the web server 200 (S308).

  The web server 200 that has received the printer ID creates an HTML document for the print queue page corresponding to the received printer ID, and transmits the HTML document for the created print queue page to the PC 500 (S309). . The web server 200 transmits an HTML document of a print queue page as shown in FIG.

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the print queue page transmitted by the web server 200 (S310). The HTML document of the print queue page includes a job ID and a preview data URL to be displayed on the PC 500.

  Upon receiving the print queue page HTML document, the PC 500 displays the print queue page (S311).

  The PC 500 displaying the print queue page accepts a print instruction operation, similar to the above-described S142 (S312).

  The PC 500 that has received the print instruction operation transmits the print instruction to the web server 200 (S313). The print instruction includes a job ID displayed corresponding to the pressed print button 113.

  The print instruction transmitted by the PC 500 is received by the web server 200 (S314).

  Receiving the print instruction, the web server 200 searches for print data corresponding to the job ID included in the received print instruction as in S151 described above (S315).

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the print data retrieves the status (S316) as in S152 described above.

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the status determines whether the printer 100 is online as in S153 described above (S317).

  If the printer 100 is not online (S317: No), the web server 200 transmits an HTML document of the printer activation request page to the PC 500 (S318).

  The HTML document of the printer activation request page transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the PC 500 (S319).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document for the printer activation request page displays the printer activation request page, similar to S156 (S320).

  If the printer 100 is online (S317: Yes), the web server 200 transmits print data to the printer 100 (S321). Specifically, the web server 200 transmits the print data stored in the path acquired in the RAM to the printer 100 in S315 described above.

  The web server 200 that has transmitted the print data deletes the transmitted print data, the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data, and the print job (S322). Specifically, the web server 200 deletes the print data transmitted to the printer 100 from the print data storage area 236. Further, the web server 200 deletes the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data from the preview data storage area 235. Further, the web server 200 deletes the print job having the job ID received in S314 described above from the print job management table.

  The web server 200 that has deleted the print data and the like transmits the HTML document of the print completion page to the PC 500 (S323).

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the print completion page transmitted by the web server 200 (S324).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the print completion page displays the print completion page as shown in FIG. 13 (S325).

  In S321 described above, the printer 100 receives the print data transmitted by the web server 200 (S326).

The web server 200 that has received the print data performs printing in accordance with the received print data (S327). As a result, the user can cause the desired printer 100 to print the electronic file stored in the PC 500.
<Operation during printer registration>
Next, the operation of the printing system 10 when the user registers the new printer 100 in the printing system 10 will be described with reference to FIG. When the user activates the printer 100 and connects the printer 100 to the Internet network 400, the printer 100 starts S500 shown in FIG.

  When the printer 100 is connected to the Internet network 400, the printer 100 determines whether or not the initial registration has been completed (S500). When the initial registration is completed, the storage unit 130 stores information indicating that the initial registration is completed. The printer 100 can determine whether the initial registration is completed based on whether information indicating that the initial registration is completed is stored in the storage unit 130.

  If the initial registration has been completed (S500: Yes), the printer 100 ends the process shown in FIG. Note that after the processing shown in FIG. 18 is completed, the printer 100 performs an operation shown in FIG.

  If the initial registration is not completed (S500: No), the printer 100 displays a PIN code input screen (S501). An example of the PIN code input screen is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 19, an input box 191, a plurality of input buttons 192, a character change button 193, a delete button 194, and a confirm button 195 are arranged on the PIN code input screen. In the input box 191, the PIN code input to the user by the input button 192 is displayed. The input button 192 is a button for the user to input a desired PIN code. The character change button 193 is a button for changing the type of characters that can be input with the input button 192. In the example shown in FIG. 19, characters that can be input with the input button 192 are numbers from “0” to “9”. The delete button 194 is a button that is pressed when only one character is deleted from the input box 191 by the input button 192. The confirm button 195 is a button for the user to press when confirming the character string input in the input box 191 as a PIN code.

  The printer 100 displaying the PIN code input screen accepts a PIN code input operation (S502). The printer 100 updates the display of the PIN code input screen in response to pressing operations of various buttons 192 to 194. When it is detected that the confirm button 195 has been pressed, the printer 100 performs the operation of the next S503. The user can input an arbitrary character string as a PIN code.

  The printer 100 that has received the PIN code input operation transmits the PIN code, the printer identifier, and the model code to the web server 200 (S503). Specifically, the printer 100 receives the PIN code input in the input box 191, the printer identifier stored in the printer identifier storage area 131, and the model code stored in the model code storage area 132 from the web server 200. Send to. The address of the web server 200 is stored in advance in the address storage area 133. Therefore, the printer 100 can specify the transmission destination.

