JP5807366B2 - Image forming apparatus, power supply apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a power supply apparatus, and a program.

  In an input device that transmits data for printing, there is a conventional technique that completes data transfer for printing even when the remaining power is insufficient (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The technique described in Patent Literature 1 includes a power supply unit for supplying power, an input device that transmits an order for recording image data on a recording medium, and a wireless system that transmits information using the power supply unit And an external power supply method that transmits information without using a power supply unit, and a communication connection via a wireless method or an external power supply method, and recording the image data on a recording medium based on an order received from an input device A receiving device that accepts an order of the input device, the input device includes a storage unit and a communication unit, and the receiving device includes a communication unit, an HDD, a communication unit, Selecting means for selecting a wireless method or an external power source using method used in the communication unit.

  Further, there is a conventional technique for supplying power from a printer device to a digital camera (see, for example, Patent Document 2). The technique described in Patent Document 2 is a digital camera that can be directly connected to a printer device via communication means, and indicates whether or not a direct print function is provided via the communication means at an initial stage of connection with the printer device. Notification means for notifying authentication information to the printer apparatus, and power receiving means for receiving power supply from the printer apparatus side based on authentication on the printer apparatus side in response to notification of authentication information.

JP 2007-156735 A JP 2004-70610 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide means for preventing the power of a mobile terminal device from being insufficient when transmitting output data from the mobile terminal device to an image forming apparatus.

The invention described in claim 1
Receiving means for receiving image data from the mobile terminal device;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image data on a medium;
Power supply means for supplying power to the mobile terminal device;
Power supply control means for supplying power to the power supply means, provided that there is an operator instruction that image data is received by the reception means;
An image forming apparatus comprising:
The invention described in claim 2
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that data reception by the reception unit is completed.
The invention according to claim 3
It further comprises operation accepting means for accepting a user's operation,
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that the operation receiving unit has received an operation for instructing power supply to be stopped. .
The invention according to claim 4
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of power supply. is there.
The invention described in claim 5
It further comprises operation accepting means for accepting a user's operation,
5. The image formation according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit starts power supply on condition that the operation receiving unit has received an operation for instructing start of power supply. 6. Device.
The invention described in claim 6
Power supply means for receiving power from the image forming apparatus and supplying power to the mobile terminal device;
Power supply control means for supplying power to the power supply means on condition that there is an instruction from an operator to transfer image data from the portable terminal device to the image forming apparatus;
A power supply apparatus comprising:
The invention described in claim 7
The power supply device according to claim 6, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that transfer of output data from the portable terminal device to the image forming apparatus is completed.
The invention according to claim 8 provides:
A computer for controlling an image forming apparatus, comprising: a receiving unit that receives image data from a portable terminal device; an image forming unit that forms an image based on the image data on a medium; and a power feeding unit that supplies power to the portable terminal device. In addition,
Processing to accept user operations,
A process for causing the power supply means to start power supply to the mobile terminal device on condition that an operation for receiving the image data and an operation for instructing power supply start have been received;
It is a program characterized by causing to execute.
The invention according to claim 9 is:
The computer is further caused to further execute a process of causing the power supply means to stop power supply to the mobile terminal device on the condition that reception of the output data from the mobile terminal device is completed. The program according to item 8.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when output data is transferred from the mobile terminal device to the image forming apparatus, power is supplied to the mobile terminal device, and power shortage of the mobile terminal device can be prevented.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent unnecessary power feeding to the portable terminal device until after the data transfer is completed.
According to the invention of claim 3, the power supply to the portable terminal device can be terminated based on the judgment of the user.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the mobile terminal device from being powered indefinitely in terms of time.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the user's operation is accepted, power feeding can be started even before the start of data transfer.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, when output data is transferred from the portable terminal device to the image forming apparatus, power is supplied to the portable terminal device, and power shortage of the portable terminal device can be prevented.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the portable terminal device from being unnecessarily powered until after the data transfer is completed.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, when output data is transferred from the mobile terminal device to the image forming apparatus, power is supplied to the mobile terminal device, and power shortage of the mobile terminal device can be prevented.
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent unnecessary power supply to the portable terminal device until after the data transfer is completed.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration example of an image forming apparatus to which the exemplary embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a data input / output part and an electric power feeding part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the electric power feeding system in this embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operations of communication and power feeding between the image forming apparatus and the mobile terminal device.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
<Configuration of image forming apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 to which the present exemplary embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the image forming apparatus 100.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an image input unit 110, an image output unit 120 (see FIG. 2), an operation reception unit 130, a data input / output unit 140, and a power supply unit 150. A system control unit 160 (see FIG. 2) is configured to control operations by these functions. In addition, a charging device 170 is connected to the image forming apparatus 100.

