Distribution information provision server and information distribution printing system

Abstract

The present invention prevents or reduces a situation in which an advertisement cannot be printed even though a successful bid is made in response to a bid invitation. An advertisement provision server (100) receives an advertisement image managed by an advertisement management server (500) and distributes the advertisement image to a printer (200). The advertisement provision server (100): determines whether a distribution start condition for starting distribution of the advertisement image to the printer (200) is satisfied (S1); determines whether a distributable condition allowing execution of distribution of the advertisement image is satisfied (S3); when it is determined that the distribution start condition is satisfied and the distributable condition is satisfied, transmits a bid request of an advertisement image to the advertisement management server (500) (S5); determines a specific advertisement image to be successfully bidden from among advertisement images received from the advertisement management server (500) in response to the transmitted bid request (S8); acquires the determined specific advertisement image (S20); and distributes an advertisement image for printing based on the acquired specific advertisement image to the printer (200) (S30).

Description

Information distribution server and information distribution printing system

[0001] The present invention relates to a distribution information providing server and an information distribution printing system that distributes distribution information to a destination printing device and prints the information.

[0002] Conventionally, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, a technique is known in which bids are solicited for advertisements to be attached to images of printed matter printed by a printing device, a target advertisement is determined based on the bidding results from multiple advertisers, and a charge is made corresponding to the bid amount for that advertisement.

[0003] JP 2010-140250 A

[0004] In the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned Cited Document 1, for example, when an advertisement that has been successfully bid for may be printed, some problem with the printing device may prevent the advertisement from being printed. In this case, the advertiser of the advertisement may miss an opportunity to realize the effects of the advertisement, and the billing process may become delayed or complicated.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a distribution information providing server and an information distribution and printing system that can prevent or reduce the occurrence of a situation in which an advertisement cannot be printed even if a bidder has been successful in response to a bid invitation.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a distribution information providing server that includes a control unit and receives distribution information managed by a distribution information management server and distributes it to a printing device, wherein the control unit is configured to execute the following processes: a start determination process that determines whether a distribution start condition for starting distribution of the distribution information to the printing device is satisfied; a condition determination process that determines whether a deliverable condition for executing distribution of the distribution information to the printing device is satisfied; a request transmission process that transmits a bid request for distribution information to the distribution information management server when the start determination process determines that the distribution start condition is satisfied and the condition determination process determines that the deliverable condition is satisfied; an information determination process that determines specific distribution information that will be a successful bid from the distribution information received from the distribution information management server in response to the bid request transmitted in the request transmission process; a specific distribution information acquisition process that acquires the specific distribution information determined in the information determination process; and a distribution process that distributes distribution information for printing based on the specific distribution information acquired in the specific distribution information acquisition process to the printing device.

[0007] In the present invention, bidding is conducted for distribution information to a printing device, and distribution and printing are performed to the printing device based on the bidding results. A request transmission process executed by a control unit issues a bid request to a distribution information management server. In an information determination process, specific distribution information that wins the bid is determined from the distribution information received from the distribution information management server. The determined specific distribution information is acquired in a specific distribution information acquisition process. A distribution image for printing based on the acquired specific distribution information is distributed to the printing device in a distribution process. In the present invention, before executing the above flow, an activation determination process and a condition determination process are first executed. That is, the activation determination process determines whether a distribution activation condition that activates distribution of distribution information to the printing device is satisfied, and the condition determination process determines whether a distribution enablement condition that enables distribution of distribution information to the printing device is satisfied. The request transmission process is executed when the activation determination process determines that the distribution activation condition is satisfied and the condition determination process determines that the distribution enablement condition is satisfied. Therefore, a bid request is not sent to the distribution information management server unless it is determined that both the distribution activation condition and the distribution enablement condition are satisfied. As a result, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid a situation where an advertisement cannot be printed even if a bidder has been successful in response to a bid invitation.

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent or reduce the occurrence of a situation in which an advertisement cannot be printed even if a successful bid has been made in response to a bid invitation.

[0009] It is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an information delivery printing system according to an embodiment. It is a sequence flow showing an example of the flow of a process executed by cooperation between an advertisement providing server, an advertisement management server, a terminal device, and a printer. It is a sequence flow showing an example of the flow of a process executed by cooperation between an advertisement providing server, an advertisement management server, a terminal device, and a printer. It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a correlation associating a user ID with an advertisement delivery time.

[0010] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an information distribution and printing system that distributes advertising information from a server to a printer and prints it.

[0011] <Overall Configuration of Information Distribution Printing System> Fig. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of an information distribution printing system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the information distribution printing system 1 includes an advertisement providing server (SSP: Supply Side Platform) 100, a printer 200, a terminal device 300, a user management server (DMP: Data Management Platform) 400, and an advertisement management server (DSP: Demand Side Platform) 500. The servers 100, 400, 500, the printer 200, and the terminal device 300 each include a communication unit and can communicate with each other via a network NT. The network NT includes at least one of the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), and a WAN (Wide Area Network). The communication unit may be configured to include multiple types of communication circuits for connecting to the network NT. In this case, a device connected to the network NT may communicate with multiple other devices using different communication circuits. In this embodiment, the multiple types of communication circuits are collectively referred to as the communication unit.

