JP5102123B2 - Image forming system, session management server, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming system, a session management server, and a program , and more particularly to management of image processing necessary for image formation.

  In recent years, there has been a tendency to digitize information, and image forming apparatuses such as printers and facsimiles used for outputting digitized information and scanners used for digitizing documents have become indispensable devices. Such an image forming apparatus is often configured as a multifunction machine that can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copier by providing an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like. Such an image forming apparatus is connected to a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), and similarly receives a print job from a client terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer) connected to the network to form an image. Often used as a network printer to execute. By using the image forming apparatus as a network printer, the image forming apparatus can be shared by a plurality of client terminals. Further, on a network to which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected, the client terminal can select and use one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses.

  On the other hand, even if convenience is improved by such networking, the relationship between the client terminal and the image forming apparatus is basically the same as when the image forming apparatus is directly connected to the client terminal. In other words, driver software corresponding to each image forming apparatus is installed in the client terminal, and the client terminal generates a command for operating the corresponding image forming apparatus using this driver software. What is different from the prior art is that the command generated by the driver software is transmitted to the image forming apparatus directly connected to the client terminal or via a network.

  Therefore, in order to use the image forming apparatus from the client terminal, it is necessary to install driver software on the client terminal. The driver software is software that operates on basic software such as an OS (Operating System) of the client terminal. Therefore, it is necessary to design for each OS. That is, it is necessary to design the driver software for each OS of different types and versions and provide it to the user. In recent years, OSs tend to be diversified according to their uses, and providing driver software corresponding to each OS requires very high labor. In addition, driver software corresponding to an older version of the OS may not be provided, and a user using such an OS needs to change the OS in order to use the image forming apparatus.

In order to deal with such a problem, a method has been proposed in which a server connected to a network mediates processing in the image forming apparatus with the client apparatus, thereby eliminating the need for driver installation on the client apparatus ( For example, see Patent Document 1). According to the technique described in Patent Document 1, image processing by an image forming apparatus is provided as a WEB service, and an image forming apparatus connected to a network can be provided by using UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration). Search for a new web service.
JP 2004-7346 A

  However, the method described in Patent Document 1 is premised on using a function (Web service function) installed in the multi-function peripheral. Therefore, it is not necessary to install the driver software on the network device that is the user terminal through the UDDI server, but in order to realize a function that is not installed in the MFP, the function is added to the MFP. Or change of fusion machine is necessary.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and requests the image processing function from the terminal that issued the print output command and the execution terminal of the print output when executing the print output accompanied by arbitrary image processing. It is an object to enable print output with the image processing.

  In order to solve the above problems, as a first aspect of the present invention, a client apparatus, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming apparatus are connected to be communicable via a network. In the image forming system, the client device includes transmission means for transmitting first print output information including information specifying an image processing function and an image forming device to the session management server, and the session management server Refers to the device information storage means for storing the information on the image forming apparatus and the information relating to the image processing function supported by the image forming apparatus, and the first information received by referring to the apparatus information storage means. If the image forming apparatus specified in the print output information is determined not to execute the specified image processing function, Transfer means for transferring the first print output information to the service management server, wherein the service management server has an image processing function corresponding to the information of the plurality of service providing servers and each of the service providing servers. Management information storage means for associating and storing information relating to the information, and the image processing function specified in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage means can be executed Transmitting means for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server, wherein the plurality of service providing servers each have an image processing function designated by the received first print output information, Image processing means for executing image information included in the first print output information, and image information on which an image processing function has been executed. Transfer means for transferring the print output information to the session management server, wherein the transfer means of the session management server transfers the received second print output information to the image forming apparatus. An image forming system is provided.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention is connected as a second aspect through a network so as to be communicable with a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming apparatus. An apparatus information storage unit that stores information relating to an image forming apparatus and information about an image processing function supported by the image forming apparatus in association with the session management server in the image forming system, and an image processing function from the client apparatus When the first print output information designating the image forming apparatus is received, the image processing is performed in which the image forming apparatus designated in the received first print output information is designated by referring to the apparatus information storage means. If it is determined that the function is not executed, the first print output information is provided to the plurality of services. And the service management information storage means for associating and storing information relating to the image processing function supported by each service providing server, and the received first received by the service management information storage means And transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of executing the image processing function specified in the print output information, and transferring the first print information to the service management server. After the image is transmitted to the specified service providing server, the image processing function designated by the first print output information is added to the image information included in the first print output information by the specified service providing server. When the second print output information including image information executed for the second service is received from the specified service providing server, the second print And having a transfer means for transferring the force information to the image forming apparatus, and provides a session management server.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides, as a third aspect, a server computer that is communicably connected to a client device, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network. Device information storage means for associating and storing information on the image forming apparatus and information on the image processing function supported by the image forming apparatus, and a first print output for designating the image processing function and the image forming apparatus from the client device When the information is received, the image forming apparatus specified in the received first print output information is referred to the apparatus information storage unit, and when it is determined that the specified image processing function is not executed, Image processing in which the plurality of service providing servers and each service providing server correspond to the first print output information Management information storage means for storing information relating to functions in association with each other, and an image processing function specified in the received first printout information specified by referring to the service management information storage means can be executed A transmission unit configured to transmit the first print output information to a service providing server, and the first print information is transmitted to the identified service providing server and then identified. Second print output information including image information in which the image processing function specified by the first print output information is executed on the image information included in the first print output information in the service providing server. Functioning as a transfer means for transferring the second print output information to the image forming apparatus when received from the specified service providing server. To provide a session management program characterized Rukoto.

  According to a fourth aspect, there is provided an image forming system in which a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device are communicably connected via a network. The apparatus has transmission means for transmitting first print output information including information for designating an image forming apparatus to the session management server, and the session management server can recognize the information of the image forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus Device information storage means for storing information relating to the format of the correct image information, and by referring to the device information storage means, the image forming apparatus specified in the received first print output information is the first information. If the format of the image information included in the print output information is determined to be unrecognizable, the first print output information Transfer means for transferring to the service management server, and the service management server stores information on the plurality of service providing servers in association with information on the format of image information that each service providing server can recognize. Service management information storage means and a service providing server that can identify the format of image information included in the received first printout information specified by referring to the service management information storage means. Transmitting means for transmitting print output information, wherein the plurality of service providing servers are in a format of image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus specified by the first print output information received by each of the plurality of service providing servers. Image processing means for executing image processing for converting image information included in the first print output information; and image information for which image processing has been executed. Transfer means for transferring second print output information to the session management server, wherein the transfer means of the session management server transfers the received second print output information to the image forming apparatus. An image forming system is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect, there is provided the session management server in an image forming system connected to be able to communicate with a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network. An apparatus information storage unit for storing information on the image forming apparatus and information on the format of the image information supported by the image forming apparatus, and first print output information for designating the image forming apparatus from the client apparatus Is received, the image forming apparatus designated in the received first print output information cannot recognize the format of the image information included in the first print output information by referring to the apparatus information storage means. If determined, the first print output information is sent to the plurality of service providing servers and the respective service providing servers. Service management information storage means for associating and storing information relating to the format of image information recognizable by the service providing server, and the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage means A service providing unit that transmits the first print output information to a service providing server capable of recognizing a format of the included image information, and transmits the first print output information to the service management server, wherein the first print information is specified. After the transmission to the server, the conversion to the format of the image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus specified by the first print output information by the specified service providing server is the first print output information. When the second print output information including the image information executed on the image information included in the image information is received from the specified service providing server, And having a transfer means for transferring the second print output information to the image forming apparatus, and provides a session management server.

  As a sixth aspect, the server computer connected to the client apparatus, the service management server, the plurality of service providing servers, and the image forming apparatus via the network is connected to the image forming apparatus information and the image forming apparatus. When the apparatus information storage means for storing information relating to the format of the corresponding image information is stored in association with the first print output information designating the image forming apparatus from the client apparatus, the apparatus information storage means is referred to. Thus, when it is determined that the image forming apparatus specified in the received first print output information cannot recognize the format of the image information included in the first print output information, the first print output is performed. Information on the plurality of service providing servers and information on the format of image information that can be recognized by each of the service providing servers. Service management information storage means for linking and storing, and a service providing server capable of recognizing the format of image information included in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage means And the transmission means for transmitting the first print output information to the service management server, and after the first print information is transmitted to the specified service providing server, the specified service provision A second print output including image information obtained by converting the image information specified by the first print output information into the format of the image information included in the first print output information at the server. When the information is received from the specified service providing server, the second printout information is functioned as a transfer unit that transfers the information to the image forming apparatus. To provide a session management program.

  According to the present invention, when executing print output with arbitrary image processing, print output with image processing can be performed without requesting the image processing function to the source terminal of the print output command and the execution terminal of print output. It becomes possible.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
In this embodiment, when image information generated by a client device such as a PC (Personal Computer) is printed out, the image information is converted into a format that can be recognized by an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral that executes the print output. It has the feature in the conversion mode to convert. Conventionally, the driver installed in the client device converts the image information in accordance with the image forming apparatus that executes print output. In this embodiment, the server that acquired the image information from the client device is the image. Transform information. The image forming apparatus can eliminate the need to install a driver in the client apparatus by executing print output based on the image information converted by the server.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image processing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing system according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 1, a client apparatus 2, a session management server 3, a service management server 4, and a plurality of service providing servers 5. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 and the client apparatus 2 belong to a common network A, the session management server 3, the service management server 4, and the service providing server 5 belong to a common network B. Are connected by a communication network C such as the Internet. Here, the network A is a service user's office LAN (Local Area Network), for example, and the network B is a LAN of a service provider that provides the image processing system according to the present embodiment.

