JP2000295401A - Information processor and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize distribution of image data with a simple operation by designating an icon of a scanner and a group icon, so as to distribute the data read by the scanner to a selected terminal group. SOLUTION: A window 30 for designating distribution destinations to receive circulation is displayed on a CRT screen of a computer 32 for a user 1. An operator of a client unit uses a mouse of the computer 32 to point out a mouse pointer 37 and drag an icon of a scanner 34 and drops the icon on an icon of 'such and such a section' 36 denoting a distribution destination group. The scanner 34 starts reading a preset image to be circulated through this dropping action and an image file generated by this reading is distributed. A domain that is a management unit of users in a network may be used in place of the user group such as 'such and such a section'.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method connected on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, computers owned by employees in a workplace have been connected via a network such as a LAN, and circulars in the workplace have been exchanged as electronic data via the network. In this case, the circular manuscript is read using an image editing application, and then saved as an image file, and the saved file is attached to an e-mail and transmitted to each section member. In addition, an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) server computer is installed in the network, and HTML (Hy
per Text Markup Language) file and store it on the HTTP server computer.
Circulation in the section was performed by notifying the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) by e-mail.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the circulation manuscript is once read by an image editing application, converted into an image file, and the created image file is sent to a section staff using another application. It had to be transferred, which was very troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an information processing apparatus capable of realizing an operation of distributing an image read by a scanner to a terminal of a group member on a network by a simple operation. It is an object to provide an apparatus and an information processing method.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus connected to a network, comprising: a scanner icon indicating a scanner; and a group indicating a terminal group. A display unit for displaying on the display screen an icon indicating a device on the network including an icon, and selecting a scanner and a terminal group corresponding to each icon by designating the scanner icon and the group icon. The image processing apparatus further includes a selection unit, and a distribution unit that distributes the image data read by the scanner selected by the selection unit to a selected terminal group.

[0006] Further, the second invention of the present application is the first invention of the present application.
In one aspect of the invention, the selecting means selects one of the scanner icon and the group icon by dragging and dropping the other with a pointing device.

A third invention of the present application is the first or second invention of the present application, wherein the distribution unit transmits the image data and the destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. Is performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, there is provided means for managing and storing destination information of the terminal in terminal group units. And

According to a fifth invention of the present application, in any one of the first to fourth inventions of the present application, the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network. I do.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the scanner is connected to the scanner via the network and transmits image data from the scanner to a predetermined protocol. It is characterized by being acquired by:

A seventh aspect of the present invention provides a display step of displaying, on a display screen, an icon indicating a device on a network including a scanner icon indicating a scanner and a group icon indicating a terminal group. A selecting step of selecting a scanner and a terminal group corresponding to each icon by designating an icon and the group icon, and sending the image data read by the scanner selected in the selecting step to the selected terminal group. And a delivery step of delivering.

According to an eighth invention of the present application, in the seventh invention of the present application, the selecting step includes dragging and dropping one of the scanner icon and the group icon to the other by a pointing device. The selection is made by

According to a ninth invention of the present application, in any one of the seventh and eighth inventions of the present application, the distribution step includes transmitting image data and destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. It is characterized in that the distribution is performed by the above.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the seventh to ninth aspects of the present invention, there is provided means for managing and storing destination information of the terminal in terminal group units. And

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the seventh to tenth aspects of the present invention, the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network. I do.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the seventh to eleventh aspects of the present invention, the scanner is connected to the scanner via the network, and transmits image data from the scanner to a predetermined protocol. It is characterized by being acquired by:

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display step of displaying, on a display screen, an icon indicating a device on a network including a scanner icon indicating a scanner and a group icon indicating a terminal group, A selecting step of selecting a scanner and a terminal group corresponding to each icon by designating an icon and the group icon, and sending the image data read by the scanner selected in the selecting step to the selected terminal group. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing a delivery step of delivering.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the selecting step, one of the scanner icon and the group icon is dragged and dropped to the other by a pointing device. The selection is made by

