Image forming system

Abstract

To present an appropriate image forming device even in the case where image forming devices are mixed, to which a plurality of charge plans is applied in which the ways of change in charges with respect to a consumption amount of consumable supplies are different from each other.SOLUTION: A printer system 1 includes printers 100A-100C, a portable terminal 200, and a charge management server 300. In the printers 100A-100C, a plurality of types of charge plans is set in which charges generate with respect to the consumption in printing paper according to image forming processing. In these charge plans, the ways of change in charges with respect to the consumption amount of printing paper are different from each other. The charge management server 300 acquires the charge according to the consumption amount of the printing paper in the image forming processing, and narrows down a candidate printer according to the charge. The portable terminal 200 allows a display to perform a display which recommends the candidate printer which the charge management server 300 has narrowed down.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there has been an image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses, which is based on the premise that a service is applied in which a fee is charged for the consumption of consumables used when forming an image by the image forming apparatus. Patent Document 1 is one example of such a service, in which a fixed fee is charged until the consumption of consumables exceeds a certain amount, and an additional fee is charged when the consumption of the consumables exceeds the certain amount. According to Patent Document 1, when a system has a plurality of image forming apparatuses and an image forming process is performed in an initially selected apparatus, if the consumption of consumables exceeds a certain amount due to the process and an additional fee is charged, the use of another apparatus, in which the consumption of consumables does not exceed a certain amount due to the process and no additional fee is charged, is presented to the user as an alternative. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2007-109159 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Among services that incur a fee for the consumption of consumables, there are some in which the way in which the fee changes with the amount of consumables consumed differs from the above. When image forming devices to which multiple services with different contents are applied are mixed in a system, the judgment method such as that of Patent Document 1 may not select an appropriate device. For example, it is conceivable that costs will ultimately be reduced by selecting a device that incurs an additional fee, but such a selection is not made according to the method of Patent Document 1.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system that presents an appropriate image forming device even when there is a mixture of image forming devices to which multiple fee plans are applied, in which the way fees change with respect to the consumption of consumables differ. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming system comprising a plurality of image forming apparatuses which perform image forming processing on a medium, a terminal device and a server, wherein the plurality of image forming apparatuses are used based on a plurality of fee plans in which a fee is charged for the consumption of consumables associated with the image forming processing, and in which the manner in which the fee changes with respect to the amount of the consumables consumed differs from one another, and the server acquires the fee for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses according to the amount of the consumables consumed, and transmits to the terminal apparatus information indicating the fee or information indicating a candidate image forming apparatus which is the image forming apparatus selected according to the fee, and the terminal apparatus is provided with an alarm unit and a control unit, and when a request for the image forming processing occurs, the control unit executes a recommended apparatus notification process which causes the alarm unit to notify information indicating content recommending the use of the candidate image forming apparatus based on information from the server before the image forming processing is executed. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, a plurality of fee plans in which the way in which the fee changes with respect to the consumption amount of consumables is different from each other is assumed. Meanwhile, the server acquires the fee according to the consumption amount of consumables for each image forming device, and the fee information or the information of the candidate image forming device based on the fee is transmitted from the server to the terminal device. Based on this, the notification unit in the terminal device appropriately notifies the content recommending the use of the candidate image forming device. As a result, even when there is a mixture of image forming devices to which a plurality of fee plans in which the way in which the fee changes with respect to the consumption amount of consumables is applied is applied, an appropriate candidate image forming device is presented to the user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of each printer in FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a graph showing, by a thick solid line, the relationship between the cumulative amount of printing paper consumed and the fee in a fee plan set for the printer of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 13 is a graph showing, by a thick solid line, the relationship between the cumulative amount of printing paper consumed and the fee in another fee plan set for the printer in FIG. 1. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the mobile terminal of FIG. [Figure 6] 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a charge management server of FIG. 1. [Figure 7] 2 is an example of a display that is displayed on the display of the mobile terminal of FIG. 1, recommending the use of a printer. [Figure 8] 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing executed by the charge management server and the mobile terminal of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] A printer system 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[0010] As shown in Fig. 1, the printer system 1 (corresponding to the "image forming system" of the present invention) includes printers 100A, 100B, and 100C, a mobile terminal 200, and a fee management server 300. The printers 100A to 100C and the mobile terminal 200 are communicatively connected to each other via a network N1 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The printers 100A to 100C, the mobile terminal 200, and the fee management server 300 are communicatively connected to each other via the network N1 and a network N2 such as the Internet.