  In the image processing system according to the present embodiment, when an image drawn and generated in the client apparatus 2 is printed out from the image forming apparatus 1, the client apparatus 2 receives print output information including image information of an image to be printed out in a session. It transmits to the management server 3. The session management server 3 determines whether the image information included in the print output information is in a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1. If the image information to be printed out is in a format that cannot be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1, the service management server 4 searches for the service providing server 5 corresponding to the format. The image information to be printed out is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1 after being converted into a format recognizable by the image forming apparatus 1 in the service providing server 5 extracted as a result of the search. As a result, print output is executed in the image forming apparatus 1. Further, when image processing such as allocation and color number conversion is designated in the print output instruction in the client device 2, the session management server 3 can execute the designated image processing by the image forming apparatus 1. In the same manner as in the case of the image information format, the processing is entrusted to a service providing server corresponding to the processing. Hereinafter, each component included in the image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 100, an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 101, a scanner unit 102, a paper discharge tray 103, a display panel 104, and a paper feed table. 105, a print engine 106, a paper discharge tray 107, and a network I / F 108. The controller 100 includes a main control unit 111, an engine control unit 112, an input / output control unit 113, an image processing unit 114, and an operation display control unit 115. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as a multifunction machine having a scanner unit 102 and a print engine 106. In FIG. 2, the electrical connection is indicated by a solid arrow, and the flow of a sheet or a document bundle is indicated by a broken arrow.

  The display panel 104 is an output interface that visually displays the state of the image forming apparatus 1 and is an input when the user directly operates the image forming apparatus 1 or inputs information to the image forming apparatus 1 as a touch panel. It is also an interface (operation unit). The network I / F 108 is an interface for the image forming apparatus 1 to communicate with other devices via the network A, and uses an Ethernet (registered trademark) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface.

  The controller 100 is configured by a combination of software and hardware. Specifically, a control program such as firmware (ROM) stored in a nonvolatile storage medium such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a nonvolatile memory, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or an optical disk is a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or the like. The controller 100 is configured by a software control unit that is loaded into a volatile memory (hereinafter referred to as a memory) and configured according to the control of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and hardware such as an integrated circuit. The controller 100 functions as a control unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus 1.

  The main control unit 111 plays a role of controlling each unit included in the controller 100, and gives a command to each unit of the controller 100. The engine control unit 112 serves as a driving unit that controls or drives the print engine 106, the scanner unit 102, and the like. The input / output control unit 113 inputs a signal or command input via the network I / F 108 to the main control unit 111. The main control unit 111 also controls the input / output control unit 113 to access other devices via the network I / F 108 and the network A. Further, the input / output control unit 113 manages the establishment of a session with the session management server 3 or the client device 2. Accordingly, the input / output control unit 113 holds the network address information of the session management server 3, encryption / decryption key information for establishing encrypted communication such as VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection, and the like. The image processing unit 114 generates drawing information based on image information to be printed out under the control of the main control unit 111.

  The drawing information is information for drawing an image to be formed in the image forming operation by the print engine 106 as an image forming unit. The image processing unit 114 processes image data input from the scanner unit 102 and generates image data. This image data is information stored in the image forming apparatus 1 as a result of the scanner operation or transmitted to the client apparatuses 2 and 3 via the network I / F 108. The operation display control unit 115 displays information on the display panel 104 or notifies the main control unit 111 of information input via the display panel 104.

  When the image processing apparatus 1 operates as a printer, first, the input / output control unit 113 receives a print job via the network I / F 108. The input / output control unit 113 transfers the received print job to the main control unit 111. When receiving the print job, the main control unit 111 controls the image processing unit 114 to generate drawing information based on document information or image information included in the print job. When drawing information is generated by the image processing unit 114, the engine control unit 112 executes image formation on the paper conveyed from the paper feed table 105 based on the generated drawing information. As a specific aspect of the print engine 106, an image forming mechanism using an ink jet method, an image forming mechanism using an electrophotographic method, or the like can be used. A document on which image formation has been performed by the print engine 106 is discharged to a discharge tray 107.

  When the image processing apparatus 1 operates as a scanner, the operation display control unit 115 or the user operates the display panel 104 or the scan execution instruction input from the external client apparatus 2 or the like via the network I / F 108. The input / output control unit 113 transfers a scan execution signal to the main control unit 111. The main control unit 111 controls the engine control unit 112 based on the received scan execution signal. The engine control unit 112 drives the ADF 101 and conveys the document to be imaged set on the ADF 101 to the scanner unit 102. In addition, the engine control unit 112 drives the scanner unit 102 and images a document conveyed from the ADF 101. If no original is set on the ADF 101 and the original is directly set on the scanner unit 102, the scanner unit 102 images the set original under the control of the engine control unit 112. That is, the scanner unit 102 operates as an imaging unit.

  In the imaging operation, an imaging element such as a CCD included in the scanner unit 102 optically scans the document, and imaging information generated based on the optical information is generated. The engine control unit 112 transfers the imaging information generated by the scanner unit 102 to the image processing unit 114. The image processing unit 114 generates image information based on the imaging information received from the engine control unit 112 according to the control of the main control unit 111. Image information generated by the image processing unit 114 is stored in a storage medium attached to the image forming apparatus 1 such as an HDD. The image information generated by the image processing unit 114 is stored in the HDD or the like as it is according to a user instruction or transmitted to an external device via the input / output control unit 113 and the network I / F 108. Further, when the image processing apparatus 1 operates as a copying machine, the image processing unit 114 generates drawing information based on imaging information received by the engine control unit 112 from the scanner unit 102 or image information generated by the image processing unit 114. To do. Based on the drawing information, the engine control unit 112 drives the print engine 106 as in the case of the printer operation.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the client device 2 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the client device 2 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 201, an application 202, an information storage unit 203, a network I / F 204, a print output control unit 205, and a user I / F 206. The main control unit 201 is a control unit that controls the entire client device 2. The application 202 includes a text editor that generates and edits document information and software that has an image editing function that generates and edits image information. The information storage unit 203 is a non-volatile storage device that stores information in the client device 2, and includes an HDD, an optical storage device, or the like, and stores document information, image information, and the like generated by the application 202.

  The network I / F 204 is an interface when the client apparatus 2 communicates with other apparatuses via the network A. The print output control unit 205 controls processing when the client apparatus 2 uses the image processing system according to the present embodiment via the network A. The user I / F 206 is an interface for the user to operate the client device 2 or recognize the state of the client device 2, and includes a mouse, a keyboard, a display monitor, and the like. Of the components included in the client device 2, the main control unit 201, the application 202, the network I / F 204, and the print output control unit 205 are stored in a ROM or the like, similar to the controller 100 of the image formality device 1 shown in FIG. The control program is loaded into a RAM or the like, and is configured by a software control unit configured according to the control of the CPU and hardware such as an integrated circuit.

  Next, the print output control unit 205 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the print output control unit 205 includes an image processing function management unit 251, a session management unit 252, and an output destination information management unit 253. The image processing function management unit 251 manages image processing functions such as a page allocation function when the client apparatus 2 instructs print output and a color adjustment function when a full-color image is reduced to a two-color image or a monochrome image. FIG. 5 shows an example of the image processing function managed by the image processing function management unit 251. As shown in FIG. 5, examples of the image processing function managed by the image processing function management unit 251 include a page allocation function, a sort printing function, a thumbnail printing function, an enlargement / reduction function, a color adjustment function, a color reduction function, and information embedding. Function, moving image-still image extraction function, and the like.

  The page allocation function is a function for printing a plurality of pages by allocating them to one output sheet, and a function for printing by switching the order of pages and the direction of top, bottom, left and right for bookbinding. The sort printing function is a function for outputting a part of a single document instead of continuously outputting each page by the number of copies. The thumbnail printing function is a function for generating thumbnail pages by outputting thumbnail images obtained by reducing specified image information and outputting the thumbnail pages. The enlargement / reduction function is a function for enlarging and reducing specified image information and printing it out. The color adjustment function is a function of adjusting and outputting the hue, brightness, saturation, and the like of designated image information. The color reduction function is a function for converting image information drawn in full color into image information of two colors or single color. The information embedding function is a function of further embedding information in image information based on a digital watermark technique or the like and outputting it. The movie-still image extraction function is a function for extracting and printing out one scene included in the movie information as a still image, or a plurality of image information as continuous image information by extracting a plurality of still images from the movie information. Is a function to print out.

  The session management unit 252 manages a session establishment request to the session management server 3 and establishment of a session with the image forming apparatus 1 when the client apparatus 2 instructs print output. Therefore, the session management unit 252 establishes encrypted communication such as VPN address (Virtual Private Network) connection with the session management server or the image forming apparatus 1 and the network address information of the session management server 3 that is a request destination for session establishment. Encryption / decryption key information and the like. The output destination information management unit 253 manages information related to an image forming apparatus that finally outputs a sheet when the client apparatus 2 instructs printing output. That is, in this embodiment, the output destination information management unit 253 manages information related to the image forming apparatus 1. The information managed by the output destination information management unit 253 is, for example, the network address of the image forming apparatus 1. In addition, the print output control unit 205 includes a GUI for a print output instruction in the client device 2 such as an image processing function designation screen managed by the image processing function management unit 251 and an output destination designation screen for executing print output. (Graphical User Interface) and the like.

  Next, the session management server 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the session management server 3 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 301, a session management unit 302, a network I / F 303, and a device information DB 304. The main control unit 301 is a control unit that controls the entire session management server 3. The session management unit 302 establishes a session with the client apparatus 2 or establishes a session between the client apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 in response to a session establishment request from the client apparatus 2.

