JP2005031895A - Content providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for efficiently providing data to a device which requires the data from a device holding predetermined data. <P>SOLUTION: An acquisition device 200 requests a content providing device 100 to provide contents. The content providing device 100 provides the acquisition device 200 with the contents meeting acquisition requirements included in the request. This enables the acquisition device 200 to acquire the contents desired by a user, without the user designating the contents to be acquired one by one. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication technique, and more particularly to a technique for providing data from a device that holds predetermined data to a device that uses the data.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the development of network technology, devices connected to networks such as LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) and configured to be able to communicate with each other (hereinafter simply referred to as “network devices”) have become widespread. Yes. The network device is, for example, an MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral), a scanner device, a facsimile device, a document management device, or the like, and can be used from a client device (hereinafter simply referred to as “client”) connected to the network. These apparatuses mainly hold contents such as documents, images, and audio, and transmit designated contents when requested by a client.
[0003]
For example, in the case of a scanner device compatible with a network, the scanner device automatically adds a file name to the read image and sequentially stores it. Since it is difficult to specify the contents of the image data from the file name, the user specifies the file name one by one, acquires the image data, displays it on the client, and searches for the desired image data. This work places a great burden on the user. Since the image data has a relatively large data size, it is preferable not to transmit unnecessary image data. Therefore, there is a technique for receiving a user code at the time of reading and sequentially transmitting image data to a storage destination associated with each user code. (Patent Document 1)
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-77500
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When dealing with network devices, the user should know which device has the necessary file, which file is the newly stored file, which file is unread, and how to obtain the file It is necessary to always be conscious of such. In general, a network device can be used to share a single device with multiple users, but on the other hand, the user must search the network for the device that stores the necessary file and find the necessary file. I had to do it.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that enables efficient provision of data from a device that holds predetermined data to a device that requires the data.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
One embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus having a function of providing content. The apparatus includes: a storage unit that stores content; a selection unit that selects content that meets a predetermined condition to be provided to the client device; a unit that transmits the selected content to the client device; a client; Means for storing content obtained by executing a main function of the device, independent of a series of functions for providing content to the device, in a storage means. As a result, this apparatus can provide the client apparatus with content that conforms to a predetermined condition. The “content” is information that can be recognized by the user visually, auditorily, or tactilely by processing with a predetermined application such as image data, video data, audio data, and document data. Further, the content may be composed of a single file or a combination of a plurality of files and data. In short, the content is information necessary for executing a predetermined process by a predetermined application. “Main functions” are, for example, a scanner function, a facsimile transmission / reception function, and the like.
[0008]
The apparatus further includes means for holding information for identifying the content that has already been provided for each client apparatus, and a reception means for receiving a content provision request together with client information that identifies the requesting client apparatus, The selection unit may identify content that has already been provided to the client based on the client information, and may select content that meets a predetermined condition from among the content that has not yet been provided. As a result, it is possible to prevent content from being duplicated and provided to the client device.
[0009]
The apparatus may further include means for generating a list that defines the content selected by the selection means and the order in which the content is acquired, and means for transmitting the generated list to the client apparatus. As a result, the client device may simply acquire the contents in order based on the list.
[0010]
It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a content providing system 10 according to the first embodiment. The content providing apparatus 100 holds predetermined contents such as an MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral), a scanner apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, and a document management apparatus, and the first acquisition apparatus 200 a and the second acquisition apparatus connected to the network 12. 200b (hereinafter simply referred to as “acquiring device 200”). In the present embodiment, a case where the content providing apparatus 100 is a scanner apparatus will be described as an example. The content providing apparatus 100 reads a document instructed by the user and stores it as image content. Then, the content providing apparatus 100 transmits content that satisfies a predetermined condition to the acquisition apparatus 200.
[0012]
The acquisition device 200 is, for example, a computer that realizes a predetermined function by executing a predetermined program. The application processing unit 202 is formed by executing a predetermined program such as an image processing program or a document creation program. The content acquisition processing unit 210 is formed by executing a driver program, and acquires content from the content providing apparatus 100. The driver program is started from, for example, an image processing program being executed by the application processing unit 202 in accordance with, for example, a rule such as TWAIN (Tool Without An Interacting Name).
