Method, server, electronic device and system for automatically matching image forming devices

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a method, a server, an electronic device and a system for automatically matching an image forming device, the method comprising: obtaining 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 first image forming device comprises one, the first image forming device is determined as a target image forming device; when the first image forming device comprises multiple, a first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used for requesting the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; and the image forming request is sent to the target image forming device. Embodiments of the present application can automatically match a suitable image forming device according to user identity information and an image forming request.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of image forming equipment technology, and more specifically to a method, server, electronic device and system for automatically matching image forming equipment. Background Technology

[0002] In scenarios where image forming is performed using a server, users send image forming jobs to the server via a client and then select a suitable image forming device from those connected to the server for printing. However, since users cannot be familiar with every image forming device, they cannot determine which devices can meet their image forming needs. This makes it difficult for users to select a suitable image forming device to perform the image forming operation, especially when there are many image forming devices connected to the server. Users need to select a suitable device from a large number of devices, resulting in a heavy workload and inconvenience for them.

[0003] On the other hand, different users have different image forming needs, and therefore they make different choices regarding suitable image forming equipment. Summary of the Invention

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

[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a method for automatically matching an image forming device, the method comprising: Obtain user identity information and image generation request; Based on a preset matching strategy, a first image forming device is determined according to the user identity information and the image forming request; Wherein, when the first image forming device includes one unit, the first image forming device is determined as the target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple units, a first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the 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 one possible implementation, before determining the first image forming device based on the user identity information and the image forming request according to a preset matching strategy, the method further includes: Acquire and store the parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device.

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

[0008] In one possible implementation, when the first image forming device comprises multiple units, the method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple 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 status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the location of the image forming device is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple first image forming devices. Sending a first request instruction to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the plurality of first image forming devices, includes: A first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted plurality of first image forming devices.

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

[0010] In one 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 status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as the 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 status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the position of the image forming device is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices. Sending a second request instruction to the user, the second request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming device, includes: A second request instruction is sent to the user, the second request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

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

[0012] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: When an image forming device is detected to have failed to be identified as the first image forming device multiple times, and the image forming device can be upgraded to meet the user's needs, an upgrade prompt is output. The upgrade prompt is used to remind the user to perform an upgrade operation on the image forming device.

[0013] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a server, including: The acquisition unit is used to acquire user identity information and image formation requests; The first determining unit is configured to determine the first image forming device based on the user identity information and the image forming request according to a preset matching strategy. The second determining unit is configured to determine the first image forming device as the target image forming device when the first image forming device includes one device. The first sending unit is configured to send a first request instruction to a user when the first image forming device includes multiple devices, wherein the first request instruction is configured to request the user to determine a target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; The second sending unit is used to send the image forming request to the target image forming device.

[0014] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide an electronic device, including: processor; Memory; The memory stores a computer program that, when executed, causes the electronic device to perform the method described in any of the first aspects.

[0015] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide an image processing system, including 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] According to the embodiments of this application, when matching image forming devices based on user identity information and image forming requests, different image forming device matching modes can be provided for users with different needs according to different preset matching strategies, thereby matching an image forming device that satisfies the user and meeting the user's personalized needs. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of this application; Figure 2 A flowchart illustrating a method for automatically matching an image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a user account information settings interface provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of an image forming device driver settings interface provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a pop-up notification page provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the storage of image forming device information provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 7 A schematic diagram of user preference information provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 8 This application provides a schematic diagram of the structure of a server according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image processing system provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0019] To better understand the technical solution of this application, the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments in this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0021] The terminology used in the embodiments of this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this application. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” used in the embodiments of this application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0022] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0023] See Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario provided by an embodiment of this application. For example... Figure 1 As shown, this 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. The device terminal 110 is interconnected with the server 120, and the server 120 and the multiple image forming devices 130 are interconnected via wired or wireless communication networks for information transmission. During the automatic matching of image forming devices, the user sends an image forming request to the server 120 through the device terminal 110. After receiving the image forming request, the server 120 matches the multiple image forming devices 130 according to the user information and the image forming request. After matching a suitable image forming device 131, the server sends an image forming request to the image forming device 131 so that the image forming device 131 can perform the image forming operation.

