Information processing system, information processing method, and program

Abstract

To provide an information processing system, an information processing method, a program and an information processor that distribute the profile information of a specific trader to another trader, thereby enabling another trader to perform printing with similar quality.SOLUTION: An information processing system includes: an acquisition unit that acquires, from a first trader system, profile information including a profile applied to print output; a management unit that manages the profile information acquired by the acquisition unit; and a distribution unit that, in order to be applied to a job to be executed on a printing machine possessed by a second trader system, distributes the profile information to the second trader system.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system and an information processing method. and Program M Regarding. [Background technology]

[0002] As a system that allows the selection of a specific vendor, a configuration has been disclosed in which a buying and selling information exchange system selects a vendor so that quotations or discount coupons are received from multiple vendors and a purchase can be made by selecting the preferred vendor (for example, Patent Document 1). Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] However, in the system described in Patent Document 1, the color profile (ICC (International Color Consortium) profile) or adjustment of the equipment depending on the image, ink, paper type, etc. to be printed is a highly difficult task that must be performed individually by each company, resulting in variations in print quality from company to company.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides an information processing system and an information processing method that distribute profile information of a specific vendor to other vendors, thereby enabling other vendors to print with the same quality. and Program M The purpose is to provide. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for obtaining a profile from a first vendor system, the profile being applied to a print output. , the sales price was set An acquisition unit that acquires profile information; In response to a sales registration request from the first trader system, The profile information acquired by the acquisition unit Register in memory In order to apply this to jobs executed on printing machines owned by the management department and the second vendor system, Among the profile information registered in the storage unit, the purchase request from the second trader system indicatesA distribution unit that distributes the profile information to the second provider system. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the present invention, by distributing profile information of a specific vendor to other vendors, it becomes possible for other vendors to print with the same quality. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device system according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the function of the color profile. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the management server and the cloud system. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a printing machine. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional block configuration of the equipment system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data model used in the device system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of an overall processing flow of the equipment system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the job registration screen. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing print preparation and printing of a job using arrows. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a job execution determination process. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining prediction of the device state at the start time of the free time. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a device state prediction process. [Figure 13]FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of predicting the preparation time and the execution time. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a neural network used in machine learning. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional block configuration of the equipment system according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing an example of an overall processing flow of the equipment system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the job execution screen. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the profile list screen. [Figure 20] FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of the profile sales registration screen. [Figure 21] FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of the profile purchase screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, an information processing system, an information processing method, a program, and an information processing device according to the present invention will be described in detail. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and the components in the following embodiments include those that a person skilled in the art can easily conceive, those that are substantially the same, and those that are within the scope of what is called equivalent. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions, modifications, and combinations of the components can be made without departing from the spirit of the following embodiments.

[0009] [First embodiment] (Outline of the equipment system configuration) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an equipment system according to embodiment 1. With reference to Fig. 1, a schematic configuration of an equipment system 100 according to this embodiment will be described.

[0010] As shown in FIG. 1, the equipment system 100 includes a cloud system 50, a management server 11, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing machine 30 of a printing company 10a, and a management server 11, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing machine 30 of a printing company 10b. The cloud system 50, the management server 11, the administrator terminal 12, and the printing machine 30 of each printing company are capable of data communication with each other via a network N. Note that the printing companies 10a and 10b will be referred to simply as "printing company 10" when referring to any printing company or when referring to the printing companies 10a and 10b collectively. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 1, only two printing companies 10 (printing companies 10a and 10b) are shown, but this is not limiting, and three or more printing companies 10 may exist.

[0011] In addition, the management server 11, administrator terminal 12 and printing press 30 of the printing company 10a are an example of the "first company system" of the present invention, and the management server 11, administrator terminal 12 and printing press 30 of the printing company 10b are an example of the "second company system" of the present invention.

[0012] In this embodiment, the network N is a network including the Internet since the cloud system 50 is used. Furthermore, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), etc. are used within the printing company 10. Note that in communication via the Internet, job information may be encrypted, but as will be described later, in this embodiment, at least the profile information is encrypted and transmitted. Furthermore, the network N may use a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

[0013] The printing company 10 refers to a company that has printing facilities such as a printing factory, a printing place, or a specific building. The system of each printing company 10 has a management server 11, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing press 30. The management server 11, the administrator terminal 12, and the printing press 30 may be capable of data communication with each other via a network within the printing company 10 system.

[0014] The management server 11 is an information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a workstation that accepts registration of job information and setting of a color profile from the administrator terminal 12 and instructs the printing machine 30 to execute a job by applying the set color profile (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as a profile). For example, the management server 11 may function as a Web server and cause the administrator terminal 12 to display a screen for accepting registration of job information and setting of a profile. In this case, a browser is running on the administrator terminal 12, and a Web page that displays the above-mentioned screen transmitted from the management server 11 as a Web server is displayed.

[0015] The management server 11 judges whether the accepted job information (including profile information) should be printed by the printing press 30 owned by the printing company 10 or should be sent to the cloud system 50. The management server 11 judges whether the job information should be printed by the printing press 30 or should be sent to the cloud system 50 based on a predetermined rule. For example, the management server 11 detects free time from the schedule information of the printing press 30, calculates the preparation time and execution time of the accepted job, and judges whether the accepted job can be executed within the free time. The management server 11 also judges whether the set profile can be applied to the job. In addition, when making the judgment, the management server 11 predicts the state of the printing press 30 at the start time of the free time, and predicts the preparation time based on the predicted state of the printing press 30 and the state of the printing press 30 set based on the accepted job information. Then, when the management server 11 judges to send the job information to the cloud system 50, it encrypts at least the profile information included in the job information with its own private key and transmits it to the cloud system 50.

[0016] 1, the management server 11 is installed on-premise, but may be realized in the cloud. The management server 11 may be integrated with the printing machine 30.

[0017] The above-mentioned job refers to a unit of printing processing. For example, it means printing a certain number of sheets of a certain document. In this embodiment, the execution of a job means that the printing machine 30 prints, but the specific process of the execution of a job varies depending on the type of the printing machine 30. Furthermore, the output obtained by the execution of a job may be simply displaying the result, storing the result in the cloud, sending an email, or notifying a user, etc. Alternatively, job information is information about a job, but in this embodiment, a strict distinction is not made between a job and job information. The schedule information of a job indicates the start time and end time when a job is scheduled to be executed on a certain printing machine 30.

[0018] The administrator terminal 12 is an information processing terminal such as a PC, tablet terminal, or smartphone used by the printing company 10. The printing company 10 attempts to register the received job information in the management server 11 via the administrator terminal 12. As described above, the browser is running on the administrator terminal 12, so that a web page is displayed that displays the above-mentioned screen transmitted from the management server 11 acting as a web server. The administrator terminal 12 transmits the job information and profile information that the printing company 10 has set on the web page (which is also the screen displayed by the administrator terminal 12) to the management server 11.

[0019] The printing machine 30 is an image forming device such as a production printer, a color inkjet printer, or a color / monochrome MFP (Multifunction Peripheral). The printing method of the printing machine 30 is not limited to these methods and may be any method that can print. The printing machine 30 may be connected to a finisher (post-processing device) for performing post-processing (post-processing) such as folding, saddle stitching, case binding, and punching on the printed recording medium. The printing machine 30 may also have a scanner function, a fax function, a copy function, or the like.

[0020] When the printing press 30 is a commercial printing device, it is controlled by a DFE (Digital Front End). For this reason, the management server 11, the printing press 30, or a device independent of these may have a DFE. In this embodiment, the management server 11 is described as having a DFE. The DFE creates schedule information for a job to be printed by the printing press 30 based on settings from the administrator terminal 12, and instructs the printing press 30 to execute the job based on the schedule information. The DFE is also called a print controller, and controls printing by the printing press 30. When the DFE acquires a job, it generates raster data for the printing press 30 to form a toner image or an ink image using JDF (Job Definition Format) and PDL (Page Description Language), and transmits the data to the printing press 30.

[0021] The cloud system 50 is an information processing system having one or more information processing devices that determines and distributes job information including profile information received from a specific printing service provider 10 to a printing service provider 10 that can execute the job. Here, cloud is an abbreviation for cloud computing, and refers to a usage mode in which resources on a network are used without awareness of specific hardware resources. The term cloud is used in contrast to the term on-premise (within facilities managed by the user), but the cloud system 50 may be located either inside or outside an in-house LAN. The one or more information processing devices included in the cloud system 50 function as servers to provide various information and processing results in response to requests from clients.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, the cloud system 50 has a job management service 60, a device management service 70, a billing service 80, and a profile management service 90. Each service is a function provided by the cloud system 50. In the cloud system 50, three servers may exist that respectively correspond to the job management service 60, the device management service 70, the billing service 80, and the profile management service 90, or one or more servers may realize the job management service 60, the device management service 70, the billing service 80, and the profile management service 90. Applications corresponding to the job management service 60, the device management service 70, the billing service 80, and the profile management service 90 run on the servers, and the applications can communicate with each other. The applications communicate with each other via, for example, a Web API (Application Programming Interface). There is no strict definition of a Web API, but it is an interface between applications or systems that is called over a network using a protocol such as HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).

[0023] The job management service 60 receives job information including profile information from the management server 11 of each printing company 10 and centrally manages it, and by referring to the device information managed by the device management service 70, delivers the job information including the profile information to the appropriate printing company 10.

[0024] The device management service 70 receives device information from each printing press 30 and provides the device information to the job management service 60 .

[0025] When the job is distributed to another printing company 10b (when the printing company 10a that accepted the job does not print), the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the printing company 10a that transferred the job and deposit information to the printing company 10b that accepted the job. In this case, the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the printing company 10b that received the profile information (the printing company 10b that accepted the job) and deposit information to the printing company 10a that provided the profile information (the printing company 10a that accepted the job) regarding the fee for the profile information. In this case, the billing for the profile information may be an amount multiplied by a unit price according to, for example, the number of pages, length, page area, or coverage of the job. Furthermore, when the job is not distributed to another printing company 10b (when the printing company 10a that accepted the job prints), the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the customer and deposit information to the printing company 10 that executed the job in response to a job execution completion notification.

[0026] The profile management service 90 receives and manages profile information included in job information sent from the management server 11 of the printing provider 10a. When the printing provider 10b to which the job information is to be delivered is determined by the job management service 60, the profile management service 90 encrypts the profile information corresponding to the job information with a public key corresponding to the printing provider 10b.

[0027] The outline of the operation of the above-described equipment system 100 is as follows. First, the printing press 30 notifies the equipment management service 70 of equipment information (configuration, settings, equipment status, job status, etc.) periodically or when there is a change. The equipment management service 70 holds the latest equipment information of the registered printing press 30.

[0028] The management server 11 of the printing provider 10a registers job information, including profile information of the printing provider 10a that it has determined cannot be executed by its own machine, in the job management service 60. The job management service 60 holds the status of the printing presses 30 owned by the registered printing provider 10 (status indicated by the above-mentioned device information) and a list of accepted jobs, so that in response to a new job request, it is possible to search for printing providers 10 that can execute the job by the desired deadline.

[0029] The job management service 60 searches for a printing press 30 suitable for executing the job, and distributes job information including the profile information to the printing provider 10b that owns the printing press 30. Then, the printing press 30 of the printing provider 10b executes the job.

[0030] The billing service 80 debits money from the account of the printer 10a and deposits it into the account of the printer 10b based on a job execution completion notification sent from the printing machine 30 of the printer 10b. Here, it is assumed that the fee for the job paid by the customer has been deposited in the printer 10a. It is preferable that at least the information provision fee remains in the account of the printer 10a. Furthermore, the billing service 80 debits money from the account of the printer 10b and deposits it into the account of the printer 10a as a fee for providing the profile held by the printer 10a to the printer 10b. It is also possible that the fee for the job minus the fee for providing the profile is debited from the account of the printer 10a and deposited into the account of the printer 10b.

[0031] With the above-mentioned configuration, by printing with a printing press 30 suitable for executing a job, the operation rate of the printing press 30 can be increased, opportunity loss can be prevented, and profits can be shared among the printing companies 10 using the equipment system 100. In other words, the printing company 10a can sell jobs that it cannot execute itself to other printing companies 10 that can execute them and receive an information provision fee, while the printing company 10b can increase its operation rate, and customers who request printing can benefit by shortening the waiting time until printing is completed. Furthermore, by distributing profile information, which is color setting information of the printing company 10a that received a job, to other companies, the other companies can also print with the same quality.

[0032] (About color profiles) 2 is a diagram for explaining the function of the color profile. The function of the color profile will be explained with reference to FIG.

[0033] A color profile is color conversion data that allows for consistent color reproduction among devices manufactured by various manufacturers, such as cameras, monitors, printers, scanners, etc. By having each manufacturer operate in accordance with the ICC profile, which is a color profile, consistent color reproduction is possible even if the manufacturer or device is different.

[0034] 2, RGB data defined in a PDF (Portable Document Format) file 1000 created by an input device such as a camera or scanner is converted into LAB data 1001 in the L*a*b* color space, which is a device-independent color space, by an input profile 1100, which is a profile on the input device side. The LAB data 1001 is then converted into CMYK data 1002 for unified color reproduction in each output device by an output profile 1101, which is a profile on the output device side, in an output device such as a printer, and output. When the printer prints out based on this CMYK data 1002, the same colors as those of the data created by the original input device are reproduced.