  Further, the session management unit 302 refers to the device information DB 304 and confirms whether the format of the image information related to the print output execution signal received from the client device 2 is a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1. Similarly, the session management unit 302 refers to the device information DB 304, and the image processing function (function described in FIG. 5) specified in the print output execution signal by the client device 2 can be provided by the image forming apparatus 1. Check whether or not. A network I / F 303 is an interface used when the session management server 3 communicates with other devices via the network B. The device information DB 304 is a database that stores information to be referred to when the session management unit 302 manages sessions and other processes.

  Here, an example of information included in the device information DB 304 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, in the device information DB 304, each device name, an ID for uniquely identifying each device, a network address of the device, encryption / decryption key information for encrypted communication, and power supply status And device status information indicating the connection status to the network. Further, when the corresponding apparatus is an image forming apparatus, information on the format of image information that can be recognized when the apparatus executes image formation and an image processing function supported by the apparatus (described in FIG. 5). Information on each function).

  The recognition format information shown in FIG. 7 is specified by the name of an application that generates image information, an extension such as “jpg”, “pdf”, and “doc”. Note that the information of the recognition format can be specified not only by an extension but also by a MIME type. The session management unit 302 refers to the device information DB 304 during a session establishment request from the client device 2 and a session establishment process between the client device 2 and the image forming device 1, and the network address of each device and key information for encrypted communication Store and retrieve.

  Next, the service management server 4 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the service management server 4 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 401, a service management unit 402, a network I / F 403, and a service management DB 404. The main control unit 401 is a control unit that controls the entire service management server 4.

  The service management unit 402 refers to the service management DB 404 and among the plurality of service providing servers 5 connected to the network B, information on the server that can recognize the format of the image information related to the print output execution signal by the client device 2. get. Similarly, the service management unit 402 refers to the service management DB 404, and information on the service providing server 5 that can execute the image processing function (the function described in FIG. 5) specified in the print output execution signal by the client apparatus 2. To get. The network I / F 403 is an interface used when the service management server 4 communicates with other devices via the network B. As described above, the service management DB 404 is a database that stores information regarding a plurality of service providing servers 5.

  Here, an example of information included in the service management DB 404 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, in the service management DB 404, each device name of the service providing server 5, an ID for uniquely identifying each service providing server 5, a network address of the server, and image information recognizable by each server are stored. Information on the format and information on image processing functions (each function described in FIG. 5) supported by each server are included. In the present embodiment, servers 5 a, 5 b, and 5 c are connected to the network B as the service providing server 5.

  The session management server 3 and the service management server 4 may be configured as an integrated device. Of the functions of the session management server 3, the functions of the session management unit 302 and the device information DB 304 may be provided in the service management server 4. Here, as a function of the session management unit 302 provided in the service management server 4, whether or not the format of the image information received from the client apparatus 2 is a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 is checked with reference to the apparatus information DB 304. It is a function to do. Further, it is a function for confirming whether or not the image processing function (the function described in FIG. 5) specified in the print output execution signal received from the client apparatus 2 is a function that can be provided by the image forming apparatus 1.

  Next, the service providing server 5 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the service providing server 5 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 501, a service providing unit 502, and a network I / F 503. The main control unit 501 is a control unit that controls the entire service providing server 5. The service providing unit 502 recognizes image information related to a print output execution signal from the client device 2 and converts the image information into a format recognizable by the image forming apparatus 1 that executes print output. Further, the service providing unit 502 executes image processing (processing related to the function described in FIG. 5) specified in the print output execution signal by the client device 2. The network I / F 503 is an interface used when the service providing server 5 communicates with other devices via the network B.

  Each configuration included in the session providing server 3, the service management server 4 and the service providing server 5 is similar to the controller 100 of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. And a software control unit configured according to the control of the CPU and hardware such as an integrated circuit.

  Next, management of the device state of the image forming apparatus 1 and the client device 2 by the session management server 3 will be described. When the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to the network A and the power is supplied, the input / output control unit 113 controls the network I / F 108 and transmits the apparatus status information of the image forming apparatus 1 to the session management server 3. The apparatus status information transmitted at this time includes, in addition to information indicating that the image forming apparatus 1 is ready to perform image formation, the remaining amount of toner or ink included in the print engine 106 and a paper feed table. The status information of the paper set in 105 is included. The session management server 3 that has received the apparatus status information from the image forming apparatus 1 registers the received information in the apparatus information DB 304.

  When the client apparatus 2 is connected to the network A and supplied with power, the print output control unit 205 transmits the apparatus status information of the client apparatus 2 to the session management server 3 as in the case of the image forming apparatus 1. The session management server 3 that has received the device status information from the client device 2 registers the received information in the device information DB 304. Through such operations, the session management server 3 recognizes that the image forming apparatus 1 or the client apparatus 2 is online and the status of each apparatus. The session management server 3 updates information in the device information DB 304 by periodically communicating with the image forming apparatus 1 and the client apparatus 2. The output destination information management unit 253 included in the print output control unit 205 of the client device 2 acquires information about the image forming apparatus 1 from the device information DB 304 of the session management unit 3 and manages the information.

  Next, referring to FIG. 11, as an operation of the image processing system according to the present embodiment, the client apparatus 2 designates the image forming apparatus 1 to instruct print output, and the image forming apparatus 1 executes print output. The operation until it is performed will be described. FIG. 11 shows a format in which the format of image information related to the print output execution signal by the client device 2 is recognizable in the image forming device 1, and the designated image processing can be executed in the image forming device 1. It is a sequence diagram which shows a case. When print output is instructed for image information drawn by the application 202 of the client apparatus 2 (S1101), the print output control unit 205 generates print output information according to the control of the main control unit 201 (S1102).

  FIG. 12 shows an example of information included in the print output information. As shown in FIG. 12, the print output information includes a header, image information to be printed, designated image processing information for designating image processing to be executed at the time of print output (processing related to the function described in FIG. 5), print It includes designated image forming apparatus information indicating an image forming apparatus to be output (image forming apparatus 1 in the present embodiment) and key information used in encrypted communication. When the print output control unit 205 generates the print output information, the main control unit 201 controls the network I / F 204 and transmits the generated print output information to the session management server 3 (S1103).

  The session management server 3 receives print output information via the network I / F 303. When print output information is input to the session management server 3, the session management unit 302 refers to the image information and the designated image forming apparatus information included in the print output information based on the control of the main control unit 301, and It is confirmed whether or not the format is recognizable by the designated image forming apparatus 1 (S1104). Further, the session management unit 302 refers to the designated image processing information and the designated image forming apparatus information included in the print output information, and confirms whether or not the designated image processing can be executed by the designated image forming apparatus 1. (S1104). In the confirmation in S1104, the session management unit 302 executes the above-described confirmation by acquiring information from the device information DB 304. In the example of FIG. 11, the session management unit 302 determines that image information can be recognized and image processing can be performed in the image forming apparatus 1.

  As a result of the confirmation in S1104, if the image forming apparatus 1 can execute the image processing in which the image information format related to the print output is recognizable and designated, the session management unit 302 confirms in S1104. The result is transmitted to the client device 2 (S1105). In addition, the session management unit 302 transmits a session establishment instruction with the client apparatus 2 to the image forming apparatus 1 via the network I / F 303 (S1106). The image forming apparatus 1 that has received the session establishment instruction transmits a session permission signal to the client apparatus 2 (S1107). The client apparatus 2 that has received the determination result from the session management server 3 and the session permission signal from the image forming apparatus 1 establishes a session with the image forming apparatus 1 (S1108).

  The session management server 3 transmits a session instruction after transmitting the determination result of S1104 (S1105) (S1106). Upon receiving the session instruction, the image forming apparatus 1 opens a port for the session. This opened port can become a security hole if left open. Accordingly, the determination in S1104 is “OK”, and the transmission of the determination result and the transmission of the session instruction to the image forming apparatus 1 can prevent the security in the image forming apparatus 1 from being lowered.

  When a session is established between the client apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 (S1108), in the client apparatus 2, the print output control unit 205 sends image information and designation to the image forming apparatus 1 via the network I / F 204. Image processing information is transmitted (S1109). The information transmitted here is the same information as the image information and the designated image processing information included in the print output information generated in S1102. In the image forming apparatus 1 that has received the image information and the designated image processing information, the image processing unit 114 executes image processing under the control of the main control unit 111, and the engine control unit 112 controls the print engine 106 to perform print processing. Is executed (S1110).

  When the format of the image information relating to the print output to be executed is a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 and the designated image processing is a process that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1, the image is processed by such processing. Printing output is executed by the forming apparatus 1. In the description of FIG. 11, the communication in S1103, S1105, S1107, and S1108 is performed on the signaling channel. On the other hand, the communication in S1109 is performed on the data channel. After S1104, the session management server 3 may transfer the print output information to the image forming apparatus 1 instead of transmitting the image information and the like from the client apparatus 2 to the image forming apparatus 1.

  Here, the format of the image information related to the print output to be executed is a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 that the image processing unit 114 included in the image forming apparatus 1 can recognize the image information. Indicates. When the image processing unit 114 cannot recognize the image information related to the print output, the print engine 106 cannot generate the drawing information for executing the image formation. It needs to be recognizable by the unit 114. Further, the fact that the designated image processing is a process that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1 indicates that the image processing unit 114 can execute the process. For example, when the image processing unit 114 generates drawing information based on image information to be printed and output, a function (page allocation function) that generates a plurality of pages as one page and generates drawing information, It shows that it has a function (thumbnail print function) etc. which produces | generates drawing information as a thumbnail based on image information.