[0011] As shown in Fig. 2, each of the printers 100A, 100B, and 100C has an image forming unit 110 and a control unit 120. The image forming unit 110 has a paper storage unit 111 capable of storing multiple sheets of printing paper, an ink cartridge 112 that stores ink, and an inkjet head 113. The image forming unit 110 forms an image on the printing paper by ejecting ink stored in the ink cartridge 112 from the inkjet head 113 onto the printing paper supplied from the paper storage unit 111 under the control of the control unit 120.

[0012] The control unit 120 includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a storage unit configured with a read only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM), and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ROM stores program data and the like executed by the CPU and the ASIC. The RAM stores image formation instruction data (described below) and data used when the CPU executes a program. The CPU and the ASIC, which are hardware, execute various processes, such as a process for controlling the operation of the image forming unit 110, in accordance with the program data and other data, which are software stored in the ROM and the RAM.

[0013] For example, the control unit 120 executes an image formation process based on image formation instruction data received from the mobile terminal 200. The image formation process is a process of controlling the image forming unit 110 so as to form an image indicated by the image formation instruction data on a sheet of paper. The image formation instruction data is data instructing the content of the image formation to be performed by the image forming unit 110. The image formation instruction data includes data indicating the content of the image to be formed on the printing paper, as well as data instructing the setting contents for various setting items. The setting items include the number of sheets of printing paper used at one time, etc. The control unit 120 controls the image forming unit 110 so as to perform image formation according to the setting contents indicated by the image formation instruction data. At this time, the control unit 120 counts the number of sheets of printing paper consumed in the above image formation. The counting result is held as accumulated consumption data indicating the accumulated consumption of printing paper. The control unit 120 periodically transmits the accumulated consumption indicated by the accumulated consumption data to the fee management server 300.

[0014] The printers 100A to 100C have different image formation process execution speeds. There are two factors that cause the difference in image formation process execution speed. The first factor is that there is a difference in the time from when the printer receives image formation instruction data until the image forming unit 110 starts the operation of forming an image on the first printing paper, that is, the time until the so-called first print. Hereinafter, a printer with this time shorter than other printers is referred to as a "printer with a fast first print". The second factor is that there is a difference in the speed at which the image forming unit 110 forms an image per sheet of printing paper after the image formation operation starts. Hereinafter, a printer with this speed faster than other printers is referred to as a "printer with fast printing after the start of the first print".

[0015] In this embodiment, price plans P and Q (corresponding to the "first plan" and "second plan" of the present invention) are set for the use of printers 100A to 100C provided by the manufacturers of printers 100A to 100C. In both price plans, ink cartridges 112 required for image formation are provided by the manufacturers, and a fee is charged according to the number of sheets of printing paper consumed in forming an image. In this embodiment, it is assumed that price plan P is set for printers 100A and 100B, and price plan Q is set for printer 100C.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 3, the rate plan P is a plan in which a fixed regular fee (corresponding to the "first fee" of the present invention) corresponding to a specified service period is set. In the rate plan P, an upper limit (corresponding to the "first reference value" of the present invention) is set for the number of sheets of printing paper consumed within the service period. An excess fee (corresponding to the "second fee" of the present invention) is set for consumption of printing paper in excess of this upper limit. The excess fee in this embodiment is a fixed amount. The excess fee may also be a pay-per-use fee according to the number of sheets printed in excess of the upper limit.

