Information Processing Apparatus and Information Processing Program

Abstract

To enable a user to grasp a wireless access point where it is possible to transmit a processing request without problem from a portable terminal to an information processing device when transmitting a processing request to the information processing device via one of a plurality of wireless access points from the portable terminal.SOLUTION: When a job is received by way of a wireless AP 14 from a portable terminal 12, an actual receive speed acquisition unit 70 causes the actual receive speed of the job to be stored in an actual receive speed DB 60 in association with identification information of the wireless AP 14. A table creation unit 72 computes the average actual receive speed of a plurality of actual receive speeds for each wireless AP 14 on the basis of the actual receive speed DB 60, and creates an actual receive speed table 62 in which the identification information of the wireless AP 14 is associated with the computed average actual receive speed. A notification unit 74 notifies the actual receive speed table 62 to a user who is going to transmit a job from the portable terminal 12 to the information processing device 16.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing program.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a system including a wireless terminal and a plurality of wireless access points, in which the wireless terminal is connected to an external network via the plurality of wireless access points, and the wireless terminal and the wireless access point already wirelessly connected determine the wireless access points to be passed through to the external network based on the radio wave intensity received from other wireless access points.

[0003] Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a system including a mobile terminal device and an image processing device, in which a processing request can be transmitted from the mobile terminal device to the image processing device via at least one of a short-range wireless communication line and a network communication line, and the image processing device discriminates a communication path with a short transmission completion time required for the processing request transmitted by the mobile terminal device among the short-range wireless communication line and the network communication line.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, a system is conceivable in which a processing request can be transmitted from a mobile terminal to an information processing device via a wireless access point, and a plurality of wireless access points to which the mobile terminal can communicate are provided. In such a system, among the plurality of wireless access points, there may be a case where a wireless access point that cannot appropriately transmit a processing request from the mobile terminal to the information processing device is mixed.

[0006] There are various factors that cause the inability to transmit a processing request from the mobile terminal to the information processing device via the wireless access point. As an example of such a factor, for example, even when the intensity of the radio wave received by the mobile terminal from the wireless access point is sufficiently strong, the radio wave from the wireless access point and the radio wave from another wireless access point in the vicinity interfere with each other, and the processing request from the mobile terminal cannot be correctly transmitted to the information processing device.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to enable a user to grasp a wireless access point that can transmit a processing request from a mobile terminal to an information processing device without problems when transmitting the processing request to the information processing device via any of a plurality of wireless access points.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0008] The invention according to claim 1 includes a processor. The processor receives a processing request from a mobile terminal via any of a plurality of wireless access points, associates the actual reception speed of the processing request from the mobile terminal via the wireless access point with the identification information of the wireless access point through which the mobile terminal passed when transmitting the processing request, and stores and accumulates the information in an actual reception speed database. Based on the actual reception speed database, a representative actual reception speed, which is a representative value of the actual reception speed for each wireless access point, is calculated, and the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point is notified to a user who uses the mobile terminal to transmit a processing request to the own device via the wireless access point. This is an information processing device characterized by the above. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the processor transmits the representative performance reception speed of each wireless access point to the target mobile terminal, which is the mobile terminal used by the user, by short-range wireless communication between the target mobile terminal and the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized by this. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that when the transmission of a processing request from a mobile terminal to the information processing apparatus via a wireless access point fails, the processor associates transmission failure information indicating the failure of the transmission with the identification information of the wireless access point and stores the result in the performance reception speed database. Based on the performance reception speed database, the processor calculates the total value of the number of transmission failures of the processing request for each wireless access point and notifies the user of the total value of the number of transmission failures for each wireless access point. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized by this. The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the processor further associates the type number of the mobile terminal with the performance reception speed and the identification information of the wireless access point and stores the result in the performance reception speed database in an accumulated manner. Considering the communication performance of the mobile terminal associated with each performance reception speed stored in the performance reception speed database, which is obtained based on the terminal information indicating the communication performance for each type number of the mobile terminal, the processor calculates the representative performance reception speed. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized by this. The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the processor further associates the type number of the mobile terminal with the performance reception speed and the identification information of the wireless access point and stores the result in the performance reception speed database in an accumulated manner. In the performance reception speed database, the processor notifies the user of the representative performance reception speed of the performance reception speed associated with the type number of the target mobile terminal used by the user. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized by this. In the invention according to claim 6, wireless communication by mobile phone communication is performed between the mobile terminal and the wireless access point, and the processor is based on communication carrier information indicating a communication carrier that provides the mobile phone communication for each of the plurality of wireless access points, and the communication carrier used by the target mobile terminal used by the user for mobile phone communication is the same as the communication carrier for performing mobile phone communication. The representative actual reception speed of the actual reception speed of the wireless access point is notified to the user, which is the information processing apparatus according to claim 1. In the invention according to claim 7, a computer is caused to receive a processing request from a mobile terminal via any one of a plurality of wireless access points, and the actual reception speed of the processing request from the mobile terminal via the wireless access point is associated with the identification information of the wireless access point via which the mobile terminal transmitted the processing request and stored in an actual reception speed database, and based on the actual reception speed database, a representative actual reception speed that is a representative value of the actual reception speed is calculated for each wireless access point, and the user who transmits a processing request to the own device via the wireless access point using the mobile terminal is notified of the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point, which is an information processing program.

