METHOD AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION

• US 20140355063A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HP Printing Korea Co., Ltd. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JANG, Wu-seok, MAHESHWARI, Naveen, LEE, Hak-ju
• Granted Patent: US 9,977,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1236 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1254 Automatic configuration, e.g. by driver
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/20 characterised by the transmission technique; characterised by the transmission medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/70 specially adapted for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/006 Using near field communication, e.g. an inductive loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method of forming an image using a mobile terminal supporting near field communication (NFC) includes launching a mobile application corresponding to an application identifier of tag information of an NFC tag obtained through first NFC tagging, generating data of a job to be performed by an image forming apparatus through the mobile application when the NFC tag is detected again through second NFC tagging, the job being determined according to a state of the mobile application during the second NFC tagging, and transmitting the generated data to the image forming apparatus.

Claims

1. A method of forming an image using a mobile terminal supporting near field communication (NFC), the method comprising:

launching a mobile application corresponding to an application identifier of tag information of an NFC tag obtained through first NFC tagging;

generating data of a job to be performed by an image forming apparatus through the mobile application when the NFC tag is detected again through second NFC tagging, the job being determined according to a state of the mobile application during the second NFC tagging; and

transmitting the generated data to the image forming apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag information comprises at least one of a first field including the application identifier, a second field including application installation information, a third field including a device identifier, a fourth field including a wireless connection authentication code, and a fifth field including a device model name.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether an application corresponding to the application identifier exists among applications installed on the mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

accessing a download page of the mobile application by using application installation information of the tag information when it is determined that no application corresponding to the application identifier exists; and

executing an installation file of the mobile application obtained from the download page.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying wireless connection signaling of the image forming apparatus or an access point (AP) connected to the image forming apparatus by using a device identifier included in the tag information; and

establishing a wireless connection with the image forming apparatus through response signaling with respect to the identified wireless connection signaling.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing authentication needed to establish wireless connection with the image forming apparatus by transmitting an authentication code included in the tag information to the image forming apparatus.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

outputting a dialog to receive an input of a new authentication code when an authentication failure message is received as a response to the transmission of the authentication code; and

establishing a wireless connection with the image forming apparatus by transmitting the new authentication code input through the dialog.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

switching a mode of the NFC from a read mode to a write mode when an authentication success message is received as a response to the transmission of the new authentication code; and

encrypting and writing the new authentication code at a position of the NFC tag where the authentication code is written when the NFC tag is detected again through third NFC tagging.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining validity of data of the new authentication code by using at least a part of the new authentication code.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the performing of the authentication comprises:

performing, by the image forming apparatus, Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS) authentication by comparing a personal identification number (PIN) value written to firmware with the authentication code; and

if the WPS authentication succeeds, the image forming apparatus transmitting an Internet protocol (IP) for a wireless connection with the mobile terminal.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the determining of whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus, the tag information obtained through the second NFC tagging is compared with device information obtained through the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the determining of whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus, the tag information obtained through the first NFC tagging and the second NFC tagging are compared with each other.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is determined to be a tag of a second image forming apparatus, terminating the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus; and

establishing a wireless connection with the second image forming apparatus by using the tag information obtained through the second NFC tagging.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the state of the mobile application comprises a state in which an initial page, a print job page, a scan job page, or a fax job page is displayed; and

in the generating of the data of a job to be performed in the image forming apparatus, the displayed page is identified during the second NFC tagging and an event mapped with the identified page is executed.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the executing of the mobile application, a user interface (UI) of the mobile application is configured according to device information obtained through the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus or the tag information.

33. A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program to execute the method of claim 1.

17. A mobile terminal comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) module obtaining tag information written to an NFC tag through first NFC tagging in a read mode of NFC;

a control unit executing a mobile application corresponding to an application identifier of tag information obtained through the first NFC tagging and, if the NFC module detects the NFC tag again through second NFC tagging, generating data of a job to be performed in an image forming apparatus through the mobile application, the control unit determining the job to be performed according to a state of the mobile application during the second NFC tagging; and

a wireless communication module transmitting the data to the image forming apparatus at a request of the control unit.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the tag information comprises at least one of a first field including the application identifier, a second field including application installation information, a third field including a device identifier, a fourth field including a wireless connection authentication code, and a fifth field including a device model name.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the control unit determines whether an application corresponding to the application identifier exists in a storage unit of the mobile terminal.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the control unit accesses a download page of the mobile application by using application installation information of the tag information when it is determined that no application corresponding to the application identifier exists in the storage unit, and executes an installation file of the mobile application that a mobile terminal module of the mobile terminal obtains from the download page.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the wireless communication module identifies wireless connection signaling of the image forming apparatus or an access point (AP) connected to the image forming apparatus by using the device identifier included in the tag information, and establish a wireless connection with the image forming apparatus through response signaling with respect to the identified wireless connection signaling.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the wireless communication module performs authentication needed to establish wireless connection with the image forming apparatus by transmitting an authentication code included in the tag information to the image forming apparatus.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising:

a user interface unit that outputs a dialog to receive an input of a new authentication code when the wireless communication module receives an authentication failure message as a response to the transmission of the authentication code,

wherein the wireless communication module establishes a wireless connection with the image forming apparatus by transmitting the new authentication code input through the dialog.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the NFC module switches a mode of the NFC from a read mode to a write mode when an authentication success message is received as a response to the transmission of the new authentication code, and writes the new authentication code at a position of the NFC tag where the authentication code is written when the NFC tag is detected again through third NFC tagging.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the control unit determines validity of data of the new authentication code by using at least a part of the new authentication code.

26. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the control unit determines whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus.

27. The mobile terminal of claim 26, wherein the control unit determines whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus by comparing the tag information obtained through the second NFC tagging with device information obtained through the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus.

28. The mobile terminal of claim 26, wherein the control unit determines whether the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is a tag of the image forming apparatus by comparing the tag information obtained through the first NFC tagging and the second NFC tagging with each other.

29. The mobile terminal of claim 26, wherein, if the NFC tag detected through the second NFC tagging is determined to be a tag of a second image forming apparatus, the wireless communication module terminates the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus and establishes a wireless connection with the second image forming apparatus by using the tag information obtained through the second NFC tagging.

30. The mobile terminal of claim 17, further comprising:

a user interface (UI) unit that displays a page of the mobile application comprising at least one of an initial page, a print job page, a scan job page, and a fax job page,

wherein the control unit identifies a page of the mobile application displayed on the UI unit during the second NFC tagging and generates the job to be performed in the image forming apparatus by executing an event mapped with the identified page.

31. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the control unit configures a user interface (UI) of the mobile application according to the device information obtained through the wireless connection with the image forming apparatus or the tag information.

32. A system comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) tag including tag information, the tag information comprising at least one of a first field including an application identifier, a second field including application installation information, a third field including a device identifier, a fourth field including a wireless connection authentication code, and a fifth field including a device model name is written to the NFC tag;

a mobile terminal which executes a mobile application corresponding to the application identifier of the tag information obtained through first NFC tagging and, if the NFC tag is detected again through second NFC tagging, generates data of a job to be performed in the image forming apparatus according to a state of the mobile application and transmits the generated data of the job to be performed to the image forming apparatus; and

an image forming apparatus which performs an image forming job according to the received job data.