[0035] Of the above-mentioned profiles, the input profile can be created based on the know-how of each printing company 10 depending on the recording medium such as paper and the ink, etc., in order to realize a distinctive print output. Examples of distinctive print output modes include an output with beautiful color development of blue components, an output with beautiful color development of green components, correct expression of the color of a specific company's logo or the color of a national flag, an output suitable for special inks (transparent ink, fluorescent ink, metallic ink, etc.), and an output suitable for special paper.

[0036] In the equipment system 100 according to the present embodiment, the profile transmitted from a specific printing company 10 to the cloud system 50 together with job information will be described as an input profile. Note that the profile is not limited to an input profile, and an output profile may be transmitted to the cloud system 50. In this case, for example, if the printing companies 10 use the same model of printing press 30, it is possible for the output profile of a specific printing company 10 to be applied to the other printing companies 10.

[0037] (Hardware configuration of management server and cloud system) Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the management server 11 and the cloud system 50. The hardware configuration of the management server 11 and the cloud system 50 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Specifically, the hardware configuration of the information processing device constituting the management server 11 and the cloud system 50 will be described.

[0038] 3, the information processing device includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 501, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 502, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 503, a HD (Hard Disk) 504, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) controller 505, a display 506, an external device connection I / F 508, a network I / F 509, a keyboard 511, a pointing device 512, a DVD-RW (Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable) drive 514, and a media I / F 516. Each of these devices is connected by a bus line 510 such as an address bus and a data bus so as to enable data communication.

[0039] The CPU 501 is a computing device that controls the operation of the entire information processing device. The ROM 502 is a non-volatile storage device that stores programs used to drive the CPU 501, such as an IPL (Initial Program Loader). The RAM 503 is a volatile storage device used as a work area for the CPU 501.

[0040] The HD 504 is a non-volatile auxiliary storage device that stores various data such as programs, etc. The HDD controller 505 is a controller that controls reading and writing of various data from and to the HD 504 under the control of the CPU 501.

[0041] The display 506 is a display device that displays various information such as a cursor, a menu, a window, characters, or an image. The external device connection I / F 508 is an interface for connecting various external devices. In this case, examples of the external devices include a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or a printer. The network I / F 509 is an interface for data communication via a network N, and is an interface capable of communication in accordance with, for example, Ethernet (registered trademark) and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol).

[0042] The keyboard 511 is an input device equipped with a plurality of keys for inputting characters, numerical values, various instructions, etc. The pointing device 512 is an input device such as a mouse for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving a cursor, etc.

[0043] The DVD-RW drive 514 is a device that controls reading and writing of various data from and to a DVD 513 such as a DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disk Recordable) or DVD-RW as an example of a removable recording medium. The media I / F 516 is an interface that controls reading and writing (storing) of data from and to a medium 515 such as a flash memory.

[0044] The cloud system 50 is often realized by a virtual machine. A virtual machine is an information processing device in which a host OS (Operating System) runs on another OS.

[0045] Moreover, the hardware configurations of the information processing devices constituting the management server 11 and the cloud system 50 shown in Fig. 3 are merely examples, and do not need to include all the components shown in Fig. 3, or may include other components. Moreover, it goes without saying that the information processing devices constituting the management server 11 and the cloud system 50 do not need to have the same hardware configuration.

[0046] (Printer hardware configuration) 4 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a printing press 30. The hardware configuration of the printing press 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 4, the printing machine 30 includes a controller 910, a short-range communication circuit 920, an engine control unit 930, an operation panel 940, and a network I / F 950.

[0048] The controller 910 includes a CPU 901, which is the main part of the computer, a MEM-P (system memory) 902, an NB (north bridge) 903, an SB (south bridge) 904, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 906, a MEM-C (local memory) 907, an HDD controller 908, and an HD 909. Of these, the NB 903 and the ASIC 906 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921.

[0049] The CPU 901 is a calculation device that performs overall control of the printing machine 30. The NB 903 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 901 with the MEM-P 902, the SB 904, and the AGP bus 921, and includes a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 902, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target.

[0050] The MEM-P902 includes a ROM902a which is a memory for storing programs and data for implementing the various functions of the controller 910, and a RAM902b which is used for developing the programs and data and as a drawing memory during memory printing, etc. The programs stored in the RAM902b may be configured to be provided by being recorded in an installable or executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable), or a DVD.

[0051] The SB904 is a bridge for connecting the NB903 with a PCI device, a peripheral device, and the like. The ASIC906 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing purposes having hardware elements for image processing, and plays the role of a bridge connecting the AGP bus 921, the PCI bus 922, the HDD controller 908, and the MEM-C907. The ASIC906 includes a PCI target and an AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that is the core of the ASIC906, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C907, a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) that rotate image data using hardware logic, and a PCI unit that transfers data between the scanner unit 931 and the printer unit 932 via the PCI bus 922. A USB interface or an IEEE1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface may be connected to the ASIC906.

[0052] The MEM-C 907 is a local memory used as a copy image buffer and a code buffer. The HD 909 is a storage for storing image data, font data used during printing, and forms. The HDD controller 908 is a controller that controls reading and writing of data from and to the HD 909 under the control of the CPU 901.

[0053] The AGP bus 921 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphic processing, and by directly accessing the MEM-P 902 at high throughput, the graphics accelerator card can be made faster.

[0054] The short-range communication circuit 920 is a communication circuit such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The short-range communication circuit 920 is electrically connected to the ASIC 906 via a PCI bus 922. An antenna 920a for wireless communication is connected to the short-range communication circuit 920.

[0055] The engine control unit 930 includes a scanner unit 931 and a printer unit 932. The scanner unit 931 and the printer unit 932 include image processing functions such as error diffusion or gamma conversion.

[0056] The operation panel 940 is equipped with a panel display section 940a such as a touch panel that displays the current setting values ​​or a selection screen, etc. and accepts input from the user, and hard keys 940b consisting of a numeric keypad that accepts setting values ​​for image formation conditions such as density setting conditions, and a start key that accepts a copy start instruction.

[0057] The printing machine 30 can successively switch among the document box function, copy function, printer function, and fax function by using the application switching key on the operation panel 940. When the document box function is selected, the document box mode is selected, when the copy function is selected, the copy mode is selected, when the printer function is selected, the printer mode is selected, and when the fax function is selected, the fax mode is selected.

[0058] The network I / F 950 is an interface for performing data communication via the network N, and is an interface capable of communication conforming to, for example, Ethernet, TCP / IP, etc. The network I / F 950 is electrically connected to the ASIC 906 via the PCI bus 922.

[0059] Note that the hardware configuration of the information processing device constituting the printing machine 30 shown in Figure 4 is an example, and it is not necessary to include all of the components shown in Figure 4, or it may include other components.

[0060] (Configuration and operation of functional blocks of equipment systems) 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of functional blocks of the equipment system according to the first embodiment. The configuration and operation of the functional blocks of the equipment system 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0061] <Management Server> As shown in FIG. 5, the management server 11 of the printing company 10 has a communication unit 14, a schedule generation unit 15, a job execution judgment unit 16, a job information receiving unit 17, a job execution instruction unit 18, a job information storage unit 19, a profile setting unit 20, an encryption processing unit 21, a profile information storage unit 22, an encryption key storage unit 23, and a display control unit 24.

[0062] The job information receiving unit 17 is a functional unit that receives registration of job information from the administrator terminal 12. At this time, the job information receiving unit 17 receives the job information including the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20. The contents of the job information will be described later in relation to the cloud system 50. The job information receiving unit 17 may receive the job information from the printing company 10 manually, or may receive the job information via a storage medium.

[0063] The profile setting unit 20 is a functional unit that sets profile information to be associated with job information to be registered in accordance with an operation on the administrator terminal 12. When the job information receiving unit 17 receives the job information, the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20 is included in the job information. Here, the profile information is information about a color profile (input profile in this case) used when print output is performed based on the job information, and includes, for example, information on the profile name, profile description, paper, ink, profile body (conversion table), expiration date, maximum number of times of use, and usage fee. The profile information is stored and managed in the profile information storage unit 22.

[0064] The job execution determination unit 16 is a functional unit that determines whether the job accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17 is to be executed by the printing company 10 (printed by the printing press 30 owned by the printing company 10) or sent to the cloud system 50. For example, the job execution determination unit 16 predicts the state of the printing press 30 at the start of the free time from the current state of the printing press 30 and the schedule information in which the job is scheduled to be executed, and determines whether the newly accepted job can be completed by the end of the free time. Furthermore, the job execution determination unit 16 applies the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20 to the job information accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17, and determines whether the printing press 30 can print out. For example, the job execution determination unit 16 determines whether the printing press 30 is compatible with the ink and paper specified in the profile information. Then, if the job execution determination unit 16 determines that the job cannot be executed by the printing company 10, it determines to send the job to the cloud system 50 to request execution by another printing company 10.

[0065] The schedule generation unit 15 is a functional unit that generates schedule information and stores it in the job information storage unit 19 when the job execution determination unit 16 determines that execution is possible at the printing company 10. The schedule information will be described in detail later, but the schedule information is information that indicates a schedule of when a job is to be executed.

[0066] The job execution instruction unit 18 is a functional unit that instructs the printing machine 30 to execute the job based on the schedule information generated by the schedule generation unit 15 when the job execution judgment unit 16 judges that the job can be executed by the printing company 10.

[0067] The communication unit 14 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the job management service 60. The communication unit 14 transmits job information (including profile information) registered by the administrator terminal 12 and a job execution completion notification to the job management service 60. The communication unit 14 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in FIG.

[0068] The job information storage unit 19 is a functional unit that stores the job information accepted by the job information accepting unit 17. The job information storage unit 19 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in Fig. 3. The job information stored in the job information storage unit 19 is similar to the job information of the job management service 60 described later.

[0069] The encryption processor 21 is a functional unit that encrypts at least the profile information included in the job information when the job execution determination unit 16 determines that the job information should be sent to the cloud system 50. The encryption processor 21 encrypts the job information, for example, with the private key of the printing provider 10 stored in the encryption key storage unit 23. The encryption processor 21 may encrypt the entire job information including the profile information. When job information from another printing provider 10 distributed by the cloud system 50 is received by the communication unit 14, the encryption processor 21 decrypts the encrypted profile information included in the job information with the private key of the printing provider 10 stored in the encryption key storage unit 23.

[0070] The profile information storage unit 22 is a functional unit that stores and manages profile information of various profiles. The profile information stored in the profile information storage unit 22 is referenced when the profile setting unit 20 associates the profile information with job information. The profile information storage unit 22 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG. 3.

[0071] The encryption key storage unit 23 is a functional unit that stores a private key that is used exclusively by the printing company 10. The encryption key storage unit 23 is realized, for example, by the ROM 502 shown in FIG. 3. The encryption key storage unit 23 may also be realized by a secure storage medium such as a TPM (Trusted Platform Module). This makes it possible to safely manage the private key used to encrypt and decrypt data.

[0072] The display control unit 24 is a functional unit that transmits various screen data realized on Web pages to the administrator terminal 12 in response to operations on the administrator terminal 12, and controls the display operation on the administrator terminal 12, so that the management server 11 functions as a Web server for the administrator terminal 12.

[0073] The schedule generating unit 15, job execution determining unit 16, job information receiving unit 17, job execution instruction unit 18, profile setting unit 20, encryption processing unit 21 and display control unit 24 described above are realized, for example, by a program being executed by a CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC, instead of a software program.

[0074] Note that the functional units of the management server 11 shown in Fig. 5 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the management server 11 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the management server 11 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0075] <Printing machine> As shown in FIG. 5, the printing machine 30 of the printing company 10 includes a communication unit 31, a device information transmission unit 32, and a job execution unit 33.

[0076] The job execution unit 33 is a functional unit that executes a job in response to an instruction to execute the job from the job execution instruction unit 18. Specifically, the job execution unit 33 causes the printer unit 932 to print out the print data included in the job information onto a recording medium such as paper, using a profile in the profile information included in the job information.

[0077] The device information transmission unit 32 is a functional unit that transmits device information related to the printing press 30 to the device management service 70 via the communication unit 31. The device information includes, for example, the configuration of the printing press 30 such as the printing speed, settings such as paper type and size, the status of the printing press 30 such as in operation or out of order, and schedule information such as how many jobs have been submitted. The contents of the device information will be explained in the cloud system 50 described below.

[0078] The communication unit 31 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the device management service 70. For example, the communication unit 31 transmits device information to the device management service 70 in accordance with the control of the device information transmission unit 32. The communication unit 31 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 950 and a program executed by the CPU 901 shown in FIG.

[0079] The device information transmission unit 32 and the job execution unit 33 described above are realized, for example, by a program being executed by the CPU 901 shown in Fig. 4. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, instead of a software program.

[0080] Note that the functional units of the printing machine 30 shown in Fig. 5 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the printing machine 30 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the printing machine 30 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0081] <Job management service> As shown in FIG. 5, the job management service 60 of the cloud system 50 has a communication unit 61 (an example of an acquisition unit), a job information registration unit 62, a prediction parameter correction unit 63, a job information distribution unit 64 (an example of a distribution unit), an equipment information receiving unit 65, a billing information notification unit 66, and a job information storage unit 69.