Advantages of the Invention

[0009] According to the invention according to claim 1 or 7, when transmitting a processing request from a mobile terminal to an information processing apparatus via any one of a plurality of wireless access points, the user can grasp a wireless access point through which the processing request can be transmitted to the information processing apparatus without problems from the mobile terminal. According to the invention according to claim 2, the user can confirm the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point on the target mobile terminal. According to the invention according to claim 3, the user can select a wireless access point through which to transmit a processing request to the information processing apparatus with reference to the total value of the number of transmission failures of the processing requests of each wireless access point. According to the invention according to claim 4, the user can grasp the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point calculated in consideration of the communication performance of the mobile terminal. According to the invention according to claim 5, the user can grasp the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point corresponding to the communication performance of the target mobile terminal. According to the invention according to claim 6, the user can grasp the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point that can be communicatively connected by mobile phone communication from the target mobile terminal.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing system 10 according to this embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes a plurality of mobile terminals 12 used by a plurality of users, a plurality of wireless access points 14 (hereinafter referred to as wireless APs (Access Points) 14), and an information processing apparatus 16. Note that the target mobile terminal 12a shown in FIG. 1 is one of the mobile terminals 12, which will be described later.

[0012] Each mobile terminal 12 and each wireless AP 14 can be communicatively connected via wireless communication using a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or a mobile phone line. Also, each wireless AP 14 and the information processing device 16 are communicatively connected to each other via a network 18 which is a communication line by LAN. The network 18 may be a wired LAN that performs Ethernet (registered trademark) communication, or may include wireless communication via a wireless LAN by a wireless router. Thereby, each mobile terminal 12 can be communicatively connected to the information processing device 16 via any one of the plurality of wireless APs 14.

[0013] In the information processing system 10, a user communicatively connects from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16 via any one of the plurality of wireless APs 14, and transmits a job as a processing request for causing the information processing device 16 to execute processing from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16. Here, among the plurality of wireless APs 14, there may be a case where wireless APs 14 are mixed in which, if a job passes through them, the job from the mobile terminal 12 cannot be properly transmitted to the information processing device 16. That the job cannot be properly transmitted means that the job cannot be transmitted from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16, or even if it can be transmitted, it takes a long time until the transmission is completed.

[0014] For example, the user can communicatively connect the mobile terminal 12 to a wireless AP 14 with a stronger radio wave intensity received by the mobile terminal 12 from the wireless AP 14. However, even when the mobile terminal 12 is communicatively connected to a wireless AP 14 with a sufficiently strong radio wave intensity, radio waves from other wireless APs 14 in the vicinity of the wireless AP 14 may interfere, resulting in unstable wireless communication between the mobile terminal 12 and the wireless AP 14 or the wireless communication being disconnected. If the wireless communication becomes unstable, although the job can be sent, it will take a long time to finish sending the job. Also, if the wireless communication is disconnected during the transmission of the job, of course, the job cannot be transmitted to the information processing device 16 (the job transmission fails).

[0015] Alternatively, the user can select a wireless AP 14 to communicate and connect with the mobile terminal 12 based on the communication speed in the specifications of each wireless AP 14. The communication speed in the specifications of the wireless AP 14 is indicated by, for example, the wireless communication standards supported by each wireless AP 14 (such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark) 5 and Wi-Fi6 of the wireless LAN standard, or 4G and 5G of the mobile phone communication standard). For example, if the mobile terminal 12 supports Wi-Fi6, it is expected that by selecting a wireless AP 14 that supports Wi-Fi6 rather than a wireless AP 14 that does not support Wi-Fi6 but only supports Wi-Fi5, jobs can be transmitted faster. However, even when the wireless AP 14 with a faster communication speed in the specifications communicates and connects with the mobile terminal 12, due to the above-mentioned radio wave interference, it is not always possible to perform wireless communication at the communication speed expected from the specifications. Also, for example, if there is a router that becomes a communication speed bottleneck in the middle of the communication path between the wireless AP 14 and the information processing device 16, depending on the connection state of the network 18 between the wireless AP 14 and the information processing device 16, the actual communication speed of the communication between the mobile terminal 12 and the information processing device 16 may be slower than the communication speed expected from the specifications of the wireless AP 14.

