JPH10336372A - Transfer method for scan data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the transfer method of scan data by which a network utilizing efficiency is improved and data security is conducted effectively. SOLUTION: In an information processing system an image scanner having a storage means and pluralities of terminal equipments using the image scanner are interconnected by a network, the image scanner stores sequentially the read scan data to a storage means (processing step S4). Then the terminal equipment selects required data among the data stored in the storage means in the image scanner and transfers the data to the terminal equipment via the network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring scan data, and more particularly to a method for transferring scan data applied to a system in which an image scanner device and a plurality of terminal processing devices are connected to a network. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image scanner device is directly connected to a user terminal processing device using various interfaces, for example, an interface such as a SCSI, a printer parallel port, or a serial port (RS232C). By pre-scanning using the utility software, roughly align the scanned document, and after scanning by the main scan, temporarily store the obtained data, or
A usage form in which read data is subsequently edited and used is common.

In the connection using these interfaces, there is a restriction that the scanner device and the user terminal processing device must be installed at a short distance due to the limitation of the cable length, and the usage form is limited. Further, in such a configuration, one image scanner device is arranged in one terminal device, so that there is a one-to-one correspondence, so that if there are a plurality of terminal devices, a plurality of image scanner devices are arranged. .

However, the frequency of reading data using the image scanner device is not so high in each terminal device, so that the usage rate is low, and it is not efficient in using resources. Here, the usage rate is a ratio of the actual operation time of the image scanner device to the total operation time of the terminal device. Therefore, there is a widespread use of a system in which a plurality of terminal devices and a small number of image scanner devices are connected to a network, and the system as a whole has an N-to-one correspondence, thereby increasing the use rate of the image scanner devices and efficiently using resources. It has been introduced.

[0005]

By the way, in the above-mentioned system, although the network of the interface is realized, the use form of the image scanner is not changed. That is, the user moves from the terminal to the image scanner device placed at a remote distance and operates the image scanner device. Therefore, the longer the distance from the terminal to the image scanner apparatus, the longer the document holding time from setting the document to scanning to remove the document, which is inconvenient for shared use on a network. Therefore, there was a problem that the characteristics of the network could not be used.

In order to shorten the document holding time,
A configuration is introduced in which a server device with a large-capacity storage function is connected to the network, the read scan data is temporarily stored in the server device, and then the original is immediately released to allow other users to use it. Was done.

[0007] Such an image scanner device that stores scan data in a server is called a network image scanner device. However, a server device is always required, that is, the server device must always be started up. There is a problem that the type of terminal is limited depending on the type of network OS of the server device.

Further, in addition to the traffic based on the data transfer from the image scanner device to the server device, data retransfer traffic from the server device to the terminal device is further generated. Had also occurred.

As described above, the stand-alone method of use is directly applied to a network image scanner apparatus in which the place where the image scanner apparatus is located and the user terminal are separated and shared by a plurality of users. In this case, in addition to the drawback that the shared use efficiency of the image scanner device is not improved due to the increase in the waiting time due to the increase in the document holding time as described above, the security From the viewpoint, there has been a problem that file protection by user identification is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and provides a method of transferring scan data capable of improving network use efficiency and effectively maintaining data confidentiality. The purpose is to:

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring scan data.
A method for transferring scan data in an information processing system in which an image scanner having storage means and a plurality of terminal devices capable of using the image scanner are connected via a network, wherein the scan data read by the image scanner is Sequentially storing the data in the storage means, and the terminal device selects necessary data from the data stored in the storage means in the image scanner device, and causes the terminal device to transfer the data to the terminal device via the network. And a processing step.

According to the above arrangement, the image scanner reads the entire read document under a certain condition, for example, a condition under which the maximum performance of the scanner is exhibited, and stores the obtained read data in the built-in storage means. By reading the stored data, the user can reduce the document holding time by reducing the number of actual scans to only one, thereby improving the sharing use efficiency of the image scanner device and increasing traffic. Are suppressed, and the network free time increases.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring scan data in an information processing system in which an image scanner device and a plurality of terminal devices each capable of using the scanner device and having storage means are connected via a network. A method for transferring scan data, comprising: setting information of the terminal device to be transferred in the image scanner device in advance; and the scanner device directly reading the read scan data to the preset terminal device. The terminal device that has transferred and received the data transfer sequentially stores the data in the storage unit, and the terminal device selects and extracts necessary data from the data stored in the storage unit And a processing step.

