JP4185443B2 - Image forming system, information terminal device included therein, and control method of image forming system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system, an information terminal device included in the image forming system, and an image forming system control method, and more particularly, to an information terminal device in an image forming system including an information terminal device and an image forming device connected to each other. The present invention relates to an image forming system capable of reducing the amount of memory used in an image forming apparatus by retaining a part of communication information in advance, an information terminal device included in the image forming apparatus, and a method for controlling the image forming system.

In general, a device having a Web function holds HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) data that can be displayed by a browser, and is called a client-side terminal device (hereinafter simply referred to as a “client”) connected via a network. In response to a transmission request from.), The data is displayed on the client.
Such a technique is also applied to an image forming apparatus, and a conventional image forming apparatus having a Web function holds HTML data in an internal memory. As a result, the Web function of the image forming apparatus mainly allows the client to check the status of the image forming apparatus and change settings.

However, since the Web display format differs for each language, the data capacity is not small.
Furthermore, since it is necessary to prioritize effective use of memory resources for printing processing, which is the main processing of the image forming apparatus, it has been impossible to occupy a large memory area for the Web function.
Therefore, as a related technique applicable to the image forming apparatus for solving such a problem, a technique for transmitting compressed or reduced HTML data from the server side to the client side and decompressing the received HTML data on the client side. Is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Therefore, if this related technique is applied to a conventional image forming apparatus, it is possible not only to reduce the amount of communication data but also to reduce the amount of HTML data stored in the memory in the apparatus.
JP 2002-73451 A (page 5-6, FIG. 2)

According to the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, the amount of HTML data stored in the memory in the apparatus can be reduced, but the data compression rate is the maximum even when compressed by a compression algorithm in the ZIP format, for example. For HTML data that originally has a large amount of data, this does not lead to a significant reduction in memory usage. After all, there is a problem that the memory usage required for the Web function in the image forming apparatus cannot be significantly reduced.
In addition, since the memory usage required for the Web function is not sufficiently reduced, a temporary storage area for image data or the like at the time of print processing cannot be secured, and sufficient print processing capability cannot be exhibited.
Furthermore, since the data amount of HTML data is not significantly reduced, there is a problem that traffic is not sufficiently reduced even in communication between the image forming apparatus and the client.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. In an image forming system in which an information terminal device and an image forming device are connected, a part of communication data is held in advance on the information terminal device side. As a result, the amount of memory used on the image forming apparatus side and the amount of communication data can be greatly reduced, and an image forming system capable of exhibiting sufficient print processing capability of the image forming apparatus, and an information terminal device included therein It is another object of the present invention to provide a control method for an image forming system.

To achieve the above object, an image forming system of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on input information, and an information terminal device that receives data related to the image forming apparatus from the image forming apparatus. In the image forming system, the image forming apparatus transmits a dynamic data reading unit that reads dynamic data including unique data set in the image forming apparatus, and transmits the read dynamic data to the information terminal device. And the information terminal device receives the dynamic data transmitted by the transmission means and the storage means for storing the static data whose values are used for displaying the dynamic data and whose values do not fluctuate. means and a static data stored, the data combining means for combining the received dynamic data, displaying the data obtained by coupling by data combining means More, there is a configuration in which a display means for displaying the status of the image forming apparatus.

If the image forming system has such a configuration, since the static data is stored in the storage unit of the information terminal device, the image forming apparatus does not need to hold static data and Memory usage can be greatly reduced.
For example, when the display data in the information terminal device is HTML data, it can be separated into HTML parameters as dynamic data and HTML templates as static data. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when the total amount of HTML data is 18.3 Kbytes (FIG. 3C), the HTML parameter 493 bytes (FIG. 3A) and the HTML template 17.8 Kbytes (FIG. 3). 3 (b)).