[0012] <Terminal Device> The terminal device 300 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone owned by a user, and in this example, is connected to the network NT via wireless communication. The terminal device 300 may be any appropriate terminal other than the printer 200, such as a tablet PC, notebook PC, or desktop PC, in addition to a smartphone. Alternatively, the terminal device 300 may be a portable or stationary terminal provided in karaoke booths, various stores, and the like for song selection, menu selection, product browsing, and the like. The terminal device 300 includes a display unit, a control unit, an operation unit, a memory unit, a communication unit, and the like (not shown). Various programs are stored in the memory unit. The control unit executes the various programs stored in the memory unit. The various programs include programs that execute the processes shown in the flowcharts of Figures 2 and 3 (described below). The user can input various instructions to the terminal device 300 by operating the operation unit.

[0013] <User Management Server> The user management server 400 manages information about users via the terminal device 300. The user management server 400 includes a control unit, a storage unit, a communication unit, and the like, all of which are not shown.

[0014] <Advertisement Providing Server> The advertisement providing server 100 is a server installed and managed by, for example, the manufacturer of the printer 200. The advertisement providing server 100 receives an advertisement image from the advertisement management server 500 at a predetermined timing. The advertisement providing server 100 distributes the acquired advertisement image to the printer 200 and causes it to print. The advertisement providing server 100 is an example of a distribution information providing server, and the advertisement image is an example of distribution information.

[0015] In detail, the advertisement providing server 100 has a control unit 110, a storage unit 115, a communication unit 140, etc. The control unit 110, the storage unit 115, the communication unit 140, etc. are connected via a bus 105 so as to be able to send and receive information. The storage unit 115 is composed of, for example, a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM, an HDD, etc. The storage unit 115 stores various programs 120 and various data 130. The various programs 120 include an information distribution program that executes the control contents of the advertisement providing server 100 shown in the flows in Figures 2 and 3 described below, and the various data 130 includes the printer ID of the printer 200, a user ID, an advertisement image, etc.

[0016] The control unit 110 is a device that processes data, and is, for example, a processor such as a CPU. The control unit 110 executes various programs stored in the storage unit 115. The control unit 110 performs various processes, including data communication with the printer 200, terminal device 300, user management server 400, and advertisement management server 500, which are connected to the network NT. The communication unit 140 includes hardware such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to the Ethernet, is connected to the network NT, and communicates with the printer 200, terminal device 300, user management server 400, and advertisement management server 500.

[0017] <Advertising Management Server> The advertising management server 500 transmits an advertising image to be printed by the printer 200 to the advertising providing server 100. The advertising management server 500 has a control unit, a storage unit, a communication unit, etc. (not shown). In this example, the communication unit receives a bid request from the advertising providing server 100. Terminal devices or servers (not shown) of multiple advertisers are connected to the network NT. The control unit of the advertising management server 500 holds an auction in response to the bid request for advertising images submitted by these advertisers, and acquires suitable advertising images through bids for the auction. When a successful bid that meets the specified conditions of the auction is made, the control unit of the advertising management server 500 acquires the corresponding advertising image from the terminal device, etc., of the advertiser who is the successful bidder. The acquired advertising image is transmitted from the advertising management server 500 to the advertising providing server 100 via the communication unit, and then further transmitted from the advertising providing server 100 to the printer 200 for printing. The advertisement providing server 100 may acquire the advertisement image from the advertisement management server 500, or the advertisement management server 500 may acquire the advertisement image from another external server and transmit it to the advertisement providing server 100. The advertisement management server 500 is an example of a distribution information management server.

[0018] Each of the servers 100, 400, and 500 may be configured as a single "server," or may be configured as multiple servers. Alternatively, the functions of at least two of the servers 100, 400, and 500 may be provided by a single "server."

[0019] <Printer> The printer 200 is assigned the printer ID described above. The printer 200 has a control unit 210, a memory unit 215, a display unit 240, an operation unit 250, a communication unit 260, a printing unit 270, etc. The control unit 210, the memory unit 215, the display unit 240, the operation unit 250, the communication unit 260, and the printing unit 270 are connected via a bus 205 so as to be able to send and receive information. The printer 200 is an example of a printing device.

[0020] The storage unit 215 is configured with, for example, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, HDD, etc. The storage unit 215 stores various programs 220 and various data 230. The various programs 220 include, for example, programs for executing the control of the printer 200 according to the flows shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 described below. The various data 230 include the printer ID described above and advertising images received from the advertisement providing server 100, acquired from a terminal device of a successful bidder among the advertisers, and transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100. At least a portion of the various data may be stored in the storage unit 115 of the advertisement providing server 100. Alternatively, at least a portion of the original data may be stored in either the storage unit 215 of the printer 200 or the storage unit 115 of the advertisement providing server 100, and a copy of the original data may be stored in the other of the storage units.