According to the above configuration, since the data is immediately sent to the specific user terminal device and directly, the confidentiality of the data is improved. Further, it is not necessary to extremely increase the capacity of the storage means of each terminal device, and the cost is reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring scan data, comprising: an information processing system in which an image scanner device and a plurality of terminal devices each having storage means and capable of using the image scanner device are connected via a network. In the method for transferring scan data according to the above, prior to data scanning, a processing step of preliminarily setting scan conditions for each read document in the image scanner device, and a step of transferring the scan data for each read document to the terminal device. A processing step of setting information in the image scanner apparatus in advance, and a processing step of the scanner apparatus reading the read document based on the scanning conditions and directly transferring the read data to the preset terminal apparatus. And characterized in that:

According to the above configuration, the user sets
Since scanning is performed based on scanning conditions in consideration of the characteristics of each document, reading is performed under optimum conditions for each document, and thus read data of desired quality is obtained.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is an operation flowchart of the image scanner device in the first embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a network configuration diagram. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image scanner to which the first embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the terminal processing device in the first embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between the terminal processing device and the image scanner device in the first embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.

The scan data transfer method according to the present invention is applied to a network configuration as shown in FIG. That is, a plurality of terminal processing devices, for example, personal computers 50, and a small number of scanners 1 as image scanner devices are network-connected.

Here, the scanner 1 has a block configuration as shown in FIG. That is, the scanner 1 includes a main body 2, a storage device 4 including a HDD or the like as storage means, a network I / F 5, a file ID
And an operation panel 3 for instructing the start of scanning and the start of scanning.

The transfer method of scan data will be described.
The user inputs file information from the operation panel before performing the scan. The file information is information including numbers and characters for discriminating data, and includes scan conditions, date and time, a unique number symbol (ID), and the like. Next, the original is set and the scan start button is operated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the scanner 1 receives an ID input and a start instruction (step S).
1), execute a scan (step S2), add file information to the read data (scan data) (step S3), and sequentially accumulate this in a storage device (step S4). Read all the target manuscripts, repeat the above work until saving to the storage device,
A series of processing on the scanner device side ends.

Subsequently, on the terminal device 50 side, as shown in FIG. 4, a scanner list display selection is executed (step S11), and a file ID is selected (step S1).
2), necessary data is selected from the data stored in the storage device 4 in the scanner 1, and then the data is read from the storage device 4 of the scanner 1, that is, the data is transferred (step S13), and the file is stored (step S13). S1
4).

FIG. 5 shows a transfer procedure between the terminal device and the scanner device in each of the above-described processing stages. When a scanner name inquiry (broadcast) Sc1 is issued from the terminal device to the scanner, the scanner returns a scanner name response Sc2 to the terminal device. Hereinafter, the file ID list inquiry Sc3, the ID list response Sc4, the file transfer request Sc5, and the file transfer Sc6 are exchanged alternately.

As described above, the scanner reads the entire read document under a certain condition, for example, a condition under which the scanner performs at its highest performance, and stores the read data in the built-in storage means. Is performed, the document holding time can be reduced by executing the actual scan only once. As a result, it is possible to improve the sharing use efficiency of the scanner, and it is possible to increase the network idle time by suppressing an increase in traffic. Further, there is no need to mount a full-scale multi-user network OS (NOS) on the scanner side, and thus the cost can be reduced.

When the storage device is filled with data,
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which old data is deleted in order and new data is overwritten thereon. In this case, the configuration can be such that the stored data can be deleted from the terminal side or the operation panel as needed.

Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an image scanner to which the second embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention is applied. FIG.
9 is an operation flowchart of the image scanner device in the second embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a setting value setting operation performed by the terminal processing device in the scan data transfer method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the data reception / processing operation by the terminal processing device in the scan data transfer method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between the terminal processing device and the image scanner device in the second embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.

The scanner 1A has a block configuration as shown in FIG. That is, an operation panel 3A for instructing input of a set value, selection of a set value, input of a file ID and the like, and start of scanning, a nonvolatile memory 4A for storing set values and the like, a network interface 5A, a buffer And a memory 6A.

