JP2000174964A - Picture reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture reader capable of directly and easily operating a copying machine, a facsimile equipment, etc., from the side of a picture reader in an environment where the picture reader, the copying machine, the facsimile equipment, etc., are connected through a network. SOLUTION: The picture reader has a picture reading part 104, an operation panel 102 with a touch panel for displaying an operation picture and inputting operation instruction, an I/F 105 receiving operation picture data of the copying machine 200 and the facsimile equipment 300, which are connected through the network, and a control part 101 reproducing the operation picture of the copying machine 200 an the facsimile equipment 300 on the panel 102 by received operation picture data and transmitting operation instruction executed based on this and read picture data through the I/F 105.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers (P
C), a printer, and other image processing apparatuses such as a scanner as an image reading apparatus, a copying machine, and a facsimile are connected to create an environment in which image data can be exchanged with each other.

[0003] In such a networked environment, various types of image processing can be performed by exchanging image data only between devices actually used without using a PC. I have.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-186670 discloses an invention in which a plurality of digital copying machines are connected via a network, and an image of a document read by a specific copying machine is sent to another copying machine and printed. I have. According to the technique disclosed in this publication, when a function not present in the specific copying machine that has performed image reading is present in another copying machine, the function is notified to the specific copying machine, and the function of the other copying machine in the specific copying machine is provided. Is displayed to input an instruction to use a function of another copying machine in the specific copying machine, transfer image data, and print out an image using a function not available in the specific copying machine. I have.

[0005]

In the technique disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, the digital copying machines are connected to each other with the same basic function of connecting digital copiers. For example, two-sided printing or 2in1,
This is the presence or absence of a print type function such as 4-in-1 or a post-printing function such as sorting or stapling after printing. Such functions are only functions that can be added later as an option in a digital copying machine. Therefore, it is easy to display the function which does not exist in the specific copying machine as described in the above-mentioned publication on the side of the specific copying machine only by receiving notification from another copying machine having the function that the function exists. is there.

However, in a network environment,
In some cases, data is exchanged between devices having different basic functions to perform various types of image processing. For example, image data read by a scanner is sent to a copier via a network and printed using the printing function of the copier, or sent to a facsimile and sent to another facsimile using a public line. is there.

In such a case, each device such as a scanner, a copying machine, and a facsimile has its own operation panel, which is optimized in each device. It is impossible to use another device only by notifying each other.
Specifically, for example, since a scanner does not have a function of printing as its basic function, the copier notifies the scanner of a print function which is one of the basic functions of the copier. The panel itself is not provided with a key or the like for inputting a print instruction or the like in the first place, and therefore cannot give an instruction. This is the same between the scanner and the facsimile.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading apparatus such as a scanner and a copier having completely different basic functions.
By providing an image reading apparatus that can directly and easily operate an image processing apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile from an image reading apparatus side in an environment where image processing apparatuses such as a facsimile are connected by a network. is there.

[0009]

The object of the present invention is achieved by the following means. (1) An image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network, comprising: an image reading means; an operation screen display input means for displaying an operation screen and inputting an operation instruction; Receiving means for receiving data of the operation screen of the other image processing apparatus from the image processing apparatus, and the data of the operation screen of the other image processing apparatus received by the receiving means. Display means for reproducing an operation screen on the operation screen display input means; operation instructions input from the operation screen display input means based on the reproduced operation screen of the other image processing apparatus; and the image reading means Transmitting means for transmitting the image data read by the image processing apparatus to the other image processing apparatus. (2) The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is a copying machine or a facsimile. (3) The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation screen display input means is a touch panel with a liquid crystal display. (4) An image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network, comprising: an image reading means; an operation screen display input means for displaying an operation screen and inputting an operation instruction; Storage means for storing data of the operation screen of the image processing apparatus, receiving means for receiving data indicating the other image processing apparatus, and data based on the data indicating the other image processing apparatus received by the receiving means. Display means for reading data of the operation screen of the other image processing device stored in the storage means, and reproducing the data on the operation screen display input means, and the reproduced operation screen of the other image processing apparatus. The operation instruction input from the operation screen display input means and the image data read by the image reading means are transmitted to the other image processing apparatus. Image reading apparatus characterized by having a transmission unit.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a scanner 100 to which the present invention is applied, a copier 200 and a facsimile 300 are connected by a network 500, and an operation screen of the copier 200 is displayed on an operation panel of the scanner 100. This is an image processing system that reproduces and operates the copier 200 from the scanner 100 to print out an image read by the scanner 100 from the copier 200.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the scanner 100.

