Patent ID: 8035838

Claim:
A network printing system comprising a mobile phone with a camera function, an appliance server with a database, and a photo-print vending machine, which are connected to each other via a network, wherein the mobile phone comprises: an image capturing unit which generates image data representing a captured subject; an e-mail receiver which receives an e-mail including a connection address of the appliance server, the e-mail being transmitted by the photo-print vending machine; and an image transmitting unit which designates the connection address included in the e-mail and accesses the appliance server to transmit the image data generated by the image capturing unit to the appliance server, in response to the e-mail received by the e-mail receiver, wherein the appliance server comprises: an image receiver which receives the image data transmitted by the mobile phone, in response to the access by the mobile phone designating the connection address; a storage unit which stores the image data received by the image receiver at the designated connection address; and an image transmitter which transmits requested image data of the image data stored in the storage unit to the photo-print vending machine, in response to access by the photo-print vending machine designating the connection address, and wherein the photo-print vending machine comprises: an input unit to input print-related information including an e-mail address of the mobile phone; an e-mail transmitting unit which transmits the e-mail including the connection address of the appliance server to the mobile phone, based on the e-mail address input via the input unit; a determining unit which determines whether image data is stored at the connection address of the appliance server, in response to transmission of the e-mail by the e-mail transmitting unit; a receiving unit which designates the connection address and accesses the appliance server, to receive the image data transmitted by the responding appliance server, when the determining unit determines that the image data has been stored; and a printing unit which prints the image data received by the receiving unit.