[0082] The communication unit 61 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various types of information to and from the management server 11 of the printing company 10. For example, the communication unit 61 receives job information including profile information from the management server 11. The communication unit 61 also transmits job information and schedule information to the management server 11. The communication unit 61 also receives a job execution completion notification from the management server 11. The communication unit 61 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing a program.

[0083] The job information registration unit 62 is a functional unit that stores and registers the job information received by the communication unit 61 in the job information storage unit 69. In this case, the job information registration unit 62 registers the job information excluding the encrypted profile information in the job information storage unit 69. The encrypted profile information is transmitted to the encryption processing unit 91, as described later. An example of job information stored in the job information storage unit 69 is shown below (Table 1).

[0084] [Table 1]

[0085] The job information distribution unit 64 is a functional unit that determines the printing machine 30 capable of executing the job by referring to newly registered job information, profile information corresponding to the job information, existing job information and schedule information, and device information received from the device management service 70. In this case, the job information distribution unit 64 may receive unencrypted profile information from the profile management service 90. The job information distribution unit 64 also generates schedule information related to the job to be distributed to the determined printing machine 30. The job information distribution unit 64 also transmits the job information including the profile information and the schedule information via the communication unit 61 to the management server 11 of the printing company 10 that owns the determined printing machine 30. The job information distribution unit 64 then stores the schedule information in the job information storage unit 69 in association with the job information.

[0086] The device information receiving unit 65 is a functional unit that receives device information from the device management service 70. The device management service 70 may transmit new device information to the job management service 60 every time the device management service 70 receives the device information, or may transmit the device information periodically or when the load is low. Alternatively, the device information receiving unit 65 may request device information from the device management service 70 and receive the device information as a result of the request. In this case, the device information receiving unit 65 may also make the request periodically or when the load is low.

[0087] The billing information notification unit 66 is a functional unit that notifies the billing service 80 of withdrawal information of the specific printing company 10a and deposit information to the other printing company 10b when the other printing company 10b executes a job registered by the specific printing company 10a. This is because the other printing company 10b receives at least a part of the fee that the specific printing company 10a receives from the customer. However, the information provision fee remains with the specific printing company 10a. In addition, the billing information notification unit 66 notifies, with regard to the fee for the profile information, withdrawal information of the profile fee from the other printing company 10b that received the profile information (the other printing company 10b that took over and executed the job) and deposit information of the profile fee from the printing company 10b to the above-mentioned specific printing company 10a that provided the profile information (the specific printing company 10a that accepted the job). Note that the fee for the profile information in this case may be included in the above-mentioned information provision fee. The timing of the notification by the billing information notification unit 66 may be the timing when the other printing provider 10b completes execution of the job, or the timing when the job is transmitted to the other printing provider 10b.

[0088] The prediction parameter correction unit 63 is a functional unit that receives and accumulates a job execution completion notice from the management server 11 after the job is executed, and corrects the prediction parameters based on the past execution results. Here, the prediction parameters are parameters for predicting the preparation time and execution time of a job from the job information, device information, etc.

[0089] The job information storage unit 69 is a functional unit that stores job information such as that shown in Table 1 above. The job information storage unit 69 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG. 3. As shown in Table 1, the job information is information including, for example, a job ID, paper, number of sheets, image quality requirement, desired delivery date, print data, customer information, schedule information, log, and profile information. The job ID is identification information that identifies the job information. The paper is the grade and type of paper required in this job. The number of sheets is the number of copies to be printed in the job. The image quality requirement is the image quality (e.g., resolution, etc.) required for the printed matter. The desired delivery date is the delivery date of the printed matter desired by the customer. The print data is data to be printed, and has, for example, JDF and PDL. The customer information is information that identifies the customer who requested this job. The schedule information is information on when the printing machine 30 (K001 represents the printing machine 30) to which this job is assigned will execute the job. The log is the start and end times when the job was actually executed, and is also included in the job execution completion notification. The profile information is information about the color profile (input profile in this case) used when printing output is performed based on the job information, and the details are as described above.

[0090] The above-mentioned job information registration unit 62, prediction parameter correction unit 63, job information distribution unit 64, device information reception unit 65, and billing information notification unit 66 are realized, for example, by a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, rather than a software program.

[0091] Note that the functional units of the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 5 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0092] <Equipment management service> As shown in FIG. 5, the device management service 70 of the cloud system 50 includes a communication unit 71, a device information registration unit 72, a device information provision unit 73, and a device information storage unit 79.

[0093] The communication unit 71 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the printing machine 30 of the printing company 10. For example, the communication unit 71 receives device information from the printing machine 30. When starting communication, the communication unit 71 uses a bidirectional communication mechanism (for example, WebSocket or MQTT (Message Queueing Telemetry Transport)). The communication unit 71 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3.

[0094] The device information registration unit 72 registers the device information received via the communication unit 71 in the device information storage unit 79. An example of the device information registered in the device information storage unit 79 is shown in Table 2 below.

[0095] [Table 2]

[0096] The device information providing unit 73 is a functional unit that provides the device information registered in the device information storage unit 79 to the job management service 60. It is preferable that the device information providing unit 73 provides the device information without delay when new device information is registered. Alternatively, the device information providing unit 73 may provide the device information in response to a request from the device information receiving unit 65 of the job management service 60, or may provide the device information periodically or at a timing when the load is small.

[0097] The device information storage unit 79 is a functional unit that stores device information such as that shown in Table 2 above. The device information storage unit 79 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG. 3. As shown in Table 2, the device information is information including, for example, a device ID, a configuration, settings, device status, remaining paper, ink, remaining ink amount, and job status. The device ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the printing press 30. The configuration is information regarding the functions of the printing press 30, including, for example, whether color printing and black and white printing are possible, and the printing speed when possible. The settings are the size, type, grade, and the like of paper set in the printing press 30. The device status indicates the current state of the printing press 30, such as in operation, stopped, or broken. The remaining paper amount is the remaining amount of paper. The ink is the type of ink installed, such as color ink, transparent ink, fluorescent ink, metallic ink, and the like. The remaining ink amount is the remaining amount of ink. The job status is information about the job that has been submitted to the printing press 30, and includes, for example, schedule information.

[0098] The above-mentioned device information registration unit 72 and device information provision unit 73 are realized, for example, by a program being executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, instead of a software program.

[0099] Note that the functional units of the device management service 70 shown in Fig. 5 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the device management service 70 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the device management service 70 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0100] <Charged services> The billing service 80 of the cloud system 50 includes a billing processing unit 81 and a billing information storage unit 89 .

[0101] The billing processor 81 is a functional unit that registers the withdrawal and deposit information of each printing company 10 in the billing information storage unit 89, and based on this information, requests a transfer process to the bank system corresponding to the bank account of each printing company 10. The bank system executes the transfer process between the bank accounts on the settlement date.

[0102] The billing information storage unit 89 is a functional unit that stores the payment information and deposit information of each printing company 10. The billing information storage unit 89 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG.

[0103] The above-mentioned billing processing unit 81 is realized, for example, by a program being executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that the billing processing unit 81 may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, instead of a software program.

[0104] Note that the functions of each functional unit of billing service 80 shown in Fig. 5 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in billing service 80 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in billing service 80 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0105] <Profile Management Service> The profile management service 90 of the cloud system 50 includes an encryption processing unit 91, an encryption key storage unit 98, and a profile information storage unit 99 (storage unit).

[0106] The encryption processing unit 91 is a functional unit that receives encrypted profile information included in job information received by the communication unit 61 of the job management service 60, and decrypts the profile information using a public key stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing company 10 that has transmitted the job information. The encryption processing unit 91 stores the decrypted profile information in the profile information storage unit 99. The function of storing and managing the profile information by the encryption processing unit 91 in the profile information storage unit 99 corresponds to the "management unit" of the present invention. When the job information distribution unit 64 determines a printing press 30 that can execute a job, the encryption processing unit 91 encrypts the profile information corresponding to the job using a public key stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing company 10 that owns the printing press 30, in response to a request from the job information distribution unit 64, and transmits the encrypting information to the job information distribution unit 64.

[0107] The encryption processor 91 may store the profile information in the profile information storage unit 99 in an encrypted state before decryption. In this case, when the job information distribution unit 64 has determined a printing press 30 capable of executing a job, the encryption processor 91 may once decrypt the profile information corresponding to the job using a public key corresponding to the printing company 10 that sent the job, re-encrypt the profile information using a public key corresponding to the printing company 10 that is the destination of the job, and transmit the decrypted information to the job information distribution unit 64. This allows the profile information to be managed in an encrypted state in the profile information storage unit 99, thereby improving the security of information management.

[0108] The encryption key storage unit 98 is a functional unit that stores the public key of each printing company 10. The encryption key storage unit 98 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG.

[0109] The profile information storage unit 99 is a functional unit that stores profile information from the job information received by the job management service 60. As described above, the profile information stored in the profile information storage unit 99 may be decrypted using the public key of the sender of the job information before being stored, or may be stored in an encrypted state without being decrypted. The profile information storage unit 99 is realized by at least one of the RAM 503 and the HD 504 shown in FIG. 3.

[0110] The cryptography processing unit 91 described above is realized, for example, by a program being executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that the cryptography processing unit 91 may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, instead of a software program.

[0111] Note that each functional unit of the profile management service 90 shown in Fig. 5 is a conceptual representation of a function, and is not limited to this configuration. For example, multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the profile management service 90 shown in Fig. 5 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the profile management service 90 shown in Fig. 5 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0112] (Data Model) Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data model used in the equipment system according to the first embodiment. The data model used in the equipment system 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Each piece of information has an identifier (e.g., a job ID), but this is not shown here. Each piece also has an identifier for the data connected by the association line (e.g., a customer ID or a printing company ID in the deposit / withdrawal information), but this is also not shown.

[0113] <Customer management service> The customer management service has the following information regarding the customer: Note that the customer management service may be included in the cloud system 50.

[0114] ·name ·address ·email address ·Account number (bank account)

[0115] <Charged services> The billing service 80 has the following deposit / withdrawal information (withdrawal information and deposit information stored in the billing information storage unit 89):

[0116] Date of registration Deposit / Withdrawal Category Amount

[0117] The deposit / withdrawal information is generated when a job is provided to another printing company 10. The deposit / withdrawal category of the provider is withdrawal, and the deposit / withdrawal category of the recipient is deposit.

[0118] <Vendor management services> The business management service has the following information about the printing company 10. The business management service may be included in the cloud system 50.

[0119] ·name ·address ·email address · Account number (bank account)

[0120] <Equipment management service> As described above, the printing machine 30 periodically updates the device information or updates the device information when the device information changes. The information is transmitted to the device management service 70. The device management service 70 has information on the following models (information stored in the device information storage unit 79).

[0121] Paper ·image quality ·speed

[0122] Furthermore, the device management service 70 has the following information about the printing press 30 (information stored in the device information storage unit 79).

[0123] ·Serial number

[0124] Furthermore, the device management service 70 has information on the following configurations (information stored in the device information storage unit 79).

[0125] Hardware Configuration Software configuration ·setting ·Updated date and time

[0126] Furthermore, the device management service 70 has information on the following states (information stored in the device information storage unit 79):

[0127] Status (waiting, preparing, printing, stopped, error, etc.) -Paper (paper type, remaining amount, etc.) Ink (ink type, remaining amount, etc.) Adjustment status (alignment, color tone, etc.) ·Updated date and time

[0128] <Job management service> The job management service 60 has the following information about jobs (information stored in the job information storage unit 69):

[0129] Paper Number of sheets Image quality requirements Print data Desired delivery date ·Desired amount

[0130] The desired price may be set as a customer request by a sales representative when providing a job to another printing company 10, or may be set as a request by a customer when registering a job.

[0131] Furthermore, the job management service 60 has the following information on the schedule (information stored in the job information storage unit 69):

[0132] Scheduled start date and time of preparation Scheduled preparation completion date and time Scheduled printing start date and time - Estimated print completion date and time

[0133] Furthermore, the job management service 60 has the following information on the execution result (information transmitted in the job execution completion notification):

[0134] · Execution state ·Preparation start date and time Preparation end date and time Scheduled printing start date and time - Estimated print completion date and time Paper Number of sheets · Final amount

[0135] The job execution completion notice is generated when the job execution is completed.

[0136] <Profile Management Service> The profile management service 90 has the following information on color profiles (information stored in the profile information storage unit 99):

[0137] ·name Description Paper ·ink Conversion table ·Expiry date -Usage limit Usage fee

[0138] The profile management service 90 also has the following information on encryption keys (information stored in the encryption key storage unit 98). Note that the information on encryption keys may be stored in the provider management service so that it can be used for purposes other than profile encryption.

[0139] Public Key

[0140] (Overall processing flow of the equipment system) FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall processing flow of the equipment system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a job registration screen. The overall processing flow of the equipment system 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. Note that in FIG. 7, the description will be given assuming that the printing company 10 that registers the job is the printing company 10a. Note that, when registering on the job registration screen, if there are multiple devices at the printing company 10a that can execute the job, a selection screen may be displayed that allows the user to select one or more specific devices from the multiple devices.

[0141] <Step S11> The device information transmission unit 32 of the printing press 30 of each printing company 10 (for example, the printing company 10b) transmits device information about the printing press 30 to the device management service 70 via the communication unit 31.

