Patent Application
20160036999
This invention relates to the field of printing, scanning, faxing, and copying; and more particularly to a system for providing such service for free.
Today, paper remains an important part of everyday life from airline boarding passes to legal documents.
At the same time, the evolution of printing (as well as copying, faxing, and scanning) has gone from high volume central printers, to low cost individual printers, and in some situations, back to high volume printers in print shops. The industry has shaped and reshaped constantly over the years with specialized print shops losing business to home printers, then copy shops replacing such.
The home printer business has become very large. In many situations, the entry cost for such printers is very low, subsidized by the fact that the purchaser will soon need to buy toner or ink cartridges, which carry a very high profit margin.
Many have home printers to print small documents, airline boarding passes, etc. Most of these printers are connected to personal computers in the home. As technology shifts even more personally where each member of a household has their own personal device, many homes are finding that there is less of a need for a single stationary computer, especially with tablets and smartphones. For many tasks, no printing is needed, as these devices often travel with the individual. For example, most airlines have applications that allow for displaying of their boarding pass on a smartphone, eliminating the need to print a boarding pass.
Being such, there becomes less of a need or desire to own individual or household printers, especially considering the cost, maintenance, supplies (paper, ink, toner), power consumption, and space consumption. Unfortunately, there seems to always be a need at some time to print something, whether it be a document, an event ticket, an invitation, a business presentation, etc.
Some printing needs are met by specialized copy/print services, typically provided by a small store in a strip mall. The user brings a file that needs to be printed, pays for the services, and later receives printed copies of the file. This is especially useful when printing large quantities of paper as is done, for example, when making a presentation, especially when traveling to remote locations. This also provides specialized printing that is not always available to employees of small firms, such as color printing, stapling, etc. In a similar way, photographs are printed for a fee by specialized printers, typically at drugstores. Again, these print scenarios are somewhat specialized and are all on a fee basis. In addition, these services are not always performed at locations that are typically frequented by the users, therefore requiring the users to make special trips that often require extra time and travel expense (e.g. fuel).
Getting back to why many people had/have a home printer—there is often a need to print a few pages, especially when many companies are moving to become paperless. For example, some insurance companies are sending their policies in email as locked files, without sending such on paper by mail. If the recipient wants a paper copy, they need access to a printer maybe a few times per year. This does not warrant buying and owning a printer full time, yet it may be important to have access to a printer on certain occasions.
Often, such in-home devices fail when they are most needed, running out of paper, running out of ink/toner, or malfunctioning. At a cost that is often less than $200, it is not cost-effective to have a service call to one's home. Likewise, at a weight of maybe 50 pounds, it is often not cost-effective to ship the device to a repair facility. When these devices malfunction, the user has several problems. They still need to print/fax/scan/copy whatever they were just about to print/fax/scan/copy. They need to dispose of the failed device and they need a replacement device. Often, the replacement device uses different toner/ink cartridges and, therefore, the old device is disposed along with a partial toner/ink cartridge.
Similar scenarios occur with sending faxes, making copies, and scanning paper documents. There are some higher-end, more costly printers that also scan documents, make copies, and send faxes, but again, these devices have costs, use power, take up space, and require maintenance, supplies, etc.
In summary, there are many reasons why the proliferation of individual printers is becoming less functional in today's society, not to mention the ecological effect of all these devices being powered (parasitic power consumption), countless partially used toner cartridges, recycling issues, etc.
To further the above, individual owners of such devices must learn enough to be proficient in installation, maintenance, configuration, minor repairs, troubleshooting, adding supplies (paper, ink, and toner), etc.
Further, many corporate printers/scanners/fax systems include a display for presenting a user interface and/or for inputting data (e.g., number of copies to make), but this display is not used to present advertisement, for example, during a medium-length copy job in which the operator is likely to be standing at the corporate printers/scanners/fax system while waiting for the copy job to complete.
What is needed is a way to print/scan/fax/copy at convenient locations with little or no cost.
In one embodiment, print/fax/scan/copy kiosks are located at various points of service such as convenience stores, hotel lobbies, airports, etc. Each print/fax/scan/copy kiosk provides services to authorized users, including printing of documents, scanning of documents, copying, and sending faxes. At least some quantity of such services is provided at no cost as a service to the users and to attract the users to the point(s) of service, being subsidized by advertisements that are displayed at the kiosk. Each user must be authorized to use the service and, in some embodiments, the user is provided with a predetermined amount of free usage per period of time such as five free print pages per week, twenty free print/copy pages per month, 50 free scan pages per month, etc. In some embodiments, after exceeding the predetermined free usage per period, the user is provided with further service at a fee, for example, five cents per page printed, etc.