  In the operation illustrated in FIG. 11, for example, when the toner or ink remaining amount of the image forming apparatus 1 is insufficient or when no paper is set on the paper feed table 105, the session management server 3 recognizes this in S 1104, Information to that effect is transmitted to the client device 2. As a result, the user operating the client apparatus 2 can recognize the state of the image forming apparatus 1 and replace the toner bottle, replenish paper, or the like. In such a case, the session management server 3 stands by without performing the session instruction transmission operation of S1105, and resumes the operation after the processing restart command from the client device 2 or the status information of the image forming apparatus 1 is updated.

  Next, the operation when the image information format related to the print output is a format that cannot be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 or when the designated image processing is a process that cannot be executed by the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Will be described with reference to FIG. When print output information is transmitted from the client apparatus 2 to the session management server 3 as in the case of FIG. 11 (S1301), the session management server recognizes whether or not the image information can be recognized in the image forming apparatus 1 and the designated image processing. It is determined whether or not execution is possible (S1302). In the example of FIG. 13, the session management unit 302 confirms that the image forming apparatus 1 cannot recognize the image information or execute the designated image processing.

  After confirmation in S1302, the main control unit 301 controls the network I / F 303 to transfer the print output information to the service management server 4 (S1303). At this time, the determination result information of S1302 and the command information of the proxy processing by the service providing server 5 are added to the print output information. The service management server 4 receives the transfer of the print output information via the network I / F 403. When receiving the transfer of the print output information, the service management server 4 searches for the service providing server 5 to which the received print output information is to be transferred (S1304). Specifically, based on the control of the main control unit 401, the service management unit 402 refers to the image information included in the print output information and includes the service providing server 5 that can recognize the format of the image information in the service management DB 404. The information is retrieved from the information (S1304). Further, the service management unit 402 refers to the designated image processing information included in the print output information, and searches the service management server 404 that can execute the designated image processing from the information included in the service management DB 404 (S1304). .

  When the service management unit 402 acquires information about the service providing server 5 through the search in S1304, the main control unit 401 controls the network I / F 403 to transfer the print output information to the service providing server 5 (S1305). The service providing server 5 receives the transfer of the print output information via the network I / F 503. When print output information is input to the service providing server 5, the service providing unit 502 converts the image information included in the print output information into a format that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 based on the control of the main control unit 501. Processing is executed (S1306). Also, the service providing unit 502 refers to the designated image processing information included in the print output information, and executes the designated image processing on the image information (S1306). When the service providing unit 502 completes the processing, the main control unit 501 controls the network I / F 503 and transmits print output information including image information subjected to image processing to the session management server 3 as a processing result of S1306 ( S1307)

  The session management server 3 acquires the processing result by the service providing server 5 via the network I / F 303. The main control unit 301 controls the network I / F 303 to transfer the print output information that is the processing result of the service providing server 5 to the image forming apparatus 1 (S1308). In the image forming apparatus 1 that has received the print output information, the image processing unit 114 executes image processing and the engine control unit 112 executes printing processing under the control of the main control unit 111 (S1309). As described above, even when the image information related to the print output is in a format that cannot be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1, it is possible to execute the print output based on the image information. Further, even when the image forming apparatus 1 does not support image processing specified in print output, print output accompanying the image processing can be executed.

  As described above, in the image processing system and the image forming method according to the present embodiment, when the client apparatus 2 outputs image information to be printed out, the image information can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1. There is no need to be. Further, when the client apparatus 2 outputs image information to be printed out, it is not necessary to perform designated image processing. Further, even if the image processing function is an image processing function that cannot be provided by the image forming apparatus 1, it can be provided via the service providing server 5. That is, it is possible to execute print output based on arbitrary image information or with arbitrary image processing without requiring the client apparatus 2 or the image forming apparatus 1 to have an image conversion function or image processing function related to print output. It becomes.

  Next, the operation of the session management server 3 in the operation described in FIGS. 11 and 13 will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, when the session management server 3 receives print output information from the client device 2 (S1401), in the session management server 3, the session management unit 302 searches the device information DB 304 under the control of the main control unit 301. (S1402). As described above, the search key in the search in S1402 is the image information, the specified image processing information, and the specified image forming apparatus information included in the print output information. The session management unit 302 confirms the apparatus state of the image forming apparatus (image forming apparatus 1 in this embodiment) extracted as a result of the search in S1402, and causes factors such as the remaining amount of toner or ink, the remaining amount of paper, and offline When the print output is impossible due to the above (S1403 / NO), the main control unit 301 controls the network I / F 303 to transmit information regarding the inability to execute the print output and the cause thereof to the client apparatus 2. (S1404). Thereafter, when the apparatus status information of the image forming apparatus 1 is updated and printing output is possible (S1403 / YES), the session management unit 302 displays the recognition format and corresponding function of the image forming apparatus extracted as a result of the search in S1402. Confirmation is made (S1405).

  As a result of the confirmation in S1405, when the image forming apparatus 1 can recognize the format of the image information included in the print output information, and the image forming apparatus 1 can execute the designated image processing (S1406 / YES), The session management unit 302 transmits a session instruction to the image forming apparatus 1 via the network I / F 303 (S1407). In addition, the session management unit 302 transmits the determination result in S1403 to the client apparatus 2 via the network I / F 303 (S1408), and ends the process.

  On the other hand, when the extracted image forming apparatus 1 is not capable of either recognition of the format of the image information and execution of the designated image processing in S1406 (S1406 / NO), the session management unit 302 Additional information including the determination result information of S1404, the image information format conversion command information included in the print output information, and the image processing execution command information specified in the print output information is generated (S1409). Here, the image information format conversion command includes information on the format of image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1. Then, the session management unit 302 transfers the print output information added with the generated additional information to the service management server 4 via the network I / F 303 (S1410). Thereafter, the session management unit 302 transmits the determination result in S1404 to the client apparatus 2 via the network I / F 303 (S1408), and the process is terminated. By such an operation of the session management server 3, the client device 2 can recognize whether or not the print output information can be directly input to the image forming apparatus 1. Further, the service management server 4 can search the service providing server 5 based on the received print output information and can entrust the processing.

  As described above, according to the image processing system according to the present embodiment, when executing print output accompanied by arbitrary image processing, the image processing function is requested to the transmission output command source terminal and the print output execution terminal. Therefore, print output with the image processing can be performed. Specifically, the session management server 3, the service management server 4, and the service providing server 5 are operated, so that the driver software corresponding to the image forming apparatus 1 that executes print output is not installed in the client apparatus 2. It is possible to execute print output from the image forming apparatus 1 based on arbitrary image information. Further, it is possible to execute print output with arbitrary image processing without requiring any function from the image forming apparatus 1.

  Further, according to the image processing system according to the present embodiment, the print output control unit 205 configured in the client apparatus 2 does not convert the image information to be printed out into a format corresponding to the image forming apparatus 1. The main function is to communicate with the session management server 3. Therefore, the configuration can be simplified compared to conventional driver software for converting image information. Further, when a plurality of image forming apparatuses are used, it is not necessary to correspond to each image forming apparatus 1. Accordingly, by configuring the single print output control unit 205, a plurality of image forming apparatuses can be used.

  In the above description, an example in which image information is included as print output information has been described. However, the image information itself may not be included, but an information format such as an extension of the print output target image information, application name information, or the like may be included. Whether or not the image information can be recognized by the image forming apparatus 1 can be determined not by the image information itself but by the information format and application information. An example of operation in such a case is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, the service management server 4 operates in the same manner as in the example of FIG. 13 until an executable server is searched. When a service providing server capable of executing image processing is extracted in the service management server 4, the service management server 4 transmits the search result to the session management server 3 (S1505). The session management server 3 that has received the search result from the service management server 4 transmits a determination result of whether or not image processing is possible to the client device 2 (S1506). This determination result includes information on the search result in S1504. Specifically, the determination result includes the extracted network address of the service providing server 5 and key information used for encrypted communication. Further, the session management server 3 transmits a session instruction with the client device 2 to the extracted service providing server 5 (S1507).

  The service providing server 5 that has received the session instruction establishes a session with the client device 2 (S1508). Further, the client device 2 establishes a session with the service providing server 5 (S1509). When a session is established between the client device 2 and the service providing server 5, the client device 2 transmits image information and designated image processing information (hereinafter referred to as image processing information) to the service providing server 5. (S1510). The service providing server 5 that has received the image information and the designated image processing information executes format conversion of the image information and the designated image processing (S1511), and transmits the processing result to the session management server 3 (S1512). Thereafter, the same operation as S1308 and subsequent steps in FIG. 13 is performed, and print output is executed.

  In this way, by determining whether or not the image information format can be recognized based on format information such as an extension and application information instead of the image information itself, the number of times that the image information itself is transferred to the network can be reduced. It becomes possible to reduce the network load and the processing load of the session management server and service management server. In the above case, key information corresponding to each service providing server 5 is stored in the service management DB 404 in order to establish a session between the client apparatus 2 and the service management server 5 and to perform encrypted communication. Is preferred.

  In the above description, an example in which one service providing server 5 is extracted in the service management server 4 and image information format conversion and designated image processing are executed in the service providing server 5 has been described. In addition, the image information format conversion process may be executed in one service providing server and the image information processing specified in the other service providing server may be executed. Further, when a plurality of image processes are designated, one image process may be executed by one service providing server and another image process may be executed by another service providing server. Such a case can be realized, for example, by the service management server 4 adding information related to the transfer order of the plurality of service providing servers 5 to the print output information. With such a configuration, image processing can be distributed and executed by a plurality of servers.

  In the above description, an example has been described in which the service management server 4 identifies the service providing server 5 and print output information is transferred to the identified server. In addition, when the service management server 4 is not provided and it is determined in S1406 in FIG. 14 that image information recognition or image processing cannot be performed, the print output information is sequentially transferred to the plurality of service providing servers 5. Also good. In this case, information related to the service providing server 5 is also registered in the device information DB 304 of the session management server 3. By returning the processing result to the session management server 3 when the conversion of the image information format and the designated image processing are completed, the same effect as described above can be obtained. An example of the operation in such a case is shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 16, an example is shown in which image information format conversion is executed in the service providing server 5a and image processing specified in the service providing server 5b is executed.

  When the session management server 3 determines whether or not image information can be recognized and whether or not image processing can be performed, and the transfer to the service providing server 5 is determined, the session management server 3 can select any server from the plurality of service providing servers 5a. (In this example, the service providing server 5a) is selected, and the print output information is transferred (S1603). The service providing server 5a that has received the print output information refers to the image information included in the received print output information and information related to the designated image processing, and performs an executable process. In this embodiment, image information format conversion processing is executed (S1604). When the service providing server 5a finishes the executable process in the received print output information, the service providing server 5a transfers the print output information to the next service providing server 5b (S1605). The server transfer order may be determined in advance, or may be determined with reference to the operating state of the server at the time of transfer.

  The service providing server 5b that has received the transfer of the print output information performs an executable process in the same manner as the service providing server 5a. In this embodiment, the designated image processing is executed (S1606). When the service providing server 5a confirms that all of the image processing specified in the print output information has been completed, the service providing server 5a transmits the processing result information to the session management server 3 (S1607). Thereafter, the same operation as S1308 and subsequent steps in FIG. 13 is performed, and print output is executed. By such processing, the same effect as described above can be obtained without providing a service management server.

  Another aspect of the example described in FIG. 16 is shown in FIG. The service providing server 5a that has received the print output information from the session management server 3 determines whether or not the format conversion of the image information included in the print output information and the processing of the designated image processing are possible (S1704). If not, the print output information is transferred to the service providing server 5b without performing any processing (S1705). The service providing server 5b that has received the transfer of the print output information determines whether or not processing is possible (S1706) and executes executable processing (S1707) in the same manner as the service providing server 5a. When necessary processing is completed in the print output information, the processing result is transmitted to the session management server 3 (S1708), and the subsequent operation is the same as in S1308 and subsequent steps in FIG. 13, and print output is executed.

  In the above description, the example in which the print output control unit 205 is configured in the client apparatus 2 has been described. In addition, the session management server 3, the service management server 4, or another server connected to the network B may provide a function corresponding to the print output control unit 205 as a WEB service. Thus, the user can realize the same function as described above by accessing the WEB service via the general WEB browser in the client device 2.

  Further, instead of the entire print output control unit 205, some of the functions shown in FIG. 4 may be provided via a network. For example, it is conceivable that the number of image processing functions to be managed by the image processing function management unit 251 increases due to the addition of the service providing server 5 or the function expansion. Accordingly, by providing a function corresponding to the image processing function management unit 251 from the network B side, when the service providing server 5 is expanded or expanded, the software that configures the print output control unit 205 in the client device 2 is provided. There is no need to upgrade. Further, the GUI of the image processing function management unit 251 may be provided from the network B side. In addition, as described above, even when the print output control unit 205 is configured in the client device 2, the function update by the user can be performed by updating the software configuring the print output control unit 205 via the network. Time and effort can be reduced.

  In the above description, an example has been described in which the service management server 4 has the service management DB 404 and searches the service management DB 404 in S1304 of FIG. In addition, the service management server 4 provides image information formats and information that can be recognized by each server from a plurality of service providing servers 5 connected to the network B by an information exchange protocol such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). Information on possible functions (functions described in FIG. 5) may be acquired.

  In the above description, an example in which a print output instruction is executed from the application 202 has been described. However, image formation can also be executed based on image information stored in the information storage unit 203. In particular, when a function corresponding to the print output control unit 205 is provided by a WEB service or the like from a server connected to the network B, the image information stored in the information storage unit 203 of the client device 2 is transmitted via the WEB browser. By uploading, it is possible to obtain the same effect as above

  In the above description, an example in which the session management server 3, the service management server 4, and the service providing server 5 are provided in the network B has been described. Not limited to this, all the functions of the session management server 3, the service management server 4 and the service providing server 5 may be provided by a single server, or some of the functions such as the session management server 3 and the service management server 4 may be provided. You may make it implement | achieve with one server. Further, the server configuration may be distributed and realized more than the example described above.

  In the above description, as described with reference to FIG. 12, the example in which the designated image forming apparatus information is included in the print output information transmitted from the client apparatus 2 to the session management server 3 has been described. Accordingly, as described in S1406 of FIG. 14, the session management server 3 transmits / receives image information directly between the client apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 to execute image formation, or the service providing server 5 After executing the image processing, it is possible to determine whether the information after the image processing is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1.

  In addition, the designated image forming apparatus information is not included in the print output information, and the session management server 3 may transfer all the received print output information to the service management server 4. Further, the session management server 3 performs image formation by directly transmitting / receiving image information between the client apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 based on the format of the image information included in the received print output information, It may be determined whether information after image processing is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1 after image processing is executed in the service providing server 5. In these aspects, for example, image forming apparatuses that can be used in image formation executed via the session management server 3 are limited, and the format of image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus is known in advance. It is particularly effective in such as.

  In such a case, any one of the session management server 3, the service management server 4, and the service providing server 5 transmits information generated by the image processing to the client device 2, and the client device 2 receives an arbitrary image forming device. By transmitting the information after the image processing to 1, it is possible to execute image formation. The service providing server 5 may store the information generated by the image processing in a storage area such as a server connected to the network B, and notify the client device 2 of the storage location. As a result, the client apparatus 2 can execute image formation by acquiring information after image processing from the storage destination and transmitting the information after image processing to an arbitrary image forming apparatus 1. It becomes possible.

  Further, the client apparatus 2 that has received the notification of the storage destination notifies the arbitrary image forming apparatus 1 of the storage destination of the information after the image processing, and the image forming apparatus 1 that has received the notification from the storage destination It is also possible to acquire information and execute image formation. Further, the storage location of the information after the image processing is displayed on the display unit of the client device 2, and the user who confirms that information operates the image forming device 1 to acquire the information after the image processing, thereby forming the image. It is also possible to execute. Thereby, for example, for a plurality of print jobs, after image processing, information after the image processing is temporarily stored in a server or the like connected to the network B, and a predetermined number of jobs are accumulated. In addition, it is possible to perform an operation in which image formation relating to a plurality of print jobs is executed collectively at predetermined time intervals or according to user operations.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment, the service user's office LAN has been described as an example of the network A. In the present embodiment, when the client device 2 is a mobile terminal such as a notebook PC and is connected to another network outside the office LAN (network A in the first embodiment) instead of the normally connected office LAN, the other An example of using an image forming apparatus connected to the network will be described. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 1, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 18 shows a system configuration of the image processing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 18, the client device 2 according to the present embodiment is a portable terminal such as a notebook PC. In the present embodiment, in addition to the network A to which the client apparatus 2 is normally connected, a network D to which the client apparatus 2 is connected at the outside is also connected via the communication line network C. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 connected to the network A is the image forming apparatus 1a, the image forming apparatus 1 connected to the network D is the image forming apparatus 1b, and the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b are Both have the configuration described in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment. When the client apparatus 2 executes print output from the image forming apparatus 1a, the print output is executed in the same manner as described in the first embodiment.

  Next, in the image processing system according to the present embodiment, an example in which the client apparatus 2 is connected to the network D that is a destination and the print output is executed using the image forming apparatus 1b will be described. Also in the present embodiment, image formation is performed in the same manner as the operation described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 13 of the first embodiment. Here, the present embodiment is characterized in the print output information generation operation shown in FIG. In the first embodiment, the print output information is generated by designating the image forming apparatus 1 as the designated image forming apparatus information shown in FIG. In this embodiment, by designating the image forming apparatus 1b connected to the network D as the designated image forming apparatus information, printing output by the image forming apparatus 1b is enabled.

  FIG. 19 shows an example of information included in the device information DB 304 of the session management server 3 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 19, the apparatus information DB 304 according to the present embodiment includes information on the image forming apparatus 1b. Registration of information in the device information DB 304 is executed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The print output control unit 205 included in the client device 2 acquires information about the image forming apparatus 1b such as the network address of the image forming apparatus 1b from the apparatus information DB 304. As a result, when the print output information is generated in the client apparatus 2, the image forming apparatus 1b can be designated as the designated image forming apparatus information. Thereafter, the printing operation is executed from the image forming apparatus 1b by operating in the same manner as in FIG.

  As described above, according to the image processing system of the present embodiment, new driver software installation can be performed even when printing output is performed using an image forming apparatus that is not normally used on the go. For example, it is possible to execute print output without requiring any other process.

  In the above description, an example in which the print output control unit 205 acquires information about the image forming apparatus 1b from the apparatus information DB 304 of the session management server 3 has been described. In addition, the printer information connected to the LAN may be acquired by an information exchange protocol such as SOAP. Thereby, for example, when information on many image forming apparatuses is registered in the apparatus information DB 304, it is possible to acquire only information on apparatuses connected to the same subnet. That is, it is possible to efficiently acquire information on nearby image forming apparatuses.

