Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and non-transitory computer readable medium

Provided is an image forming apparatus including

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-171648 filed Sep. 2, 2016.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including:a reading unit that reads information from a recording medium on which information on a situation grasping device is written;an acquiring unit that acquires specific information for specifying the situation grasping device from the information read by the reading unit; anda setting unit that sets association with the situation grasping device using the specific information acquired by the acquiring unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1is a view illustrating an entire configuration of an office environment management system1.

An office environment management system1illustrated inFIG. 1includes a management server10as an example of a management device provided on a cloud and an image forming apparatus200that is connected to the management server10to perform a function as a gateway or an edge server.

The image forming apparatus200is provided in an office room (or in an office) where a user works. Further, the image forming apparatus200has a facsimile function or a scanner function in addition to an image forming function.

The office environment management system1further includes plural controlled devices30that are connected to the management server10through the image forming apparatus200and controlled by control information output from the management server10. Further, the office environment management system1according to the exemplary embodiment includes plural situation grasping devices50that is provided in the office room and grasps a situation around the situation grasping devices.

The controlled device30and the situation grasping device50are devices to be connected that are connected to the management server10by communication. The controlled device30and the situation grasping device50may be uniquely identified by the management server10and the controlled device30may exchange information.

More specifically, the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50are connected to the Internet and devices or terminal devices used for Internet of Things (IoT). The controlled device30and the situation grasping device50are examples of the IoT device.

The controlled device30communicates with the image forming apparatus200and receives a control signal from the image forming apparatus200. In the exemplary embodiment, as the controlled device30, a lighting device31, a blind device32, a humidifier33, a cleaning device34, and an air conditioner35are provided.

The lighting device31has a light source and turns on or off the light source in accordance with a control signal from the management server10.

The blind device32has a blind and a driving mechanism that changes a state of the blind and changes the state of the blind in accordance with the control signal from the management server10. By doing this, an amount of external light which enters the office room is changed.

The humidifier33has a mechanism that evaporates water and performs humidification in the office room in accordance with the control signal from the management server10.

The cleaning device34has a suction mechanism that sucks trash in the office and moves in the office room to collect the trash in the office room in accordance with the control signal from the management server10.

The air conditioner35has a heating source and controls air conditioning in the office in accordance with the control signal from the management server10.

In the exemplary embodiment, as the situation grasping device50, various sensors are provided.

Specifically, in the exemplary embodiment, a temperature sensor51that measures a temperature, a humidity sensor52that measures humidity, and an illuminance sensor53that measures illuminance are provided. Further, a person sensor54that includes an infrared sensor or the like and detects a person in the office room is provided.

In the meantime, in the exemplary embodiment, an example in which a sensor is provided as the situation grasping device50has been described, but as the situation grasping device50, a surveillance camera may also be provided in addition thereto.

Each of the situation grasping devices50transmits the acquired information (hereinafter, also referred to as “situation information” in some cases) to the image forming apparatus200using wireless communication or wired communication (by communicating with the image forming apparatus200). The image forming apparatus200transmits the situation information from the situation grasping device50to the management server10(a server of a service company which provides an office environment management service).

In the office environment management system1, control information which is used to control the controlled device30is transmitted from the management server10to the image forming apparatus200. The image forming apparatus200transmits the control information to a corresponding controlled device30.

FIG. 2is a view illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus200.

As illustrated inFIG. 2, the image forming apparatus200includes a central processing unit (CPU)201, a random access memory (RAM)202, a read only memory (ROM)203, and a magnetic storage device204. The image forming apparatus200further includes a communication interface (communication I/F)205to perform communication with the outside.

The image forming apparatus200further includes a UI206and an image forming unit207.

The UI206includes, for example, a touch panel type display and displays information to the user and accepts manipulation from the user.

The image forming unit207that is an example of an image forming part forms an image on a sheet which is an example of a recording material using an electrophotographic system or an inkjet head method.

The image forming apparatus200includes an image reading unit208as an example of a reading part and an automatic document feeder209.

The image reading unit208includes a so-called scanner device and optically reads an image of a set document in a reading position to generate a read-out image (image data). In the meantime, it is also considered that the image reading unit208includes a camera device.

The automatic document feeder209transports the document to the reading position of the image reading unit208.

The ROM203and the magnetic storage device204store a program executed by the CPU201. The CPU201reads out a program which is stored in the ROM203or the magnetic storage device204and executes the program with the RAM202as a working area.

Each functional unit which will be described below is implemented by executing the program stored in the ROM203or the magnetic storage device204by the CPU201.

Here, the program which is executed by the CPU201may be stored in a computer readable recording medium such as a magnetic recording medium (a magnetic tape or a magnetic disk), an optical recording medium (an optical disc), a magnetooptic recording medium, or a semiconductor memory to be provided to the image forming apparatus200. Further, the program which is executed by the CPU201may be downloaded in the image forming apparatus200using a communication unit such as the Internet.

FIG. 3is a view illustrating each functional unit implemented by the CPU201of the image forming apparatus200.