[0142] <Step S12> The device information registration unit 72 of the device management service 70 registers the device information received via the communication unit 71 in the device information storage unit 79. Next, the device information providing unit 73 of the device management service 70 provides the device information registered in the device information storage unit 79 to the job management service 60. Then, the device information receiving unit 65 of the job management service 60 receives the device information from the device management service 70.

[0143] <Step S13> The administrator terminal 12 of the printing provider 10a, in accordance with the operation of the printing provider 10a, displays on its own display device a job registration screen 2000 for registering a job as shown in Fig. 8. On the job registration screen 2000, the administrator terminal 12 sets a profile to be applied to the job and registers the job.

[0144] As shown in FIG. 8, a job registration screen 2000 includes a customer selection section 2001 , a file selection section 2002 , a number of copies input section 2003 , a paper selection section 2004 , a profile selection section 2005 , and a registration button 2011 .

[0145] The customer selection section 2001 is an input area for selecting a customer who has made a printing request (job) to the printing company 10a. The file selection section 2002 is an input area for selecting a file (print data) to be printed corresponding to the job of the customer selected in the customer selection section 2001. The number of copies input section 2003 is an input area for inputting the number of copies to be printed for the file selected in the file selection section 2002. The paper selection section 2004 is an input area for selecting a recording medium on which the file selected in the file selection section 2002 is to be printed. The profile selection section 2005 is an input area for selecting a profile to be applied when the file selected in the file selection section 2002 is printed. The registration button 2011 is a button for registering a job.

[0146] Specifically, the profile setting unit 20 of the management server 11 sets the profile selected in the profile selection unit 2005 and information about the profile (profile name, profile description, paper, ink, expiration date, maximum number of uses, usage fee, etc.) as profile information for the print data included in the job information selected by the file selection unit 2002 in accordance with the operation on the administrator terminal 12. Then, when the registration button 2011 is pressed, the job information receiving unit 17 of the management server 11 receives the information input on the job registration screen 2000 as job information, including the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20. The job information receiving unit 17 registers (stores) the received job information in the job information storage unit 19.

[0147] <Step S14> The job execution decision unit 16 of the management server 11 decides whether the job accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17 should be executed by the printing company 10a (printed by the printing press 30 owned by the printing company 10a) or sent to the cloud system 50. For example, the job execution decision unit 16 predicts the state of the printing press 30 at the start of free time based on the current state of the printing press 30 and schedule information for when job execution is planned, and decides whether the newly accepted job can be completed by the end of the free time. Furthermore, the job execution decision unit 16 applies the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20 to the job information accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17, and decides whether the printing press 30 is capable of print output.

[0148] If the job execution determination unit 16 determines that the job can be executed by the printing company 10a, the schedule generation unit 15 of the management server 11 generates schedule information and stores it in the job information storage unit 19. Then, the job execution instruction unit 18 of the management server 11 instructs the printing machine 30 to execute the job based on the schedule information generated by the schedule generation unit 15.

[0149] The following describes a case where the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job cannot be executed by the printing provider 10a.

[0150] <Step S15> When the job execution decision unit 16 determines that the job cannot be executed by the printing provider 10a, the encryption processing unit 21 of the management server 11 encrypts at least the profile information included in the job information. At this time, the encryption processing unit 21 encrypts the profile information with, for example, the private key (first private key) of the printing provider 10a stored in the encryption key storage unit 23 (an example of encryption processing for profile information).

[0151] <Step S16> The communication unit 14 of the management server 11 transmits the job information including the encrypted profile information to the job management service 60. Then, the communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 receives the job information.

[0152] <Step S17> The communication unit 61 sends the encrypted profile information included in the received job information to the profile management service 90. The encryption processing unit 91 of the profile management service 90 receives the encrypted profile information.

[0153] <Step S18> The encryption processing unit 91 decrypts the received encrypted profile information using a public key (first public key) stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing service provider 10a that sent the job information (an example of decryption processing for profile information). The encryption processing unit 91 stores the decrypted profile information in the profile information storage unit 99.

[0154] <Step S19> The job information registration unit 62 of the job management service 60 stores and registers the job information received by the communication unit 61 in the job information storage unit 69. In this case, the job information registration unit 62 registers the job information excluding the encrypted profile information in the job information storage unit 69. Then, the job information distribution unit 64 of the job management service 60 refers to the newly registered job information, the profile information corresponding to the job information, the existing job information and schedule information, and the device information received from the device management service 70, and determines the printing presses 30 capable of executing the job among the printing presses 30 of the printing company 10 other than the printing company 10a. Here, it is assumed that the printing press 30 of the printing company 10b is determined as the printing press 30 capable of executing the job by the job information distribution unit 64. Note that the determination of whether each printing press 30 can execute the job and the determination of which printing press 30 to distribute to when multiple printing presses 30 can execute the job may be the same as the determination of whether the job can be executed by the job execution determination unit 16. Furthermore, the job information distribution unit 64 generates schedule information regarding the job to be distributed to the printing press 30 of the determined printing provider 10b.

[0155] <Step S20> When the job information distributor 64 has determined a printing machine 30 of the printing provider 10b that can execute a job, the encryption processor 91 of the profile management service 90 receives a profile request from the job information distributor 64. The profile request includes, for example, information about the corresponding job (such as job identification information) and information about the printing provider 10b determined by the job information distributor 64.

[0156] <Steps S21 and S22> Then, the encryption processing unit 91 reads out the profile information corresponding to the job indicated by the profile request from the profile information storage unit 99, encrypts it using the public key (second public key) stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing company 10b indicated by the profile request (an example of encryption processing for the profile information), and transmits it to the job information distribution unit 64.

[0157] <Step S23> The job information distribution unit 64 transmits the job information including the encrypted profile information and the schedule information to the management server 11 of the printing provider 10b that owns the selected printing press 30 via the communication unit 61. The communication unit 14 of the management server 11 of the printing provider 10b then receives the job information including the encrypted profile information and the schedule information.

[0158] <Step S24> Then, the encryption processing unit 21 of the management server 11 of the printing company 10b decrypts the encrypted profile information contained in the job information received by the communication unit 14 using the private key (second private key) of the printing company 10b stored in the encryption key memory unit 23 (an example of a decryption process for profile information).

[0159] <Step S25> The job execution instruction unit 18 of the management server 11 of the printing company 10b then instructs the printing machine 30 to execute a job to which the decrypted profile information is applied, in accordance with the schedule information received by the communication unit 14.

[0160] <Step S26> The job execution unit 33 of the printing machine 30 of the printing company 10b executes the job in response to a job execution instruction from the job execution instruction unit 18. Specifically, the job execution unit 33 uses the profile of the profile information included in the job information to cause the printer unit 932 to print out the print data included in the job information onto a recording medium such as paper.

[0161] <Steps S27 and S28> When the job execution unit 33 completes the job execution, it transmits a job execution completion notification to the management server 11. Then, the communication unit 14 of the management server 11 transmits the job execution completion notification received from the printing press 30 to the job management service 60. Then, the communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 receives the job execution completion notification.

[0162] <Step S29> The communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 stores the received job execution completion notification in the job information storage unit 69, and the prediction parameter correction unit 63 corrects the prediction parameters. The prediction parameters may be corrected, for example, periodically.

[0163] <Step S30> The billing information notification unit 66 of the job management service 60 notifies the billing service 80 of the withdrawal information of the printing company 10a and the deposit information of the printing company 10b. Then, upon receiving the notification, the billing processing unit 81 of the billing service 80 registers the withdrawal information and deposit information of the printing companies 10a, 10b in the billing information storage unit 89, and based on this information, requests the bank system corresponding to the bank accounts of the printing companies 10a, 10b to process the transfer.

[0164] (Job execution decision process) Fig. 9 is a diagram showing print preparation and printing of a job with arrows. Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a job execution determination process. Details of the job execution determination process in step S14 in Fig. 7 will be described with reference to Figs. 9 and 10.

[0165] 9 shows print preparation and printing schedule information for two printing presses 30 (printing presses A and B). Dotted lines indicate print preparation, and solid lines indicate printing. Areas with neither dotted nor solid lines are free time. The length of the arrows indicates time.

[0166] Next, a specific flow of the job execution determination process in step S14 in FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0167] <Step S141> The job execution decision unit 16 searches for available time in the schedule information up to the desired delivery date for the printing presses 30 (or all of them if there are multiple printing presses) owned by the printing company 10a, and then the process proceeds to step S142.

[0168] <Step S142> The job execution determination unit 16 determines whether or not the job information can be executed by applying the profile information included in the target job information for the printing press 30 that has free time in the schedule information, and then proceeds to step S143.

[0169] <Step S143> The job execution determination unit 16 predicts the state of the printing press 30 at the start time of the free time for the printing press 30 to which the profile information can be applied, based on the current device state and the schedule information up to the free time of interest. The state of the printing press 30 is, for example, the set paper type, remaining paper amount, ink, remaining ink amount, or adjustment state, and the prediction method will be described later. The reason for predicting the state of the printing press 30 at the start time of the free time in this way is that the tasks required before starting printing include setting paper, replacing roll paper, refilling ink, head cleaning, adjustments (alignment, color tone, etc.), and test printing, and commercial printing requires a long time for preparation. Then, the process proceeds to step S144.

[0170] <Step S144> The job execution determination unit 16 determines the necessity of paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment in preparation for job execution based on the predicted state of the printing press 30 and the new job information. The new job information also determines the paper type to be set, the number of required sheets of paper, the ink (type), the amount of ink, etc. If these predicted states differ from the state of the printing press 30 set for the execution of the new job information, the job execution determination unit 16 determines that replacement, adjustment, or refill is necessary. It is desirable to also determine the necessity of head cleaning. The job execution determination unit 16 also determines the predicted state of the printing press 30 and the necessity of head cleaning by referring to the past history. If paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment is necessary (step S144: Yes), the process proceeds to step S145, and if not necessary (step S144: No), the process proceeds to step S146.

[0171] <Step S145> If paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment is required, the job execution judgment unit 16 predicts the job preparation time and execution time taking into account paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment. The time required for paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment is estimated in advance for each type of paper and each adjustment. Then, the process proceeds to step S147.

[0172] <Step S146> If paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment is not required, the job execution determination unit 16 predicts the job preparation time without considering paper replacement, ink refill, or adjustment. In this case, the job execution determination unit 16 sets the job preparation time to, for example, a certain fixed time (the minimum time required to start the operation of the printing press 30). Then, the process proceeds to step S147.

[0173] <Step S147> Next, the job execution decision unit 16 applies the profile information to the free time to decide whether or not the job can be executed. That is, if "free time>preparation time+execution time", the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job can be executed in the free time. However, if the predicted execution end time exceeds the desired deadline, the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job cannot be executed in this free time. Also, if the predicted execution end time does not exceed the desired deadline but the next schedule information is registered after the free time, the job execution decision unit 16 corrects the prediction of the preparation time of the job information set after the end of the new job. The prediction method is the same as in step S143. Also, if the preparation time has changed and the preparation start time of the next job information has been brought forward to meet the desired deadline, but the predicted execution end time of the new job exceeds the brought forward preparation start time of the next job information, the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job cannot be executed in this free time. If the job cannot be executed during the available time (step S147: No), the process proceeds to step S148, and if the job can be executed (step S147: Yes), the process proceeds to step S149.

[0174] <Step S148> If the job cannot be executed during the free time, the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job cannot be executed during this free time.

[0175] <Step S149> If the job can be executed during the free time, the job execution decision unit 16 sets the schedule information in the free time.

[0176] As described above, whether or not a job can be executed is determined for each free time by the job execution decision unit 16. When there are a plurality of free times in which a job can be executed, the job execution decision unit 16 selects a free time in which a job is executed, for example, as follows.

[0177] Choose a time slot that will give you less time to prepare your next schedule information. If the gap between the next schedule information is less than the threshold, the one with the shorter gap will be selected. Oink. If the gap between the next schedule information is greater than or equal to the threshold, the longer gap will be selected. Oink.

[0178] These selection methods improve overall productivity by reducing preparation time such as paper replacement, improve overall productivity by reducing idle time when no jobs can be assigned, and improve overall productivity by making it possible to assign other jobs to the idle time.

[0179] (Equipment status prediction process) Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining prediction of an equipment state at a start time of a free time. Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an equipment state prediction process. Details of the equipment state prediction process in step S143 in Fig. 10 described above will be described with reference to Figs. 11 and 12.

[0180] FIG. 11 shows an example in which jobs (1) to (3) are set in the printing press A, and jobs (1) and (2) are set in the printing press B. The thick double-headed arrow 301 between the jobs indicates job information to be added to the free time in the printing press A. The double-headed arrow 302 indicates job information to be added to the free time in the printing press B. If it is determined that a job can be executed in the free time, the new job is set in the free time. In the following, with reference to FIG. 12, a procedure for determining whether a new job can be set in the free time between jobs (2) and (3) scheduled to be executed by the printing press A will be described. As described above in step S143 of FIG. 10, the job execution determination unit 16 needs to predict the state of the printing press 30 at the start time t of the free time at which the job (2) immediately preceding the free time ends.

[0181] <Step S1431> First, the job execution determination unit 16 determines whether the paper type of the new job is the same as that of job (2). If they are different (step S1431: No), the process proceeds to step S1432. If they are the same (step S1431: Yes), the process proceeds to step S1433.