According to a fifteenth invention of the present application, in the thirteenth or fourteenth invention of the present application, the distribution step includes transmitting image data and destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. It is characterized in that the distribution is performed by the above.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the thirteenth to fifteenth aspects of the present invention, the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network. I do.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a network configuration in the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a LAN 21 includes a server device 22 and a client device 24.
And 25 and 27 are connected. Further, a scanner 26 is connected to the client device 25, and a printer 28 is connected to the client device 27, so that the client device 25 can be shared by other client devices on the LAN. Furthermore, client devices 2A, 2B and 2C are connected to the network 21, and the client devices 2A to 2C form one user group.
In the present embodiment, the circulation image read from the scanner using the client device 25 is transmitted to the client devices 2A and 2B, which are members of the user group, via the server device 22.
And deliver to 2C. The server device 22 is a network
Although the main service is to provide the circulation service of the circulation image in 21, it may also be used as a file server or the like.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a server device 22 and client devices 24-27 for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a CPU (Central
Processing Unit)
It controls each component block connected to the bus 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a program memory (hereinafter referred to as PMEM).
Various processing programs for reading and executing by U2,
Data required during the execution of the program is stored. The processing program is stored in the auxiliary storage device (12 or 1).
3) is read and placed in PMEM3. Also,
It is also used for temporary storage of text data input by the user from the keyboard 9. Reference numeral 4 denotes a communication control unit which communicates with another device (a client device, a printer, an image reading device, or the like) on the network 19 via the communication port 18. The external interface unit 6 is connected to a scanner 5 (corresponding to the scanner 26 in FIG. 2) and a printer 7 (corresponding to the printer 28 in FIG. 2) which are external devices, and is an interface for exchanging data with the external device. I do. The image data read from the scanner 5 is developed on the PRAM 3 and then on the VRAM 11 and displayed on the CRT 13. Reference numeral 8 denotes an input control unit, which includes a keyboard 9 and a pointing device 10 (hereinafter referred to as P
Called D. ) And other data input from an input device. The operator operates the keyboard 9 to issue a system operation command or the like. A PD 10 is a pointing device such as a mouse for selecting an object such as an icon on the screen of the CRT 13 by moving a cursor which is also displayed on the screen, and for giving a predetermined instruction. . Further, it is configured such that well-known drag operation, drop operation, click operation, and the like can be performed as mouse operations. 11 is a video image memory (hereinafter referred to as VRAM), 12 is a display output control unit, and 13 is a CRT. The display output control unit 12 outputs R
The display information developed in the bitmap data on the AM 11 is read out and displayed on the CRT 13. For example, in the case of graphic data, a graphic pattern corresponding to the position and drawing attribute information is developed on the VRAM, and a cursor can be directly generated and displayed on the display area of the VRAM by software control. 14 is an auxiliary storage device control unit;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a data file disk for recording image data, graphic data, character data, numerical data, and the like. For example, 15 is a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as HD), and 16 is a floppy disk (hereinafter FD). Is called)
It is. The HD 15 stores programs such as a data transfer operation, a data reception operation, and a data transfer destination designation operation in the present embodiment. Recording media for storing these programs include ROM, floppy disk 16,
A device such as a CD-ROM, a memory card, or a magneto-optical disk can be used. A modem 1A transmits and receives facsimile data to and from the public line 1B.

The present invention is of course realized in a server device or a client device in which various programs are recorded on the HD 15. Supplies a recording medium on which a program capable of realizing the present invention is recorded to another system or a server apparatus or a client apparatus, and a computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes a program code stored in the recording medium. Thus, the present invention is also achieved. An FD 22 storing a program for carrying out the present invention is set in the FD drive 21 of another server device, and the program is stored in a hard disk 15
And execute the loaded program. By doing so, the present invention can be realized in other server devices. FIG. 11 is an example of a memory map showing how data is arranged in PMEM3. 110 indicates an area occupied by an operating system (OS), 111 indicates an area occupied by various programs and the like, 112 indicates a data area used by various programs of 111, and 113 indicates a PME not used yet.
The region of M3 is shown. The upper part of the figure shows the lower part of the address, and the lower part of the figure shows the upper part of the address.