That is, compared to the case where the total data (18.3 Kbytes) of these HTML data is held on the image forming apparatus side and the HTML data is displayed on the display means by transmitting the total data to the information terminal apparatus side. In the image forming system of the present invention, if only the HTML parameter (493 bytes) is held, the display result similar to the conventional display can be obtained on the information terminal device side.
Accordingly, the data amount (493 bytes) to be held on the image forming apparatus side can be reduced to about 3% of the conventional 18.3 Kbytes.
As a result, the image forming apparatus side also secures a temporary storage area for image data and the like during the printing process, and can fully exhibit the printing processing capability.
Furthermore, the amount of data (493 bytes) transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the information terminal apparatus is also reduced to about 3% of the conventional 18.3 Kbytes, and traffic between the image forming apparatus and the information terminal apparatus is sufficiently reduced. The Therefore, when a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to this image forming system, even if data transmission from these image forming apparatuses to the information terminal apparatus is concentrated at one time, traffic does not become extremely large.

  In the image forming system according to the present invention, the image forming apparatus and / or the information terminal apparatus has a Web function, the dynamic data includes an HTML parameter, and the static data includes an HTML template.

If the image forming system has such a configuration, the HTML template is stored in the storage means of the information terminal device, so that the image forming apparatus does not need to hold the HTML template, and the amount of memory used to hold the data Can be greatly reduced.
As described above, when handling so-called HTML data in which dynamic data includes HTML parameters and static data includes HTML templates, the amount of data to be held on the image forming apparatus side is extremely small as described above. The effect of the present invention is great.

  In the image forming system of the present invention, the dynamic data is pasted based on the designation ID information designating the static data, the index ID information indicating the index to which the status information of the image forming apparatus is pasted, and the index ID information. The storage means stores a plurality of static data, and the information terminal device selects one of the plurality of static data based on the designated ID information included in the dynamic data. Static data selecting means for selecting the target data, and the data combining means is configured to combine the static data selected by the static data selecting means with the received dynamic data.

With this configuration of the image forming system, status information is attached to dynamic data based on index ID information, and the dynamic data is combined with static data based on designated ID information. Can do.
For this reason, even if there are a plurality of static data stored in the storage means on the information terminal device side, it is possible to combine the specified static data with the dynamic data part.
For example, even if the HTML template is composed of a plurality of types such as Japanese, English, German, etc., a predetermined HTML template can be designated by the designation ID information added to the dynamic data part, so that the information terminal device The data format to be displayed can be selected from multiple types such as Japanese, English, and German.

An information terminal device of the present invention is an information terminal device that receives data relating to an image forming device that forms an image based on input information from the image forming device, and the information terminal device is set in the image forming device. Storage means for storing static data that does not vary in value, and is used for displaying dynamic data including the unique data, receiving means for receiving dynamic data transmitted from the image forming apparatus, and storage Data combining means for combining the received static data and the received dynamic data, and display means for displaying the state of the image forming apparatus by displaying the data obtained by combining by the data combining means It is set as the structure which has.

If the information terminal device has such a configuration, since the static data is stored in the storage unit in advance, by receiving only the dynamic data from the image forming apparatus, the static data and the dynamic data are obtained. The combined data can be displayed on the display means.
For this reason, the image forming apparatus does not need to hold static data, and the amount of memory used for holding data can be greatly reduced.

The image forming system control method according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on input information, and an information terminal apparatus that receives data related to the image forming apparatus from the image forming apparatus. A system control method, in which an image forming apparatus reads dynamic data including dynamic data including unique data set in the image forming apparatus, and transmits the read dynamic data to an information terminal device. The information terminal device includes data that is used for displaying dynamic data and stores static data whose value does not vary, and reception that receives the dynamic data transmitted by the transmission step. A data combining step that combines the step, the stored static data, and the received dynamic data; By displaying the obtained data, there a method comprising a display step of displaying the status of the image forming apparatus.

If the control method of the image forming system is such a method, the information terminal device stores the static data in the storing step. Therefore, the image forming device does not need to hold the static data, and the data It is possible to greatly reduce the amount of memory used to hold the memory.
As a result, the image forming apparatus side also secures a temporary storage area for image data and the like during the printing process, and can fully exhibit the printing processing capability.
Furthermore, the amount of data transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the information terminal apparatus is also greatly reduced as compared with the prior art, and traffic between the image forming apparatus and the information terminal apparatus is sufficiently reduced. Therefore, when a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to this image forming system, even if data transmission from these image forming apparatuses to the information terminal apparatus is concentrated at one time, traffic does not become extremely large.