[0013]
The content acquisition processing unit 210 acquires content that satisfies a predetermined condition from the content providing apparatus 100. For example, the condition is that only content that has not yet been acquired is acquired, only content in a format that can be processed by the application that is being executed by the application processing unit 202 is acquired, content that is read by the scanner in order from newest content, content that is oldest The content may be acquired in order, and the content associated with the user who is operating the acquisition device 200 may be acquired. Such conditions can be arbitrarily set, and are set as appropriate according to the function of the content providing apparatus 100. Of course, a plurality of conditions may be set in combination. As described above, by setting the conditions in the content acquisition processing unit 210 in advance, the content acquisition processing unit 210 can acquire the content according to the conditions from the content acquisition processing unit 210. This eliminates the need for the user to select the content held in the content providing apparatus 100 himself.
[0014]
FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the content providing apparatus 100 of FIG. In terms of hardware components, each component of the content providing apparatus 100 is a CPU, a memory of any computer, a program that realizes the components of this figure loaded in the memory, and a storage unit such as a hard disk that stores the program However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications in the implementation method and apparatus. Each figure to be described below shows functional unit blocks, not hardware unit configurations.
[0015]
The scanner function unit 110 is a unit for realizing general functions of the scanner device. For example, the scanner function unit 110 reads a paper document, digitizes it, generates image content, and outputs it to the storage processing unit 114. The storage processing unit 114 stores the content in the content storage unit 108. When storing content, the storage processing unit 114 stores, for each content, storage date and time, information for identifying a user who has instructed reading (hereinafter simply referred to as “user ID”), and information for identifying content (hereinafter simply referred to as “content”). ID ”), the file format of the content, and the like are stored in the content storage unit 108 together with the content body as a table.
[0016]
The content ID is generated by the storage processing unit 114 and given to each content. For example, the content ID includes an increasing component that is incremented every time content is stored in the content storage unit 108. Thereby, based on the increasing component, for example, content stored in the content storage unit 108 after the predetermined content can be selected, or content stored in the content storage unit 108 before the predetermined content can be selected. In another example, the increasing component may be a date or a value generated based on the date. In short, the increase component may be information for managing the content stored in the content storage unit 108 in time series.
[0017]
The accepting unit 102 accepts a content provision request from the acquisition device 200. For example, the reception unit 102 receives information for identifying the acquisition device 200 that is a request destination (hereinafter simply referred to as “device ID”) and an acquisition condition in association with each other, and supplies the acquired information to the selection unit 104. The selection unit 104 selects content that matches the acquisition condition based on the table held in the content storage unit 108 and supplies the content ID of the selected content to the provision unit 112. For example, when acquisition of content that has not yet been acquired is provided as a condition, the selection unit 104 identifies content that has not yet been transmitted based on the transmission history held in the transmission history storage unit 106, and the content Are output to the providing unit 112.
[0018]
The providing unit 112 acquires content from the content storage unit 108 based on the content ID and provides the content to the acquisition device 200. When a plurality of content IDs are supplied from the selection unit 104, the providing unit 112 sequentially provides content corresponding to the content IDs to the acquisition device 200. The providing unit 112 associates the content ID provided in this way with the device ID of the providing destination and stores it in the transmission history storage unit 106 as a transmission history. Thereby, since the content already transmitted for each device can be specified, the providing unit 112 can provide the content to the acquisition device 200 so as not to overlap, for example. The transmission history storage unit 106 may manage the transmission history for each content, may be managed for each user, or may be managed for each device.