Next, an operation in which the operator of the client device 25 reads and distributes a circulation image will be described with reference to the explanatory diagram of FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the circulation distribution destination designation window on the client device 25. In the circulation distribution destination designation window, each device on the network is displayed as an icon.
The icon 32 indicates that the client device
The icon 25 corresponds to the scanner 26, the icon 35 corresponds to the client device 2A, the icon 34 corresponds to the client device 2B, and the icon 33 corresponds to the client device 2C. The owners of the client devices 2A, 2B, and 2C are members of an organization “XXXXX section”, and form the same user group on the network.
(The method of managing this user group will be described later with reference to FIG. 5.) The operator of the client device 25 operates these icons to transfer the circular image read by the scanner 34 from the computer 32 to the computer 31 via the LAN 31. Deliver to 33 and 34 and 35. First, a circulation distribution destination designation window 30 is displayed on the screen of the CRT 13 of the computer 32. The operator operates the PD 10 of the computer 32 and drags the icon of the scanner 34 with the mouse pointer 37, and drops the icon on the XX section 36 icon indicating the group of the distribution destination. By this drop operation, reading of a circular image set in advance by the scanner 34 is started, and an image file generated by the reading is distributed (hereinafter, an icon is dragged and dropped on another icon on the screen). Operation
Drag and drop operation). Here, "XXXXX
A user group such as “section” may use a domain that is a management unit of a user in the network. In this way, the operator can specify the destination of the circulation image by a very simple operation of dragging and dropping an icon on one window. In the above description, the operation was performed by a drag-and-drop operation.
The selection may be made by clicking with the mouse 37 and then selecting the user group icon with the mouse pointer 37 again.

Next, a method of managing client devices in a user group will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a user group management file for managing client devices in a user group. There is a user group management file for each user group icon in the circulation distribution destination specification window 30, and in the example of FIG. 3, the user group management file stored corresponding to the “xxx section” group shown in FIG. File. The user group management file is configured to manage the client devices in the group, and the user group management file 50 of the “XX section” group includes terminal information 51 of the section A (client apparatus 2A in FIG. 2). And terminal information of section B (not shown, FIG. 2).
The client device 2B and the icon 34 of FIG. 3) and the terminal information 58 of the section C (corresponding to the client device 2C of FIG. 2 and the icon 33 of FIG. 3) are stored. Each terminal information includes the name of each member (52, 59) and the name of the computer used by each member on the network (53, 5, 59).
A), the IP address (5
4, 5B), domain names to which the user belongs in the network (55, 5C), other information about the network (56, 5D), e-mail addresses (57, 5E) owned by each user, etc. Is stored. This user group management file exists in the memory (for example, the HD 15) of the client device 25, but may be registered by an operator in the client device 25, or the client device 25 may be registered from a management server device (not shown) via a LAN. You may make it acquire.

When the scanner icon 34 is dragged and dropped on the "XXXXX section" icon in the circulation distribution destination designation window 30, the user group management file stored in association with the "XXXXX section" group is displayed. The client devices of the members (in this example, employees A, B, and C) in the user group are known, and the circulation image is distributed to the members. As a communication protocol for distribution, data is transferred on a LAN connecting computers using the HTTP protocol. Alternatively, the data may be transmitted by attaching data to the electronic mail.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of distribution notification data for the server device 22 to notify the client device to which the circulation image is distributed that the circulation image exists. 70 indicates the entire data indicating the distribution notification data, 71 and 78 indicate the distribution notification data created corresponding to each of the circulation images, and each distribution notification data includes the name of the transmission source of the circulation image data (72 , 79), the network name (73,
7A), IP address of fax machine (74, 7B), fax
The domain name (75, 7C) which is a management unit of the network to which the computer as the device belongs, the e-mail address (76, 7D) of the transmission source of this circulation image, and the distribution data of the circulation image stored in the server device File name (77, 7E). It is also possible to notify the data circulation person that the circulation image data has been received by using the electronic mail address of the transmission source. When this distribution notification data is sent to the client device to which the circulation is distributed,
A distribution notification display is displayed on the screen of the CRT 13 of the client device.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a circular notice displayed on the screen of the CRT 13 which is a computer screen of each user. An application window (not shown) is displayed on the screen 60 of the CRT 13. When the distribution notification data is sent from the server device 22 to the application window, a notification display is displayed.
61 is displayed on the screen. The notification display is displayed on the computer of each user from the server device, and is displayed on each computer according to the instruction. Note that the delivery notification display on the CRT may be performed by voice means provided in the client device, an e-mail notification from the server device, or the like.

