Content processing system, printing device, content processing method, and content processing program

Abstract

Execute billing at the appropriate time. [Solution] The content processing system 1 has an advertising server 100 that acquires advertisements in S22, outputs the advertisements acquired in S22 to the printer 200 in S145, and processes a claim for payment for printing the advertisements by the printer 200 in S185. In S185, the advertising server 100 processes the claim for payment after the printer 200 has finished preparing to print the advertisements, but before all of the advertisements have been printed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a content processing system, a printing apparatus, a content processing method, and a content processing program that perform billing processing for the price of printing content.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, when a service provider that has received a purchase request for media from a user receives an electronic copy of the media from a content provider, the service provider determines the number and size of advertisement information according to the layout of the electronic copy, and solicits bids from advertisement information providers. A technique for this is known. The service provider analyzes the bids from the advertisement information providers and selects the best bid. Selecting the best bid means determining the advertisement provider who is the winning bidder. The service provider enters the bid amount as a debit to the account of the advertisement provider who is the winning bidder, and enters a portion of the advertisement sales revenue obtained from a specific transaction as a credit to the content provider.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the technique described in Patent Document 1, when the winning bidder is determined, billing processing is executed according to the bid amount. However, for example, when printing the content of the winning bidder, there may be a case where a part of the printing result of the content has a defect. Also, there may be a case where printing cannot be executed due to the occurrence of some error. In these cases, if billing is performed in the same way as when there is no defect in the printing result of the content, there is a risk of being inappropriate, so there was room for consideration regarding the timing of executing the billing processing.

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a content processing system, a printing apparatus, a content processing method, and a content processing program that can perform billing processing at an appropriate time. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] To achieve the above objective, the present disclosure relates to the following technology: A content processing system for outputting content using an output device, comprising: an acquisition unit for acquiring the content; an output unit for outputting the content acquired by the acquisition unit to the output device; and a billing unit for processing a bill for the output of the content by the output device, wherein the billing unit processes the bill for the content after the preparation for outputting the content by the output device is complete and before the output of the content is completely finished.

[0007] In this disclosure, the billing unit requests payment after the output device has finished preparing for content output, but before the content output is completed. In other words, billing occurs at the time when the preparation for content output is complete, but before the content output is completed. This reduces the possibility of billing being processed if content output is not possible due to some malfunction before the preparation for output is complete, and also allows billing to be performed as early as possible. Therefore, according to the present disclosure, it becomes possible to perform the billing process at an appropriate time. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to this disclosure, billing can be performed at the appropriate time. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the content processing system according to the embodiment. [Figure 2]This is an explanatory diagram showing the detailed configuration of the printer. [Figure 3] This sequence diagram illustrates an example of the processing flow performed collaboratively by the ad delivery server, ad management server, and printer. [Figure 4] This sequence diagram illustrates an example of the processing flow performed collaboratively by the ad delivery server, ad management server, and printer. [Figure 5] This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an advertisement layout pattern determined by the ad provider server and used for soliciting bids. [Figure 6] This table shows an example of the coordinate data for each ad slot in each layout pattern. [Figure 7] This table shows the correspondence between layout ID, advertising bid ID, and billing notification status. [Figure 8] This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of how a printer behaves when printing on paper S. [Figure 9] This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of how a printer behaves when printing on vertically and horizontally oriented paper S. [Figure 10] This diagram shows the results of determining the amount of print needed to consider each advertisement as completed. [Figure 11] This sequence diagram illustrates an example of the workflow performed collaboratively by the advertising server, advertising management server, and printer in a modified version where a billing notification is sent once the printer is ready to print. [Figure 12] This sequence diagram illustrates an example of the workflow performed collaboratively by the advertising server, advertising management server, and printer in a modified version where a billing notification is sent once the printer is ready to print. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of this disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a content processing system that distributes content from a server to a printer for printing.

[0011] <Overall configuration of the content processing system> Figure 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a content processing system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the content processing system 1 includes an advertising server (SSP: Supply Side Platform) 100, a printer 200, a terminal device 300, a user management server (DMP: Data Management Platform) 400, and an advertising management server (DSP: Demand Side Platform) 500. Each of the servers 100, 400, 500, printer 200, and terminal device 300 is equipped with a communication unit and can communicate with each other via a network NT. The network NT includes one or more of the Internet, LAN (Local Area Network), and WAN (Wide Area Network). The communication unit may be configured to include multiple types of communication circuits for connecting to the network NT. In this case, devices connected to the network NT may communicate with multiple other devices using different communication circuits. In this embodiment, the collective term for multiple types of communication circuits is referred to as the communication unit.

[0012] <Advertising server> The ad provider server 100 requests bids for advertisements, receives bids in response to the requests, determines the winning bidder from the received bids, and retrieves the advertisement images provided by the determined winning bidder. The ad provider server 100 distributes a distribution image containing the retrieved advertisement images and other information to the printer 200 and has it printed. The advertisement is an example of content, and the winning bidder is an example of a specific bidder.

[0013] Specifically, the advertisement providing server 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 115, a communication unit 140, etc. The bus 105 connects the control unit 110, the storage unit 115, the communication unit 140, etc. so that they can communicate with each other. The storage unit 115 is, for example, a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM, a HDD, etc. The storage unit 115 stores various programs 120 and various data 130. The various programs 120 include a content processing program executed by the advertisement providing server 100 shown by the flows of FIGS. 3, 4, 11, and 12 described later. The various data 130 include a printer ID of the printer 200, a user ID, an advertisement image, etc.

[0014] The control unit 110 is a device that performs data processing, and is, for example, a processor such as a CPU. The control unit 110 executes various programs stored in the storage unit 115. The control unit 110 performs various processes including data communication with the printer 200, the terminal device 300, the user management server 400, and the advertisement management server 500 connected to the network NT. The communication unit 140 includes hardware such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to Ethernet. The communication unit 140 is connected to the network NT and communicates with the printer 200, the terminal device 300, the user management server 400, and the advertisement management server 500. The control unit 110 is an example of a computer.

[0015] <Advertisement Management Server> The advertising management server 500 is, for example, a server managed and operated by an advertising company. The advertising management server 500 transmits an advertising image for printing by the printer 200 to the advertising providing server 100. Similar to the advertising providing server 100, the advertising management server 500 includes a control unit, a storage unit, a communication unit, etc. The advertising management server 500 receives a bidding request from the advertising providing server 100 through the communication unit. The network NT connects the advertising management server 500 to a plurality of advertisers' terminal devices or servers (not shown). The advertising management server 500 pre-acquires from the terminal devices of a plurality of advertisers, etc., an advertising image, a bidding price indicating the purchase price of the advertising frame for arranging the advertising image, target users who want to distribute the advertising image, etc. Then, the information acquired by the storage unit is stored and managed. The control unit of the advertising management server 500 executes an auction for the advertisement in response to the bidding request from the advertising providing server 100 and solicits bids. The advertising management server 500 acquires bids from advertisers in response to the solicitation of bids based on the information that has been pre-acquired and stored from the advertisers. The advertising management server 500 transmits the acquired bids to the advertising providing server 100 as the bidding result in response to the bidding request. At this time, the advertising management server 500 may transmit, as the bidding result, a bid that conforms to the bidding conditions included in the bidding request. The advertising providing server 100 receives the bidding result transmitted from the advertising management server 500 and selects a suitable bid among the bids included in the bidding result. The advertising providing server 100 selects, for example, the bid with the highest bidding price. Then, the advertising providing server 100 acquires the advertising image of the advertiser who is the bidder of the selected bid, that is, the winning advertiser, from among the plurality of advertising images managed by the advertising management server 500. The advertising providing server 100 transmits a distribution image based on the acquired advertising image to the printer 200. The printer 200 prints an image based on the received distribution image on the printing paper S.

