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JP-7855937-B2 - Image forming apparatus and computer program for image forming apparatus

JP7855937B2JP 7855937 B2JP7855937 B2JP 7855937B2JP-7855937-B2

Inventors

  • 宇野 暁仁

Assignees

  • ブラザー工業株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260511
Application Date
20220622

Claims (13)

  1. An image forming apparatus, Image forming engine, A transmission unit that repeatedly sends inquiry requests to a server, wherein the server, upon receiving a job execution instruction from a terminal device, transmits a job execution response to the image forming apparatus indicating that the job should be executed in response to the inquiry request received from the image forming apparatus, When the job execution response is received from the server, the image forming control unit controls the image forming engine to start image forming, A connection establishment unit that establishes a server-push type connection with the server when the job execution response is received from the server, wherein the server, when it receives a job stop instruction from the terminal device, uses the connection to send an image forming stop command to the image forming apparatus, even if it does not receive the inquiry request from the image forming apparatus, the connection establishment unit comprises: An image forming apparatus in which image forming is stopped when the image forming stop command is received from the server.
  2. The image forming apparatus further, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cutting unit for cutting the connection when the image forming is completed.
  3. The image forming apparatus further, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a disconnection unit for disconnecting the connection when the image forming stop command is received from the server.
  4. The image forming apparatus further, A control unit operated by the user, The operation unit includes a disconnection unit that disconnects the connection when a stop operation for stopping the image formation is performed, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the stop operation is performed in the operation unit, the image forming is stopped even if the image forming stop command is not received from the server.
  5. The image forming apparatus further, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cutting unit for disconnecting the connection if an error occurs in the image forming engine after the image forming process has started.
  6. The image forming apparatus further, The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a re-establishment unit for re-establishing the connection when the error is resolved after the error occurs in the image forming engine.
  7. The image forming apparatus further, A determination unit that determines whether the image forming apparatus is in a proxy environment or a non-proxy environment when the job execution response is received from the server, wherein the proxy environment is an environment for performing communication with the server using a proxy server, and the non-proxy environment is an environment for performing communication with the server without using a proxy server, the determination unit comprises The establishment unit is, If the image forming apparatus is determined to be in the proxy environment, the connection will not be established. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, which establishes the connection when it is determined that the image forming apparatus is in the non-proxy environment.
  8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit stops repeatedly transmitting the inquiry request to the server when it receives the job execution response from the server.
  9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting unit resumes repeatedly transmitting the inquiry request to the server when the connection is disconnected.
  10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit continues to repeatedly transmit the inquiry request to the server when it receives the job execution response from the server.
  11. The aforementioned image forming engine is a printing engine, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming is printing an image onto a printing medium.
  12. The aforementioned job stop instruction is an instruction to cancel the job, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming stop command is a command for canceling the image forming.
  13. A computer program for an image forming apparatus, The computer of the image forming apparatus comprises the following parts, namely: A transmission unit that repeatedly sends inquiry requests to a server, wherein the server, upon receiving a job execution instruction from a terminal device, transmits a job execution response to the image forming apparatus indicating that the job should be executed in response to the inquiry request received from the image forming apparatus, When the job execution response is received from the server, the image forming control unit controls the image forming engine of the image forming apparatus to start image forming, A connection establishment unit that establishes a server-push type connection with the server when the job execution response is received from the server, wherein the server, when it receives a job stop instruction from the terminal device, uses the connection to send an image forming stop command to the image forming apparatus, even if it does not receive the inquiry request from the image forming apparatus. To make it function as, A computer program that stops image formation when it receives the image formation stop command from the server.

Description

This specification discloses technology relating to an image forming apparatus that performs image forming in response to receiving a job execution response from a server. Patent Document 1 discloses a system comprising an image forming apparatus, a cloud print server, and a client terminal. The image forming apparatus repeatedly sends event confirmation requests to the cloud print server. Upon receiving a print job submission command from the client terminal, the cloud print server, in response to the event confirmation request, sends an event confirmation response to the image forming apparatus indicating the existence of a print job. This allows the image forming apparatus to execute the print job. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-192730 This shows the configuration of the communication system.The sequence diagram of the registration process is shown.The flowchart for the print execution process is shown below.A flowchart for proxy environment processing is shown.A flowchart for processing in a non-proxy environment is shown.The sequence diagram for Case A1 is shown.The sequence diagram for Case A2 is shown.The sequence diagram for Case A3 is shown.The sequence diagram for Case A4 is shown.The sequence diagram for Case B is shown.The sequence diagram for the second embodiment is shown. (First embodiment) (Configuration of communication system 2; Figure 1) As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 2 comprises a printer 10, a mobile terminal 50, a plurality of access points (hereinafter referred to as "AP (Access Point)") 60, 70, and a print mediation server 100. The printer 10 can selectively belong to a LAN (Local Area Network) 62 where AP 60 is operating as the master station, or to a LAN 72 where AP 70 is operating as the master station. The print mediation server 100 is connected to the Internet 6. When the printer 10 belongs to LAN 62 or LAN 72, it can communicate with the print mediation server 100 via AP 60 or AP 70. In a modified example, LAN 62 and LAN 72 may be wired LANs instead of wireless LANs. When the mobile terminal 50 belongs to LAN 62 or LAN 72, it can communicate with the printer 10 and the print mediation server 100 via AP 60 or 70. In a modified example, the mobile terminal 50 may communicate with the print intermediary server 100 using cellular communication such as 3G, 4G, or 5G. (Configuration of Printer 10) The printer 10 is a peripheral device (for example, a peripheral device of a mobile terminal 50) capable of performing printing functions. The printer 10 comprises an operation unit 12, a display unit 14, a communication interface 16, a print engine 18, and a control unit 30. Each of the units 12 to 30 is connected to a bus line (not shown). The control unit 12 is equipped with multiple buttons. The display unit 14 is a display for showing various information. The display unit 14 also functions as a so-called touch panel (i.e., a control unit operated by the user). The communication interface 16 is an interface for connecting to LAN 62 or LAN 72. The printing engine 18 is a printing mechanism such as an inkjet or laser type. The control unit 30 comprises a CPU 32 and a memory 34. The CPU 32 executes various processes according to the program 36 stored in the memory 34. The memory 34 is composed of volatile memory, non-volatile memory, etc. In addition to the program 36, the memory 34 also stores proxy settings. The proxy settings include flag information indicating either "enabled" (indicating the use of proxy server 71) or "disabled" (indicating the non-use of proxy server 71). The proxy settings may further include multiple configuration values for using proxy server 71. These multiple configuration values include the IP address of proxy server 71, the port number used for communication with proxy server 71, a username, and a password. The flag information and each configuration value are stored in memory 34 in response to user input into printer 10. (Configuration of AP60 and AP70) Each AP60 and AP70 has DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server functionality. Therefore, AP60 and AP70 can assign IP addresses to devices belonging to LAN62 and LAN72, respectively. LAN72, formed by AP70, is further provided with a proxy server 71. (Configuration of mobile terminal 50) The mobile terminal 50 is, for example, a portable terminal device such as a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, or tablet PC. In the modified example, a stationary PC, notebook PC, etc., may be used instead of the mobile terminal 50. Hereafter, the mobile terminal 50 will be referred to as "terminal 50". (Configuration of print intermediary server 100) The print intermediary server 100 is a server that provides so-called cloud printing services. In this embodiment, the print intermediary server 100 is not a server installed by the vendor of the printer 10, but a server installed by the provider of the cloud printing service. In a modified example, the print intermediary server 100 may be a server inst