In some embodiments, the point of service owns the print/fax/scan/copy kiosks while in other embodiments, another organization owns the print/fax/scan/copy kiosks and there is a revenue sharing agreement to compensate the point of service for the real estate, for power usage, and for assistance such as refilling paper, refilling toner/ink, etc.
In some embodiment, reduced cost or free printing/copying/scanning/faxing is provided to corporate locations in exchange for accepting advertisement on one or more display devices associated with the print/copy/scan/fax system.
The invention can be best understood by those having ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures.
Described is one exemplary kiosk 10 for providing print/fax/scan/copy services under any of a variety of business models from free services, a hybrid limited free service and pay service, to a full pay-for-service model, with various way to compensate for real estate, power, maintenance, etc., as will be described in further detail.
Referring to
In this exemplary print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10, a processor 70 executes or runs programs in a random access memory 75. The programs that control various aspects of the operation of the print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10 are generally loaded into the random access memory 75 when needed. The processor 70 is any processor, suited for controlling the print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10. The random access memory 75 is typically connected to the processor 70 by, for example, a memory bus 72. The random access memory 75 is any memory 75 suitable for connection and operation with the selected processor 70, such as SRAM, DRAM, SDRAM, RDRAM, DDR, DDR-2, etc.
Also connected to the processor 70 is a system bus 82 for connecting to peripheral subsystems such as a network interface 80 and a graphics adapter 84. The graphics adapter 84 receives commands from the processor 70 and controls what is depicted on, for example, one or more displays 86/88, including a user display 86 and one or more advertising displays 88 located proximal to the print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10 or remotely from the print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10, in some embodiments connected with wires and in some embodiments connected wirelessly.
In general, a persistent storage 90 stores control data, programs, etc., as known in the industry.
The peripherals shown are examples and other peripherals are known in the industry such as speakers 87 (see
In some embodiments, especially those having cameras, certain format photographic printing is performed using images from the camera and/or images from the user's active device (e.g. smartphone) or storage (e.g. flash drive). For example, in some embodiments, standard passport photographs are printed.
Although, in some embodiments, separate devices are present, in the embodiment shown, a combined printer/scanner/copier/fax device 92 is connected to the bus 82 and controlled by the processor 70. In some embodiments, a keyboard 60 is present, while in some embodiments, inputs are entered through a touch screen 66.
In some embodiments, a magnetic card swipe 62 is present for reading of a user's magnetic card or any other type of reader 62, including, but not limited to, smart-card readers, RFID readers, near-field readers, barcode scanners, etc. There are no limitations to the number and types of input devices interfaced to the processor 70 of the print/scan/fax/copy kiosk 10. In some embodiments, the magnetic card swipe 62 is used to accept payments for print/fax/scan/copy operations that are not free or to interface with point of service retailer loyalty programs, accepting and/or activating loyalty cards, etc.
The network adapter 80 is interfaced to the bus 82. The network adapter connects with any network 68 through any known connection means 78, including, but not limited to Wi-Fi, Ethernet, fiber optics, cable TV (COAX), satellite, T1, T3, etc.
User files are transferred to/from the user's device by any known interface including, but not limited to, direct connection through USB (e.g. a USB storage device or a USB connection to an active device such as a smartphone), through a wireless connection such as Wi-Fi 96 or Bluetooth 94, from removable storage such as a CD or DVD disk, from a computer-computer file transfer (e.g. FTP), from an attachment to an email, etc.
For printing or faxing, once the file is available to the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 (e.g. stored in persistent storage 90), the user, after having been authorized, directs operations of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 to print or fax the file through, for example, the keyboard 60 or touchscreen 66.
For scanning or receiving faxes, after having been authorized, the user directs operations of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 to scan a document loaded in the printer's 92 tray through, for example, the keyboard 60 or touchscreen 66. The scanned or received file(s) are then transferred to the user's device by any known interface including direct connection through USB (e.g. a USB storage device or a USB connection to an active device such as a smartphone), through a wireless connection such as Wi-Fi 96 or Bluetooth 94, from removable storage such as a CD or DVD disk, from a computer-computer file transfer (e.g. FTP), from an attachment to an email, etc.
For copying, after having been authorized, the user directs operations of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 to copy (e.g. scan then print) a document loaded in the printer's 92 tray through, for example, the keyboard 60 or touchscreen 66.