The image input unit 110 is a scanner unit that optically reads and inputs an image (original) written on a medium such as paper.
The image output unit 120 is an image forming unit that forms and outputs an image on a medium such as paper using an image forming material such as toner.
The image input unit 110 and the image output unit 120 are connected to the system control unit 160 via the device control unit 121 (see FIG. 2).

  The operation receiving unit 130 is a user interface unit that receives various instructions and setting information input operations by the user. The operation receiving unit 130 includes, for example, an operation button and a display that displays an operation image that notifies the user of an operation method, setting information, and the like. Alternatively, the operation button may be displayed on a liquid crystal panel, and a touch panel or the like that receives an input by touching the button or the like displayed on the operation image by the user may be used.

  The data input / output unit 140 is a unit that exchanges data with the mobile terminal device 200 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) by data communication using various communication means and reading / writing of data to / from an electronic information recording medium. is there. Here, it is assumed that the mobile terminal device 200 is mainly a mobile phone or a digital camera. However, the terminal device is not particularly limited as long as it is a terminal device that can exchange data with the data input / output unit 140 and transmit output data such as an image to the image forming apparatus 100.

  Data communication by the data input / output unit 140 corresponds to communication means using various methods regardless of wired or wireless. For example, the wired communication method corresponds to a communication method such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) communication or IEEE 1394 standard data communication. As a wireless communication method, infrared communication, Bluetooth, and the like are supported. Data reading / writing by the data input / output unit 140 is compatible with various types of electronic information recording media. For example, it corresponds to recording media using various recording methods such as a USB memory or other flash memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. It also supports non-contact IC (RFID: Radio Frequency IDentification).

  The power supply unit 150 is a unit that supplies power to the mobile terminal device 200. The power transmission method corresponds to, for example, a non-contact power transmission method using electromagnetic induction or a bus power method in which power is supplied via a bus such as a USB. However, in order to use the power supply function of the present embodiment, the mobile terminal device 200 needs to have a power reception function corresponding to the power transmission method of the power supply unit 150.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the data input / output unit 140 and the power feeding unit 150.
In the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 3, the data input / output unit 140 and the power feeding unit 150 are provided in a single casing 101. The front surface of the housing 101 (the surface facing the user when the user operates the image forming apparatus 100) is the same as the connector 141 for various wired communication methods supported by the data input / output unit 140. An insertion port 142 for various electronic information recording media corresponding to the data input / output unit 140 is provided. Inside the housing 101, a wireless communication unit 143 for performing wireless communication by a communication method supported by the data input / output unit 140 is provided. Also, in the housing 101, communication control means (not shown) for performing wired or wireless communication with the mobile terminal device 200, and data for the electronic information recording medium inserted in the insertion port 142 are stored. A reader / writer (not shown) for reading and writing is provided. This communication control means and reader / writer are realized as a function of the data input / output unit 140.

Furthermore, a terminal place 102 on which the portable terminal device 200 is placed is formed on the upper surface of the housing 101 shown in FIG. And inside the housing | casing 101, the electric power feeding part 150 by a non-contact electric power transmission system is provided. Further, the power feeding unit 150 may perform power supply by a bus power system via a USB connector included in the connector 141 provided on the front surface of the housing 101.