  The PIN code, printer identifier, and model code transmitted by the printer 100 are received by the web server 200 (S504).

  Receiving the PIN code, printer identifier, and model code, the web server 200 issues a new printer ID (S505). The web server 200 issues a printer ID not yet stored in the printer management table as a new printer ID.

  The web server 200 that issued the printer ID stores the newly issued printer ID, the PIN code received in S504, the printer identifier received in S504, and the model code received in S504 in the printer management table (S506). ). The web server 200 also stores the IP address and the registration date in the printer management table at this time. The web server 200 stores the source address of the IP packet received in S504 in the printer management table as the IP address of the printer 100. Information indicating the date and time at this time is stored in the printer management table as a registration date.

  After updating the printer management table, the web server 200 transmits the new printer ID stored in the printer management table in S506 to the printer 100 (S507).

  The printer 100 received by the web server 200 is received by the printer 100 (S508).

  Upon receiving the printer ID, the printer 100 displays the received printer ID (S509). Specifically, a printer ID display screen as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed on the display unit 150.

Through the above processing, the printer ID, PIN code, printer identifier, and model code for the new printer 100 are registered in the web server 200. At this point, among the information stored in the printer management table, for the new printer 100, the four types of information of status, latitude information, longitude information, and registration date are still stored. Absent. These pieces of information are stored in the printer management table by the processing after S600 in FIG.
<Operation when Updating Latitude Information and Longitude Information of Printer 100>
Next, the operation of the printing system 10 when updating the latitude information and longitude information of the printer 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The process illustrated in FIG. 21 is started after the above-described S509 is performed, or after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the series of operations illustrated in FIG. For example, the operation of FIG. 21 may be started every 10 minutes. As a result, the latest latitude information and longitude information are recorded in the printer management table for each printer 100.

  When the operation of FIG. 21 is started, the printer 100 transmits a printer identifier stored in advance in the printer identifier storage area 131 to the web server 200 (S600).

  The web server 200 receives the printer identifier transmitted by the printer 100 (S601).

  The web server 200 that has acquired the printer identifier determines whether or not the IP address of the printer 100 has been updated (S602). Specifically, the web server 200 determines whether or not the IP address has been updated based on whether or not the source address of the printer identifier received in S601 matches the IP address stored in the printer management table. Determine whether.

  If the transmission source address matches the IP address stored in the printer management table, the web server 200 determines that the IP address has not been updated (S602: No), and the operation of S614 described later is performed. I do.

  If the source address and the IP address stored in the printer management table do not match, the web server 200 determines that the IP address has been updated (S602: Yes), and sends the address to the service device 600. A search request is transmitted (S603). This address search request includes the IP address of the printer 100 that has transmitted the printer identifier. The web server 200 uses the transmission source address of the printer identifier received in S601 as the IP address of the printer 100.

  The address search request transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the service device 600 (S604).

  The service device 600 that has received the address search request performs an address search in the same manner as S204 described above (S605).

  The service device 600 that has performed the address search transmits the address information to the web server 200 (S606).

  The address information transmitted by the service device 600 is received by the web server 200 (S607).

  The web server 200 that has received the address information transmits a latitude / longitude conversion request to the service device 700 (S608). The latitude / longitude conversion request includes the address information received from the service device 600 in S607.

  The service device 700 receives the latitude / longitude conversion request transmitted by the web server 200 (S609).

  Upon receiving the latitude / longitude conversion request, the service device 700 converts the received address information into latitude information and longitude information (S610), as in S209 described above.

  The service device 700 that has converted the address information transmits latitude information and longitude information to the web server 200 (S611).

  The latitude information and longitude information transmitted by the service device 700 are received by the web server 200 (S612).

  The web server 200 that has received the latitude information and the longitude information updates the printer management table (S613). Specifically, the IP address, latitude information, and longitude information of the printer 100 corresponding to the printer identifier received in S602 are updated. At this time, the IP address stored in the printer management table is the IP address of the transmission source of the printer identifier received in S602. The latitude information and longitude information stored in the printer management table at this time are the latitude information and longitude information received in S612.