On the side of the scanner 1A, as shown in FIG. 7, when a set value is input or selected via the operation panel (step S21), a scan is executed (step S2).
2) It takes a processing step of adding file information to the read data (scan data) (step S23) and immediately transferring it to only the terminal processing device specified by the set value (step S24). The above operation is repeated until all target documents are read and transferred to each specific terminal processing device, and a series of processes on the scanner device end.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the terminal processing device executes a scanner display selection as a setting processing step (step S 25), and performs a new setting (step S 2).
6), setting a terminal processing device to be transferred by the scanner (step S27), and transferring and writing the set value to the nonvolatile memory of the scanner (step S29). If the setting is not new (step S2
6) The set value is read from the nonvolatile memory of the scanner (step S28) and confirmed (step S28).

Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the terminal processing device enters a network reception standby state as shown in FIG. 9 (step S31). When data transfer is performed from the scanner, necessary terminal information is extracted from the transfer data. (Step S32), data conversion and the like are performed (Step S3).
3), and performs a process of writing a file to a storage device such as a built-in HDD or a CD-RW (step S34). The above is executed until the end of data in a loop (step S35).

FIG. 10 shows a transfer procedure between the terminal device and the scanner device in each of the above processing steps. At the time of setting the scanner initial value, if there is a scanner name search Sc11 from the terminal device to the scanner, the scanner returns a scanner name response Sc12 to the terminal device. Hereinafter, the set value read request Sc13, the scanner set value response Sc14, and the set value write request Sc15 are exchanged alternately.

Next, at the time of transferring the scan data, a data transfer request Sc16 is sent from the scanner to the specific terminal device.
Is sent and the specific terminal device returns an acknowledgment Sc17, a data transfer Sc18 is performed, and in the course of this transfer, the specific terminal device returns an acknowledgment Sc19.

As a result of the above configuration, the read data can be sent immediately and directly to only the specific user terminal device,
Data confidentiality is improved. Further, it is not necessary to extremely increase the capacity of the storage means of each terminal device, and the cost is reduced.

Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a setting value setting operation performed by the terminal processing device in the scan data transfer method according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between the terminal processing device and the image scanner device in the third embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.

In the scan data transfer method according to the third embodiment, prior to data scanning, scan conditions (range, resolution, color, dither, file format, transfer destination, protocol, etc.) for each read document are set in a scanner device. A processing step of presetting information of a terminal device to which scan data should be transferred for each read document in an image scanner device, and a scanner device,
Scans originals based on scan conditions,
Processing step of directly transferring the read data to a preset terminal device. Among the above, the processing step of setting the scanning conditions in the scanner device in advance and the processing step of directly transferring the same are in accordance with the above-described embodiment, and the description is omitted.

The operation of the terminal device will be described with reference to FIG. 11. Scanner display selection is executed via an operation panel having a function for displaying a condition list and a function for selecting the condition list (step S41), and a new setting is performed. (Step S4
2) Set the reading conditions by the scanner (step S4)
3) Transferring and writing the set value to the nonvolatile memory of the scanner (step S46). If the setting is not new (step S42), a list of scan condition setting values is read from the nonvolatile memory of the scanner (step S44), and one is selected (step S45).

The contents of the reading conditions are stored in the nonvolatile memory of the scanner device in the range, resolution, color, dither, file format, transfer destination terminal, transfer protocol, and the like.

FIG. 12 shows the transfer procedure between the terminal device and the scanner device in each of the above processing steps. At the time of setting the scanner initial value, if there is a scanner name search Sc21 from the terminal device to the scanner, the scanner returns a scanner name response Sc22 to the terminal device. Hereinafter, the set value read request Sc23, the scanner set value response Sc24, and the set value write request Sc25 are alternately communicated.

Next, at the time of transferring the scan data, a data transfer request Sc26 is sent from the scanner side to the specific terminal apparatus side.
Is transmitted and the specific terminal device returns an acknowledgment Sc27, a data transfer Sc28 is performed, and in the process of this transfer, the specific terminal device returns an acknowledgment Sc29.