[0017] In the fee plan P, even if the amount of print paper consumed in one image formation process corresponding to one image formation instruction data is the same, the fee added by one image formation process differs depending on the cumulative consumption of print paper at the start of the process. For example, assume that image formation processes Δ1 and Δ2 are performed. The image formation processes Δ1 and Δ2 are processes that use the same number of prints. As shown in FIG. 3, the image formation process Δ1 is a process that starts from a state where the cumulative consumption is N1, and as a result of a certain number of image formations, the cumulative consumption becomes N2. The image formation process Δ2 is a process that starts from a state where the cumulative consumption is N3, and as a result of a certain number of image formations, the cumulative consumption becomes N4. Note that N0 in FIG. 3 is the cumulative consumption at the start of the service period. The cumulative consumption N2 has not reached the cumulative consumption corresponding to the upper limit value. Therefore, the fee added by the image formation process Δ1 is zero. On the other hand, the cumulative consumption N4 exceeds the cumulative consumption corresponding to the upper limit value. Therefore, the fee added for the image forming process Δ2 is the difference G1 between the excess fee and the normal fee.

[0018] The fee plan Q is a plan in which a fee is charged in proportion to the amount of printing paper consumed. In the fee plan Q, the same fee is charged for the same amount of printing paper consumed, regardless of the start time of the process. For example, the image formation processes Δ3 and Δ4 shown in FIG. 4 are processes that use the same number of printed sheets. The image formation process Δ3 is a process that starts from a state where the accumulated consumption is N5, and as a result of forming a certain number of images, the accumulated consumption becomes N6. The image formation process Δ4 is ​​a process that starts from a state where the accumulated consumption is N7, and as a result of forming a certain number of images, the accumulated consumption becomes N8. The fee G2 charged by the image formation process Δ3 and the fee G3 charged by the image formation process Δ4 are the same amount.

[0019] The mobile terminal 200 (corresponding to the "terminal device" of the present invention) is a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone, tablet PC, or notebook PC. The mobile terminal 200 has a control unit 210 and a touch panel display 220. The control unit 210 has hardware such as a CPU, a memory unit composed of RAM, a storage device, and the like. The CPU, which is hardware, executes various processes such as an image formation instruction process described below in accordance with program data, which is software stored in the memory unit, and other data.

[0020] Touch panel display 220 (corresponding to the "notification unit" of the present invention) displays characters, images, and the like on a screen. Furthermore, when a finger or the like touches the screen, touch panel display 220 detects the contact position and outputs the detection result to control unit 210. This allows touch panel display 220 to receive various user inputs.

[0021] The control unit 210 executes image formation instruction processing and notification processing. The image formation instruction processing is processing for generating image formation instruction data and transmitting the data to at least one of the printers 100A to 100C when a user requests image formation processing. Specifically, the content of image formation is input by the user through the touch panel display 220. This user input includes selection of an image to be formed, the number of sheets of printing paper to be used for image formation, and selection of which of the printers 100A to 100C to use. Based on this user input, image formation instruction data indicating the content of image formation is generated. Then, the generated image formation instruction data is transmitted to the selected printer. The notification processing is processing for displaying characters, images, etc. indicating various information for the user on the touch panel display 220 based on information from the fee management server 300, etc.

[0022] The fee management server 300 is equipped with hardware such as a memory unit composed of a CPU, ROM, RAM, a hard disk, etc. The memory unit stores program data and data used when the CPU executes a program. The CPU, which is hardware, executes various processes according to the program data and other data, which is software stored in the memory unit.

[0023] The fee management server 300 stores printer information 301, consumption amount information 302, and billing information 303. The printer information consists of information about each of the printers 100A to 100C. This information includes information about the image formation processing speed, information indicating which of the rate plans P and Q has been set, and information indicating the start date and end date of the service period for the rate plan P.