[0016] <Printer> The printer 200 prints the distribution image corresponding to the advertisement image obtained from the advertisement server 100 onto the printing paper S. The printer 200 includes a control unit 210, a storage unit 215, a display unit 240, an operation unit 250, a communication unit 260, a printing mechanism 270, etc. The bus 205 connects the control unit 210, the storage unit 215, the display unit 240, the operation unit 250, the communication unit 260, and the printing mechanism 270 so that they can send and receive information. The printer 200 is an example of a printing device and is also an example of an output device. Printing is an example of output.

[0017] In this example, printer 200 is a so-called multifunction device, and although illustrations and detailed explanations are omitted, it has other functions such as copying, scanning, and faxing in addition to printing, and each of these functions can be switched exclusively using known methods.

[0018] The storage unit 215 is, for example, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, HDD, etc. The storage unit 215 stores various programs 220 and various data 230. The various programs 220 include, for example, a program that executes the control contents of the printer 200 according to the flow shown in Figures 3, 4, 11, and 12 described later. The various data 230 include the aforementioned printer ID, advertising images received from the advertising server 100, etc. The advertising server 100 may store some or all of the above various data in the storage unit 115. Alternatively, one of the printer 200 and the advertising server 100 may store the original data of some or all of the various data, and the other of the printer 200 and the advertising server 100 may store a copy of that original data.

[0019] The control unit 210 is a data processing device, such as a processor like a CPU. The control unit 210 executes various programs stored in the storage unit 215. The display unit 240 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, a touch panel, etc., and can display various information. The operation unit 250 is, for example, a keyboard, buttons, etc., and accepts user input. The user can input various instructions to the printer 200 by operating the operation unit 250. The communication unit 260 is connected to the network NT and can communicate with servers 100, 400, 500 and terminal devices 300.

[0020] The detailed configuration of the printer 200 is shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2, the printing mechanism 270 of the printer 200 includes a head 270A with multiple nozzles N formed on its lower surface 10A, a moving mechanism 30 for moving the head 270A in the main scanning direction, a platen 40 for supporting the printing paper S from below, a transport mechanism 270B for transporting the printing paper S in the transport direction, and a maintenance unit 270C. The main scanning direction is the left-right direction in Figure 2, which is perpendicular to the vertical direction. The transport direction is the sub-scanning direction which is perpendicular to both the main scanning direction and the vertical direction.

[0021] Multiple nozzles N constitute four nozzle rows NR1 to NR4 aligned in the main scanning direction. Each nozzle row NR1 to NR4 consists of multiple nozzles N arranged at equal intervals along the sub-scanning direction.

[0022] The four nozzle rows NR1 to NR4 are arranged at equal intervals along the main scanning direction. The multiple nozzles N that make up these four nozzle rows NR1 to NR4 include nozzle row NR1 which ejects cyan ink, nozzle row NR2 which ejects magenta ink, nozzle row NR3 which ejects yellow ink, and nozzle row NR4 which ejects black ink.

[0023] The moving mechanism 30 includes a carriage 31, a pair of carriage frames 32, 33, a belt 34, a sub-tank 35, and a carriage motor (not shown). The carriage 31 holds the head 270A and the sub-tank 35. The pair of carriage frames 32, 33 support the carriage 31. The belt 34 is connected to the carriage 31. The carriage frames 32, 33 and the belt 34 extend in the main scanning direction. When the carriage motor is driven under the control of the control unit 210, which is a controller, the belt 34 travels and the carriage 31 moves along the carriage frames 32, 33 in the main scanning direction.

[0024] The main scanning direction includes the forward scanning direction, which is to the left in Figure 2, and the reverse scanning direction, which is to the right in Figure 2. The moving mechanism 30 can move the head 270A in both the forward scanning direction and the reverse scanning direction.

[0025] The cartridge holder 280 houses the cartridge 285. In Figure 2, four cartridges 285A to 285D are detachably mounted in the cartridge holder 280. Of the four cartridges 285A to 285D, if the specific cartridge is not identified, it may be referred to simply as "cartridge 285".

[0026] The four cartridges 285A to 285D are arranged in the main scanning direction and include cartridge 285A which stores cyan ink, cartridge 285B which stores magenta ink, cartridge 285C which stores yellow ink, and cartridge 285D which stores black ink. Four sub-tanks 35 are provided corresponding to nozzle rows NR1 to NR4, and the four sub-tanks 35 are connected to the four cartridges 285A to 285D mounted on the cartridge holder 280 via four tubes 17. In this way, ink is supplied from the four cartridges 285A to 285D to the sub-tanks 35.

[0027] As shown in Figure 1, the cartridge holder 280 is equipped with a reader / writer 290. The reader / writer 290 reads and writes cartridge information to the IC chip provided on the cartridge 285 housed in the cartridge holder 280. For example, by reading the cartridge information on the IC chip, the reader / writer 290 detects the type of cartridge 285 housed in the cartridge holder 280. Furthermore, the control unit 210 obtains the amount of ink used or remaining, stored in the IC chip within the cartridge 285, based on the readings by the reader / writer 290. If the remaining ink level falls below a predetermined threshold indicating that the ink level is low, the control unit 210 determines that this is an ink level error, which is a type of main unit error.

[0028] As shown in Figure 2, the print head 270A is mounted on the carriage 31 and connected to the lower end of the sub-tank 35. The ink from each cartridge 285A to 285D supplied to the sub-tank 35 is supplied to the corresponding nozzle rows NR1 to NR4. That is, the ink from cartridge 285A is supplied to be ejected from multiple nozzles N1 that make up nozzle row NR1, the ink from cartridge 285B is supplied to be ejected from multiple nozzles N2 that make up nozzle row NR2, the ink from cartridge 285C is supplied to be ejected from multiple nozzles N3 that make up nozzle row NR3, and the ink from cartridge 285D is supplied to be ejected from multiple nozzles N4 that make up nozzle row NR4.

[0029] The platen 40 is located below the head 270A. The printing paper S is supported on the upper surface of the platen 40.

[0030] The transport mechanism 270B includes two pairs of PF (Paper Feed) rollers 51 and 52, and a transport motor and paper feed rollers (not shown). Each pair of PF rollers 51 and 52 includes a drive roller driven by the transport motor and a driven roller that follows the drive roller. The head 270A and platen 40 are positioned between the PF roller pair 51 and 52 in the transport direction. When the transport motor is driven by the control unit 210, the paper feed rollers feed the printing paper S from the paper tray, and the PF roller pairs 51 and 52 rotate while gripping the printing paper S, transporting the printing paper S in the transport direction. In this way, the transport mechanism 270B transports the printing paper S relative to the head 270A.

[0031] As shown in Figure 2, the maintenance unit 270C includes a cap 71, a suction pump 72, and a waste liquid tank 73. The cap 71 is positioned to the right of the platen 40 in the main scanning direction. When the carriage 31 is positioned in the maintenance position to the right of the platen 40 in the main scanning direction, multiple nozzles N face the cap 71.

[0032] Furthermore, the cap 71 is movable up and down by a cap lifting mechanism 75 (not shown). When the carriage 31 is positioned in the maintenance position, the cap 71 is raised by the cap lifting mechanism, with the multiple nozzles N and the cap 71 facing each other. The upper end of the cap 71 then comes into close contact with the lower surface 10A of the head 270A, and the multiple nozzles N are covered by the cap 71. Note that the cap 71 is not limited to covering the multiple nozzles N by coming into close contact with the lower surface 10A of the head 270A. The cap 71 may also cover the multiple nozzles N by coming into close contact with, for example, a frame (not shown) arranged around the lower surface 10A of the head 270A.

