JP3857076B2 - Electronic document file printing system and method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing system and method for obtaining a printout of a specific electronic document file at a desired location using a mobile phone.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, with the spread of lightweight notebook computers, they are often brought to business trip destinations. However, since printing devices (printers) are bulky and difficult to bring so far, electronic devices such as KIKOS are used. Services that print document files (hereinafter simply referred to as “document files”) have appeared.
[0003]
However, even in such a case, it was necessary to bring a storage medium such as a personal computer or a floppy disk containing document files to the place where the equipment is located.
[0004]
Therefore, if you forgot to bring a document file you need on the road, such as a business trip, or if you were unable to create or modify a document file in time for departure, you could not cope with it. Even so, it would be bulky or heavy and inefficient to bring in a considerable number of documents needed on the go.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and when the user notices that he / she has forgotten a necessary document on the way to go or when he / she needs a large number of copies on the go It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic document file printing system and a printing method thereof that can obtain a printed matter of the document on the go.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a transfer instruction and transfer destination information of a specific electronic document file from a mobile phone incorporating a short-range wireless communication function, and address information of the mobile phone are used. First receiving means for receiving the encrypted address information of the short-range wireless communication function, first detecting means for detecting the address information of the mobile phone, and address information detected by the first detecting means Based on the address information of the short-range wireless communication function decrypted by the first decryption means, the first decryption means that decrypts the encrypted address information of the short-range wireless communication function, A file server comprising means for encrypting and transmitting an electronic document file requested to be transferred, and an encrypted electronic document transmitted from the transmission means of the file server. It said second receiving means for receiving a write file, and receiving means for the address information of the print instruction and the communication function of the short-range wireless of the electronic document file accepts the communication function of the short-range wireless from the mobile phone reception A print server comprising: second decryption means for decrypting the encrypted electronic document file received by the second reception means based on address information of the short-range wireless communication function received by the means. An electronic document file printing system is provided.
[0013]
Furthermore, according to the present invention, a mobile phone incorporating a short-range wireless communication function allows a specific electronic document file to be transferred to a file server that stores the electronic document file, and the address information of the mobile phone. Transmitting to the file server address information of the short-range wireless communication function encrypted by the step, detecting the address information of the mobile phone in the file server, and using the address information, the short-range wireless communication The function address information is decrypted, and the electronic document file instructed to be transferred is encrypted and converted into a printable format by the address information of the near field communication function decrypted in this step. And the electronic document file transferred to the print server by this step. And decoding the electronic document file by the short-range wireless communication function, and instructing the printing device to print the electronic document file decrypted by this step by the short-range wireless communication function. And a step for printing an electronic document file.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0015]
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. That is, this system includes a file server 11 that stores and manages electronic files including document files, a mobile phone 12 that transfers and prints out document files to be printed, and a print server 13 that is installed in a station and provides printing services. And a printing device 14 installed near the print server 13. Reference numeral 15 denotes a print document obtained by printing a document file by the printing device 14.
[0016]
The user uses the mobile phone 12 to specify a station to be printed, and transmits a transfer instruction of the document file to the print server 13 by mail to the file server 11. In response to this, the file server 11 informs the mobile phone of the address of the printing apparatus at the station.
[0017]
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the cellular phone 12 includes a Bluetooth communication unit 21 for acquiring the address of the printing device 14, a telephone line network communication unit 22 that enables connection to the Internet, and a built-in Bluetooth communication function. Encrypting unit 23 for encrypting the address information, a processing unit 24 for performing various processes and controls, a storage unit 25 for temporarily storing the created mail information, an operation unit 26 for receiving user instructions, and use The mobile phone 12 has its own address (mobile phone number) and a Bluetooth communication address.
[0018]
The file server 11 has a function of encrypting a document file and transferring the file to the designated print server 13 together with the encrypted mobile phone address information.