The scanner 100 includes a control unit 101 for controlling the scanner, an operation panel 102 on which operation inputs such as various operation instructions and function settings and a screen display therefor are performed, and an operation screen displayed on the operation panel 102 And a network interface (I / F) 105 for connecting the scanner to a network 500.

Here, the operation panel 102 has a so-called touch panel. The touch panel is configured by arranging switches formed by transparent electrodes on a liquid crystal display (LCD) in a matrix and touching the panel surface. The information of the contact position is input, and the input position information is transmitted to the control unit 101 and the control unit 1
At 01, it is compared with the display positions of various keys and the like displayed on the LCD to determine which operation key has been input.

The storage unit 103 always stores data of an operation screen for operating the scanner itself and setting various functions, and also stores a copy machine 200 and a facsimile 300 connected by a network as described later.
The data of the operation screens of these devices received from the device are temporarily stored. Then, the control unit 101
Displays the operation screen stored in the storage unit 103 on the LCD of the touch panel described above.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the structure of the copying machine 200 includes a control unit 201 for controlling the copying machine, and an operation panel for inputting various operation instructions and function settings and displaying a screen therefor. And a storage unit 203 for storing operation screen data, image data, and other information
, An image reading unit 204 for reading a document image, a network I / F 205 for connecting the copying machine to a network 500, and a printer unit 206 for printing image data on paper.

The operation panel 202 of the copying machine 200 also includes
As described above, it includes a touch panel. The operation screen data stored in the storage unit 203 is data for operating the copier itself and setting various functions, and is always stored. As will be described in detail later,
The operation screen data of the copier itself stored in the storage unit 203 is stored in the operation panel 1 provided in the scanner 100.
In preparation for the case where the displayed contents are different depending on the configuration of No. 02, ten keys, start keys, stop keys, and the like provided as mechanical keys in the copying machine are usually stored as operation screen data. In addition, the operation panel itself of the copier is not limited to the one including the touch panel as described above, and may be entirely configured by mechanical keys. In this case, information of various operation keys is displayed on the operation screen. The data is stored in the storage unit 203 of the copying machine.

The operation of the image processing system configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the scanner, and FIG. 5 is a drawing showing a display example of the operation panel 102 of the scanner 100.

First, upon turning on the power, the control unit 101 of the scanner obtains information on a currently usable device from other devices connected by the network 500 (network device search) (S700). For this, a connection request signal is transmitted from the scanner 100 to the network 500. In response to the connection request signal, the other devices (in this case, the copying machine 200 and the facsimile 300) receive information indicating their own device and a signal indicating that the device can be used in response to the connection request signal. Send to 100. Then, the scanner 100 that has received a response from another device stores information on the device in the storage unit 103. The network device search process is performed not only at the time of turning on the power but also at the end of each series of processes. This processing may be performed at regular time intervals.

At this time, the display on the operation panel 102 is shown in FIG.
As shown in A, the display indicates that the scanner itself is usable (“scanner ready”). The operation panel 1
02, a touch panel 51 for displaying the operation screen, a selection key 52 for selecting another device as a mechanical key fixed on the operation panel 102 as described later, and an operation start. A start key 53 for inputting and a stop key 54 for inputting pause of operation are provided.

Subsequently, the controller 101 of the scanner determines whether the selection key 52 has been pressed (S701). Here, if the selection key 52 is not pressed, if there is an input of a start key for image reading as a normal scanner (S702), a scanning operation (S703) is performed, and the process is terminated.

On the other hand, when the selection key 52 is pressed, the information of the device which has received the signal indicating that it can be used in the previous network device search is stored in the storage unit 103.
(S704), and if there is available device information (S705), it is displayed (S706). At this time, on the screen displayed on the operation panel 102, as shown in FIG. 5B, devices usable in the network device search are displayed on the touch panel 51. If there is no usable device information in step S705, a message to that effect is displayed on the screen of the operation panel 102, and the process returns to step S701.

After the display of the usable devices is performed, a key input from the touch panel 51 is subsequently received, and when a cancel key is input (S707), the screen displayed on the operation panel 102 is changed to the screen shown in FIG. 5A. And the process returns to step S701.

