Cloud printing system and method using image forming apparatus

• US 9,311,039 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2014
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HP Printing Korea Co., Ltd. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jae-in, Kim, Dae-hyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, II, Jerome
• Application Number:
  US14/247,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20150049359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 735 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15, 358/1.13, 358/1.3, 358/1.14, 358/468, 358/400, 358/404
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1203 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1204 resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/122 with regard to computing resources, e.g. memory, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1222 Increasing security of the print job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1226 Discovery of devices having required properties
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1238 Secure printing, e.g. user identification, user rights for device usage, unallowed content, blanking portions or fields of a page, releasing held jobs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1267 Job repository, e.g. non-scheduled jobs, delay printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1268 Job submission, e.g. submitting print job order or request not the print data itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• 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

Abstract

A cloud printing method using a image forming apparatus includes selecting content for printing in a mobile terminal and connecting a location storage server and receiving location information of image forming apparatuses via the mobile terminal. The method also included displaying locations of the image forming apparatuses on a screen of the mobile terminal, based on the received location information and transmitting the content to a cloud server via the mobile terminal. The method further includes near field communication tagging the mobile terminal to a selected one of the image forming apparatuses and receiving the content from the cloud server and printing the content, via the selected one of the image forming apparatuses with respect to which the near field communication tagging is performed.

Claims

1. A cloud printing method using an image forming apparatus among plural image forming apparatuses, the method comprising:

selecting content for printing in a mobile terminal;

connecting a location storage server storing location information of image forming apparatuses via the mobile terminal;

displaying locations of the image forming apparatuses on a screen of the mobile terminal, based on the location information;

transmitting the content selected for printing to a cloud server via the mobile terminal;

near field communication (NFC) tagging the mobile terminal to one of the image forming apparatuses; and

receiving the content from the cloud server and printing the content via the NFC tagged image forming apparatus,

wherein the cloud server comprises an email server, a rendering server, and a pull print server.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the transmitting of the content comprises transmitting an email including the selected content to the email server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the rendering server receives the content included in the email from the email server, performs rendering of the received content, and transmits the rendered content to the pull print server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the pull print server receives the rendered content from the rendering server and stores the rendered content.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving and printing of the content comprises receiving the rendered content which is stored in the pull print server and printing the rendered content, via the NFC tagged image forming apparatus.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving and printing of the content comprises:

receiving apparatus information coming from the NFC tagged image forming apparatus via the mobile terminal;

transmitting the received apparatus information to the pull print server via the mobile terminal; and

transmitting the rendered content to the image forming apparatus that corresponds to the received apparatus information via the pull print server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the content comprises transmitting the content to the could server via the mobile terminal, when the one of the image forming apparatuses displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal is selected as an apparatus for performing printing.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving and printing of the content comprises:

displaying a preview of the content in the mobile terminal and/or the NFC tagged image forming apparatus;

transmitting the content to the NFC tagged image forming apparatus via the cloud server, when an input of a confirmation of the preview is received from a user; and

printing the content via the NFC tagged image forming apparatus.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying location information is in a form of a map.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the image apparatus is a public image apparatus.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1.

12. A cloud printing system using an image forming apparatus among plural image forming apparatuses, the system comprising:

a plurality of image forming apparatuses that support near field communication (NFC) and are for printing content received from a cloud server;

a location storage server in which location information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses is stored;

a mobile terminal that supports the NFC and is for receiving location the information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses from the location storage server and displaying the location information on a screen; and

the cloud server that renders and stores the content from the mobile terminal,

wherein, when the mobile terminal is NFC tagged to one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the cloud server transmits the content to the NFC tagged image forming apparatus,

wherein the cloud server comprises an email server, a rendering server, and a pull print server.

13. The system of claim 12,

wherein the mobile terminal transmits the email including the content to the email server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the rendering server receives the content included in the email from the email server, performs rendering of the received content, and transmits the rendered content to the pull print server.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the pull print server receives the rendered content from the rendering server and stores the rendered content.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the NFC tagged image forming apparatus receives and prints the rendered content which is stored in the pull print server.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile terminal receives apparatus information coming from the NFC tagged image forming apparatus and transmits the received apparatus information to the pull print server, and, the pull print server transmits the rendered content to the image forming apparatus that corresponds to the received apparatus information.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile terminal receives an input for selecting an image forming apparatus for performing printing among the plurality of image forming apparatuses displayed on its screen.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein either of the mobile terminal and the NFC tagged image forming apparatus displays a preview of the content, and, when an input of a confirmation of the preview is received from a user, the NFC tagged image forming apparatus receives the content from the cloud server and prints the content.

20. A cloud printing method using Near Field Communication (NFC), the method comprising:

receiving location information of image forming apparatuses;

displaying locations of the image forming apparatuses on a screen of the mobile terminal, based on the received location information;

connecting a location storage server;

selecting content for printing in a mobile terminal;

transmitting the content to a cloud server from the mobile terminal;

NFC tagging the mobile terminal to one of the image forming apparatuses; and

sending a command to the cloud server for transmitting the content to the one of the NFC tagged image forming apparatus,

wherein the cloud server comprises an email server, a rendering server, and a pull print server.