[0019]
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the file server 11 includes a telephone line network communication unit 31 for connecting the mobile phone 12 via the Internet, an encryption unit 32 for encrypting the document file to be transferred, and the mobile phone 12. Bluetooth decoding unit 33 for decoding Bluetooth address information from, a control unit 34 for controlling all processing steps, a storage unit 35 for temporarily storing and storing information generated in the processing steps, and a document The file server 11 includes a file input / output unit 36 for storing / reading a file as an electronic file and an electronic file 37 for storing / storing a document file as an electronic file. The file server 11 stores address information (phone number) of each mobile phone in a table. Has in form.
[0020]
The print server 13 has a function of temporarily storing the transferred document file in an electronic file. The print server 13 waits for a print instruction from the mobile phone 12 and prints it out by the corresponding printing device 14.
[0021]
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the print server 13 includes a Bluetooth communication unit 41 that distributes address information of the connected printing device 14, a telephone line network communication unit 42 that receives a transfer document file via the Internet, A control unit 43 for controlling all processes, a storage unit 44 for temporarily storing information of processing processes, a file input / output unit 45 for storing and storing a document file as an electronic file, and reading out at the time of printing, An electronic file 46 that stores a document file and a print control unit 47 that controls the printing apparatus 14 are configured.
[0022]
The printing apparatus 14 includes a document decrypting unit 48 that decrypts an electronic file from the print server 13 and a Bluetooth decrypting unit 49 that decrypts a Bluetooth address from the mobile phone 12.
[0023]
Next, the flow of processing in an embodiment of the present invention will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG.
[0024]
It is assumed that the user who possesses the mobile phone 12 notices that he / she did not carry the material used for the business trip during the business trip. Therefore, the user considers obtaining his / her own document file stored in the file server 11 at the nearest station of the business trip to obtain a printed matter of the corresponding document. Then, the document file is transferred from the file server 11 to the print server 13 by mail, and the print document 15 is obtained by using the printing device 14 installed in the station.
[0025]
Details of the processing in the mobile phone 12 in this case are as follows.
[0026]
In step S501, the user uses the operation unit 26 and the display unit 27 of the mobile phone 12 to create a mail for a file transfer instruction. This mail is for the file server 11 to recognize the specific contents of the transfer instruction and not for humans to read, so the document file name, the station or facility of the transfer destination print server 13 is installed. Any format may be used as long as a unique identifier or the like is input or selected from the mobile phone holder. In addition, the address information of the Bluetooth communication unit 21 encrypted with the address information of the mobile phone in the encryption unit 23 is automatically attached to this mail. The mail created in this way is temporarily stored in the storage unit 25 via the processing unit 24.
[0027]
In step S <b> 502, the created mail is read from the storage unit 25 according to an instruction from the processing unit 24, and transmitted to the file server 11 using the telephone line network communication unit 22. Thereby, the file server 11 is instructed to transfer the document file.
[0028]
In step S511, the file server 11 receives the file transfer instruction mail by the telephone line network communication unit 31 shown in FIG. Since the file server 11 knows the address of the mobile phone 12 that has sent the mail, the address information of the Bluetooth communication unit 21 sent from the mobile phone 12 is decrypted based on the instruction from the control unit 34 using this address information. Decrypted by the unit 33 and temporarily stored in the storage unit 35.
[0029]
In step S <b> 512, the control unit 34 instructs the file input / output unit 36 to read the transfer-designated document file from the electronic file 37. At this time, the document file is encrypted by the encryption unit 32 using the address information of the Bluetooth communication unit 21 of the mobile phone 12 decrypted in step S511.
[0030]
In step S513, the document file encrypted in step S512 is transferred to the designated print server 13 using the telephone line network communication unit 31, and the process ends.
[0031]
The print server 13 receives the document file transferred from the file server 11 via the Internet, and temporarily stores it in the electronic file 46 of FIG. That is, the transferred document file is received by the telephone line network communication unit 42, stored and stored in the electronic file 46 using the file input / output unit 45 according to an instruction from the control unit 43, and then the file input / output unit 45 print control. It is sent to the printing apparatus 14 via the unit 47.