According to the present invention, since static data is stored in the storage means of the information terminal device, the image forming apparatus does not need to hold static data, and the amount of memory used to hold data is greatly reduced. can do.
As a result, the image forming apparatus side also secures a temporary storage area for image data and the like during the printing process, and can fully exhibit the printing processing capability.
Furthermore, the amount of data transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the information terminal apparatus is greatly reduced, and traffic between the image forming apparatus and the information terminal apparatus can be sufficiently reduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
An image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The overall configuration diagram of the image forming system shown in FIG. 1 is a minimum configuration for explaining the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the image forming system, an information terminal device 10 and an image forming device 30 are connected to each other via a network 20. Note that the information terminal apparatus 10 or the image forming apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment has a Web function, and the image forming apparatus 30 transmits HTML information such as status information to the information terminal apparatus 10 connected via the network 20. Send data. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 30 provides various information in the apparatus to the information terminal apparatus 10.
The HTML data is an HTML template (static data portion) whose value does not change, and data used for displaying the HTML data, and an HTML parameter (dynamic data portion) whose value may change. Can be broadly classified.

The HTML template includes, for example, fixed item contents, display format, color, size, etc. of the display information, and there are multiple types of templates depending on the type of display language such as Japanese, English, German. Can be created. The HTML parameters are mostly text information indicating data information unique to the image forming apparatus 30 and include, for example, a printer name, toner remaining amount, paper size, and the like.
The HTML parameter includes designation ID information for designating an HTML template, index ID information indicating an index to which the status information of the image forming apparatus 30 is pasted, and status information pasted based on the index ID information. Yes.

The information terminal device 10 is composed of, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, and includes an input unit 11, a display unit 12, a storage unit 13, a terminal-side control unit 14, and a terminal-side network interface (hereinafter, “terminal side” for short). A network I / F ”) (receiving means) 15.
The input unit 11 includes an interface unit that can be operated by a user such as a keyboard and a mouse. The input unit 11 sets various information and inputs a transmission request to the image forming apparatus 30.
The display means 12 is constituted by a liquid crystal display device, a cathode ray tube display device, or the like. When information such as HTML data requested by the input means 11 is acquired, it is decoded and displayed on the screen. Note that a browser built in the information terminal device 10 is used for decoding the information.

The storage unit 13 stores an HTML template taken into the information terminal device 10. Further, the type of HTML template stored by the storage unit 13 may be one type or a plurality of types.
In addition, as a method for taking in an HTML template, a method for reading (installing) information of an HTML template stored in an external storage medium by a data reading unit such as a flexible disk drive or a CD-ROM drive, The method, such as a method of capturing as setting information, is not limited.

The terminal-side control means 14 is composed of a CPU or the like, and controls various components in the information terminal device 10, and includes a data combination unit (data combination unit) 14-1 and a static data selection unit (static data). Selection means) 14-2.
The data combining unit 14-1 combines the HTML parameter transmitted from the image forming apparatus 30 with the HTML template stored in advance in the storage unit 13 to generate HTML data.
The static data selection unit 14-2 selects one of the plurality of HTML templates based on the specified ID information included in the HTML parameter.
That is, the data combining unit 14-1 combines the HTML template selected by the static data selecting unit 14-2 and the HTML parameter received from the image forming apparatus 30 via the network 20.

Therefore, even if a plurality of types of HTML templates are stored in the storage unit 13, the data combining unit 14-1 can combine a desired HTML template and an HTML parameter.
For this reason, for example, even when the characters represented by the HTML template are composed of a plurality of types such as Japanese, English, German, etc., the desired HTML template is designated by the designation ID information included in the HTML parameter. Therefore, the data format displayed on the information terminal device 10 can be selected from a plurality of types such as Japanese, English, and German.

  If there is only one type of HTML template stored in the storage means 13 and there is no need to make a selection based on the specified ID information, the static data selection unit 14-2 is not necessary. The data combining unit 14-1 can directly read the HTML template from the storage unit 13.

