JP6589694B2 - Image forming apparatus, program, and image forming system - Google Patents

Description

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

  Conventionally, at events such as meetings, lectures, classes, exhibitions, briefings, presentations, etc., where people are gathered at a specific place, materials are often distributed to participants. For this reason, the event organizer must prepare in advance by distributing the materials by predicting the number of participants and printing the materials for the number of participants. It was a big burden.

In order to solve such problems, techniques for printing materials have been disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below.
In Patent Document 1, data attached to a broadcast e-mail is linked to a user of a terminal, and when a receiver operates the terminal to instruct the image forming apparatus to print, the data has already been printed to other users by broadcast A technique for notifying that is disclosed.

  In Patent Document 2, meeting material data is stored in a material distribution device, holding information, members, whether or not each member can distribute material is input from a terminal, and from there to a material distribution device in a user box or a conference room. The technology to be output is disclosed.

JP 2014-109862 A JP 2006-72848 A

  By the way, even if the organizer prints and prepares materials for participants at an in-house meeting, etc., participants will be absent from the meeting, participants will bring their own printed materials, or notebook PCs (Personal If you bring your own computer, etc., the pre-printed materials will be wasted. For this reason, it is desirable that all participants print their own materials.

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, although the user's terminal and the document are linked, it is necessary for each user to find the meeting holding information and the print data by searching for a pre-distributed mail for guidance. And it took time and effort for users to search for materials needed for the meeting.

  Further, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, the organizer must input materials and holding information into the system separately from the conference guidance mail transmitted to the members. In addition, when the organizer prints the material, the material must be transferred from the system user box to the material distribution device. For this reason, the organizer has to manage the document twice by inputting the document into the system and transferring the document from the user box, which takes time for the organizer.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the effort for outputting the material broadcasted to the participants.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a notification information receiving unit, a notification information analyzing unit, a holding information editing unit, a login processing unit, a holding information searching unit, and an output control unit.
The notification information receiving unit includes event holding information and materials, and receives notification information broadcast to the own device together with a receiver who participates in the event. The notification information analysis unit analyzes the notification information, extracts the holding information, and acquires the transmission destination information of the receiver from the transmission destination information included in the notification information. The holding information editing unit stores the holding information and materials in the holding information storage unit in association with the transmission destination information of the receiver. The login processing unit performs a login process for the recipient. The holding information search unit searches the holding information storage unit for holding information related to the recipient who has performed the login process. The output control unit controls the output of the material based on the image forming data of the material corresponding to the holding information searched by the holding information searching unit.

An image forming system according to the present invention includes an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus.
The information processing apparatus includes a notification information receiving unit, a notification information analyzing unit, a holding information editing unit, a request receiving unit, a holding information search unit, and a holding information transmission unit.
The notification information receiving unit includes event holding information and materials, and receives notification information broadcast to recipients and image forming apparatuses participating in the event. The notification information analysis unit analyzes the notification information, extracts the holding information, and acquires the transmission destination information of the receiver from the transmission destination information included in the notification information. The holding information editing unit stores the holding information and materials in the holding information storage unit in association with the transmission destination information of the receiver. The request receiving unit receives the acquisition information of the holding information and the material transmitted from the image forming apparatus. The holding information search unit searches the holding information storage unit for holding information and materials with the receiver as the transmission destination based on the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit. The holding information transmission unit transmits the searched holding information and materials to the image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus includes a login processing unit, a holding information search unit, a display control unit, and an output control unit.
The login processing unit performs a login process for the recipient. The holding information search unit transmits a request for acquiring holding information and materials related to the recipient for which the login process has been performed, and acquires the holding information and materials from the information processing apparatus. The output control unit controls the output of the material based on the image forming data of the material corresponding to the holding information acquired by the holding information search unit.

According to the present invention, when the event organizer broadcasts the notification information to the receiver, the event organizer adds the image forming device to the transmission destination of the event notification information, whereby the event information is stored in the holding information storage unit of the image forming device. Since event holding information and materials are stored, the time and effort for the organizer to manage the materials is reduced. On the other hand, simply by logging in to the image forming apparatus, the receiver outputs the material corresponding to the event holding information in which the receiver participates. For this reason, the receiver does not have to search for the holding information and the materials or individually transfer the materials to the image forming apparatus, and the time and effort of the receiver can be reduced.
Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of embodiments.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the PC terminal which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of an image forming main body according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of each part with which the control part and HDD which concern on the 1st Example of this invention are provided. It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of the mail which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows a part of header of the mail which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the cancellation notification mail which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the account information table which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention, and a conference room information table. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the holding information table which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is a user interface figure which shows the example of a display of each screen displayed on the operation panel which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing when the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention receives a mail. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing when a user who logs in to the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention instructs printing of a material. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the printed matter discharged from the paper discharge tray which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example of the image forming system which concerns on the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the management server which concerns on the 2nd Example of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, components having substantially the same function or configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

[First Embodiment]
<Schematic Configuration Example of Image Forming System 1>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming system 1 according to the first embodiment.
The image forming system 1 includes an image forming apparatus 2, PC terminals T1, T2, and a portable terminal T3. The image forming apparatus 2 and the PC terminals T1 and T2 are connected through a network N such as a wireless or wired LAN (Local Area Network).

  The PC terminal T1 (an example of a communication terminal) is operated by an organizer U (E) that holds a conference. The organizer U (E) operates the PC terminal T1 to send a mail M1 that is an example of notification information for the organizer U (E) to notify that the conference is held. Broadcast to U (D). An electronic file of materials used in the conference (hereinafter referred to as “material”) is attached to the mail M1 along with the conference information.

  The destinations of the mail M1 are the participants U (A) to U (C) and the organizer U (E), and the Cc (carbon copy: copy) is the participant U (D) and the image forming apparatus 2. is there. The image forming apparatus 2 may be included in the destination of the mail M1. It is assumed that the participants U (A) to U (C) and the organizer U (E) must participate in the conference, and the participant U (D) is optional to participate in the conference. The image forming apparatus 2 is installed near, for example, a conference room, and can print a conference material by forming an image of the material on a sheet.

  The organizer U (E) may include his / her mail address in Cc in addition to the destination in order to be able to confirm later that the mail M1 has been transmitted. The organizer U (E) is defined as a person who participates in the conference, but may be a person who does not participate in the conference and only transmits the mail M1 (for example, a secretary). Even in this case, the mail address of the organizer U (E) may be included in Cc of the mail M1.

  In the following description, the participants U (A) to U (D) and the organizer U (E) are also described as the user U when not distinguished. The printing process includes an image forming process performed by the image forming apparatus main body 3 and a post process performed by the post-processing apparatus FN. However, the image forming process alone may be referred to as a printing process.

  The PC terminal T2 (an example of a communication terminal) is operated by the user U. A mailer capable of expanding the mail M1 is installed for each PC terminal T2, and the user U can read the mail M1 that has arrived at his / her mail address. Then, the user U can print the material attached to the received mail M1 from the image forming apparatus 2.

  The portable terminal T3 (an example of a communication terminal) is a portable terminal device that is owned and used by a user U such as a smart device such as a smartphone or a tablet or a mobile phone. The portable terminal T3 can be connected to an access point (not shown) provided in the network N by a short-range wireless communication connection using Bluetooth (registered trademark), WiFi (registered trademark), or the like. The mail M1 transmitted from the PC terminal T1 can be received by the portable terminal T3 by wireless communication through the network N.

  The image forming apparatus 2 performs predetermined post-processing on an image forming apparatus main body 3 that forms an image on a sheet and a sheet on which an image discharged from the image forming apparatus main body 3 is formed (also referred to as “printed material”). And a processing device FN (an example of a post-processing unit). As post-processing performed by the post-processing apparatus FN, for example, there are “paper folding”, “cutting”, “staple”, and “binding” processing. Post-processing is performed by the post-processing apparatus FN based on a combination of post-processing set for the print job.