[0033] The suction pump 72 is a tube pump or the like and is connected to the cap 71 and the waste liquid tank 73. In the maintenance unit 270C, when the suction pump 72 is driven with the multiple nozzles N covered by the cap 71 as described above, a so-called suction purge (recovery operation) can be performed, which discharges the ink from the head 270A through the multiple nozzles N. The ink discharged by the suction purge is stored in the waste liquid tank 73. The maintenance unit 270C can perform maintenance to resolve a discharge abnormality when the detection unit 275, described later, detects one. The maintenance unit 270C may also perform flushing. Flushing is a process in which, before printing onto the printing paper S, the carriage is positioned in a predetermined flushing position, and ink is ejected from multiple nozzles N provided by the print head 270A, thereby discharging the thickened ink from each nozzle N.

[0034] The printing mechanism 270 has a sensor 270D. The sensor 270D detects the position of the edge of the printing paper S being transported by the transport mechanism 270B. The sensor 270D is provided, for example, on the carriage 31, and the transport mechanism 270B transports the printing paper S and moves the carriage 31 to detect the position of the edge of the printing paper S. The sensor 270D is a non-contact sensor capable of detecting the edge of the printing paper S, and is, for example, an ultrasonic sensor or an optical sensor. Based on the detection result of the sensor 270D, the control unit 210 determines that skew has occurred in the printing paper S if the lengths of both ends of the printing paper S are outside a predetermined range including a reference value. Note that both ends of the printing paper S may be both ends of the printing paper S in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the printing paper S, i.e., the right end and left end of the printing paper S, or both ends of the printing paper S in the transport direction of the printing paper S, i.e., the front end and rear end of the printing paper S.

[0035] As shown in Figure 1, the detection unit 275 detects an ejection abnormality of the head 270A. The detection unit 275 detects the ejection abnormality by, for example, optical detection or a piezoelectric element. Optical detection is a method of detecting non-ejection or deviation in the ejection direction by irradiating light onto the ink droplets ejected and flying from the nozzle N and detecting the presence or absence and intensity of the reflected light. The inkjet method is a printing method that utilizes the inverse piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element, deforming the piezoelectric element by applying voltage, and ejecting ink droplets with the pressure wave generated. Detection using a piezoelectric element is a method of detecting ejection defects from the waveform by utilizing the reflection of the pressure wave generated for ink ejection within the pressure chamber, converting the deformation of the piezoelectric element due to this reflected wave into a voltage signal using the piezoelectric effect, and receiving the result of the waveform. The control unit 210 determines that an ejection abnormality of the nozzle N has occurred via the detection result of the detection unit 275.

[0036] The printer 200 has multiple cartridge holders 280, each holding one cartridge 285. The cartridges 285 are cartridges containing multiple ink colors, such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

[0037] In addition, the printer 200 is configured to detect, using known methods, the occurrence of paper jams or other issues in the transport mechanism 270B, as another example of a main unit error. In such cases, the control unit 210 also determines, based on the detection result, that a transport error, which is a type of main unit error, has occurred.

[0038] <Terminal device> As shown in Figure 1, the terminal device 300 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone owned by the user, and in this example connects to the network NT via wireless communication. The terminal device 300 can be any suitable terminal other than the printer 200, and may be a tablet PC, notebook PC, desktop PC, etc., in addition to a smartphone. Alternatively, the terminal device 300 may be a portable terminal or a stationary terminal installed in karaoke boxes or various stores for song selection, menu selection, product browsing, etc. The terminal device 300 has a display unit, control unit, operation unit, memory unit, communication unit, etc. (not shown). The memory unit stores various programs. The control unit executes the various programs stored in the memory unit. The user can input various instructions to the terminal device 300 by operating the operation unit.

[0039] <User Management Server> The user management server 400 manages user information via the terminal device 300. The user management server 400 includes a control unit (not shown), a storage unit, a communication unit, and the like.

[0040] Furthermore, a single "server" may constitute each of the above servers 100, 400, and 500, or multiple "servers" may constitute each of the above servers 100, 400, and 500. Alternatively, a single "server" may possess two or more functions from among those servers 100, 400, and 500.

[0041] <Features of the Embodiment> As described above, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 requests bids for printing advertisements, receives bids in response to the bidding request, determines which bids will be awarded, and acquires the advertisement images provided by the winning bidders. The advertising server 100 then performs billing processing for the winning bidders. When printing the awarded advertisement images, defects may occur in some parts of the printout. In addition, printing may not be possible due to some kind of error. In these cases, billing in the same way as when no defects occur in the printout may be inappropriate.

[0042] The key feature of this embodiment is that billing is performed at an appropriate time by requesting payment after the preparation for printing the advertising image is complete but before the printing of the advertising image is complete. The details of this process are described below.

[0043] <Content Processing System Control Details> Figures 3 and 4 are sequence diagrams showing the control in the content processing method of this embodiment, which is executed collaboratively by the ad delivery server 100, the ad management server 500, and the printer 200. In Figures 3 and 4, the main entities that execute each process are the control unit 110 of the ad delivery server 100, the control unit of the ad management server 500, and the control unit 210 of the printer 200.

[0044] In Figure 3, the ad provider server 100 first determines the layout pattern of the ad for which bids are being solicited in S2. Examples of the determined layout patterns are shown in Figures 5(a) and 5(b).

[0045] <Layout Pattern> In this embodiment, for example, A4 size paper measuring 210 mm x 297 mm is used as the printing paper S. In this example, the advertisement is printed across two pages of the printing paper S, with Figure 5(a) showing the layout pattern LP1 of the advertisement on the first page and Figure 5(b) showing the layout pattern LP2 of the advertisement on the second page. The storage unit 115 of the advertisement provision server 100 stores a plurality of predetermined layout patterns such as these in advance.

[0046] In the example layout pattern LP1 shown in Figure 5(a), when an A4-sized printing sheet S is viewed in portrait orientation, the advertising frame indicated by number (1) (hereinafter referred to as "advertising frame 1," etc.) is placed on the left half of the printing sheet S, occupying half the size of an A4 sheet. On the right half of the printing sheet S, advertising frames 2, 3, and 4 are placed from top to bottom.

[0047] In the example layout pattern LP2 shown in Figure 5(b), when an A4-sized printing sheet S is viewed in portrait orientation, the advertising frame 5 is positioned on the left half of the printing sheet S, occupying half the size of an A4 sheet, and the advertising frame 6 is positioned on the right half of the printing sheet S, occupying half the size of an A4 sheet.

[0048] In this embodiment, the layout patterns LP1 and LP2 are defined by XY coordinate data with the upper left corner of a 210mm x 297mm A4 size as the origin (0,0), as shown in Figure 6, and are stored in a table format, for example, in the storage unit 115 of the advertising server 100. Figure 6 shows an example of the coordinate data for the layout patterns shown in Figures 5(a) and 5(b). The coordinate data for the layout pattern in Figure 6 includes information that associates the layout pattern ID with the page number, layout ID with the starting coordinates, width, and height. The layout pattern ID is information that identifies the layout pattern. The page number is information that identifies the page. The layout ID is information that identifies each of the multiple ad slots included in the layout pattern. The starting coordinates are the coordinates indicating the position of the top-left corner of the ad slot. The width is the size of the ad slot in the X direction. The height is the size of the ad slot in the Y direction.

[0049] In Figure 6, for example, in the advertisement frame 1 shown in Figure 5(a), the starting coordinates corresponding to the printing start point are (10,10) on the above XY coordinate system. The dimension in the X direction, which is the scanning direction, from these starting coordinates is 90 mm, and the dimension in the Y direction, which is the sub-scanning direction, is 277 mm. In Figure 5(a), the numbers near the outline of advertisement frame 1 represent the above 277 mm and 90 mm. In other words, in this example, the length "1" on the coordinate system is equal to 1 mm. The same applies to the other advertisement frames 2 to 6, although the explanation is omitted.