  In the above description, an example has been described in which print output is executed using image forming apparatuses connected to the same LAN. In addition, for example, when the client device 2 connected to the network A accesses the session management server 3, it is possible to acquire information on the image forming device 1 b connected to the network D. Therefore, even when the client apparatus 2 is connected to the network A, it is possible to execute print output by designating the image forming apparatus 1b. Such an operation makes it possible to use the print output as a function equivalent to a facsimile.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the example in which only the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to the network A and the client apparatus 2 executes print output using the image forming apparatus 1 has been described. In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to the same LAN, and one image forming apparatus is selected from the plurality of image forming apparatuses and print output is executed. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 1, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 20 shows a system configuration of the image processing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 20, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d are connected to the network A according to the present embodiment. In other words, the client device 2 can select an arbitrary device from the image forming devices 1a, 1c, and 1d and execute image formation. The image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d all have the configuration described in FIG.

  Next, an example in which the client apparatus 2 selects one of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d and executes print output in the image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described. Also in the present embodiment, image formation is performed in the same manner as the operation described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 13 of the first embodiment. Here, the present embodiment is characterized in the print output information generation operation shown in FIG. That is, in the first embodiment, print output information is generated by designating the image forming apparatus 1 as the designated image forming apparatus information shown in FIG. In this embodiment, print output information is generated by designating any one of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d as designated image forming apparatus information.

  FIG. 21 shows an example of information included in the device information DB 304 of the session management server 3 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 21, the apparatus information DB 304 according to the present embodiment includes information on the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d. Registration of information in the device information DB 304 is executed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The print output control unit 205 included in the client apparatus 2 acquires the network addresses and the like of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d from the apparatus information DB 304. As a result, when the print output information is generated in the client apparatus 2, any of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d can be specified as the specified image forming apparatus information. Thereafter, the printing operation is executed from the image forming apparatus 1b by operating in the same manner as in FIG.

  As described above, according to the image processing system of the present embodiment, it is possible to select one device from a plurality of image forming devices and execute print output. Also in this case, the print output control unit 205 configured in the client apparatus 2 is common to each image forming apparatus, and installs driver software corresponding to each image forming apparatus as in the past. There is no need.

  In the above description, an example in which the print output control unit 205 acquires information related to the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d from the apparatus information DB 304 of the session management server 3 has been described. In addition, the printer information connected to the LAN may be acquired by an information exchange protocol such as SOAP.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the third embodiment, the example in which the plurality of image forming apparatuses all have the same configuration has been described. Here, some image forming apparatuses such as a fusion machine can execute post-processing such as stapling, punching, bookbinding, and bending. These functions are realized by the hardware configuration of the apparatus. Therefore, in order to execute these post-processing functions, hardware corresponding to each function is required. In addition to the post-processing function, double-sided printing or the like requires a hardware function for inverting paper. When a plurality of image forming apparatuses are operated, each image forming apparatus has a different function and may be used properly according to the application. In the present embodiment, a case where a plurality of image forming apparatuses have different functions and configurations will be described as an example. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 3, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The image processing system according to the present embodiment has a configuration generally equivalent to the configuration shown in FIG. Here, in addition to the configuration described in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d according to the present embodiment have different post-processing functions and a hardware configuration for realizing the functions. The apparatus information DB 304 of the session management server 3 also stores information regarding hardware functions of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d. An example of information held by the device information DB 304 according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 21, the apparatus information DB 304 according to the present embodiment includes information on the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d. The apparatus information DB 304 according to the present embodiment includes information on hardware functions of the image forming apparatuses 1a, 1c, and 1d in addition to the functions described in FIG. 5 of the first embodiment as the corresponding function information.

  Next, the print output control unit 205 of the client device 2 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the print output control unit 205 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the print output control unit 205 according to the present embodiment includes a hardware function management unit 254 in addition to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 5. The hardware function management unit 254 manages hardware functions such as double-sided printing and stapling when the client apparatus 2 instructs printing output. FIG. 23 shows an example of hardware functions managed by the hardware function management unit 254. As shown in FIG. 23, examples of hardware functions include a double-sided printing function, a stapling function, a bookbinding function, a folding function, and a punching function. The hardware function information can be registered in the hardware function management unit 254 when the print output control unit 205 downloads from the session management unit 3.

  Next, an image forming operation according to the image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, after the session management server 3 determines in S1403 shown in FIG. 14 that the designated image forming apparatus is in a printable state (S1403 / YES), the recognition format and the corresponding function confirmation process Before proceeding to (S1405), it is determined whether or not the hardware function is designated and whether or not the hardware function can be executed in the designated image forming apparatus. FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the above operation.

  As shown in FIG. 24, when the session management server 3 determines that printing output is possible (S2401), the session management unit 302 performs processing related to the hardware function in the received print output information (processing described in FIG. 23). Is checked (S2402). When the process related to the hardware function is not specified in the print output information (S2402 / NO), the session management unit 302 continues the process after S1405 in FIG. 14 (S2406) and ends the process. On the other hand, when the process related to the hardware function is specified (S2402 / YES), the session management unit 302 refers to the apparatus information DB 304 to the image forming apparatus for which the specified hardware function is specified. Whether or not it can be executed (S2403). If the designated hardware function can be executed in the designated image forming apparatus (S2403 / NO), the session management unit 302 continues the processing from S1405 in FIG. 14 (S2406) and ends the processing. To do.

  When the hardware function designated in the print output information is not executable in the designated image forming apparatus (S2402 / YES), the session management unit 302 refers to the apparatus information DB 304 and designates the designation shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus information is switched to an image forming apparatus that can execute the designated hardware function. In addition, the session management unit 302 notifies the client device 2 that the switching process shown in S2404 has been executed. Thereafter, the session management unit 302 continues the processing from S1405 onward in FIG. 14 (S2406) and ends the processing. By such processing, even when an image forming apparatus that cannot execute the hardware function specified in the print output information is specified, an appropriate image forming apparatus is selected and the specified hardware function is selected. It is possible to execute print output accompanied by the processing related to the above. Further, since the information regarding the changed image forming apparatus is notified to the client apparatus 2, the output destination is not changed to another image forming apparatus without the user's recognition.

  As described in the second embodiment, the apparatus information DB 304 of the session management server 3 may store information about image forming apparatuses connected to different locations and different networks. Therefore, in the switching process of S2404, it is preferable to permit switching of the output destination only to an image forming apparatus installed in a nearby place, for example, connected to the same subnet. In addition, by including information on the location where each image forming apparatus is installed in the apparatus information DB 304, it is possible to more suitably switch the output destination. Further, when there are a plurality of apparatuses that are capable of executing a designated hardware function and are installed in a nearby place, the apparatus state is based on the apparatus state stored in the apparatus information DB 304. It may also be possible to make a determination, or by notifying the client device 2, the user may be notified and selected.

  In the above description, it is assumed that there is an image forming apparatus that can execute the specified hardware function process. However, there is an apparatus that can execute the specified hardware function process. It may not be. In such a case, the print output may be continued without executing the hardware function process, or the print output may be interrupted. It is preferable to notify the client apparatus 2 that there is no apparatus capable of executing the designated hardware function processing in either case of continuing or interrupting the print output. As a result, it is possible to allow the user to select whether to continue the print output by omitting the hardware function processing or to cancel the print output.

  Also, the hardware functions that can be specified in the print output control unit 205 of the client apparatus 2 are limited to functions that can be provided by image forming apparatuses connected to the same subnet or other image forming apparatuses installed in nearby locations. As a result, after print output information is generated and input to the session management unit 3, it is possible to avoid a state in which no device capable of executing the designated hardware function processing exists in the vicinity.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
In this embodiment, another operation mode of the image processing system will be described. In FIG. 15 of the first embodiment, an example in which image processing is executed by one service providing server 5 (S1511) and print output is executed in the image forming apparatus 1 has been described. However, image processing may be required in each of a plurality of different service providing servers 5. In this embodiment, such a case will be described. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 1, 2, 3 and 5, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 25 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation of the image processing system according to the present embodiment. In S2501 to S2503, processing is executed in the same manner as S1501 to S1503 in FIG. 15, and the print output information is transferred to the service management server 4 (S2503). When receiving the transfer of the print output information, the service management server 4 refers to the service management DB 404 shown in FIG. 9 and searches for the service providing server 5 to which the received print output information is to be transferred.

  Here, in this embodiment, since a plurality of image processes are required, the service management server 4 extracts a plurality of service providing servers 5 by the search process. When a plurality of service providing servers 5 to which the print output information is to be transferred are extracted, the service management server 4 performs the order in which each image processing is executed, that is, the path for transferring the image information to be processed to each service providing server 5. Is determined (S2504).

  When determining the route, the service management server 4 transmits information on the determined route to the session management server 3 (S2505). The session management server 3 that has received the route information from the service management server 4 transmits the determined route information to the client device 2 (S2506). The information transmitted in S2506 includes the extracted network address of the service providing server 5 and key information used for encrypted communication. In addition, the session management server 3 transmits a session instruction with the client device 2 to the server that first executes image processing among the plurality of service providing servers 5 included in the route information (S2507).

  In S2508 to S2510, processing is executed similarly to S1508 to S2510 in FIG. 15, and image information and image processing information are input to the service providing server 5 (S2510). The information input in S2510 includes the determined route information. The service providing server 5 to which image information and image processing information are input is a server that first performs image processing on the route information.

  The service providing server 5 that has received the image information and the designated image processing information executes format conversion of the image information or designated image processing (S2511). When the service providing server 5 completes the designated process, the service providing server 5 refers to the route information and transmits the image information and the image processing information to the service providing server 5 to execute the process next. At this time, a session is established between the server that transmits information and the server that receives information under the control of the session management server 3, and information is transmitted.