  The image forming apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 2 forms an image based on a print job of a material requested by the user U to be printed when the logged-in user U operates the operation panel 5. The post-processing device FN performs post-processing on the paper on which the image is formed, and then discharges the paper to the paper discharge tray 24. The user U can acquire the paper (printed material) discharged to the paper discharge tray 24. When the image forming apparatus 2 is not provided with the post-processing apparatus FN, the paper discharge tray 24 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 3.

<Example of hardware configuration of client terminal>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the PC terminal T1. The PC terminals T2 and T3 have the same configuration example as that of the PC terminal T1, and thus the description of the hardware configuration examples of the PC terminals T2 and T3 is omitted.

  The PC terminal T1 includes a control unit 10, an operation unit 15, and a display unit 16. The control unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a memory 12, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 13, and a communication I / F (Interface) 14.

The CPU 11 controls each unit in the control unit 10, for example, generates input data or sets output based on a print instruction from the user U.
The memory 12 is a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), or the like, and stores programs and data necessary for each process.
The HDD 13 records programs and input data necessary for the CPU 11 to generate input data and make output settings.
The communication I / F 14 performs data transmission / reception processing via the communication line N between the image forming apparatus 2 and the PC terminals T2 and T3.

An operation unit 15 and a display unit 16 are connected to the CPU 11.
The operation unit 15 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. While viewing the screen displayed on the display unit 16, the user U can operate the operation unit 15 to give a print instruction or output setting to the image forming apparatus 2.
The display unit 16 is configured by a display monitor or the like, and displays an output setting screen or the like.
In the PC terminals T1 and T2, the operation unit 15 and the display unit 16 are configured separately, but in the portable terminal T3, the operation unit 15 and the display unit 16 are configured as an integrated touch panel display.

<Example of Hardware Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus>
Next, a hardware configuration example of the image forming apparatus 2 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the image forming apparatus 2.
The image forming apparatus 2 includes an image forming apparatus main body 3 and a post-processing apparatus FN.

  The image forming apparatus main body 3 employs an electrophotographic method for forming an image using static electricity. For example, toners of four colors of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) are used. Color printing with superimposed images is possible. The image forming apparatus main body 3 includes an automatic document feeder (ADF) 4, an operation panel 5, a paper feeding unit 6, an image forming unit 20, an intermediate transfer belt 21 (image carrier), and secondary transfer. It has a part 22 and a fixing part 23.

  The automatic document feeder 4 automatically feeds a document when the document is read. A scanner 45 (see FIG. 4 described later) provided in the automatic document feeder 4 is automatically conveyed by a document placed on the upper platen glass of the image forming apparatus body 3 or by the automatic document feeder 4. The original image can be read.

  The operation panel 5 includes an operation unit 41 (see FIG. 4 described later) for instructing start of various jobs such as image forming processing. The operation panel 5 is provided with an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). The LCD is composed of a touch panel, which can be operated by the user U and display various information. The LCD also serves as an operation unit 41 and a display unit 42 shown in FIG. The operation unit 41 may be configured with a mouse, operation switches, and the like, and may be configured separately from the display unit 42.

  The paper feed unit 6 includes a plurality of paper storage units according to the size and type of paper. In the paper feed unit 6, when a corresponding paper storage unit is selected based on an instruction from the image forming apparatus main body 3, the paper is taken out from the paper storage unit and sent to the conveyance path C.

  The image forming unit 20 includes four image forming units 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K in order to form toner images of each color of Y, M, C, and K. The image forming unit 20 controls the operations of the image forming units 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K of the image forming unit 20 to form Y, M, C, and K toner images. In addition, the image forming apparatus main body 3 includes a plurality of rollers (conveyance rollers) for conveying the sheet to the conveyance path C. These rollers are usually constituted by a pair of rollers.

  In the image forming mode, the image forming apparatus main body 3 charges the photosensitive members included in the image forming units 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K, erases the charges, exposes them, and forms an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive members. Then, toner is attached to the electrostatic latent images on the Y, M, C, and K photoconductors using a developing unit to form toner images of the respective colors. Next, the toner images formed on the Y, M, C, and K photoconductors are sequentially primary-transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 that rotates in the direction of the arrow.

  Next, the toner images of the respective colors primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 21 by the secondary transfer unit 22 (secondary transfer roller) are secondarily applied to a sheet supplied from the sheet feeding unit 6 and conveyed by the roller. Transcript. Each color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is secondarily transferred to a sheet to form a color image. The image forming apparatus main body 3 conveys the sheet on which the color toner image is formed to the fixing unit 23.

  The fixing unit 23 is a device that performs a fixing process on a sheet on which a color toner image is formed. The fixing unit 23 pressurizes and heats the conveyed paper, and fixes the transferred toner image on the paper. The fixing unit 23 includes, for example, an upper fixing roller and a lower fixing roller (not shown) that are fixing members. The upper fixing roller and the lower fixing roller are arranged in pressure contact with each other, and a fixing nip portion is formed as a pressing portion between the upper fixing roller and the lower fixing roller.

A heating unit (not shown) is provided inside the fixing upper roller. The roller part at the outer peripheral part of the fixing upper roller is heated by the radiant heat from the heating part. The sheet is conveyed to the fixing nip so that the surface on which the toner image is transferred by the secondary transfer unit 22 (fixing target surface) faces the fixing upper roller. The sheet passing through the fixing nip is subjected to pressure by the upper fixing roller and the lower fixing roller, and heating by the heat of the upper fixing roller. The sheet on which the fixing process has been performed by the fixing unit 23 is discharged to the post-processing device FN. Then, after the predetermined post-processing set for the print job is performed by the post-processing device FN, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 24. The user U acquires the paper discharged to the paper discharge tray 24 as a printed matter.
In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 2 that forms a color image is illustrated, but an image forming apparatus that forms a monochrome image may be used.

<Schematic configuration example of image forming apparatus main body>
Next, a schematic configuration example of the image forming apparatus main body 3 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus main body 3.

  The image forming apparatus body 3 is a so-called MFP (Multi Function Printer) having a copy function, a scan function, a print function, and the like. The copy function is a function for optically reading a document and printing a duplicate image on paper. The scan function is a function of saving image data of a read original as a file, or transmitting image data to the PC terminals T1, T2 and the portable terminal T3 through the network N. The print function is a function for printing a document or an image on a sheet based on a print job received from the outside via the network N or a print job of a material instructed to be printed by the operation unit 41 and outputting the document or image.

  The image forming apparatus main body 3 includes a control unit 30 that comprehensively controls the operation of the image forming apparatus main body 3. The control unit 30 executes various processes by the CPU. Connected to the control unit 30 are ROM 31, RAM 32, nonvolatile memory 33, HDD 34, communication interface 35, operation panel 5, printing interface 43, reading interface 44, user ID reading unit 46, and the like. The image forming unit 20 is connected to the print interface 43. A scanner 45 is connected to the reading interface 44.

  The control unit 30 is based on an OS (Operating System) program and executes programs such as middleware and application programs. The processing of each unit executed by the control unit 30 will be described later.

Various programs are stored in the ROM 31, and each function of the image forming apparatus main body 3 is realized by the control unit 30 executing processes according to these programs.
The RAM 32 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data and image forming data when the control unit 30 executes the program.
Various settings are stored in the nonvolatile memory 33.
The HDD 34 stores various tables such as materials attached to the mail M1 received by the communication interface 35 from the PC terminal T1, user IDs set for each user U, passwords, and the like.
The communication interface 35 can receive the mail M1 from the PC terminal T1 through the network N.

The operation panel 5 includes an operation unit 41 and a display unit 42.
The operation unit 41 includes various operation switches such as a start button, a touch panel provided on the display surface of the display unit 42, and the like. The user U uses the operation unit 41 to give an instruction (print instruction or the like) to the image forming apparatus 2. The touch panel detects a coordinate position pressed with a touch pen or a finger. Further, a flick operation, a drag operation, an operation on a scroll bar, and the like are detected.
The display unit 42 is configured by a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like, and fulfills a function of displaying various operation screens, setting screens, and the like. The display unit 42 displays information related to holding information and materials according to a predetermined display type. An example of the screen displayed on the operation panel 5 is shown in FIG.