[0050] Returning to Figure 3, the storage unit 115 of the advertising server 100 also stores, for example, a predetermined minimum bid price for soliciting bids for advertisements. In S5, the advertising server 100 determines the minimum bid price based on the contents stored in the storage unit 115. The advertising server 100 requests bids for printing advertisements by sending a bid request to the advertising management server 500, which includes the advertisement layout pattern determined in S2 and the minimum bid price determined above. At that time, the advertising server 100 requests advertisements that meet predetermined conditions, including having a bid price equal to or higher than the minimum bid price, in the bid request. The control unit 110 of the advertising server 100 is an example of a request unit.

[0051] The advertising management server 500 responds to the bidding requests sent by the advertising provision server 100 by conducting an auction for suitable advertisements and soliciting bids.

[0052] In S7, the ad provider server 100 receives the bidding results from the ad management server 500 for the auction in response to the bidding request sent in S5. The bidding results include the bids made by bidders who meet the predetermined conditions requested in the bidding request, if any bids meet those conditions. The bidding results also include a statement to the effect that there were no bids that met the predetermined conditions requested in the bidding request. The control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 executing S7 is an example of a receiving unit.

[0053] In S8, the ad provider server 100 determines, based on the content received in S7, whether or not there was a bid that met the winning conditions, and decides that the bid that met the winning conditions will be the winning advertisement. In other words, the ad provider server 100 decides which bids will be the winning bids from the bid results received in S7. Winning conditions include, for example, having the highest bid price. In addition, the conditions for winning bids may include meeting predetermined conditions requested in the bid request. The control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 that executes S8 is an example of a decision unit.

[0054] In S10, the ad provider server 100 sends a "hold notification" to the ad management server 500 for advertisers who have submitted bids that meet the bidding conditions, i.e., successful bidders. A "hold notification" is a notification to advertisers who have submitted bids that meet the bidding conditions, i.e., successful bidders, informing them that processing of their bids will be temporarily suspended until their bids are accepted and an invoice notification is sent. The ad management server 500 sends the received hold notification to the successful bidder's terminal device, etc. If there are multiple bids that meet the bidding conditions, the ad provider server 100 may send multiple hold notifications. Furthermore, the ad provider server 100 assigns the identification information of the bids for which a pending notification was sent as the winning bid ID to each of the multiple ad slots 1 to 6 included in the layout pattern. Figure 7 shows the correspondence between the layout ID, successful bid ID, and billing notification status for each ad slot 1-6 at this time. In this example, successful bids have been made for the advertisements to be placed in each of the layout IDs representing ad slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and each layout ID is associated with the corresponding successful bid IDs "AAA", "BBB", "CCC", "DDD", "EEE", and "FFF". Furthermore, the billing notification status associated with each successful bid ID "AAA", "BBB", "CCC", "DDD", "EEE", and "FFF" is all "Not yet completed", indicating that the billing notification has not been completed.

[0055] Returning to Figure 3, in S15, the ad provider server 100 sends a "defeat notification" to the ad management server 500 for advertisers who have submitted bids that do not meet the bidding conditions, i.e., non-winning bidders. A "defeat notification" is a notification to inform advertisers who have submitted bids that do not meet the bidding conditions, i.e., non-winning bidders, that their bids will not be accepted because there is another winning bidder. The ad management server 500 sends the received defeat notification to the terminal device of the non-winning bidder. If there are multiple bids that do not meet the bidding conditions, the ad provider server 100 may send multiple defeat notifications.

[0056] In S17, the ad provider server 100 sends an ad image request to the ad management server 500 requesting an ad image from the successful bidder who sent a hold notification in S10. If there are multiple successful bidders, the ad provider server 100 may send multiple ad image requests. In response to the above ad image requests, the ad management server 500 sends the ad image from the successful bidder to the ad provider server 100 in S20.

[0057] In S22, the ad provider server 100 receives the ad image sent by the successful bidder from the ad management server 500, and acquires the ad image provided by the successful bidder for the bid determined to be successful in S8. The ad provider server 100 stores the acquired ad image in, for example, the storage unit 115. S22 is an example of an acquisition step and an example of an acquisition process. The control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 that executes S22 is an example of an acquisition unit.

[0058] In S24, the ad provider server 100 creates a distribution image in which the winning bidder's ad images are placed. Specifically, it creates a distribution image by placing the ad images received from the ad management server 500 in S22 into each of the multiple ad slots included in the layout pattern. Alternatively, instead of the ad provider server 100 creating the distribution image, the ad management server 500 may create the distribution image and the ad provider server 100 may retrieve it. Furthermore, instead of the ad provider server 100 creating the distribution image in S24, it may create print data for printing the distribution image using various page description languages.

[0059] In S26, the ad delivery server 100 determines the amount of printing required for each of the multiple ad placement frames, i.e., the multiple ad frames 1 to 6, contained in the distribution image generated in S24, from the start of printing on the printing paper S until the completion of printing for each ad frame is confirmed. This amount of printing is explained with reference to Figures 8(a), 8(b), 9(a), and 9(b).

[0060] <Print volume until print confirmation> Figures 8(a) and 8(b) show an example of the behavior of the printer 200 of this embodiment when printing on a sheet of paper S. As shown in Figure 8(a), the PF roller pair 51 provided in the transport mechanism 270B starts transporting the sheet of paper S along a sub-scanning direction (up and down direction) perpendicular to the scanning direction (left and right direction in the figure) of the head 270A. As shown in Figure 8(b), the PF roller pair 51 transports the sheet of paper S downwards in the figure. In the state shown in Figure 8(b), when the distance L0 is the distance in the sub-scanning direction between the head 270A and the PF roller pair 51, the distance L1 is the distance in the sub-scanning direction from the leading edge of the sheet of paper S in the transport direction to the PF roller pair 51, which corresponds to the distance L2 from the head 270A to the leading edge of the sheet of paper S in the transport direction. That is, distance L2 roughly corresponds to the distance that has been printed by the head 270A.

[0061] Specifically, Figure 9(a) shows the behavior when printing on A4-sized paper S using the layout pattern shown in Figure 5(a). In this example, similar to Figures 8(a) and 8(b) above, the paper S is placed vertically so that the longer side of the A4 size aligns with the sub-scanning direction. In the illustrated example, the aforementioned distance L2 = 100 mm from the head 270 A to the leading edge of the paper S in the transport direction, and since there is a margin area of ​​10 mm, the distance printed by the head 270 A is 90 mm. In other words, in this state, of the aforementioned ad slots 1 to 4, the ad image in ad slot 1 has been printed up to 90 mm of the 277 mm sub-scan direction, while the ad image in ad slot 2 has been printed entirely up to 90 mm in the sub-scan direction. The ad images in ad slot 3 and ad slot 4 have not yet been printed at all. As a result, it can be seen that the printing distance at which printing can be considered complete for the advertising image in advertising frame 2 after the leading edge of the printing paper S reaches the lower end in the sub-scanning direction of the head 270A is 100 mm. Furthermore, it can be seen that the printing distance at which printing can be considered complete for both the advertising image in advertising frame 3, which is placed with a 10 mm margin between it and advertising frame 2, and the advertising image in advertising frame 2 is 100 + 10 + 90 = 200 mm. In addition, it can be seen that the printing distance at which printing can be considered complete and printing confirmed for all advertising images in advertising frames 1, 2, 3, and 4, including advertising frame 4, which is placed with a 10 mm margin between it and advertising frame 3, advertising frames 2 and 3, and advertising frame 1, is 200 + 10 + 77 = 287 mm.

