Abstract:
When there is an inquiry about a deficiency point from a user who received a print product, a service provider side can properly deal with the inquiry. A server receives warning information on an edit process generated when the edit process not satisfying a preset condition is performed and edit data generated in the edit process, and associates with each other and registers the warning information and edit data.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to technologies of, for example, creating album data at a user terminal by using template data and transmitting the data from the user terminal to an external apparatus on a network to order an album.  
         [0003]     2. Related Background Art  
         [0004]     A user terminal such as a personal computer can download template data from a server and edit an album by attaching contents such as image data and character data to template data.  
         [0005]     Data edited at the user terminal is transmitted to a server, the server transfers the received edited data to a print site, and a print company providing the print site creates a print product of the album.  
         [0006]     The template data downloaded from the server to the user terminal is suitable for editing a high quality print product. However, depending upon edited image data and character data, a final print product may become deficient such as an unclear image and an inability of entering all characters.  
         [0007]     If contents having a possibility of degrading the quality of a print product are entered in an album, a user is warned at the editing stage.  
         [0008]     However, irrespective of warning, some users request a service provider to make a print product. In this case, the print product sent to the user is deficient and the user inquires the service provider about the deficient point. On the side of the service provider, a history of warning at the editing stage is not managed so that the inquiry cannot be dealt properly.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     It is an object of the invention to make a conversation smoothly between a service provider and a user and to make the service provider side properly deal with an inquiry about a deficient point from a user who received a print product.  
         [0010]     According to an aspect of the present invention, an information processing apparatus of the present invention comprises: reception unit adapted to receive warning information on a data editing process generated if there is data not satisfying a predetermined condition during the data editing process, and edited data generated by the data editing process; and warning information registering unit adapted to associate with each other and registering the warning information and the edited data.  
         [0011]     Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing the outline structure of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the hardware structures of a server and a user terminal.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an operation of the printing system.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating an operation of the user terminal.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating an operation of the server.  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a template selecting screen.  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a diagram showing an example of the structure of an editing screen.  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is a diagram showing an example of an editing screen on which a warning mark is displayed.  
         [0021]      FIG. 9  is a diagram showing an example of an editing screen on which kinds of warning are displayed.  
         [0022]      FIG. 10  is a diagram showing an example of a re-confirmation screen.  
         [0023]      FIG. 11  is a diagram showing an example of an order re-confirmation screen.  
         [0024]      FIG. 12  is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a confirmation screen on which an order data transmission state is also displayed.  
         [0025]      FIGS. 13A and 13B  are schematic diagrams showing the structure of an image data assignment table.  
         [0026]      FIG. 14  is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a layout file.  
         [0027]      FIG. 15  is a diagram showing an example of a warning image list.  
         [0028]      FIG. 16  is a diagram showing an example of an order book management table.  
         [0029]      FIG. 17  is a diagram showing an example a warning image management table.  
         [0030]      FIG. 18  is a diagram showing an example of a claim management table.  
         [0031]      FIG. 19  is a diagram showing an example of a re-order rejection screen.  
         [0032]      FIG. 20  is a schematic diagram showing the structure of image management for an album.  
         [0033]      FIG. 21  is a diagram showing an example of an editing screen on which image IDs are displayed.  
         [0034]      FIG. 22  is a diagram showing an example of an ID sheet. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0035]     Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be detailed with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0036]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing the outline structure of a printing system according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0037]     The printing system shown in  FIG. 1  is constituted of a server  101 , a user terminal  102  and print sites  103  to  105 . The server  101  has template data effective for forming high quality print products, supplies the user terminal  102  with the template data, and manages orders, settlement and the like of print products from the user terminal  102 . The user terminal  102  downloads the template data from the server  101 , forms desired edition data by using the downloaded template data, and orders print products. The print sites  103  to  105  are connected via the Internet and provided by print companies which actual book binding and the like in accordance with the order contents from the user terminal  102 . An operator PC  106  is connected to the server  101  as an information processing apparatus to be used by an operator and connected via a communication line such as LAN. The network configuration shown in  FIG. 1  is only illustrative and it is obvious that various configurations are possible, and the numbers of user terminals, print sites, operator PCs and servers may be determined as desired.  
         [0038]     The server  101  has: a template storage  1011  for storing template data; a management information database (DB)  1012  for storing order management information, account information, settlement information and the like of albums; an order management unit  1014  for managing order results of albums; an account processing unit  1015  for performing account processings for album orders; a settlement processing unit  1016  for performing settlement processing; and a warning history DB  1017  for associating a history of warning at the stage of an album editing process at the user terminal  102  with related image data and storing the history.  