[0016] Therefore, when transmitting a job from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16 via the wireless AP 14, it is desirable to communicatively connect the mobile terminal 12 to an appropriate wireless AP 14 among the plurality of wireless APs 14. The appropriate wireless AP 14 is a wireless AP 14 that can transmit jobs from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16 faster than when passing through other wireless APs 14. Ideally, among the plurality of wireless APs 14, it is the wireless AP 14 that can transmit jobs from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16 at the fastest speed. The information processing system 10 supports the user so that the user can transmit a job from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing device 16 via an appropriate wireless AP 14.

[0017] The information processing system 10 according to this embodiment is installed in an office, and the information processing device 16 is an image forming device that receives a print job from a user and performs print processing. The image forming device can receive a print job from a user via the network 18. In addition, a plurality of wireless APs 14 connected to the network 18 are installed in the office. The user transmits a print job to the information processing device 16 from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14 selected from among the plurality of wireless APs 14. Note that the mode of the information processing system 10 is not limited to the above.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the mobile terminal 12. As described above, since the target mobile terminal 12a is one of the mobile terminals 12, the target mobile terminal 12a also has the same configuration as the mobile terminal 12 described below. The mobile terminal 12 is a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like, but the mobile terminal 12 may be any terminal as long as it can be carried by the user and used, can be communicatively connected to the information processing device 16 via the wireless AP 14, and can transmit a job to the information processing device 16.

[0019] The wireless communication adapter 30 is a communication adapter for performing wireless communication with the wireless AP 14 via a wireless LAN or a mobile phone line. When performing wireless communication with the wireless AP 14 via a mobile phone line, the user contracts with any communication carrier (i.e., a telecommunications carrier) in advance and performs wireless communication with the wireless AP 14 via the mobile phone line provided by the contracted communication carrier. Where there are a plurality of communication carriers, the wireless communication adapter 30 cannot perform wireless communication with the wireless AP 14 via a mobile phone line provided by a communication carrier with which the user has not contracted.

[0020] The NFC (Near Field Communication) adapter 32 is a communication adapter for performing short-range wireless communication with other devices (particularly the information processing device 16) in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 12. In this specification, short-range wireless communication means so-called NFC, which means short-range wireless communication in a narrow sense. That is, the short-range wireless communication in this specification includes NFC methods such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), or Felica (registered trademark), but does not include wireless LAN.

[0021] Short-range wireless communication is characterized by a slower communication speed compared to LAN communication or mobile phone communication via a mobile phone line. Therefore, short-range wireless communication is not suitable for transmitting large-capacity data. When transmitting large-capacity data via wireless communication, communication via wireless LAN or mobile phone communication is used. For example, since a print job has a large capacity, the print job is sent to the information processing device 16 by communication via wireless LAN or mobile phone communication, rather than short-range wireless communication.

[0022] The display 34 is configured to include, for example, a liquid crystal panel. A screen containing various information is displayed on the display 34.

[0023] The input interface 36 is configured to include, for example, a touch panel and buttons. The input interface 36 receives instructions from the user.

[0024] The memory 38 is configured to include, for example, an eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or a RAM (Random Access Memory). A mobile terminal program for operating each part of the mobile terminal 12 is stored in the memory 38.

[0025] The processor 40 refers to a processor in a broad sense and includes at least one of a general-purpose processor (such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), etc.) and a dedicated processing device (such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a programmable logic device, etc.). The processor 40 may be configured not by a single processing device but by the cooperation of a plurality of physically separated processing devices. The processor 40 controls each part of the mobile terminal 12 according to the mobile terminal program stored in the memory 38.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the information processing apparatus 16. As described above, in the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 16 is an image forming apparatus that performs printing processing based on a print job from a user. However, the information processing apparatus 16 is not limited to this, and any apparatus may be used as long as it can communicate with the mobile terminal 12 used by the user via the wireless AP 14 and can receive a job from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14.

[0027] The NIC (Network Interface Card) 50 is a communication adapter for connecting to a network 18 such as a LAN. The NIC 50 is communicably connected to the wireless AP 14 via the network 18 and exhibits a function of communicating with the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14.

[0028] The NFC adapter 52 is a communication adapter for performing short-range wireless communication with other devices (especially the mobile terminal 12) in the vicinity of the information processing apparatus 16.

[0029] The display 54 includes, for example, a liquid crystal panel. A screen containing various information is displayed on the display 54.

[0030] The input interface 56 is configured to include, for example, a touch panel, buttons, etc. The input interface 56 receives instructions from the user.

[0031] The memory 58 is configured to include, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), an eMMC, a ROM, or a RAM, etc. In the memory 58, an information processing program for operating each part of the information processing apparatus 16 is stored. Also, in the memory 58, a performance reception speed DB (database) 60 and a performance reception speed table 62 are stored. The performance reception speed DB 60 is generated or updated by a performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 described later. Details of the performance reception speed DB 60 will be described later together with the processing of the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70. Also, the performance reception speed table 62 is generated by a table creation unit 72 described later. Details of the performance reception speed table 62 will be described later together with the processing of the table creation unit 72.

