Information distribution and printing system and printing device

Abstract

After winning the bid, we will print the distributed images as quickly as possible. [Solution] The information distribution printing system 1 comprises a printer 200 and an advertising server 100 that receives advertising images submitted from advertisers and managed by an advertising management server 500 and distributes them to the printer 200. In S5, a bidding request for an advertising image is sent. In S8, the winning bid is determined from the bid results received in response to the bidding request sent in S5. In S23, the URL of the advertising image corresponding to the winning bid determined in S8 is obtained from the storage unit 510 that stores the advertising images. In S31, the advertising image is obtained from the storage unit 510 using the URL obtained in S23. In S31, the advertising image obtained in S31 is printed on paper by the printing unit 270. In S140, upon completion of printing of the advertising image by the printing unit 270, a request notification is sent to the advertising management server 500 to request compensation for the winning bid.

Claims

1. A printing device, and a distribution image provision server that receives distribution images submitted from the source and managed by the distribution image management server, and distributes them to the printing device. An information distribution and printing system equipped with, A request transmission unit that transmits a bidding request for the aforementioned distributed image, A bid determination unit determines a specific bid that will be awarded the contract from among the bid results received in response to the bid request transmitted by the request transmission unit, An access information acquisition unit acquires access information in a storage unit that stores the distribution image of the specific distribution image corresponding to the specific bid determined by the bid determination unit, A specific distribution image acquisition unit acquires the specific distribution image from the storage unit using the access information acquired by the access information acquisition unit, A printing unit that prints the specific distribution image acquired by the specific distribution image acquisition unit onto a printing medium, Upon completion of printing of the specified distribution image by the printing unit, the billing notification unit sends a billing notification to the distribution image management server to request payment for the specified bid; An information distribution and printing system having the following features.

2. The system further includes a layout information acquisition unit that acquires layout information of the specific distribution image on the printing medium, The aforementioned printing unit is The specific distribution image acquired by the specific distribution image acquisition unit is arranged based on the layout information acquired by the layout information acquisition unit and printed on the printing medium. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 1, configured in such a way.

3. The aforementioned distribution image management server includes the aforementioned storage unit, The aforementioned distribution image provision server comprises the request transmission unit, the successful bid determination unit, and the request notification unit, The information distribution printing system according to claim 2, wherein the printing apparatus comprises the layout information acquisition unit, the access information acquisition unit, the specific distribution image acquisition unit, and the printing unit.

4. The aforementioned image distribution server is Send multiple bidding requests for the aforementioned distribution images, From each of the multiple bidding results received in response to the bidding requests for the multiple distributed images, multiple specific bids that will be awarded the contract are sequentially determined. Each time the aforementioned specific bid is decided, the corresponding access information is sequentially received from the distribution image management server. The aforementioned printing apparatus, Multiple access pieces acquired sequentially are retrieved collectively from the distribution image provision server. The layout information relating to the multiple distributed images is acquired, Using each of the multiple access pieces of information acquired in a batch, the corresponding multiple specific distribution images are sequentially acquired from the storage unit. The multiple specific distribution images acquired sequentially are arranged sequentially according to the layout information and printed on the printing medium. The aforementioned image distribution server further, Upon completion of printing of the aforementioned multiple specific distribution images, the distribution image management server is sent multiple billing notifications to request the respective multiple rewards corresponding to the aforementioned multiple specific bids. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 3, configured as described above.

5. The aforementioned printing apparatus, At least one of the multiple specific distribution images acquired sequentially is reduced or enlarged to conform to the layout information. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 4, configured as described above.

6. The aforementioned image distribution server is The layout information relating to multiple distributed images is transmitted to the printing device. After transmitting the layout information, the bid requests for the multiple distribution images are transmitted. From each of the multiple bidding results received in response to the bidding requests for the multiple distributed images, multiple specific bids that will be awarded the contract are sequentially determined. Each time the aforementioned specific bid is decided, the corresponding access information is sequentially received from the distribution image management server. Each time the aforementioned access information is received, the received access information is sequentially transmitted to the printing device. The aforementioned printing apparatus, Each time the access information is transmitted from the aforementioned image distribution server, the multiple access pieces are sequentially acquired. Using each of the acquired access pieces of information, the corresponding multiple specific distribution images are sequentially acquired from the storage unit. The multiple specific distribution images acquired sequentially are arranged sequentially according to the layout information and printed on the printing medium. The aforementioned image distribution server further, Upon completion of printing of the aforementioned multiple specific distribution images, the distribution image management server is sent multiple billing notifications to request the respective multiple rewards corresponding to the aforementioned multiple specific bids. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 3, configured as described above.