         [0039]     The user terminal  102  has: a template storage  1021  for storing template data downloaded from the server  101 ; an album editing application  1022 ; and a user data storage  1023  for storing data of albums already edited or edited on.  
         [0040]     Each of the print sites  103  to  105  has: a database  1031  for storing edited data of albums transferred from the server  101 ; a printing unit  1033  for printing edited data stored in the database  1031 ; and an accounting unit  1032  for charging fees of print processings.  
         [0041]     Next, with reference to  FIG. 3 , the operation of the printing system of the embodiment will be described. The user terminal  102  downloads template data from the server  101  and stores it. A user selects desired template data from the template data stored in the user terminal  102 , and edits an album by attaching contents such as image data and character data to the template data.  
         [0042]     When an edited album is ordered from the user terminal  102 , the edited data is transmitted to the server  101  as the order data.  
         [0043]     Upon reception of the order data from the user terminal  102 , the server  101  selects a print company at which the order data is printed, and transmits the order data to the print site (e.g., the print site  103 ) of the selected company.  
         [0044]     The print company of the print site  103  received the order data prints out the received order data to form an album. The printed album is sent to a designated delivery address.  
         [0045]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the hardware structure of the server  101  and user terminal  102 .  
         [0046]     In  FIG. 2 , a CRT (display device)  201  displays on its screen, editing information such as documents, figures and images during editing, and user interface information such as icons, messages and menus.  
         [0047]     A VRAM  202  draws therein an image to be displayed on the screen of CRT  201 . Image data generated in VRAM  202  is transferred to CRT  201  in accordance with predetermined rules and CRT  201  displays images.  
         [0048]     A bit move unit (BMU)  203  controls, for example, data transfer between memories (e.g., VRAM  202  and other memories) and data transfer between a memory and each I/O device (e.g., a network interface  211 ).  
         [0049]     A keyboard  204  has various keys for inputting document data and the like. A pointing device  205  is used to point an icon, a menu or other objects displayed on the screen of CRT  201 .  
         [0050]     A CPU  206  controls each device connected to a CPU bus in accordance with control programs stored in a ROM  207  or a flexible disk.  
         [0051]     ROM  207  stores various control programs and data. A RAM  208  has a working area for CPU  206 , a data evacuation area during an error processing, a load area for control programs and the like.  
         [0052]     A hard disk drive (HDD)  209  drives a hard disk which can store each control program to be executed by the server or user terminal and contents. For example, a hard disk of the user PC  102  stores electronic album data, album editing programs and the like.  
         [0053]     A flexible disk drive (FDD)  210  controls an access to a flexible disk. The network interface  211  is used for communications with other information processing apparatuses, printers and the like.  
         [0054]     A CPU bus  212  includes an address bus, a data bus and a control bus. The control programs for CPU  206  may be supplied from ROM  207 , hard disks, and flexible disks, or from other information processing apparatuses or the like via the network interface  211 .  
         [0055]     Next, with reference to the flow chart shown in  FIG. 4 , the operation of the user terminal  102  will be described. As a user operates the user terminal  102  to access the server  101  via the network interface  211 , a template selecting screen such as shown in  FIG. 6  can be displayed on CRT  201 .  
         [0056]     As the user selects a desired template from the template selecting screen and depresses a “template download” button  601 , acquisition instruction information for the selected template is transmitted from the user terminal  102  to the server  101  via the network interface  211 .  
         [0057]     CPU  206  operates to download template data corresponding to the acquisition instruction information from the server  101  and to store it in a hard disk in HDD  209  (Step S 401 ).  
         [0058]     When the user selects desired template data from the template data stored in the hard disk in HDD  209 , the selected template data is read from HDD  209  into VRAM  208  to display, for example, an editing screen shown in  FIG. 7  on CRT  201  (Step S 402 ).  
         [0059]     The hard disk in HDD  209  stores also image data taken with a digital camera or the like. A portion or all of image data selected by the user is read into VRAM  208  and displayed on the editing screen shown in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0060]     The user edits an album on the editing screen (Step S 403 ). A template data display area  701  shown in  FIG. 7  has a frame A and a frame B in which image data is arranged, and a character data frame a and a character data frame b in which corresponding character data is arranged. An image data display area  702  displays a list of stored image data.  