Referring to
In this example, the advertisement display 88 is supported above the base 8 by supports 7, though in other embodiments, the advertisement display 88 is mounted in any known way, including direct mounting to other objects such as walls. As indicated, multiple advertisement displays 88 are equally anticipated. Again, this is only shown for example purposes.
Referring to
If the tests pass 202, a first advertisement is selected 206 and an initial user interface screen is presented 208 on the user display 86. Now a loop begins, each pass of the loop checks 224 to see if a user input has been made and, if a user input has been made, the input is processed 230 (see
The flow continues in
If the input is a request to scan a document 320 (user is already logged in), the user places the document in the feed tray and requests the scan operation 322.
If the input is a request to fax a document 330 (user is already logged in), the user places the document in the feed tray and requests the fax operation 332.
If the input is a request to copy a document 340 (user is already logged in), the user places the document in the feed tray and requests the copy (scan/print) operation 342.
The above are exemplary operations and there are no limitations on the functionality provided through the user interface.
Referring to
This server 550 along with secure user data 552 provides user authorization across the multitude of print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 such that each user has the ability to login and use some, any, or all print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10. That being said, it is fully anticipated that there are groups of print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10, and each group has its own user space. For example, one set of print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 are located in airports while another set of print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 are located in a certain brand of gas station convenience stores. In this, a user who is registered to use the print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 are located in airports while not necessarily being authorized to use the print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 located in the certain brand of gas station convenience stores. This creates the potential for branding the print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 within certain locations.
By providing print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 in airport locations, a traveler who is ready to get on a plane is able to print a small file for reading or send a last minute fax, etc. There are many locations where print/fax/scan/copy kiosks 10 will prove useful for users.
Referring to
One additional useful feature for the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 is also shown in
Also shown in
Having the infrastructure of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 provides for several variations of business opportunities. It is already well known that users are willing to pay a small price per page for printing, scanning, copying, and/or faxing. This business model has been practiced for many years with respect to copy centers, print centers, printing of digital photographs, etc. One aspect of the prior infrastructure is location—the size of these operations requires significant office/store square footage. For copy centers, often the entire store is dedicated to this function. For photographic printing, often an large area within a store (e.g. drugstore) is dedicated to printing photographs. In both scenarios, either dedicated or shared personnel are required to operate the equipment, though for printing photographs, often the user performs most steps up until the photographs are placed in an envelope and the payment transaction is performed.
As discussed previously, to avail oneself of such print/fax/scan/copy services, one must often make a special trip to seek such service, perhaps several miles out of the way, costing time and energy. In one scenario of the disclosed invention, the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 is highly distributed in locations often frequented by most individuals. For example, by locating a print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 in every convenience store of a particular brand of gasoline, each time a person purchases fuel, that person is within a few feet of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10. Therefore, when a person needs to print/fax/scan/copy, they need only plan to do such at the same time they are refueling their vehicle which, for many, is at least weekly. Even without the need for fuel, such convenience stores are often well distributed around communities.
With the current state of refueling, many never leave the vicinity of their vehicle, paying for fuel at the pump with their credit cards. This results in less traffic into the convenience stores and lower income to the overall operation. In the fuel industry, there is often only a small profit to be made on fuel, often subsidized greatly by the sale of items within the convenience store associated with the gas station. Any increase of traffic into the convenience store is potentially an increase of sales as it is well known that humans often impulse buy. Seeing a cold ice slush advertisement on a hot day often makes one thirsty enough to buy one. Therefore, if a few more people enter the convenience store for the purpose of print/fax/scan/copy, some of those people are likely to make other purchases.
There is a cost associated with the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 that must be accrued and balanced within the profit/loss calculations of such businesses. It is difficult to justify the cost of a print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 by increased patronage of the convenience store alone, as it is difficult to measure an increase in sales attributed to the increased patronage, though such a measurement is possible. Therefore, another way to balance the cost of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 is through other income sources such as advertising. The print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, as described above, has an associated advertisement display 88 (or multiple advertisement displays 88). As people enter, for example, the convenience store to print/fax/scan/copy, those people (as well as other casual observers) will notice advertisements on the advertisement displays 88, especially being that it takes time to print/fax/scan/copy; time for the user to be exposed to several advertisements. These advertisements are likely to be much more effective than, for example, external signage or billboards, because the products being advertised are directly available at the site where the advertisement is made—for example, in the convenience store. For example, if a certain convenience store typically sells around 99 cases of beer per week and had three brands of beer having equal shares of these sales (33 cases each), if one of the three beer brands advertises with the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, that brand's share is likely to increase. Even a small increase to, say 34 cases per week, has huge profit ramifications when extrapolated to several thousand convenience stores.