[0032]
In step S503, the user gives a print instruction of the document file to the printing apparatus 14 to be output by the mobile phone 12 that is held at the nearest station of the business trip destination. The user of the cellular phone 12 uses the operation unit 26 in FIG. 2 to transmit a print instruction specifying a desired document file as print instruction information including address information to the printing apparatus 14 to be output.
[0033]
The document file to be printed once stored in the electronic file 46 is printed out via the file input / output unit 45 and the print control unit 47 when the user who has the mobile phone gets off the station and instructs printing. 14 may be sent. In this case, the print server 13 receives this print instruction information by the telephone line network communication unit 42 in FIG. 4 and temporarily stores it in the storage unit 44 via the control unit 43.
[0034]
The printing apparatus 14 receives Bluetooth address information from the mobile phone 12 and decrypts the previously received document file using this address information. The decrypted document is printed and output in step S523.
[0035]
At this time, authentication is performed to check whether the owner of the document file (the person transferred from the file server 11) matches the person who instructed printing. Since the document file is decrypted by the address information of the Bluetooth communication unit 21 of the mobile phone 12, even if this address information is decrypted by a different mobile phone, the document file document is not reproduced normally. The person is authenticated.
[0036]
In this way, the owner of the mobile phone 12 can transfer the document file that has been converted into an electronic file to the printing device 14 via the print server 13 at the nearest station or the station that is scheduled to get off at any time. The print document 15 of the document file to be obtained can be obtained.
[0037]
In consideration of security, the document file name is encrypted by an address that is an identifier unique to the mobile phone 12 when transmitted from the mobile phone 12 to the file server 11, and decrypted by the file server 11. Also, the document file is transmitted after being encrypted with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone 12 in the file server 11, and is authenticated by being decrypted with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone in the print server 13, respectively. Protected.
[0038]
By the way, in the above-described embodiment, a user who is a mobile phone 12 owner is in a range where communication with the print server 13 in the station is possible, and a Bluetooth communication function is used to transmit a print instruction to the print server 13. In this method, data is transmitted / received only by the Bluetooth communication function built in the mobile phone 12 and the Bluetooth communication function of the print server 13, so if the mobile phone holder does not go nearby, the printer is instructed to print. The document file cannot be decrypted, and therefore the printed material of the document cannot be obtained, and if the mobile phone holder leaves the station, the Bluetooth address of the mobile phone becomes unknown and is later decrypted. Documents are not printed, which is advantageous in terms of confidentiality.
[0039]
In the above embodiment of the present invention, the print server is installed in the station premises as a set with the printing apparatus. In a relatively large station, this system is likely to be used frequently, and it is more efficient that a print server is provided near the printing device for the station.
[0040]
However, in the present invention, the print server does not always have to be provided near the printing apparatus. In a small station, the frequency of printing by this system is not so high, and therefore a print server may be shared by a plurality of stations. In this case, the print server is installed apart from the printing apparatus. By doing so, the operating rate of the print server can be improved.
[0041]
Next, this type of embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 shows the overall configuration. By using the JR intranet of JR, the print servers 13 are installed together in one place, and the printing device 14 is connected to the JR intranet and distributed in each station.
[0042]
This system includes a file server 61 having the same function as the file server 11 of FIG. 1, a central print server 62 that receives a transfer document file from the file server 61, a JR intranet 63, and a printing device 64 connected thereto. It is configured with. Reference numeral 65 denotes a print document printed by the printing device 64.
