JP6248602B2 - Print control server, print control method, and printing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control server, a print control method, and a printing system.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique is known in which an information processing terminal and a printer transmit and receive data to be printed using an email by assigning an email address (hereinafter referred to as an address) to the printer. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a plurality of addresses are assigned to one printer and different printing conditions are associated with different addresses. According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when an e-mail is transmitted with a specific address set as a destination, it is possible to cause a specific printer to execute printing under specific print conditions.

JP 2005-115559 A

However, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the mail server manages addresses corresponding to the product of the number of printers and the number of printing conditions, and the mail server and printer communicate with each address. There is a problem that the storage capacity necessary for the increase.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to specify a printer body and printing conditions by a destination address of an electronic mail to be printed while suppressing an address management burden on a server.

(1) The print control server for achieving the above object stores the machine designation character string and the printer machine in association with each other, and supports the print condition designation character string corresponding to the print condition separately from the machine designation character string. Add and remember. For this reason, it is possible to extract the machine-designated character string and the printing condition-designated character string from the addresses and specify the machine body and the printing conditions of the printer. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to manage addresses for each printer body and for each printing condition, and an increase in storage capacity necessary for address management can be suppressed. The “destination address” means an address included in any of “to”, “cc”, and “bcc”. Each of the “machine-designated character string” and the “print condition designated character string” is composed of one or more character strings.

(2) In the print control server for achieving the above object, the machine-designated character is identified by extracting the machine-designated character string and the printing condition-designated character string based on the predetermined first delimiter character string. It is possible to reduce the amount of processing necessary for extracting the columns and the printing condition designation character strings. The “first delimiter character string” may be composed of one or more character strings.

(3) In the print control server for achieving the above object, by identifying and extracting a plurality of print condition designation character strings based on a predetermined second delimiter character, a plurality of print condition designation character strings are obtained. The amount of processing necessary for extraction can be reduced, and a user who transmits an e-mail can specify a combination of a plurality of printing conditions. Note that the “second delimiter character string” may be composed of one or more character strings.

(4) In the print control server for achieving the above object, the print data is generated according to the machine to be printed and the print conditions, thereby generating the print data in the information processing terminal or printer of the user who sends the e-mail. Can be simplified or unnecessary.

The function of each means described in the claims is realized by hardware resources whose function is specified by the configuration itself, hardware resources whose function is specified by a program, or a combination thereof. The functions of these means are not limited to those realized by hardware resources that are physically independent of each other. Furthermore, the present invention can also be realized as a print control method, a print system, a print control program, or a recording medium for a print control program. Of course, the recording medium for the program may be a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or any recording medium developed in the future.

The block diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. The data structure figure concerning embodiment of this invention. The sequence diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. The screen block diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. The schematic diagram concerning embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the corresponding component in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

1. Outline of Printing System FIG. 1 shows an outline of an embodiment of a printing system of the present invention. The printing system includes a print control server 1 connected by an electric communication line such as the Internet 5 and one or more printers 41, 42, 43 having an Internet communication function. Printer 41, 42
, 43 are incorporated in the printing system by registering the machine ID and the like in the print control server 1. The user transmits an e-mail in which an address including a predetermined machine-designated character string in the local part is set as an address from an arbitrary information processing terminal such as a smartphone 31 or a PC (Personal Computer) 32, so that the printers 41, 42, It is possible to print the contents of the e-mail at 43. The user can also specify the printing conditions of the printers 41, 42, and 43 by including a predetermined printing condition specifying character string in the local part of the address.

2. Configuration of Print Control Server As shown in FIG. 1, the print control server 1 includes a receiving unit 11, a printer communication unit 12, an analysis unit 13, a print data generation unit 14, a setting management unit 15, and a machine body management unit 16. It is. The functions of the reception unit 11, the printer communication unit 12, the analysis unit 13, the print data generation unit 14, the setting management unit 15 and the machine body management unit 16 are such that a processor (not shown) loads a predetermined program from the external storage device to the main storage device. It is realized by executing.

The receiving unit 11 functions as a mail server. Specifically, for example, SMTP (Simple M
Send and receive e-mail that conforms to the ail Transfer Protocol), and save e-mail that includes a predetermined domain assigned to itself as a destination address.