[0024] The consumption information is historical information on the amount of printing paper consumed by each printer. Specifically, for a printer set with rate plan P, the information indicates the cumulative consumption at the start of the service period, and for a printer set with rate plan Q, the information indicates the cumulative consumption at the time of the previous billing. The fee management server 300 updates the consumption information based on the cumulative consumption periodically transmitted from each printer.

[0025] The billing information is information showing the history of fees charged to each printer in the past. The fee management server 300 calculates the amount of the fee to be charged according to the conditions of the fee plans P and Q shown in Figs. 3 and 4 based on the cumulative consumption, printer information, and consumption information periodically transmitted from each printer. For the fee plan P, the fee is calculated based on the increase in the cumulative consumption at the time of calculation from the cumulative consumption at the start of the service period indicated by the consumption information. If the increase is less than the upper limit, the regular fee is charged, and if the increase exceeds the upper limit, the excess fee is charged. For the fee plan Q, a fee proportional to the increase in the cumulative consumption at the time of calculation from the cumulative consumption at the time of the previous billing indicated by the consumption information is calculated. Based on the calculated amount, each printer is billed and the billing information is updated.

[0026] As described above, when an image formation instruction process is performed on the mobile terminal 200, the printer to be used is selected by the user. However, multiple types of fee plans are set for the printers 100A to 100C to be selected, and the usage conditions of each printer are also various. Therefore, it is not necessarily clear to the user which printer is appropriate to use in terms of the fee plan.

[0027] Therefore, the printer system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to narrow down the selection of suitable printers for the user from the viewpoint of the price plan in the image formation instruction process as described below.

[0028] The printers are narrowed down in two stages. In the first stage, the mobile terminal 200 transmits the number of sheets of printing paper indicated by the user input to the fee management server 300. Based on the printer information and consumption amount information, the fee management server 300 calculates for each printer the additional fee that would be incurred if the number of sheets of printing paper transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 were consumed. The fee management server 300 then narrows down the printer with the smallest additional fee as the first candidate printer (corresponding to the "candidate image forming device" of the present invention).

[0029] For example, according to a certain image formation instruction process, the printers 100A and 100B execute image formation processes Δ1 and Δ2 shown in Fig. 3, respectively, and the printer 100C executes image formation process Δ3 shown in Fig. 4. In this case, the fee management server 300 calculates the additional fee as zero for the printer 100A, G1 for the printer 100B, and G2 for the printer 100C, based on the number of sheets of printing paper transmitted from the mobile terminal 200. Based on this, the fee management server 300 determines the printer 100A to be the first candidate printer.

[0030] In this way, when there is only one printer with the smallest additional fee, the first candidate printers are narrowed down to one. In this case, the fee management server 300 transmits the narrowed down first candidate printer to the mobile terminal 200. The mobile terminal 200 causes the touch panel display 220 to display a message recommending to the user to use the first candidate printer transmitted from the fee management server 300 (corresponding to the "recommended device notification process" of the present invention). As shown in FIG. 7, one example of the display when the first candidate printer is the printer 100A is a message display saying "The printer 100A is the recommended printer with a reasonable fee." The mobile terminal 200 then accepts a user input to select one of the printers 100A to 100C.

[0031] Also, according to another image formation instruction process, the printers 100A and 100B will both execute the image formation process Δ1 shown in Fig. 3, and the printer 100C will execute the image formation process Δ3 shown in Fig. 4. In this case, the fee management server 300 calculates the amount of the fee to be added based on the number of sheets of printing paper sent from the mobile terminal 200 as zero for the printers 100A and 100B, and G2 for the printer 100C. Based on this, the fee management server 300 sets the printers 100A and 100B as the first candidate printers. In this way, when there are multiple printers with the smallest additional fee, there will be multiple first candidate printers.