[0021] The control unit 210 is a device that processes data and is, for example, a processor such as a CPU. The control unit 210 executes various programs stored in the memory unit 215. The display unit 240 is, for example, a liquid crystal display and can display various information. The operation unit 250 is, for example, a keyboard, buttons, etc., and accepts input operations by the user. The user can input various instructions to the printer 200 by operating the operation unit 250. The communication unit 260 is connected to the network NT and can communicate with the advertisement providing server 100, the advertisement management server 500, the user management server 400, and the terminal device 300. The printing unit 270 includes a print engine and forms and prints an image on the print paper using an inkjet method in this example while removing and transporting print paper from a paper tray using a transport mechanism (not shown). Note that a laser print engine may also be used.

[0022] The cartridge holder 280 is configured to be able to house cartridges 285. The cartridges 285 are configured with cartridges of multiple ink colors, such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The cartridge holder 280 is provided with ink amount sensors (not shown) that can detect the remaining amount or consumed amount of each of the cartridges of the multiple ink colors using a known method.

[0023] The printing unit 270 performs printing processing while consuming ink from the cartridge 285. The reader / writer 290 is provided in the cartridge holder 280. The reader / writer 290 reads and writes cartridge information from an IC chip provided in the cartridge 285 housed in the cartridge holder 280. For example, the reader / writer 290 detects the type of cartridge 285 housed in the cartridge holder 280 by reading the cartridge information from the IC chip. Note that the amount of ink used or remaining in the cartridge 285 may also be detected by the above reading by the reader / writer 290.

[0024] <Features of the Embodiment> As described above, in this embodiment, an auction is held for an advertisement, and bids are solicited. If a successful bid is made by an advertiser who meets the conditions, the successful advertisement image is delivered to the printer 200 and the advertisement is printed. During this process, there may be a problem with the printer 200 that prevents printing. In this case, the advertiser of the advertisement misses an opportunity to benefit from the advertisement, and billing processing may become delayed or complicated. A feature of this embodiment is to prevent or reduce the occurrence of a situation in which the advertisement printing fails despite the successful bid in response to the solicitation of bids, thereby avoiding disadvantage to the successful bidder. Details of this process are described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIGS. 2 and 3 are sequence flows illustrating control executed by the advertisement providing server 100, the advertisement management server 500, the printer 200, and the terminal device 300 in cooperation with each other.

[0025] 2, first, in S1, it is determined whether or not a distribution start condition is satisfied to start distribution of an advertisement image to the printer 200. An example of the distribution start condition is, for example, the arrival of a time that the user of the printer 200 has reserved in advance as the time for distributing the advertisement.

[0026] That is, for example, in this embodiment, the user can set an advertisement delivery schedule for that user on an appropriate setting screen displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 300 through appropriate user operation. The advertisement delivery time settings for all users who use the printer 200 are stored in the storage unit 115 of the advertisement providing server 100 as correlations associated with user IDs. An example of the correlations associating each user ID with an advertisement delivery time is shown in FIG. 4.

[0027] 4, in the illustrated example, 9:00 every Monday and Thursday is associated as the advertisement delivery time for a user with user ID "A11." 12:00 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday is associated as the advertisement delivery time for a user with user ID "B22." Based on this correlation, S1 determines whether the current time corresponds to any of the users' advertisement delivery times.

[0028] Instead of the user reserving a time for advertisement distribution to himself / herself in advance and distributing the advertisement image to the printer 200 at that time as described above, the advertisement image may be distributed to the printer 200 in response to a print request from the user via the operation unit 250 of the printer 200 or the terminal device 300. In this case, the distribution start condition is, for example, that the print request from the user has been received by the advertisement providing server 100.

[0029] Returning to FIG. 2, the process executed by the control unit 110 of the advertisement providing server 100 in S1 is an example of a start-up determination process, and the control unit 110 that executes S1 is an example of a start-up determination unit.

[0030] In S2A, the advertisement providing server 100 outputs a request to acquire status information to the printer 200, and in S2B, the advertisement providing server 100 acquires the status information from the printer 200 in response to this request.

[0031] Examples of status information include the following: Information indicating whether the printer 200 is in an error state that makes it impossible to print, such as when the printer 200 is out of paper, has a paper jam, or the access cover is open; Information indicating whether the type of paper stored in the paper tray of the printer 200 is the type intended for printing advertisement images; Information indicating whether the printer 200 is in a state that ensures good printing. Specifically, for example, in an inkjet printer 200, information indicating whether print smearing will not occur based on the results of discharge detection; Information indicating whether the printer 200 is in a so-called print waiting state, such as when another print job is already being executed; Information indicating whether the printer 200 is in a management state where printing is possible; For example, if a limit on the number of prints of advertisement images has been set in advance, information indicating whether all of the target advertisement images can be printed, or if a print color limit has been set in advance, information indicating whether the advertisement images do not include the restricted print colors; Information indicating whether the printer 200 has sufficient remaining consumables. For example, information indicating whether the remaining amount of ink or toner is the amount necessary to print advertisement images. 1, the various types of status information are acquired by a known method using, for example, an appropriate signal, detection mechanism, or detection program in printer 200, and are stored in storage unit 215. Also, for example, if status information cannot be acquired offline by S2A and S2B, the printer is determined to be in an offline state, which is one of the states in which advertisements cannot be printed, and otherwise it is determined to be in an online state.