Next, the operation of transmitting a circular image in the client device which is the source of the circular image will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the transmission operation of the circulation image in the client device 25 that is the transmission source of the circulation image. The CPU 2 reads out the program based on the flowchart from the PMEM 3 and executes it.
First, in step S801, execution of a circulation process of a circulation image is instructed from the keyboard 9. Then, in step S802, a scanner for reading a document and a circulation image distribution destination designation window (described with reference to FIG. 3) for designating a distribution destination are displayed. Then, in step S803, a scanner for reading the manuscript as the circulation image and a user group to which the read manuscript is to be distributed are designated. This specification is made by a drag and drop operation. Then, the process proceeds to step S804, where it is determined whether or not the input device and the distribution destination have been designated by performing the drag & drop, and if not designated, the process returns to step S803 to wait for the designation of the user. If so, the process moves to step S805, and first, a document reading process from the scanner specified in step S803 is performed. In step S806, the image data read in step S805 is transmitted to the server device 22 via the LAN. This transmission is for example a known HT
This is performed by the TP protocol or the like. Step S804
Then, a user group management file corresponding to the user group icon on which the scanner icon has been dropped is also transmitted to the server device 22.

Next, the operation of the server device 22 for receiving the circular image from the client device 25 and notifying the client device of the distribution to that effect will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an operation in which the server device 22 receives a circular image from the client device 25 and notifies the client device of the distribution destination of the reception. The CPU 2 reads out a program based on the flowchart from the PMEM 3 and executes the program. I do. In step S901, a circulation image and distribution destination data (user group management file) are received from the client device 25. Then, in step S902, the IP address of the client device that is a member is obtained from the user group management file received in step S901, and the member is notified of distribution. Upon receiving the distribution notification data, the distribution destination computer displays the distribution notification display shown in FIG. 6 on its own CRT 13.

Next, the operation of displaying a circular image at a client to which the circular image is distributed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the contents of the operation of displaying a circular image in the present embodiment. The CPU 2 reads out a program based on the flowchart from the PMEM 3 and executes it. First, step S10
PD10 on the distribution notification display that indicates that there is a circulation image at 01
By moving the mouse pointer that operates in conjunction with, and clicking a button on the PD10, an instruction to start the display processing of the circular image is issued. Then, in step S1002, it is determined whether or not the start of the circulation image display processing has been instructed. If the start has not been instructed, the process returns to step S1001. If the start has been instructed, the process proceeds to step S1003. Step S1003
Then, a circular image display window 40 for displaying a circular image is displayed on the CRT 13. Then, in step S1004, FIG.
According to the distribution data information 70 shown in (1), data as a circulation image is read from the fax server via the LAN using the HTTP protocol, and the data is displayed in the circulation image display window 40 in step S1005. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a window display on the CRT 13 showing a state in which a circulation image distributed to each user is displayed, and a distributed circulation image 41 is displayed in a circulation image display window 40. ing.

In the above-described embodiment, the HTTP protocol is used via the LAN to read the image data, which is a circulation image, but other communication paths and protocols may be used.

In the above embodiment, the case where the circulated image is read from the scanner directly connected to the client device has been described. However, a scanner connected to another client device on the network can be used. is there. For example, the client device 24 shown in FIG.
To distribute to client devices 2A to 2C via
The operation in step S805 in FIG. 8 may be performed as follows. First, the client device 24
Requests the scanner 25 to read image data in the form of the HTTP protocol. In response to the request, the client device 25 reads the circulation image by the scanner 26 and transmits the read image to the client device 24 by HTTP. The client device 24 may execute the processing from step S806 onward, using the image as a circulation image. Note that the client device 25 acquires the read parameters sent with the read request from the client device 24, and reads the image data through the general-purpose TWAIN interface.