[0032] When there are a plurality of first candidate printers, the fee management server 300 performs a second stage of narrowing down the first candidate printers to a second candidate printer (corresponding to the "secondary candidate image forming device" of the present invention). This narrowing down is performed based on the number of sheets of printing paper, printer information, etc. transmitted from the mobile terminal 200. The fee management server 300 transmits the narrowed down second candidate printers to the mobile terminal 200. The mobile terminal 200 causes the touch panel display 220 to display a message recommending to the user to use the second candidate printer transmitted from the fee management server 300 (corresponding to the "recommended device notification process" of the present invention). As shown in FIG. 7, an example of the display when the second candidate printer is the printer 100A is a message saying "The printer 100A is the printer that is recommended for its reasonable price." After that, the mobile terminal 200 accepts a user input to select one of the printers 100A to 100C. The second stage of narrowing down will be described in detail later.

[0033] The process of narrowing down the candidate printers performed by the fee management server 300 and the flow of proposing the candidate printers on the mobile terminal 200 will be described below with reference to FIG. 8. First, the fee management server 300 receives from the mobile terminal 200 the number of sheets of paper to be printed, which is indicated by a user input via the touch panel display 220 of the mobile terminal 200 (S1). In response to this, the fee management server 300 calculates an additional value for the fee of each printer (S2). The fee management server 300 narrows down the first candidate printers based on the additional value for the fee of each printer calculated in S2 (S3). If there is only one first candidate printer narrowed down in S3 (S4, Yes), the fee management server 300 transmits information about the first candidate printer to the mobile terminal 200 (S5). In response to this, the mobile terminal 200 causes the touch panel display 220 to display a recommendation of the first candidate printer (S6).

[0034] If there is more than one first candidate printer narrowed down in S3 (S4, No), the fee management server 300 judges whether the overall cost will be reduced by using multiple printers in the first candidate printers (S7). Specifically, it is judged whether the total additional fee for dividing the number of sheets of printing paper sent from the mobile terminal 200 in S1 and having the multiple printers included in the first candidate printers execute the division is less than the additional fee calculated in S2.

[0035] The condition of S6 is satisfied in the following cases. When the first candidate printers are the printers 100A and 100B, if only one of these printers is made to perform image formation processing for the entire number of sheets, the cumulative consumption exceeds the consumption corresponding to the upper limit value of the rate plan P regardless of which printer is made to perform the image formation processing. Therefore, an excess fee will be incurred regardless of which printer is made to perform the image formation processing. In contrast, if one of the printers 100A and 100B is made to perform image formation processing for a portion of the number of sheets and the other of the printers 100A and 100B is made to perform image formation processing for the remaining portion of the number of sheets, the cumulative consumption does not exceed the consumption corresponding to the upper limit value of the rate plan P in either of these printers. Therefore, an excess fee will not be incurred in either of these printers. In other words, the overall cost is reduced by using multiple printers.

[0036] As described above, when it is determined that the use of multiple printers in the first candidate printers reduces the overall cost (S7, Yes), the fee management server 300 sets the multiple printers as second candidate printers (S8). The fee management server 300 transmits information about the second candidate printers to the mobile terminal 200 (S9). In response, the mobile terminal 200 causes the touch panel display 220 to display a message recommending the second candidate printer (S10). Note that when the printers 100A and 100B are set as the second candidate printers in S8, after the processing of S10, the mobile terminal 200 generates image formation instruction data by dividing the number of sheets of printing paper so that no excess fee is incurred as described above, and transmits the image formation instruction data to the second candidate printers, 100A and 100B.

[0037] If it is determined in S7 that the use of multiple printers in the first candidate printers will not reduce the overall cost (S7, No), the fee management server 300 determines whether or not there is a printer in the first candidate printers whose service period ends soon (S11). Specifically, it is determined based on the printer information whether or not there is a printer whose service period ends within a predetermined reference value. If such a printer exists (S11, Yes), the fee management server 300 sets that printer as the second candidate printer (S12). Then, S9 and S10 are executed.

[0038] If it is determined that there is no printer for which the number of days until the end of the service period is equal to or less than a predetermined reference value (S11, No), the fee management server 300 determines whether or not a printer can be selected based on the content of image formation (S13). This determination is made based on the number of sheets of printing paper and the printer information received by the fee management server 300 from the mobile terminal 200 in S1. Specifically, it is determined whether or not either of the following conditions 1 and 2 is satisfied. (Condition 1) The number of sheets of printing paper is below a predetermined lower limit, and a printer with a fast first print speed is included in the first candidate printers. (Condition 2) The number of sheets of printing paper exceeds a specified upper limit, and the first candidate printers include printers that print quickly after the start of the first print.

[0039] If either condition 1 or condition 2 is met (S13, Yes), the fee management server 300 sets the printer according to whether condition 1 or condition 2 is met as the second candidate printer (S14). Specifically, if condition 1 is met, the printer with the fastest first print among the first candidate printers is set as the second candidate printer. If condition 2 is met, the printer with the fastest printing speed after the start of the first print among the first candidate printers is set as the second candidate printer. Then, S9 and S10 are executed.

[0040] If neither condition 1 nor condition 2 is satisfied (S13, No), the fee management server 300 sets the printer with the lowest additional charge for future image formation as the second candidate printer (S15). This process is performed as follows. In addition to the image formation process related to the number of sheets received from the mobile terminal 200 in S1, the additional charge that will be incurred when image formation process corresponding to N sheets of printing paper is further performed is calculated for each printer in the first candidate printers. This calculation is performed in the order of N=1, 2, 3, ... until only one printer with the lowest additional charge is obtained. The printer thus obtained is set as the second candidate printer. Then, S9 and S10 are executed.

[0041] According to the present embodiment described above, it is assumed that there are a plurality of fee plans, namely fee plans P and Q, in which the way in which the fee changes with respect to the amount of printing paper consumed is different from each other. Meanwhile, the fee management server 300 acquires the additional fee amount according to the amount of printing paper consumed for each of the printers 100A to 100C. Then, information on the candidate printers based on the fees is transmitted from the fee management server 300 to the mobile terminal 200. Based on this, the mobile terminal 200 appropriately displays on the touch panel display 220 the content recommending the use of the candidate printers. In other words, even if the fee plan P based on a fixed fee setting and the fee plan Q based on a pay-per-use fee setting are mixed, the appropriate candidate printers are presented to the user.

[0042] For example, even if an additional fee of G1 corresponding to an excess charge is incurred when the image formation process Δx in FIG. 3 is performed in printer 100A, if an additional fee of Gx exceeding G1 is incurred when a similar image formation process Δx in FIG. 4 is performed in printer 100C, printer 100A is appropriately narrowed down as the first candidate printer.

[0043] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the first candidate printers include multiple printers, as shown in S7 to S15 of FIG. 8, the first candidate printers are appropriately narrowed down to second candidate printers based on the fee plan and the content of image formation.

[0044] In narrowing down the second candidate printers, as shown in S11 of Fig. 8, it is determined whether the number of days until the end of the service period is equal to or less than a predetermined reference date, that is, whether there is a printer whose service period is about to end. Then, as shown in S12, printers whose service period is about to end are presented to the user with priority. This ensures appropriate cost reduction.

[0045] 8, the following process may be adopted. In other words, when both printers 100A and 100B to which rate plan P is applied are included in the first candidate printers, a process may be adopted in which the printer with the shortest service period end date from the current time is narrowed down to the second candidate printer. This allows the user to be presented with the printer with the service period ending soonest. This ensures appropriate cost reduction.

[0046] 8, the second candidate printers are narrowed down by comparing the number of sheets of printing paper used at one time in the image formation process with the upper and lower limits as per the above conditions 1 and 2. If condition 1 is met, a printer with a fast first print is selected as the second candidate printer by the process of S14. On the other hand, if condition 2 is met, a printer with a fast printing speed after the start of the first print is selected as the second candidate printer by the process of S14.