On the other hand, when the execution key is input (S708), the next data load request is made (S70).
9). The data load request is sent to the device selected on the touch panel 51, here, the copy machine # 1 which is highlighted in FIG. 5B (the configuration of the copy machine # 1 is the copy machine 2 described above.
This is a process of transmitting a request to transmit the operation screen data of the device.

The device that has received the data load request transmits the operation screen data in its own storage unit to the device (in this case, the scanner 100) that has issued the data load request.

The scanner 100 receives the operation screen data transmitted from the device which has issued the data load request (S710). Then, it is determined whether the reception is completed (S7).
11). Here, if the reception has not been completed, it counts for a certain period of time, and when a timeout occurs (S71).
2) An error is displayed (S713), and the process ends. On the other hand, if the reception has been completed, the received operation screen data is stored in the storage unit 103 (S714).

As shown in FIG. 6A, the received operation screen data includes, as shown in FIG. 6A, a model name (for example, a name of a copier or a facsimile) of a device which transmitted the operation screen data, and a classification code for classifying the model (for example, 01, 02 for facsimile, etc.) Additional functions that can be performed in addition to the basic functions (for example, printing functions such as double-sided copy, 2in1 and 4in1, post-processing functions such as sorting and stapling), various keys displayed on the touch panel Of the characters and graphics themselves, screen information indicating their display positions, and key information indicating the positions of various keys displayed on the touch panel and the roles of the keys. Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, such operation screen data is stored in the storage unit 103 of the scanner in an area secured when a usable device is searched.

After that, the scanner 100 reproduces the screen of the operation unit of the selected device on the touch panel 51 according to the received operation screen data (S715). As shown in FIG. 5C, the operation screen displayed here includes the operation panel of the copying machine including the mechanical keys on the operation panel of the copying machine.

Then, as will be described later, an operation instruction is issued from this operation screen (S716), and it is determined whether or not all processing has been completed (S717), and the processing is terminated.

Next, the processing in step S716 will be described. FIG. 7 is a subroutine flowchart of step S716.

First, the process waits for a key input from the operation panel 102 (S801). The key input accepted at this time is the key input in the copier operation screen displayed on the touch panel 51 shown in FIG. The mechanical keys (selection key 52, start key 5
3 and input from the stop key 54). In this state, the start key and the stop key displayed on the touch panel 51 and the start key 53 and the stop key 54 of the mechanical keys are linked so that the same operation is performed regardless of which is pressed. I have.

In the state of waiting for key input, if there is an input of a selection key (S802), the state for operating this copying machine is released, and step S71 shown in FIG.
Return to 7. At this time, the display on the touch panel 51 is also returned to the display of the scanner itself shown in FIG. 5A.

On the other hand, if the selection key 52 is not pressed and there is another key input (S803), the operation mode of the copier corresponding to each key input is set or the display screen is switched (S803). S804) Then, when the start key is pressed (S805),
The set operation mode is stored in the storage unit 103 (S
806).

Here, the setting of the operation mode includes, for example, the setting of the number of copies to be printed by the copying machine, the magnification such as enlargement / reduction, and the copying machine, such as double-sided copy, 2 in 1 and 4 in.
If there is a printing function such as No. 1 and a post-processing function such as sorting and stapling, these settings are made, and these settings are made by inputting from the operation screen of the copying machine reproduced on the touch panel 51.

After storing the operation mode, the scanner 100
A document image is read by the image reading unit 104 (S808), and the stored operation mode is transmitted to the copying machine via the network I / F 105 together with the read image data (S809). Then, after confirming the end of the operation (S809), the process returns to step S717 shown in FIG.

By the above-described processes, the operation screen of the selected device is reproduced on the operation panel of the scanner, and the operation of the selected device can be operated and set from the scanner.

In the above-described embodiment, all the operation screens including the mechanical keys of the copier are displayed on the touch panel in the operation panel of the scanner. However, this is performed on the operation panel itself of the scanner. This is because there is no key for inputting a numerical value such as a numeric keypad or a numeric keypad. Therefore, for example, when a mechanical key such as a numeric keypad exists in the scanner, it may be used as it is. FIG. 8 shows such an example. As shown, the operation panel includes a touch panel 51 of an LCD, a selection key 52,
A numeric keypad 60 is provided in addition to the start key 53 and the stop key 54. When such an operation panel is provided in the scanner, the contents displayed on the touch panel 51 are only the displays other than the mechanical keys. Is fine.