[0019]
The selection condition of the content in the selection part 104 is arbitrary. For this reason, the selection unit 104 includes a management function for arbitrarily operating each data held in the transmission history storage unit 106 and the content storage unit 108 using a database operation language such as SQL (Structured Query Language). The reception unit 102 may receive the acquisition condition as SQL, and the selection unit 104 may select the corresponding content from the transmission history storage unit 106 and the content storage unit 108 based on the SQL. In another example, the reception unit 102 receives a character string representing an acquisition condition, and the selection unit 104 generates SQL from the character string, and the corresponding content from the transmission history storage unit 106 and the content storage unit 108. May be selected.
[0020]
In order to enable such selection, in addition to the above-described items, all items related to the content such as the file size and file format of the content may be provided as the fields of the table held in the content storage unit 108. When the content providing apparatus 100 is an MFP or the like, for example, a table is provided with a field for holding information indicating the type of content such as a scanner image or a facsimile image, and in the case of a facsimile image, information on the transmission source thereof. Good.
[0021]
FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of the acquisition apparatus 200 of FIG. This configuration includes a content acquisition processing unit 210 formed by executing a driver program on a computer and an application processing unit 202 formed by, for example, image processing software or document creation software. The content acquisition processing unit 210 may be activated by the application processing unit 202, for example, and may be formed in the acquisition device 200 or may be constantly formed.
[0022]
The device ID storage unit 214 holds a device ID that identifies the acquisition device 200. The acquisition condition setting unit 216 sets acquisition conditions for acquiring content. The acquisition condition setting unit 216 may receive and hold the acquisition condition from the user, or may hold a predetermined acquisition condition in advance. As acquisition conditions, for example, a condition that only unread content is acquired, a condition that content that has a new generation date and time is acquired, a condition that an application that is executed by the application processing unit 202 can be used, and the like are acquired. It is. The acquisition condition setting unit 216 holds such acquisition conditions as SQL.
[0023]
The acquisition unit 212 requests content from the content providing apparatus 100 and acquires the content from the content providing apparatus 100. When the acquisition unit 212 requests content from the content providing apparatus 100, the acquisition unit 212 transmits the apparatus ID stored in the apparatus ID storage unit 214 and the acquisition condition stored in the acquisition condition setting unit 216 to the content providing apparatus 100. To do. The acquisition unit 212 may transmit a content request including a device ID and an acquisition condition to the content providing device 100 first when the content acquisition processing unit 210 is activated, for example, or when a user gives an instruction after activation. May be. Further, the acquisition unit 212 may periodically transmit after activation.
[0024]
The content providing apparatus 100 in FIG. 2 receives a content request, and sequentially transmits content that meets the acquisition conditions included in the request to the acquisition apparatus 200. When the acquisition unit 212 acquires content from the content providing apparatus 100, the acquisition unit 212 stores the content in the content storage unit 218.
[0025]
The relay unit 220 outputs the content stored in the content storage unit 218 to the application processing unit 202. For example, the relay unit 220 may directly output the content to the application processing unit 202, or may supply the path of the content storage unit 218 to the application processing unit 202. When the path is provided, the application processing unit 202 can identify the content storage unit 218 based on the path and acquire the content.
[0026]
<Second Embodiment>
In the second embodiment, the content providing apparatus 150 in FIG. 4 which is the second form of the content providing apparatus 100 in FIG. 1 and the acquisition apparatus 250 in FIG. 6 which is the second form of the acquisition apparatus 200 in FIG. Is a content providing system. The content providing system according to the second embodiment is obtained by replacing the content providing apparatus 100 and the acquisition apparatus 200 described with reference to FIG. 1 with a content providing apparatus 150 and an acquisition apparatus 250, respectively. The content providing apparatus 150 according to the second embodiment transmits a list of contents that meet the acquisition condition to the acquisition apparatus 250.
And the acquisition apparatus 250 is a form which requests | requires each content from the content provision apparatus 150 based on the list | wrist.
[0027]
FIG. 4 is an internal configuration diagram of the content providing apparatus 150 according to the second embodiment. Configurations denoted by the same reference numerals as those already described in the figure are substantially the same in function and operation as those already described. The following description will focus on points that differ from the functions in the configuration already described.