[0043]
In the example of this embodiment, communication between the mobile phone 12 and the central print server 62 is performed by mail communication via the Internet. In the central print server 62, the document is decrypted with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone and transmitted to a predetermined printing apparatus. However, since the document is sent via the JR intranet, confidentiality is maintained. Further, the address information of the printing device 64 that is desired to output the document file is distributed by a Bluetooth communication device attached to the printing device 64 installed at each station. Also in this case, the user can get a printed document by going to the printing apparatus installed in each station and giving a printing instruction.
[0044]
The advantage of this embodiment is that the use of an existing network such as an intranet and the server of the printing system can be centralized in the central printing server 62, so that the construction cost of the printing service system can be minimized. . In addition, since the server system is concentrated in one place, there is an advantage that it can be operated more easily and at a lower cost than the above-described embodiment in terms of maintenance work and operation cost.
[0045]
In the above embodiment of the present invention, the document file can also be transmitted from the central printing server 62 to a printing apparatus installed in each station premises over the Internet. In this case, each printing apparatus is provided with a document file decryption function based on the Bluetooth address, and is transmitted from the central printing server 62 to each printing apparatus without being encrypted. When printing is instructed, the document file is decrypted with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone and printed. In this way, since the encrypted data is transmitted from the central print server to the printing apparatus, it is possible to maintain high security even when transmitted via the Internet.
[0046]
By the way, in the above-described embodiments, at least a printing device is provided in the station premises. However, the place where the printing apparatus is installed in the present invention is not limited to the station premises. In the present invention, only the printing device or the printing device and the print server may be installed in an accommodation facility such as a hotel or a convenience store. In the above embodiment of the present invention, the transmitted document is printed as it is by the printing apparatus. However, in the present invention, the document file can be displayed once, corrected, and printed.
[0047]
Next, this type of embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this system, the document file transferred to the print server can be corrected. If you are on a business trip that involves a relatively long distance and accomodation, such as when you have a business corner equipped with OA equipment, use your laptop or install it. You can create and modify documents by borrowing a computer. In this method, the document file transferred to the print server is downloaded to the personal computer and corrected, and then uploaded again to the print server or printed as it is after correction.
[0048]
As shown in FIG. 7, the system includes a file server 71 that transfers a necessary document file according to an instruction from a user, a mobile phone 72 that gives instructions such as transfer and printing of the document file, A transfer document file is received from the server 71 and stored, and a print file 73 for processing the document file download and print instructions received from a user who operates the mobile phone 72, and a document file download, It comprises a personal computer 74 for correcting and uploading, and a printing device 75 for printing a document file. Reference numeral 76 denotes a print document printed by the printing device 75. The mobile phone 72 is informed of the address of the personal computer 74 and the address of the printing device 75.
[0049]
The processing procedure of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Until the document file is encrypted, transferred from the file server 71 to the print server 73 according to the transfer instruction of the mobile phone 72, stored, and stored, it is the same as in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. To do.
[0050]
In step S801, the print server 73 is instructed to transfer the document file from the mobile phone 72 to the personal computer 74 provided in the hotel business corner. The print server 73 receives this in step S811, reads the designated document file from the electronic file, and transfers it to the personal computer 74.
[0051]
The personal computer 74 receives (downloads) the transfer document file from the print server 73 in step S821. In step S822, since the downloaded document file is encrypted with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone 72, the document file is decrypted using this address information. In step S823, the decrypted document file is corrected using a document processing program of the personal computer 74 or the like.
[0052]
In step S824, the modified document file is encrypted again with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone 72, and in step S825, the encrypted modified document file is transmitted (uploaded) to the print server 73.
[0053]
The print server 73 receives this in step S812 and stores / stores it in the electronic file. In the cellular phone 72, the print instruction from the user is accepted in step S <b> 802 and transmitted to the print server 73.
[0054]
In response to the print instruction, the print server 73 reads the document file designated in step S813 from the electronic file, and decrypts it with the Bluetooth address information of the mobile phone 72. In step S814, the decrypted document file is printed by the printing device 75 installed in the business corner of the hotel.
[0055]
According to this embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage that a transferred document file can be corrected before printing as well as printed using a personal computer or the like.