[0182] <Step S1432> If the paper type of the new job is different from that of job (2), the job execution determination unit 16 determines that a paper change is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S1433.

[0183] <Step S1433> Next, the job execution determination unit 16 determines whether there is enough paper remaining to execute the job. When the paper types of job (1), job (2), and the new job are the same, the job execution determination unit 16 subtracts the usage amounts of job (1) and job (2) from the current remaining amount of paper in the device information. When the paper types of job (1) and job (2) are different and the new job is the same as job 2, the job execution determination unit 16 subtracts the usage amount of job (2) from the remaining amount (not necessarily new paper) of the paper type used by job (2). When it is predicted that paper will run out and be replaced during the execution of job (1) and job (2), or during the execution of job (2), the job execution determination unit 16 subtracts the usage amount thereafter from the amount of paper after replacement. When the paper types of job 2 and the new job are different, paper replacement will be necessary, so the job execution determination unit 16 acquires the remaining amount (not necessarily new paper) of the paper type used by the new job.

[0184] If there are multiple stocks of the same paper, a roll with a larger amount of paper remaining than the new job may be selected to reduce the need to replace paper while the new job is in progress. Also, a roll with a smaller amount of paper remaining than the new job may be selected to use up all the paper so that paper is not wasted. Also, the replacement policy may be changed in the administrator settings.

[0185] If a comparison is made between the amount of paper remaining when job (2) is completed or the amount of paper remaining of the replaced paper type and the number of sheets required for the new job, and it is predicted that paper will run out during the job and will need to be replaced (step S1433: No), the process proceeds to step S1434; if not (step S1433: Yes), the process proceeds to step S1435.

[0186] <Step S1434> If it is predicted that the paper will run out during the execution of the job and will need to be replaced as a result of comparing the remaining amount of paper at the time of completion of execution of job (2) or the remaining amount of paper of the replaced paper type with the number of sheets required for the new job, job execution determination unit 16 determines that replacement with new paper is necessary. Then, the process proceeds to step S1435.

[0187] <Step S1435> Next, job execution determination unit 16 determines whether the ink types are the same and whether there is enough ink remaining to execute the job. The concept is the same as for paper type and remaining paper amount, but the time required to replace and replenish ink is shorter than for paper. If the ink types are different, or the ink types are the same but there is not enough ink remaining to execute the job (step S1435: No), the process proceeds to step S1436, and if the ink types are the same and there is enough ink remaining to execute the job (step S1435: Yes), the process proceeds to step S1437.

[0188] <Step S1436> If the ink types are different, or if the ink types are the same but there is not enough ink remaining to execute the job, the job execution determination unit 16 determines that ink replenishment is necessary so that replenishment does not occur during job execution, and then proceeds to step S1437.

[0189] <Step S1437> Next, the job execution determination unit 16 determines whether the adjustment state is the same as that of job (2). The adjustment state refers to the image formation position and color state relative to the paper. At the end of job (2), the adjustment state is in accordance with the paper and image quality requirements of job (2). Therefore, whether the adjustment state is the same as that of the new job depends on the paper and image quality requirements of the new job, so the job execution determination unit 16 determines whether the two are the same. If the two are not the same (step S1437: No), the process proceeds to step S1438, and if the two are the same (step S1437: Yes), the device state prediction process ends. As a method of determining whether the adjustment states are the same, it may be determined whether the profile information used in multiple jobs is the same.

[0190] <Step S1438> If they are not the same, the job execution determining unit 16 determines that adjustment of the position and color is necessary, and then ends the device state prediction process.

[0191] As described above, the status of the printing press 30 at the start time of the free time can be predicted, and the preparation time can be calculated based on the predicted status of the printing press 30 and the status of the printing press 30 that is set based on the received job information.

[0192] (Preparation and execution time) 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of predicting the preparation time and the execution time. The preparation time and the execution time will be explained with reference to FIG.

[0193] The preparation time is the time required for preparation, and the execution time is the time required for execution of the job. As shown in FIG. 13, the preparation time is expressed as "T PC +T if +T hc +T ac +T tp" Preparation time is the total of the time required for paper change, ink refill, head cleaning, adjustment, and test printing. In this way, the preparation time is the total of the time required for paper change, ink refill, or adjustment required to obtain the state of the printing press 30 based on the job information accepted by the job information accepting unit 17.

[0194] Here, T PC is the time required to change the paper. If the paper type is the same for the previous job and the new job and there is a sufficient amount of paper remaining, there is no need to change the paper and the time is 0. if is the time required to replenish ink. If the ink type is the same as that of the new job and there is a sufficient amount of ink remaining, replenishment is not required and the time is 0. hc is the time required for head cleaning, and is 0 if it is determined from the past execution history that head cleaning is not necessary. T ac is the time required for adjustments (registration, color tone, etc.), and is 0 if the paper and image quality requirements of the previous job and the job to be executed are the same, and if it can be determined from the past execution history that no adjustment is necessary. tp is the time required for test printing.

[0195] The execution time is also expressed as "T PC +T if +T hc +T ac +T pp " is the sum of the time required for paper replacement during job execution, the time required for ink refilling, the time required for head cleaning, the time required for adjustment, and the printing time. However, T PC , T if , T hc and T ac is the time when the replacement occurs during the execution of the job. Also, in the execution time, the test printing time T tp Instead, the printing time T pp Predict the printing time T pp is calculated by multiplying the number of pages per copy by the number of pages in the job information / printing speed.

[0196] (Job execution completion notification) When the execution of a job on the printing press 30 is completed, the management server 11 transmits a job execution completion notification to the job management service 60. The job execution completion notification includes a log of the executed job (preparation time and execution time), the amount, and the status of the printing press 30 before and after the job execution, etc.

[0197] The status of the printing press 30 before and after job execution includes the paper type of the previous job, the paper type of the new job, the remaining paper for the previous job, the number of sheets of paper consumed by the new job, the ink type of the previous job, the ink type of the new job, the remaining ink for the previous job, the remaining ink for the new job, the adjustment status of the previous job, and the adjustment status of the new job.

[0198] The job management service 60 can improve the accuracy of predictions of preparation time and execution time by accumulating the status of the printing press 30 before and after job execution in association with job execution completion notifications and performing statistical processing or machine learning.

[0199] Machine learning is a technology that allows computers to acquire human-like learning capabilities, in which the computer autonomously generates algorithms necessary for judgments such as data identification from learning data that is previously loaded, and applies these to new data to make predictions. The learning method for machine learning may be any of supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and deep learning, or a combination of these learning methods. Any learning method for machine learning is acceptable.

[0200] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a neural network used in machine learning. A neural network with a deep hierarchy is called a DNN (deep neural network). The layer between the input layer 41 and the output layer 43 is called an intermediate layer 42. The number of layers and the number of nodes 45 in Fig. 14 are merely examples.

[0201] The input layer 41 receives job information including, for example, the state of the printing press 30 before and after job execution, and profile information. For non-numeric information such as the paper type and ink type of the job, numerical values ​​corresponding to the paper type and ink type of the job are prepared and input. Alternatively, the paper type and ink type may be represented by a one-hot vector. The output layer 43 has two nodes, corresponding to the preparation time and execution time.

[0202] The input data input to the input layer 41 is forward propagated through the nodes 45 and transmitted to the output layer 43. The nodes are connected by weights (parameters), and an activation function is set for each node 45. In this embodiment, the output of the nodes in the output layer 43 is made to approach the actual preparation time and execution time, so that the problem becomes a regression problem of predicting quantitative data. Therefore, the activation function of the nodes in the output layer 43 may be an identity map that does not convert anything. A loss function that evaluates the difference between the output of each node in the output layer 43 and the teacher data (preparation time and execution time) is known, and in the case of a regression model, a squared error is often used as the loss function. The loss evaluated by the loss function is propagated backward through the neural network 200 from the output layer 43 to the input layer 41, and the parameters of the neural network 200 (the weights connecting the nodes) are updated. Such a learning method is called an error backpropagation method.

[0203] In Fig. 14, the preparation time and execution time are predicted, but if the training data in the output layer 43 is the state change of the printer 30, it is also possible to predict the state change of the printer 30. In this case, the output layer 43 is provided with a number of nodes corresponding to the state of the printer 30, and each node is made to correspond to the state of the printer 30. In this case, the state of the printer 30 is, for example, the paper type, ink, or adjustment state, and the neural network 200 learns parameters by setting "1" when there is a state change and "0" when there is no state change.

[0204] Note that, in FIG. 14, the neural network 200 has been described, but machine learning techniques include perceptron, deep learning, support vector machine, logistic regression, naive Bayes, decision tree, random forest, etc., and are not limited to the technique described in this embodiment.

[0205] In FIG. 7, the profile information of the printer 10a is encrypted with the private key of the printer 10a and then decrypted with the public key of the printer 10a in the profile management service 90 of the cloud system 50. When the profile information is delivered to the printer 10b, the profile information is encrypted with the public key of the printer 10b and then decrypted with the private key of the printer 10b in the management server 11 of the printer 10b. However, the method of encrypted communication of the profile information is not limited to this. For example, encrypted communication using an electronic signature as follows may be performed. The management server 11 of the printer 10a generates an electronic signature of the profile information using the private key (first private key) of the printer 10a, and transmits the profile information and the electronic signature to the cloud system 50 by TLS (Transport Layer Security) (an example of encryption processing for the profile information). At this time, the management server 11 may also transmit the public key of the printer 10a to the cloud system 50. The profile management service 90 of the cloud system 50 uses the public key (first public key) of the printer 10a to decrypt the received electronic signature, verifies the profile information using the decrypted electronic signature (an example of a decryption process for the profile information), and then registers the profile information and the decrypted electronic signature in the profile information storage unit 99. The public key for the electronic signature and the public key for encryption may be managed separately. When the job information distribution unit 64 determines the printer 10 (here, the printer 10b) to which the profile information is to be distributed together with the job, the profile management service 90 uses the public key (second public key) of the determined printer 10b to encrypt the electronic signature and the profile information (an example of an encryption process for the profile information) of the printer 10a and distributes them to the management server 11 of the printer 10b. In this case, the profile management service 90 may encrypt the profile information with a randomly generated common key, and encrypt only the common key with the public key of the printer 10b and attach it to the profile information.The management server 11 of the printing company 10b then decrypts the received electronic signature and profile information of the printing company 10a using the private key (second private key) of the printing company 10b, verifies the profile information using the decrypted electronic signature (an example of a decryption process for profile information), and then causes the printing machine 30 to print out the job to which the profile information has been applied. As described above, encrypted communication using electronic signatures may be performed. By performing encrypted communication of such profile information, it is possible to prevent tampering or spoofing of data (profile information), and to achieve highly secure transmission and reception of profile information.

[0206] As described above, in the equipment system 100 according to this embodiment, the communication unit 61 acquires (receives) profile information including a profile to be applied to the print output together with a job from the management server 11 of the printing company 10a, the encryption processing unit 91 decrypts the profile information acquired by the communication unit 61 and stores it in the profile information storage unit 99, and the job information distribution unit 64 distributes the profile information to be applied to the job to be executed on the printing press 30 of the printing company 10b to the management server 11 of the printing company 10b. In this way, by distributing the profile information of a specific company (e.g., the printing company 10a) to another company (e.g., the printing company 10b), the other company can also print with similar quality.

[0207] Furthermore, the communication unit 61 receives (acquires) profile information encrypted with the private key of the printing provider 10a from the management server 11 of the printing provider 10a, the encryption processing unit 91 decrypts the profile information with the public key of the printing provider 10a and encrypts the decrypted profile information with the public key of the printing provider 10b, and the job information distribution unit 64 distributes the encrypted profile information to the management server 11 of the printing provider 10b that can decrypt it with the private key. This allows the profile information of a specific provider (e.g., the printing provider 10a) to be safely distributed to another provider (e.g., the printing provider 10b).

[0208] Furthermore, the communications unit 61 acquires (receives) from the management server 11 of the printing company 10a profile information to be applied to the job along with the job that has been determined to be inoperable on the printing press 30 owned by the printing company 10a, and the job information distribution unit 64 determines a printing press 30 of a company other than the printing company 10a that can apply the profile information to execute the job, and distributes the job and the profile information to the management server 11 of the company (e.g., printing company 10b) that owns the determined printing press 30. This allows the job that cannot be executed to be distributed together with the profile information to another company that can execute it, making it possible to meet the desired delivery date and increase the operating rate of the printing press 30.

[0209] [Second embodiment] The equipment system 100a according to the second embodiment will be described, focusing on the differences from the equipment system 100 according to the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, when the printing company 10a that accepted a job cannot execute the job, the job information is transferred to another printing company 10b via the cloud system 50, including profile information. In this embodiment, the operation is described in which a profile can be registered on a profile sales site independently of the job, and the printing company 10b can purchase any profile to be applied to the job from the profile sales site. Note that the hardware configurations of the cloud system 50a, management server 11a, and printing machine 30 in the equipment system 100a according to this embodiment are the same as those of the cloud system 50, management server 11, and printing machine 30 described in the first embodiment, respectively.

[0210] (Outline of the equipment system configuration) Fig. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an equipment system according to the second embodiment. With reference to Fig. 15, a schematic configuration of an equipment system 100a according to the present embodiment will be described.