  The web server 200 that has updated the printer management table determines whether or not the printer 100 is online (S614). The web server 200 determines whether the printer 100 is online by referring to the status of the printer management table. When the status of the corresponding printer 100 is “ONLINE”, it is determined that the printer 100 is online. On the other hand, if the status is “OFFLINE” or a NULL value, it is determined that the user is offline. In the case of the new printer 100, that is, when the printer 100 and the web server 200 are connected for the first time, the status is a NULL value at this point.

  If it is determined that it is online (S614: YES), the web server 200 once ends the process of updating the printer management table.

  If it is determined that it is not online (S614: NO), the web server 200 updates the status of the printer 100 to “ONLINE” and starts communication between the printer 100 and XMPP (S615). Then, the web server 200 once ends the process of updating the printer management table.

  After completing the above processing, the web server 200 performs XMPP communication with the printer 100 in accordance with the XMPP server program stored in the program storage area, and monitors whether communication with the printer 100 is possible. . The web server 200 updates the status of the printer management table to either “ONLINE” or “OFFLINE” based on the monitoring result of whether communication is possible. The printer 100 communicates with the web server 200 according to the above-described XMPP client program, and transmits a notification indicating that communication with the web server 200 is possible to the web server 200.

Through the above processing, the IP address, latitude information, longitude information, and status for the printer 100 are registered or updated in the web server 200.
<Description of Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The description of the same matters as in the first embodiment will be omitted, and the same configuration as in the first embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment. The hardware configuration of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. In the printing system 10 according to the first embodiment described above, when the user issues a print instruction on the print page and the printer 100 desired by the user is not connected to the Internet network 400, the user uses the printer 100. In the above description, it is assumed that printing can be instructed from the print queue page using the PC 500. In the printing system 10 of the second embodiment, it is not possible to issue a print instruction from the print queue page. In the printing system 10 of the second embodiment, it is possible to issue a print instruction again by inputting a job ID in a job ID input page described later. In the print queue page of the first embodiment described above, since all print jobs linked to the printer ID input by the user are displayed, there is a risk that a print job instructed by another user will be erroneously executed. There is. On the other hand, in the job ID input page of the second embodiment, since the user directly inputs the job ID assigned to the print job created by the user, the print job of another person is erroneously executed. Can be prevented.

  With reference to FIG. 22, the operation of the printing system 10 of the second embodiment when the user issues a printing instruction again will be described. Note that other operations of the printing system 10 of the second embodiment are substantially the same as the operations of the first embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 7, 8, 15, 18, and 21. In the second embodiment, only some operations (S135, S140, and S141) shown in FIG. 8 are different. The parts different from the first embodiment will be described later, but the description of the same operations as in the first embodiment will be omitted.

  As in the first embodiment, when the web browser is activated, the PC 500 according to the second embodiment accepts an access operation for a job ID input page (S400). The job ID input page is a page for the user to input a desired job ID. The job ID input page access operation is an operation performed by the user to display the job ID input page. A specific operation performed by the user is, for example, an operation of inputting the URL of the job ID input page into the web browser.

  After receiving the job ID input page access operation, the PC 500 transmits a job ID input page request to the web server 200 (S401).

  The web server 200 receives the job ID input page request transmitted by the PC 500 (S402).

  The web server 200 that has received the job ID input page request transmits the HTML document of the job ID input page to the PC 500 (S403).

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the job ID input page transmitted by the web server 200 (S404).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the job ID input page displays the job ID input page (S405). Although the job ID input page is not shown, an input box for the user to input a desired job ID and a transmission button for instructing transmission of the input job ID are arranged. In the following description, an operation in which a user inputs a job ID in an input box and then presses a transmission button is referred to as a job ID input operation.

  The user can confirm the job ID of his / her print job from the print queue page displayed in S141 described above (see FIG. 8). Note that the print queue page displayed in S141 in the second embodiment is slightly different from the print queue page of the first embodiment. In the first embodiment described above, when N print jobs having the same printer ID are registered in the print job management table, the print queue page includes the character string 111, the character string 112, and the print button 113. In the above description, N sets are arranged according to the number of print jobs. However, the combinations of the character string 111, the character string 112, and the print button 113 displayed on the print queue page in the second embodiment are all combinations corresponding to all print jobs with the same printer ID. Is not limited. The set of the character string 111, the character string 112, and the print button 113 displayed on the print queue page of the second embodiment corresponds to the new print job added to the print job management table in S134 described above. Only. That is, the HTML document of the print queue page transmitted by the web server 200 in S135 and the HTML document of the print queue page received by the PC 500 in S140 are slightly different from the first embodiment. Such an operation different from the first embodiment prevents the user from being notified of the job ID of another person's print job. The user can confirm the job ID of his / her print job from such a print queue page, and can use this to input a desired job ID on the above-described job ID input page.