As a result of the above configuration, scanning is performed based on the scanning conditions set by the user in consideration of the characteristics of each original, and reading is performed under the optimal conditions for each original.
Thereby, read data of a desired quality is obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, a system using a general so-called scanner is used as an example of an image scanner, but the image scanner to which the scan data transfer method of the present invention is applied is A device having an image reading function that can be incorporated in a network without being limited to the scanner as described above,
For example, the present invention can be applied to a computer peripheral device such as a printer scanner, a copying machine with a network function, a facsimile device, and the like.

[0042]

As described in detail above, claim 1 of the present invention
The method for transferring scan data according to the first aspect includes a processing step of sequentially accumulating the read scan data in a storage unit incorporated in the image scanner device, and a process in which the terminal device selects necessary data from the data stored in the storage unit in the image scanner device The process consists of selecting the data and transferring it to the terminal device via the network, so that the scanning operation and data storage can be performed only by the image scanner device, and thus a problem occurs when the image scanner device is shared on the network. Document holding time (time occupying the scanner device) can be minimized, and the usage rate of the image scanner device can be increased to make the resource utilization efficient. Further, there is an effect that the user can perform data transfer and data editing work as necessary after returning to the terminal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting scan data, wherein a step of presetting information of a terminal device to be transmitted to an image scanner device, and a step of preliminarily setting scan data read by the image scanner device. Processing step of directly transferring data to the terminal device which received the data and sequentially storing the data in the storage means built in the terminal device which received the data transfer, and the terminal device selecting and extracting necessary data from the data stored in the storage means Therefore, by directly sending the read data to the specific user terminal device and directly, the confidentiality of the data can be improved. Further, it is not necessary to extremely increase the capacity of the storage means of each terminal device, and the cost can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring scan data, comprising the steps of: presetting a scan condition for each read document; presetting a terminal device to which the scan data is to be transmitted; A scanning step of reading a document based on the conditions and directly transferring the read data to a preset terminal device, so that the scanning conditions can be selected and sent to the terminal device, and the document and the user can be selected. There is an effect that reading can be performed under optimum conditions for each case. As a result, a time effect at the time of data editing on the terminal side and an effect of improving image quality can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first example of a scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
6 is an operation flowchart of the image scanner device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a network configuration diagram.

FIG. 3 is a first diagram illustrating a scan data transfer method according to the present invention;
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image scanner to which an embodiment is applied.

FIG. 4 shows a first example of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
5 is an operation flowchart of the terminal processing device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a first example of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between the terminal processing device and the image scanner device in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a second scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image scanner to which an embodiment is applied.

FIG. 7 shows a second example of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
6 is an operation flowchart of the image scanner device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a second scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
5 is a flowchart of a setting value setting operation by the terminal processing device in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows a second scan data transfer method according to the present invention.
It is a flowchart of the data reception and processing operation by the terminal processing device in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between the terminal processing device and the image scanner device in the second embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a setting value setting operation performed by the terminal processing device in the scan data transfer method according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a data transfer procedure between a terminal processing device and an image scanner device in a third embodiment of the scan data transfer method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Scanner 2 Main body 3 Operation panel 4 Storage device 5 Network I / F 50 Personal computer S1 ID input step S2 Scanning step S3 Step of adding file information to scan data S4 Step of saving data to storage device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of transferring scan data in an information processing system in which an image scanner having storage means and a plurality of terminal devices capable of using the image scanner are connected via a network, wherein the image scanner is A processing step of sequentially storing the read scan data in the storage unit, and the terminal device selects necessary data from data stored in the storage unit in the image scanner device,
Transferring the scan data to the terminal device via the network. 2. A method for transferring scan data in an information processing system in which an image scanner device and a plurality of terminal devices each having storage means, which can use the image scanner device, are connected via a network. A processing step of setting information of the terminal device in the image scanner device in advance; the image scanner device directly transferring read scan data to the preset terminal device, and the terminal device receiving the data transfer A step of sequentially storing the data in the storage unit, and a step of the terminal device selecting and extracting necessary data from the data stored in the storage unit. How to transfer scan data. 3. A method for transferring scan data in an information processing system in which an image scanner device and a plurality of terminal devices each having a storage means and capable of using the image scanner device are connected via a network. Prior to the above, a processing step of presetting scan conditions for each read document in the image scanner device, and a process step of presetting in the image scanner device information of the terminal device to which scan data should be transferred for each read document. A process in which the image scanner device reads the read document based on the scan conditions and directly transfers the read data to the preset terminal device. Transfer method.