[0211] 15, the equipment system 100a includes a cloud system 50a, a management server 11a, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing press 30 of the printing company 10a, and a management server 11a, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing press 30 of the printing company 10b. The cloud system 50a, and the management server 11a, the administrator terminal 12, and the printing press 30 of each printing company 10 are capable of data communication with each other via a network N.

[0212] In addition, the management server 11a, administrator terminal 12, and printing press 30 of the printing company 10a are an example of the "first company system" of the present invention, and the management server 11a, administrator terminal 12, and printing press 30 of the printing company 10b are an example of the "second company system" of the present invention.

[0213] The system of each printing company 10 includes a management server 11a, an administrator terminal 12, and a printing press 30. The management server 11a, the administrator terminal 12, and the printing press 30 may be capable of data communication with each other via a network within the printing company 10 system.

[0214] The management server 11a is an information processing device such as a PC or a workstation that accepts registration of job information and setting of a profile (including a profile purchased from the cloud system 50a) from the administrator terminal 12 and instructs the printing machine 30 to execute a job by applying the set profile. For example, the management server 11a may function as a Web server and cause the administrator terminal 12 to display a screen for accepting registration of job information and setting of a profile. In this case, a browser is running on the administrator terminal 12, and a Web page that displays the above-mentioned screen transmitted from the management server 11a as a Web server is displayed.

[0215] In addition, the management server 11a encrypts the selected profile with a private key and transmits it to the cloud system 50a for registration in order to sell the profile in accordance with the operation of the administrator terminal 12. In addition, the management server 11a purchases an arbitrary profile from the cloud system 50a in accordance with the operation of the administrator terminal 12.

[0216] The cloud system 50a is an information processing system having one or more information processing devices that determines and distributes job information received from a specific printing provider 10 to an available printing provider 10. As shown in Fig. 15, the cloud system 50a has a job management service 60, a device management service 70, a billing service 80, and a profile management service 90a. Each service is a function provided by the cloud system 50a.

[0217] The job management service 60 receives job information from the management server 11a of each printing company 10 and manages it in a centralized manner, and distributes the job information to an appropriate printing company 10 by referring to device information managed by the device management service 70.

[0218] The device management service 70 receives device information from each printing press 30 and provides the device information to the job management service 60 .

[0219] When a job is distributed to another printing company 10b (when the printing company 10a that accepted the job does not print), the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the printing company 10a that transferred the job and deposit information to the printing company 10b that accepted the job. In addition, the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the printing company 10b that purchased the profile information and deposit information to the printing company 10a that provided the profile information, regarding the fee for the profile information. In addition, when a job is not distributed to another printing company 10b (when the printing company 10a that accepted the job prints), the accounting service 80 registers withdrawal information from the customer and deposit information to the printing company 10a that executed the job in response to a job execution completion notification.

[0220] The profile management service 90a functions as a profile sales site, receiving and managing profile information requested to be registered by the management server 11a of the printing company 10a. Also, as a profile sales site, the profile management service 90a encrypts the profile information of a profile requested to be purchased by the printing company 10b with a public key corresponding to the printing company 10 and transmits it.

[0221] (Configuration and operation of functional blocks of equipment systems) Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the functional blocks of the equipment system according to the second embodiment. The configuration and operation of the functional blocks of the equipment system 100a will be described with reference to Fig. 16. Note that the functional blocks and operations of the printing machine 30, the equipment management service 70, and the billing service 80 are the same as those of the first embodiment.

[0222] <Management Server> 16, the management server 11a of the printing company 10 includes a communication unit 14, a schedule generation unit 15, a job execution determination unit 16, a job information reception unit 17, a job execution instruction unit 18, a job information storage unit 19, a profile setting unit 20, an encryption processing unit 21, a profile information storage unit 22, an encryption key storage unit 23, a display control unit 24, a profile registration request unit 25, and a profile purchase request unit 26. Note that the operations of the schedule generation unit 15, the job execution determination unit 16, the job information reception unit 17, the job execution instruction unit 18, the job information storage unit 19, the profile setting unit 20, the profile information storage unit 22, the encryption key storage unit 23, and the display control unit 24 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0223] The encryption processing unit 21 is a functional unit that encrypts the profile information related to the registration request made by the profile registration request unit 25 with the printing provider's 10 own private key stored in the encryption key storage unit 23. The encryption processing unit 21 also decrypts the profile information purchased from the profile management service 90a by the profile purchase request unit 26 with the printing provider's 10 own private key stored in the encryption key storage unit 23.

[0224] The profile registration request unit 25 is a functional unit that transmits profile information selected in accordance with an operation of the manager terminal 12 via the communication unit 14 for registration in the profile management service 90a.

[0225] The profile purchase request unit 26 is a functional unit that requests the profile management service 90a to purchase profile information selected from the profile information registered in the profile management service 90a in accordance with the operation of the administrator terminal 12. The profile purchase request unit 26 may also have a function of requesting the profile management service 90a for a display screen that displays a list of profiles that can be purchased.

[0226] The communication unit 14 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the job management service 60 and the profile management service 90a. The communication unit 14 transmits job information registered by the administrator terminal 12 and a job execution completion notification to the job management service 60. The communication unit 14 also transmits a profile information registration request together with the profile information to the profile management service 90a, and transmits a profile purchase request to the profile management service 90a. The communication unit 14 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3.

[0227] The schedule generating unit 15, job execution determining unit 16, job information receiving unit 17, job execution instruction unit 18, profile setting unit 20, encryption processing unit 21, display control unit 24, profile registration request unit 25 and profile purchase request unit 26 described above are realized, for example, by a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, rather than a software program.

[0228] Note that the functional units of the management server 11a shown in Fig. 16 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the management server 11a shown in Fig. 16 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the management server 11a shown in Fig. 16 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0229] <Job management service> 16, the job management service 60 of the cloud system 50a includes a communication unit 61, a job information registration unit 62, a prediction parameter correction unit 63, a job information distribution unit 64, a device information reception unit 65, a billing information notification unit 66, and a job information storage unit 69. Note that the operations of the job information registration unit 62, the prediction parameter correction unit 63, the device information reception unit 65, and the job information storage unit 69 are similar to those in the first embodiment.

[0230] The communication unit 61 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the management server 11a of the printing company 10. For example, the communication unit 61 receives job information from the management server 11a. The communication unit 61 also transmits job information and schedule information to the management server 11a. The communication unit 61 also receives a job execution completion notification from the management server 11a. The communication unit 61 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing a program.

[0231] The job information distribution unit 64 is a functional unit that determines the printing machine 30 capable of executing the job by referring to newly registered job information, existing job information and schedule information, and device information received from the device management service 70. The job information distribution unit 64 also generates schedule information related to the job to be distributed to the determined printing machine 30. The job information distribution unit 64 also transmits the job information and schedule information to the management server 11a of the printing company 10 that owns the determined printing machine 30 via the communication unit 61. The job information distribution unit 64 then stores the schedule information in the job information storage unit 69 in association with the job information. Note that, unlike the first embodiment, in the job information stored in the job information storage unit 69 in this embodiment, the profile is purchased prior to the job, and therefore the profile information is stored independently of the job information. Note that, when ordering, registering, receiving, and printing a job, a profile is necessary to reproduce the color tone at the time of printing, so if a profile is specified, profile identification information and bibliographic information may be included in the job information. Furthermore, job information may be associated with necessary profile information, or profile information may be included in job information by specifying a profile.

[0232] The billing information notification unit 66 is a functional unit that, when a job registered by a specific printing provider 10a is executed by another printing provider 10b, notifies the billing service 80 of withdrawal information from the specific printing provider 10a and deposit information from the other printing provider 10b. This is because the other printing provider 10b receives the fee received by the specific printing provider 10a. However, the specific printing provider 10a remains with the information provision fee. In addition, the billing information notification unit 66 notifies, regarding the fee for the profile information, of withdrawal information from the other printing provider 10b that purchased the profile information and deposit information to the specific printing provider 10a that provided the profile information. When a print job received from a customer and sent to a specific printing provider 10a is executed on a device owned by another printing provider 10b, a process is executed to pay at least a portion of the print job fee paid by the customer to the printing provider 10a to the printing provider 10b, and when the printing provider 10b acquires profile information required for the print job that was registered in advance by the printing provider 10a in order to execute the job at the printing provider 10b, a process is executed to charge the printing provider 10b for the fee for the profile set by a profile fee setting unit described below. This makes it possible to offset the fee for the print job and the fee for the profile.

[0233] The above-mentioned job information registration unit 62, prediction parameter correction unit 63, job information distribution unit 64, device information reception unit 65, and billing information notification unit 66 are realized, for example, by a program executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, rather than a software program.

[0234] Note that the functional units of the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 16 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 16 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the job management service 60 shown in Fig. 16 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0235] <Profile Management Service> The profile management service 90a of the cloud system 50a includes an encryption processing unit 91, a profile registration unit 92 (an example of a management unit), a profile distribution unit 93 (an example of a distribution unit), a communication unit 94 (an example of an acquisition unit), an encryption key storage unit 98, and a profile information storage unit 99 (a storage unit). Note that the operations of the encryption key storage unit 98 and the profile information storage unit 99 are similar to those of the first embodiment.

[0236] The communication unit 94 is a functional unit that transmits and receives various information to and from the management server 11a of the printing company 10. For example, the communication unit 94 receives encrypted profile information together with a registration request from the management server 11a. The communication unit 94 also receives a purchase request from the management server 11a, which requests the purchase of profile information. The communication unit 94 also transmits the profile information indicated by the purchase request to the management server 11a that is the request source. The communication unit 94 may also have a function of receiving a request to display a list of profiles that can be purchased. The request can be received from the profile purchase request unit 26 of the management server 11a or from the administrator terminal 12 or the like. The communication unit 94 is realized, for example, by the network I / F 509 and the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing a program.

[0237] The encryption processor 91 is a functional unit that receives encrypted profile information received by the communication unit 94 and decrypts it with a public key stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing service provider 10 that transmitted the profile information. The encryption processor 91 stores the decrypted profile information in the profile information storage unit 99. Furthermore, when a purchase request is received from the management server 11a by the communication unit 94, the encryption processor 91 encrypts the profile information indicated by the purchase request with a public key stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing service provider 10 that sent the request.

[0238] The encryption processor 91 may store the profile information in the profile information storage unit 99 in an encrypted state before decryption. In this case, when a purchase request is received by the communication unit 94, the encryption processor 91 may once decrypt the profile information indicated in the purchase request using a public key corresponding to the printing company 10 that provided the profile information, re-encrypt it using the public key corresponding to the printing company 10 that made the request, and transmit it to the printing company 10 that made the request. This allows the profile information to be managed in an encrypted state in the profile information storage unit 99, thereby improving the security of information management.

[0239] The profile registration unit 92 is a functional unit that, when a registration request and profile information are received from the management server 11a of the printing company 10 via the communication unit 94, registers the profile information in the profile information storage unit 99. In this case, the profile registration unit 92 may register the profile information after having the encryption processing unit 91 decrypt the profile information using a public key corresponding to the sender of the registration request, or may register the profile information in an encrypted state without decrypting it.

[0240] The profile delivery unit 93 is a functional unit that, when a purchase request is received from the management server 11a of the printing company 10 by the communication unit 94, reads out the profile information indicated by the purchase request from the profile information storage unit 99 and delivers (transmits) it to the management server 11a. In this case, the profile delivery unit 93 delivers the profile information after encrypting it by the encryption processing unit 91. The profile delivery unit 93 may also have a function of transmitting a display screen of a list of profiles that can be purchased. When the communication unit 94 receives an acquisition request from the profile purchase request unit 26 of the management server 11a, the profile delivery unit 93 transmits a display screen of a list of profiles that can be purchased to the management server 11a. When the communication unit 94 also receives an acquisition request from the administrator terminal 12 or the like, the profile delivery unit 93 may transmit a display screen of a list of profiles that can be purchased to the administrator terminal 12.

[0241] The encryption processing unit 91, the profile registration unit 92, and the profile distribution unit 93 described above are realized, for example, by a program being executed by the CPU 501 shown in Fig. 3. Note that some or all of these functional units may be realized by an integrated circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC, rather than a software program.

[0242] Note that the functional units of the profile management service 90a shown in Fig. 16 are conceptually shown, and are not limited to such a configuration. For example, the multiple functional units illustrated as independent functional units in the profile management service 90a shown in Fig. 16 may be configured as one functional unit. On the other hand, the function of one functional unit in the profile management service 90a shown in Fig. 16 may be divided into multiple functions and configured as multiple functional units.

[0243] (Overall processing flow of the equipment system) FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall process flow of the equipment system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a job execution screen. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a profile list screen. FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a profile sales registration screen. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a profile purchase screen. The overall process flow of the equipment system 100a according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 to 21. Note that in FIG. 17, the printing service provider 10 that registers the job is the printing service provider 10a. Also, in FIG. 17, the entity that registers the profile information is the printing service provider 10a, but it may be another printing service provider 10.

[0244] <Step S41> In accordance with the operation of the printing provider 10a, the administrator terminal 12 of the printing provider 10a displays on its display device a profile list screen 2200, as shown in FIG. 19, which displays a list of profile information registered in the profile information storage unit 22 of the management server 11a.

[0245] As shown in Fig. 19, the profile list screen 2200 includes a profile list display section 2201. The profile list display section 2201 is an area that displays a list of profile information registered in the profile information storage section 22. In the example shown in Fig. 19, a profile name, a description, a paper, an ink, and a creation date are displayed as the profile information.

