Printing system in which print setting profile is transmitted to printing apparatus, portable terminal device, and print control program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10545703-B2
Application number	US-201514817407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2015
Priority date	Aug 6, 2014
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

A printing system includes: a printing apparatus; a portable terminal device; and a server, which are connectable to each other, the printing apparatus including a profile creation unit, and a transmission unit, the portable terminal device including a display unit, a transfer request unit, a transfer unit, and a print instruction unit, the server including a saving unit, a reception unit, and a transmission unit, the printing apparatus further including a reception unit, and a print performing unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing system comprising:
a printer;
a portable terminal device; and
a server, which are connectable to each other,
the printer including:
a first hardware processor configured to:
receive print settings about a job from the portable terminal device,
create a print setting profile based on the received print settings, said print setting profile configured to cause a print job, generated from a data set and the print setting profile, and used by the printer to print the data set, to have at least one characteristic according to the received print settings,
combine the print setting profile with address information of the printer itself and an encryption key, and
transmit the combined print setting profile, address information and encryption key to the portable terminal device, according to a request from the portable terminal device,

the portable terminal device including:
a display; and
a second hardware processor configured to:
set the print settings about the job to be printed by the printer and transmit the print settings about the job to the printer,
make a request, to the printer, for transfer of the created print setting profile, the address information of the printer and the encryption key to the portable terminal device itself,
transfer, to the server, the print setting profile, the address information and the encryption key created at and transferred from the printer, based on the request, and
select a data set to be printed from one or more data sets to be printed stored in the server based on user's operation, and make a print instruction, to the server, for printing the selected data set to be printed using the print settings according to the print setting profile,

the server including:
a storage configured to store the one or more data sets to be printed; and
a third hardware processor configured to:
receive the print setting profile, the address information and the encryption key transferred from the portable terminal device, and
generate a print job including the selected data set to be printed and the received print setting profile, by associating the selected data set to be printed with the received print setting profile based on the print instruction from the portable terminal device, and transmit the generated print job to the printer indicated by the address information,

the first hardware processor of the printer further configured to:
receive the print job transmitted from the server, and
print the data set to be printed included in the received print job using the print settings indicated in the print setting profile included in the print job, and

wherein the server logs in using the address information added to the received print setting profile associated with the selected data set to be printed and transmits the selected data set to be printed to the printer, and then the printer confirms that the print setting profile is the print setting profile created by itself based on the encryption key added to the print setting profile transmitted from the server.

2. The printing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second hardware processor of the portable terminal device is further configured to set the print settings from a print setting screen on the printer, based on user's operation on the display, and to make a request, to the printer, for creating the print setting profile of the print settings that are set.

3. The printing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the portable terminal device includes a first application configured to achieve a function of setting the print settings, a second application configured to achieve a function of selecting the data set to be printed and making the print instruction, and a third application configured to achieve functions of requesting transfer of the created print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and of transferring the print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and
an icon representing the first application displayed on the display is superposed on an icon representing the second application by the user to perform predetermined operation of starting the third application, and the third application is started.

4. The printing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the portable terminal device includes a first application configured to achieve a function of setting the print settings, a second application configured to achieve a function of selecting the data set to be printed and making the print instruction, and a third application configured to achieve functions of requesting transfer of the created print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and of transferring the print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and
the third application functions to determine whether the first application has been started, detect connectable printers when the first application has not been started, and make a request for transfer of the print setting profile to a printer selected from the detected printers by the user.

5. The printing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the portable terminal device includes a first application configured to achieve a function of setting the print settings, a second application configured to achieve a function of selecting the data set to be printed and making the print instruction, and a third application configured to achieve functions of requesting transfer of the created print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and of transferring the print setting profile and the address information and the encryption key, and
the third application functions to determine whether the portable terminal device itself accesses an access destination preliminarily registered based on the first application and/or the second application, and register the access destination based on user's operation, when the portable terminal device accesses another access destination other than the access destination preliminarily registered.

6. The printing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second hardware processor of the of the portable terminal device adds attribute information to the print setting profile and transfers the print setting profile to the server, and adds attribute information the same as the above attribute information to selection information indicating a selected data set to be printed, and transmits the selection information to the server.

7. The printing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first hardware processor of the printer is configured to report a printable state of the printer to the portable terminal device,
when the printable state is reported from the printer, the portable terminal device displays an icon indicating the printable state of the printer on the display, and when the user operates the icon, the portable terminal device instructs the server to transfer the print job to the printer.

8. A portable terminal device connectable to a printer and a server, comprising:
a display; and
a hardware processor configured to:
set the print settings about a job to be printed by the printer and transmit the print settings about the job to the printer,
make a request, to the printer, for transfer of a print setting profile created at the printer and combined with address information of the printer and an encryption key to the portable terminal device itself, said print setting profile configured to cause a print job, generated from a data set and the print setting profile, and used by the printer to print the data set, to have at least one characteristic according to the transmitted print settings;
transfer, to the server, the pri

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Maekawa Takeshi
• Akita Katsuhiko
• Hama Kenro
• Kawaguchi Toshikazu
• Takahashi Kazusei
• Sakiyama Daisuke
• Asai Yuki
• Tanaka Yuji

Classifications

• G06F3/1238

  Secure printing, e.g. user identification, user rights for device usage, unallowed content, blanking portions or fields of a page, releasing held jobs · CPC title

• G06F3/1292

  Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing · CPC title

• G06F3/1222 Primary

  Increasing security of the print job · CPC title

• G06F3/1287

  via internet · CPC title

• G06F3/1288

  in client-server-printer device configuration · CPC title