This Nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 2003-122034 filed in Japan on Apr. 25, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing service system and a printing service program. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing service system and a printing service program for printing an image photographed with a digital camera or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional system, a server placed at a center and photograph vending machines installed at respective places are connected to each other through a high-speed line network. Image information transmitted using a certain photograph vending machine is stored in the center server and an ID and a password are displayed on the photograph vending machine. When the ID and the password are designated using a photograph vending machine and a request to read the image information is issued, after the ID and the password are verified, the image is transmitted to the photograph vending machine and a recipient prints out the image using the photograph vending machine (see JP 2002-135702 A, for instance).
In JP 2002-135702 A above, when a sender wishes to present an image to a third person, after registering the image in the system, the sender needs to communicate the ID and the password displayed on a screen to a recipient using a telephone or the like. Therefore, there is a problem that when the sender forgets the ID and/or the password, forgets about communicating them to the recipient, or wrongly communicates them to the recipient, the third person (recipient) becomes incapable of printing out the image. This problem also occurs when the recipient hears the ID and/or the password mistakenly. With this method of communicating the ID and the password using a telephone, however, the trouble described above frequently occurs.
Also, when printing out the image, the recipient needs to input the ID and the password composed of numerals and alphabets using an input device, such as a keyboard, provided for the photograph vending machine, which leads to a problem that a large load is placed on a user unaccustomed to machine operations and input mistakes deem to frequently occur.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems described above and accordingly has an object to provide a printing service system and a printing service program with which it is possible even for a user unaccustomed to machine operations to print out an image with ease and a security level is maintained while eliminating the necessity to communicate an ID and a password required for the printing out by telephone and also eliminating the necessity to perform the input operation of the ID and the password by a recipient.
With the above object(s) in view, a printing service system according to the present invention includes a server and at least one print terminal connected to the server through a communication network. In the printing service system, the print terminal includes an image data input means for inputting image data and an image data transmission means for transmitting the image data to the server. The print terminal also includes a destination input means for inputting an address of a recipient authorized to print the image data. Also, in the printing service system, the server includes an image data reception means for receiving the image data transmitted by the image data transmission means. The server also includes an ID and password generation means for, when the image data is received, generating an ID and a password for authentication. The server further includes an image data accumulation means for accumulating the received image data in association with the ID. The server also includes a code conversion means for converting the ID and the password into a code storing information on the ID and the password and a code transmission means for transmitting the obtained code to the address inputted by the destination input means. Further, the server includes an image data returning means for, when the print terminal decodes the code to the ID and the password and transmits the ID and the password, performing authentication using the ID and the password and, if a positive authentication result is obtained, reading the image data corresponding to the ID from the image data accumulation means and returning the read image data to the print terminal.
Therefore, it becomes possible even for a user unaccustomed to machine operations to print out an image with ease and a security level is maintained while eliminating the necessity to communicate an ID and a password required for the printing out by telephone and also eliminating the necessity to perform the input operation of the ID and the password by a recipient.
In the accompanying drawings:
A construction of a printing service system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
As shown in
As shown in
Also, the print terminal 10 includes a control unit 11 for performing control of internal operations, a data holding unit 17 for holding data, a key input unit 18 with which key inputs are performed, a code reading unit 19, and a medium input unit 20. In the control unit 11, there are provided a data transmission and reception unit 12, an image processing unit 13, a screen display unit 14, an accounting unit 15, and a print processing unit 16.
Also, as shown in
Next, an operation of the printing service system according to this embodiment will be described.
Referring to
Next, referring to
Next, referring to
Next, image download processing of the print terminal 10 at the time when the recipient prints the image will be described with reference to
Next, image download processing of the server 1 at the time when the recipient prints the image will be described with reference to
As described above, in the printing service system according to this embodiment, a sender uploads an image photographed with a digital camera or a camera-equipped mobile telephone to the server 1 using the print terminal 10. Then, the server 1 generates an ID and a password and the ID and the password are printed out in order to prevent a situation where the sender forgets them. In addition, a code, in which the ID and the password are embedded, is communicated to a recipient of the image designated by the sender by mail or FAX. Therefore, it becomes possible to automatically and correctly inform the recipient of the code that is print information required for printing out. As a result, it becomes possible to present the image to the recipient with reliability. Also, unlike in a conventional case, the recipient does not have to input the ID and the password and it is possible for him/her to print the presented image with ease merely by reading the screen of a mobile telephone displaying the code or a FAX reception document using the handy scanner 19a or the like of the code reading unit 19 of the print terminal 10.
In the first embodiment described above, the two-dimensional code is used as the code. In this embodiment, however, a barcode shown in
It is assumed that multiple print terminals 10 be installed at respective sites for the convenience of users.