[0032] Also, terminal information 64 is stored in the memory 58. The terminal information 64 is information indicating the communication performance for each model number (i.e., model) of the mobile terminal 12 that the user can use. Information indicating the communication performance of the model number of the mobile terminal 12 may be information indicating the communication standard corresponding to the model number. Examples of the communication standard include Wi-Fi5, Wi-Fi6, 4G, and 5G, etc. Such information can be obtained from the website of the manufacturer of each mobile terminal 12, etc. The terminal information 64 is created in advance by an administrator of the information processing system 10, etc. and stored in the memory 58.

[0033] Furthermore, communication carrier information 66 is stored in the memory 58. Among the plurality of wireless APs 14 included in the information processing system 10, there may be those that perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal 12 by means of mobile phone communication using a mobile phone line provided by a communication carrier. The communication carrier information 66 is information indicating the communication carrier that provides mobile phone communication for each such wireless AP 14. Of course, among the plurality of wireless APs 14, there may be those that perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal 12 only via a wireless LAN, and the communication carrier information 66 may not have information about such wireless APs 14. The communication carrier information 66 is created in advance by an administrator or the like of the information processing system 10 and stored in the memory 58.

[0034] The processor 68 refers to a processor in a broad sense and is configured to include at least one of a general-purpose processor (such as a CPU, etc.) and a dedicated processing device (such as a GPU, ASIC, FPGA, or a programmable logic device, etc.). The processor 68 may be configured not by a single processing device but by the cooperation of a plurality of physically separated processing devices. As shown in FIG. 3, the processor 68 functions as an actual reception speed acquisition unit 70, a table creation unit 72, and a notification unit 74 in accordance with the information processing program stored in the memory 58.

[0035] When the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 first receives a communication connection from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14, it acquires the identification information of the wireless AP 14. Examples of the identification information of the wireless AP 14 include an SSID (Service Set IDentifier), but the identification information of the wireless AP 14 may be any information as long as it can uniquely identify the wireless AP 14. The performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 can acquire the identification information of the wireless AP 14 by executing a command (such as a tracert command) for displaying a network path list to the mobile terminal 12. Further, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 may receive the identification information of the wireless AP 14 from the mobile terminal 12 by communication by the NIC 50 or short-range wireless communication by the NFC adapter 52.

[0036] Next, when the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 receives a job from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14, it acquires the actual reception speed of the job, which is not the specified reception speed but the actual reception speed. Specifically, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 acquires the reception start time when the reception of the job from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14 starts and the reception completion time when the reception of the job is completed, and acquires the difference between the reception completion time and the reception start time as the reception time. Next, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 calculates the actual reception speed of the job by dividing the data capacity of the job by the acquired reception time. Note that the information indicating the data capacity of the job is included in the attribute information of the job received together with the job, and the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 can acquire the data capacity of the job by referring to the attribute information.

[0037] The performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 associates the performance reception speed of the job from the mobile terminal 12 with the identification information of the wireless AP 14 through which the mobile terminal 12 passed when transmitting the job, and stores it in the performance reception speed DB 60. In the present embodiment, the information including the combination of the performance reception speed of the job and the identification information of the wireless AP 14 stored in the performance reception speed DB 60 is called job reception data. As will be described later, the job reception data may include various information, but each information included in one piece of job reception data is associated with each other and stored in the performance reception speed DB 60. Every time the information processing apparatus 16 receives a job from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 stores the job reception data in the performance reception speed DB 60. As a result, the job reception data accumulates in the performance reception speed DB 60.

[0038] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the content of the performance reception speed DB 60. In FIG. 4, the performance reception speed DB 60 is shown in a table format, and one record in the table indicates one piece of job reception data. In the example of FIG. 4, the identification information of the wireless AP 14 is simply shown as, for example, "B" or "C", but as described above, the identification information of the wireless AP 14 may be, for example, an SSID.

[0039] In the present embodiment, the job reception data includes a job number. The job number is identification information that uniquely identifies the job, and is assigned by the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 when the job reception data is stored in the performance reception speed DB 60.

[0040] The job reception data may further include transmission failure information indicating that the transmission of the job from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 has failed. In the example of FIG. 4, the job reception data including the job number "6" and the identification information "A" of the wireless AP 14 includes the transmission failure information "failure". This means that when the mobile terminal 12 tried to transmit the job with the job number "6" to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 indicated by the identification information "A", it could not actually be transmitted.