[0062] The example in Figure 9(b) shows a case where the printing paper S is placed horizontally so that the shorter side of the A4 size paper aligns with the sub-scanning direction. In the illustrated example, the aforementioned distance L2 = 100 mm from the head 270A to the leading edge of the printing paper S in the transport direction, and since there is a margin area of ​​10 mm, the distance printed by the head 270A is 90 mm. In other words, in this state, of the aforementioned advertising frames 1 to 4, the advertising image in advertising frame 1 has been printed up to 90 mm in the sub-scanning direction, while the advertising images in advertising frames 2, 3, and 4 have not yet been printed at all. As a result, it can be seen that the printing distance at which printing can be considered complete for the advertising image in advertising frame 1 after the leading edge of the printing paper S reaches the lower end of the head 270A in the sub-scanning direction is 100 mm. Furthermore, considering advertising frames 2, 3, and 4, which are positioned with a 10 mm margin between them and advertising frame 1, the total printing distance at which printing can be considered complete and printing confirmed for all advertising images in advertising frames 1, 2, 3, and 4 is 100 + 10 + 90 = 200 mm.

[0063] Returning to Figure 3, in S26, the advertising server 100 determines, as described above, the printing distance in the sub-scanning direction, i.e., the amount of printing required, for each advertising image, for both the case where the printing paper S is oriented vertically and horizontally. Figures 10(a) and 10(b) show examples of the results of determining the amount of printing at this time.

[0064] Figure 10(a) shows the case where the printing paper S is placed vertically. This example shows a case where an advertisement is printed across two pages of the printing paper S, with the first page printed using the layout pattern shown in Figure 5(a) and the second page printed using the layout pattern shown in Figure 5(b). On the first page, when printing the advertising images within advertising slots 1, 2, 3, and 4, as mentioned above, the amount of printing required to consider the advertising image in advertising slot 2 as complete is 100 mm, the amount of printing required to consider the advertising images in both advertising slots 2 and 3 as complete is 200 mm, and the amount of printing required to consider the advertising images in all advertising slots 1, 2, 3, and 4 as complete is 287 mm. Subsequently, on the second page, where the advertising images within advertising frames 5 and 6 are printed, as shown in Figure 5(b), since the sub-scanning length of advertising frames 5 and 6 is 277 mm, and including the 10 mm margin area at the start of printing on the second page, the amount of printable area for the advertising images within advertising frames 5 and 6 that can be considered complete is 287 mm.

[0065] Figure 10(b) shows the case where the printing paper S is oriented horizontally. In this example as well, the first page is printed using the layout pattern shown in Figure 5(a) above, and the second page is printed using the layout pattern shown in Figure 5(b) above. On the first page, when printing the advertising images within advertising slots 1, 2, 3, and 4, as mentioned above, the amount of printing required to consider the advertising image within advertising slot 1 as complete is 100 mm, and the amount of printing required to consider the advertising images within all advertising slots 1, 2, 3, and 4 as complete is 200 mm. Subsequently, on the second page, where the advertising images in advertising frames 5 and 6 are printed, as shown in Figure 5(b), since the length of advertising frames 5 and 6 in the main scanning direction is 90 mm each, and including the 10 mm margin area at the start of printing on the second page, the amount of printable material that can be considered complete for the advertising image in advertising frame 5, which is printed first, is 100 mm. For both the advertising image in advertising frame 6, which is separated from advertising frame 5 by a 10 mm margin, and the advertising image in advertising frame 5, the amount of printable material that can be considered complete is 200 mm.

[0066] The print volume values ​​for each advertisement image that are considered complete, determined in S26, are stored by the advertisement provision server 100 in the storage unit 115 in the form of a table as shown in Figures 10(a) and 10(b). Furthermore, the value of the amount of printing that can be considered complete, stored in this memory unit 115, provides a completion criterion for determining whether a predetermined progress has been reached and whether the printing of each advertisement image has been completed, as determined in the decisions made in S170 and S175 described later. Therefore, the control unit 110 of the advertisement provision server 100 that executes S26 is an example of a completion criterion determination unit.

[0067] In S30, the ad delivery server 100 delivers a print command to the printer 200 that includes the URL of the distribution image created in S24. At that time, the print command also includes various print settings for the printer 200 when printing the distribution image, and instructions for setting the notification timing when the printer 200 notifies the ad delivery server 100 of the print status when printing is performed (details will be described later).

[0068] <Notification of printing status> As mentioned above, in this embodiment, payment for printing is requested at an appropriate time before the printing of the distributed image is completed. To this end, after the printing of the distributed image begins, the printer 200 notifies the advertising server 100 of the printing status of the distributed image at a predetermined notification timing. An example of this notification timing is as follows. Each time a predetermined period has elapsed; for example, every 5 seconds. Each time a predetermined amount of print is completed; for example, 10 mm Each time printing of a page is completed; When one print job based on one print instruction is completed; Furthermore, the notification timing may be set variably according to the data volume of each advertisement. In this case, the timing of notifying the advertisement provider server 100 of the progress of the printer 200 can be appropriately changed and set according to the data volume of the advertisement.

[0069] In addition, in S30, the ad delivery server 100 issued a print command including the URL of the delivered image, but instead, the ad delivery server 100 may deliver the delivered image to the printer 200. Alternatively, instead of delivering the delivered image to the printer 200, the ad delivery server 100 may send the printer 200 a page description language for printing the delivered image, or the link destination of the delivered image.

[0070] In S35, the printer 200 receives the print instruction sent by the advertising server 100 in S30 and stores it in the storage unit 215. The printer 200 also sets the notification timing for the print status to be applied in S160, described later, according to the notification timing instruction included in the received print instruction. The control unit 210 of the printer 200 that executes S35 is an example of a timing determination unit.

[0071] In S100, the printer 200 performs predetermined print preparation processes. These print preparation processes include, for example, the following: The transport mechanism 270B ensures that the print paper S is properly positioned at a predetermined printing start position for printing the distributed image. This is known as "heading" or "initial alignment." Check whether other functions besides the printer function, such as the copy function, scanner function, and fax function, are being used. Checking for any internal errors in the printer 200. This is also known as an error check. The main unit errors in the error check include, for example, the ink level error that occurs when the ink level falls below a predetermined threshold, indicating that the ink level is low, and the transport error that occurs when the print paper S jams in the transport mechanism 270B. The above-mentioned lead-out is an example of pre-processing.

[0072] In S105, the printer 200 determines whether any of the following has occurred during the print preparation process performed in S100. The occurrence of skew, which makes normal positioning impossible during the above-mentioned head-out; Execute other functions; A system error has occurred; In this example, if one or more of the above three conditions occur, S105 is determined to be YES, and the printer 200 sends a cancellation notice to the advertising server 100 so that the advertising server 100 can issue the bid cancellation notice described later. If none of the above three conditions occur, S105 is judged as NO, and the process proceeds to S110. Note that in S105, it is not necessary to make a judgment on all three of the above; it is sufficient to make a judgment on at least one. In that case, the printer 200 will determine S105 as YES if one or more of the conditions being judged have occurred, and as NO if none of them have occurred.

[0073] In S110, the printer 200 performs a resource check. In this case, the resources include the remaining amount of ink, the remaining amount of printing paper S, and the remaining memory capacity of the storage unit 215, etc., which are necessary for the printer 200 to perform printing. If the printer 200 is a laser printer rather than an inkjet printer, the resources include the remaining amount of toner, etc. Then, in S115, based on the resource check results of S110, it is determined whether the above-mentioned ink levels, remaining amount of printing paper S, remaining memory capacity of the storage unit 215, toner amount, etc. are below the corresponding predetermined thresholds and are in a state of insufficient resources. The control unit 210 of the printer 200 that performs S105 and S115 is an example of a ready-to-print determination unit. If all resources are in the required quantity or more, a NO judgment is made, and the process proceeds to S140 in Figure 4 described below. If any resource is below the required quantity, a YES judgment is made, and the printer 200 sends the above cancellation notification to the advertisement provider server 100. In addition, in S115, it is not necessary to make a judgment on all of the above, such as the remaining ink level, the remaining amount of printing paper S, the remaining memory capacity of the storage unit 215, and the amount of toner; it is sufficient to make a judgment on at least one of them. In that case, the printer 200 will determine S115 as YES if one or more of the items being judged are present, and as NO if none of them are present. Next, in S140, the printer 200 sends a request for the delivery of an advertising image to the advertising server 100.

