Method for automatically matching image forming equipment, server, electronic equipment and system

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for automatically matching image forming equipment, a server, electronic equipment and a system. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring user identity information and an image forming request; determining a first image forming device based on a preset matching strategy according to the user identity information and the image forming request; wherein when the number of the first image forming equipment is one, the first image forming equipment is determined as target image forming equipment; when the number of the first image forming devices is multiple, a first request instruction is sent to a user, and the first request instruction is used for requesting the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; and sending the image forming request to the target image forming equipment. According to the embodiment of the invention, the appropriate image forming equipment can be automatically matched according to the user identity information and the image forming request.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of image forming devices, and in particular to a method, server, electronic device and system for automatically matching image forming devices. Background Art

[0002] In the scenario of using a server for image formation, the user sends the image formation job to the server through the user terminal, and then selects a suitable image forming device from the image forming devices connected to the server for printing. However, since the user may not be familiar with every image forming device, it is impossible to determine which image forming devices can meet his or her image formation needs. This results in the user being unable to select a suitable image forming device to perform the image forming operation. In particular, when there are a large number of image forming devices connected to the server, the user needs to select a suitable image forming device from a large number of image forming devices, resulting in a large workload for the user and causing inconvenience to the user.

[0003] On the other hand, different users have different image forming requirements, and their choices of suitable image forming devices are also different. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of this, the present application provides a method, server, electronic device and system for automatically matching image forming devices, which can automatically match appropriate image forming devices according to user needs.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for automatically matching an image forming device, the method comprising: Obtain user identity information and image formation request; determining a first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy; When the first image forming device includes one, the first image forming device is determined as a target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple, a first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; The image forming request is sent to the target image forming device.

[0006] In a possible implementation manner, before determining the first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy, the method further includes: Parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device are acquired and stored.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the determining the first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy includes: Determine whether to include user preference information; When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device and the user preference information are used as matching items of the preset matching strategy; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device and the location of the image forming device are used as matching items of the preset matching strategy; A first image forming device is determined based on a matching result of the matching item.

[0008] In a possible implementation, when there are multiple first image forming devices, the method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the plurality of first image forming devices; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the position of the image forming device is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple first image forming devices; The sending a first request instruction to the user, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the plurality of first image forming devices, comprises: A first request instruction is sent to a user, where the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted plurality of first image forming devices.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: When the first image forming device cannot be determined according to the user identity information and the image formation request based on a preset matching strategy, a second request instruction is sent to the user, and the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from a second image forming device, and the second image forming device includes all image forming devices associated with the user identity information.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, the position of the image forming device is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy, and the second image forming devices are sorted; The sending a second request instruction to the user, wherein the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming device, comprises: A second request instruction is sent to the user, where the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the user preference information includes multiple preference options or multiple preference options and a weight of each preference option.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: When it is detected that there are multiple times of the image forming device that cannot be determined as the first image forming device, and the image forming device can meet user needs through upgrading, an upgrade prompt is output, wherein the upgrade prompt is used to prompt the user to perform an upgrade operation on the image forming device.

[0013] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a server, including: An acquisition unit, used for acquiring user identity information and an image formation request; A first determining unit, configured to determine a first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy; a second determining unit, configured to determine the first image forming device as a target image forming device when there is only one first image forming device; a first sending unit, configured to send a first request instruction to a user when there are multiple first image forming devices, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; The second sending unit is configured to send the image forming request to the target image forming device.

[0014] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, including: processor; Memory; A computer program is stored in the memory, and when the computer program is executed, the electronic device executes any one of the methods described in the first aspect.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an image processing system, comprising at least one image forming device and a server as described in the second aspect, wherein the server is communicatively connected to the image forming device.

[0016] The embodiments of the present application can provide different image forming device matching modes for users with different needs according to different preset matching strategies when matching image forming devices based on user identity information and image formation requests, and then match image forming devices that satisfy the users to meet their personalized needs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an application scenario provided for an embodiment of the present application; Figure 2 A schematic flow chart of a method for automatically matching an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a user account information setting interface provided in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of an image forming device driver setting interface provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a pop-up window prompt page provided in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 6 A schematic diagram of storing image forming device information provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 7 A schematic diagram of user preference information provided in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a server provided in an embodiment of the present application; Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application; Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of an image processing system provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] In order to better understand the technical solution of the present application, the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] It should be clear that the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0021] The terms used in the embodiments of the present application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present application and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates other meanings.