The image forming unit 20 is connected to the printing interface 43, and the image forming data created by the control unit 30 is transmitted to the image forming unit 20.
The image forming unit 20 performs image forming processing for forming an image on a sheet based on the image forming data under the control of the control unit 30.

Connected to the reading interface 44 is a scanner 45 that functions to optically read a document and acquire image data.
The scanner 45 includes, for example, a line image sensor, a moving unit, an optical path, a data conversion unit, and the like. The line image sensor reads a document for one line in the width direction by receiving a light source for irradiating light to the document and the reflected light. The moving unit sequentially moves the reading position in units of lines in the length direction of the document. The optical path is composed of a lens, a mirror, or the like that forms an image by guiding the reflected light from the document to the line image sensor. The data converter converts the analog image signal output from the line image sensor into digital image data.

  The user ID reading unit 46 performs close proximity wireless communication with an IC (Integrated Circuit) card held by the user U over the user ID reading unit 46, a portable terminal T3 having an IC card function held by the user U, and the like. Read. The user ID read by the user ID reading unit 46 is sent to the control unit 30.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of each unit included in the control unit 30 and the HDD 34.
The control unit 30 includes a notification information reception unit 51, a notification information analysis unit 52, an account conversion unit 53, a holding information editing unit 54, a login processing unit 55, a holding information search unit 56, a display control unit 57, an output control unit 58, an image. A forming data creating unit 59 is provided.
The HDD 34 includes an account information table D1, a holding information table D2, and a conference room information table D3.

  The notification information receiving unit 51 receives the mail M1 transmitted from the PC terminal T1 as notification information. The notification information includes meeting holding information and materials, and is broadcast to the apparatus (image forming apparatus 2) together with the recipients participating in the meeting. The notification information that can be received by the notification information receiving unit 51 includes not only the mail M1 but also information issued by a notification function of a general conference system.

  The notification information analysis unit 52 analyzes the mail M1 received by the notification information reception unit 51, and extracts holding information from the mail M1. The holding information includes, for example, a meeting name, a holding date and time (start time and end time), a holding place, and the like. Since the event information is described in a predetermined notation in the mail M1, the notification information analysis unit 52 can extract the event information from the mail M1 according to the notation. Further, the notification information analysis unit 52 analyzes whether the destination or Cc is designated as the destination of the mail M1 to the recipient according to the notation of the destination information, and acquires the recipient's mail address from the mail M1. Is possible. And the notification information analysis part 52 can grasp | ascertain the essential participant and arbitrary participant of a meeting from the mail address designated to the destination of mail M1, and Cc.

  The account conversion unit 53 refers to the account information table D1 (an example of the account information storage unit), and uses the mail address of the recipient of the mail M1 analyzed by the notification information analysis unit 52 as the user U who can use the image forming apparatus 2. It is converted into an MFP account (see FIG. 9 to be described later) assigned to each.

  The holding information editing unit 54 stores the holding information in the holding information table D2 (an example of a holding information storage unit) in association with the mail address of the recipient of the mail M1. At this time, the holding information editing unit 54 saves the meeting holding information and materials extracted by the notification information analyzing unit 52 and the MFP account of the meeting participant converted by the account converting unit 53 in the holding information table D2. At this time, when the destination of the mail M1 analyzed by the notification information analysis unit 52 is the destination, the holding information editing unit 54 displays information indicating that the recipient is required to print the material in the holding information table D2. Save to. In addition, when the transmission destination of the mail M1 is a copy, the holding information editing unit 54 stores information indicating that the recipient can arbitrarily print the material in the holding information table D2.

  Further, the holding information editing unit 54 has the same contents as the holding information acquired from the mail M1 received so far, and the new information P1 is included in the mail M1. If it is included, the material P1 stored in the holding information table D2 is updated to a new material P1. At this time, the holding information editing unit 54 determines, for example, whether or not the mail M1 having the same schedule and subject as the holding information of the mail M1 previously transmitted from the organizer U (E) has been received. The holding information editing unit 54 may replace the previous material P1 with the new material P1, or may store both the previous material and the new material as a history.

  In addition, as a result of analysis of the mail M1 by the notification information analysis unit 52, for example, a mail M1 in which the subject or the text contains the word “cancel” is a reply mail of the mail M1 previously sent by the organizer U (E) It may be. In this case, since the event information editing unit 54 can determine that the mail M1 is a conference cancellation guide, the event information editing unit 54 adds a cancellation mark to the corresponding record of the event information stored in the event information table D2. For this reason, the screen displayed on the operation panel 5 when the user U logs into the image forming apparatus 2 indicates that the conference has been canceled.

  Further, the user U who has been designated as a transmission destination as a participant may write the non-participation of the conference in the reply mail to the mail M1. In this case, the holding information editing unit 54 searches the holding information table D2 for the holding information of the meeting that the user U who sent the reply mail is scheduled to participate in, and the user U does not participate in the corresponding record of the holding information table D2. Write some information.

  The holding information editing unit 54 deletes the record including the holding information and materials of the meeting from the holding information table D2 after a predetermined time (for example, one day) has elapsed from the holding date and time (for example, the start time) of the meeting. To do. For this reason, the held conference information is not displayed on the operation panel 5. However, the holding information editing unit 54 may search the history of the conference by storing the title of the conference and the date and time of the conference in a history table (not shown).

  The login processing unit 55 refers to the account information table D1 and specifies an MFP account that is linked in advance to the user ID read by the user ID reading unit 46 from the IC card. The login processing unit 55 performs an authentication process for the user U, who is the recipient of the mail M1, to log in to the image forming apparatus 2 based on the specified MFP account.

  The holding information search unit 56 searches the holding information table D2 for holding information and materials related to the recipient for which the login processing unit 55 has performed the login process. When searching for holding information and materials from the holding information table D2, the MFP account specified by the login process is used. For this reason, when there are a plurality of conferences in which the user U participates, the holding information search unit 56 searches for a plurality of records from the holding information table D2.

  The display control unit 57 controls the display unit 42 to display the held information of the conference in which the user U that is searched by the holding information search unit 56 participates according to a predetermined display type, and outputs an instruction from the operation unit 41 to the output control unit Send to 58. At this time, the display control unit 57 can refer to the holding information table D2 and display on the display unit 42 information that makes the recipient mandatory or optional to print the material as information about the material. For this reason, on the screen of the display unit 42, information indicating that printing of the material is essential or optional, the number of conferences to which the user U should participate, and the like are displayed. Further, the display control unit 57 refers to the conference room information table D3 (an example of the venue information storage unit) and performs control to display information on the conference room where the conference is held on the operation panel 5. In addition, the display control unit 57 can select the material to be printed by the user U by arranging and presenting the materials before and after the update. The display control unit 57 displays a screen to be displayed on the operation panel 5 when the user U logs in (FIGS. 11A and 11B described later) depending on whether the user U is an essential participant or an optional participant of the conference. Can be changed.

  Then, the display control unit 57 sends an operation instruction input by the user U through the operation panel 5 to the output control unit 58. This operation instruction mainly instructs printing of materials used in the conference. However, the operation instruction may include an instruction that the user U does not need to print the material. When the display control unit 57 receives an instruction to make it unnecessary to print the material, the display control unit 57 performs a process of setting a flag for the stop field in the holding information table D2 (see FIGS. 8 and 10 described later).

  The output control unit 58 acquires the material from the holding information table D2 based on the material printing instruction received from the display control unit 57. Then, the output control unit 58 generates a print job for causing the document image forming process to be performed, and outputs the print job to the image forming data creation unit 59 to control the print output of the document. This print job includes print settings such as the number of printed materials and layout printing. Further, the output control unit 58 selects another print job when the period from the current date and time to the meeting date and time is less than a predetermined period (for example, one day) or when the current date and time is within the meeting period. It is also possible to control to output the material with higher priority.