[0041] When the transmission of a job from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 fails, the information processing apparatus 16 and the mobile terminal 12 cannot communicate with each other in the communication by the NIC 50. Therefore, the information processing apparatus 16 acquires, by short-range wireless communication using the NFC adapter 52, the identification information of the wireless AP 14 through which the job was transmitted when attempting to transmit the job from the mobile terminal 12, and transmission failure information indicating that the transmission of the job has failed. Based on these pieces of information, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 stores job reception data including the transmission failure information in the performance reception speed DB 60. In this case, the performance reception speed of the job reception data may be set to "0 [Mbps]". In the example of FIG. 4, the job reception data of job numbers "1" to "5" does not include the transmission failure information. This means that the transmission of the jobs of job numbers "1" to "5" from each mobile terminal 12 to the information processing apparatus 16 via each wireless AP 14 has been successful.

[0042] The job reception data may further include the model number of the mobile terminal 12 that transmitted the job. The model number of the mobile terminal 12 that transmitted the job to the information processing apparatus 16 is included in the attribute information of the job, and the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 can acquire the model number of the mobile terminal 12 by referring to the attribute information of the job. When the transmission of the job fails, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 receives, by short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal 12 that attempted to transmit the job, the identification information of the wireless AP 14 and the transmission failure information, as well as the model number of the mobile terminal 12, from the mobile terminal 12.

[0043] Returning to FIG. 3, the table creation unit 72 calculates a representative actual reception speed, which is a representative value of the actual reception speed, for each wireless AP 14 based on the actual reception speed DB 60. Then, the table creation unit 72 creates an actual reception speed table 62 that associates the identification information of the wireless AP 14 with the calculated representative actual reception speed. In the present embodiment, the table creation unit 72 calculates the average value of a plurality of actual reception speeds for each wireless AP 14 as the representative value, and sets the representative actual reception speed as the average actual reception speed. Note that the representative value is not limited to the average value, and may be, for example, the median value or the mode value of a plurality of actual reception speeds for each wireless AP 14.

[0044] Specifically, the table creation unit 72 first extracts a plurality of job reception data including the identification information of the same wireless AP 14 from the actual reception speed DB 60. Next, the table creation unit 72 calculates the average value of the plurality of actual reception speeds included in the extracted plurality of job reception data. Then, the table creation unit 72 associates the identification information of the wireless AP 14 with the calculated average actual reception speed. The table creation unit 72 creates the actual reception speed table 62 by repeating the above processing for each wireless AP 14 included in the actual reception speed DB 60.

[0045] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the content of the actual reception speed table 62. In the actual reception speed table 62, the average actual reception speed for each wireless AP 14 included in the actual reception speed DB 60 is shown. Unlike the reception speed (communication speed) in the specification, the average actual reception speed is, as the name implies, the average value of the past actual reception speed performance. Therefore, the average actual reception speed of each wireless AP 14 shown in the actual reception speed table 62 indicates the substantial reception speed when a job is transmitted from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing apparatus 16 via each wireless AP 14.

[0046] A user communicates and connects to an information processing device 16 via a wireless AP 14 using various mobile terminals 12. The communication performance of each mobile terminal 12 may differ from one another according to its model number (i.e., model). For example, on the premise of communicating and connecting to a wireless AP 14 that supports Wi-Fi 6, in the case of a mobile terminal 12 of a model that supports Wi-Fi 6, wireless communication can be performed according to the Wi-Fi 6 standard. However, in the case of a mobile terminal 12 of a model that does not support Wi-Fi 6 and only supports up to Wi-Fi 5, wireless communication will be performed according to the Wi-Fi 5 standard, which has a slower communication speed than Wi-Fi 6. That is, the model number of the mobile terminal 12 may affect the actual reception speed.

[0047] Therefore, the table creation unit 72 may calculate a representative actual reception speed in consideration of the communication performance of the mobile terminal 12 associated with each actual reception speed stored in the actual reception speed DB 60. The table creation unit 72 can obtain the communication performance of each model number of the mobile terminal 12 based on the terminal information 64.

[0048] For example, the table creation unit 72 refers to the terminal information 64 and classifies the model numbers of each mobile terminal 12 into a plurality of categories according to their communication performance. For example, it is like the model numbers corresponding to Wi-Fi6, the model numbers corresponding up to Wi-Fi5, the model numbers corresponding to 5G, and the model numbers corresponding up to 4G. Then, after the table creation unit 72 extracts a plurality of job reception data including the identification information of the same wireless AP 14 from the performance reception speed DB 60, it further classifies the extracted job reception data into each category based on the model numbers included in the extracted job reception data. Then, it calculates the average performance reception speed for each wireless AP 14 and each category to create the performance reception speed table 62. For example, when the performance reception speed DB 60 is the content shown in FIG. 4, the table creation unit 72 extracts three pieces of job reception data whose identification information of the wireless AP 14 is "C". And when the model number "i12" corresponds to Wi-Fi6 and the model number "i10" corresponds up to Wi-Fi5, the table creation unit 72 calculates the average value of the performance reception speed of the job reception data with the identification information "C" of the wireless AP 14 and the model number "i12", and separately calculates the average value of the performance reception speed of the job reception data with the identification information "C" of the wireless AP 14 and the model number "i10". In this case, in the performance reception speed table 62, a plurality of average performance reception speeds corresponding to a plurality of categories (in the above example, the categories corresponding to Wi-Fi6 and the categories corresponding up to Wi-Fi5) can be associated with the identification information of one wireless AP 14.