[0047] When the number of sheets of printing paper used at one time in the image formation process is relatively large, the time required for the entire image formation process is shortened by using a printer that can quickly form images on each sheet of printing paper after the first print begins. On the other hand, when the number of sheets of printing paper used at one time in the image formation process is relatively small, the time required for the entire image formation process is shortened by using a printer that takes less time to the first print. Therefore, the processes of S13 and S14 allow the second candidate printers to be narrowed down appropriately according to the contents of the image formation.

[0048] 8, the second candidate printers are narrowed down based on charges for image formation processes that are different from the image formation process instructed by user input on the mobile terminal 200, that is, image formation processes that will be executed in the future. Therefore, the second candidate printers that are likely to lead to cost reduction in consideration of future image formation processes are appropriately narrowed down.

[0049] In addition, in narrowing down the second candidate printers in the process shown in S7 of Fig. 8, if an excess fee would be incurred regardless of whether printer 100A or 100B is selected, the image formation process is distributed and executed to the second candidate printers 100A and 100B so that the excess fee is not incurred, thereby appropriately ensuring cost reduction.

[0050] <Modification> Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above based on the drawings, the specific configuration should not be considered to be limited to these embodiments. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims rather than the description of the above embodiments, and further includes all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims.

[0051] For example, in the above embodiment, the printer system 1 includes three printers, printers 100A to 100C. Alternatively, the printer system 1 may include two printers or four or more printers.

[0052] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the fee management server 300 narrows down the first and second candidate printers based on an additional fee according to the number of sheets of printing paper, and transmits the result to the mobile terminal 200. Alternatively, the fee management server 300 may transmit an additional fee according to the number of sheets of printing paper to the mobile terminal 200, and the mobile terminal 200 may narrow down the first and second candidate printers based on the additional fee.

[0053] In the above embodiment, in S7 of Fig. 8, it is determined whether the cost will be reduced if the image formation process is distributed to the two printers, 100A and 100B. Alternatively, it may be determined whether the cost will be reduced if the image formation process is distributed to the three printers, 100A to 100C. In this case, if it is determined that the cost will be reduced, the image formation process is distributed and executed by the three printers, 100A to 100C.

[0054] In the above embodiment, the billing for the rate plan Q is based on the past consumption of printing paper. Alternatively, or in addition, the rate plan Q may allow the user to select a prepayment of a fee for a predetermined consumption of printing paper. A validity period corresponding to the prepayment fee may be set, and printing paper may be consumed within the validity period up to a predetermined consumption amount, but once the validity period has expired, printing paper may not be consumed even if the consumption amount has not reached the predetermined amount. In this case, instead of determining whether or not there is a printer close to the end date of the service period of the rate plan P in S13 of FIG. 8, it may be determined whether or not there is a printer close to the end date of the validity period of the rate plan Q. In this case, the validity period corresponds to the "service period" of the present invention.

[0055] In the above embodiment, the fee plan Q sets a fee proportional to the amount of printing paper consumed. Alternatively, a fee that increases continuously and monotonically in other ways may be set with respect to the amount of printing paper consumed. For example, a fee may be set such that the rate of increase in the fee decreases or increases as the amount of consumption increases.

[0056] In addition, in the fee plans according to the above-described embodiments, fees are charged according to the consumption of printing paper. In contrast, the present invention may be applied to a fee plan in which fees are charged according to the consumption of ink. In this case, for example, the amount of ink consumed for each image formation is detected, and the detection result is added up as the cumulative ink consumption. In addition, an additional fee is calculated according to the predicted and cumulative ink consumption amounts according to the content of image formation input by the user in the image formation instruction process, and the candidate printers are narrowed down based on the additional fee.