7. The aforementioned image distribution server is Multiple bidding requests for the aforementioned distribution images are sent sequentially. From the bid results received in response to the aforementioned multiple bid requests, several specific bids that will be awarded the contract will be determined sequentially. Each time the aforementioned specific bid is decided, the corresponding access information is sequentially received from the distribution image management server. Each time the aforementioned access information is received from the distribution image management server, the received access information is sequentially transmitted to the printing device. The aforementioned printing apparatus, Each time the aforementioned access information is transmitted from the distribution image provision server, the transmitted access information, along with the layout information of the distribution image related to the access information, is retrieved from the distribution image provision server. After obtaining the multiple access pieces of information, the system sequentially retrieves the corresponding multiple specific distribution images from the storage unit using each of the obtained access pieces of information. The multiple specific distribution images acquired sequentially are arranged sequentially according to the layout information and printed on the printing medium. The aforementioned image distribution server further, Upon completion of printing of the aforementioned multiple specific distribution images, the distribution image management server is sent multiple billing notifications to request the respective multiple rewards corresponding to the aforementioned multiple specific bids. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 3, configured as described above.

8. The aforementioned image distribution server is Send multiple bidding requests for the aforementioned distribution images, From the multiple bidding results received in response to the bidding requests for the multiple distributed images, multiple specific bids that will be awarded the contract are determined. Multiple access pieces of information corresponding to each of the multiple specified bids that have been determined are received from the distribution image management server. The aforementioned printing apparatus, The multiple access pieces obtained are acquired collectively from the distribution image provision server. The layout information relating to the multiple distributed images is acquired, Using each of the acquired access pieces of information, the corresponding multiple specific distribution images are sequentially acquired from the storage unit. The multiple specific distribution images acquired sequentially are arranged sequentially according to the layout information and printed on the printing medium. The aforementioned image distribution server further, Upon completion of printing of the aforementioned multiple specific distribution images, the distribution image management server is sent multiple billing notifications to request the respective multiple rewards corresponding to the aforementioned multiple specific bids. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 3, configured as described above.

9. The aforementioned image distribution server is Multiple bidding requests for the aforementioned distribution images are sent sequentially. From the bid results received in response to the aforementioned multiple bid requests, several specific bids that will be awarded the contract will be determined sequentially. Each time the aforementioned specific bid is decided, the corresponding access information is sequentially received from the distribution image management server. Each time the aforementioned access information is received from the distribution image management server, the received access information is sequentially transmitted to the printing device. The aforementioned printing apparatus, Each time the aforementioned access information is transmitted from the distribution image provision server, the transmitted access information, along with the layout information of the distribution image related to the access information, is retrieved from the distribution image provision server. Each time the access information and layout information are acquired, the corresponding specific distribution image is sequentially acquired from the storage unit using the access information. Multiple of the specified distribution images acquired sequentially are arranged sequentially according to the layout information and printed on the printing medium. The aforementioned image distribution server further, Upon completion of printing of the aforementioned multiple specific distribution images, the distribution image management server is sent multiple billing notifications to request the respective multiple rewards corresponding to the aforementioned multiple specific bids. The information distribution and printing system according to claim 3, configured as described above.

10. The acquisition of at least one of the multiple specified distribution images and the placement of at least one of the multiple specified distribution images are performed in parallel. An information distribution and printing system according to any one of claims 3 to 9, configured as described above.

11. A printing device equipped with a control unit, connected to a distribution image provision server that receives and distributes distribution images submitted from the source and managed by a distribution image management server, The control unit, An access information acquisition process to acquire access information in the storage unit that stores the distribution image of the specific distribution image corresponding to the specific bid that will be awarded, which is determined from among the bid results received in response to the bidding request for the distribution image, A specific distribution image acquisition process is performed to acquire the specific distribution image from the storage unit using the access information acquired in the access information acquisition process, A printing process which prints the specific distribution image acquired in the specific distribution image acquisition process onto a printing medium, Upon completion of printing of the specified distribution image, a completion information output process is performed to output information indicating that printing of the specified distribution image has been completed, in order to request the distribution image management server for the compensation corresponding to the specified bid. A printing device configured to perform the following actions.

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