[0246] When the printing company 10a operates the printing company 10a to press a registration button corresponding to the profile information that the printing company 10a desires to sell, the administrator terminal 12 displays a profile sales registration screen 2300 as shown in FIG. 20 for registering the profile information to be sold in the profile management service 90a.

[0247] As shown in FIG. 20, a profile sales registration screen 2300 includes a profile name input section 2301 , a description input section 2302 , an upper limit input section 2305 , a fee input section 2306 , and an execute button 2311 .

[0248] The profile name input section 2301 is an input area for inputting or editing the name of the profile. The description input section 2302 is an input area for inputting or editing the description of the profile.

[0249] The upper limit input section 2305 is an input area for inputting an upper limit value for the use of the profile. In the example shown in Fig. 20, the upper limit value of the number of days of use of the profile, the upper limit value of the number of times, or the upper limit value of the number of pages can be set. Note that the method of setting the upper limit value is not limited to this, and for example, both the expiration date and the upper limit number of times of use may be set.

[0250] The fee input section 2306 is an input area for inputting the sales fee desired by the printing company 10a. The execute button 2311 is a button for executing the registration of profile information. The sales fee of the profile may be automatically calculated by the profile management service 90a. The profile management service 90a may have an automatic profile fee determination section (e.g., an automatic calculation button) that, for example, determines the fee by evaluating the characteristics of the profile registered on the server and the purchase history using the following indices. Indicator (1) Rarity: The fewer the similar profiles are, the more points are added. Indicator (2) Purchase Frequency: The more frequently the product is purchased from more printing companies, the more points are added. Indicator (3) Evaluation: The printing company is allowed to input an evaluation after use, and the higher the evaluation, the more points are added. In addition, the price may be calculated based on the calculated amount based on each evaluation index and the desired price of the company, or a recommended price may be calculated from the above evaluation indexes for the desired price input by the company and presented. In addition, the company may be able to reset the amount by referring to the calculated and presented amount. In addition, an appropriate fee may be calculated and presented by AI or the like using indexes, accumulated data, fluctuating data such as trends, etc. The fee input unit and the automatic fee determination unit are examples of a profile fee setting unit that sets a profile fee.

[0251] After the printing company 10 a has confirmed and entered the profile information on the profile sales registration screen 2300 , the printing company 10 a presses the execute button 2311 .

[0252] <Step S42> When the print provider 10a presses the execute button 2311, the encryption processing unit 21 of the management server 11a of the print provider 10a encrypts the profile information to be registered on the profile sales registration screen 2300 with the private key (first private key) of the print provider 10a stored in the encryption key memory unit 23 (an example of encryption processing for profile information).

[0253] <Step S43> The profile registration request unit 25 of the management server 11a transmits the profile information encrypted by the encryption processing unit 21 together with a registration request for requesting registration with the profile management service 90a serving as a profile sales site via the communication unit 14. The profile management service 90a then receives the registration request and the encrypted profile information.

[0254] <Steps S44 and S45> When the communication unit 94 receives the registration request and the encrypted profile information, the encryption processing unit 91 of the profile management service 90a decrypts the profile information using a public key (first public key) stored in the encryption key storage unit 98 that corresponds to the printing company 10a that sent the profile information (an example of a decryption process for the profile information). The encryption processing unit 91 then stores (registers) the decrypted profile information in the profile information storage unit 99.

[0255] <Step S46> The administrator terminal 12 of the printing provider 10b, in accordance with the operation of the printing provider 10b, displays on its own display device a profile purchase screen 2400 for purchasing a profile registered in the profile management service 90a, as shown in FIG.

[0256] As shown in FIG. 21, the profile purchase screen 2400 includes a profile list display section 2401. The profile list display section 2401 is an area that displays a list of profile information registered in the profile information storage section 99. In the example shown in FIG. 21, the profile name, the seller (printing company 10), the fee, the upper limit, the description, the paper, the ink, and the registration date are displayed as the profile information. In this case, the profile distribution section 93 of the profile management service 90a grasps the ink and paper (recording medium) that can be used with the printing press 30 of the printing company 10b from the device information of the printing press 30, and transmits a list of only the profile information that includes the ink and paper as the usage condition (a list of profile information that satisfies the usage condition of the printing press 30) to the management server 11a, and the management server 11a may display the list on the profile purchase screen 2400. In order to generate and display FIG. 21, a request to obtain a list of profiles that can be purchased is made from the profile purchase request section 26 of the management server 11a, and the list is transmitted from the profile management service 90a to the management server 11a.

[0257] The printing company 10b checks the content of the profile information on the profile purchase screen 2400 and presses the purchase button corresponding to the profile information that the printing company 10b wishes to purchase. The timing for purchasing profile information may be when purchasing profile information corresponding to a job received by the printing company 10b or a job delivered from the cloud system 50a, or any timing when a purchase is desired even when there is no particular job of interest.

[0258] It should be noted that the profile purchase screen 2400 may be configured to allow not only the purchase of profile information but also the simultaneous purchase (order) of ink or paper (recording medium) that satisfies the usage conditions of each profile information. In this case, when the profile distribution unit 93 of the profile management service 90a receives a purchase request for ink or paper from the management server 11a, it may be configured to order the ink or paper from an external site or the like.

[0259] <Step S47> When the print provider 10b presses the purchase button, the profile purchase request unit 26 of the management server 11a of the print provider 10b transmits a purchase request to the profile management service 90a via the communication unit 14, requesting the profile management service 90a to purchase the profile information selected for purchase on the profile purchase screen 2400. The profile management service 90a then receives the purchase request. In this embodiment, as shown in steps S46 and S47 of FIG. 17, the profile is purchased from the administrator terminal 12 via the management server 11a. However, the administrator terminal 12 may connect to the profile management service (profile sales site) 90a to directly transmit and receive a request for and acquisition of a list of profiles that can be purchased, and a purchase request. The process of step S48 and subsequent steps of the profile management service 90a that receives the purchase request is the same. In this case, it is not necessary to transmit and receive a list of profiles that can be purchased between the management server 11a and the profile management service 90a.

[0260] <Step S48> When a purchase request is received from the management server 11a of the printing company 10b via the communication unit 94, the profile distribution unit 93 of the profile management service 90a reads out from the profile information storage unit 99 the profile information indicated in the purchase request.

[0261] <Step S49> Then, the encryption processing unit 91 of the profile management service 90a encrypts the profile information read by the profile distribution unit 93 using a public key (second public key) stored in the encryption key memory unit 98 that corresponds to the requesting printing company 10b (an example of encryption processing for profile information).

[0262] <Step S50> The profile distribution unit 93 then distributes (transmits) the profile information encrypted by the encryption processing unit 91 to the management server 11a of the printing provider 10b via the communication unit 94. The management server 11a of the printing provider 10b then receives the encrypted profile information.

[0263] <Steps S51 and S52> The encryption processing unit 21 of the management server 11a of the printing provider 10b decrypts the encrypted profile information purchased from the profile management service 90a received by the communication unit 14, using the printing provider's 10b's own private key (second private key) stored in the encryption key storage unit 23 (an example of decryption processing for profile information). The encryption processing unit 21 then stores the decrypted profile information in the profile information storage unit 22.

[0264] In addition, regarding the purchase of profile information from the printing company 10a to the printing company 10b as described above, the purchase history may be stored in the blockchain.

[0265] <Step S53> The profile distribution unit 93 of the profile management service 90a sends the distributed profile information, information on the printing company 10a that provided the profile information, and information on the purchasing printing company 10b to the billing information notification unit 66 of the job management service 60. The billing information notification unit 66 notifies the billing service 80 of withdrawal information from the printing company 10b that purchased the profile information, and deposit information to the printing company 10a that provided the profile information. The profile distribution unit 93 may directly notify the billing service 80 of deposit / withdrawal information. Then, upon receiving the notification, the billing processing unit 81 of the billing service 80 registers the withdrawal information and deposit information of the printing companies 10a, 10b in the billing information storage unit 89, and requests a transfer process to the bank system corresponding to the bank accounts of the printing companies 10a, 10b based on this information.

[0266] <Step S54> The device information transmission unit 32 of the printing press 30 of each printing company 10 (for example, the printing company 10b) transmits device information about the printing press 30 to the device management service 70 via the communication unit 31.

[0267] <Step S55> The device information registration unit 72 of the device management service 70 registers the device information received via the communication unit 71 in the device information storage unit 79. Next, the device information providing unit 73 of the device management service 70 provides the device information registered in the device information storage unit 79 to the job management service 60. Then, the device information receiving unit 65 of the job management service 60 receives the device information from the device management service 70.

[0268] <Step S56> The administrator terminal 12 of the printing company 10a, in accordance with the operation of the printing company 10a, displays on its own display device a job registration screen 2000 for registering a job as shown in Fig. 8. On the job registration screen 2000, the administrator terminal 12 sets a profile to be applied to the job and registers the job.

[0269] Specifically, the profile setting unit 20 of the management server 11a of the printing company 10a sets the profile selected by the profile selection unit 2005 and information about the profile (profile name, profile description, paper, ink, expiration date, maximum number of times of use, usage fee, etc.) as profile information for the print data included in the job information selected by the file selection unit 2002 in accordance with the operation on the administrator terminal 12. Note that the profile information that can be selected by the profile selection unit 2005 can be selected not only from profile information originally held by the printing company 10a, but also from profile information of another printing company 10b purchased from a profile management service 90a (profile sales site). Then, the job information acceptance unit 17 of the management server 11a accepts the information input on the job registration screen 2000 as job information, including the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20. The job information acceptance unit 17 registers (stores) the accepted job information in the job information storage unit 19.

[0270] <Step S57> The job execution decision unit 16 of the management server 11a decides whether the job accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17 should be executed by the printing company 10a (printed by the printing press 30 owned by the printing company 10a) or sent to the cloud system 50a. For example, the job execution decision unit 16 predicts the state of the printing press 30 at the start of free time based on the current state of the printing press 30 and schedule information for when job execution is planned, and decides whether the newly accepted job can be completed by the end of the free time. Furthermore, the job execution decision unit 16 applies the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20 to the job information accepted by the job information acceptance unit 17, and decides whether the printing press 30 is capable of print output.

[0271] If the job execution determination unit 16 determines that the job can be executed by the printing company 10a, the schedule generation unit 15 of the management server 11a generates schedule information and stores it in the job information storage unit 19. Then, the job execution instruction unit 18 of the management server 11a instructs the printing machine 30 to execute the job based on the schedule information generated by the schedule generation unit 15.

[0272] The following describes a case where the job execution decision unit 16 decides that the job cannot be executed by the printing provider 10a.

[0273] <Step S58> If the job execution decision unit 16 determines that the job cannot be executed by the printing company 10a, the communication unit 14 of the management server 11a transmits job information to the job management service 60. Then, the communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 receives the job information.

[0274] <Step S59> The job information registration unit 62 of the job management service 60 stores and registers the job information received by the communication unit 61 in the job information storage unit 69. Then, the job information distribution unit 64 of the job management service 60 refers to the newly registered job information, the existing job information and schedule information, and the device information received from the device management service 70, and determines the printing press 30 capable of executing the job among the printing presses 30 of the printing company 10b other than the printing company 10a. Here, it is assumed that the printing press 30 of the printing company 10b is determined as the printing press 30 capable of executing the job by the job information distribution unit 64. Note that the determination of whether each printing press 30 can execute the job and the determination of which printing press 30 to distribute the job to when multiple printing presses 30 can execute the job may be the same as the determination of whether the job can be executed by the job execution determination unit 16, but here, the job information received by the communication unit 61 does not include profile information, so the determination is made without using the profile information. The job information distribution unit 64 also generates schedule information for the job to be distributed to the printing press 30 of the determined printing provider 10b. Note that the device of the printing provider that has purchased the profile required for the job may be selected automatically or by displaying candidates, etc.

[0275] <Step S60> The job information distribution unit 64 transmits the job information and schedule information via the communication unit 61 to the management server 11a of the printing provider 10b that owns the selected printing press 30. The communication unit 14 of the management server 11a of the printing provider 10b receives the job information and schedule information. If the printing provider 10b does not own a profile required for the job, an automatic purchase process may be performed in the profile management service before transmitting the job information in step S60. In that case, steps S61 and S62 in FIG. 17 may be omitted.

[0276] <Step S61> The display control unit 24 of the management server 11a of the printing service provider 10b causes the administrator terminal 12 to display a job execution screen 2100 for executing the job information received by the communication unit 14, as shown in Fig. 18. In this case, the display control unit 24 may cause the administrator terminal 12 to display the job execution screen 2100 at the time when the job information is received by the communication unit 14, or may cause the administrator terminal 12 to display a pop-up display or the like indicating that the job information has been received, and may cause the administrator terminal 12 to display the job execution screen 2100 after a predetermined operation is performed on the pop-up on the administrator terminal 12. Note that if the printing service provider 10b has a profile required for the job (for example, if it has been purchased and the usage limit has not been reached), steps S61 and S62 in Fig. 17 may be omitted.

[0277] 18, the job execution screen 2100 includes a profile selection section 2105 and an execute button 2111. The job execution screen 2100 further displays the customer name ("Customer"), the file name ("File"), the number of copies, and the paper type to confirm the contents of the job information.