[0057] In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is applied to the printer system 1 having the printers 100A to 100C, but is not limited thereto. The present invention may be applied to other inkjet type image forming apparatuses that eject ink from a head, such as multifunction machines and copy machines, or to systems having these image forming apparatuses. The present invention may also be applied to systems having laser type image forming apparatuses that perform image recording processing by adhering toner to print paper, instead of adhering ink to print paper in the inkjet method. In this case, a toner cartridge that contains toner is detachably mounted in the image forming apparatus. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 1 Printer System 100A~100C Printer 200 Mobile Devices 300 Fee Management Server

Claims

1. An image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses that perform image forming processing on a medium, a terminal device, and a server, The plurality of image forming apparatuses a fee plan in which a fee is charged for consumption of consumables associated with the image forming process, the fee being used based on a plurality of fee plans in which the manner in which the fee changes with respect to the consumption amount of the consumables differs from one another; The server, acquiring the fee according to the consumption amount of the consumable for each of the plurality of image forming devices, and transmitting information indicating the fee or information indicating a candidate image forming device that is the image forming device selected according to the fee to the terminal device; The terminal device A notification department; A control unit, The control unit is An image forming system characterized in that, when a request for the image forming process occurs, a recommended device notification process is executed before the image forming process is executed, in which information indicating the recommendation to use the candidate image forming device is notified to the notification unit based on information from the server.

2. The plurality of rate plans include: The image forming system of claim 1, further comprising: a first plan in which a fixed first fee is set for consumption of the consumable whose consumption amount in a specified service period is equal to or less than a reference value, and a second fee, higher than the first fee, is set for consumption of the consumable whose consumption amount in the specified service period exceeds the reference value; and a second plan in which the fee increases continuously and monotonically with the consumption amount of the consumable.

3. 3. The image forming system according to claim 2, wherein in the second plan, the fee is proportional to the consumption amount of the consumable.

4. When there are a plurality of the candidate image forming apparatuses selected according to the fee, The image forming system described in claim 1, characterized in that in the server or the terminal device, secondary candidate image forming devices are narrowed down from the multiple candidate image forming devices based on the contents of at least one of the fee plan and the image forming process, and the control unit notifies the notification unit of information indicating contents recommending the use of the narrowed down secondary candidate image forming devices.

5. An image forming system as described in claim 4, characterized in that when a service period corresponding to a specified amount of the fee is set for at least one of the multiple candidate image forming devices, the multiple candidate image forming devices having a period from the present time to the end of the service period shorter than a reference value are narrowed down as the secondary candidate image forming device.

6. An image forming system as described in claim 4, characterized in that when a service period corresponding to a specified amount of the fee is set for each of the multiple candidate image forming devices, the one of the multiple candidate image forming devices with the shortest period from the current time to the end of the service period is narrowed down as the secondary candidate image forming device.

7. the secondary candidate image forming apparatuses are narrowed down based on a comparison between the number of media used at one time in the image forming process and a reference value; the secondary candidate image forming apparatus narrowed down when the number of the media is greater than a reference value has a faster image formation speed for each of the media than the candidate image forming apparatuses other than the secondary candidate image forming apparatus; The image forming system described in claim 4, characterized in that the secondary candidate image forming device, which is narrowed down when the number of media is below a reference value, has a shorter time from receiving an image formation instruction in the image forming process to starting the image formation on the first media, compared to candidate image forming devices other than the secondary candidate image forming device.

8. The image forming system described in claim 4, characterized in that the secondary candidate image forming devices are narrowed down from the multiple candidate image forming devices based on the fee that would be incurred if, for each of the multiple candidate image forming devices, in addition to the image forming process related to the image forming process request, another image forming process was performed.

9. the fee plan is a first plan in which a fixed first fee is set for consumption of the consumables whose consumption amount in a specified service period is equal to or less than a reference value, and a second fee higher than the first fee is set for consumption of the consumables whose consumption amount in the specified service period exceeds the reference value; The image forming system described in claim 1, characterized in that when there are multiple candidate image forming devices selected based on the fee, and the second fee of the first plan is incurred regardless of which of the multiple candidate image forming devices the image forming process is performed in, the image forming process is distributed to two or more of the multiple candidate image forming devices so that the second fee is not incurred.

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