[0032] The process executed by the control unit 110 of the advertisement providing server 100 in S2B is an example of a status information acquisition process.

[0033] In S3, it is determined whether or not the delivery enablement conditions for delivering the advertising image to the printer 200 are satisfied. In this example, specifically, it is determined whether or not the status information acquired in S2B above indicates a state in which the advertising image can be printed. That is, it is determined whether or not the printer 200 is online, whether or not a printing disable error has occurred, whether or not the type of paper stored is the type for printing the advertising image, whether or not the printer is in a state where good printing can be ensured, whether or not the printer is in a printing standby state, whether or not the printer is in a printable management state, whether or not there is a sufficient amount of consumables remaining, etc. The process executed by the control unit 110 of the advertisement providing server 100 in S3 is an example of a condition determination process, and the control unit 110 that executes S3 is an example of a condition determination unit.

[0034] If the above-mentioned delivery enablement conditions are not satisfied in S3, a No determination is made, and the process proceeds to S4. In S4, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed, and if the predetermined time has elapsed, a Yes determination is made, and the process returns to S2A, and the same procedure from S2A to S3 as described above is repeated. The process executed by the control unit 110 of the advertisement providing server 100 in S3 during this repetition is an example of a condition re-determination process.

[0035] In addition, instead of determining "Yes" when the predetermined time has elapsed in S4 as described above, it may be determined "Yes" when another predetermined condition is satisfied. Also, in the above, the determination of the distribution activation condition is performed in S1 and then the determination of the distribution enablement condition is performed in S3, but this is not limited to this, and the determination of S4 may be performed at the same time as the determination of S3.

[0036] If the above distribution conditions are met in S3, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S5. In S5, a bid request including a minimum bid price is sent to the advertisement management server 500. The minimum bid price is, for example, uniquely determined in advance when soliciting bids for the advertising image and is stored in the memory unit 115. In S5, the minimum bid price is determined based on the contents stored in this memory unit 115, and a bid request including this minimum bid price is sent to the advertisement management server 500. The process executed in S5 is an example of a request sending process, and the control unit 110 that executes S5 is an example of a request sending unit.

[0037] In response to the transmitted bid request, the advertisement management server 500 executes an auction for suitable advertisements and solicits bids. At this time, the bid request requests advertisement images that satisfy predetermined conditions, including a bid price equal to or higher than the minimum bid price.

[0038] In S7, the bidding results of the auction held in response to the bidding request sent in S5 are received from the advertising management server 500. If a bid fulfills the predetermined conditions requested in the bidding request, the received content includes the advertising image submitted by that bidder. If no bid fulfills the predetermined conditions requested in the bidding request, the received content includes a message to that effect.

[0039] In S8, it is determined whether or not there is a bid that satisfies the winning conditions based on the content received in S7, and the bid that satisfies the winning conditions is determined as the successful advertisement. The winning conditions may be, for example, the highest bid price. Alternatively, the winning condition may be the satisfaction of a predetermined condition requested in the bid request. The determined advertisement is an example of specific distribution information, the process executed in S8 is an example of information determination process, and the control unit 110 that executes S8 is an example of an information determination unit.

[0040] In S10, a "hold notice" is sent to the advertising management server 500 to notify the advertiser who submitted a bid that satisfies the bidding conditions, i.e., the successful bidder, that the bid content has been accepted and will be stored without being deleted. This hold notice is sent by the advertising management server 500 to the terminal device or the like of the successful bidder. Note that if there are multiple bids that satisfy the bidding conditions, multiple hold notices may be sent.

[0041] In S15, a "notice of defeat" is sent to the advertisement management server 500 to inform the advertiser who submitted a bid that does not satisfy the conditions for successful bidding, i.e., the non-successful bidder, that the bid content will not be adopted because there is another successful bidder. This notice of defeat is sent by the advertisement management server 500 to the terminal device or the like of the non-successful bidder. Note that if there are multiple bids that do not satisfy the conditions for successful bidding, multiple notices of defeat may be sent.

[0042] In S17, an advertising image request is sent to the advertising management server 500, requesting an advertising image of the successful bidder to whom the suspension notice was sent in S10. If there are multiple successful bidders, multiple advertising images may be requested. In response to the advertising image request, in S20, the advertising management server 500 sends an advertising image of the successful bidder, which is received and acquired by the advertisement providing server 100. The acquired advertising image is stored, for example, in the memory unit 115. The process executed in S20 is an example of a specific distribution information acquisition process, and the control unit 110 that executes S20 is an example of a specific distribution information acquisition unit.