[0022] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0023] See also Figure 1 , is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the application scenario includes: an image processing system and a device terminal 110, the image processing system includes multiple image forming devices 130 and a server 120, wherein the device terminal 110 and the server 120, the server 120 and the multiple image forming devices 130 are interconnected through a wired or wireless communication network to transmit information. In the process of automatically matching image forming devices, the user sends an image forming request to the server 120 through the device terminal 110, and after receiving the image forming request, the server 120 matches among the multiple image forming devices 130 according to the user information and the image forming request, and after matching to a suitable image forming device 131, sends an image forming request to the image forming device 131 so that the image forming device 131 performs an image forming operation.

[0024] The communication network between the device terminal 110 and the server 120, the server 120 and the plurality of image forming devices 130 may be a local area network, or a wide area network transferred through a relay device. When the communication network is a local area network, exemplarily, the communication network may be a short-distance communication network such as a wifi hotspot network, a wifi P2P network, a Bluetooth network, a zigbee network or a near field communication (NFC) network. When the communication network is a wide area network, exemplarily, the communication network may be a third-generation wireless telephone technology (3G) network, a fourth-generation mobile communication technology (4G) network, a fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) network, a future-evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) or the Internet, etc.

[0025] It should be pointed out that Figure 1 This is only an exemplary description and should not be used as a limitation on the scope of protection of this application. For example, the image forming device 130 includes but is not limited to a printer, a copier, a fax machine, a multifunctional image making and copying device, an electrostatic printing device, and any other similar device. The device terminal 110 includes but is not limited to a computer, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, an internal server of an enterprise, a cloud server, and other electronic devices that can communicate with the server 120. The server 120 includes but is not limited to a computer, a tablet computer, an internal server of an enterprise, a cloud server, and other electronic devices that can interact with the device terminal 110 and the image forming device 130.

[0026] In the scenario of using a server for image formation, the user sends the image formation job to the server through the user terminal, and then selects a suitable image forming device from the image forming devices connected to the server for printing. However, since the user may not be familiar with every image forming device, it is impossible to determine which image forming devices can meet his or her image formation needs. This results in the user being unable to select a suitable image forming device to perform the image forming operation. In particular, when there are a large number of image forming devices connected to the server, the user needs to select a suitable image forming device from a large number of image forming devices, resulting in a large workload for the user and causing inconvenience to the user.

[0027] On the other hand, different users have different image forming requirements, and their choices of suitable image forming devices are also different.

[0028] In view of the above problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a method, a server, an electronic device and an image processing system for automatically matching image forming devices. The embodiments of the present application can automatically match a suitable image forming device according to user identity information and image forming requests.

[0029] A detailed description is given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] See also Figure 2 , is a flow chart of a method for automatically matching an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to Figure 1 In the application scenario shown, Figure 2 As shown, the specific steps include the following steps.

[0031] S201: Obtain user identity information and image formation request.

[0032] In an embodiment of the present application, the server can obtain user identity information and image formation request through the device terminal on the user side, wherein the user identity information is used by the server to identify and authenticate the user identity, and only when the user identity identification and authentication is passed can the user use the corresponding image formation device. Specifically, the user identity information can be the ID (Identity document) of the device terminal on the user side, or the account information of the user logged in on the device terminal on the user side, or the account information of the user logged in on the server. Specifically, the image formation request includes the image formation job data uploaded by the user on the device terminal on the user side and the set parameters of the image formation job.

[0033] In one possible implementation, before automatically matching the image forming device, the server, in addition to obtaining the user identity information and the image forming request, also needs to obtain the parameters of the image forming device that is communicatively connected to the server, the status of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device, and store the obtained parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device in a corresponding database.

[0034] Specifically, the parameters of the image forming device include the model of the image forming device, the image forming speed supported by the image forming device, the image forming quality, paper size, paper type, paper source, double-sided printing, printing color and other capability parameters; the status of the image forming device includes the consumables status, machine status, working status, etc. of the image forming device; the location of the image forming device is a preset geographical location of the image forming device.

[0035] S202: Determine a first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy.

[0036] In the embodiment of the present application, the preset matching strategy includes user preference information, but the user preference information can be used as a matching item according to user needs. Figure 3 As shown, a user preference item button can be provided on the setting interface of the user account information of the device terminal. When the user needs to match the image forming device based on the user preference information, the user can click the button to choose to turn on the user preference item. When the user does not need to match the image forming device based on the user preference information, the user can click the button to choose to turn off the user preference item. Or, as Figure 4 As shown, a user preference button may also be provided on the image forming device driver setting page of the device terminal. When the user selects "on", the user preference information is provided as a matching item. When the user selects "off", the user preference information is not provided as a matching item. Alternatively, the user account information may be set on the operation panel of the image forming device, that is, a user preference button is provided, so that the user determines through the image forming device whether to turn on the user preference item during matching. Of course, in actual applications, in order to further confirm whether to use the user preference information as a matching item, when the server receives the user identity information and identifies the data containing the user preference information, it may prompt the user through a pop-up window on the user terminal side or the image forming device side, such as after the user starts the application and completes the login, a pop-up window may be displayed on the terminal. Figure 5 In the pop-up page shown, when the user selects "Yes", it confirms to use the user preference information as a matching item, and when the user selects "No", it confirms not to use the user preference information as a matching item.

[0037] Correspondingly, when the server matches the image forming device, if the server includes the user preference information, the server may use the image forming request, the image forming device parameters, the image forming device status and the user preference information as the matching items of the preset matching strategy; if the server does not include the user preference information, the server may use the image forming request, the image forming device parameters, the image forming device status and the image forming device location as the matching items of the preset matching strategy; after determining the matching items, the first image forming device may be determined according to the matching results of the matching items. Specifically, the image forming device that meets all the matching items may be used as the first image forming device.

[0038] In one possible implementation, Figure 3As shown, the user preference information may include multiple preference options and the weight of each preference option. The user can select the preference he needs from the multiple preference options and set the weight for the selected preference option. Optionally, the user preference information only includes multiple preference options, and the weight of each option is not set. The device that meets the user preference information can be understood as a device that meets at least one item of the user preference information. Exemplarily, the preference options may include one or more of the historical image forming device usage frequency, the favorite image forming device, the user security level, the desired image forming device location, the image forming cost, the image forming rate and the environmental protection degree, wherein the environmental protection degree can also be subdivided into the image forming device power consumption and / or environmentally friendly paper. When the user completes the setting of the user preference items, the user preference information is stored in association with the user identity information.

[0039] In one possible implementation, Figure 3 The preferences and weights shown can also be set in Figure 4 On the page shown, if the user selects "Enable", Figure 4 The preference options and weights are displayed at the bottom of the page so that users can make preference selections and weight settings.

[0040] In an embodiment of the present application, by setting user preference information, the preferences of users who are proficient in using image forming devices can be met while ensuring basic image formation requests, and the differences between different users can be fully considered, so that for the same image formation request, the image forming devices matched to different users may be different, further improving user satisfaction with the matching results.

[0041] S203: When the first image forming device includes one device, determine the first image forming device as the target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple devices, send a first request instruction to the user, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices.

[0042] In the embodiment of the present application, the first image forming device determined according to the matching result of the matching item may include one or more devices, or may include 0 devices, that is, no image forming device that meets the requirements is matched. At this time, when the first image forming device includes one device, the first image forming device can be directly used as the target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple devices, a first request instruction can be sent to the user to request the user to determine the target image forming device from multiple first image forming devices through the first request instruction; when the image forming device that meets the requirements is not matched, a second request instruction can be sent to the user to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming device through the second request instruction, wherein the second image forming device includes all image forming devices that are connected to the server in communication. That is, when the first image forming device includes multiple devices or 0 devices, the user can be requested to manually select the desired image forming device.

[0043] In a possible implementation, when there are multiple first image forming devices, the multiple first image forming devices may be sorted and then presented to the user, allowing the user to determine a target image forming device from the sorted multiple first image forming devices.

[0044] Specifically, when the user account information includes user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the state of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information can be used as the secondary matching items of the preset matching strategy to sort the plurality of first image forming devices to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices. Exemplarily, the devices that meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the state of the image forming device can be prioritized, and then the prioritized image forming devices can be re-ranked from large to small according to the degree of compliance with the user preference information to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices.

[0045] When the user account information does not include user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the state of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the location of the image forming device can be used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort multiple first image forming devices to obtain a sorted first image forming device list. Exemplarily, the devices that meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, or the state of the image forming device can be prioritized, and then the prioritized image forming devices can be re-arranged from near to far according to the distance between the image forming device and the user to obtain a sorted first image forming device list.

[0046] In a possible implementation, when the first image forming device includes 0, the second image forming devices may be sorted and then presented to the user, allowing the user to determine a target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

[0047] Specifically, when the user account information includes user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the state of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information can be used as the secondary matching items of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices and obtain a sorted second image forming device list. Exemplarily, the devices that meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, or the state of the image forming device can be prioritized, and then the prioritized image forming devices can be re-ranked from large to small according to the degree of compliance with the user preference information to obtain a first arrangement sequence, and then the devices that do not meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the state of the image forming device can be arranged from large to small according to the degree of compliance with the user preference to obtain a second arrangement sequence, and finally the first sorting sequence is placed in front of the second sorting sequence, and the two sorting combinations can obtain a sorted second image forming device list.

[0048] When the user account information does not contain user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the position of the image forming device can be used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices and obtain a sorted second image forming device list. Exemplarily, the devices that meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device or the state of the image forming device can be prioritized, and then the prioritized image forming devices can be re-arranged from near to far according to the distance between the image forming device and the user to obtain a first arrangement sequence, and then the devices that do not meet the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device can be arranged from near to far according to the distance between the image forming device and the user to obtain a second arrangement sequence, and finally the first sorting sequence is placed in front of the second sorting sequence, and the two sortings are combined to obtain a sorted second image forming device list.

[0049] The embodiment of the present application can sort the first image forming device and the second image forming device and provide them to the user in a list form, so that the user can manually select the target image forming device from the sorted first image forming device list or the second image forming device list, which can better meet the needs of the user. The better image forming device is screened for the user in advance and arranged at the front of the list, which can facilitate the user to quickly select and improve the user's experience.

[0050] S204: Sending an image forming request to the target image forming device.

[0051] In the embodiment of the present application, after the target image forming device is determined, an image forming request may be sent to the target image forming device, so that the target image forming device performs an image forming operation according to the image forming request.

[0052] In a possible implementation, after determining the target image forming device, the server may send the location of the target image forming device to the user, and perform the image forming operation after the user approaches the image forming device. The location of the target image forming device may include the area number, column number, and row number of the target image forming device, as well as the device identification code.

[0053] In a possible implementation, when the server sends an image forming request to the target image forming device, the user identity information can be sent to the image forming device at the same time, so that after the user approaches the target image forming device and uploads the user identity information, the user identity information is verified and identified, and the image forming operation is performed after the verification and identification is passed, so as to ensure the security of the image forming. Specifically, the user can upload the user identity information by means of an account password, an IC card or biometrics.

[0054] In a possible implementation, when the server detects that there are image forming devices that cannot be determined as the first image forming device for multiple times, and the image forming device can meet the user's needs through upgrading, an upgrade prompt is output to prompt the user to upgrade the image forming device. After the user upgrades the image forming device, the server can re-query the change information such as the status and parameters of the image forming device, and update the storage information in the database based on the query result.

[0055] In the embodiment of the present application, for an image forming device that has failed to match multiple times, the firmware of the image forming device can be regularly updated to meet user requirements and improve user experience.

[0056] In a possible implementation, after the user manually determines the target image forming device, the server may save the user's selection result and update the user preference information.

[0057] By setting user preference items, the embodiment of the present application can provide two matching modes, one for a user who is using an image forming device for the first time and the other for a user who is proficient in using an image forming device, thereby meeting the basic printing needs of first-time users and the personalized printing needs of proficient users respectively.

[0058] The following examples are used to illustrate the present invention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0059] Area 1 includes printing device A, printing device B and printing device C, wherein printing device A, printing device B and printing device C are connected to the server in communication, and the server is connected to the user device in communication. After the server and the printing device are connected in communication, the server can obtain the model, printing capability parameters, status and location of printing device A, printing device B and printing device C, and store them in the database. The storage information of the database is as follows: Figure 6 Displayed, including model, print speed (ppm), paper tray size, paper tray type, machine status, location, printing cost, power consumption and security level.

[0060] After the user completes uploading the print data and setting the print parameters on the user device, the server obtains the user identity information as User1 through the user device, and obtains the print request, and the print parameters are A4 size and automatic paper type. The server determines whether the account information of user User1 contains the user preference item, and determines the matching strategy based on whether the user preference item is contained. When the account information of user User1 contains the user preference item, the server can determine the stored user preference information based on the account information of user User1. Specifically, the preference information of user User1 is as follows: Figure 7 As shown, the frequently used device is printing device A, the favorite device is printing device B, the security level information is fingerprint unlocking data, the expected location is area 1, there is no requirement for printing cost and printing speed, and environmentally friendly printing is desired.

[0061] The server does not store preference information of users other than User1, that is, if the user is not User1, it is considered that the printing device is not automatically matched based on the user preference information, and the user is determined to be using the printing device for the first time. Or if the user turns off the user preference mode on the printing device operation panel or the print driver interface of the user device, it is considered that the printing device is not automatically matched based on the user preference information, otherwise the printing device is automatically matched based on the user preference information.

[0062] If the printing device is not automatically matched based on the user preference information, the server can determine the matching strategy based on the print request, print capability parameters, the status of the printing device, and the location of the printing device as matching items. Specifically, for example, if the print request is an A4 size job and the device location is selected as area 1, then a printing device with a normal status and a paper box containing paper of A4 size in area 1 is selected. When the server finds the only printing device that meets the conditions from all connected printing devices, the print job is sent to this printer. If multiple matching printing devices are found or there is no matching result, the print request, print capability parameters, and the status of the printing device are used as the primary matching items, and the location of the printing device is used as the secondary matching item. Multiple matching printing devices are sorted or all printing devices are sorted. For example, if the print request is an A4 size job, the matched devices are printing devices A and B, whose machine status is normal and whose paper size is A4. When both printing devices meet the primary matching items, the printing devices are sorted from near to far based on their distance from the user. If the location of printing device A is closer to the user, printing device A is sorted before printing device B and is provided to the user. After the user manually selects, the print job is issued.

[0063] If no suitable printing device is matched, all the printing devices connected to the server are prioritized according to the requirements that the machine status is normal or the paper size placed in the paper box is A4, and then the prioritized printing devices are sorted according to the device location from near to far from the user to obtain a first sorting sequence, and then the printing devices that do not meet the primary matching item are sorted according to the device location from near to far from the user to obtain a second sorting sequence, and the first sorting sequence is placed in front of the second sorting sequence. The two sortings are combined and provided to the user together, and the user manually selects a printing device from them. After the user manually selects a printing device, the server sends the print job to the printing device selected by the user and automatically saves the user's selection in the database. For example, if the print request is an A4 size job, the printing device location is area 1, row 1, column 3, and no printing device is matched with a normal machine status, a paper size placed in the paper box is A4, and the location is area 1, row 1, column 3, then printing devices A and B that meet the paper size A4 requirement are prioritized. If the location of printing device B is closer to the user, printing device B is sorted in front of printing device A, and printing device C, as a printing device that does not meet the primary matching item, is sorted to the end. The sorted device list is provided to the user, and after the user manually selects, the print job is issued.

[0064] If the user is User1, the server has stored the user's preference information, and the user enables the user preference mode on the printing device operation panel or the print driver interface of the user device, then the printing device is automatically matched based on the user preference information. At this time, the server uses the print request, print capability parameters, the status of the printing device and the user preference information as matching items to determine the matching strategy. Specifically, if the print request is an A4 size job, then the device with a normal printing device status, a paper box with A4 paper size, and that meets the user preference information is selected. When the server finds the only printing device that meets the conditions from all connected printing devices, the print job is sent to this printer, wherein the device that meets the user preference information can be understood as a device that meets at least one item of the user preference information of user User1. If multiple matching printing devices are found or there is no matching result, the print request, print capability parameters and the status of the printing device are used as the primary matching items, and the user preference information is used as the secondary matching item to sort the matching multiple printing devices or sort all printing devices. For example, if the print request is an A4 size job, and there are multiple printing devices that are matched and have a normal machine status and a paper size of A4 placed in the paper box, the multiple matching printing devices are prioritized according to the machine status and the paper size placed in the paper box, and then the prioritized printing devices are sorted according to the user preference information to obtain a sorting sequence, and then the sorted printing device list is provided to the user, and the user manually selects a printing device from it. If no suitable printing device is matched, all printing devices connected to the server are prioritized according to the requirements that the machine status is normal or the paper size placed in the paper box is A4, and then the prioritized printing devices are sorted according to the user preference information to obtain a first sorting sequence, and then the printing devices that do not meet the primary matching items are sorted according to the user preference information to obtain a second sorting sequence, and the first sorting sequence is placed in front of the second sorting sequence, and the two sortings are combined and provided to the user together, and the user manually selects a printing device from them. After the user manually selects the printing device, the server sends the print job to the printing device selected by the user and automatically saves the user's selection in the database.

[0065] According to the user preference information, the printing devices can be sorted and weights can be set for each user preference option. For example, if the frequently used device option is set to a weight of 5, if the most favorite device option is set to a weight of 4, if the security level information option is set to a weight of 3, if the printing environmental protection degree option is set to a weight of 2, and so on, then for the printing device A and the printing device B that meet the primary matching items of User1, their comprehensive weight items are 5+3=8 and 4+2=6 respectively, so the sorting of the printing device A takes precedence over that of the printing device B. The setting of the weights of the above user preference options can be adjusted according to actual conditions, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0066] After the printing device is determined, the server will feedback the location of the printing device to the user, and perform secure printing after the user approaches the printing device.

[0067] Specifically, after matching the printing device according to the above steps, the server will send the print job data and user identity information to the printing device. For example, after matching printing device A, the server will send the location data of printing device A to the user device. The user views on the user device that the print job is printed on printing device A in area 1, row 1, column 1. The user goes to area 1, row 1, column 1 according to this location information to find printing device A, and enters the user's fingerprint information into printing device A. After printing device A verifies that the user is correct through security information, it starts to perform secure printing.

[0068] After the user manually selects a printing device, the server saves the user selection result and then updates the frequently used devices in the saved user preferences.

[0069] When the server detects that a printing device cannot match the print request issued by the user for many times, and the printing device can meet the user's needs through firmware upgrade, it will output a prompt or operation to upgrade the printing device to the user device. Specifically, the server will record the number of times each printing device cannot be matched, and then query whether the device with a large number of unmatched times has new firmware that can be upgraded, and this new firmware upgrade can solve the user's needs. For example, the new firmware upgrade improves the energy consumption level and solves the user's demand for environmentally friendly printing. In this case, the server will prompt the user to upgrade this printing device through the user device, or push a new firmware upgrade request to the printing device, allowing the user to choose whether to upgrade the firmware on the printing device.

[0070] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, when a certain image forming device is used as a master control device to distribute and manage jobs for other image devices, the method of automatically matching image forming devices can also be executed on the image forming device that serves as the master control device. The specific execution process can refer to the above embodiments. For the sake of brevity, this application will not elaborate on it.

[0071] Corresponding to the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a structural diagram of a server.

[0072] See also Figure 8 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of a server provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8As shown, the server 800 includes: an acquisition unit 801, used to acquire user identity information and an image forming request; a first determination unit 802, used to determine the first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy; a second determination unit 803, used to determine the first image forming device as the target image forming device when the first image forming device includes one device; a first sending unit 804, used to send a first request instruction to the user when the first image forming device includes multiple devices, the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from multiple first image forming devices; a second sending unit 805, used to send an image forming request to the target image forming device.

[0073] The specific contents of the embodiments of the present application can be found in the description of the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0074] Corresponding to the above embodiments, the present application also provides an electronic device.

[0075] See also Fig. 9 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the electronic device 900 may include: a processor 910, a memory 920, and a communication unit 930. These components communicate through one or more buses. Those skilled in the art can understand that the structure of the electronic device shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the embodiment of the present application. It can be a bus structure or a star structure, and can also include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0076] The communication unit 930 is used to establish a communication channel so that the electronic device 900 can communicate with other devices, receive user data sent by other devices or send user data to other devices.

[0077] The processor 910 is the control center of the electronic device. It uses various interfaces and lines to connect various parts of the entire electronic device. It runs or executes software programs, instructions, and / or modules stored in the memory 920, and calls data stored in the memory to execute various functions of the mobile terminal and / or process data. The processor can be composed of an integrated circuit (IC), for example, it can be composed of a single packaged IC, or it can be composed of multiple packaged ICs with the same or different functions. For example, the processor 910 can include only a central processing unit (CPU). In the embodiment of the present application, the CPU can be a single computing core or multiple computing cores.

[0078] The memory 920 is used to store execution instructions of the processor 910. The memory 920 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0079] When the execution instructions in the memory 920 are executed by the processor 910, the electronic device 900 can execute Figure 2 Some or all of the steps in the illustrated embodiments.

[0080] Corresponding to the above embodiments, the present application also provides an image processing system.

[0081] See also Fig.10 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image processing system provided in an embodiment of the present application, wherein the image processing system 1000 may include: at least one image forming device 1010 and Figure 8 The server 800 shown is communicatively connected to the image forming apparatus 1010 .

[0082] In a specific implementation, the present application further provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium may store a program, and when the program is executed, the program may include some or all of the steps in each embodiment of the method for automatically matching an image forming device provided in the embodiment of the present application. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM) or a random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0083] In a specific implementation, the present application also provides a computer program product, wherein the computer program product includes executable instructions, and when the executable instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes part or all of the steps in each embodiment of the method for automatically matching an image forming device provided in the present application.

[0084] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the technology in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Based on this understanding, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a storage medium such as ROM / RAM, a disk, an optical disk, etc., including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application or some parts of the embodiments.

[0085] In this specification, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In particular, for the device embodiment and the terminal embodiment, since they are basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description in the method embodiment.

Claims

1. A method for automatically matching an image forming device, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtain user identity information and image formation request; determining a first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy; When the first image forming device includes one, the first image forming device is determined as a target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple, a first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; The image forming request is sent to the target image forming device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before determining the first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy, the method further includes: Parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device are acquired and stored.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The determining the first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy includes: Determine whether to include user preference information; When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device and the user preference information are used as matching items of the preset matching strategy; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the state of the image forming device and the location of the image forming device are used as matching items of the preset matching strategy; A first image forming device is determined based on a matching result of the matching item.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that When the first image forming device includes a plurality of devices, the method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the plurality of first image forming devices; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the position of the image forming device is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple first image forming devices; The sending a first request instruction to the user, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the plurality of first image forming devices, comprises: A first request instruction is sent to a user, where the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted plurality of first image forming devices.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: When the first image forming device cannot be determined according to the user identity information and the image formation request based on a preset matching strategy, a second request instruction is sent to the user, and the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from a second image forming device, and the second image forming device includes all image forming devices associated with the user identity information.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices; When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device and the state of the image forming device are used as primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, the position of the image forming device is used as a secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy, and the second image forming devices are sorted; The sending a second request instruction to the user, wherein the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming device, comprises: A second request instruction is sent to the user, where the second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that: The user preference information includes multiple preference options or multiple preference options and the weight of each preference option.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: When it is detected that there are multiple times of the image forming device that cannot be determined as the first image forming device, and the image forming device can meet the user's needs through upgrading, an upgrade prompt is output, wherein the upgrade prompt is used to prompt the user to perform an upgrade operation on the image forming device.

9. A server, characterized in that: include: An acquisition unit, used for acquiring user identity information and an image formation request; A first determining unit, configured to determine a first image forming device according to the user identity information and the image forming request based on a preset matching strategy; a second determining unit, configured to determine the first image forming device as a target image forming device when there is only one first image forming device; a first sending unit, configured to send a first request instruction to a user when there are multiple first image forming devices, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; The second sending unit is configured to send the image forming request to the target image forming device.

10. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: processor; Memory; A computer program is stored in the memory, and when the computer program is executed, the electronic device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

11. An image processing system, characterized in that: The system comprises at least one image forming device and the server according to claim 9, wherein the server is communicatively connected to the image forming device.

Images