  Also in S2512, the other service providing server 5 executes the image processing in response to the reception of the image information and the image processing information. As a result of the processing executed by each service providing server 5 according to the path information, when the processing at the last server is completed, the service providing server 5 that has completed the processing uses the information generated as a result of the processing to the image forming apparatus 1. (S2513). At this time, a session is established between the service providing server 5 that transmits information and the image forming apparatus 1 under the control of the session management server 3, and information is transmitted. The image forming apparatus 1 that has received the processing result information from the service providing server 5 executes printout in the same manner as in S1309 in FIG. 13 (S2514).

  In the example of FIG. 25, a case where image processing is executed in each of the two service providing servers 5 is described as an example. In addition, depending on the required format conversion or image processing, the processing may be executed in each of the three or more service providing servers 5. Even in this case, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  Next, information exchange between apparatuses in the processing from S2510 to S2513 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 26 is a sequence diagram showing details of the processing from S2510 to S2513 in FIG. In the example of FIG. 25, a case where the service providing servers 5a and 5b are included in the route information determined by the service management server 4 will be described. In the route information, it is assumed that routes are determined in the order of the service providing servers 5a and 5b.

  When the service providing server 5a receives the image information and the image processing information transmitted by the client device 1 in S2510 of FIG. 25 (S2601), the service providing server 5a executes the designated processing (S2602). When the processing is completed, the service providing server 5a transmits a session request to the session management server 3 (S2603). The session request transmitted by the service providing server 5a in S2603 is information requesting a session with the service providing server 5b to which image information and image processing information are to be transferred next.

  The session management server 3 that has received the session request from the service providing server 5a transmits a session instruction to the service providing server 5b (S2604). The service providing server 5b receives a session instruction from the session management server 3, and establishes a session with the service providing server 5a (S2605). At the same time, the service providing server 5a establishes a session with the service providing server 5b (S2606). When the session is established with the service providing server 5b, the service providing server 5a transmits the image information and the image processing information after the image processing is completed to the service providing server 5b (S2607).

  The service providing server 5b that has received the information from the service providing server 5a executes the designated process (S2608). When the processing is completed, the service providing server 5b transmits a session request to the session management server 3 (S2609). The session request transmitted by the service providing server 5b in S2609 is information for requesting a session with the image forming apparatus 1 to which image information and image processing information are to be transferred next.

  The session management server 3 that has received the session request from the service providing server 5b transmits a session instruction to the image forming apparatus 1 (S2610). When the image forming apparatus 1 receives the session instruction, the service providing server 5 establishes a session with the image forming apparatus 1 (S2611). When a session is established with the image forming apparatus 1, the service providing server 5b transmits information on a processing result after image processing is completed to the image forming apparatus 1 (S2612).

  By such processing, necessary format conversion or image processing is executed in each of the plurality of service providing servers 5. As a result, printing output in the image forming apparatus 1 becomes possible.

  Here, as described with reference to FIG. 25, the session management server 3 receives the route information from the service management server 4. That is, the service management server 4 can refer to the route information in the processing in FIG. On the other hand, in the description of FIG. 26, the case where the service providing servers 5a and 5b transmit a session request after completing the processing has been described as an example (S2603, S2609). However, the information transmitted in S2603 and S2609 may be information notifying that the processing in each of the service providing servers 5a and 5b has been completed. As described above, since the session management server 3 can refer to the route information, it is possible to transmit a session instruction to the next service providing server 5 in response to the processing completion notification from each service providing server 5. is there.

Embodiment 6 FIG.
In the present embodiment, another example of the process described in FIG. 26 according to the fifth embodiment will be described. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 5, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 27 is a sequence diagram showing details of the processing from S2506 to S2515 shown in FIG. 25 in the image processing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 27, when the session management server 3 acquires route information from the service management server 4 (S2701), the session management server 3 refers to the route information and transmits an information acquisition instruction to the service providing server 5a (S2702).

  The information transmitted in S2702 is information instructing to acquire image information and image processing information from the client device 2. The information transmitted in S2702 includes information indicating an area where image information and image processing information are stored in the client apparatus 2. As information indicating the area, for example, information such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) can be used.

  The service providing server 5a that has received the information acquisition instruction from the session management server 3 acquires image information and image processing information from the client device 2 based on the acquired acquisition instruction (S2703). In other words, the service providing server 5 a downloads image information and image processing information from the client device 2 in response to an acquisition instruction from the session management server 3. When acquiring the image information and the image processing information, the service providing server 5a executes the designated processing (S2704). When the process is completed, the service providing server 5a notifies the session management server 3 of the completion of the process (S2705).

  The session management server 3 that has received the process completion notification from the service providing server 5a refers to the route information, and transmits an information acquisition instruction to the service providing server 5b that is to execute the next process (S2706). The information transmitted in S2706 is information instructing to acquire image information and image processing information from the service providing server 5a. The information transmitted in S2706 includes information indicating an area where image information and image processing information are stored in the service providing server 5a.

  Receiving the information acquisition instruction, the service providing server 5b transmits a processing result acquisition request to the service providing server 5a (S2707). Receiving the acquisition request from the service providing server 5b, the service providing server 5a transmits the image information and the image processing information as a result of executing the processing of S2704 to the service providing server 5b (S2708). In other words, the service providing server 5b downloads image processing result information from the service providing server 5a in S2707 and S2708.

  When the service providing server 5b acquires the image information and the image processing information from the service providing server 5a, the service providing server 5b executes the designated process (S2709). When the process is completed, the service providing server 5a notifies the session management server 3 of the completion of the process (S2710).

  Upon receiving the processing completion notification from the service providing server 5b, the session management server 3 refers to the route information and transmits an information acquisition instruction to the image forming apparatus 1 that finally executes print output (S2711). The information transmitted in S2711 is information instructing to acquire image information and image processing information from the service providing server 5b. The information transmitted in S2711 includes information indicating an area where image information and image processing information are stored in the service providing server 5b.

  Receiving the information acquisition instruction, the image forming apparatus 1 transmits a processing result acquisition request to the service providing server 5b (S2712). The service providing server 5b that has received the acquisition request from the image forming apparatus 1 transmits image information and image processing information as a result of executing the processing of S2709 to the image forming apparatus 1 (S2713). In other words, the image forming apparatus 1 downloads information on the image processing result from the service providing server 5b in S2712 and S2713. When the image forming apparatus 1 acquires the image information and the image processing information from the service providing server 5b, the image forming apparatus 1 executes printout (S2714).

  By such processing, information can be transferred among the client apparatus 2, the service providing servers 5a and 5b, and the image forming apparatus 1 in the same manner as the aspect described in FIG. In this embodiment, when information is transferred between devices, the information receiving device downloads the information from the device that transfers information.

  In the download executed as information transfer means in FIG. 27, the information is encrypted and transmitted / received. For example, when the image processing (S2704) is completed in S2704, the service providing server 5a encrypts the processing result information and the image processing information using a predetermined encryption key. Then, at the time of processing completion notification to the session management server 3 (S2705), the encryption key is notified at the same time. Furthermore, the session management server 3 simultaneously notifies the encryption key when transmitting an information acquisition instruction to the service providing server 5b (S2706).

  The service providing server 5b acquires information from the service providing server 5a using the encryption key received from the session management server 3 (S2707, S2708). By such processing, it is possible to safely transmit and receive information. Such processing is similarly executed in the processing in S2703 and the processing in S2712 and S2713.

Embodiment 7 FIG.
In the first to sixth embodiments, the example on the premise that print output is finally executed in the image forming apparatus 1 has been described. However, the service providing server 5 can also provide services other than services based on print output. In the present embodiment, such an aspect will be described. In addition, about the structure which attaches | subjects the code | symbol similar to Embodiment 1 thru | or 6, the same or equivalent part as Embodiment 1 is shown, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 28 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation of the image processing system according to the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 28, an example in which the image forming apparatus 1 performs a scan based on a command from the client apparatus 2 will be described. In the example of FIG. 28, an example in which OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is performed on image information generated by scanning and stored as character information will be described. The OCR process according to the present embodiment means a process of recognizing characters included in input image information, not optical, that is, character recognition by scanning a document.

  As shown in FIG. 28, when the user operates the client apparatus 2, the client apparatus 2 transmits a scan command to the image forming apparatus 1 (S2801). The information transmitted in S2801 includes information instructing execution of OCR in addition to the scan command. The image forming apparatus 1 executes a scan in response to a scan command from the client apparatus 2 (S2802).

  As described above, the scan command includes an OCR execution instruction. Accordingly, when the image forming apparatus 1 completes scanning and generates image information, the image forming apparatus 1 transmits image processing information for designating OCR to the session management server 3 in order to execute OCR (S2803). Upon receiving the image processing information, the session management server 3 transfers the image processing information to the service management server 4 in order to identify the service providing server 5 that can execute the designated processing (S2804).

  Upon receiving the image processing information from the session management server 3, the service management server 4 searches for the service providing server 5 that can execute the designated processing (S2805). In the present embodiment, the service providing server 5 capable of executing OCR is searched. When the service management server 4 searches for the service providing server 5 capable of executing OCR, the service management server 4 transmits the search result to the session management server 3 (S2806).

  Upon receiving the search result from the service management server 4, the session management server 3 transmits the search result to the image forming apparatus 1 (S2807). The search results transmitted in S2806 and S2807 include the network address of the searched service providing server 5 and key information used for encrypted communication as the search result information in S2805. In addition, the session management server 3 transmits a session instruction with the image forming apparatus 1 to the extracted service providing server 5 (S2808).