  The PC 500 displaying the job ID input page accepts a job ID input operation (S412).

  The PC 500 that has received the job ID input operation transmits a print instruction to the web server 200 (S413). The print instruction includes a job ID input by the user.

  The print instruction transmitted by the PC 500 is received by the web server 200 (S414).

  The web server 200 that has received the print instruction searches for print data corresponding to the job ID included in the received print instruction as in S151 described above (S415).

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the print data retrieves the status (S416) as in S152 described above.

  The web server 200 that has retrieved the status determines whether the printer 100 is online as in S153 described above (S417).

  If the printer 100 is not online (S417: No), the web server 200 transmits the HTML document of the printer activation request page to the PC 500 (S418).

  The HTML document of the printer activation request page transmitted by the web server 200 is received by the PC 500 (S419).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document for the printer activation request page displays the printer activation request page as in S156 (S420).

  When the printer 100 is online (S417: Yes), the web server 200 transmits print data to the printer 100 (S421). Specifically, the web server 200 transmits the print data stored in the path acquired in the RAM to the printer 100 in S415 described above.

  The web server 200 that has transmitted the print data deletes the transmitted print data, the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data, and the print job (S422). Specifically, the web server 200 deletes the print data transmitted to the printer 100 from the print data storage area 236. Further, the web server 200 deletes the preview data corresponding to the transmitted print data from the preview data storage area 235. Also, the web server 200 deletes the print job with the job ID received in S414 described above from the print job management table.

  The web server 200 that has deleted the print data and the like transmits the HTML document of the print completion page to the PC 500 (S423).

  The PC 500 receives the HTML document of the print completion page transmitted by the web server 200 (S424).

  The PC 500 that has received the HTML document of the print completion page displays the print completion page as shown in FIG. 13 (S425).

  In S421 described above, the printer 100 receives the print data transmitted by the web server 200 (S426).

The web server 200 that has received the print data performs printing in accordance with the received print data (S427). As a result, the user can cause the desired printer 100 to print the electronic file stored in the PC 500.
<Correspondence relationship with constituent elements described in claims>
Correspondence between each component in the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above and each component described in the claims is as follows. The printing system 10 corresponds to a printing system. The printer 100 corresponds to a printing apparatus. The web server 200 corresponds to a web server. The storage unit 230 including the printer management table storage area 231 corresponds to authentication information storage means. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits a print page in S103 described above corresponds to a first page transmission unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that receives the print instruction data in S110 described above corresponds to a first acquisition unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that determines whether or not the authentication is successful in S112 described above corresponds to an authentication unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that creates print data in S116 described above corresponds to a print data creation unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits print data in S157 described above corresponds to a print data transmission unit. The control unit 120 of the printer 100 that receives the print data in S162 described above corresponds to a print data acquisition unit. The control unit 120 of the printer 100 that performs printing in S163 described above corresponds to a print control unit.

  In addition, the control unit 220 of the web server 200 that searches for the model code in the above-described S111 corresponds to a model specifying unit.

  The storage unit 230 including the printer management table storage unit 231 corresponds to a model information storage unit.

  The display unit 150 corresponds to a display unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that creates preview data in S131 described above corresponds to display data creation means. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the preview data in S133 described above corresponds to a display data transmission unit. The control unit 120 of the printer 100 that receives the preview data in S136 described above corresponds to a display data acquisition unit. The control unit 120 of the printer 100 that displays the preview screen in S137 described above corresponds to a display control unit. The control unit 120 of the printer 100 that receives the print instruction operation in S138 described above corresponds to a print instruction reception unit.

  In addition, the control unit 220 of the web server 200 that updates the print job management table in S134 described above corresponds to a list creation unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the print queue page in the above-described S135 or the above-described S309 corresponds to a second page transmission unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that receives the print instruction in S150 or S314 described above corresponds to the first detection unit.

  In addition, the control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the print queue page in S309 described above corresponds to a job identification information transmission unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the job ID input page in S403 described above corresponds to a third page transmission unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that receives the print instruction in S414 described above corresponds to a second detection unit.

  In addition, the control unit 220 of the web server 200 that acquires the IP address of the printer 100 in S601 described above corresponds to a first IP address acquisition unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that acquires the IP address of the PC 500 in S201 described above corresponds to a second IP address acquisition unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that searches for the printer 100 in S212 described above corresponds to the specifying unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the printer list page in S213 described above corresponds to a fourth page transmission unit.