In the image forming apparatus200according to the exemplary embodiment, as illustrated inFIG. 3, a transceiving unit221is provided as an example of an acquiring unit. The transceiving unit221is implemented by the CPU201that executes a program related to the reception/transmission of information and the communication I/F205.

The transceiving unit221receives control information from the management server10. Further, the transceiving unit221transmits the received control information to the controlled device30. Further, the transceiving unit221receives (acquires) information from the controlled device30, from the controlled device30. Further, the transceiving unit221transmits the information from the controlled device30to the management server10.

Further, the transceiving unit221receives (acquires) information (information including the situation information) output from the situation grasping device50, from the situation grasping device50. Further, the transceiving unit221transmits the information received from the situation grasping device50to the management server10.

As illustrated inFIG. 3, the image forming apparatus200includes an output unit222.

The output unit222, as an example of an output part, is implemented by the CPU201that executes a program related to the output.

The output unit222outputs information on the controlled device30acquired by the transceiving unit221or information on the situation grasping device50acquired by the transceiving unit221. Further, the output unit222outputs not only the information on the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50, but also information on the management server10.

Specifically, the output unit222displays information on a display224, prints out the information on a sheet using the image forming unit207(seeFIG. 2), or transmits the information through e-mail.

The image forming apparatus200further includes an operation accepting unit223, the display224, and a memory225.

The operation accepting unit223is implemented by the CPU201(seeFIG. 2) that executes a program related to the manipulation accepting and the UI206. The operation accepting unit223accepts information which is input by the user in the office room.

The display224includes the UI206(seeFIG. 2) and displays information to the user in the office room.

The memory225includes a magnetic storage device204or the like (seeFIG. 2) and stores information and data.

As illustrated inFIG. 3, the image forming apparatus200includes an image processing unit226as an example of an acquiring unit and a connection setting unit227as an example of a setting part.

The image processing unit226performs image processing, for example, optical character recognition processing on the image read by the image reading unit208to acquire data such as a serial number. The data acquired as described above is stored in the above-described memory225. Further, the transceiving unit221acquires specific information for specifying the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50, based on the data. The specific information may be acquired, for example, by the management server10and also is considered to be acquired by another server. As described above, in the exemplary embodiment, the specific information may be acquired by the image processing unit226and the transceiving unit221.

The connection setting unit227sets association with the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50using data acquired by the image processing unit226. More specifically, the connection setting unit227creates a management table (seeFIG. 5B) which will be described below and stores the created management table in the memory225.

Next, a scene for registering the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50in the image forming apparatus200in order to implement the office environment management service illustrated inFIG. 1will be described. The registration to the image forming apparatus200in the exemplary embodiment is performed by reading contents written in the document corresponding to the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50to be registered by the image reading unit208(for example, seeFIG. 2) of the image forming apparatus200.

More specifically, the document described herein refers to, for example, a product catalog or an instruction manual, an accommodating box for accommodating products, and also includes an enveloped sheet enveloped in the accommodating box and a seal attached on the product catalog. Further, as a document, a sheet which is separately prepared instead of an attached sheet attached at the time of purchase of a product is also considered.

In this document, a document image including identification information which is information for uniquely specifying the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50is displayed. Examples of the identification information include object identification information such as a serial number or an MAC address.

The document image of the document is read by the image reading unit208of the image forming apparatus200so that the image forming apparatus200acquires the identification information of the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50to be registered, which will be described below.

FIG. 4is a view for explaining a case when information written on documents D1, D2, D3, and D4is read. The documents D1to D4are examples of a recording medium.

The documents D1to D4illustrated inFIG. 4correspond to any one of the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50. In the exemplary embodiment, it is described that the documents D1to D4are the enveloped sheets enveloped in the accommodating box, but the documents D1to D4may be other type of documents.

In the exemplary embodiment, the document D1corresponds to the lighting device31(seeFIG. 1) and the document D2corresponds to the air conditioner35(seeFIG. 1). Further, the document D3corresponds to the temperature sensor51(seeFIG. 1) and the document D4corresponds to the humidity sensor52(seeFIG. 1). In the meantime, the same processing may be performed also on another controlled device30and situation grasping device50.

In the document D1, a document image D1aincluding a serial number “aaabb1” which is identification information of the lighting device31is written. In the document D2, a document image D2aincluding a serial number “aaabb1” which is identification information of the air conditioner35is written.

Further, in the document D3, a document image D3aincluding a serial number “ddee” which is identification information of the temperature sensor51is written and in the document D4, a document image D4aincluding a serial number “fg” which is identification information of the humidity sensor52is written.

In the meantime, in the exemplary embodiment, it is described that character information is included in the document images D1ato D4aas the identification information, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also considered to use image information, for example, a barcode (for example, a QR code (registered trademark) as a two-dimensional barcode) as identification information.

In the exemplary embodiment, when the document images D1ato D4ain the documents D1to D4are read by the image reading unit208, the automatic document feeder209is used. That is, the documents D1to D4of the enveloped sheet to be registered are set in the automatic document feeder209, so that the documents D1to D4are sequentially transported in the reading position by the automatic document feeder209. As a result, the document images D1ato D4aare read by the image reading unit208.