  The output control unit 58 can also generate a print job for performing the image forming process of the material without controlling the display control unit 57. For example, when the user U logs in within 30 minutes until the start time of the conference, the user U wants to print the material as soon as possible. In such a case, the output control unit 58 controls the output of the material based on the image forming data of the material corresponding to the holding information searched by the holding information search unit 56. For this reason, the user U can immediately acquire the material printed by the image forming apparatus 2 without selecting the material on the operation panel 5.

The image forming data creating unit 59 creates image forming data by performing rasterization processing or the like on the material instructed to be printed by the user U.
The image forming unit 20 (see FIG. 3) forms an image on a sheet using the image forming data created by the image forming data creating unit 59. Then, the paper on which the image is formed on the paper discharge tray 24 is discharged as printed matter. If post-processing is set for the print job, the paper that has been post-processed by the post-processing device FN is discharged to the paper discharge tray 24 as printed matter.

Next, the holding information included in the mail M1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the mail M1.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of the header of the mail M1.

The mail M1 delivered from the organizer U (E) to the participants U (A) to U (D) is configured to include each column of subject, sender, destination, Cc, attachment, and text.
For example, “P-meeting” indicating that “P meeting” is held is shown in the subject field.
In the sender column, the mail address of the organizer U (E) who sent the mail M1 is shown.

In the destination column, the email addresses of the participants U (A) to U (C) and the organizer U (E) whose destinations are specified as the destination of the mail M1 are shown.
In the Cc column, the participant U (D) in which Cc (copy) is designated as the transmission destination of the mail M1 and the mail address of the image forming apparatus 2 are described.
In the attached column, the material attached to the mail M1 (the material P1 used in the P meeting) is shown.

  In the text column, the text of the mail M1 is shown. This text includes the date and time of the event, the location of the venue, and the print item. The date and time including the start and end times of the P meeting, the location, and the material P1 are shown underlined in each item. The printing optional or essential distinction is described. Thus, according to a predetermined notation, the mail M1 is configured so that specific contents are described in the portions indicated by the underline of each item.

  Note that the material attached to the mail M1 may be designated in the text of the mail M1 by a fixed notation that printing is essential or optional. This notation uses keywords such as “printing required: [file name]” / “[file name] does not have to be printed”, “please print [AAAAA.xls]”. There is. In this notation example, [file name], [AAAA. It is possible to replace only xls] with an arbitrary name. In addition, information indicating that printing of the material is essential or optional may be added to the material name.

  FIG. 7 shows a notation example of a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) header of the mail M1. In the header of the mail M1, the From address shows the mail address of the organizer U (E) who is the sender of the mail M1, and the To field shows the required participants U (A) to U (C ), The mail address of the organizer U (E) is shown. In the Cc column, the arbitrary participant U (D) and the mail address of the image forming apparatus 2 are shown. Further, the subject of the mail M1 is shown in the Subject column.

  For this reason, the notification information analysis unit 52 is optional or indispensable to print the meeting name, the date and time of the meeting, the holding place, and the material P1 based on the holding information described in a predetermined notation in the mail M1 shown in FIG. It is possible to get there. Further, the notification information analysis unit 52 can acquire the destination set as the transmission destination of the mail M1 and the mail address of Cc based on the header of the mail M1 shown in FIG. Then, the holding information editing unit 54 stores in the holding information table D2 as holding information that the meeting name of the meeting acquired by the notification information analyzing unit 52, the holding date and time, the holding place, and the printing of the material P1 are optional or essential. It becomes possible to do.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the cancellation notification mail.
When the content of the conference is changed after the email M1 for notifying the participant of the conference is transmitted, the changed content is notified to the participant as a reply email to the email M1. In this reply e-mail, new materials are added or cancellation notification is sent to the participants. In the body of the cancellation notification mail shown in FIG. 8, it is described that the S meeting is canceled according to a predetermined notation.

  In this case, the notification information analysis unit 52 analyzes the reply mail and extracts the cancellation of the S meeting. When the held information analyzed by the notification information analyzing unit 52 includes a conference cancellation guide, the held information editing unit 54 adds information indicating cancellation to the held information stored in the held information table D2. At this time, a flag is set in the S-conference cancellation field stored in the holding information table D2 (in FIG. 10 described later, the cancellation of the S-conference is represented by a circle). For this reason, the display control unit 57 controls the display unit 42 to display that the conference is canceled if information indicating cancellation is added to the held information in the referenced held information table D2.

Next, a configuration example of each table will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the account information table D1 and the conference room information table D3.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the holding information table D2.

The record stored in the account information table D1 has a specific value for each user U. The account information table D1 has fields for MFP account, mail address, and user ID.
In the MFP account field, an MFP account for uniquely identifying the user U who uses the image forming apparatus 2 is stored.
A mail address that can be used by the user U is stored in the mail address field.
The user ID field stores a user ID that is recorded on an IC card or the like possessed by the user U and uniquely identifies the user U.
As described above, the MFP account, the mail address, and the user ID are associated with each user U.

The conference room information table D3 stores information related to facilities attached to the venue where the conference is held. The record stored in the conference room information table D3 has a specific value for each conference room. The conference room information table D3 has fields of conference room name, attached equipment, and map.
The meeting room name field stores the name of the meeting room.
In the attached facility field, information on facilities attached to the conference room (for example, a white board, a projector, the image forming apparatus 2, etc.) is stored.
In the map field, a map file indicating the location of the conference room is stored.

  The holding information table D2 illustrated in FIG. 10 stores meeting holding information and materials used in the meeting. The record for each meeting in the holding information table D2 stores the holding information of the mail M1 analyzed by the notification information analysis unit 52, the MFP account converted by the account conversion unit 53, and the like. The contents of the holding information table D2 are updated every time the image forming apparatus 2 receives the mail M1.

The holding information table D2 has fields of meeting name, holding date / time, holding place, required participant, optional participant, document, update date / time, printing, printed, canceled, unnecessary, non-participation.
In the conference name field, the date / time field, and the venue field, information on the name of the conference room, the date / time of the conference, and the location of the conference are stored.
In the mandatory participant field and the optional participant field, MFP accounts of the mandatory participant and optional participant of the conference are stored, respectively.
Information on materials used in the conference is stored in the material field.
The date and time when the record of each meeting was last updated is stored in the update date and time field.
The print field stores whether the material used for the meeting is mandatory or optional.
In the printed field, the MFP account of the user U who printed the material is stored.
A flag indicating that the conference has been canceled is stored in the cancellation field.
The unnecessary field stores the MFP account of the user U who has instructed that printing of the material is unnecessary.
In the non-participation field, the MFP account of the user U who has expressed non-participation in the conference is stored.

The pre-update holding information table D2 shown on the upper side of FIG. 10 stores four records indicating the contents of the P, Q, R, and S meetings. The date and time when each record was newly saved in the holding information table D2 is stored in the update date and time field.
The updated holding information table D2 shown on the lower side of FIG. 10 represents the state of a record after a predetermined time has elapsed from the holding information table D2 before updating. The date and time when the content of each record was updated is stored in the update date and time field.

The following can be understood from the updated holding information table D2.
For example, in the P conference record, the participant U (A) is instructed not to print the material P1. The organizer U (E) has already printed the material P1, and the participant U (D) has announced that he / she will not participate in the conference.
In the Q conference record, a new record of the material Q2 is added. In FIG. 10, the record of the new material Q2 is added to leave the material Q1 before the update, but the material Q1 before the update may be overwritten on the new material Q2 without adding a record. Participants U (B) and (C) have already printed the material P2.

In the record of the R conference, the participant U (B) instructs the printing of the material R1 and the participant U (B) expresses the non-participation of the conference. Further, the material R1 has already been printed by the participant U (A).
In the record of the S conference, as indicated by a circle in the figure, the S conference is canceled because the flag of the cancel field is turned on.