[0049] Also, when the performance reception speed DB 60 has job reception data including the model number of a mobile terminal 12 whose communication performance is significantly lower than that of other mobile terminals 12, the performance reception speed indicated by the job reception data may be low because the communication performance of the mobile terminal 12 is the bottleneck. Therefore, the table creation unit 72 may refer to the terminal information 64 and exclude the job reception data including the model number of the mobile terminal 12 having a communication performance of a predetermined speed or less, and calculate the average performance reception speed of each wireless AP 14.

[0050] In the performance reception speed table 62, it is preferable that priority is associated with the identification information of each wireless AP 14. The priority is the recommended order of the wireless AP 14 that is recommended as the route when transmitting a job from the mobile terminal 12 to the information processing apparatus 16, and is assigned by the table creation unit 72 in descending order of the average performance reception speed. Further, when the performance reception speed table 62 is later notified to the user, the table creation unit 72 may sort the identification information of the wireless AP 14 in descending order of priority in the performance reception speed table 62 so that the user can easily grasp the wireless AP 14 with high priority.

[0051] Also, in the performance reception speed table 62, it is preferable that the total value of the number of job transmission failures is associated with the identification information of each wireless AP 14. Specifically, the table creation unit 72 extracts a plurality of job reception data including the identification information of the same wireless AP 14 from the performance reception speed DB 60, calculates the average value of the average performance reception speed, and calculates the number of job reception data with transmission failure information (that is, the total value of the number of transmission failures) among the extracted job reception data. Then, in the performance reception speed table 62, the calculated total value of the number of transmission failures is associated with the identification information of the wireless AP 14.

[0052] Returning to FIG. 3, the notification unit 74 notifies the user who will transmit a job to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 using the mobile terminal 12 of the average performance reception speed of each wireless AP 14. In this specification, the mobile terminal 12 used by the user who will transmit a job to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 is referred to as the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0053] Since the average performance reception speed of each wireless AP 14 is shown in the performance reception speed table 62, in the present embodiment, the notification unit 74 notifies the user of the performance reception speed table 62. In the present embodiment, the notification unit 74 transmits the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a prior to the user transmitting a job from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14.

[0054] For example, the notification unit 74 transmits the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a by short-range wireless communication between the target mobile terminal 12a and the information processing apparatus 16. For example, prior to transmitting a job from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16, the user may transmit user information from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16 by short-range wireless communication between the target mobile terminal 12a and the information processing apparatus 16, and thereby the information processing apparatus 16 authenticates the user. When the short-range wireless communication is performed, the notification unit 74 can transmit the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0055] Also, the notification unit 74 can also transmit the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a by communication between the information processing apparatus 16 by the NIC 50. In this case, prior to transmitting a job from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16, the user communicatively connects from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16 via a wireless AP 14 appropriately selected. Then, the notification unit 74 can transmit the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a by communication via the wireless AP 14. Note that, in this case, the communication via the wireless AP 14 may not necessarily have a sufficient communication speed for transmitting a job, but since the performance reception speed table 62 has a considerably smaller data volume than a job, even in such a case, the notification unit 74 can suitably transmit the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0056] Note that the notification unit 74 may notify the user of the average performance reception speed of each wireless AP 14 by a method other than transmitting the performance reception speed table 62 to the target mobile terminal 12a. For example, the average performance reception speed of each wireless AP 14 may be notified to the user by displaying the performance reception speed table 62 on the display 54 of the information processing apparatus 16.

[0057] Based on the average actual reception speed of each notified wireless AP 14, the user can identify the wireless AP 14 through which a job can be successfully transmitted from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16. For example, among a plurality of wireless APs 14, a job can be transmitted from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16 via the wireless AP 14 with the highest average actual reception speed.

[0058] As described above, in the actual reception speed table 62, the total number of transmission failures can be associated with the identification information of the wireless AP 14. In that case, the notification unit 74 notifies the user of the actual reception speed table 62, thereby notifying the user of the total number of transmission failures of jobs related to each wireless AP 14.

[0059] Based on not only the average actual reception speed of each wireless AP 14 but also the total number of transmission failures of each notified wireless AP 14, the user can select the wireless AP 14 through which to transmit a job from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16. For example, if a wireless AP 14 has a high average actual reception speed but also a large total number of transmission failures, it means that although the reception speed is high, the communication is unstable. In such a case, when sending data with a small data volume, since the transmission time is short, it is highly likely that the data can be quickly transmitted without being affected by the unstable communication. However, when sending data with a large data volume, it is easily affected by the unstable communication, and as a result, it often takes a long time to complete the data transmission. Therefore, the user can choose to select a wireless AP 14 with a high average actual reception speed and a large total number of transmission failures when the data size of the job to be sent is small, and not select such a wireless AP 14 when the data size of the job is large.