The machine body management unit 16 associates a machine body of a predetermined printer with a predetermined machine body designated character string and stores them in a nonvolatile storage medium such as a hard disk device. Specifically, for example, the machine management table 16a shown in FIG. 2A is used. The machine body management table 16a associates the machine body of the printer with the machine body designated character string. The machine body designation character string only needs to be able to identify the machine body of the partner printer with which the print control server 1 communicates. The aircraft designation string need only be unique for each aircraft,
The printer's MAC address, serial number, and IP address may be used as they are, or a separate character string uniquely assigned by the print control server 1 inside the printing system may be used. A character string specified by the user within a unique range may be used. In the machine management table 16a shown in FIG. 2A, the machine ID and the machine designation character string are stored as separate data so that the user can designate the machine designation character string. When the machine ID used when the print control server 1 communicates with the printer is always used as the machine designation character string as it is, it is only necessary to store the machine ID as the machine designation character string. The machine management table 16a is updated by communication between the printer and the print control server 1 when the user registers the printer in the print control server 1. At this time, the machine-designated character string corresponding to the registered printer and the address including the domain are notified to the user via the printer.

The setting management unit 15 associates a predetermined printing condition with a predetermined printing condition designation character string and stores them in a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard disk device. Specifically, for example, the setting management table 15a shown in FIG. 2B is used. The setting management table 15a associates general printing conditions of a printer with a print designation character string. The print designation character string is, for example, “mo” for monochrome printing.
“No”, “draft” for draft printing, “double” for double-sided printing, and numbers corresponding to the number of copies for copy printing, making the corresponding printing conditions easy to recognize for the user It is preferable.

When the receiving unit 11 receives an e-mail addressed to the domain assigned to the print control server 1, the analyzing unit 13 analyzes the stored e-mail so as to analyze the content to be printed (attached to the e-mail) The body of the file or e-mail), the printer that prints the contents, and the printing conditions are specified, and the printer body and the printing conditions are associated with the contents of the e-mail.

The print data generation unit 14 converts the content to be printed into print data based on the printing conditions and the machine body specified by the analysis unit 13. The print data may be data in a format that can be processed as a print target by the specified machine.

The printer communication unit 12 is an XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol).
A real-time communication protocol such as HTTP is combined with HTTP to communicate with each printer.
The printer communication unit 12 transmits print data to the printer by communicating with the printer specified by the analysis unit 13. As a result, the content of the specific electronic mail received by the print control server 1 is printed under the printing conditions specified by the sender by the printer body specified by the sender of the electronic mail.

3. Operation of Printing System Next, the operation of the printing system will be described with reference to FIG.
A user who uses the printing system sends an e-mail attached with a file to be printed with the address notified from the print control server 1 as a destination, to the smartphone 31 and the PC 3.
It is created using an information processing terminal such as 2 (S10). If no file is attached, it is considered that the body of the e-mail is designated as a print target. As a first assumed situation, the printer 43 is installed in front of the user, but the driver of the printer 43 is not installed in the user's smartphone 31. The second situation assumed is a situation in which the user tries to cause the printer 43 in a remote place such as home, office or business partner to execute printing. The address notified from the print control server 1 may be set to the destination “to” or may be set to the destination “cc”. However, when the address notified from the print control server 1 is set to the destination “bcc”, it becomes invalid as will be described later. Such an e-mail is a typical MUA (
Mail User Agent) GUI can be created by the user, but when the printer model and printing conditions are specified, an application program that can set the address including the print designation character string as the destination without entering text is provided. It is also possible to do.

The user can designate the printing condition by adding a predetermined printing condition designation character string to the local part of the destination address. Specifically, for example, when monochrome double-sided printing is designated, as shown in FIG. 4, the separator character “+” is placed after the machine designation character string “abxpet9rw7”.
And the printing condition specification character strings "mono" and "double" are added after the delimiter. When printing conditions are designated by combining printing condition designation character strings, a delimiter character “+” that separates the printing condition designation character strings is used. The character that separates the machine specification character string from the print condition specification character string is
Any character can be used as long as it can be identified from the machine-designated character string and the printing condition-designated character string. Similarly, the character that separates the printing condition designation character strings may be a character that can be distinguished from the printing condition designation character string, and may be a single character string or a character string of two or more characters.
And the delimiter character which divides the machine body designation character string and the printing condition designation character string may be the same character or different characters.

When an e-mail addressed to the domain assigned to the print control server 1 is transmitted from an arbitrary information processing terminal (S11), the receiving unit 11 receives it via the routers 51, 53, 55, 56, the Internet 5, and the like. (S20).