For instance, in order to allow the sender or the recipient to identify the installation places of the print terminals 10, it is possible that a Web site corresponding to each mobile telephone carrier is provided in the server 1 and a user, who wishes to use the printing service, identifies the installation places by accessing the Web site through the Internet. When the access is performed, a usage guidance screen containing information showing the installation places of the print terminals 10 is displayed on the screen of the mobile telephone possessed by the user. With this construction, it becomes possible for the user to find the installation places with ease.
Also, when a recipient is not a mobile telephone user but is a FAX user, a map showing the installation place of a print terminal 10 in the vicinity of the home or place of business of the recipient is simultaneously transmitted along with the FAX transmission document shown in
In this embodiment, in addition to the constructions in the first to third embodiments described above, there is further provided a construction with which it is possible for the sender to attach a simple message or subject for communicating the contents of the image uploaded to the server 1 attribute information at the time when the code is transmitted to the recipient as by mail or FAX. Alternatively, image data on the index print shown in
It should be noted here that the message or subject may be displayed in the attribute data display field 43 (see
In the first embodiment described above, there has been described an example where each time a sender uploads an image, a new ID and a new password are issued and the user directory 8a is created for each issued ID. In this embodiment, however, a user management table shown in
That is, first, when a sender A uploads an image X to the server 1 in order to present the image X to a recipient B, a new ID and a new password are issued, a user directory 8a corresponding to the ID is created, and the image X is stored in the created user directory 8a. Following this, when a different sender C uploads an image Y to the server 1 in order to present the image Y to the same recipient B, the server 1 searches the user management table in
This construction makes it possible to create one user directory 8a for each recipient in the server 1 and therefore eliminates the need for creating multiple user directories 8a for the same recipient. As a result, it becomes possible to reduce the number of user directories 8a.
It should be noted here that in this embodiment, each code transmitted by mail or FAX to the same recipient becomes the same, so that at the time of transmission of the code by mail or fax, there may be simultaneously informed that the code is the same as previous ones. That is, in the example described above, the code to be transmitted by mail or FAX to the recipient B at the time when the sender C uploads the image becomes the same as the code transmitted by mail or FAX to the recipient B at the time when the sender A uploaded the image. Therefore, when the sender C uploads the image and the code is transmitted to the recipient B by mail or fax, a message informing that the code transmitted this time is the same as the code transmitted when the sender A uploaded the image is described in a mail or a FAX transmission document received by the recipient.
In this embodiment, each image addressed to the same recipient is stored in the same user directory 8a, so that when the recipient reads the code using the print terminal 10, images from respective senders are simultaneously displayed on the display screen shown in
In this embodiment, in addition to the constructions in the first to fifth embodiments described above, a customer master shown in
With this construction, once the sender is registered in the customer master, he/she is merely required to input his/her sender ID from the next time of use. That is, even if information on the sender, such as his/her mail address or name, is not inputted, it is automatically found. As a result, an operation load placed on the sender is reduced and the operations are simplified. Further, there is the possibility that the sender frequently performs transmission to the same recipient. In this case, it is possible to use a construction where when the sender inputs his/her sender ID, a list of previous transmission destinations is displayed on the display screen 14a based on the transmission history and the sender selects and designates a person, to whom he/she wishes to transmit an image, from the list. In this case, the operability is further improved.
In the first to sixth embodiments described above, there has been described a method with which a code is transmitted to the recipient by mail or fax. In this embodiment, however, there will be described a method with which it is confirmed whether the recipient received the mail or the FAX without any troubles.
As a first method, an operation for displaying a transmission result on the display screen 14a may be performed between the step S9 and step S10 shown in
As a second method, at the time of uploading an image to the server 1, a sender mail address or a sender FAX number may be inputted. In this case, the server 1 transmits the transmission result to a destination identified by the sender mail address or the sender FAX number.
This construction is convenient because this construction makes it possible for the sender to know whether a mail or a FAX reached without any troubles.
In this embodiment, in addition to the constructions in the embodiments described above, a mail or FAX retransmission service means is further provided in the server 1.
In this embodiment, there are assumed a case where a recipient erroneously deleted the code received by mail, a case where he/she lost the code received by fax, a case where the received code is unclear, and the like. In such cases, the server 1 is requested to perform retransmission by mail or FAX and transmits the code again to a destination designated at the time when the retransmission is requested. This construction is convenient because, even if a received code is unusable, it becomes possible to request the server 1 to transmit the code again.
It should be noted here that even if such a retransmission service means is not used, it is possible to attain the same effect using the ID and the password printed in the predetermined field of the index print shown in
In the first to eighth embodiments described above, a case where a mobile telephone is used as a terminal that receives an e-mail has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this and the e-mail may be received by a terminal such as a personal computer. In this case, the recipient prints the code for authentication described in the e-mail on a paper medium using a printer device connected to the personal computer, brings the paper medium to the place of the print terminal 10, and performs reading of the code using the handy scanner 19a.
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