         [0061]     Description will be made on a process of setting frames in the template data display area in which image data and character data are arranged.  FIGS. 13A and 13B  are schematic diagrams showing the structure of an image data assignment table. As shown in  FIG. 13A , the image data assignment table has assignment matrix data for five images to assignment matrix data for twenty one images, and as shown in  FIG. 13B , the number of images capable of being assigned to each page is set in each assignment data.  
         [0062]     For example, if the template data selected by the user can assign twenty one images, CPU  206  operates to refer to the matrix data for twenty one images in the image data assignment table shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B  read from HDD  209  into VRAM  208  to thereby acquire data of the number of images assigned to each page. Namely, in the case of the matrix data for twenty one images, the number of images capable of being assigned to the first page is  2 , the number of images capable of being assigned to the second and third pages is  5 , the number of images capable of being assigned to the fourth and fifth pages is  2 , . . . , and the number of images capable of being assigned to the twelfth page is  2 .  
         [0063]     As described above, if the template data capable of assigning twenty one images is selected, it can be decided from the image data assignment table shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B  that the number of images capable of being assigned to the first page is  2 , the number of images capable of being assigned to the second and third pages is  5 , the number of images capable of being assigned to the fourth and fifth pages is  2 , . . . , and the number of images capable of being assigned to the twelfth page is  2 . A layout file shown in  FIG. 14  stores layout data (layout data for two images in the first page), layout data (layout data for five images in the second and third pages), and other layout data. CPU  206  refers to the layout data of each page and determines the layout in the template data display area of the editing screen to thereby display the editing screen shown in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0064]     Each layout data includes a resolution necessary for displaying a clear image in the frame in which image data is arranged, and the maximum number of characters for each font size capable of being entered in the character data frame in which character data is arranged. Each layout data may include a range of font sizes capable of being entered in each character data frame.  
         [0065]     The user selects image data to be assigned to the frames A and B from the image data displayed in the image data display area  702 . For example, if the image α is assigned to the frame B, a resolution of the image α obtained from a property of the image data is compared with a resolution set to the frame B. If the resolution of the image α is lower than the resolution set to the frame B, a warning mark  801  shown in  FIG. 8  is displayed near the frame B. As the user moves the pointer to the warning mark  801  on the screen and double-clicks it, kinds of warning such as shown in  FIG. 9  are displayed ( 901  in  FIG. 9 ).  
         [0066]     Warning information is also displayed if the user selects desired image data from the image data displayed in the image data display area  702  and a trimmed portion of the image data is arranged in the template data display area. In this case, a resolution of the trimmed image data is calculated from a ratio of the number of pixels in the trimmed area to the number of pixels of the whole image data. If the calculated resolution is lower than the resolution set to the frame, the warning information is displayed.  
         [0067]     Displaying the warning information is not limited only to an insufficient resolution. For example, the warning information may be displayed if it is judged that the image quality after printing is deficient such as red-eye, defocus, camera shake, underexposure, or overexposure of each layout image. As a method of judging red-eye or the like, various techniques have already been disclosed. Therefore, these methods will not be described herein.  
         [0068]     Warning information is also displayed not only for image data but also for character data in the character data frame. For example, the warning mark may be displayed near the character data frame if character data in excess of the maximum number of characters is entered or if the font size is out of the font size range.  
         [0069]     By referring to the above-described kinds of warning, the user can change the image data to be assigned, reduce the number of characters and the like. The editing process may continue or completed by neglecting the warning without changing the image data assignment and character data to be input.  
         [0070]     In FIGS.  7  to  9 , although the editing screen is shown only for the sixth and seventh pages of the album, similar editing works are made for each page to form a desired album. For example, after the user assigns image data of all pages and inputs the character data, the user depresses a “confirm” button  703  shown in FIGS.  7  to  9 .  
         [0071]     As the “confirm” button  703  is depressed, a confirmation screen shown in  FIG. 10  is displayed on CRT  201 . As a “&lt;” button  1001  shown in  FIG. 10  is depressed, the left page is turned and the fourth and fifth pages are displayed, whereas a “&gt;” button  1002  is depressed, the right page is turned and the eighth and ninth pages are displayed. All pages of the created album can be confirmed by operating the “&lt;” and “&gt;” buttons  1001  and  1002 . If there is no problem, the user depresses an “order” button  1003 .  