When the receiving unit 11 receives an e-mail addressed to the domain assigned to the print control server 1, the analysis unit 13 starts analyzing the received e-mail.
First, the analysis unit 13 determines whether or not the machine designation character string is included in the local part of the e-mail address set to “to” or “cc” in the header field.
Determination based on 6a. Then, the e-mail whose local part of the e-mail address set in the header field “to” or “cc” does not contain the machine-specified character string is discarded. Therefore, when the user sets the address corresponding to the printers 41, 42, and 43 registered in the print control server 1 to “bcc”, the e-mail is invalid. When the machine designation character string is included in the local part of the e-mail address described in the header field “to” or “cc”, the machine body of the printer corresponding to the machine designation character string is stored in the machine management table 16a. The e-mail is stored in the mailbox corresponding to the printer body specified based on the specified printer (S21). For example, when the machine management table 16a shown in FIG. 2A and the print condition management table 15a shown in FIG. 2B are stored in the print control server and the domain “print.example.com” is assigned to the print control server 1, FIG. As shown in "abxpet9rw7 + mono + double @ print.example.com"
Is stored in the mailbox 11a and the destination "to" is "hpte"
The e-mails E2 and E3 set with “gt7vv2+double@print.example.com” are stored in the mail box 11b.

Next, the analysis unit 13 extracts and stores the content to be printed from the e-mail stored in the mailbox (S22). Specifically, when a file is attached to the e-mail, the attached file is extracted and saved as a print target. If no file is attached to the e-mail, the body is extracted and saved as a print target.

Next, the analysis unit 13 extracts the print condition designation character string from the local part of the address including the machine identification character string in the local part from the destination address of the e-mail stored in the mailbox (S23). At this time, the print condition designation character string is extracted with the delimiter character “+” as a delimiter.
Note that the difference is ignored regardless of whether the address is set to “to” or “cc”.

Next, the analysis unit 13 sets the print condition corresponding to the print condition designation character string to the print condition management table 1.
5a is specified, and the specified printing condition and the printer body are associated with the content to be printed stored in step S22 (S24). Specifically, when the print control server 1 receives the e-mail shown in FIG. 4, the machine management table 16a and the print condition management table 15a are referred to as shown in FIG. 5, and the machine ID “abxpet9rw7” and the monochrome are displayed. The print, duplex printing, and content file name “img999.jpg” are stored in the print job table 13a in association with the job ID “2013113011”.

Next, the print data generation unit 14 generates print data corresponding to the corresponding printer model and printing conditions based on the content to be printed, and stores the print data in association with the machine ID (S2).
5). Specifically, for example, the file name of the generated print data is set to the print job table 13a.
You can save it.

When the print data is generated, the printer communication unit 12 transmits a print job occurrence notification for notifying that a print job has occurred to the printer body corresponding to the machine ID (S).
26). As a result, the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string included in the destination address by the user receives the print job generation notification (S30). The print job occurrence notification includes a URL for downloading the print data. By transmitting and receiving a print job generation notification using a push type protocol such as XMPP, it becomes possible to transmit the print job from the print control server 1 to the printer without delay. When the pull type protocol is used, it is necessary to periodically make an inquiry to the print control server 1 from the printer, so that the processing load and communication traffic of the print control server 1 increase.

The printer that has received the print job generation notification waits for an idle state in which printing can be started, and then sends a print data request for acquiring print data from the print control server 1 to the print control server 1 (S31). . In transmission / reception of a print data request, for example, HTTP is used, and a URL for downloading a print job and a printer ID are transmitted via the routers 55 and 56 and the Internet 5. That is, the printers 41, 42, and 43 registered in the print control server 1 include a communication unit having an Internet connection function.

When receiving the print data request (S27), the print control server 1 transmits print data as job data to the printer (S28). For sending and receiving print data, for example, HTT
P is used.

When the printer receives the print data in response to the print job request (S32), the printer executes printing based on the print data (S33). The printing unit of the printer registered in the print control server 1 may execute printing by any printing method such as an inkjet method, a laser method, or a thermal transfer method. The print data received by the printer is generated according to the print conditions corresponding to the print condition specification character string specified by the user and the machine corresponding to the machine specification character string specified by the user. Printing is executed according to the printing conditions.