[0043] In S25, a deadline is set as one of the criteria for determining whether printing is successful or unsuccessful in the printer 200. In this embodiment, three types of deadlines are set. The first deadline is a first predetermined deadline by which the advertisement providing server 100 bills the advertisement management server 500 for delivery costs. That is, when the advertisement image delivered to the printer 200 is printed, the successful bidder is billed for the cost as compensation for printing the advertisement (see S140, described below). In this embodiment, in S25, the first predetermined deadline can be set as the time limit by which printing in the printer 200 is successful and the cost is billed. An example of the first predetermined deadline is within 10 minutes from the start of the timer in S27, described below. The first predetermined deadline may be stored in the memory unit 115 in advance or may be set in response to an instruction from the advertisement management server 500. The other deadlines are a second predetermined deadline and a third predetermined deadline by which printing of the advertisement must be completed. That is, in cases where the value of the advertisement will drop significantly if printing is not completed within a certain time frame, such as in a fresh food sales advertisement, the advertiser may have strict time constraints. In this embodiment, in order to address this, the second and third predetermined deadlines can be set as the time limits for completing advertisement printing on the printer 200 in S25. The different uses of the second and third predetermined deadlines in processing will be described later. Examples of setting the second predetermined deadline include setting it based on the remaining time, such as within 24 hours from the start of counting in S27 (described below), or setting it based on an end time, such as by 10:00 AM. The second and third predetermined deadlines may be stored in the storage unit 115 in advance, or may be set in response to an instruction from the advertisement management server 500. They may also be added to the advertisement image transmitted from the advertisement management server 500 in S20. The second and third predetermined deadlines may be the same date and time, or the third predetermined deadline may be later than the second predetermined deadline. In S25, all of the first, second and third predetermined deadlines may be set, or only one or two of them may be set.

[0044] In S27, the time count for the time limit set in S25 is started.

[0045] In S30, a delivery image in which the successful bidder's advertising image is arranged, i.e., a delivery image for printing in which information including the advertising image received from the advertising management server 500 in S20 is arranged, is created. The delivery image for printing may be the advertising image itself acquired through bidding, or may have appropriate information added to it. For example, this also includes cases in which multiple advertisements are collectively distributed on a single image for printing. Instead of the advertisement providing server 100 creating the delivery image for printing, the advertisement management server 500 may create the delivery image for printing, and the advertisement providing server 100 may acquire the delivery image for printing. Instead of creating the delivery image for printing in S30, print data for printing the delivery image for printing may be created in various page description languages. A print instruction including the created delivery image for printing is delivered to the printer 200. This print instruction may include a command to stop the printing process in the printer 200 when a print cancel instruction is input in S60, S97, S115, etc., described below, or when a printer error occurs in S75, described below. The process executed in S30 is an example of a distribution process.

[0046] In S35, the print instruction transmitted in S30 is received by the printer 200 and stored in the storage unit 215. Subsequently, the printing unit 270 starts printing the delivery image for printing included in the print instruction. In S30, the advertisement providing server 100 may transmit the delivery image for printing to the printer 200 via another relay device. Alternatively, instead of transmitting the delivery image for printing to the printer 200, the advertisement providing server 100 may transmit a page description language for printing the delivery image for printing or a link destination of the delivery image to the printer 200. If a link destination of the delivery image for printing is transmitted, the printer 200 accesses the link destination, acquires the delivery image for printing, and executes printing using the printing unit 270.

[0047] After S35, in S40, the advertisement providing server 100 starts a standby process for waiting for a print progress notification, which will be described later.

[0048] 3, in S45, the printer 200 determines whether printing of the delivery image for printing, including the advertisement image, started in S35 above, has been completed. If printing has been completed, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S50, where the content of the print progress notification sent in S90, described below, is set to "printing successful." Thereafter, in S90, the print progress notification indicating "printing successful" is sent from the printer 200 and received by the advertisement providing server 100.

[0049] After the standby process is started in S40, the advertisement providing server 100 determines in S55 whether the time elapsed since S27 reaches the first predetermined time limit set in S25 while the above-mentioned print progress notification is not received, resulting in a timeout. For example, if the first predetermined time limit arrives before the print progress notification transmitted in S90 is received because printing is not yet complete, S55 is determined to be Yes, and a print cancellation instruction is transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100 in S60 and received by the printer 200. After S60, the process proceeds to S120, which will be described later. In the printer 200 that has received the print cancellation instruction, S62 is determined to be Yes, the delivery image for printing received from the advertisement providing server 100 in S30 is deleted from the storage unit 215, and the print process is canceled. Then, the process of the flow of FIG. 3 in the printer 200 ends.

[0050] If the first predetermined deadline has not arrived at the advertisement providing server 100, S55 is determined as No, and the process proceeds to S95. In S95, it is determined whether the time elapsed since S27 reached the second predetermined deadline set in S25 while the above-mentioned print progress notification was not received, resulting in a timeout. For example, if the second predetermined deadline arrives before the print progress notification transmitted in S90 is received because printing is not yet complete, S95 is determined as Yes, and a print cancellation instruction is transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100 in S97 and received by the printer 200. After S97, the process proceeds to S120, which will be described later. Furthermore, if the user performs a print cancellation operation on the terminal device 300 before printing is completed as described above, a corresponding print cancellation instruction is transmitted from the terminal device 300 in S65 and received by the printer 200.