[0060] Also, before transmitting a job from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16, when the target mobile terminal 12a and the information processing apparatus 16 are communicatively connected by communication using the NIC 50 or short-range wireless communication, the notification unit 74 may be able to obtain the model number of the target mobile terminal 12a from the target mobile terminal 12a. In this case, the notification unit 74 may notify the user of the average actual reception speed of the actual reception speeds associated with the model number of the target mobile terminal 12a in the actual reception speed DB 60. Thereby, the user can grasp the average actual reception speed of each wireless AP 14 according to the communication performance of the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0061] For example, the notification unit 74 may extract job reception data including the same model number as the target mobile terminal 12a from the actual reception speed DB 60, calculate the average value of the actual reception speeds of the extracted job reception data, and notify the user of the calculated average actual reception speed.

[0062] Alternatively, the notification unit 74 may notify the user of the average actual reception speed of the actual reception speeds associated with the model number of the mobile terminal 12 having communication performance equivalent to that of the target mobile terminal 12a (for example, belonging to the same category as the target mobile terminal 12a in the above-described category regarding communication performance) in the actual reception speed DB 60.

[0063] For example, the notification unit 74 may refer to the terminal information 64, extract job reception data including the model number of the mobile terminal 12 belonging to the same category as the target mobile terminal 12a from the actual reception speed DB 60, calculate the average value of the actual reception speeds of the extracted job reception data, and notify the user of the calculated average actual reception speed.

[0064] Alternatively, as described above, when the table creation unit 72 calculates the average actual reception speed for each wireless AP 14 and for each category related to the communication performance of the mobile terminal 12, and creates the actual reception speed table 62 in which the average actual reception speed is associated with each wireless AP 14 and each category, the notification unit 74 may refer to the terminal information 64, identify the category including the target mobile terminal 12a, extract the record for the category of the target mobile terminal 12a from the actual reception speed table 62, and notify the user.

[0065] Also, before the target mobile terminal 12a transmits a job to the information processing apparatus 16, when the target mobile terminal 12a and the information processing apparatus 16 are communicatively connected by communication by the NIC 50 or short-range wireless communication, and the target mobile terminal 12a performs wireless communication by mobile phone communication instead of wireless LAN, the notification unit 74 may be able to obtain from the target mobile terminal 12a the communication carrier used by the target mobile terminal 12a for mobile phone communication. In this case, the notification unit 74 may notify the user of the average representative actual reception speed of the wireless AP 14 that can perform mobile phone communication using the same communication carrier as the communication carrier used by the target mobile terminal 12a for mobile phone communication. Thereby, the user can grasp the average actual reception speed of each wireless AP 14 that can be communicatively connected by mobile phone communication from the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0066] For example, the notification unit 74 refers to the communication carrier information 66, extracts records about the wireless AP 14 that can perform mobile phone communication using the same communication carrier as the communication carrier of the target mobile terminal 12a from the performance reception speed table 62, and notifies the user. For example, if the content of the performance reception speed table 62 is as shown in FIG. 5, the target mobile terminal 12a performs mobile phone communication using the communication carrier S, the wireless AP 14 indicated by the identification information "A" can perform mobile phone communication using the communication carrier S, the wireless AP 14 indicated by the identification information "B" cannot perform mobile phone communication using the communication carrier S, and the wireless AP 14 indicated by the identification information "C" can perform mobile phone communication using the communication carrier S, the notification unit 74 notifies the user of the performance reception speed table 62 with the record about the wireless AP 14 indicated by the identification information "B" deleted.

[0067] The above is the outline of the configuration of the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment. Hereinafter, the processing flow of the information processing apparatus 16 will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6.

[0068] In step S10, the mobile terminal 12 starts transmitting a job to the information processing apparatus 16 via any one of the plurality of wireless APs 14, and the information processing apparatus 16 starts receiving the job. At this time, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 acquires the reception start time of the job.

[0069] In step S12, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 acquires the identification information of the wireless AP 14 via which the mobile terminal 12 transmits the job.

[0070] In step S14, the performance reception speed acquisition unit 70 waits until the reception of the job is completed, and proceeds to step S16 when the reception of the job is completed.

[0071] In step S16, the actual reception speed acquisition unit 70 acquires the reception completion time of the job, calculates the reception time which is the difference between the reception start time acquired in step S10 and the reception completion time, and then divides the data volume of the job by the reception time to calculate the actual reception speed. Then, the actual reception speed acquisition unit 70 stores the job reception data in which the identification information of the wireless AP 14 acquired in step S12 is associated with the calculated actual reception speed in the actual reception speed DB 60.