In the printing system described above, the machine management unit 16 stores the machine designation character string and the printer machine in association with each other, and sets the print condition designation character string in association with the print condition separately from the machine designation character string. The management unit 15 stores it. For this reason, it is not necessary to manage addresses for each printer body and for each printing condition, and the storage capacity necessary for address management can be suppressed. Since the printer body and printing conditions can be specified by the address, it can be used for other purposes such as making the text and subject of the email to be printed or organizing the email. In the printing system described above, since the print control server 1 extracts the machine-designated character string and the print-designated character string using the separator characters, the machine-designated character string and the print condition-designated character string are extracted by analyzing the address. Processing is simple. Since the print control server 1 extracts a plurality of print condition designation character strings using the delimiter characters, the process of analyzing the address and extracting the plurality of print condition designation character strings is also simple. In the printing system described above, since the print control server 1 generates print data according to the content of the email and the printing conditions, a process for generating the print data in the information processing terminal or printer of the user who sends the email Can be simplified or unnecessary. In addition, by making it possible to specify the number of copies to be printed by an address, it is not necessary to send an e-mail for each copy to be printed, so the amount of communication can be reduced.

3. Other Embodiments The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, the machine management unit 16 may associate the machine bodies of a plurality of printers with one machine designation character string. In this case, for example, one printer body can be identified by a combination of the sender address of the e-mail and the machine designation character string of the destination address. Specifically, the machine body management unit 16 stores the printer body, the machine body designation character string, and the sender address in association with each other, and the analysis section 13 stores the printer body corresponding to the machine body designation character string and the sender address. What is necessary is just to specify an airframe.

Further, when associating a plurality of printer bodies with one machine designation character string, the analysis unit 13 may select one machine body corresponding to the designated printing condition. In this case, the machine body management unit 16 may store the printer machine body, the machine body designated character string, and the printing conditions corresponding to the machine body in association with each other.

In addition, for example, even when the printer management unit 16 stores one printer specified character string in association with one aircraft specified character string, printing by a printer corresponding to the aircraft specified character string is permitted by an e-mail sender address. Or you may refuse. This can be realized, for example, by registering the address of a sender who permits printing by the corresponding machine in the machine management table 16a.

Further, for example, the electronic mail to be printed may be transferred as it is from the print control server 1 to each printer. For example, one local address is assigned to each printer, and the communication between the printer and the print control server 1 is set to SMTP. Then, the print control server 1 saves an e-mail in one mailbox for each printer even if a print condition designation character string is added to the local part of the destination address as in the above embodiment, and the mailbox is transferred from the printer. Monitor it. Even if it is assumed that the e-mail received by the print control server 1 is monitored from the printer in this way, an address is not assigned for each print condition, and thus an increase in communication amount can be suppressed.

Further, for example, the print control server 1 may be configured by a plurality of computer systems. For example, the reception unit 11, the printer communication unit 12, the analysis unit 13, the print data generation unit 14, the setting management unit 15, and the machine body management unit 16 are configured by different computer systems, and are connected to the network by connecting them to the print control server. May be realized.

For example, the print control server and each printer may be installed in a network of the same domain. For example, only a printer connected to the print control server via a LAN may be registered in the print control server.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Print control server, 2 ... Mail server, 5 ... Internet, 11 ... Reception part, 11
a ... mail box, 11b ... mail box, 12 ... printer communication unit, 13 ... analysis unit, 13a ... print job table, 14 ... print data generation unit, 15 ... setting management unit, 15a ...
Print condition management table, 16 ... Airframe management unit, 16a ... Airframe management table, 31 ... Smartphone, 32 ... PC, 41, 42, 43 ... Printer, 51, 53, 55, 56 ... Router, E1, E2 ... E-mail

Claims (7)