[0051] In the printer 200, if a print cancel instruction is received in S97 or S65 as described above, S70 following S62 is judged as Yes, and processing proceeds to S80, which will be described later. In S80, to which processing proceeds when S70 is judged as Yes, the print delivery image received from the advertisement providing server 100 in S30 is deleted from the storage unit 215, and the print processing is stopped. The content of the print progress notification is then set to "print failed." Note that in this case, the print progress notification also includes information about the reason for the print failure, such as whether the second processing deadline has expired or whether the user has canceled the print. If a print cancel instruction is not received, S70 is judged as No, and processing proceeds to S75. In S75, it is determined whether a printer error has occurred. A printer error is a state in which some kind of malfunction has occurred that makes it difficult to start or continue printing, such as a paper jam, ink consumables running out, an offline state in which the communication unit 260 of the printer 200 is not connected to the network NT, etc. If no printer error has occurred, S75 is judged as No, the process returns to S45, and printing continues until S45 is judged as Yes when printing is completed.

[0052] In S85, to which the process proceeds after S75 is judged as Yes, the content of the print progress notification is set to “printing incomplete.” In this case, the print progress notification also includes information about the printer error that caused the print incomplete, such as whether the print paper is jammed.

[0053] Thereafter, in S90 , a print progress notification indicating the progress of the process in the printer 200 , such as “printing successful”, “printing failed”, or “printing incomplete”, is sent from the printer 200 and received by the advertisement providing server 100 .

[0054] On the other hand, in the advertisement providing server 100, if the second processing deadline has not arrived in S95 above, a No determination is made, and the process proceeds to S100. In S100, the print progress notification transmitted from the printer 200 in S90 described above is received, and it is determined whether the time elapsed since S27 at the time of reception has reached the third predetermined deadline set in S25, resulting in a timeout. If the third predetermined deadline has arrived, a Yes determination is made in S100, and the process proceeds to S120, which will be described later. If the third predetermined deadline has not arrived, a No determination is made in S100, and the process proceeds to S110.

[0055] In S110, it is determined whether the print progress notification received from the printer 200 in S90 above is a notification indicating "printing incomplete." If the print progress notification is indicating "printing successful" or "printing failed," the determination is No, and processing proceeds to S117, which will be described later. If the print progress notification is indicating "printing incomplete," the determination is Yes, and in S115 a print cancellation instruction is sent from the advertisement providing server 100 and received by the printer 200. After S115, processing proceeds to S120, which will be described later. If the printer 200 receives a print cancellation instruction from the advertisement providing server 100 in S115, the delivery image to be printed sent in S30 is deleted from the storage unit 215, and the print processing is canceled. Then, the processing of the flow in FIG. 3 in the printer 200 ends.

[0056] In S117, it is determined whether the print progress notification received from printer 200 in S90 above was a notification indicating "printing failure." If the print progress notification indicates "printing failure," S117 is determined as Yes, and the process proceeds to S120, which will be described later. If the print progress notification indicates "printing success," the process proceeds to S140.

[0057] In S140, the advertisement providing server 100 sends a billing notice to the advertisement management server 500 to claim compensation for the advertisement printing from the advertiser who is the successful bidder and provided the advertisement image included in the distribution image for printing sent in S30.

[0058] In S145, the advertisement management server 500 receives the billing notice and transmits the billing notice to the terminal device or the like of the successful bidder.

[0059] In S150, the advertisement providing server 100 links the print delivery image sent to the printer 200 in S30 with the printer ID of the corresponding printer 200, the user ID of the corresponding user, current time information, and the bidding conditions when the advertising image included in the print delivery image was won, stores the results in the memory unit 115 as a success history, and terminates the processing.

[0060] In S120 following S60, S97, S100, S115, and S117, the advertisement providing server 100 transmits a successful bid cancellation notice to revoke the successful bid determined in S8, and the notice is received by the advertisement management server 500. The advertisement management server 500 notifies the advertiser who is the successful bidder for the advertisement of the cancellation of the successful bid.

[0061] In S130, the advertisement providing server 100 links the print delivery image for which the successful bid was canceled in S120 with history information such as the successful bid conditions when the advertising image included in the print delivery image was successful, the aforementioned failure reason information, the date and time of failure confirmation, etc., stores this as failure history in the memory unit 115, and terminates the process.

[0062] <Effects of the embodiment> As described above, in the present embodiment, bidding is held for advertising images to be distributed to the printer 200, and the images are distributed to the printer 200 and printed according to the bidding results. In S5, which is executed by the control unit 110, a bidding request is made to the advertising management server 500, and in S8, an advertising image that is a successful bid is determined from the advertising images received from the advertising management server 500. The determined advertising image is acquired in S20, and a distribution image for printing that includes the acquired advertising image is distributed to the printer 200 in S30.