         [0072]     As the “order” button  1003  is depressed, order data is generated from the editing results (Step S 404 ). Album data obtained by assigning the image data to the template data may be used as the order data or the template data assigned the image data and converted in one image file may be used. After the order data is generated, it is checked whether there is the image data to which the warning information shown in  FIG. 9  is issued (Step S 406 ), if such image data does not exist (No at Step S 406 ), the generated order data is transmitted to the server  101  via the network interface  211  (step S 405 ). As shown in  FIG. 12 , the transmission state of the order data is displayed with being superposed upon the confirmation screen shown in  FIG. 10 .  
         [0073]     When the order data is transmitted, personal order information, album delivery address and the like entered by the user is also transmitted. The personal order information includes and an order person name, the number of orders and the like.  
         [0074]     In this embodiment, irrespective of the warning shown in  FIG. 8  or  9 , if it is judged at Step S 406  that such image data exists, i.e., the album is ordered (Yes at Step S 406 ), an order re-confirmation screen  1101  displaying the kinds of warning during editing the album is displayed as shown in  FIG. 11 . If an “order” button  1102  in the re-confirmation screen is depressed, warning information is generated from an image ID and kinds of warning of a corresponding image (Step S 407 ), and the order data, personal order information and delivery address as well as the warning information are transmitted to the server  101  (Step S 405 ).  
         [0075]      FIG. 20  is a schematic diagram showing the structure of image management for an album illustrating the image ID. Album data generated by the album editing application  1022  has images in the unit of page and is managed by the image ID determined from the page number and the frame in which the image is arranged. For example, the image ID of an image arranged in the second two facing pages and in the third frame is “P 0203 ”. In this embodiment, the frame A shown in  FIG. 7  corresponds to the first frame, and the frame B corresponds to the second frame. By using the image ID, the position of the image in an album can be identified uniquely.  
         [0076]     In this embodiment, although the image ID is managed in the unit of frame, the definition of the image ID is not limited thereto, but the image ID may be managed in the unit of image. For example, IDs may be serial numbers of all images in an album, or IDs may be managed by the name of an image file.  
         [0077]     In this embodiment, since the character data frame corresponds to the image frame, it is not assigned an another ID. However, another ID may be assigned to each character data frame separately from the image data frame.  
         [0078]     A user can also refer to the image ID. As shown in  FIG. 21 , when the user moves a mouse cursor  2102  to an image β, an image ID  2101  is displayed near the image β. The user can know the image ID from this screen.  
         [0079]      FIG. 15  is a diagram showing an example of a list of warning images which are transmitted to the server  101  as the warning information.  
         [0080]     If the user at the user terminal  102  depresses the “order” button  1003  without changing image data to a proper resolution and reducing the size of the character data, irrespective of warning, the warning image list having a correspondence between the page number, assigned image ID and kinds of warning is generated and transmitted from the user terminal  102  to the server  101 .  
         [0081]     Next, with reference to the flow chart of  FIG. 5 , the operation of the server  101  will be described. Upon reception of order data, personal order information and the like from the user terminal  102  via the network interface  211  (Step S 501 ), CPU  206  operates to register an order person name, the number of orders and the like in correspondence with a present order (Step S 503 ), and then executes a process of determining an album delivery address. An order ID as identification information of the present order and a book ID which is identification information of the album related to the present order data are generated and stored in an order book management table shown in  FIG. 16 . The order book management table is stored in a hard disk in HDD  209 .  
         [0082]     If the warning image list together with the order data and the like is received (Yes at Step S 502 ), information in the warning image list is registered in the warning image management table (Step S 504 ). If the book ID of the album related to the presently received order data is “BK 0002 ”, as shown in  FIG. 17  the kinds of warning shown in  FIG. 15  are registered in the warning image management table in correspondence with the book ID. The warning image management table is stored in a hard disk in HDD  209 .  
         [0083]     After CPU  206  executes the process of determining the album delivery address (Step S 505 ), a settlement process of the present order is executed in cooperation with the user terminal  102  (Step S 506 ). After the settlement process is completed, a print company is determined at which the print processing for the present order is executed. In determining the print company, an optimum print company is selected by considering the type of the ordered album, a distance to the album delivery address and the like.  
         [0084]     Next, CPU  206  operates to transmit the order data, personal order information and delivery address information to the print site (e.g., the print site  103 ) of the determined print company via the network interface  211  (Step S 507 ). At the print company of the print site  103  received the order data, the print processing is performed in accordance with the order data, albums corresponding to the designated number of orders are made and sent to the delivery address indicated in the delivery address information. Each album is printed with a book ID. An album with a sheet of a printed book ID is sent.  