[0028]
The reception unit 102 receives a device ID for identifying the acquisition device 250 and an acquisition condition, and outputs them to the selection unit 104. The selection unit 104 selects content to be acquired by the acquisition device 250 based on the device ID and the acquisition condition, and outputs the content ID of the selected content to the list generation unit 154. The selection unit 104 selects content that meets the acquisition conditions, arranges the content in the order in which the acquisition device 250 should acquire, and sequentially supplies the content ID to the list generation unit 154. The list generation unit 154 generates a list in the order in which those content IDs are received. Then, the list generation unit 154 outputs the generated list 170 to the transmission unit 156. The transmission unit 156 transmits the list 170 to the acquisition device 250.
[0029]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the list 170 in FIG. The acquisition order column 172 holds the order in which content is to be acquired. The content ID column 174 holds the content ID of the content to be acquired. In another example, the content ID column 174 may hold a content file name, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and the like. In short, the content ID column 174 may hold information necessary for acquiring content from the content providing apparatus 150. Based on the list 170, the acquisition device 250 requests content from the content providing device 150 in the order specified in the acquisition order column 172.
[0030]
Returning to FIG. 4, the providing unit 152 receives a content provision request from the acquisition device 250 together with a content ID. The provision unit 152 reads the content specified by the content ID from the content storage unit 108 and outputs the content to the acquisition device 250, and stores the content ID of the output content and the device ID of the content provision destination as a transmission history. Stored in the unit 106.
[0031]
FIG. 6 is an internal configuration diagram of the acquisition apparatus 250 according to the second embodiment. The content acquisition processing unit 252 is formed by a driver program according to the second embodiment. The list request unit 254 requests the content providing apparatus 150 to provide the list 170. In response to this request, the content providing apparatus 150 provides the list 170 described with reference to FIG. The list request unit 254 supplies the provided list 170 to the acquisition unit 256. The acquisition unit 256 transmits the corresponding content ID to the content providing apparatus 150 in accordance with the acquisition order included in the list 170, and requests provision of the corresponding content. Then, the acquisition unit 256 stores the content transmitted from the content providing apparatus 150 in the content storage unit 218.
[0032]
The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. The embodiments are exemplifications, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. .
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, content that conforms to a predetermined condition can be acquired without receiving an instruction from the user. Thereby, a convenient content providing system can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a content providing system according to a first embodiment.
2 is an internal configuration diagram of the content providing apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of the acquisition device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an internal configuration diagram of a content providing apparatus according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a list generated by the list generation unit in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an internal configuration diagram of an acquisition apparatus according to a second embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Content provision system, 12 Network, 100 Content provision apparatus, 102 Reception part, 104 Selection part, 106 Transmission history storage part, 108 Content storage part, 110 Scanner function part, 112 Provision part, 114 Storage processing part, 150 Content provision apparatus , 152 provision unit, 154 list generation unit, 156 transmission unit, 170 list, 200 acquisition device, 200a first acquisition device, 200b second acquisition device, 202 application processing unit, 210 content acquisition processing unit, 212 acquisition unit, 214 device ID storage unit, 216 acquisition condition setting unit, 218 content storage unit, 220 relay unit, 250 acquisition device, 252 content acquisition processing unit, 254 list request unit, 256 acquisition unit.

Claims (3)

An apparatus having a function of providing content,
Storage means for storing content;
Selecting means for selecting content that meets a predetermined condition to be provided to the client device from the storage means;
Means for transmitting the selected content to the client device;
Means for storing, in the storage means, content obtained by executing a main function of the device independent of a series of functions for providing content to the client device. Providing device. Means for holding information identifying the content already provided for each client device;
Receiving means for accepting a content provision request together with client information identifying the requesting client device, wherein the selecting means identifies content that has already been provided to the client based on the client information, and is still provided The content providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein content that satisfies the predetermined condition is selected from content that has not been processed. Means for generating a list defining the content selected by the selection means and the order in which the content is acquired;
The content providing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for transmitting the generated list to the client apparatus.

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