[0024] The communication network between device terminal 110 and server 120, and between server 120 and multiple image forming devices 130, can be a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) relayed through a relay device. When the communication network is a LAN, for example, it can be a short-range communication network such as a Wi-Fi hotspot network, a Wi-Fi P2P network, a Bluetooth network, a Zigbee network, or a near-field communication (NFC) network. When the communication network is a WAN, for example, it can be a 3G network, a 4G network, a 5G network, a future public land mobile network (PLMN), or the Internet.

[0025] It should be pointed out that, Figure 1 This is merely an illustrative description and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of this application. For example, image forming apparatus 130 includes, but is not limited to, printers, copiers, fax machines, multi-function image making and copying devices, electrostatic printing devices, and any other similar devices. Device terminal 110 includes, but is not limited to, electronic devices capable of communicating with server 120, such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, enterprise internal servers, and cloud servers. Server 120 includes, but is not limited to, electronic devices capable of interacting with device terminal 110 and image forming apparatus 130, such as computers, tablets, enterprise internal servers, and cloud servers.

[0026] In scenarios where image forming is performed using a server, users send image forming jobs to the server via a client and then select a suitable image forming device from those connected to the server for printing. However, since users cannot be familiar with every image forming device, they cannot determine which devices can meet their image forming needs. This makes it difficult for users to select a suitable image forming device to perform the image forming operation, especially when there are many image forming devices connected to the server. Users need to select a suitable device from a large number of devices, resulting in a heavy workload and inconvenience for them.

[0027] On the other hand, different users have different image forming needs, and therefore they make different choices regarding suitable image forming equipment.

[0028] To address the aforementioned problems, embodiments of this application provide a method, server, electronic device, and image processing system for automatically matching image forming devices. Embodiments of this application can automatically match suitable image forming devices based on user identity information and image forming requests.

[0029] The following is a detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] See Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatically matching an image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application. This method can be applied to... Figure 1 In the application scenarios shown, such as Figure 2 As shown, the specific steps include:

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

[0032] In this embodiment, the server can obtain user identity information and image forming requests through the user-side device terminal. The user identity information is used by the server to identify and authenticate the user. Only after successful user identity authentication can the user use the corresponding image forming device. Specifically, the user identity information can be the ID (Identity Document) of the user-side device terminal, the account information logged in by the user on the user-side device terminal, or the account information logged in by the user on the server. Specifically, the image forming request includes the image forming job data uploaded by the user on the user-side device terminal and the parameters set for the image forming job.

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

[0034] Specifically, the parameters of the image forming equipment include the model of the image forming equipment, the image forming speed supported by the image forming equipment, the image forming quality, paper size, paper type, paper source, duplex printing, printing color and other capability parameters. The status of the image forming equipment includes the status of consumables, machine status, working status, etc. The location of the image forming equipment is the pre-set geographical location of the image forming equipment.

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

[0036] In this embodiment of the application, the preset matching strategy includes user preference information, but whether the user preference information is used as a matching item can be determined based on user needs. For example... Figure 3 As shown, a "User Preferences" button can be provided on the user account information settings interface of the device terminal. When the user needs to perform image forming device matching based on user preference information, they can click the button to enable the "User Preferences" option; when the user does not need to perform image forming device matching based on user preference information, they can click the button to disable the "User Preferences" option. Alternatively, as... Figure 4 As shown, a user preference option button can also be provided on the image forming device driver settings page of the device terminal. When the user selects "Enable," user preference information is provided as a matching item; when the user selects "Disable," user preference information is not provided as a matching item. Alternatively, user account information can be set on the operation panel of the image forming device, i.e., a user preference option button can be provided, allowing the user to determine whether to enable user preference options during matching through the image forming device. Of course, in practical applications, to further confirm whether user preference information is used as a matching item, when the server receives user identity information and recognizes data containing user preference information, it can prompt the user through a pop-up window on the user terminal side or the image forming device side, such as displaying a message on the terminal after the user starts the application and completes login. Figure 5 The pop-up page shown indicates that when the user selects "Yes", they confirm that the user's preference information will be used as a matching item; when the user selects "No", they confirm that the user's preference information will not be used as a matching item.

[0037] Correspondingly, when the server performs image forming device matching, if user preference information is included, the server can use the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the user preference information as matching items for a preset matching strategy; if user preference information is not included, the server can use the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device as matching items for the preset matching strategy. After determining the matching items, the first image forming device can be determined based on the matching results. Specifically, the image forming device that satisfies all matching items can be selected as the first image forming device.

[0038] In one possible implementation, such as Figure 3As shown, user preference information may include multiple preference options and a weight for each option. Users can select their desired preferences from these options and assign weights to the selected options. Optionally, user preference information may only include multiple preference options without assigning weights to each option. A device that meets the user preference information can be understood as a device that meets at least one of the user preference information criteria. For example, preference options may include one or more of the following: historical image forming device usage frequency, favorite image forming device, user security level, desired image forming device location, image forming cost, image forming rate, and environmental friendliness. Environmental friendliness can be further subdivided into image forming device power consumption and / or environmentally friendly paper. Once the user completes the user preference settings, the user preference information is stored in association with the user's identity information.

[0039] In one possible implementation, Figure 3 The preference options and weights shown can also be set. Figure 4 On the page shown, for example, when the user selects "Enable", in Figure 4 The bottom of the page displays preference options and weights so that users can select preferences and set weights.

[0040] In this embodiment of the application, by setting user preference information, the preferences of users who are skilled in using image forming equipment can be satisfied while ensuring the basic image forming request. The differences between different users are fully considered, so that for the same image forming request, different users may be matched with different image forming equipment, thereby further improving the user's satisfaction with the matching results.

[0041] S203: When the first image forming apparatus includes one unit, the first image forming apparatus is determined as the target image forming apparatus; when the first image forming apparatus includes multiple units, a first request instruction is sent to the user, wherein the first request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming apparatus from the multiple first image forming apparatuses.

[0042] In this embodiment, the first image forming device determined based on the matching result of the matching item may include one or more devices, or zero devices, meaning no matching image forming device meets the requirements. In this case, when there is only one first image forming device, it can be directly used as the target image forming device; when there are multiple first image forming devices, a first request instruction can be sent to the user to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; when no matching image forming device meets the requirements, 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 devices, wherein the second image forming devices include all image forming devices communicatively connected to the server. That is, when there are multiple or zero first image forming devices, the user can be requested to manually select the desired image forming device.

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

[0044] Specifically, when user account information includes user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items in a preset matching strategy, while the user preference information can be used as the secondary matching item. Multiple first image forming devices are then sorted to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices. For example, devices that satisfy the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device can be prioritized. Then, based on the degree of conformity with the user preference information, the prioritized image forming devices can be rearranged from highest to lowest to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices.

[0045] When the user account information does not contain user preference information, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device can be used as the primary matching items in a preset matching strategy, and the location of the image forming device can be used as the secondary matching item. Multiple first image forming devices are then sorted to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices. For example, devices that satisfy the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, or the status of the image forming device can be prioritized. Then, based on the distance between the image forming device and the user, the prioritized image forming devices can be rearranged from closest to furthest to obtain a sorted list of first image forming devices.

[0046] In one possible implementation, when the first image forming device includes 0 units, the second image forming devices can be sorted and presented to the user, allowing the user to select the target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

[0047] Specifically, when user account information includes user preference information, the image forming request, image forming device parameters, and image forming device status can be used as the primary matching items in a preset matching strategy, while the user preference information can be used as the secondary matching item. The second image forming devices are then sorted to obtain a sorted list of second image forming devices. For example, devices that satisfy the image forming request, image forming device parameters, or image forming device status can be prioritized. Then, based on their degree of conformity with user preference information, the prioritized image forming devices are rearranged from largest to smallest to obtain a first sorting sequence. Devices that do not satisfy the image forming request, image forming device parameters, and image forming device status are then sorted from largest to smallest according to their degree of conformity with user preference to obtain a second sorting sequence. Finally, the first sorting sequence is placed before the second sorting sequence, and the combination of the two sorting sequences yields the sorted list of second image forming devices.

[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 status 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. The second set of image forming devices can then be sorted to obtain a sorted list of second image forming devices. For example, devices that satisfy the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, or the status of the image forming device can be prioritized. Then, based on the distance between the image forming device and the user, the prioritized image forming devices can be rearranged from near to far to obtain a first sorting sequence. Then, devices that do not satisfy the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status 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 sorting sequence. Finally, the first sorting sequence is placed before the second sorting sequence, and the combination of the two sorting sequences yields the sorted list of second image forming devices.

[0049] This application embodiment can sort the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus and provide them to the user in a list format, allowing the user to manually select the target image forming apparatus from the sorted list of first or second image forming apparatuses, which can better meet the user's needs. Pre-selecting the best image forming apparatuses for the user and arranging them at the top of the list facilitates quick selection and improves the user experience.

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

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

[0052] In one possible implementation, once the target image forming device is identified, the server can send the location of the target image forming device to the user, and then perform the image forming operation after the user approaches the image forming device. The location of the target image forming device may include the region number, column number, and row number of the target image forming device's location, as well as the device identification code.

[0053] In one possible implementation, when the server sends an image forming request to the target image forming device, it can simultaneously send user identity information to the image forming device. This allows for verification and identification of the user's identity information after the user approaches the target image forming device and uploads their identity information. The image forming operation is only performed after successful verification, ensuring image forming security. Specifically, users can upload their identity information using methods such as account passwords, IC cards, or biometrics.

[0054] In one possible implementation, when the server detects that an image forming device cannot be identified as the first image forming device multiple times, and that the image forming device can be upgraded to meet the user's needs, an upgrade prompt is output to remind the user to upgrade the image forming device. After the user updates the image forming device, the server can re-query the image forming device's status, parameters, and other change information, and update the stored information in the database based on the query results.

[0055] In this embodiment of the application, for image forming devices that fail to match multiple times, the user requirements can be met and the user experience improved by periodically updating the firmware of the image forming device.

[0056] In one possible implementation, after the user manually selects the target image forming device, the server can save the user's selection and update the user's preference information.

[0057] This application embodiment can provide two matching modes by setting user preference items, respectively targeting users who are first-time users of the image forming device and users who are experienced in using the image forming device, thereby meeting the basic printing needs of first-time users and the personalized printing needs of experienced users.

[0058] The specific implementation methods of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to the embodiments. The following embodiments are used to illustrate this application, but are not intended to limit the scope of this application.

[0059] Area 1 includes printing devices A, B, and C. Printing devices A, B, and C are communicatively connected to the server, and the server is communicatively connected to the user's device. After the server establishes communication with the printing devices, it can obtain the model number, printing capability parameters, status, and location of printing devices A, B, and C, and store this information in the database. The database storage information is as follows: Figure 6 The information shown includes model number, print speed (ppm), paper tray size, paper tray type, machine status, location, print cost, power consumption, and security level.

[0060] After the user completes the print data upload and print parameter settings on their device, the server obtains the user's identity information (User1) through the user's device and receives the print request with A4 size and automatic paper type. The server determines whether User1's account information contains user preferences and determines the matching strategy based on this. If User1's account information contains user preferences, the server can determine the stored user preference information based on User1's account information. Specifically, User1's preference information is as follows: Figure 7 As shown, the frequently used device is printer A, the favorite device is printer B, the security level information is fingerprint unlock data, the desired location is area 1, there are no requirements for printing cost and printing speed, and the desired printing is environmentally friendly.

[0061] The server does not store preference information for users other than User1. Therefore, if a user is not User1, the printer is not automatically matched based on user preference information, and the user is considered a first-time printer user. Alternatively, if the user disables user preference mode on the printer's control panel or the user's device's print driver interface, the printer is not automatically matched based on user preference information; otherwise, the printer is automatically matched based on user preference information.

[0062] If the server does not automatically match printing devices based on user preferences, it can determine the matching strategy based on the print request, print capability parameters, print device status, and print device location. Specifically, for example, if the print request is for an A4-sized job and the device location is selected as region 1, the server will select a print device that is in normal working order, has an A4 paper tray, and is located in region 1. When the server finds a unique matching print device from all connected printers, it will send the print job to that printer. If multiple matching print devices are found, or no matching results are found, the server will prioritize the print request, print capability parameters, and print device status, and use the print device location as a secondary matching factor, sorting the matched print devices or all print devices. For example, if the print request is for an A4 size job, and there are two matching printers, A and B, that are in normal working order and have A4 paper in their paper trays, then if both printers meet the primary matching criteria, they are sorted by distance from the user. If printer A is closer to the user, then printer A is prioritized over printer B and provided to the user. After the user manually selects the printer, the print job is sent out.

[0063] If no suitable printing device is found, all printing devices connected to the server are prioritized based on whether they are in normal working order or have A4 paper size in their trays. Then, these prioritized devices are further sorted by distance from the user to obtain a first sorting sequence. Devices that do not meet the primary matching criteria are then sorted by distance from the user to obtain a second sorting sequence. The first sorting sequence is placed before the second sorting sequence. Both sorting sequences are then presented to the user, who manually selects a printing device. After the user manually selects a printing device, the server sends the print job to the selected device and automatically saves the user's selection to the database. For example, if the print request is for an A4 size print job located in row 1, column 3 of region 1, and no suitable printing device is found that is in normal working order, has A4 paper size in its tray, and is located in row 1, column 3 of region 1, then printing devices A and B, which meet the A4 paper size requirement, are prioritized. If printing device B is closer to the user, it is sorted before printing device A. Printing device C, which does not meet the primary matching criteria, is sorted last. The sorted list of devices is provided to the user, who then manually selects the desired device and issues a print job.

[0064] If the user is User1, the server has already stored the user's preference information, and the user has enabled user preference mode on the printer's control panel or the user's device's print driver interface. Then, the server automatically matches the printer based on the user's preference information. In this case, the server determines the matching strategy based on the print request, print capability parameters, printer status, and user preference information. Specifically, if the print request is for an A4 size job, the server selects a printer that is in normal condition, has an A4 paper tray, and meets the user's preference information. When the server finds a unique printer that meets the criteria from all connected printers, it sends the print job to that printer. A device that meets the user's preference information can be understood as a device that meets at least one of User1's user preference criteria. If multiple matching printers are found, or no matching results are found, the server prioritizes the print request, print capability parameters, and printer status, and uses the user preference information as a secondary matching criterion, sorting the multiple matching printers or all printers. For example, if a print request is for an A4-sized job, and multiple printers with normal machine status and A4 paper size in the paper tray are matched, these printers are prioritized according to machine status and paper size in the paper tray. Then, they are further sorted according to user preferences to obtain a sorted sequence. This sorted list of printers is then provided to the user for manual selection. If no suitable printer is matched, all printers connected to the server are prioritized according to whether they are in normal machine status or have A4 paper size in the paper tray. Then, they are sorted according to user preferences to obtain a first sorted sequence. Printers that do not meet the primary matching criteria are then sorted according to user preferences to obtain a second sorted sequence. The first sorted sequence is placed before the second sorted sequence, and both are combined and provided to the user for manual selection. After the user manually selects a printer, the server sends the print job to the selected printer and automatically saves the user's selection to the database.

[0065] The ranking of printing devices based on user preferences can be further improved by assigning weights to each user preference option. For example, the option for frequently used devices could have a weight of 5, the option for favorite devices a weight of 4, the option for safety level information a weight of 3, the option for printing environmental friendliness a weight of 2, and so on. Therefore, for printing devices A and B, which meet User1's primary matching criteria, their combined weights are 5+3=8 and 4+2=6 respectively. Thus, printing device A is ranked higher than printing device B. The weights of these user preference options can be adjusted according to actual circumstances, and this embodiment does not impose specific limitations on this.

[0066] Once the printing device is identified, the server will send its location to the user and execute a secure print operation once the user approaches the 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's device. The user can see on the user's device that the print job is being executed on printing device A in the first row and first column of area 1. The user goes to the first row and first column of area 1 according to this location information, finds printing device A, and enters the user's fingerprint information into printing device A. After printing device A verifies the user's identity through the security information, it begins to execute secure printing.

[0068] After the user manually selects the printing device, the server saves the user's selection and then updates the saved user preferences for frequently used devices.

[0069] When the server detects that a printing device repeatedly fails to match a user's print request, and that the printing device can meet the user's needs through a firmware upgrade, it will prompt or instruct the user to upgrade the printing device. Specifically, the server will record the number of times each printing device fails to match, and then check if there is a new firmware upgrade available for the devices with the most failures. If this new firmware upgrade can solve the user's needs, such as improving energy efficiency and addressing the user's requirement for environmentally friendly printing, the server will prompt the user to upgrade the printing device through the user's device, or push a new firmware upgrade request to the printing device, allowing the user to choose whether to upgrade the firmware.

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

[0071] Corresponding to the above embodiments, this application also provides a schematic diagram of the structure of a server.

[0072] See Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a server provided in an embodiment of this 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 a first image forming device based on a preset matching strategy according to the user identity information and the image forming request; a second determination unit 803, used to determine the first image forming device as a 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 being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices; and a second sending unit 805, used to send an image forming request to the target image forming device.