  The terminal-side network I / F 15 is physically connected to the network 20 and is an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from the image forming apparatus 30, and receives HTML parameters transmitted from the image forming apparatus 30. .

  The image forming apparatus 30 includes, for example, a printer, a copier (copying machine), a facsimile, a scanner, a digital multi-function peripheral (multifunction peripheral (MFP)), and the like, and is based on input information such as image data input from the outside. Form an image. Further, the image forming apparatus 30 includes a network interface (hereinafter referred to as “network I / F” for short) (transmission means) 31, a memory 32, and a control means 33.

The network I / F 31 is physically connected to the network 20 and is an interface that transmits and receives data to and from the information terminal device 10. Further, when the network I / F 31 receives the request information (transmission request) from the information terminal device 10 via the network network 20, the network I / F 31 transmits an HTML parameter to the information terminal device 10 side accordingly.
The memory 32 is constituted by a temporary storage medium such as a cache memory, for example, and stores various types of information used for print processing and HTML parameters.

The control unit 33 is configured by a CPU or the like, controls various components in the image forming apparatus 30, and includes a dynamic data reading unit (dynamic data reading unit) 33-1.
The dynamic data reading unit 33-1 reads the HTML parameter stored in the memory 32 and outputs this data to the network I / F 31.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a ladder diagram illustrating the operation of the entire image forming system according to the present embodiment.
In the figure, in the information terminal device 10, the storage means 13 stores the HTML template read in advance by installation or the like (step S201 (storage step)).
The terminal-side network I / F 15 transmits this request information to the image forming apparatus 30 in response to the transmission request of the HTML parameter by the user from the input unit 11 (step S202).

In the image forming apparatus 30, when the network I / F 31 receives the request information transmitted from the information terminal apparatus 10, the dynamic data reading unit 33-1 has designated ID information and index ID information corresponding to the request information. Then, the HTML parameter including the state information pasted by the index ID information is read from the memory 32 (step S203 (dynamic data reading means)).
Next, in the image forming apparatus 30, the network I / F 31 transmits the read HTML parameters to the information terminal apparatus 10 via the network 20 (step S204 (transmission step)).

In the information terminal device 10, the terminal-side network I / F 15 receives the transmitted HTML parameter (step S205 (reception step)).
Next, the static data selection unit 14-2 selects an HTML template from the storage unit 13 based on the designated ID information included in the received HTML parameter (step S206).
Then, the data combining unit 14-1 combines the received HTML parameter and the selected HTML template (step S207 (data combining step)) and causes the display unit 12 to display the data obtained by the combining (step S207). Step S208 (display step)).

As described above, according to the image forming system according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the HTML template is stored in the storage unit 13 of the information terminal device 10, it is not necessary for the image forming apparatus 30 to hold the HTML template. The amount of use of the memory 32 for holding HTML data can be greatly reduced.
As a result, on the image forming apparatus 30 side, a temporary storage area for image data and the like at the time of print processing is also secured, and the print processing capability can be sufficiently exhibited.
Furthermore, the amount of data transmitted from the image forming apparatus 30 to the information terminal apparatus 10 is greatly reduced, and traffic between the image forming apparatus 30 and the information terminal apparatus 10 can be sufficiently reduced.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram conceptually showing data combination in the information terminal device of the image forming system according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In the data shown in FIG. 3, the data amount of the HTML parameter 41 shown in FIG. 3A is 493 bytes, and the data amount of the HTML template 42 shown in FIG. 3B is 17.8 Kbytes. The HTML data 43 shown is about 18.3 Kbytes of the total data amount of the HTML parameter 41 and the HTML template 42.
Note that the display data 44 shown in FIG. 3D is a display screen when HTML data is displayed by the display means 12.
As described above, according to the example shown in FIG. 3, according to the image forming system according to the present embodiment, the total data (18.3 Kbytes) of these HTML data is conventionally held on the image forming apparatus 30 side. Compared to the case where HTML data is displayed on the display means 12 by transmitting data to the information terminal device 10 side, if only the HTML parameter (493 bytes) is held, the information terminal device 10 side displays the same display result as before. Can be obtained.
Therefore, it is understood that the data amount (493 bytes) to be held on the image forming apparatus side can be reduced to about 3% of the conventional 18.3 Kbytes.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment. However, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. It goes without saying that implementation is possible.
For example, in the above embodiment, the information terminal apparatus 10 or the image forming apparatus 30 has the Web function, and the case where the HTML parameter as the state information is transmitted to the information terminal apparatus 10 side has been described. The present invention is not limited to this. When data is transmitted and received between the information terminal apparatus 10 and the image forming apparatus 30 connected via the network 20, the image forming system of the present embodiment regardless of the contents of the data. Can be applied.