It is important to ubiquitously locate the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, so the users come to know where they are and come to expect the usefulness, quality, availability and features and, therefore, lessen the user's need to have a home print/fax/scan/copy device. To provide incentive for users to move away from home print/fax/scan/copy devices and make more use of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, one business model includes providing a predetermined number of operations for free per time period. Each user signs up with the service, providing the user's email address as a way to contact the user and to validate, to some extent, that each user has a single account, being that most users have only one email account. As such, in an exemplary embodiment, the user registers with the service then receives an email to complete the registration, which requires a unique code for the user to complete registrations. Then, when the user needs to print/fax/scan/copy, the user enters their email (or user id) and password at the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, and the system authorizes that user for the agreed number of free operations (prints/faxes/scans/copies). For example, in one scenario, each user is allowed free printing and/or copying of 15 pages per month, free scanning of 50 pages per month, and free faxing of 5 pages per month. It is also anticipated that, through the logon process, the user is capable of receiving faxes for printing at the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10.
By limiting each user to a certain number of operations per time period, it makes it difficult for user's to take advantage of the system by signing up for multiple accounts, being that having multiple accounts will require the user to preform many small operations and take larger amounts of time at the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, though this is often difficult to prevent. To allow for users who periodically need additional services, above what is provided for free, in some embodiments, users, either at the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 or during registration, provide a form of payment such as a credit card or other electronic payment, and that user is allowed to print/fax/scan/copy beyond the above stated limit at a cost that is charged to their form of payment(s). For example, if the user is allowed 15 pages of paper per month (print, copy, received fax) but they need to print 40 pages, the first 15 pages are free and the next 25 pages cost 10 cents per page ($2.50).
It is also anticipated that each user have a maximum usage per day so as to not be able to tie up the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 for extended periods of time.
In some business models, profit is made by the owner of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 through advertising alone. In some business models, profit is made by the owner of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 through advertising and through sales of the services such as per-page printing/faxing/copying/scanning. In some business models, the owner of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 remunerates the point of location (e.g. the convenience store) a fixed fee for providing the space, power, and service (e.g. replacing toner, adding paper). In some business models, the owner of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 remunerates the point of location (e.g. the convenience store) a percentage of the advertising profits for providing the space, power, and service (e.g. replacing toner, adding paper). In some business models, the point of location owner outright purchases or leases the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, maintaining all profits for advertising, etc. In some business models, the point of location owner outright purchases or leases the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, sharing some of the profits from advertising, etc. with the provider of the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10, while maintaining most of the profits. In some business models, the printer/fax/scanner/copier 92 is a corporate type of printer/fax/scanner/copier 92 and is sold or leased to a business at a reduced rate and the provider of the printer/fax/scanner/copier 92 profits from advertisements and/or clients activity in response to such advertisements (e.g., placing an order). In some business models, the printer/fax/scanner/copier 92 is a corporate type of printer/fax/scanner/copier 92 and is sold or leased to a business along with the advertising capabilities and the buying/leasing corporation controls/provides the advertisements and/or profits from clients activity in response to such advertisements (e.g., placing an order).
In some embodiments, further remuneration is provided when a coupon 124 is either printed or redeemed. One example with a coupon, each printing of a coupon is recorded for later payment from the advertiser to the kiosk 10 owner and/or retailer at point-of-use. Another example with the carpet cleaning coupon is a code is printed on the coupon (either human readable or scannable as in a bar code) and, when the user redeems that coupon, the code is reported for proper compensation from the coupon provider back to the kiosk 10 owner and/or retailer at point-of-use.
Although, the above description shows the print/fax/scan/copy kiosk 10 located in a convenience store associated with a gas station, there is no limitation on location and any suitable location is anticipated such as a convenience store that is not associated with a gas station, hotels, restaurants, malls, airports, grocery stores, office buildings, etc.
Referring to
In some embodiments, each advertisement 194 is downloaded from a server 550 (see
In the example of
Referring to
If the tests pass 202, a first advertisement is selected 206 and an initial user interface screen is presented 208 on the user display 186. Now a loop begins, each pass of the loop checks 224 to see if a user input has been made and, if a user input has been made, in some embodiments, the second advertisement 190 is displayed 1230 on the user display 186 then the input is processed 1230 (see
Equivalent elements can be substituted for the ones set forth above such that they perform in substantially the same manner in substantially the same way for achieving substantially the same result.
It is believed that the system and method as described and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description. It is also believed that it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form herein before described being merely exemplary and explanatory embodiment thereof. It is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/031,188 filed on Jul. 31, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62031188 | Jul 2014 | US |