  FIG. 11 is a user interface diagram showing a display example of each screen displayed on the operation panel 5. Held information presented to the user U who has logged in to the image forming apparatus 2 is presented with varying degrees of detail as necessary depending on the date and time of the meeting, the location, and whether participation of participants is mandatory or optional. Is done. A display example of each screen will be described below.

  FIG. 11A shows a display example of the simple display screen W1. The simple display screen W1 is a display type that simply displays on a display unit 42 information on a meeting in which the period from the current date and time to the date and time is equal to or longer than a predetermined period. Used for. When the user U indicated by the mail address whose transmission destination is Cc is an arbitrary participant, the display control unit 57 performs control to display the simple display screen W1 on the operation panel 5 after the user U logs in. In addition, the display control part 57 performs control which displays the simple display screen W1 as an initial screen after the login of the operation panel 5, when the latest meeting is after tomorrow.

The simple display screen W1 includes a user name display field W2, a holding information display field W3, a conference number display button W4, and a function selection field W5.
The user name display field W <b> 2 displays the user name of the user U who is logged in to the image forming apparatus 2. Here, the user name and the MFP account have the same notation, but may have different notations.
The holding information display column W3 displays the presence / absence of holding information of the conference in which the user U participates.

The conference number display button W4 displays the number of conferences in which the user U participates. For example, if the participant U (A) is required to participate in the P conference and the R conference as shown in FIG. 10, the number of conferences is displayed as “2”. Then, when the participant U (A) presses the number-of-conferences display button W4, a detailed display screen W10 shown in FIG. 11B is popped up.
The function selection field W5 displays a selection button for the user U to select a general operation (copy, fax, scan, application) other than printing a document.

  FIG. 11B shows a display example of the detail display screen W10. The detail display screen W10 is a display type that displays in detail on the display unit 42 meeting information in which the period from the current date and time to the date and time is less than a predetermined period. Used for printing. The detail display screen W10 is displayed in a pop-up on the simple display screen W1. The user U can print the material or instruct that printing of the material is unnecessary through the detailed display screen W10. Since the user U whose destination is the e-mail address is an essential participant, the display control unit 57 performs control to immediately display the detail display screen W10 on the operation panel 5 after the user U logs in. The display control unit 57 performs control to display the detail display screen W10 first on the operation panel 5 when the most recent meeting is the current day. When the user U is an arbitrary participant, the detailed display screen W10 is not displayed.

  The detailed display screen W10 includes a holding information presence / absence display column W11, a holding information display column W12, a conference room information display column W13, a conference order display unit W14, a print button W15, an unnecessary button W16, a conference selection button W17, and a necessity list button W18. A close button W19 is provided.

When there is a conference in which the user U can participate, the holding information presence / absence display column W11 notifies the user U of whether the user U is a required participant or an optional participant of the conference.
The held information display column W12 displays held information such as the meeting name and date and time of the meeting that the user U has selected to display.
The conference room information display column W13 displays the name of the conference room in which the conference is held, whether the projector or the image forming apparatus 2 is installed, and a map of the conference room. Whether or not the projector or the image forming apparatus 2 is installed is displayed based on information read from the attached facility field of the conference room information table D3.
The meeting order display part W14 displays what number corresponds to the held information displayed on the detailed display screen W10 among the held information of all the meetings in which the user U participates.

  The print button W15 is used by the user U to instruct the printing of the material. At this time, the display control unit 57 refers to the conference room information table D3 and indicates that the printing of the material P1 is optional or indispensable together with the material P1 according to the attached facilities of the venue included in the holding information. To display. Therefore, information indicating that the printing of the material is optional or essential for the user U is displayed next to the print button W15. For example, when printing of materials is arbitrary, or when a meeting is held in a conference room where a projector is installed, “arbitrary” is displayed next to the print button W15. On the other hand, when the printing of the material is indispensable, or when the meeting is held in the conference room where the projector is not installed, “essential” is displayed next to the print button W15.

  The unnecessary button W <b> 16 is used for the user U to select whether or not to print a material when printing of the material is arbitrary. When the user U presses the unnecessary button W16, the user U can instruct the image forming apparatus 2 that it is not necessary to print the material. In response to this instruction, the MFP account of the user U who has issued the instruction not requiring printing is written in the unnecessary field of the holding information table D2.

The conference selection button W17 is used to select a conference in which the user U can participate. The conference selection button W17 displays “Previous conference” and “Next conference” in a selectable manner. For example, if the conferences that can be attended by the participant U (A) are the P conference and the R conference, and the detailed information of the P conference is displayed on the operation panel 5, the participant U (A) "" Is updated and displayed on the detailed information of the R meeting.
The necessity list button W18 is used to display a printing status list screen W20 shown in FIG. 11C.
The close button W19 is used to close the detail display screen W10. When the detail display screen W10 is closed, the simplified display screen W1 shown in FIG. 11A is displayed.

  FIG. 11C shows a display example of the printing status list screen W20. The printing status list screen W20 is used by the organizer U (E) to confirm the user U who has printed the material and the user U who has instructed that printing of the material is unnecessary. This confirmation may be performed not only by the organizer U (E) but also by the participants U (A) to U (D). Then, the display control unit 57 can refer to the holding information table D2 and perform control to display a list of print statuses of the material P1 on the display unit 42 for each meeting.

The print status list screen W20 includes a holding information display field W21, a conference order display part W22, a participant display field W23, a non-participation display field W24, a printed display field W25, a print necessity display field W26, a conference selection button W27, and a close button. W28 is provided.
The holding information display field W21 is used for displaying holding information of the conference.
The conference order display unit W22 displays the number of the held information displayed on the print status list screen W20 among the held information of all conferences in which the user U participates.

The participant display column W23 displays the user names of the mandatory participants and optional participants of the conference. Here, the user name and the MFP account have the same notation, but may have different notations.
The non-participation display column W24 displays the user U who has announced that he / she has not participated in the conference. For example, “Non-participation” is displayed in the row of the participant U (D) who has announced that he / she has not participated in the P conference.

The printed display column W25 displays the user U who has already printed the material. For example, “Completed” is displayed in the row of the organizer U (E) that printed the material P1.
The printing necessity display column W26 displays the necessity of printing of the material designated by the user U. For example, “unnecessary” is displayed in the row of the participant U (A) who instructed that printing of the material is unnecessary.
The conference selection button W27 is used to select a conference in which the user U can participate.
The close button W28 is used to close the print status list screen W20. When the printing status list screen W20 is closed, the detailed display screen W10 shown in FIG. 11B is displayed.

Next, a processing example of the control unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example when the image forming apparatus 2 receives the mail M1.
First, the notification information receiving unit 51 receives the mail M1 transmitted by the organizer U (E) (S1). Next, the notification information analysis unit 52 analyzes the mail M1 (S2), and determines whether or not there is meeting holding information in the mail M1 (S3).

  When the notification information analysis unit 52 determines that there is no holding information in the mail M1 (NO in S3), the mail M1 is not related to the conference. Therefore, the user U can open the mail M1 in the image forming apparatus 2 and print the mail M1 selected by the operation of the user U (S6). Thereafter, the process returns to step S1 and waits until the notification information receiving unit 51 receives a new mail M1.

  On the other hand, when the notification information analysis unit 52 determines that the event information is included in the mail M1 (YES in S3), the account conversion unit 53 refers to the account information table D1 and sets the mail address included in the mail M1 to the MFP. Convert to an account (S4). Then, the holding information editing unit 54 stores the holding information in the holding information table D2. When the holding information of the same conference is already stored in the holding information table D2, the holding information editing unit 54 updates the record of the holding information table D2 based on the holding information of the mail M1 received in the current process ( S5).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example when the user U who has logged into the image forming apparatus 2 instructs printing of the material.
After the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2, this processing is started. At this time, the login processing unit 55 refers to the account information table D1 and performs login processing based on the user ID read by the user ID reading unit 46 from the IC card or the like.

  Next, the holding information search unit 56 refers to the holding information table D2, and searches for holding information of the conference in which the MFP account of the logged-in user U is included as a participant (S11). And the holding information search part 56 determines whether the holding information of the meeting in which the user U participates exists in the holding information table D2 (S12).

  When the holding information search unit 56 determines that there is no meeting holding information (NO in S12), the image forming apparatus 2 performs the normal process (S13), and then ends this process. In this normal processing, for example, image forming processing of a document for which the user U has requested printing to the image forming apparatus 2 is performed.

If the holding information search unit 56 determines that there is meeting holding information (YES in S12), the display control unit 57 determines the display type of the holding information displayed on the operation panel 5 (S14). This display type is determined as a detailed display if the date of the conference in which the user U participates is the current day, and as a simple display if it is not the current day.
When the image forming apparatus 2 is in the immediate printing state, the holding information is displayed on the operation panel 5 when the holding information search unit 56 determines that there is holding information of the meeting (YES in S12). Immediately, printing of the material (see FIG. 14 described later) is started.

  After step S14, the display control unit 57 determines whether or not the determined display type is detailed display (S15). When the display type is not detailed display (NO in S15), the display control unit 57 creates display data of the simple display screen W1 shown in FIG. 11A and displays the simple display screen W1 on the operation panel 5 (S16). Thereafter, the display control unit 57 determines whether or not the display instruction of the detailed display screen W10 from the user U has been performed, that is, whether or not the display instruction of the detailed display has been performed by pressing the conference number display button W4 of the simple display screen W1. Is determined (S17). If the display instruction for the detailed display has not been given (NO in S17), this process ends. On the other hand, when a display instruction for detailed display is given (YES in S17), the process proceeds to step S18.

  When the display type is the detailed display in step S15 (YES in S15), or when the display instruction of the detail display screen W10 is given from the user U in step S17 (YES in S17), the display control unit 57 Display data of the detail display screen W10 shown in FIG. 11B is created, and the detail display screen W10 is displayed on the operation panel 5 (S18). At this time, the display control unit 57 refers to the conference room information table D3 and creates display data including the conference room information on the detailed display screen W10.

  Next, the display control unit 57 determines an instruction to be performed by the user U through the detail display screen W10 (S19). If the instruction is to press the close button W19, the display control unit 57 closes the detail display screen W10 and ends this process.

  If the instruction is to press the print button W15, a list of materials that can be printed is displayed on a print screen (not shown), and the user U selects the material (S20). Next, the output control unit 58 determines whether or not the conference is being held at this time, or whether it is close to being held (for example, within 10 minutes until the start time) (S22). When the conference is being held and is not close to being held (NO in S22), the output control unit 58 controls the printing of the material with the normal priority (S23).

  On the other hand, when the conference is being held or is about to be held (YES in S22), the output control unit 58 controls the printing of the material with high priority (S24). In steps S23 and S24, the image forming data creating unit 59 creates image forming data based on the print job of the material, and after the image forming unit 20 performs the printing process based on the image forming data, This process ends.

  Here, the priority means the order in which the print job processing is executed. If there is another print job in a waiting state at the normal priority, the print job for the material is executed after the execution of the other print job is completed. On the other hand, if the priority is high, the material print job is executed by interrupting the head or middle of another print job that is in a waiting state.

  In step S19, if the instruction given by the user U is a meeting selection instruction by the meeting selection button W17, the display control unit 57 displays the detailed display screen of the “previous meeting” or “next meeting” selected by the user U. The display data is updated to W10 (S21). Thereafter, the process returns to step S <b> 18, and the display control unit 57 displays the detailed display screen W <b> 10 of “Previous Meeting” or “Next Meeting” on the operation panel 5.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a printed material discharged from the paper discharge tray 24.
For example, the material P1 for which the participant U (A) has instructed printing is discharged from the discharge tray 24. Here, after the participant U (A) acquires the material P1, when the time elapses, it may be unclear when and where the material P1 is used for the conference to be held. Therefore, the output control unit 58 arranges image formation data corresponding to the outline of the conference extracted from the holding information at the head of the image formation data of the material P1. As a result, the first page showing an outline of the information on the P meeting held is added before the material P1. On the first page, for example, the agenda of the P conference is printed in addition to the information such as the date, time, location, presence / absence of materials, required participants, optional participants, non-participation, etc. of the P conference. For this reason, the participant U (A) can check the date and time of the P meeting, the location, etc., and bring the material P1.

  In the first embodiment described above, for example, the mail address of the image forming apparatus 2 is sent to the destination of the mail M1 broadcasted by the organizer U (E) to the participants U (A) to U (D). , The image forming apparatus 2 receives the mail M1 and stores the material attached to the mail M1 in the image forming apparatus 2. For this reason, it is not necessary for the organizer U (E) to associate the material used for the conference with the user U participating in the conference.

  Further, if the image forming apparatus 2 is in the immediate printing state, when the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2, the material used in the meeting held on that day without displaying the holding information on the operation panel 5. Printing starts immediately. For this reason, the user U can obtain the materials of the conference in which the user U participates without operating the operation panel 5.

  Further, if the image forming apparatus 2 is in a normal state, when the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2, conference materials related to the user U are automatically printed by the image forming apparatus 2. For this reason, the user U has the trouble of operating the PC terminal T2 or the like to search the mail M1 in which the event information is described from the mail M1 received in the past, or to search the mail M1 to which the document is attached. It doesn't take.

  If the automatic printing function of the image forming apparatus 2 is turned off, the holding information of the conference in which the user U participates is displayed on the operation panel 5 when the user U logs into the image forming apparatus 2. For this reason, the user U can confirm the holding information of the conference related to himself / herself on the operation panel 5.

  When the user U prints a document from the image forming apparatus 2, the document attached to the mail M1 is already stored in the image forming apparatus 2. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 2 only prints the stored document. It's okay. For this reason, it is not necessary for the user U to transfer the material from the personal computer terminal T2 or the like to the image forming apparatus 2, so that the traffic on the network N can be reduced. Further, since the user U does not perform the operation of transferring the material to the image forming apparatus 2, it is possible to reduce the time until the image forming apparatus 2 starts printing the material.

  Further, the screen displayed on the operation panel 5 changes based on the holding information. For example, when the start date and time of the meeting is tomorrow or when the user U is an arbitrary participant, the simple display screen W1 is displayed. On the other hand, when the start date and time of the conference is the current day or when the user U is an essential participant, the detail display screen W10 is displayed. Further, the detailed display screen W10 displays not only the holding information but also the ancillary facilities of the conference room, and notifies the user U that the printing of the material is optional or essential, so that the user U needs to print the material. It becomes easier to judge no.

  Also, if the conference start time is near, the conference material can be printed without displaying a screen on the operation panel 5 when the user U logs into the image forming apparatus 2. In this case, since the user U does not need to search for the material from the screen displayed on the operation panel 5, the user U can quickly obtain the printed material.

  The holding information editing unit 54 may store the mail address of the mail M1 as it is in the required participant and optional participant fields of the holding information table D2 without performing the conversion to the MFP account by the account conversion unit 53. Good. When the user U logs into the image forming apparatus 2, the user U selects the mail address displayed on the display unit 42, so that the login processing unit 55 associates the mail address and the MFP account with the account information table D 1. You may save it. As a result, when the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2 from the next time onward, the event information search unit 56 refers to the account information table D1, so that the event information is immediately obtained based on the mail address associated with the MFP account. It becomes possible to search. In this case, the process of converting the mail address by the account conversion unit 53 into the MFP account is not necessary.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an image forming system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image forming system 1A. In the image forming system 1A, a management server SV is newly connected to the network N. In FIG. 15, participants U (C) and (D) are not shown because of space limitations.

  The destination of the mail M1 sent by the organizer U (E) of the P meeting is the participants U (A), U (B), U (C), and the organizer U (E), and Cc of the mail M1 is It is assumed that the participant U (D) is the management server SV. For this reason, the mail M1 transmitted by the organizer U (E) is received by the participants U (A) to U (D), the organizer U (E), and the management server SV. Note that the management server SV may be included in the destination instead of the Cc of the mail M1.