[0074] After S30, if the ad provider server 100 receives any notification from the printer 200, it determines in S116 that it has received an arbitrary message and proceeds to S117. If the ad provider server 100 has not received any notification from the printer 200, it determines in S116 that it has not received an arbitrary message and proceeds to repeat S116. In S117, it is determined whether or not the above cancellation notification has been received from the printer 200. If the advertising server 100 has received the advertising request sent in S140, it determines NO because it has not received the cancellation notification and proceeds to S145 in Figure 4 described later. If the cancellation notification has been received, it determines YES and proceeds to S120.

[0075] In S120, the ad provider server 100 sends a bid cancellation notice to the ad management server 500, revoking the aforementioned successful bid determined in S8. Based on the bid cancellation notice received from the ad provider server 100, the ad management server 500 notifies the advertiser, who was the successful bidder for the relevant ad, of the cancellation of the bid.

[0076] In S130, the ad provider server 100 stores the distribution image for which the bid was canceled in S120 as a failure history in the storage unit 115, linking it with historical information such as the bid conditions, cancellation reason information, and cancellation confirmation date and time when the ad image contained in the distribution image was won, and then terminates processing.

[0077] In S145, the ad delivery server 100 sends the delivery image, including the ad image, as ad delivery data to the printer 200 in response to the ad request sent in S140. The printer 200 receives the ad delivery data.

[0078] In S150, the printer 200 begins printing the distribution images included in the advertising distribution data received in S145. That is, the printer 200 prints the distribution images corresponding to the advertising images acquired by the advertising server 100 in S22. The printer 200 uses its printing mechanism 270 to print the distribution images corresponding to the advertising images provided by the winning bidder determined from the advertising bidding results onto the printing paper S. Furthermore, if the advertising server 100 transmits the link destination of the delivered image in S145, the printer 200 accesses the URL of that link, for example, to obtain the delivered image and then performs printing. S145 is an example of an output step and an example of an output process. Also, the control unit 110 of the advertising server 100 that executes S145 is an example of an output unit.

[0079] After printing begins in S150, the printer 200 determines in S155 whether or not any abnormality has occurred within the printer 200 itself. Specifically, as mentioned above, the printer 200 uses the detection unit 275 to determine whether or not there is an ejection abnormality in the nozzles of the print head 270A. If an abnormality occurs in printer 200, S155 is judged as YES and processing proceeds to S265. If there is no particular abnormality in printer 200, S155 is judged as NO and processing proceeds to S160.

[0080] In S160, the printer 200 determines whether the notification timing for the print status, as set in S35 above, has arrived. If the notification timing has not arrived, S160 is judged as NO, and the process returns to S155 and the same process as above is repeated. If the notification timing has arrived, S160 is judged as YES, and the process proceeds to S165.

[0081] In S165, the printer 200 sends a print status notification to the advertising server 100 that indicates its current printing status. The print status notification includes, for example, the page number of the paper being printed S, and the transport distance in the sub-scanning direction that has been completed since the start of printing up to this point, in other words, the amount of print as described above. After S165, in S260, the printer 200 determines whether the printing operation for the advertisement printout started in S150 has stopped. If the printer 200 has printed all the advertisement images in the advertisement printout started in S150, it determines YES in S260 and proceeds to S265. On the other hand, if there are any unprinted advertisement images, the printer 200 determines NO in S260 and returns to S155. In S265, the printer 200 determines whether there is a job in progress, that is, whether the advertisement print job is in the process of printing. If the advertisement print job is in the process of printing, the printer 200 determines YES in S265 and proceeds to S270. On the other hand, if the advertisement print job is not in the process of printing and has stopped, the printer 200 determines NO in S260 and proceeds to S275. In S270, printer 200 cancels the print job that is currently in progress. Printer 200 ejects the print paper S that was being printed and stops the printing operation. It also deletes the advertising delivery data for which the printing operation was stopped. After S270, in S275, the printer 200 sends a print completion notification to the advertisement server 100.

[0082] When the advertising server 100 receives the above-mentioned print status notification from the printer 200 in S165, or the above-mentioned print completion notification from the printer 200 in S275, it determines in S170 whether the print status of the printer 200 has reached a predetermined progress. In this case, the predetermined progress is, for example, associated with each of the multiple advertisements, and is when the amount of print of the advertisement image reaches a predetermined amount after the leading edge of the printing paper S reaches the lower end of the sub-scanning direction of the head 270A. The predetermined amount may be defined by a specific value such as the printing distance in the sub-scanning direction of ○○ mm, or by a predetermined percentage of the image of each advertisement, for example, 80%. Consider the case where a predetermined progress is set as shown in Figure 10(a). When the advertising server 100 receives a print status notification from the printer 200 every 10 mm of print volume in the sub-scanning direction, it determines, based on the print volume included in the print status notification, whether the print volume of the advertisement image since the leading edge of the first page of paper S reached the lower end of the sub-scanning direction of the head 270A has reached 100 mm. If the advertising server 100 determines that 100 mm has been reached, it determines S170 as YES. On the other hand, if the print volume included in the print status notification is less than 100 mm, or if it receives a print completion notification, the advertising server 100 determines S170 as NO. The ad provider server 100 determines S170 as NO and returns to S170 until the predetermined progress is reached. Once the predetermined progress is reached, it determines S170 as YES and proceeds to S190.

[0083] In S175, the control unit 110 of the ad delivery server 100 determines, based on a predetermined progress, which of the multiple ad images included in the delivered image has been printed by the printer 200. In the example shown in Figure 10(a), the control unit 110 of the ad delivery server 100 determines that the ad image that has been printed when the amount of printing in the sub-scanning direction of the first page reaches 100 mm is the ad image within ad frame 2. Once the advertisement image that has been printed is determined, the advertisement server 100 proceeds to process S177 described below. Furthermore, the control unit 110 of the advertising service server 100 that executes S170 and S175 is an example of a status determination unit, and of these, the control unit 110 of the advertising service server 100 that executes S170 is an example of a progress determination unit. Of these, the control unit 110 of the advertising service server 100 that executes S175 is an example of a completion determination unit. In S177, the control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 determines whether the billing notification status for the ad image determined in S175 is "not billed" or not. Specifically, the control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 refers to Figure 6 and determines whether the billing notification status associated with the layout ID of the ad slot where the ad image determined in S175 is placed is "not billed". If the billing notification status is "not billed", the control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 determines YES in S177 and proceeds to S180. If the billing notification status is "completed" and not "not billed", the control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 determines NO in S177 and proceeds to S190. In S180, the control unit 110 of the advertisement provision server 100 determines that the printing of the advertisement determined in S175 was successful.

[0084] In S185, the ad provider server 100 sends a billing notification to the ad management server 500 to request payment for printing the ad from the advertiser whose ad was successfully printed in S180, who was the successful bidder for the ad included in the distributed image sent to the printer 200 in S30. In the example shown in Figure 10(a), the control unit 110 of the ad provider server 100 identifies the successful bid ID "BBB" for the ad image in the ad slot 2 using the table shown in Figure 7, and sends a billing notification for the successful bid ID "BBB". Subsequently, the ad provider server 100 changes the status of the billing notification associated with the successful bid ID "BBB" to "Completed" in the table shown in Figure 6. This S185 is an example of a billing step, an example of a billing process, and also an example of a notification process. Furthermore, the control unit 110 of the advertising server 100 that executes S185 is an example of a billing unit. After S185, in S190, the ad delivery server 100 determines whether or not it has received a print completion notification. If the ad delivery server 100 has received a print completion notification, it determines YES in S190 and proceeds to S200. If it determines that it has not received a print completion notification, it determines NO in S190 and returns to S170.