  The service providing server 5 that has received the session instruction establishes a session with the image forming apparatus 1 (S2809). Further, the image forming apparatus 1 establishes a session with the service providing server 5 (S2810). When a session is established between the image forming apparatus 1 and the service providing server 5, the image forming apparatus 1 transmits image information generated by scanning and image processing information specifying OCR to the service providing server 5. (S2811). The service providing server 5 that has received the image information and the image processing information executes OCR, which is a designated process (S2812), and generates character information.

  When the service providing server 5 completes the designated process, the service providing server 5 transmits character information, which is information on the processing result, to the session management server 3 (S2813). The session management server 3 that has received the processing result information transmits the received processing result information to the client device 2 (S2814). The client device 2 stores the character information that is the processing result information received from the session management server 3 (S2815). By such processing, even when scanning is performed using the image forming apparatus 1 without a character recognition function, it is possible to easily execute character recognition processing and obtain character information.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the image forming apparatus 1 performs a scan based on the command of the client apparatus 2 has been described as an example. In addition, the user may directly scan the image forming apparatus 1 to execute scanning. In the above embodiment, the case where character information generated by scanning and OCR processing is stored in the client apparatus 2 as a result has been described as an example. In addition, the result storage location may be a device other than the client device 2. For example, the result may be stored in a recording medium provided in the image forming apparatus 1 or a file server (not shown).

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, OCR process was demonstrated as an example as an image process made the service provision server 5 perform. In addition, any process that can be executed on software, such as the process described in FIG. 5, can be applied in the same manner as described above.

  In the above embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 28, an example has been described in which a session is established between the image forming apparatus 1 and the service providing server 5 when image information is input to the service providing server 5. In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 27, the service providing server 5 may download image information from the image forming apparatus 1.

In the above embodiment, an example in which image processing is executed in one service providing server 5 has been described. In addition, as described with reference to FIGS. 26 and 27, image processing may be executed in a plurality of service providing servers.
Other embodiments.

  In addition to the embodiment described above, various services are possible. For example, in the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the network A is a LAN of a service base such as a convenience store in which the image forming apparatus 1 is installed. In such a case, a terminal such as a PC installed at home is connected to the communication line network C, the print forming information is transmitted to the session management server 3 by designating the image forming apparatus 1 at the service base at home. Thus, even in a home that does not have an image forming apparatus at home, it is possible to execute print output to the image forming apparatus 1 at the service base. After executing the print output, the user can achieve the purpose by collecting the paper output to the service base. In addition, when a portable terminal such as a notebook PC is provided, the object can be similarly achieved by the same processing as in the second embodiment by connecting the portable terminal to the network A at the service base. . With such a service form, it is possible to easily perform print output using a large-sized and multifunctional image forming apparatus that is not suitable for installation in an individual home.

  In the image processing apparatus system according to the present invention, the service provider can easily provide a new image processing function by adding the service providing server 5 or expanding the function of the service providing server 5. Become. Thus, the user can use a new function without changing or adding a device.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the client apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the print output control part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the image processing function which the image processing function management part which concerns on embodiment of this invention manages. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the session management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in apparatus information DB which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the service management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in the service management DB which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the service provision server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in the print output information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the session management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in apparatus information DB which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in apparatus information DB which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the print output control part which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware function which the hardware function management part which concerns on other embodiment of this invention manages. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the session management server 3 which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d Image forming apparatus 2 Client apparatus 3 Session management server 4 Service management server 5, 5a, 5b, 5c Service providing server 100 Controller 101 ADF
102 Scanner unit 103 Paper discharge tray 104 Display panel 105 Paper feed table 106 Print engine 107 Paper discharge tray 108 Network I / F
111 Main Control Unit 112 Engine Control Unit 113 Input / Output Control Unit 114 Image Processing Unit 115 Operation Display Control Unit 115
201 Main control unit 202 Application 203 Information storage unit 204 Network I / F
205 Print Output Control Unit 206 User I / F
251 Image processing function management unit 252 Session management unit 253 Output destination information management unit 254 Hardware function management unit 301 Main control unit 302 Session management unit 303 Network I / F
304 Device information DB
401 Main control unit 402 Service management unit 403 Network I / F
404 Service management DB
501 Main control unit 502 Service providing unit 503 Network I / F

Claims (6)

  An image forming system in which a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device are communicably connected via a network,
  The client device is
    Transmission means for transmitting first print output information including information specifying an image processing function and an image forming apparatus to the session management server;
  The session management server
    Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to image processing functions supported by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
    When the image forming apparatus specified in the received first print output information is determined not to execute the specified image processing function by referring to the apparatus information storage unit, the first print output is performed. Transfer means for transferring information to the service management server,
  The service management server
    Service management information storage means for storing information on the plurality of service providing servers and information on image processing functions supported by the service providing servers in association with each other;
    Transmission for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of executing the image processing function specified in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit Means,
  The plurality of service providing servers include:
    Image processing means for executing an image processing function designated by the first print output information received by each of the image information included in the first print output information;
    Transfer means for transferring second printout information including image information on which an image processing function has been executed to the session management server,
  The transfer means of the session management server includes:
    The received second print output information is transferred to the image forming apparatus.
  An image forming system.   The session management server in an image forming system connected to be able to communicate with a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network,
  Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to image processing functions supported by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
  When the first print output information designating the image processing function and the image forming apparatus is received from the client apparatus, the image formation designated in the received first print output information by referring to the apparatus information storage means When it is determined that the apparatus does not execute the designated image processing function, the first print output information is
    Service management information storage means for storing information related to the image processing function supported by each of the plurality of service providing servers and the service providing server;
    Transmission for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of executing the image processing function specified in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit Means
  Forward to the service management server,
    After the first print information is transmitted to the specified service providing server, the image processing function specified by the first print output information is specified by the first print output information at the specified service providing server. When the second print output information including the image information executed on the image information included in the information is received from the specified service providing server, the second print output information is transferred to the image forming apparatus.
  A session management server.   A server computer communicably connected to a client device, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network;
  Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to image processing functions supported by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
  When the first print output information designating the image processing function and the image forming apparatus is received from the client apparatus, the image formation designated in the received first print output information by referring to the apparatus information storage means When it is determined that the apparatus does not execute the designated image processing function, the first print output information is
    Service management information storage means for storing information related to the image processing function supported by each of the plurality of service providing servers and the service providing server;
    Transmission for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of executing the image processing function specified in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit Means
  Forward to the service management server,
    After the first print information is transmitted to the specified service providing server, the image processing function specified by the first print output information is specified by the first print output information at the specified service providing server. When the second print output information including the image information executed on the image information included in the information is received from the specified service providing server, the second print output information is transferred to the image forming apparatus.
  A session management program which functions as a transfer means.   An image forming system in which a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device are communicably connected via a network,
  The client device is
    Transmission means for transmitting first print output information including information designating an image forming apparatus to the session management server;
  The session management server
  Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to the format of image information recognizable by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
    When it is determined by referring to the apparatus information storage means that the image forming apparatus specified in the received first print output information cannot recognize the format of the image information included in the first print output information In addition,
Transfer means for transferring the first print output information to the service management server,
  Service management server
    Service management information storage means for storing information on the plurality of service providing servers and information on the format of image information recognizable by each service providing server in association with each other;
    A service providing server capable of recognizing the format of image information included in the received first printout information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit
    Transmitting means for transmitting the first print output information,
  The plurality of service providing servers include:
    Image processing for executing image processing for converting image information included in the first print output information into a format of image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus designated by the first print output information received by each Means,
    Transfer means for transferring second printout information including image information on which image processing has been executed to the session management server,
  The transfer means of the session management server includes:
    The received second print output information is transferred to the image forming apparatus.
  An image forming system.   The session management server in an image forming system connected to be able to communicate with a client device, a session management server, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network,
  Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to the format of image information supported by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
  When the first print output information designating the image forming apparatus is received from the client apparatus, the image forming apparatus designated in the received first print output information is referred to by referring to the apparatus information storage means. When it is determined that the format of the image information included in the one print output information is unrecognizable, the first print output information is
    Service management information storage means for storing information relating to the format of image information recognizable by each of the service providing servers in association with the plurality of service providing servers;
    Transmission for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of recognizing the format of the image information included in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit Means
  Forward to the service management server,
    A format of image information that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus specified by the first print output information in the specified service providing server after the first print information is transmitted to the specified service providing server. When the second print output information including the image information executed on the image information included in the first print output information is received from the specified service providing server, the conversion to the second print output information is performed. Transfer print output information to the image forming apparatus
  A session management server.   A server computer communicably connected to a client device, a service management server, a plurality of service providing servers, and an image forming device via a network;
  Device information storage means for storing information relating to the image forming apparatus and information relating to the format of image information supported by the image forming apparatus in association with each other;
  When the first print output information designating the image forming apparatus is received from the client apparatus, the image forming apparatus designated in the received first print output information is referred to by referring to the apparatus information storage means. When it is determined that the format of the image information included in the one print output information is unrecognizable, the first print output information is
    Service management information storage means for storing information relating to the format of image information recognizable by each of the service providing servers in association with the plurality of service providing servers;
    Transmission for transmitting the first print output information to a service providing server capable of recognizing the format of the image information included in the received first print output information specified by referring to the service management information storage unit Means
  Forward to the service management server,
    After the first print information is transmitted to the specified service providing server, the specified service providing server converts the image information to the format specified by the first print output information. When the second print output information including the image information executed for the image information included in the one print output information is received from the specified service providing server, the second print output information is formed as the image formation. Transfer to device
  A session management program which functions as a transfer means.

Images