  Then, the management server SV (an example of an information processing apparatus) analyzes the mail M1 transmitted from the organizer U (E), obtains meeting holding information and materials from the mail M1, and then stores the holding information and materials. save. For this reason, the management server SV need not store the mail M1, but may be configured to store the mail M1.

  On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 2 requests the management server SV to acquire holding information and materials (shown as data F1 in the drawing), and acquires the holding information and materials distributed by the management server SV. As a result, the image forming apparatus 2 can display holding information on the operation panel 5 and print materials. For this reason, the image forming apparatus 2 may be configured not to include the notification information receiving unit 51, the notification information analysis unit 52, the account conversion unit 53, and the holding information editing unit 54 according to the above-described first embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 2 includes the notification information receiving unit 51, the notification information analyzing unit 52, the account converting unit 53, and the holding information editing unit 54, as in the first embodiment described above, so that the mail M1. , And the event information and materials may be acquired from the mail M1 and stored. In this case, when the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2, the holding information is displayed on the operation panel 5 or printed based on the holding information and the materials stored in the image forming apparatus 2. To do.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the management server SV.
First, a configuration example and an operation example of the management server SV will be described.
The management server SV includes a notification information receiving unit 61, a notification information analyzing unit 62, an account converting unit 63, a holding information editing unit 64, a request receiving unit 65, a holding information searching unit 66, and a holding information transmitting unit 67. In addition, the management server SV includes an account information table D11, a holding information table D12, and a conference room information table D13. The hardware configuration of the management server SV is the same as that of the PC terminal T1 shown in FIG.

A notification information receiving unit 61, a notification information analyzing unit 62, an account converting unit 63, a holding information editing unit 64, a request receiving unit 65, a holding information searching unit 66, and a holding information transmitting unit 67 are provided in a CPU provided in the management server SV. The function is realized by RAM, ROM.
Further, the account information table D11, the holding information table D12, and the conference room information table D13 are constructed in the HDD provided in the management server SV. The configuration of the account information table D11, the holding information table D12, and the conference room information table D13 is the same as the account information table D1, the holding information table D2, and the conference room information table D3 according to the first embodiment.

The notification information receiving unit 61 receives the mail M1 broadcasted from the organizer U (E) to the receiver who participates in the conference and the management server SV.
The notification information analysis unit 62 analyzes the mail M1 received by the notification information reception unit 61, and extracts holding information from the mail M1.
The account conversion unit 63 refers to the account information table D11 and converts the mail address of the recipient of the mail M1 analyzed by the notification information analysis unit 62 into an MFP account assigned to each user U who can use the image forming apparatus 2. To do.
The holding information editing unit 64 stores the holding information in the holding information table D12 in association with the mail address of the recipient of the mail M1.
As described above, the functions of the notification information receiving unit 61, the notification information analyzing unit 62, the account converting unit 63, and the holding information editing unit 64 are the same as the notification information receiving unit 51, the notification information analyzing unit according to the first embodiment described above. 52, the account conversion unit 53, and the held information editing unit 54.

The request reception unit 65 receives a request for acquiring information on holding meetings and materials for a user U who has logged in to the image forming apparatus 2 to participate. This acquisition request includes the MFP account of the user U who has logged into the image forming apparatus 2.
Based on the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 65, the holding information search unit 66 searches the holding information table D12 for the holding information and materials of the meeting including the MFP account of the user U. Further, the holding information search unit 66 refers to the meeting room information table D13 based on the searched meeting holding information, and determines that printing of the material is essential or optional.
The holding information transmission unit 67 transmits the holding information and materials searched by the holding information search unit 66 to the image forming apparatus 2.

Next, an operation example of the image forming apparatus 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 16.
When the user U logs in to the image forming apparatus 2, the holding information search unit 56 searches the holding information table D2 for holding information and materials of the conference in which the logged-in user U participates. When the holding information is not stored in the holding information table D2, the holding information search unit 56 transmits a request for acquiring the holding information and materials to the management server SV.

  When the request receiving unit 65 of the management server SV receives the request for acquiring the holding information and the material from the image forming apparatus 2, the holding information searching unit 66 searches for the holding information and the material from the holding information table D12 based on the MFP account of the user U. To do. Then, the holding information transmission unit 67 transmits the searched holding information and materials to the image forming apparatus 2.

  The holding information search unit 56 of the image forming apparatus 2 receives the holding information and materials from the management server SV. Therefore, the display control unit 57 can display the holding information on the operation panel 5 and can receive a print instruction from the user U. The subsequent processing of the output control unit 58, the image forming data generation unit 59, and the image forming unit 20 is the same as each processing according to the first embodiment described above.

  In the second embodiment described above, when the management server SV stores the holding information and materials based on the mail M1 received and receives an acquisition request from the image forming apparatus 2, the image forming apparatus 2 In response to this, the conference holding information and materials in which the logged in user U participates are transmitted. For this reason, the user U can print materials from any image forming apparatus 2 or check conference holding information.

  In addition, since the management server SV analyzes the mail M1 and obtains the event information and the material from the mail M1 in advance, even if the image forming apparatus 2 is not included in the transmission destination of the mail M1, the management server SV You can receive event information and materials. For this reason, it is not necessary for the image forming apparatus 2 to acquire the holding information and the material from the mail M1, and the processing load on the image forming apparatus 2 can be suppressed.

  Further, if the mail M1 is described according to a predetermined notation indicating that the meeting is held, the image forming apparatus 2 is included in the transmission destination of the mail M1 if all the mails M1 are transmitted to the management server SV. It does not have to be. Even in this case, any image forming apparatus 2 to which the user U has logged in can receive the holding information and the material from the management server SV.

  In addition, the management server SV may have functions of login authentication, holding information search, display control, and output control included in the image forming apparatus 2 described in the first embodiment. As a result, the management server SV receives the user ID of the user U read by the image forming apparatus 2 from the image forming apparatus 2 and refers to the account information table D11 to log in the user who has logged into the image forming apparatus 2. It can be performed. In addition, the management server SV can search the holding information table D12 for conference holding information in which the login-authenticated user U can participate, and transmit the holding information and materials to the image forming apparatus 2. At this time, the management server SV can also transmit the conference room information to the image forming apparatus 2 with reference to the conference room information table D13. In addition, the management server SV can transmit an instruction to display the holding information in a predetermined display type on the operation panel 5 to the image forming apparatus 2. Further, the management server SV receives the contents of the operation input performed through various screens displayed on the operation panel 5 from the image forming apparatus 2, thereby transmitting a material print instruction to the image forming apparatus 2, It is also possible to transmit an instruction to add the first page indicating the holding information.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various other application examples and modifications can of course be taken without departing from the gist of the present invention described in the claims.
For example, the above-described embodiments are detailed and specific configurations of the apparatus and the system in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Further, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of the embodiment described here with the configuration of another embodiment, and further, the configuration of another embodiment is replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. It is also possible to add. Moreover, it is also possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of each embodiment.
Further, the control lines and information lines indicate what is considered necessary for the explanation, and not all the control lines and information lines on the product are necessarily shown. Actually, it may be considered that almost all the components are connected to each other.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming system, 2 ... Image forming apparatus, 3 ... Image forming apparatus main body, 5 ... Operation panel, 20 ... Image forming part, 30 ... Control part, 41 ... Operation part, 42 ... Display part, 46 ... User ID reading , 51 ... Notification information receiving part, 52 ... Notification information analysis part, 53 ... Account conversion part, 54 ... Held information editing part, 55 ... Login processing part, 56 ... Held information search part, 57 ... Display control part, 58 ... Output control unit, 59 ... image forming data creation unit, D1 ... account information table, D2 ... holding information table, D3 ... meeting room information table

Claims (25)