[0085] In S200, the ad provider server 100 determines whether or not there are any unbilled ads. Specifically, the ad provider server 100 refers to Figure 6 and determines whether or not there are any successful bid IDs associated with a billing notification status of "Unbilled". If there are successful bid IDs with a billing notification status of "Unbilled", the ad provider server 100 determines YES in S200 and proceeds to S210. If there are no successful bid IDs with a billing notification status of "Unbilled", the ad provider server 100 determines NO in S200 and proceeds to S255. In S210, the advertising server 100 determines that printing of the winning bid ID associated with the billing notification status "Not yet" has failed. The control unit 110 of unit 100 is an example of a billing unit.

[0086] After S210, in S220, the ad provider server 100 sends a bid cancellation notice to the ad management server 500 for the winning bid IDs whose billing notification status is "Not yet". This bid cancellation notice is a notice to withdraw the aforementioned winning bid determined in S8, and is a notice to withdraw the winning bid from the advertiser of the advertisement that was deemed a printing failure in S210, who was the winning bidder that provided the advertising image included in the distribution image sent to the printer 200 in S30. After S220, the ad provider server 100 proceeds to processing in S255.

[0087] In S245, the advertising management server 500 either sends a billing notice for payment to the terminal device of the relevant successful bidder based on the billing notice received from the advertising provider server 100, or, based on the successful bid cancellation notice received from the advertising provider server 100, notifies the terminal device of the relevant successful bidder of the cancellation of the successful bid.

[0088] In S255, the advertising server 100 stores the distributed image sent to the printer 200 in S30 in the storage unit 115 as a success history or failure history, linking it with the printer ID of the corresponding printer 200, the user ID of the corresponding user, the current time information, and the bidding conditions when the advertising image contained in the distributed image was successfully bid on, and then terminates processing. Note that the success history or failure history may be stored in the storage unit 115 not only on a distributed image basis, but also on a per-advertising image basis.

[0089] <Effects of the Embodiment> As explained above, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 requests payment in S240 after the preparation for printing advertisements by the printer 200 is completed in S100 and S110, but before all advertisements have been printed on the printing paper S and the advertising server 100 has determined S250 to be YES. In other words, billing is performed at a timing before all advertisements have been printed, but after the preparation for printing advertisements has been completed. This reduces the possibility of billing being processed if the advertisement cannot be printed due to some malfunction before the print preparation is complete (S105, S115: NO), and also allows billing to be performed as early as possible. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it becomes possible to perform the billing process at an appropriate time.

[0090] In this embodiment, a so-called auction is performed. The ad provider server 100 requests bids for ad output in S5 and receives the bids in S7. The ad provider server 100 decides which bid to win from the received bids in S8, obtains the winning bidder's ad in S22, and the printer 200 prints the ad in S150. According to this embodiment, the advertising server 100 can, in S185, request payment from the successful bidder of the auction at an appropriate time.

[0091] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 determines in S105 and S115 whether the preparation for printing the advertisement is complete, and if it determines that the preparation is complete, it requests payment in S185. This reduces the possibility of requesting payment if the advertisement cannot be output due to some malfunction before the preparation for printing the advertisement is complete.

[0092] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the ad provider server 100 determines in S105 and S115 that the preparation for printing the ad is not yet complete, it executes S117 → S120 → S130 and does not execute S185, and therefore does not request payment. This reliably reduces the possibility of requesting payment if the ad cannot be output due to some malfunction before the preparation for printing the ad is complete.

[0093] Furthermore, in this embodiment in particular, the advertising server 100 requests payment in S185 if the remaining amount of consumables necessary for printing the advertising image on the printer 200, such as ink, toner, and paper, is above a threshold and S105 can be determined as YES. This reduces the possibility of requesting payment when the remaining amount of these consumables is below the threshold and the advertisement cannot be printed properly.

[0094] Furthermore, in this embodiment in particular, the advertising server 100 requests payment in S185 only if the printing paper S on which the advertising image is printed reaches the printing start position normally and S105 can be determined as YES. This reduces the possibility of charging payment if the printing paper S does not reach the printing start position normally and the advertisement cannot be printed.

[0095] In this embodiment, the advertising server 100 determines the progress of printing multiple advertisements onto the printing paper S in S170 and S175, and when the progress of at least one advertisement reaches a predetermined stage, more specifically when it determines in S175 that the printing of at least one advertisement has been completed, it requests payment in S185. This makes it possible to charge at a predetermined time between the start of advertising printing by printer 200 on S150 and the completion of all advertising printing. As a result, billing can be performed at an earlier time compared to waiting for the printing of advertisements to be completed before charging.

[0096] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the ad delivery server 100 determines in S8 the timing at which each of the multiple ads is considered to have finished printing. This makes it possible, for example, to set the timing at which an ad can be considered to have finished printing to the user's preference.

[0097] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if, after the printer 200 starts printing in S150, the printing progress of the advertisement does not reach a predetermined stage due to an abnormality (S155: YES), the advertisement provision server 100 does not execute S185 and does not charge for the unprinted portion of the advertisement. This reduces the possibility of charging for the portion of the advertisement that was not printed.

[0098] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 determines S170 as YES when, for example, the amount of advertising printed by the printer 200 reaches a predetermined amount, and requests payment in S185. This ensures that payment is reliably made at an earlier time compared to waiting for the advertising printing to be completed before billing.

[0099] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 determines S170 and S175 as YES when, for example, the printing of any image of multiple advertisements by the printer 200 is completed, and requests payment in S185. This allows for earlier billing of payment for each advertisement compared to waiting for all advertisements to be printed before billing. Also, for example, if some of the advertisement images among multiple advertisements are successfully printed but others fail to print, it becomes possible to bill only for the successful portion, enabling appropriate billing.

[0100] <Variation> This disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible without departing from its spirit and technical concept.

[0101] (1) When sending an invoice notification once the printer is ready to print. In this modified example, Figures 11 and 12, corresponding to Figure 4 above, show sequence diagrams representing the key control components in the content processing method, which are executed collaboratively by the ad delivery server 100, the ad management server 500, and the printer 200. As previously described, the main entities executing each process are the control unit 110 of the ad delivery server 100, the control unit of the ad management server 500, and the control unit 210 of the printer 200.

[0102] In Figure 11, when the printer 200 has determined NO to both S105 and S115 in Figure 3, that is, when the printer 200 is ready to print, the printer 200 sends a billing OK notification to the advertising server 100 in S135.

[0103] In this modified example, when the ad provider server 100 receives the OK notification in S135, it determines NO in S117 and proceeds to Figure 12, executing S185' instead of S185 as shown in Figure 4. That is, in S30, the ad provider server 100 sends an invoice notification to the ad management server 500 to request payment for the advertising print from the advertiser, who is the successful bidder and provided the advertising image included in the distributed image sent to the printer 200. S185' is an example of a billing step, a billing process, and a notification process in this modified example. Furthermore, the control unit 110 of the advertising server 100 that executes S185' is an example of a billing unit in this modified example.

[0104] After S185' above, in S143, the ad delivery server 100 determines whether or not it has received an ad delivery request from the printer 200. The ad delivery server 100 repeats S143 until it receives an ad delivery request from the printer 200. If it receives an ad delivery request from the printer 200, it determines YES in S143 and proceeds to S145. After executing S145 to S175 as in Figure 4 above, the ad delivery server 100 executes S179. In S179, the ad provider server 100 determines whether the ad image determined in S175 is an ad for which a success or failure judgment has not yet been performed. The ad provider server 100 determines whether a print success decision, similar to that in S180 of Figure 3, and a print failure decision, similar to that in S210 of Figure 3, have already been made for the ad image determined in S175. If S179 is determined to be YES, in this modified example, the ad provider server 100 recognizes in S180 that the printing of the ad was successful, and then proceeds to S250. If the ad provider server 100 determines S179 to be NO, it proceeds to S190. If it determines S190 to be YES, it proceeds to S195 to determine whether or not the ad has not yet undergone a success / failure judgment. In S195, the printer 200 determines whether there are any successful bid IDs for which neither the S180 (print success determination) nor the S210 (print failure determination) has been made. If there are successful bid IDs for which neither the S180 (print success determination) nor the S210 (print failure determination) has been made, the advertising server 100 makes a YES determination in S195 and proceeds to S210, then to S220', which is a replacement for S220. If there are no successful bid IDs for which neither the S180 (print success determination) nor the S210 (print failure determination) has been made, the advertising server 100 makes a NO determination in S195 and proceeds to S255.