[0063] Before executing the above, in S1, it is determined whether a distribution activation condition for activating the distribution of an advertising image to the printer 200 is satisfied, and in S3, it is determined whether a distribution enablement condition for executing the distribution of an advertising image to the printer 200 is satisfied. S5 above is executed when it is determined in S1 that the distribution activation condition is satisfied and when it is determined in S3 that the distribution enablement condition is satisfied. Therefore, unless it is determined that both the distribution activation condition and the distribution enablement condition are satisfied, a bid request will not be sent to the advertising management server 500. As a result of the above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to avoid a situation where an advertisement cannot be printed even if a bid is won in response to a bid solicitation.

[0064] Furthermore, particularly in this embodiment, if it is determined in S1 that the distribution activation conditions are satisfied, even if it is initially determined in S3 that the distribution enablement conditions are not satisfied, the process of S3 is performed and whether or not the distribution enablement conditions are satisfied is re-determined when a predetermined period of time has passed (or a predetermined condition has been satisfied) and a Yes determination is made in S4. According to this embodiment, even if the distribution enablement conditions are not initially satisfied, if the distribution enablement conditions are subsequently satisfied due to, for example, a user operation or a change in the surrounding environment, bids can be solicited in S5, and a print distribution image based on an advertising image corresponding to the bid results can be distributed to printer 200.

[0065] In particular, in this embodiment, status information of the printer 200 is acquired in S2B, and in S3, it is determined whether the delivery enablement conditions are met based on the status information acquired in S2B. According to this embodiment, if the status information of the printer 200 does not meet the predetermined conditions, it is assumed that printing of the advertising image is not possible, and a bid request is not sent to the advertising management server 500 (see also Variation (1) described below).

[0066] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and technical concept of the present invention. Such modifications will be described below in order. The same reference numerals will be used to designate parts equivalent to those in the above-described embodiment, and descriptions thereof will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0067] (1) When the delivery enabling conditions are not met, printing is canceled. In the above embodiment, when the delivery enabling conditions are not met and a No judgment is made in S3, S2 and S3 are executed again after a predetermined time has elapsed in S4, but this is not limited to this. That is, when a No judgment is made in S3, the process may proceed to S120 as in the flow indicated by "E" in Fig. 3. That is, in this case, the sending of a bid request in S5, the determination of a successful advertisement in S8, the acquisition of an advertisement image in S20, the sending of an advertisement image in S30, etc. are not executed.

[0068] According to this modified example, if it is determined that the distribution activation conditions are met but the distribution enablement conditions are not met, S5, S8, S20, and S30 are not executed, thereby reliably avoiding a situation where an advertisement cannot be printed even if a bid is accepted and a bid is made.

[0069] (2) Cases where the fulfillment of the delivery enabling conditions is determined based on something other than status information In the above embodiment, whether the delivery enabling conditions are fulfilled is determined in S3 based on the status information acquired in S2B, but this is not limited to this. That is, instead of S2A and S2B, a procedure may be provided in which predetermined delivery restriction information related to the printer 200 is acquired from the storage unit 115 of the printer 200 or the advertisement providing server 100, or the advertisement management server 500. The process executed by the advertisement providing server 100 in this procedure is an example of a delivery restriction information acquisition process.

[0070] Examples of distribution restriction information include, for example, the following: Information regarding the number of times an advertising image has been distributed to the printer 200. For example, information indicating whether the number of times an advertising image has been distributed within a predetermined period has reached an upper limit. Information related to the timing of distribution to the printer 200. For example, when a period during which an advertising image can be printed in the printer 200, i.e., a time when the advertising image should be printed from the perspective of the printer 200, is set in advance, information indicating whether the current time is within that printable period. Note that, although detailed description was omitted in the above explanation using FIG. 1 , the various types of distribution restriction information are acquired by known methods using appropriate signals, detection mechanisms, or detection programs in the printer 200, and are stored in, for example, the storage unit 215. Note that the distribution restriction information may be stored in advance in the storage unit 215 of the printer 200, or may be stored in an appropriate server.

[0071] In S3, it is determined whether the acquired distribution restriction information is in a state in which distribution of the advertising image is permitted, as a distribution enabling condition. In this case, too, the process executed by the control unit 110 of the advertisement providing server 100 in S3 is an example of a condition determination process, and the control unit 110 that executes S3 is an example of a condition determination unit.

[0072] In this modification, the control unit 110 acquires the distribution restriction information related to the printer 200 in the above-described distribution restriction information acquisition process, and in S3, it is determined whether the distribution enabling conditions are met based on the acquired distribution restriction information. According to this embodiment, if the distribution restriction information related to the printer 200 is not met, it is assumed that printing of the advertising image is not possible, and the bid request is not sent to the advertising management server 500 (see also the above-described modification (1)).

[0073] (3) Alternatively, for example, in the above S60, S97, and S115, instead of sending a print cancel instruction from the advertisement providing server 100, the print instruction of S30 may be sent again to the printer 200 a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined period of time. Alternatively, the print instruction may be sent repeatedly to the printer 200 until the advertisement providing server 100 receives a print progress notification indicating successful printing.