A print control server that causes a printer to execute printing,
A machine body management unit that associates and manages a machine body of a printer and a machine body designation character string unique to the printer;
A setting management unit that manages printing conditions and a printing condition designation character string determined for each printing condition in association with each other;
A receiving unit that receives an e-mail addressed to a destination address including a local part and a domain part;
When the machine designation character string and the printing condition designation character string are included in the local part of the destination address, the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string is used as a printing destination, and the printing condition designation character string is supported. A setting section for setting printing conditions;
A printer communication unit that causes printing based on the e-mail to be printed on the printer body as the printing destination under the set printing conditions;
Equipped with a,
The setting unit, when the local unit includes a first delimiter character string indicating a delimitation between the machine-designated character string and the print condition designating character string, and based on the first delimiter character string, A print control server that identifies the print condition designation character string and extracts it from the local part.   A print control server that causes a printer to execute printing,
  A machine body management unit that associates and manages a machine body of a printer and a machine body designation character string unique to the printer;
  A setting management unit that manages printing conditions and a printing condition designation character string determined for each printing condition in association with each other;
  A receiving unit that receives an e-mail addressed to a destination address including a local part and a domain part;
  When the machine designation character string and the printing condition designation character string are included in the local part of the destination address, the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string is used as a printing destination, and the printing condition designation character string is supported. A setting section for setting printing conditions;
  A printer communication unit that causes printing based on the e-mail to be printed on the printer body as the printing destination under the set printing conditions;
  With
  The setting unit identifies a plurality of print condition designating character strings based on the second delimiter character string when the local unit includes a second delimiter character string indicating a delimitation of the plurality of print condition designating character strings. A print control server that extracts from the local part. A print data generation unit that generates print data corresponding to the machine and the printing conditions associated with the e-mail;
The printer communication unit transmits the print data to the machine associated with the e-mail;
The print control server according to claim 1 or 2 . A print control method of a print control server for causing a printer to execute printing,
The print control server manages the printer body and the machine-specified character string unique to the printer in association with each other,
The print control server manages a print condition and a print condition designation character string determined for each print condition in association with each other,
The print control server receives an email in which a destination address including a local part and a domain part is specified as a destination,
When the local part of the destination address includes the machine designation character string and the print condition designation character string , the print control server uses the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string as a print destination, and Set the printing conditions corresponding to the specified character string,
The print control server causes printing based on the e-mail to be printed on the printer body as the printing destination under the set printing conditions,
The print control server, when the local unit includes a first delimiter character string indicating a delimiter between the machine-designated character string and the print condition-designated character string, the machine-designated character string based on the first delimiter character string And the printing condition designation character string are identified and extracted from the local part,
Print control method.   A print control method of a print control server for causing a printer to execute printing,
  The print control server manages the printer body and the machine-specified character string unique to the printer in association with each other,
  The print control server manages a print condition and a print condition designation character string determined for each print condition in association with each other,
  The print control server receives an email in which a destination address including a local part and a domain part is specified as a destination,
  When the local part of the destination address includes the machine designation character string and the print condition designation character string, the print control server uses the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string as a print destination, and Set the printing conditions corresponding to the specified character string,
  The print control server causes printing based on the e-mail to be printed on the printer body as the printing destination under the set printing conditions,
  The print control server identifies a plurality of print condition designation character strings based on the second delimiter character string when the local part includes a second delimiter character string indicating a delimiter of the plurality of print condition designation character strings. And extracting from the local part,
  Print control method. A printing system comprising a plurality of printers and a print control server that causes the plurality of printers to perform printing,
The print control server
A machine body management unit that associates and manages a machine body of a printer and a machine body designation character string unique to the printer;
A setting management unit that manages printing conditions and a printing condition designation character string determined for each printing condition in association with each other;
A receiving unit that receives an e-mail addressed to a destination address including a local part and a domain part;
When the machine designation character string and the printing condition designation character string are included in the local part of the destination address, the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string is used as a printing destination, and the printing condition designation character string is supported. A setting section for setting printing conditions;
A printer communication unit that transmits job data to be printed under the set printing conditions to the printer body that is the printing destination based on the e-mail; and
With
The printer is
A communication unit for receiving the job data;
A printing unit that executes printing based on the job data;
Equipped with a,
The setting unit, when the local unit includes a first delimiter character string indicating a delimitation between the machine-designated character string and the print condition designating character string, and based on the first delimiter character string, Identifying the print condition designating character string and extracting it from the local part;
Printing system.   A printing system comprising a plurality of printers and a print control server that causes the plurality of printers to perform printing,
  The print control server
    A machine body management unit that associates and manages a machine body of a printer and a machine body designation character string unique to the printer;
    A setting management unit that manages printing conditions and a printing condition designation character string determined for each printing condition in association with each other;
    A receiving unit that receives an e-mail addressed to a destination address including a local part and a domain part;
    When the machine designation character string and the printing condition designation character string are included in the local part of the destination address, the printer body corresponding to the machine designation character string is used as a printing destination, and the printing condition designation character string is supported. A setting section for setting printing conditions;
    A printer communication unit that transmits job data to be printed under the set printing conditions to the printer body that is the printing destination based on the e-mail; and
  With
  The printer is
    A communication unit for receiving the job data;
    A printing unit that executes printing based on the job data;
    With
  The setting unit identifies a plurality of print condition designating character strings based on the second delimiter character string when the local unit includes a second delimiter character string indicating a delimitation of the plurality of print condition designating character strings. A printing system that extracts from the local part.

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