In addition, the control unit 220 of the web server 200 that receives the PIN code in S504 described above corresponds to the authentication information receiving unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that stores the printer ID and the PIN code in association with each other in S506 described above corresponds to a storage control unit. The control unit 220 of the web server 200 that transmits the printer ID in S507 described above corresponds to an identification information transmission unit.
<Modification>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the web server 200 has been described as specifying the model based on the printer ID in S111 and creating print data corresponding to the model in S116, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, the user can input the model code of the printing apparatus 100 to be printed on the print page, and the web server 200 generates print data corresponding to the model based on the model code input by the user. Anyway.

  In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the printer 100 displays the preview screen in S137 and acquires print data from the web server 200 and executes printing when the user performs a print instruction operation. Although described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the web server 200 may transmit the print data to the printer 100 immediately after creating the print data in S116 without transmitting the preview data to the printer 100. In this case, when the printer 100 acquires the print data from the web server 200, the printer 100 displays a confirmation screen for confirming whether or not to cause the user to execute printing, and the user operates the operation unit 180 to execute printing. If permitted, printing may be executed based on the print data received by the printer 100.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that information such as a printer ID, a PIN code, and an electronic file path can be input on one print page (see FIG. 9). However, the present invention is not limited to this. Absent. These pieces of information may be individually input on a plurality of web pages. In this case, the plurality of web pages correspond to the first page of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the print data is generated in advance in S116 after receiving the print instruction data in S110. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, after receiving a print instruction in S150, print data may be created based on the electronic file received in S110. In this case, the electronic file received in S110 is stored in the storage unit 230, and the path of the electronic file stored in the storage unit 230 may be stored in the print job management table instead of the print data path. This path of the electronic file corresponds to “information for specifying print data created from the electronic file included in the print instruction data” of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Printer 110 Communication part 120 Control part 130 Storage part 150 Display part 160 Printing part 180 Operation part 200 Web server 210 Communication part 220 Control part 230 Storage part 400 Internet network 500 PC
510 communication unit 520 control unit 530 storage unit 550 display unit 580 operation unit 600 service device 700 service device

Claims (11)