[0074] In the above description, as an example, the advertisement providing server 100 transmits a successful bid cancellation notice as successful bid withdrawal information to the advertisement management server 500 in S120 without invoicing the advertisement management server 500 in S140. However, this is not limiting. For example, if the above-mentioned expenses have been invoiced and the payment for the expenses has already been made by an external server, an instruction to refund the expenses may be transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100 to the advertisement management server 500 as successful bid withdrawal information. Alternatively, instead of this refund instruction, a compensation instruction to reduce other invoice amounts to be collected from the external server may be transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100 to the advertisement management server 500 as successful bid withdrawal information. Alternatively, if the above-mentioned expenses have been invoiced but the payment for the expenses has not yet been made by the external server, an instruction to suspend the payment may be transmitted from the advertisement providing server 100 to the advertisement management server 500 as successful bid withdrawal information. In either case, the transmission process performed by the advertisement providing server 100 to the advertisement management server 500 is an example of information transmission process. Although the above description has been given taking as an example a case where the transmission process of the successful bid withdrawal information is performed in real time each time a successful bid advertisement is determined in S8 of Fig. 2, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the successful bid withdrawal information may be transmitted by tallying and collectively collectively at a predetermined time interval, such as once at the beginning of each month.

[0075] In the above, the advertisement providing server 100, the terminal device 300, and the printer 200 perform each process to deliver the advertisement image, but which device (the advertisement providing server 100, the terminal device 300, or the printer 200) performs each process, i.e., how the roles are divided, can be freely changed as appropriate. For example, it is possible for the printer 200 to perform all of the processes.

[0076] Furthermore, the sequence flows shown in Figures 2 and 3 do not limit the present invention to the procedures shown in the above flows, and steps may be added, deleted, or the order may be changed within the scope that does not deviate from the spirit and technical concept of the invention.

[0077] In addition to the above, the methods according to the above embodiments and modifications may be used in appropriate combination.

[0078] Although not specifically illustrated, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the invention.

[0079] 1 Information distribution printing system 100 Advertisement providing server (an example of a distribution providing server) 110 Control unit 115 Storage unit 200 Printer (an example of a printing device) 500 Advertisement management server (an example of a distribution management server)

Claims

1. A distribution information providing server having a control unit, which receives distribution information managed by a distribution information management server and distributes it to a printing device, wherein the control unit is configured to execute: an activation determination process which determines whether a distribution activation condition for activating distribution of the distribution information to the printing device is satisfied; a condition determination process which determines whether a deliverable condition for executing distribution of the distribution information to the printing device is satisfied; a request transmission process which transmits a bid request for distribution information to the distribution information management server when the activation determination process determines that the distribution activation condition is satisfied and the condition determination process determines that the deliverable condition is satisfied; an information determination process which determines specific distribution information that will be a successful bid from the distribution information received from the distribution information management server in response to the bid request transmitted in the request transmission process; a specific distribution information acquisition process which acquires the specific distribution information determined in the information determination process; and a distribution process which distributes distribution information for printing based on the specific distribution information acquired in the specific distribution information acquisition process to the printing device.

2. The distribution information providing server of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to not execute the request sending process, the information determination process, the specific distribution information acquisition process, and the distribution process when the start-up determination process determines that the distribution start condition is met, but the condition determination process determines that the distribution enablement condition is not met.

3. The distribution information providing server according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is further configured to: execute a condition re-determination process in which, when it is determined in the activation determination process that the distribution activation condition is satisfied but it is determined in the condition determination process that the distribution enablement condition is not satisfied, the control unit re-determines whether or not the distribution enablement condition is satisfied upon the passage of a predetermined period of time or the satisfaction of a predetermined condition; and, when it is determined in the condition re-determination process in the request sending process that the distribution enablement condition is satisfied, send a bid request for distribution information to the distribution information management server.

4. The distribution information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to execute a status information acquisition process for acquiring status information of the printing device, and in the condition determination process, determine whether the status information acquired in the status information acquisition process is in a state in which the specific distribution information can be received and printed, as the distribution enable condition.

5. The distribution information providing server according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to execute a distribution restriction information acquisition process for acquiring distribution restriction information related to the printing device, and in the condition determination process, determine whether the distribution restriction information acquired in the distribution restriction information acquisition process is in a state that allows distribution of the specific distribution information, as the distribution enabling condition.

6. An information distribution printing system comprising: an activation determination unit that determines whether a distribution activation condition that activates distribution of distribution information is satisfied; a condition determination unit that determines whether a distribution enablement condition that allows distribution of distribution information to a printing device is satisfied; a request sending unit that sends a bid request for the distribution information when the activation determination unit determines that the distribution activation condition is satisfied and the condition determination unit determines that the distribution enablement condition is satisfied; an information determination unit that determines specific distribution information that will be a successful bid from the distribution information received in response to the bid request sent by the request sending unit; a specific distribution information acquisition unit that acquires the specific distribution information determined by the information determination unit; and a printing unit that prints an image based on the specific distribution information acquired by the specific distribution information acquisition unit.

7. An information distribution printing system as described in claim 6, wherein the condition determination unit is configured to determine, as the distribution enabling condition, whether the status information of the printing device is in a state where it can receive and print a distribution image for printing based on the specific distribution information.

Images