[0056]
In the above embodiment of the present invention, the downloaded document file is decrypted and corrected, then encrypted and uploaded again to the print server. However, in the present invention, after the downloaded document file is decrypted and corrected, it may be directly printed by the printing apparatus without being encrypted. This is simpler if the print server is near the printing device. The document file to be corrected can also be downloaded from a file server.
[0057]
By the way, in the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the document file is encrypted and transferred to the print server. However, even when the document file is transferred by a dedicated line or the like without using the Internet, or when it is transmitted by the Internet, PVN is used. When a considerable amount of security is applied, such as the case where is used, encryption is not necessarily required.
[0058]
Further, in the above-described embodiment of the present invention, it has been described that the instruction to print to the printing apparatus is based on the Bluetooth communication function. However, the present invention is not limited to the case where an actual print or download instruction is issued by the Bluetooth communication function. In general, the present invention can be applied to a case where an instruction to print or download a document file can be given using the short-range wireless communication function.
[0059]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, there is provided a printing service system and method capable of preparing a print server connected to the Internet and having a printing device at each station or accommodation facility, and instructing transfer or printing of a document file from a user's mobile phone. Can do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a file server in an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a print server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a configuration example of another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an operation procedure according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
11, 61, 71 ... file server, 12, 72 ... mobile phone, 13, 73 ... print server, 14, 64, 75 ... printing device, 15, 65, 76 ... print document , 21, 41 ... Bluetooth communication unit, 22, 31, 42 ... Telephone network communication unit, 23, 32 ... Encryption unit, 24 ... Processing unit, 25, 45, 45 ... Storage unit, 26 ... operation unit, 27 ... display unit, 33 ... decryption unit, 34, 43 ... control unit, 36, 45 ... file input / output unit, 37, 46 ... Electronic file, 47... Print control unit, 48... Document decryption unit, 49. 62: Central printing server, 63: JR intranet, 74: Personal computer.

Claims (4)

Transfer instruction and transfer destination information of a specific electronic document file from a mobile phone incorporating a short-range wireless communication function, and address information of the short-range wireless communication function encrypted by the address information of the mobile phone And first receiving means for receiving,
First detecting means for detecting address information of the mobile phone;
First decryption means for decrypting the encrypted address information of the short-range wireless communication function based on the address information detected by the first detection means;
Means for encrypting and transmitting the electronic document file requested to be transferred based on address information of the near field communication function decrypted by the first decryption means;
A file server comprising:
Second receiving means for receiving an encrypted electronic document file transmitted from the transmitting means of the file server;
The short-range wireless communication function accepted by the accepting means and receiving means for receiving a short-range wireless communication function of the printing instruction and the said short-range address information of the wireless communication feature phone of the electronic document file A second decryption unit that decrypts the encrypted electronic document file received by the second reception unit according to the address information of
An electronic document file printing system comprising:   2. The electronic document file printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print server is installed in the vicinity of the printing apparatus.   2. The printing of an electronic document file according to claim 1, wherein the print server is installed apart from a place where the printing apparatus is installed, and is connected to the plurality of printing apparatuses via a line. system. The near-field encrypted by the mobile phone having a built-in short-range wireless communication function, the transfer and transfer destination of the specific electronic document file to the file server storing the electronic document file, and the address information of the mobile phone Transmitting wireless communication function address information to the file server;
Detecting address information of the mobile phone in the file server, and decoding address information of the short-range wireless communication function by the address information;
Encrypting the electronic document file instructed to transfer with the address information of the short-range wireless communication function decrypted in this step, and transferring the encrypted electronic document file to a print server for conversion into a printable format;
Decrypting the electronic document file transferred to the print server by this step with the address information of the short-range wireless communication function;
And a step of instructing the printing apparatus to print the electronic document file decrypted in this step from the mobile phone by a short-range wireless communication function. .

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