[0105] In S220', the ad provider server 100 sends an ad management server 500 a bid cancellation notice withdrawing the aforementioned bid that was decided in S8, and a refund processing notice stating that it will process a refund for the amount charged when the billing notice was sent in S185'.

[0106] In S245′, which is newly established in place of S245 in Figure 4 above, the advertising management server 500 notifies the terminal device of the relevant successful bidder of the cancellation of the successful bid based on the successful bid cancellation notification received from the advertising provision server 100, and also notifies in S185′ that it will process a refund for the amount already charged.

[0107] Other processes are the same as in Figure 4, and their explanation is omitted.

[0108] In this modified example, the same effects as those of the above embodiment are obtained. In other words, the advertising server 100 requests payment in S185' after the printer 200 has finished preparing to print the advertisements in S100 and S110, but before all advertisements have been printed on the printing paper S and the advertising server 100 has determined S250 to be YES. That is, billing occurs at a time before all advertisements have been printed, but after the preparation for printing the advertisements has been completed. This reduces the possibility of billing being processed if the advertisement cannot be printed due to some malfunction before the print preparation is complete (S105, S115: NO), and also allows billing to be performed as early as possible.

[0109] (2) Others In the above, the advertising server 100 was configured as a single device, but multiple devices may work together to perform the function of the advertising server 100. Furthermore, while printing was used as an example of output in the above explanation, display may be used as the output instead of printing.

[0110] Furthermore, the sequence diagrams shown in Figures 3, 4, and 11 are not intended to limit this disclosure to the procedures shown in the above flow chart. Procedures may be added, deleted, or their order changed, as long as they do not deviate from the intent and technical concept of the disclosure.

[0111] In addition to what has already been described above, the methods described in the above embodiments and their respective modifications may be used in appropriate combinations.

[0112] In addition, although not to be exemplified hereby, this disclosure may be implemented with various modifications, provided that it does not deviate from its intended purpose. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0113] 1. Content Processing System 100 Ad Provider Servers 110 Control Unit (Example of a Computer) 200 Printer (Example of output unit, output device) 210 Control Unit 270A head 270B Conveyor mechanism 270D Sensor 500 Ad Management Servers

Claims

1. A content processing system that outputs content using an output device, An acquisition unit that acquires the aforementioned content, An output unit that outputs the content acquired by the acquisition unit to the output device, A billing unit that processes a bill for the output of the content by the output device, Equipped with, The aforementioned billing section is, A content processing system that performs the billing process for the consideration at a time after the output device has completed preparations for outputting the content, but before the output of all the content has been completed.

2. The acquisition unit is, A request unit that requests bids related to the output of the aforementioned content, A receiving unit that receives bids in response to the aforementioned bidding request, A decision unit that determines which bid will be awarded from among the received bids, This includes obtaining content provided by the specific bidder whose bid was awarded by the aforementioned decision unit, The aforementioned billing section is, The content processing system according to claim 1, which charges the aforementioned fee to the aforementioned specific bidder.

3. The system further includes a preparation completion determination unit that determines whether or not the aforementioned preparations have been completed. The output device is in a normal state. The output device does not perform any function other than the output of the content. The output device has the resources necessary for outputting the content, or The output device has successfully completed the preprocessing for outputting the content. If any of the following apply, one or more of the predetermined conditions apply: The preparation completion determination unit determines that the preparation is complete. The content processing system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the billing unit performs the billing process for the aforementioned consideration.

4. The system further includes a preparation completion determination unit that determines whether or not the aforementioned preparations have been completed. The output device is in an abnormal state. The output device performs a function different from the output of the content. The output device does not have the resources necessary to output the content, and The output device has not successfully completed the preprocessing for outputting the content. If it falls under one or more of the predetermined specific conditions, The preparation completion determination unit determines that the preparation is not complete. The content processing system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the billing unit does not perform the billing process for the consideration.

5. The output device is a printing device that prints an image based on the content, If the remaining amount of resources required for printing the aforementioned image is above a threshold, The preparation completion determination unit determines that the preparation is complete. The content processing system according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the billing unit performs the billing process for the aforementioned consideration.

6. The output device is a printing device that prints an image based on the content, When the sheet on which the aforementioned image is to be printed reaches the print start position correctly, The preparation completion determination unit determines that the preparation is complete. The content processing system according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the billing unit performs the billing process for the aforementioned consideration.

7. The acquisition unit acquires a plurality of the contents, The aforementioned content processing system further, The output device further includes a status determination unit that determines whether or not the output of at least one of the multiple contents has been completed. The aforementioned billing section is, The content processing system according to claim 1, wherein the status determination unit determines that the output of at least one of the contents has been completed, and then performs the billing process for the consideration.

8. The aforementioned situation determination unit, A progress determination unit that determines whether the output status of the multiple contents has reached a predetermined progress level, When the progress determination unit determines that the progress has reached the predetermined progress, a completion determination unit determines the content that has been output based on the predetermined progress, Furthermore, The aforementioned billing section is, The content processing system according to claim 7, wherein the completion determination unit determines that the output has been completed performs the billing process on the content.

9. The status determination unit further comprises a completion criteria determination unit that determines completion criteria for determining that the output of the content has been completed, When the completion criteria determined by the completion criteria determination unit are reached, The content processing system according to claim 7, wherein the status determination unit determines that the output of the content has been completed.

10. The content processing system according to claim 8, wherein the billing unit does not charge for the unoutputted content if an abnormality occurs before the progress reaches the predetermined progress level.

11. The status determination unit determines whether the progress has reached the predetermined progress level in response to receiving notification of the progress from the output device. The content processing system according to claim 8, further comprising a timing determination unit that determines the timing of notification of the progress based on the amount of data of the content.

12. The output device is a printing device that prints an image based on the content, The content processing system according to any one of claims 8, 10, and 11, wherein the status determination unit determines that the progress has reached a predetermined progress when the amount of the image printed in the printing device reaches a predetermined amount.

13. The output device is a printing device that prints images based on a plurality of the contents, When the amount of the image printed in the printing device reaches a predetermined amount, the status determination unit determines that the progress has reached the predetermined progress level. When the status determination unit determines that the progress has reached the predetermined progress level, the completion determination unit determines the content that has been printed based on the predetermined progress level. The content processing system according to claim 8, wherein the billing unit performs the billing process for the content that the completion determination unit has determined to have completed printing.

14. A printing device having a control unit connected to an output unit that outputs content, The control unit, A printing device that, between the completion of preparation for outputting the content by the output unit and the completion of outputting the content, performs a notification process for processing a claim for payment for the output of the content.

15. A content processing method performed by a content processing system that outputs content using an output device, The acquisition step for acquiring the aforementioned content, An output step which outputs the content acquired in the acquisition step to the output device, The process includes a billing step of processing a claim for payment for the output of the content by the output device, In the aforementioned billing step, A content processing method that performs the billing process for the consideration between the completion of preparation for outputting the content by the output device and the completion of outputting the content.

16. For computers, The content acquisition process, Output processing for outputting the content acquired in the acquisition process to an output device, A billing process for requesting payment for the output of the content by the output device, A content processing program for executing, In the aforementioned billing process, A content processing program for billing the aforementioned payment between the completion of preparation for outputting the content by the output device and the completion of outputting the content.

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