In the above embodiment, the case where the copier is operated from the scanner has been described. However, the facsimile may be operated from the scanner in the same manner. In this case, the touch panel of the scanner can be operated by applying the present invention. , The operation screen of the facsimile is reproduced, so that the scanner can also input, for example, the telephone number of the transmission destination.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, instead of having the scanner transmit operation screen data one by one when using it from a copier or a facsimile which is another apparatus, a search for a network apparatus is performed. When the other device is used for the first time, the operation screen data is transmitted only once, and is stored in the storage unit. The operation screen data of the device is held, and from the next, the data indicating the device such as the classification code of the device to be used is transmitted, and the operation screen data in the storage unit is displayed on the touch panel using the data as a key. You may. Alternatively, another device for the scanner connected to the network is determined, and the operation screen of the determined device is stored in the storage unit of the scanner in advance, and only the data indicating the device is transmitted and stored. The displayed screen data may be displayed.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention and the modifications thereof have been described by using the scanner as the image reading apparatus. However, the image reading apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the scanner. An image can be read using an image reading function, sent to a facsimile connected to a network, and transmitted from the facsimile to another facsimile using a public line. In this case, a normal copier does not have an operation screen or the like as a facsimile, and therefore, by applying the present invention, the facsimile can be easily operated from the copier. Similarly, the present invention can be applied to a case where an image is read by an image reading function of a facsimile and a copy is output from a copying machine connected via a network. Also in this case, a normal facsimile does not have a copier operation screen.
By applying the present invention, a copier can be easily operated from a facsimile. Therefore, in these cases, in the former, the copier is the image reading device of the present invention, and in the latter, the facsimile is the image reading device of the present invention.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

[0043]

According to the present invention described above, the following effects can be obtained for each claim.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an operation screen transmitted from another image processing apparatus is received and reproduced on the operation screen display means of the image reading apparatus. It is possible to operate another image processing apparatus from the apparatus as if operating the other image processing apparatus itself.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the other image processing apparatus for the image reading apparatus is a copying machine or a facsimile, a copying machine or a facsimile having a basic function different from that of the image reading apparatus can be used. From the reading device side, it is possible to operate the copying machine and the facsimile as if they were operating.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the operation screen display input means is a touch panel with a liquid crystal display, the operation screen of another image processing apparatus is displayed as it is, and the displayed operation screen is displayed. By direct contact,
Operation and input of another image processing apparatus can be easily performed.

According to the present invention, the operation screen data of another image processing apparatus stored in the storage means is read out based on the received data indicating the other image processing apparatus, and this is read. Since the image is reproduced on the operation screen display means of the apparatus, the other image processing apparatus can be operated from the image reading apparatus as if operating the other image processing apparatus itself.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an image processing system in which a scanner to which the present invention is applied is connected via a network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the scanner.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a copying machine connected to the network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the scanner.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a display example of an operation panel of the scanner.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining operation screen data received by the scanner.

FIG. 7 is a subroutine flowchart of the operation of the loaded device in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another display example of the operation panel of the scanner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference numeral 100: scanner, 101: control unit, 102: operation panel, 103: storage unit, 104: image reading unit, 200: copying machine, 300: facsimile, 500: network.

Claims (4)

[Claims] An image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network, comprising: an image reading means; an operation screen display input means for displaying an operation screen and inputting an operation instruction; Receiving means for receiving data of an operation screen of the other image processing apparatus from another image processing apparatus, and performing the other image processing by using data of the operation screen of the other image processing apparatus received by the receiving means. Display means for reproducing an operation screen of the apparatus on the operation screen display input means, and an operation instruction input from the operation screen display input means based on the reproduced operation screen of the other image processing apparatus;
Transmitting means for transmitting the image data read by the image reading means to the other image processing apparatus. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image processing apparatus is a copying machine or a facsimile. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said operation screen display input means is a touch panel with a liquid crystal display. 4. An image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network, comprising: an image reading means; an operation screen display input means for displaying an operation screen and inputting an operation instruction; Storage means for storing data of an operation screen of another image processing apparatus, receiving means for receiving data indicating the other image processing apparatus, and data indicating the other image processing apparatus received by the receiving means. Display means for reading out the operation screen data of the other image processing apparatus stored in the storage means and reproducing the data on the operation screen display input means, based on the operation of the reproduced other image processing apparatus An operation instruction input from the operation screen display input means based on the screen,
Transmitting means for transmitting the image data read by the image reading means to the other image processing apparatus.