A printing system comprising a plurality of printing devices having a printing unit for performing printing, and a web server connected to the printing device via an Internet network,
The web server is
Authentication information storage means for storing the printer ID for identifying the printing apparatus and the PIN code of the printing apparatus set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to a printing system in association with each other. ,
The first page, which is a web page on which a printer ID of a printing apparatus that executes printing, a PIN code of the printing apparatus that executes printing, and an electronic file that executes printing can be input, is displayed on the user terminal. First page transmission means for transmitting to
First acquisition means for acquiring print instruction data including a printer ID, a PIN code, and an electronic file input to the first page;
Authentication means for performing authentication based on the printer ID and PIN code acquired by the first acquisition means and the printer ID and PIN code stored in the authentication information storage means;
Print data creating means for creating print data based on the electronic file obtained by the first obtaining means;
Print data transmission means for transmitting the print data created by the print data creation means to the printing apparatus of the printer ID obtained by the first acquisition means when the authentication means succeeds,
The printing apparatus includes:
Print data acquisition means for acquiring print data transmitted by the print data transmission means;
A printing system comprising: a printing control unit that executes printing by the printing unit based on the printing data acquired by the printing data acquisition unit. The web server is
Authentication information receiving means for receiving a PIN code transmitted from a new printing apparatus, which is a printing apparatus newly added to the printing system, and entered by the user to the new printing apparatus;
Storage control means for associating and storing the printer ID newly assigned to the new printing apparatus and the PIN code received by the authentication information receiving means in the authentication information storage means;
The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: identification information transmission means for transmitting the newly assigned printer ID to the new printing apparatus. The web server is
Comprising a model specifying means for specifying the model of the printing apparatus for executing printing;
The print data creation device, a printing system according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that to create the print data corresponding to the model information identified by the machine Tanetoku constant means. The web server is
A model information storage unit that stores a printer ID and model information that is information for specifying the model of the printing apparatus in association with each other;
The model specifying unit specifies a model of the printing apparatus that executes printing based on the printer ID acquired by the first acquisition unit and the printer ID and model information stored in the model information storage unit. The printing system according to claim 3. The printing apparatus includes:
A display unit for displaying images;
The web server is
Display data creating means for creating display data for displaying a print image on the display unit based on the electronic file obtained by the first obtaining means;
Display data transmission means for transmitting the display data created by the display data creation means to the printing apparatus of the printer ID acquired by the first acquisition means,
The printing apparatus includes:
Display data acquisition means for acquiring display data transmitted by the display data transmission means;
Display control means for displaying the display data acquired by the display data acquisition means on the display unit;
Printing instruction receiving means for receiving an input of a printing instruction after the display data is displayed on the display control means,
5. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing control unit executes printing by the printing unit when receiving an input of the printing instruction. 6.   The printing system according to claim 5, wherein the display data creating unit creates display data of a print image of only a specific page among pages printed based on the print data. The web server is
A list of print jobs including information for specifying print data created from an electronic file included in the print instruction data and a printer ID included in the print instruction data is displayed in the print instruction data by the first acquisition unit. List creation means to be created upon acquisition,
Second page transmission means for transmitting to the user terminal a second page on which a user can specify a desired print job from the list of print jobs created by the list creation means;
First detection means for detecting that a print job has been designated by the second page,
The print data transmission unit transmits the print data to the printing apparatus corresponding to the print job specified by the second page when the execution of printing is instructed by the first detection unit. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The web server is
A list of print jobs including information for specifying print data created from an electronic file included in the print instruction data and a printer ID included in the print instruction data is displayed in the print instruction data by the first acquisition unit. List creation means to be created upon acquisition,
Job identification information transmitting means for transmitting job identification information, which is information for specifying the print job, to the user terminal after acquiring print instruction data by the first acquisition means;
A third page transmitting means for transmitting to the user terminal a third page capable of designating a print job by inputting the desired job identification information in order for the user to execute printing;
Second detecting means for detecting that a print job has been designated by the third page;
The print data transmission unit transmits the print data to the printing apparatus corresponding to the print job designated by the third page when the second detection unit detects that the print job is designated by the second detection unit. The printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The web server is
First IP address acquisition means for acquiring a first IP address that is an IP address of the plurality of printing apparatuses;
Second IP address acquisition means for acquiring a second IP address which is the IP address of the user terminal;
Based on the first IP address acquired by the first IP address acquisition unit and the second IP address acquired by the second IP address acquisition unit, a printing apparatus installed near the location of the user terminal is specified. Specific means,
9. A fourth page transmitting means for transmitting a fourth page to a user terminal, which is a web page for displaying a list of printing devices specified by the specifying means. The printing system in any one of. A web server of a printing system comprising a plurality of printing devices including a printing unit for performing printing, and a web server connected to the printing device via an Internet network,
Authentication information storage means for storing a printer ID for identifying the printing apparatus and a PIN code set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to a printing system in association with each other;
The first page, which is a web page on which a printer ID of a printing apparatus that executes printing, a PIN code of the printing apparatus that executes printing, and an electronic file that executes printing can be input, is displayed on the user terminal. First page transmission means for transmitting to
First acquisition means for acquiring print instruction data including a printer ID, a PIN code, and an electronic file input to the first page;
Authentication means for performing authentication based on the printer ID and PIN code acquired by the first acquisition means and the printer ID and PIN code stored in the authentication information storage means;
Print data creating means for creating print data based on the electronic file obtained by the first obtaining means;
Print data transmission means for transmitting the print data created by the print data creation means to the printing apparatus having the printer ID obtained by the first acquisition means when the authentication means succeeds. Feature web server. A system including a plurality of printing apparatuses including a printing unit that performs printing, and a web server connected to the printing apparatus via an Internet network, wherein the web server identifies a printer ID; A printing method used in a printing system including an authentication information storage unit that associates and stores a PIN code of the printing apparatus set for the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is added to the printing system. There,
In the web server,
The first page, which is a web page on which a printer ID of a printing apparatus that executes printing, a PIN code of the printing apparatus that executes printing, and an electronic file that executes printing can be input, is displayed on the user terminal. A first page sending step to send to
A first acquisition step of acquiring print instruction data including a printer ID, a PIN code, and an electronic file input to the first page;
An authentication step for performing authentication based on the printer ID and PIN code acquired in the first acquisition step, and the printer ID and PIN code stored in the authentication information storage unit;
A print data creating step for creating print data based on the electronic file obtained in the first obtaining step;
A print data transmission step of transmitting the print data created in the print data creation step to the printing apparatus having the printer ID obtained in the first acquisition step when the authentication is successful in the authentication step;
In the printing apparatus,
A print data acquisition step of acquiring the print data transmitted by the print data transmission step;
And a printing control step of executing printing by the printing unit based on the printing data acquired in the printing data acquisition step.

Images