         [0085]     An ID sheet printing an image ID of each image in the album is also sent.  FIG. 22  shows an example of the ID sheet. On each ID sheet, data  2201  to  2204  corresponding to four facing pages reduced in size is printed. An image ID is written in the image data frame instead of the image data. By using this sheet, the user can know the image ID even if the user erases the album data after its order.  
         [0086]     Information registered in the warning image management table shown in  FIG. 17  is transmitted from the server  101  to the operator PC  106  in response to a request from the operator PC  106 . For example, if a user who transmitted order data containing deficiency inquires later an operator about the deficiency, the operator operates the operator PC  106  to acquire the kinds of warning contained in the order data from the server  101 . By referring to the kinds of warning, the operator can answer the user. Namely, when a user inquires the operator, the operator obtains the book ID written in the album from the user, and inquires the server  101  about the book ID by using the operator PC  106 . It is therefore possible to return the page numbers, image IDs and kinds of warning registered in correspondence with the book ID, from the server  101  to the operator PC  106  and display these information on the screen so that the operator can answer the user.  
         [0087]     By referring to the album data or ID sheet, the user informs the operator of the image ID of the image for which the inquiry was made. It is therefore possible for the user to uniquely identify the image in the album for which the inquiry was made.  
         [0088]     As described above, according to the embodiment, when a user who received an album inquires an operator about a deficiency of the album, the operator can deal with the inquiry properly in accordance with the warning information registered in correspondence with the book ID of the album.  
         [0089]     Further, according to the embodiment, since the image ID is stored in correspondence with the kinds of warning, an operator can grasp easily the image inquired by a user so that conversation with the user becomes smooth. It is also possible to know easily the presence/absence of the warning information and kinds of warning of the image so that the user can be handled properly.  
         [0090]     Furthermore, in the embodiment, an album ordered once can be re-ordered only by designating the book ID, the number of orders and delivery address from the user terminal  102  to the server  101 . If there is any claim from a user during an inquiry about a deficiency of the print product of the image data containing the warning information, an operator operates the operator PC  106  to input a corresponding book ID, a claim type, claim data and claim contents and transmit the input information to the server  101 . The server  101  manages the input information in a claim management table shown in  FIG. 18 . The claim management table is registered in a hard disk in HDD  209 . An album having a registered book ID is rejected to be re-ordered. For example, as shown in  FIG. 18 , when the server  101  receives a re-order of the album having the book ID “BK 0002 ”, the server  101  refers to the claim management table. Since this book ID is registered, screen information such as shown in  FIG. 19  is transmitted to the user terminal  102  to notify a user of a rejection of the re-order. If the user re-edits the album by using the album editing application  1022  and orders a print product, the server  101  recognizes the album data as a new album and assigns a new book ID.  
         [0091]     As described above, according to the embodiment, a re-order from a user is restricted so that it is possible to prevent the user from re-ordering the album with a deficiency.  
         [0092]     In this embodiment, the album editing application is activated at the user terminal  102  to execute an album editing process. The embodiment is not limited thereto, but the user terminal  102  may upload necessary images to the server via the network, to execute the album editing processing by activating a browser and communicating with the server.  
         [0093]     It is needless to say that the objects of the invention can be achieved by supplying a storage medium storing software program codes realizing the function of the embodiment described above to a system or an apparatus and by making a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus read and execute the program codes stored in the storage medium.  
         [0094]     In this case, the software program codes read from the storage medium themselves realize the embodiment function. Therefore, the program codes themselves and the storage medium storing the program codes constitute the present invention.  
         [0095]     The storage medium for storing the program codes may be a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM or the like.  
         [0096]     It is obvious that the invention also includes the case wherein the computer executes the read program codes and an OS (basic system or operating system) or the like running on the computer executes a portion or all of the actual processes in accordance with instructions of the program codes, to thereby realize the embodiment function.  
         [0097]     It is obvious that the invention also includes the case wherein the program codes read from the storage medium are written into a memory of a function expansion board inserted into a computer or of a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and thereafter a CPU or the like of the function expansion board or function expansion unit executes a portion or all of the actual processes to thereby realize the embodiment function.  
         [0098]     The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore to apprise the public of the scope of the present invention, the following claims are made.  
         [0099]     This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-257625 filed on Sep. 3, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.