  The system control unit 160 is a control unit that controls operations of units (the image input unit 110, the image output unit 120, the operation reception unit 130, the data input / output unit 140, and the power supply unit 150) that realize the above-described functions. As shown in FIG. 2, the system control unit 160 includes a CPU 161 that executes control processing, a memory 162 and a hard disk device (HDD) 163 as storage means, and input / output for connecting each unit to exchange data. A control unit 164.

  The billing device 170 is a device for receiving a fee set for using each function described above. For example, when the user selects a function that the user wants to use based on a function selection screen or the like displayed on the display of the operation reception unit 130, the charge amount is displayed on the display of the operation reception unit 130. Then, when the user inputs an amount corresponding to the billing amount into the billing device 170, the selected function can be used.

  The image forming apparatus 100 configured as described above receives images and other output data from the portable terminal device 200, and forms and outputs an image on a medium such as paper based on the received output data. Specifically, first, the user operates the operation receiving unit 130 to input an instruction to acquire output data from the mobile terminal device 200 and print it out. Based on this instruction, the system control unit 160 causes the data input / output unit 140 to acquire output data. The data input / output unit 140 receives output data from the mobile terminal device 200 by the communication function of the data input / output unit 140 based on the control of the system control unit 160. Then, the system control unit 160 sends the output data received by the data input / output unit 140 to the device control unit 121 and instructs output. The apparatus control unit 121 generates an image based on the output data acquired from the system control unit 160, and controls the image output unit 120 to form the generated image on a medium such as paper.

  Note that the above configuration example only shows one configuration example of the image forming apparatus 100 to which the present embodiment is applied, and the application target of the present embodiment is the image forming apparatus 100 configured as described above. It is not limited. For example, it may be configured as an image output device that does not include the image input unit 110, or may not be connected to the billing device 170. In addition to the above functions, a configuration including a facsimile function and a network function for connecting to an external network may be employed.

<Power supply method>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a power feeding method in the present embodiment.
Here, functional configurations of the power feeding unit 150 and the mobile terminal device 200 when power is fed by the non-contact power transmission method will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the power feeding unit 150 includes a power conversion unit 151 and a communication unit 152. In addition, when performing power supply according to this method, the mobile terminal device 200 includes a power conversion unit 201 and a communication unit 202 as a configuration for realizing a power reception function.

  The power conversion unit 151 of the power supply unit 150 receives power supply from the power supply of the image forming apparatus 100 and transmits the power to the mobile terminal device 200. As a non-contact power transmission method, various existing methods such as a method using electromagnetic induction, a method using radio waves, and a method using a resonance phenomenon of an electromagnetic field may be used.

  The communication unit 152 establishes communication connection with the communication unit 202 of the mobile terminal device 200 and receives a power supply request from the mobile terminal device 200. This power supply request includes setting information related to power supply such as output current and output voltage. Note that the communication function of the data input / output unit 140 may be used as the communication unit 152.

  The power conversion unit 201 of the mobile terminal device 200 receives the power transmitted from the power conversion unit 151 of the power supply unit 150 and supplies it to each circuit of the mobile terminal device 200. As the power conversion unit 201, a power reception method corresponding to the transmission method of the power conversion unit 151 of the power supply unit 150 is used.

  The communication unit 202 performs communication connection with the communication unit 152 of the power supply unit 150 (or the data input / output unit 140 when the communication function of the data input / output unit 140 is used as the communication unit 152), and transmits a power supply request. To do. This power supply request includes setting information relating to power supply such as an output current and an output voltage in accordance with the specifications of the mobile terminal device 200.

<Power supply operation>
Next, the power feeding operation according to the present embodiment will be described.
As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has a function of receiving output data from the mobile terminal device 200 and forming and outputting an image based on the output data. Here, there are cases where output data cannot be smoothly transmitted from the mobile terminal device 200 due to power shortage, such as when the remaining battery level of the mobile terminal device 200 is low. Therefore, this embodiment has a power feeding function for the mobile terminal device 200 by including the power feeding unit 150 as described above.