[0072] Each time the processor 68 of the information processing apparatus 16 receives a job from the mobile terminal 12 via the wireless AP 14, steps S10 to S14 are repeated. As a result, job reception data is accumulated in the actual reception speed DB 60.

[0073] In step S18, the processor 68 determines whether a communication connection has been received from the target mobile terminal 12a. The communication connection here is a communication connection before a job is transmitted from the target mobile terminal 12a to the information processing apparatus 16, and is a communication connection by short-range wireless communication between the target mobile terminal 12a and the information processing apparatus 16, or a communication connection via a wireless AP 14 appropriately selected by the user. If a communication connection has been received from the target mobile terminal 12a, the process proceeds to step S20.

[0074] In step S20, the table creation unit 72 creates the actual reception speed table 62 based on the actual reception speed DB 60. Note that the information processing apparatus 16 receives jobs from a plurality of mobile terminals 12 via the wireless AP 14 at any time, and the number of job reception data accumulated and stored in the actual reception speed DB 60 increases moment by moment. In this embodiment, in order to make the content of the actual reception speed table 62 correspond to the content of the latest actual reception speed DB 60, the table creation unit 72 creates the actual reception speed table 62 after receiving a communication connection from the target mobile terminal 12a. However, the table creation unit 72 may create the actual reception speed table 62 before receiving a communication connection from the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0075] In step S22, the notification unit 74 notifies the user who uses the target mobile terminal 12a of the achievement reception speed table 62 created in step S20.

[0076] As described above, the embodiments according to the present invention have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0077] 10 Information processing system, 12 Mobile terminal, 12a Target mobile terminal, 14 Wireless AP, 16 Information processing device, 18 Network, 30 Wireless communication adapter, 32, 52 NFC adapter, 34, 54 Display, 36, 56 Input interface, 38, 58 Memory, 40, 68 Processor, 50 NIC, 60 Achievement reception speed DB, 62 Achievement reception speed table, 64 Terminal information, 66 Communication carrier information, 70 Achievement reception speed acquisition unit, 72 Table creation unit, 74 Notification unit.

Claims

1. Comprising a processor, The processor Receives a processing request from a mobile terminal via one of a plurality of wireless access points, Associates the actual reception speed of the processing request from the mobile terminal via the wireless access point with the identification information of the wireless access point through which the mobile terminal transmitted the processing request, and stores and accumulates the information in an actual reception speed database, Based on the actual reception speed database, calculates a representative actual reception speed that is the representative value of the actual reception speed for each wireless access point, Notifies a user who will use the mobile terminal to transmit a processing request to the own device via the wireless access point of the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point. An information processing apparatus characterized by the above.

2. The processor Transmits the representative actual reception speed of each wireless access point to the target mobile terminal by short-range wireless communication between the target mobile terminal used by the user and the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The processor When the transmission of a processing request from a mobile terminal to the information processing apparatus via a wireless access point fails, associates transmission failure information indicating the failure of the transmission with the identification information of the wireless access point and stores the information in the actual reception speed database, Based on the actual reception speed database, calculates the total value of the number of transmission failures of processing requests for each wireless access point, Notifies the user of the total value of the number of transmission failures of processing requests for each wireless access point. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

4. The processor Further associates the model number of the mobile terminal with the actual reception speed and the identification information of the wireless access point, and stores and accumulates the information in the actual reception speed database, Calculates the representative actual reception speed in consideration of the communication performance of the mobile terminal associated with each actual reception speed stored in the actual reception speed database, which is obtained based on terminal information indicating the communication performance for each model number of the mobile terminal. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

5. The processor Further associates the model number of the mobile terminal with the actual reception speed and the identification information of the wireless access point, and stores and accumulates the information in the actual reception speed database, In the performance reception speed database, notify the user of the representative performance reception speed of the performance reception speed associated with the model number of the target mobile terminal used by the user. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that.

6. Wireless communication by mobile phone communication is performed between the mobile terminal and the wireless access point. The processor is Based on the communication carrier information indicating the communication carrier that provides the mobile phone communication for each of the plurality of wireless access points, the same communication carrier as the communication carrier used by the target mobile terminal used by the user to perform mobile phone communication Notify the user of the representative performance reception speed of the performance reception speed of the wireless access point capable of performing mobile phone communication. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that.

7. On the computer, Receive a processing request from a mobile terminal via one of a plurality of wireless access points. Associate the performance reception speed of the processing request from the mobile terminal via the wireless access point with the identification information of the wireless access point via which the mobile terminal transmitted the processing request, and store it in the performance reception speed database. Based on the performance reception speed database, calculate the representative performance reception speed, which is the representative value of the performance reception speed, for each wireless access point. Notify the user who will send a processing request to the own device via a wireless access point using a mobile terminal from now on of the representative performance reception speed of each wireless access point. An information processing program, characterized in that.

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