[0073] For details of the embodiments of this application, please refer to the description of the above method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

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

[0075] See Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of this application. 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 will understand that the structure of the electronic device shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the embodiment of this application. It may be a bus-shaped structure or a star-shaped structure, and may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

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

[0077] The processor 910 serves as the control center of the electronic device, connecting various parts of the device via interfaces and lines. It executes software programs, instructions, and / or modules stored in the memory 920, and calls data stored in the memory to perform various functions of the mobile terminal and / or process data. The processor can be composed of integrated circuits (ICs), such as a single packaged IC or multiple packaged ICs with the same or different functions connected together. For example, the processor 910 may consist only of a central processing unit (CPU). In this embodiment, the CPU may have a single processing core or include multiple processing cores.

[0078] The memory 920 is used to store the 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 storage, 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 is able to perform operations. Figure 2 Some or all of the steps in the illustrated embodiments.

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

[0081] See Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image processing system provided in an embodiment of this application. 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, this application also provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium may store a program, which, when executed, may include some or all of the steps of the method for automatically matching image forming apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, optical disk, read-only memory (ROM), or random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0083] In a specific implementation, this application also provides a computer program product, wherein the computer program product includes executable instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform some or all of the steps of the method for automatically matching image forming apparatus provided in this application.

[0084] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the techniques in the embodiments of this application can be implemented using software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application or some parts of the embodiments.

[0085] The same or similar parts between the various embodiments in this specification can be referred to mutually. In particular, the device embodiments and terminal embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description in the method embodiments.

Claims

1. A method of automatically matching an image forming device, characterized by, The method includes: Obtain user identity information and image generation request; Acquire and store the parameters and status of the image forming device; Based on a preset matching strategy, a first image forming device is determined according to the user identity information and the image forming request; Wherein, when the first image forming device includes one unit, the first image forming device is determined as the target image forming device; when the first image forming device includes multiple units, a first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the multiple first image forming devices. The image forming request is sent to the target image forming device; The step of determining the first image forming device based on the user identity information and the image forming request according to a preset matching strategy further includes: Determine whether user preference information is included; When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the user preference information are used as matching items for the preset matching strategy; The first image forming device is determined based on the matching result of the matching item; When the first image forming device comprises multiple units, the method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple first image forming devices. Sending a first request instruction to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the plurality of first image forming devices, includes: A first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted plurality of first image forming devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The step of determining the first image forming device based on the user identity information and the image forming request according to a preset matching strategy further includes: Acquire and store the location of the image forming device. When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, the status of the image forming device, and the location of the image forming device are used as the matching items of the preset matching strategy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, When the first image forming device comprises multiple units, the method further includes: When the user preference information is not included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the location of the image forming device is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the multiple first image forming devices. Sending a first request instruction to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the plurality of first image forming devices, includes: A first request instruction is sent to the user, the first request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted plurality of first image forming devices.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, The method further includes: When the first image forming device cannot be determined based on the user identity information and the image forming request according to the preset matching strategy, a second request instruction is sent to the user. The second request instruction is used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming devices. The second image forming devices include all image forming devices associated with the user identity information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The method further includes: When the user preference information is included, the image forming request, the parameters of the image forming device, and the status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the user preference information is used as the 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 status of the image forming device are used as the primary matching items of the preset matching strategy, and the position of the image forming device is used as the secondary matching item of the preset matching strategy to sort the second image forming devices. Sending a second request instruction to the user, the second request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the second image forming device, includes: A second request instruction is sent to the user, the second request instruction being used to request the user to determine the target image forming device from the sorted second image forming devices.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The user preference information includes multiple preference options, and the weight of each preference option.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: When an image forming device is detected to have failed to be identified as the first image forming device multiple times, and the image forming device can be upgraded to meet the user's needs, an upgrade prompt is output. The upgrade prompt is used to remind the user to perform an upgrade operation on the image forming device.

8. A server, characterized by The server is configured to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that, include: processor; Memory; The memory stores a computer program that, when executed, causes the electronic device to perform the method described in any one of claims 1-7.

10. An image processing system, characterized by It includes at least one image forming device and the server as described in claim 8, wherein the server is communicatively connected to the image forming device.

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