In this embodiment, a network such as a LAN will be described. However, the present invention is applicable even if a communication port and a communication line connected to the communication control unit are other communication means such as a general public line. Needless to say.

[0035]

As described above, according to the first, seventh and thirteenth aspects of the present invention, an image read by a scanner can be obtained by a very simple operation of selecting an icon on a screen. Can be delivered to a group. In particular, operability is improved because the operation of designating each member of the group one by one is unnecessary.

The second, eighth, and first embodiments of the present application
According to the fourth aspect, image distribution can be performed by an intuitive operation of dragging and dropping an icon, and a man-machine interface is improved.

Further, the third, ninth, and first aspects of the present application
According to the fifth invention, it is possible to distribute the processing load associated with the distribution operation by requesting the distribution server on the network to distribute the image.

Further, according to the fourth and tenth aspects of the present invention, maintenance management is facilitated by managing and storing terminal address information in terminal group units.

Further, according to the fifth, eleventh, and sixteenth aspects of the present application, the network can be easily managed by obtaining the terminal group information from the management server device on the network.

Further, according to the sixth and twelfth aspects of the present invention, since the configuration is such that image data is acquired from a scanner on a network by the HTTP protocol or the like, the usability is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server device and a client device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a circulation distribution destination designation window in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a circulation image display window in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a user group management file according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a distribution notification display according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing distribution data information in the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a client device that transmits a circulation image in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the server device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a client device to which a circulation image is distributed according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a memory map in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 System bus 2 CPU 3 PMEM 4 Communication control part 5 Scanner 6 External interface part 7 Printer 8 Input control part 9 Keyboard 10 Mouse 11 VRAM 12 Display output control part 13 CRT 14 Auxiliary storage device control part 15 Hard disk 16 Floppy disk disk

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus connected to a network, wherein an icon indicating a device on the network including a scanner icon indicating an image input device and a group icon indicating a terminal group is displayed on a display screen. Display means, selecting means for selecting an image input device and a terminal group corresponding to the respective icons by designating the scanner icon and the group icon, and reading by the image input device selected by the selecting means A delivery unit for delivering image data to a selected terminal group. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects one of the scanner icon and the group icon by dragging and dropping the other with a pointing device. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the distribution unit performs distribution by transmitting image data and destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for managing and storing the destination information of the terminal for each terminal group. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network. 6. The image input device according to claim 1, wherein the image input device is connected to the image input device via the network, and acquires image data from the image input device according to a predetermined protocol. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 7. A display step of displaying, on a display screen, an icon indicating a device on a network including a scanner icon indicating an image input device and a group icon indicating a terminal group, and displaying the scanner icon and the group icon. A selecting step of selecting an image input device and a terminal group corresponding to each icon by designating, and a distribution of distributing image data read by the image input device selected in the selecting step to the selected terminal group And an information processing method comprising the steps of: 8. The information processing method according to claim 7, wherein in the selecting step, one of the scanner icon and the group icon is selected by dragging and dropping the other with a pointing device. 9. The information processing method according to claim 7, wherein in the distribution step, distribution is performed by transmitting image data and destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. 10. The information processing method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of managing and storing destination information of said terminal group in terminal group units. 11. The information processing method according to claim 7, wherein the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network. 12. The image input device according to claim 7, wherein the image input device is connected via the network and acquires image data from the image input device according to a predetermined protocol. An information processing method according to claim 1. 13. A display step of displaying, on a display screen, an icon indicating a device on a network including a scanner icon indicating an image input device and a group icon indicating a terminal group, and displaying the scanner icon and the group icon. A selecting step of selecting an image input device and a terminal group corresponding to each icon by designating, and a distribution of distributing image data read by the image input device selected in the selecting step to the selected terminal group A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing the steps. 14. The computer-readable method according to claim 13, wherein in the selecting step, one of the scanner icon and the group icon is selected by dragging and dropping the other with a pointing device. Storage medium. 15. The computer-readable storage according to claim 13, wherein, in the distribution step, distribution is performed by transmitting image data and destination terminal information to a distribution server device on the network. Medium. 16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the destination information of the terminal group is obtained from a management server device on the network.