Event information and materials are included, a notification information receiving unit for receiving notification information broadcast to the device together with the recipients participating in the event, and
Analyzing the notification information, extracting the holding information, a notification information analysis unit for acquiring the transmission destination information of the recipient from the transmission destination information included in the notification information;
A holding information editing unit that saves the holding information and the material in a holding information storage unit in association with the destination information of the recipient;
A login processing unit for performing login processing of the recipient;
A holding information search unit that searches the holding information storage unit for the holding information related to the recipient for which the login process has been performed;
An image forming apparatus comprising: an output control unit configured to control output of the material based on image forming data of the material corresponding to the holding information searched by the holding information search unit. Furthermore, a display unit that displays information regarding the holding information and the material according to a predetermined display type;
An operation unit for giving instructions regarding the material;
2. The display control unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a display control unit configured to control the display of the holding information searched by the holding information search unit on the display unit according to the display type and to send an instruction from the operation unit to the output control unit. Image forming apparatus. The notification information analysis unit analyzes whether a destination or a copy is designated in the transmission destination information,
The holding information editing unit stores in the holding information storage unit information indicating that the recipient must print the material when the destination information analyzed by the notification information analyzing unit is a destination. And when the destination information is a copy, the recipient information is stored in the holding information storage unit to indicate that the material is optional for printing,
The display control unit refers to the holding information storage unit, and displays information indicating that the recipient is required or optional to print the material on the display unit as information on the material. The image forming apparatus described in 1. The display type is
The type in which the period from the current date and time to the event date and time is a predetermined period or more is displayed on the display unit, or the period from the current date and time to the event date and time is less than the predetermined period. It is one of the types that display the holding information in detail on the display unit,
The display control unit is included in the holding information with reference to a venue information storage unit that stores information related to facilities attached to the venue where the event is held when the display control unit is a type of detailed display on the display unit. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display unit displays together with the material that printing of the material is optional or essential depending on an accessory of the venue. The notification information analysis unit acquires that the event name of the event, the date and time of the event, the location of the event, and the printing of the material are optional or essential based on the holding information described in the notification information in a predetermined notation And
The event information editing unit stores in the event information storage unit as event information that the event name, event date, event location, and printing of the material acquired by the notification information analysis unit are optional or required. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image forming apparatus is stored. The image formation according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the holding information editing unit deletes the holding information stored in the holding information storage unit after a predetermined time has elapsed from the date and time of the event. apparatus. The holding information editing unit, when the holding information is the same content as the holding information analyzed from the notification information received so far, when the new information is included in the notification information, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material stored in the holding information storage unit is updated to a new material. The output control unit has priority over other print jobs when the period from the current date and time to the event date and time is less than a predetermined period, or when the current date and time is within the event period. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a document is output. The event information editing unit indicates cancellation in the event information stored in the event information storage unit when the event information analyzed by the notification information analysis unit includes an event cancellation guide. Add information,
The image according to any one of claims 2 to 8, wherein the display control unit displays that the event is canceled on the display unit when information indicating cancellation is added to the holding information. Forming equipment. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an account conversion unit that converts the transmission destination information of the recipient into an account of a user who can use the apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein the display control unit performs control to display a list of print states of the material on the display unit for each event. The said output control part arrange | positions the said image formation data corresponding to the outline | summary of the said event extracted from the said holding information to the head of the image formation data of the said material. Image forming apparatus. Procedures for receiving event information and materials, and receiving notification information broadcast to the device together with recipients participating in the event;
Analyzing the notification information, extracting the holding information, and obtaining the recipient information of the recipient from the recipient information included in the notification information;
A procedure for storing the holding information and the material in a holding information storage unit in association with the transmission destination information of the recipient;
A procedure for performing login processing of the recipient who logs in to the image forming apparatus;
Based on a request from the image forming apparatus, a procedure for retrieving the holding information related to the recipient from the holding information storage unit;
A program for causing a computer to execute the procedure for transmitting the held holding information and the material to the image forming apparatus. An instruction to display the retrieved holding information on the display unit of the image forming apparatus according to the display type for an image forming apparatus having a display unit that displays the holding information and information about the material according to a predetermined display type. The program according to claim 13, for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting to the image forming apparatus. A procedure for analyzing whether a destination or a copy is designated in the destination information;
When the analyzed destination information is a destination, information indicating that the recipient is required to print the material is stored in the holding information storage unit, and the destination information is a copy Storing the information indicating that the recipient can arbitrarily print the material in the holding information storage unit;
A method for causing a computer to execute a procedure for transmitting, to the image forming apparatus, an instruction for causing the receiver to display information indicating that printing of the material is essential or optional on the display unit as information on the material. Item 15. The program according to Item 14. The display type is
The type in which the period from the current date and time to the event date and time is a predetermined period or more is displayed on the display unit, or the period from the current date and time to the event date and time is less than the predetermined period. It is one of the types that display the holding information in detail on the display unit,
In the case of a type that is displayed in detail on the display unit, with reference to the venue information storage unit that stores information about the facility attached to the venue where the event is held, the attached facility of the venue included in the holding information The program according to claim 15, for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting, to the image forming apparatus, an instruction to display on the display unit together with the material that printing of the material is optional or essential. Based on the event information described in the notification information in a predetermined notation, the event name of the event, the date and time of the event, the event location, a procedure for acquiring that printing of the material is optional or essential;
A method for causing a computer to execute the event name, the date and time of the event, the date and time of the event acquired, and the procedure for storing in the event information storage unit as the event information that printing of the material is optional or essential. Item 17. The program according to Item 16. The program according to any one of claims 13 to 17, for causing a computer to execute a procedure of deleting the holding information stored in the holding information storage unit after a predetermined time has elapsed from the holding date and time of the event. . When the holding information has the same contents as the holding information analyzed from the notification information received so far, and the new information is included in the notification information, the holding information is stored in the holding information storage unit. The program as described in any one of Claims 13-18 for making a computer perform the procedure which updates the said material to be updated to the said new material. When instructing the image forming apparatus to output the material based on the image formation data of the material corresponding to the retrieved holding information, the period from the current date to the event date is less than a predetermined period. Or if the current date and time is within the event period, the computer executes a procedure for sending an instruction to output the material to the image forming apparatus in preference to other print jobs. The program according to any one of claims 13 to 19. In the event that the event cancellation information is included in the analyzed event information, a procedure for adding information indicating cancellation to the event information stored in the event information storage unit;
A procedure for causing a computer to execute a procedure for transmitting an instruction to display that the event has been canceled on the display unit to the image forming apparatus when information indicating cancellation is added to the holding information. Item 20. The program according to any one of Items 14 to 20. Furthermore, the program as described in any one of Claims 13-21 for making a computer perform the procedure which converts the transmission destination information of the said receiver into the account of the user who can use the said own apparatus. The program according to any one of claims 14 to 22, for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting, to the image forming apparatus, an instruction to display a list of print states of the material on the display unit for each event. A method for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting an instruction to arrange the image forming data corresponding to the outline of the event extracted from the holding information at the head of the image forming data of the material to the image forming apparatus. Item 24. The program according to any one of Items 13 to 23. An information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Event information and materials are included, a notification information receiving unit for receiving notification information broadcast to recipients participating in the event, and
Analyzing the notification information, extracting the holding information, a notification information analysis unit for acquiring the transmission destination information of the recipient from the transmission destination information included in the notification information;
A holding information editing unit that saves the holding information and the material in a holding information storage unit in association with the destination information of the recipient;
A request receiving unit for receiving the holding information and the material acquisition request transmitted from the image forming apparatus;
Based on the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit, a holding information search unit that searches the holding information storage unit for the holding information and the material that is the recipient.
A holding information transmitting unit for transmitting the searched holding information and the material to the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
A login processing unit for performing login processing of the recipient;
Information for acquiring the holding information and the material from the information processing device by transmitting to the information processing device a request for acquiring the holding information and the material related to the recipient for which the login processing has been performed. A search section;
An image forming system comprising: an output control unit configured to control output of the material based on image forming data of the material corresponding to the holding information acquired by the holding information search unit.

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