The image processing is performed on the document images D1ato D4awhich are read as described above, by the image processing unit226(seeFIG. 3). By doing this, the image forming apparatus200acquires data of the serial number “aaabb1” included in the document image D1a. Similarly, the image forming apparatus200acquires data of the serial number “aaabb2” included in the document image D2a, the serial number “ddee” included in the document image D3a, and the serial number “fg” included in the document image D4a. The acquired data is stored in the memory225(seeFIG. 3).

In the meantime, it has been described that the image reading unit208is a scanner device, but the image reading unit208may be a camera device, as described above and in that case, the data is acquired from the captured image. In other words, since the data is acquired from the image as described above, regardless of the type of data, characters are included in addition to symbols and numbers. In that case, registration is not limited to mother tongue, but may be allowed for non-native language data.

As described above, the image reading unit208(seeFIG. 2 or 4) and the image processing unit226(seeFIG. 3) may improve workability for collectively inputting the serial numbers of the controlled device30or the situation grasping device50to be registered. Further, in that case, a working load may be reduced by using the automatic document feeder209.

In the meantime, even though it is preferable to omit a character inputting operation by an operator from the viewpoint of improving workability, it is also considered that the operator performs the character inputting operation to supplement the registration by the image reading unit208and the image processing unit226.

FIGS. 5A and 5Bare views for explaining an example of a management table stored in the memory225in whichFIG. 5Aillustrates a case when a serial number acquired by the image processing unit226is accepted, andFIG. 5Billustrates a case when additional information is accepted from a state illustrated inFIG. 5A.

In the management table illustrated inFIG. 5A, management numbers and serial numbers are stored. The management numbers are assigned in the order of acquiring the serial numbers by the image processing unit226.

In the meantime, in the management table ofFIG. 5A, a position on the network and the type of device have not been stored yet.

In contrast, in the management table illustrated inFIG. 5B, not only the serial numbers, but also the position (IP address) on the network and the type of device are stored. That is, as described above, the transceiving unit221acquires the position on the network and the type of device based on the serial number and the connection setting unit227stores the position on the network and the type of device in the management table.

More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment, a position on the network of the serial number “aaabb1” is “192.168.0.10” and the type of device is “light.” A position on the network of the serial number “aaabb1” is “192.168.0.11” and the type of device is an “air conditioner.”

A position on the network of the serial number “ddee” is “192.168.0.12” and the type of device is a “temperature sensor” and a position on the network of the serial number “fg” is “192.168.0.13” and the type of device is a “humidity sensor.”

Information on “position on the network” and information on “type of device” are acquired from the management server10based on the serial number. That is, the management server10recognizes the terminal device that is connected to the office environment management service in advance and returns information (for example, position information on the network) corresponding to the serial number in accordance with a request from the transceiving unit221(seeFIG. 3) of the image forming apparatus200using the serial number.

In the image forming apparatus200, the connecting setting unit227stores information from the management server10that is received by the transceiving unit221in the management table to store the information in the memory225. By doing this, the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50are connected to the image forming apparatus200. By doing this, in the image forming apparatus200, the position of the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50on the network may be simply set.

In the meantime, information which is stored in the management table is not limited thereto, but it is also considered to store another information, for example, physical information (a position of the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50in the office). That is, the management server10returns physical position information corresponding to the serial number in accordance with a request from the transceiving unit221(seeFIG. 3) of the image forming apparatus200using the serial number. Further, in the image forming apparatus200, the connecting setting unit227stores the physical position information from the management server10which is received by the transceiving unit221in the management table to store the information in the memory225. By doing this, in the image forming apparatus200, the physical position of the controlled device30and the situation grasping device50may be simply set.

As described above, there is an example in which position information on the network is included as information which is transmitted from the management server10to be stored in the management table or an example in which physical position information is further included in addition to the position information on the network. However, an example in which the position information on the network is not included, but the physical position information is included is also considered.

An example in which information of “type of device” is not stored as information to be stored in the management table is also considered.

Next, a case when contents of the management table stored in the memory225are output as a report will be described. The outputting of a report is printed on the recording material P (seeFIG. 6) by the output unit222(seeFIG. 3) of the image forming apparatus200. However, in addition to the case when the printing onto the recording material P is performed in accordance with the request to the image forming apparatus200, it is also considered to perform the printing onto the recording material P when the management table (seeFIG. 5A or 5B) stored in the memory225is created.

FIG. 6is a view illustrating an example of a report which is output on a recording material P by the image forming apparatus200.

On the recording material P illustrated inFIG. 6, contents of the above-described management table (seeFIG. 5B) are also printed. That is, a connection result is output as a report. Specifically, output date and time are printed and the management number, the serial number, the position on the network, and the type of device in the management table are printed.

In the meantime, the present invention has been described using the exemplary embodiment, but a technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described exemplary embodiment. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications or substituted aspects may be adopted without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.