  On the other hand, when the image forming apparatus 100 is installed in a place that can be used by a large number of people such as a store, when the image forming apparatus 100 is used only for charging the mobile terminal device 200 by a specific user, Use of the image forming apparatus 100 by other users is hindered. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the power supply unit 150 of the image forming apparatus 100 performs power supply on the condition that output data is received from the mobile terminal device 200. Hereinafter, the power feeding operation will be specifically described with reference to a flowchart. In the following example, it is assumed that the image forming apparatus 100 is set so that power can be supplied when transfer by wireless communication is selected as the data transfer method. Further, as a power feeding method, a non-contact power feeding method is used.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating communication and power feeding operations between the image forming apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal device 200.
In the operation example shown in FIG. 5, first, the user operates the menu screen displayed on the display of the operation reception unit 130 to transmit output data from the mobile terminal device 200 to the image forming apparatus 100 and print it out (directly). Enter the instruction to print. When accepting this operation (step 501), the operation accepting unit 130 next displays an operation image for selecting an output data transfer method on the display, and accepts a user's selection operation (step 502). At this time, the user's selection operation is also accepted as to whether or not to supply power.

  When data transfer by wireless communication is selected by a user operation on the operation accepting unit 130 (Yes in Step 503), and an operation for instructing the start of power supply (Power Supply Request) is performed (Yes in Step 504), the system control unit 160 controls the power supply unit 150 to start power supply to the mobile terminal device 200 (step 505). Then, transfer of output data is started (step 506). By starting the power feeding prior to the reception of the output data, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the transmission of the output data cannot be started due to insufficient power of the mobile terminal device 200.

  When the transfer of the output data is completed (step 507), the system control unit 160 controls the power supply unit 150 to end (stop) the power supply to the mobile terminal device 200 (step 508). Then, the system control unit 160 displays an image generated based on the acquired output data on the display of the operation reception unit 130 (step 511), and receives an output image selection operation by the user. If the transferred output data does not include an image to be printed out by the user, the data transfer may be started again without selecting the output image (No in step 512). Although not specifically shown, a power supply request may be received again at this time.

  When the output image is determined (Yes in step 512), the system control unit 160 displays the amount charged for the print output process on the display of the operation receiving unit 130 (step 513). If the display amount has been input to the charging device 170 (charging completed) (step 514), the system control unit 160 then causes the display of the operation receiving unit 130 to start a print output (print start button). ) Is displayed. When the user inputs an instruction to start printing using the displayed print start button (step 515), the system control unit 160 accepts this instruction and instructs the apparatus control unit 121 to print out the selected image. Then, when the image selected by the image output unit 120 under the control of the device control unit 121 is formed on a medium such as paper and discharged from the image forming apparatus 100, the print output process ends (step 516).

Next, an operation when power feeding is not performed will be described.
When data transfer by wireless communication is not selected by a user operation on the operation reception unit 130 (No in step 503), or data transfer by wireless communication is selected (Yes in step 503), an instruction to start power supply is given. If no operation (power supply request) has been performed (No in step 504), the system control unit 160 immediately starts transferring output data from the portable terminal device 200 (step 509). When the transfer of the output data is completed (step 510), the system control unit 160 displays an image generated based on the acquired output data on the display of the operation reception unit 130 (step 511), An output image selection operation is accepted. Since the subsequent operation is the same as the above-described operation in the case of supplying power (steps 512 to 516), description thereof is omitted.

  In the above operation example, power supply is enabled when the selected data transfer method is a wireless communication method. This is because it is considered that there is a high possibility that the portable terminal device 200 will run out of power because data transfer by wireless communication is generally slower than data transfer by wired communication. Further, when a non-contact power supply method is adopted as the power supply method, if data transfer is performed by wireless communication, the portable terminal device 200 and the image forming apparatus 100 are not connected by a cable, for example, as shown in FIG. Since data transfer and power feeding can be performed by placing the terminal 101 on the terminal place 102 of the housing 101, the convenience for the user is high. However, the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described operation example, and a configuration in which power can be supplied even when a data transfer method by wired communication is selected may be employed.