[0278] The profile selection section 2105 is an input area for selecting a profile to be applied when printing out the received job information. The execute button 2111 is a button for causing the printing machine 30 to execute the job.

[0279] When there are multiple pieces of job information that have been received by the communication unit 14 and are in a waiting state, the job execution screen 2100 may be configured to allow a user to select one piece of job information from the multiple pieces of job information.

[0280] <Step S62> The profile setting unit 20 of the management server 11a of the printer 10b sets the profile selected by the profile selection unit 2105 and information about the profile (profile name, profile description, paper, ink, expiration date, maximum number of times of use, usage fee, etc.) as profile information for the print data included in the received job information in accordance with the operation on the administrator terminal 12. The profile selection unit 2105 can select profile information not only from profile information originally owned by the printer 10b, but also from profile information of other printers 10 purchased from a profile management service 90a (profile sales site) (for example, profile information of the printer 10a purchased in step S50). The management server 11a of the printer 10b may access the profile management service 90a at the timing when the job execution screen 2100 is displayed, purchase new profile information, and set it in the job information. If the printer 10b does not own a profile required for the job, a display may be displayed in step S62 to guide the printer 10b to purchase a specific profile, or a list of candidate profiles may be displayed.

[0281] The job information receiving unit 17 of the management server 11a may receive the job information including the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20, and register (store) the job information in the job information storage unit 19.

[0282] <Step S63> Then, the job execution instruction unit 18 of the management server 11a of the printing company 10b instructs the printing machine 30 to execute a job applying the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20, in accordance with the schedule information received by the communication unit 14.

[0283] <Step S64> The job execution unit 33 of the printing machine 30 of the printing company 10b executes the job in response to a job execution instruction from the job execution instruction unit 18. Specifically, the job execution unit 33 uses the profile of the profile information set by the profile setting unit 20 to cause the printer unit 932 to print out the print data included in the job information onto a recording medium such as paper.

[0284] <Step S65> When the job execution unit 33 completes the execution of the job, it transmits a job execution completion notification to the management server 11a. Then, the management server 11a receives the job execution completion notification.

[0285] <Step S66> When a job completion notification is received by the communication unit 14, the profile setting unit 20 of the management server 11a checks whether the usage conditions indicated by the profile information applied to the job are no longer satisfied. Specifically, the profile setting unit 20 checks whether the usage period included in the profile information has expired, or whether the usage limit included in the profile information has been exceeded. If the profile setting unit 20 determines that the usage conditions indicated by the profile information are no longer satisfied, it deletes the profile information. With this mechanism, the printing company 10a that has registered the profile information for sale in the profile management service 90a can collect the fee for the profile information, and allow other printing companies 10b to use the profile information to the extent that the desired usage conditions are satisfied.

[0286] The management server 11a may transmit a usage log of when the profile information was used (applied) to the cloud system 50a, and the usage status of the profile information may be managed on the cloud system 50a side. In this case, when the expiration date or the upper limit of the number of uses of the profile is approaching, the profile distribution unit 93 of the cloud system 50a may notify the printing company 10b to encourage the purchase of additional profile information, or may cause additional charges when the expiration date or the upper limit of the number of uses is exceeded, or may request the deletion of the profile related to the profile information.

[0287] <Step S67> Then, the communication unit 14 of the management server 11a transmits the job execution completion notification received from the printing machine 30 to the job management service 60. Then, the communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 receives the job execution completion notification.

[0288] <Step S68> The communication unit 61 of the job management service 60 stores the received job execution completion notification in the job information storage unit 69, and the prediction parameter correction unit 63 corrects the prediction parameters. The prediction parameters may be corrected, for example, periodically.

[0289] <Step S69> The billing information notification unit 66 of the job management service 60 notifies the billing service 80 of the payment information of the printing company 10a and the deposit information of the printing company 10b for the job information. When the billing processing unit 81 of the billing service 80 receives the notification, it registers the payment information and deposit information of the printing companies 10a and 10b in the billing information storage unit 89, and based on this information, requests the bank system corresponding to the bank accounts of the printing companies 10a and 10b to process the transfer.

[0290] The encrypted communication method for the profile information used in FIG. 17 is not limited to this, and the encrypted communication using the electronic signature described above can also be applied.

[0291] As described above, in the equipment system 100a according to this embodiment, the communication unit 94 acquires (receives) profile information including a profile to be applied to the print output from the management server 11a of the printing company 10a, the encryption processing unit 91 decrypts the profile information acquired by the communication unit 94 and stores it in the profile information storage unit 99, and the profile distribution unit 93 distributes the profile information to the management server 11a of the printing company 10b in response to a purchase request. In this way, by distributing the profile information of a specific company (e.g., the printing company 10a) to another company (e.g., the printing company 10b), the other company can also print with the same quality.

[0292] The communication unit 94 receives (acquires) profile information encrypted with the private key of the printer 10a from the management server 11a of the printer 10a, the encryption processing unit 91 decrypts the profile information with the public key of the printer 10a and encrypts the decrypted profile information with the public key of the printer 10b, and the profile distribution unit 93 distributes the encrypted profile information to the management server 11a of the printer 10b that can decrypt it with the private key. This allows the profile information of a specific provider (e.g., the printer 10a) to be safely distributed to other providers (e.g., the printer 10b).

[0293] In digital commercial printing equipment, color profiles, which are ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles, or equipment adjustments are made according to the image, ink, paper type, etc., to be printed. Outputting optimal prints through such adjustments is a highly difficult task, and the settings are valuable data that can be said to be the know-how of each printing company. Usually, such profile data and setting methods are generally the know-how of the printing company, and are rarely made public. Therefore, if there is an ICC profile suitable for the image, etc., to be printed, it is desirable that other printing companies can also obtain it. In addition, printing companies with reduced printing demand need to seek new sources of revenue. On the other hand, from the perspective of a customer who orders printing, if there is only a predetermined company to choose from for a request to print on a specific paper, there is a possibility that the delivery date will not be met or that shipping costs will be high due to ordering from a company in a remote location, and there is a desire to select a company to request printing. Each embodiment of the present invention allows printing companies to obtain ICC profiles created by other companies, making it possible to print with the same quality. In addition, it is possible to expand the range of printing companies that customers can choose from and improve the equipment operation rate of printing companies.

[0294] In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, when at least one of the functional units of the cloud systems 50, 50a and the management servers 11, 11a is realized by executing a program, the program is provided by being pre-installed in a ROM or the like. In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the program executed by the cloud systems 50, 50a and the management servers 11, 11a may be provided by being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable), or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) in an installable or executable format. In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the program executed by the cloud systems 50, 50a and the management servers 11, 11a may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network. In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the program executed by the cloud systems 50, 50a and the management servers 11, 11a may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Furthermore, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the programs executed in the cloud systems 50, 50a and the management servers 11, 11a have a modular configuration including at least any of the above-mentioned functional units, and in terms of actual hardware, the CPU 501 reads out and executes the programs from the above-mentioned storage devices (e.g., ROM 502 or HD 504, etc.), thereby loading and generating each of the above-mentioned functional units onto the main storage device. [Explanation of symbols]

[0295] 10, 10a, 10b Printing company 11, 11a Management Server 12 Administrator terminal 14 Communications Department 15 Schedule Generation Section 16 Job execution decision unit 17 Job Information Reception Department 18 Job execution instruction section 19 Job information storage unit 20, 20a Profile setting section 21 Encryption processing unit 22 Profile information storage unit 23 Encryption key storage unit 24 Display control section 25 Profile registration request section 26 Profile Purchase Request Section 30 printing press 31 Communications Department 32 Device information transmission unit 33 Job Execution Unit 41 Input Layer 42 Middle Class 43 Output layer 45 nodes 50, 50a Cloud System 60 Job Management Services 61 Communications Department 62 Job Information Registration Section 63 Forecast Parameter Correction Unit 64 Job Information Distribution Department 65 Equipment Information Receiving Department 66 Billing Information Notification Section 69 Job information storage unit 70 Equipment Management Services 71 Communications Department 72 Device Information Registration Section 73 Device information provision department 79 Device information storage section 80 Billing Services 81 Billing Processing Unit 89 Billing information storage unit 90, 90a Profile Management Service 91 Encryption processing unit 92 Profile Registration Section 93 Profile Distribution Department 94 Communications Department 98 Encryption key storage unit 99 Profile information storage unit 100, 100a Equipment System 200 Neural Networks 501 CPU 502 ROM 503 RAM 504 HD 505 HDD Controller 506 Display 508 External device connection interface 509 Network Interface 510 Bus Line 511 Keyboard 512 Pointing Device 513 DVD 514 DVD-RW drive 515 Media 516 Media Interface 901 CPU 902 MEM-P 902a ROM 902b RAM 903 NB 904SB 906 ASIC 907 MEM-C 908 HDD Controller 909 HD 910 Controller 920 Near field communication circuit 920a Antenna 921 AGP Bus 922 PCI bus 930 Engine control unit 931 Scanner section 932 Printer section 940 Operation Panel 940a Panel display 940b Hard Key 950 Network Interface 1000 PDF files 1001 LAB Data 1002 CMYK data 1100 Input Profile 1101 Output Profile 2000 Job registration screen 2001 Customer Selection Department 2002 File Selection 2003 Number of copies input section 2004 Paper Selection Section 2005 Profile Selection Section 2011 Registration button 2100 Job execution screen 2105 Profile Selection Section 2111 Run button 2200 Profile list screen 2201 Profile list display section 2300 Profile Sales Registration Screen 2301 Profile name input section 2302 Description input section 2305 Upper limit input section 2306 Fee Input Section 2311 Run button 2400 Profile purchase screen 2401 Profile list display section N Network [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0296] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6373980

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires profile information, including a profile to be applied to the print output, in which a sales fee is set, from the first trader system; a management unit that registers the profile information acquired by the acquisition unit in a storage unit in response to a sales registration request from the first trader system; a distribution unit that distributes, to the second vendor system, profile information indicated by a purchase request from the second vendor system, among the profile information registered in the storage unit, in order to apply the profile information to a job executed by a printing machine owned by the second vendor system; An information processing system comprising:

2. The profile information acquired by the acquisition unit is further provided with an encryption processing unit that performs encryption processing on the profile information acquired by the acquisition unit, The information processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the distribution unit distributes the profile information encrypted by the encryption processing unit to the second provider system capable of decrypting the profile information.

3. The acquisition unit acquires, from the first provider system, the profile information encrypted with a first private key of the first provider system; the encryption processing unit performs a decryption process on the profile information with a first public key of the first provider system, and performs an encryption process on the profile information after the decryption process with a second public key of the second provider system; 3. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the distribution unit distributes the profile information encrypted with the second public key to the second provider system capable of decrypting the profile information with a second private key.

4. the acquiring unit acquires, from the first trader system, the profile information to be applied to the job together with the job determined to be unable to be executed by the printing machine possessed by the first trader system; The distribution unit is determining a printing press at a vendor system other than the first vendor system that can apply the profile information to execute the job; 4. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the job and the profile information are distributed to the second vendor system, which is the vendor system that owns the determined printing press.

5. the management unit includes a profile fee setting unit that sets a fee for the profile information, 5. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the management unit notifies the second provider system of the fee set by the profile fee setting unit when distributing the profile information to the second provider system.

6. 6. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the profile fee setting unit automatically determines a fee for the profile information based on one or more indexes and displays the fee at the time of the purchase request.

7. When a print job accepted from a customer by the first print job system is executed by the second print job system, A process is performed to pay at least a portion of the print job fee paid by the customer to the first vendor system to the second vendor system; An information processing system as described in claim 6, wherein when the second vendor system acquires profile information required for the print job registered by the first vendor system, the fee for the profile set by the profile fee setting unit is charged to the second vendor system.

8. The distribution unit is transmitting a list of profile information that satisfies the usage conditions of a printing press held by the second vendor system, from among the profile information registered in the storage unit, to the second vendor system; 8. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the profile information selected from the list in the second provider system is delivered to the second provider system.

9. An information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the distribution unit orders the ink or recording medium when the purchase request from the second vendor system includes a request for the ink or recording medium indicated by profile information of the purchase request.

10. 10. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the profile information includes an upper limit of the number of times the information is used or a usage period.

11. The information processing system according to claim 10 , wherein the distribution unit issues a request to delete the profile included in the profile information when the maximum number of uses or the expiration date indicated by the profile information for the printing machine of the second vendor system has been exceeded.

12. An acquisition step of acquiring profile information, including a profile to be applied to the print output, in which a sales fee is set, from the first trader system; a management step of registering the acquired profile information in a storage unit in response to a sales registration request from the first trader system; a delivery step of delivering, to the second vendor system, profile information indicated by a purchase request from the second vendor system, among the profile information registered in the storage unit, in order to apply the profile information to a job executed by a printing machine owned by the second vendor system; An information processing method comprising the steps of:

13. On the computer, An acquisition step of acquiring profile information, including a profile to be applied to the print output, in which a sales fee is set, from the first trader system; a management step of registering the acquired profile information in a storage unit in response to a sales registration request from the first trader system; a delivery step of delivering, to the second vendor system, profile information indicated by a purchase request from the second vendor system, among the profile information registered in the storage unit, in order to apply the profile information to a job executed by a printing machine owned by the second vendor system; A program for executing the above.

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