Material output system for outputting meeting material for prospective participant in meeting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9275205-B2
Application number	US-201113106240-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2011
Priority date	May 13, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

In a material output system, if it is determined that a meeting management server has stored therein meeting information in which an authenticated person is included in prospective participants in a meeting, in which an installation place of MFP that has performed authentication agrees with a meeting room where the meeting is held, and in which the present date and time is included in a meeting room reservation time, MFP is instructed to output a material saved in a location associated with the meeting information. If it is determined that such meeting information is not stored in the meeting management server, the material output system displays a screen to allow output of the material saved in the associated location, for at least one piece of meeting information in which the authenticated user is included in prospective participants in a meeting. Accordingly, the material can be promptly distributed to the participant in the meeting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A material output system comprising:
a server comprising storage medium, said server storage medium storing at least one piece of meeting information, the meeting information including prospective participants in a meeting, a meeting room where said meeting is held, a meeting room use time for said meeting, and a storage location to save material used in said meeting;
a plurality of output hardware units configured to output said material, each said output hardware unit being located in a meeting room and comprising a processor, a display unit, and authentication hardware authenticating a user;
where said server storage medium further stores a correspondence between said plurality of output hardware units and meeting rooms corresponding to said plurality of output hardware units;
said output hardware unit that performed authentication of the user being instructed to output material saved in the storage location of the meeting information when i) it is determined based on said meeting information that said user authenticated by said authentication hardware is one of the prospective participants for said meeting and it is determined based on said meeting information that the present date and time is included in the meeting room use time for said meeting, and ii) it is determined based on said correspondence stored in said server storage medium that said output hardware unit that performed authentication of the user corresponds to the meeting room where said meeting is held;
said display unit displaying a screen to allow output of material saved in the storage location for at least one piece of meeting information when said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in the meeting information for a meeting when it is determined that said server storage medium does not store meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting, where a meeting room corresponded with said output hardware unit has performed authentication of the user is the meeting room where the meeting is held, and where the present date and time is included in a meeting room use time in the meeting information for the meeting; and
said output hardware unit that has performed authentication to output material being instructed, based on an instruction from said authenticated user, to save in the storage location of the meeting information for a meeting when said screen to allow output of material is displayed on said display unit and when said authenticated user is one of the prospective participants in the meeting information for a meeting.

2. The material output system according to claim 1 , wherein
when said output hardware unit is not instructed to output an electronic file from said output hardware unit that has performed authentication, said display unit displays a screen to allow said authenticated user to select an output hardware unit for printing, and
said output hardware unit giving an instruction to print to the output hardware unit selected with said screen.

3. The material output system according to claim 2 , wherein when said screen to select an output hardware unit for printing is displayed, said display unit additionally displays a remaining time before the start of a meeting and a predicted time taken to complete printing.

4. The material output system according to claim 1 , wherein
when said output hardware unit predicts that printing from said output hardware unit that has performed authentication will not be completed in time for the start of a meeting, said display unit displays a screen to allow said authenticated user to select an output hardware unit for printing, and
said output hardware unit giving an instruction to print to the output hardware unit selected with said screen.

5. The material output system according to claim 1 , wherein when said output hardware unit predicts that printing from said output hardware unit that has performed authentication will not be completed in time for the start of a meeting and when an electronic file can be output from said output hardware unit that has performed authentication, said output hardware unit gives an instruction to output an electronic file to said output hardware unit that has performed authentication.

6. The material output system according to claim 1 , wherein
said display unit displays a screen to allow said authenticated user to select an output hardware unit for outputting material saved in the associated storage location for that meeting information when it is determined that i) said server storage medium does not store meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting, where the meeting room corresponded with said output hardware unit that authenticated the user is the meeting room where the meeting is held, and the present date and time is included in a meeting room use time in the meeting, and ii) said server storage medium has stored meeting information in which said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting and where the present date and time is included in a meeting use time in the meeting information for the meeting, and
said output hardware unit gives an instruction to output to the output hardware unit selected with said screen.

7. The material output system according to claim 6 , wherein
when said output hardware unit does not instruct output of an electronic file from said output hardware unit that has performed authentication, said display unit displays a screen to allow said authenticated user to select an output hardware unit for printing, and
said output hardware unit gives an instruction to print to the output hardware unit selected with the screen.

8. The material output system according to claim 7 , wherein when said screen to select an output hardware unit for printing is displayed, said display unit additionally displays a remaining time before the start of a meeting and a predicted time taken to complete printing.

9. The material output system according to claim 6 , wherein said display unit displays a screen to allow output of material saved in the associated storage location for that meeting information when it is determined that i) said server storage medium does not store meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting and where the present date and time is included in a meeting room use time in the meeting, and ii) said server storage medium has stored meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting and where a meeting room corresponding to said output hardware unit that performed authentication is the meeting room where said meeting is held.

10. The material output system according to claim 9 , wherein said display unit displays a screen to allow output of material saved in the associated storage location for that meeting information when it is determined that i) said server storage medium does not store meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting and where the meeting room corresponded with said output hardware unit that authenticated the user is the meeting room where the meeting is held, and ii) said server storage medium has stored meeting information where said authenticated user is one of a plurality of prospective participants in a meeting.

11. The material output system according to claim 6 , wherein
when said output hardware unit can allow output of an electronic file from said output hardware unit that has perfor

Assignees

• Kamei Nobuo
• Okamoto Tomoyuki
• Takeuchi Yasuji
• Tsuboi Tomo
• Shibuta Yoshiaki
• Konica Minolta Business Tech

Inventors

• Kamei Nobuo
• Okamoto Tomoyuki
• Takeuchi Yasuji
• Tsuboi Tomo
• Shibuta Yoshiaki

Classifications

• G06F2221/2151

  Time stamp · CPC title

• G06Q10/109

  Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting · CPC title

• G06F21/608 Primary

  Secure printing · CPC title

• G06F21/31 Primary

  User authentication · CPC title

• G06F2221/2153

  Using hardware token as a secondary aspect · CPC title