  In the above operation example, the completion of data transfer is used as an end condition, and power supply is ended (stopped) (see steps 507 and 508). In addition to this, the end condition may be that an instruction to end power supply by a user operation is received. For example, the user operates an operation screen displayed on the display of the operation reception unit 130 and inputs an instruction to end power supply. Upon receiving this instruction, the system control unit 160 ends (stops) the power supply even if the data transfer is not completed.

  Furthermore, you may set the upper limit of time to supply electric power continuously. That is, a time condition is added as an end condition for power feeding. In this case, for example, a timer function is provided in the system control unit 160, and the measurement of elapsed time is started simultaneously with the start of power feeding. If the elapsed time from the start of power supply reaches a preset time, the power supply is terminated (stopped) even if the data transfer is not completed.

  In the above operation example, the power feeding method is a non-contact power feeding method. However, if the start and end (stop) of power feeding can be controlled as described above, the present embodiment is applied to power feeding by the bus power method. You may do it.

<Modification>
In the above embodiment, the system control unit 160 controls the start and end (stop) of power supply by the power supply unit 150. On the other hand, the power supply unit 150 itself may include a power supply control unit to control the start and end (stop) of power supply. The power supply control unit is realized by, for example, a memory that stores a program and a processor that reads the program and executes processing. In the case of such a configuration, for example, the power supply control unit acquires a power supply start instruction based on a user operation from the system control unit 160 and starts power supply. Then, a notification indicating that the transfer of the output data has been completed is obtained from the data input / output unit 140, and the power supply is terminated (stopped).

  If the power supply unit 150 includes a power supply control unit, the power supply unit 150 is unitized and connected to an existing image forming apparatus, thereby enabling power supply by the control as shown in FIG. Therefore, the present embodiment can be easily introduced to an image forming apparatus already installed in a store or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image forming apparatus 110 ... Image input part 120 ... Image output part 121 ... Apparatus control part 130 ... Operation reception part 140 ... Data input / output part 150 ... Power supply part 160 ... System control part 170 ... Billing device, 200 ... mobile terminal device

Claims (9)

Receiving means for receiving image data from the mobile terminal device;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image data on a medium;
Power supply means for supplying power to the mobile terminal device;
Power supply control means for supplying power to the power supply means, provided that there is an operator instruction that image data is received by the reception means;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that data reception by the reception unit is completed. It further comprises operation accepting means for accepting a user's operation,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that the operation receiving unit has received an operation for instructing power supply to be stopped.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on the condition that a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of power supply. It further comprises operation accepting means for accepting a user's operation,
5. The image formation according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control unit starts power supply on condition that the operation receiving unit has received an operation for instructing start of power supply. 6. apparatus. Power supply means for receiving power from the image forming apparatus and supplying power to the mobile terminal device;
Power supply control means for supplying power to the power supply means on condition that there is an instruction from an operator to transfer image data from the portable terminal device to the image forming apparatus;
A power supply apparatus comprising:   The power supply apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the power supply control unit stops power supply on condition that transfer of output data from the portable terminal device to the image forming apparatus is completed. A computer for controlling an image forming apparatus, comprising: a receiving unit that receives image data from a portable terminal device; an image forming unit that forms an image based on the image data on a medium; and a power feeding unit that supplies power to the portable terminal device. In addition,
Processing to accept user operations,
A process for causing the power supply means to start power supply to the mobile terminal device on condition that an operation for receiving the image data and an operation for instructing power supply start have been received;
A program characterized by having executed.   The computer is further caused to further execute a process of causing the power supply means to stop power supply to the mobile terminal device on the condition that reception of the output data from the mobile terminal device is completed. Item 9. The program according to item 8.

Images