  Image communication between image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers (copiers), facsimile machines, scanners, digital multifunction peripherals (multifunction peripherals (MFPs)), etc., which perform data communication, and information terminal devices connected to the network. It can be suitably applied to a forming system.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a ladder diagram illustrating an overall operation of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic diagram which showed notionally the data coupling | bonding in the information terminal device of the image forming system which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Information terminal device 11 Input means 12 Display means 13 Storage means 14 Terminal side control means 14-1 Data coupling | bond part (data coupling means)
14-2 Static data selection unit (static data selection means)
15 Terminal side network interface (reception means)
20 Network Network 30 Image Forming Apparatus 31 Network Interface 32 Memory 33 Control Unit 33-1 Dynamic Data Reading Unit (Dynamic Data Reading Unit)
41 HTML parameter 42 HTML template 43 HTML data 44 Display data

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus that forms an image based on input information;
An image forming system comprising an information terminal device that receives data relating to the image forming apparatus from the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Dynamic data reading means for reading dynamic data including unique data set in the image forming apparatus and designation ID information for designating static data stored in the information terminal device ;
Transmitting means for transmitting the read dynamic data to the information terminal device;
The information terminal device
Storage means for storing a plurality of static data that are used for displaying the dynamic data and whose values do not vary;
Receiving means for receiving the dynamic data transmitted by the transmitting means;
Static data selection means for selecting any one of the plurality of static data based on the specified ID information included in the dynamic data;
Data combining means for combining the static data selected by the static data selection means among the stored static data and the received dynamic data;
An image forming system, comprising: display means for displaying a state of the image forming apparatus by displaying data obtained by combining by the data combining means. The image forming system according to claim 1,
The image forming apparatus and / or the information terminal device has a Web function;
The dynamic data includes HTML parameters;
The image forming system, wherein the static data includes an HTML template. The image forming system according to claim 1 or 2,
The dynamic data includes designation ID information for designating the static data, index ID information indicating an index to which the status information of the image forming apparatus is pasted, and the status information pasted based on the index ID information. the image forming system according to claim including things. An information terminal device that receives data relating to an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on input information from the image forming apparatus,
The information terminal device
Storage means for storing a plurality of static data that is used for displaying dynamic data including unique data set in the image forming apparatus and whose values do not vary;
Receiving means for receiving the dynamic data transmitted from the image forming apparatus;
Static data selection means for selecting any one of the plurality of static data based on designation ID information for designating the static data included in the dynamic data;
Data combining means for combining the received dynamic data with the selected static data selected by the static data selection means among the stored static data ;
An information terminal device comprising: a display unit configured to display a state of the image forming apparatus by displaying data obtained by combining by the data combining unit. An image forming apparatus that forms an image based on input information;
An image forming system control method comprising an information terminal device that receives data relating to the image forming apparatus from the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
A dynamic data reading step of reading dynamic data including unique data set in the image forming apparatus and designation ID information specifying static data stored in the information terminal device ;
Transmitting the read dynamic data to the information terminal device,
The information terminal device
A storage step of storing a plurality of static data that is used for displaying the dynamic data and whose value does not vary;
A receiving step of receiving the dynamic data transmitted by the transmitting step;
A static data selection step of selecting any one of the plurality of static data based on the specified ID information included in the dynamic data;
A data combining step of combining the static data selected by the static data selection means among the stored static data and the received dynamic data;
A display step of displaying a state of the image forming apparatus by displaying data obtained by the combining in the data combining step. A control method for an image forming system, comprising: