GB2430110A

GB2430110A - Method and System for Transferring Electronic Document Data

Info

Publication number: GB2430110A
Application number: GB0517707A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Wilson Chiu; Andrew Daborn; Yuan Shao
Original assignee: Canon Inc
Current assignee: Canon Inc
Priority date: 2005-08-31
Filing date: 2005-08-31
Publication date: 2007-03-14
Also published as: GB0517707D0

Abstract

A method and system of transferring electronic document data, comprising the step of transferring document data from a first device to a second device, wherein the document data comprises at least one of a document and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store, and wherein the type of document data transferred depends on a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DATA

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a communication method, apparatus and computer program, and more particularly to a method, apparatus and computer program for transferring electronic document data between devices.

Description of the Related Art

In recent years, the use of electronic documents has increased dramatically, in part due the ease with which they can be stored, retrieved, copied, printed, updated and distributed.

However, while the use of electronic documents has helped many office workers, the IS concurrent increase in travel has caused difficulties, with electronic documents being less convenient to locate, read and distribute when a worker is away from his office or workstation.

While laptop computers are increasingly smaller and lighter, it is often seen as a nuisance to have to carry a laptop computer to all meetings, whereas workers will happily carry their mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones, with them at all times.

Such mobile devices are prevalent among mobile workers, and the capabilities of these devices have increased. However, they still do not meet the needs of many mobile workers. The transfer of documents between mobile devices is often limited due to inadequate storage capacity on such devices or due to inadequate communication channel bandwidth.

There are many situations in which a document needs to be transferred from one person o another, for example when one person requests a document from another during a meeting, but the requester is forced to wait for the other person to return to their desk to send a copy of the electronic document. This may be some time after the request was made, and the task may be forgotten.

Functions of mobile devices have been advancing, and many such devices have been provided with radio data communication functions. Using nearfield radio communication interfaces in mobile devices provides the devices with functions similar to those of non-contact IC cards. In addition, mobile devices provided with near-field radio communication interfaces are capable of operating as readers/writers to communicate with other apparatus. One such system and method of transferring electronic document data is disclosed in the UK Patent Application dated 31 August 2005, agent's reference 11409 GB (Abel & Imray), also owned by Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, hereby incorporated by reference.

However, there may be circumstances depending on the status of the devices or document when it is preferable to not transfer the document to a device.

No previous electronic document data transfer system provides a portable transfer system, which takes into account a characteristic of a device, the document, and/or the communication channel between the devices when determining the document data to transfer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve at least one of the problems mentioned above.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of transferring document data between a first device and a second device, comprising the step of transferring document data from the first device to the second device, wherein the document data comprises at least one of a document and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store, and wherein the type of document data transferred depends on a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices.

The invention thus makes it possible to automatically transfer an appropriate type of document data. A reference to a document may be transferred between two devices rather than the document itself, obviating the need to transmit large amounts of data should, for example, the communication channel between the two devices be of small bandwidth. Document references are small and defined; therefore the documents referenced can have an arbitrary size without impacting the performance of the mobile computing devices.

Preferably, the type of document data is at least one of: the document, a thumbnail of the document, plain text of at least part of the document, a summary of the document, document attributes, and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store.

A method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one of: a thumbnail of the document, plain text of at least part of the document, a summary of the document, and document attributes, is transferred with the document and/or document reference.

Thumbnails, plain text, summaries and document attributes can assist in identification of the document.

The document data transferred from the first device to the second device may be a type other than the document when the document size is larger than at least one of: the total storage space of the second device, the available storage space of the second device, and a predetermined size limit.

A method according to any preceding claim wherein the document data transferred from the first device to the second device is a document reference when the document size is larger than at least one of: the total storage space of the second device, the available storage space of the second device, and a predetermined size limit.

A reference to the document may be stored on the second device if the document is too large. By automatically determining which type of document data should be stored, the time taken to perform the document data transfer is reduced.

Optionally, the method further comprises the step of displaying a request for confirmation by a user that a document reference is to be saved.

It may be preferable for the user to confirm whether a document reference is to be saved, particularly if the user wishes to access the document outside of the networked environment.

The method may further comprise the step of transferring a document from a fourth devise to the first device, prior to transferring document data from the first device to the second device.

This enables the transfer of a reference to a document stored in a removable memory device, while allowing the user access to the document after the removable memory device is removed from the document data transfer system.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of enabling the identification of documents on a mobile phone display, comprising the step of providing at least one of a document summary and plain text of at least part of the document, with a thumbnail of the document.

A document name may not include enough detail for the user to identify the document, and the size of portable device displays cause difficulty in reading text on pages originally formatted for printed A4 or desktop PCs. The provision of a document summary, plain text or a thumbnail pf the document enables a user to identify the document.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software application for transferring document data between a first and second device, arranged such that when executed it performs the following steps: determining a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices, and transferring document data from the first device to the second device, wherein the type of document data comprises at least one of a document and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store and wherein the type of document data transferred depends on the determined characteristic.

Conveniently, the software application is arranged to perform the further step of comparing the size of the document with at least one of: the total storage space of the second device, the available storage space of the second device, and a predetermined limit, wherein the document reference is transferred when the document size is larger than the compared value.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the software application is provided stored on a storage medium.

According to a yet further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document data transfer system comprising: a first and second device; communication means for communicating between the first and second devices, and determining means for determining a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices, wherein the type of document data transferred depends on the determined characteristic.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

It will be understood that throughout this specification, document' can mean a single file or a bundle of files, for example a folder or a zipped file.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a mobile phone and a multifunctional peripheral (MFP) of a document data transfer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed view of the mobile phone shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 show explanatory views illustrating the display of the mobile phone shown in Figure 1 during operation of the document data transfer system.

Figure 5 is a schematic view of a file bundle transferred by the document data transfer system.

Figures 6 to 9 show explanatory views illustrating the display of the mobile phone when previewing a document.

Figures 10 to 12 show explanatory views illustrating the display of the mobile phone when saving document data to the mobile phone.

Figure 13 is a flowchart showing the process of saving document data to the mobile phone.

Figure 14 is a schematic view of a mobile phone and MFP of a document data transfer system in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 15 shows an explanatory view illustrating the display of the mobile phone of a document data transfer system when saving document data to the mobile phone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following, a detailed description will be given of embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of a document data transfer system 2 in accordance with the invention, comprising an MFP 4 connected to a network (not shown), and a near field communication (NFC) -enabled mobile phone 6.

The MFP 4, for example a Canon iR322ON photocopier, comprises a CPU 8 which integrally controls each of the devices connected to the system bus 10. The CPU 8 outputs an image signal as output information to a print engine 12 based on the control program, etc, stored in either read only memory (ROM) 14 or hard disc (HD) 16. The ROM 14 also stores information, etc, to be used in the cases where the MFP does not have a hard disk. Random access memory (RAM) 18 functions, inter alia, as a main memory and a work area of CPU 8. I/F unit 20 controls documents to be printed by print engine 12 and documents scanned by scanner part 22.

Operation panel 24 enables the display of information to, and receipt of input from, a user via a touch-sensitive screen, for example. NEC 26 and wireless 28 capabilities provide means for communicating with other devices, and the MFP 4 is also provided with wired networking capability 30.

The mobile phone 6 has an NFC tag 32, CPU 29, RAM 31 and ROM 33. A document data transfer software application, executing the steps shown in the flowcharts of Figures 8 and 10, is stored on ROM 33. CPU 29 controls each unit, shown in Figure 1, of the mobile phone 6. Te mobile phone 6 is shown in more detail in Figure 2, and comprises a display 34 and keypad 36.

The keypad 36 comprises number buttons 38, navigation key 40 and menu buttons 42, 44. Soft keys 46 are selected by depressing menu buttons 42, 44. Navigation key 40 can be depressed in five ways, namely at the top (to move up), bottom (to move down), left (to move left), right (to move right), and in the centre (to select soft buttons displayed in the central part of the display 34).

In the document data transfer system 2, document data can be transferred from the MFP 4 to the mobile phone 6 or from the mobile phone 6 to the MFP 4.

Referring to Figures 1 to 13 together, in a first usage example, a user with a paper document wishes to save a copy to his mobile phone 6, for distributing to others or for saving to a location not connected to a network currently available to the user. The user logs onto the document data transfer software application via his mobile phone 6, as shown in Figure 3, inputting (step S2 in Figure 13) a username 48 and password 50 via a Login screen 52. The Login soft key 54 is selected by depressing the centre of navigation key 40. The user can exit from the Login screen 52 by selecting the Exit soft key 56 by depressing menu button 44. The mobile phone CPU 29 receives the username and password inputted via the Login screen 52 and temporarily stores the inputted data in RAM 31. The user identification (ID) information is validated (S4) against a cache stored in the mobile phone RAM 31. If the user authentication is successful (86), the Document Selection screen 58, illustrated in Figure 4, is displayed (S7) on the screen 34 of the mobile phone 6; otherwise, the user is returned (S8) to the Login screen 52.

This local verification of the account executed by the document data transfer software application on the mobile phone 6 gives the user access to the document data transfer system 2. The requirement to login via the mobile phone 6 helps prevent unintentional start up of communication between the mobile phone 6 and MFP 4 when, for example, a user approaches an MFP 4 with a mobile phone 6 in his pocket. The Document Selection screen 58 shows icons 60, indicating document data stored on the mobile phone 6, each with an associated name 62. Further document data is stored in folder 64. An icon 60 may be selected using the keypad 36, the selected document icon 66 being marked by border 68. Selection of the Exit soft key 56 causcs the user to leave the document data transfer software application.

As the name 62 of the document (transferred with the document or requested by the mobile phone during the transfer process) may not include enough detail for the user to identify the document Options soft key 70 provides the user with the option of previewing each document.

Due to the size of mobile phone displays, it is difficult to read text on pages originally formatted for printed A4 or desktop PCs. High-resolution images for all pages within the documents could be produced but transferring and storing these images is more problematic. The images would need to be high resolution to ensure each page is readable and therefore the image data could be larger than the document itself.

In order to allow the user to identify a document, the document is rendered into several formats, namely plain text, summary, and thumbnails, which are stored as supplementary file.

As illustrated in Figure 5, the supplementary files of plain text 84, summary 86, thumbnails 88, and other metadata (not shown), for example document attributes, are sent embedded in an XML file bundle 80, along with a document reference 90 and the document 82. The supplementary files may alternatively be sent as separate entities, referenced by the XML file bundle 120. The bundle 120 may be zipped during transfer and storage.

Document references uniquely correspond to a document, and contain sufficient information for the system to identify a location of the document, as in the case of uniform resource locators (URLs). The document reference may have any suitable format, such as C:\mydocs\folder\docname.

The Options soft key 70 in the Document Selection screen 58 provides the user with the option of previewing a selected document. The default state of the Preview screen 92 is a thumbnail view of the document, as shown in Figure 6a. Header 94 identifies the current view as Thumbnail'. A Menu soft key 96 provides the user with a menu 100, shown in Figure 7, with options to zoom in and out 102, switch pages 104 and to change to one of the other views 106.

Header 94 remains visible to allow the user to identify which view he is currently in.

Thumbnail images of the first two pages of the document aid the user in identifying the document, giving an idea of the layout and formatting. The user is able to zoom in from the default view shown in Figure 6a, for more detailed views as shown in Figures 6b and 6c, and the software allows the user to pan around the images where necessary, using keypad 36. Selection of the Exit soft key 98 returns the user to the Document Selection screen 58.

In plain text view 108, shown in Figure 8, the plain text 110 of at least part of the document is displayed, allowing the user to read the text of the document, which may not be possible with the thumbnail resolution provided. The mobile phone is able to display the text in an easy-to-red format avoiding the need for the user to pan around the document. Header 112 identifies the view as Plain text'.

Figure 9 shows the summary view 114, identified by header 116. A summary 118 of the document in plain text captures the body of the document in a condensed form by providing a précis, for example a computer-generated abstract, of its main points.

In order to transfer document data to the mobile phone 6, the user scans (S 10) a document into the MFP 4. The scanned document is received by scanner part 22 and the I/F unit 20 passes the document on to be previewed on the display of the MFP operation panel 24. A copy of the document is stored in a document store on the hard drive 16, RAM 18 or network (not shown).

When the user brings the mobile phone 6 into proximity or contact with the NFC reader 26 of the MFP 4 after a successful login to the document data transfer software application via the mobile phone 6, the NFC reader 26 detects (S12) the presence of the mobile phone NFC tag 32 and reads (S 14) the unique identifier, for example MiFare ID, of the mobile phone NFC tag 32.

NFC is a bi-directional radio communication system between NFC-enabled devices, which operates in the radio frequency band of 13.56MHz. Predetermined electromagnetic-wave carriers modulated using digital data are transmitted, the transmitted electromagnetic waves are receivd by an antenna, and the digital data modulated on the carrier signal is demodulated. NFC may be half-duplex communication in which two devices transmit electromagnetic waves of a common frequency. Alternatively, NFC may be full-duplex communication in which two devices transmit electromagnetic waves of differing frequencies. An allowable NFC communication distance is typically about 10cm. NFC can be used to quickly establish other types of wireless communications between devices without the usual lengthy setup procedures, acting as a virtual connector, enabling devices to communicate at longer ranges or transfer data at higher rates.

The CPU 8 uses the MiFare ID to look up (S16) the Bluetooth user identifier (UID) of the mobile phone 6 in a database stored on the network. The CPU 8 initiates (S18) a connection with the mobile phone 6 over a wireless network via wireless networking unit 28 using the Bluetooth protocol. Once a Bluetooth connection is established, the mobile phone 6 can be moved further apart from the MFP 4, within the Bluetooth communication range, for convenience.

A signal is sent (S20) to the mobile phone 6 indicating that a document is being previewed on the MFP 4. As no document is selected on the mobile phone 6 when this signal is received, a Save Confirmation screen 120 is displayed (S22) on the mobile phone display 34, as shown in Figure 10. An Options soft key 122 is provided for user input of options (S24). For example, a user can specify the folder in which the document should be saved, or request encryption of the document. Selection of the Exit soft key 124 returns the user to the Document Selection screen 58.

On selection (S26) of the Save button 126 by depressing the centre of the navigation key 40, the mobile phone 6 requests (S28) information on the size of the requested document from the MFP 4. On receipt of the document size from the MFP 4 (829), the document size is compared (S30) to the available storage space on the mobile phone 6. If the document size is less than the storage space available on the mobfle phone 6, a request is sent (S32) to the MFP, and the document data, comprising the document and supplementary files of metadata, is transferred (S34) from the MFP 4 to the mobile phone 6, via Bluetooth. If the document size is greater than the storage space available, a Save Reference screen 128 is displayed (836) on the mobile phone display 34, as illustrated in Figure 11. A message 130 informs the user that the document cannot be saved, and confirmation 132 is requested from the user that the document reference should be saved.

Selection of the Save Reference button 134 by depressing the centre of the navigation key initiates (S32) the transfer (S34) of the document data from the MFP 4 to the mobile phone 6, via Bluetooth. The document data comprises the document reference, and supplementary files of metadata. The document reference points to the copy of the document stored on the hard drive 16, RAM 18, or network (not shown).

Upon completion of the document data transfer to the mobile phone 6, the Bluetooth connection is broken (S38). A Save Complete screen 136 is displayed (S40) on the mobile phone display 34, as shown in Figure 12. A message 138 indicates the transfer has been completed when the expected number of bytes has been received, and an icon representing the document data transferred to the mobile phone 6 is shown, in a similar manner to the Document Selection screen 58, with border 140 highlighting the saved document icon 142. The user is provided with the option 144 to view the document by selecting either the Yes soft key 146 or the No soft key 148. After viewing, or if the viewing option is declined, the mobile phone display 34 returns (S42) to the Document Selection screen 58.

The document or reference can then be sent to another mobile phone by, for example, multimedia messaging service (MMS) or short messaging service (SMS).

In another embodiment in accordance with the invention, illustrated in Figure 14, a USB memory stick 152 is attached to the MFP 4 via USB port 154. A user wishing to transfer a document from the USB memory stick 152 to a mobile phone 6 selects the document on the USB memory stick 152 that he wishes to transfer and previews the document on the display of the MFP 4. During the process of previewing the document on the display, the CPU 8 copies the document onto the hard disk 16. The user logs into the document data transfer software application on the mobile phone 6 via Login screen 52 and brings the mobile phone 6 into proximity or contact with the NFC reader 26 on the MFP 4. Once a Bluetooth connection is established between the MFP 4 and mobile phone 6, a signal is sent from the MFP 4 to the mobile phone 6 indicating that a document is previewed on the MFP 4. If no document is selected on the mobile phone 6 when this signal is received, a Save Confirmation screen 120, as illustrated in Figure 10, is displayed on the mobile phone display 34.

If there is sufficient storage space on the mobile phone 6, the document is saved to the mobile phone 6 together with supplementary metadata files. If there is insufficient storage space on the mobile phone 6 to store the document, the system is arranged to save a copy of the document on the network (not shown) or RAM 18. A reference to the document is saved to the mobile phone 6 provided the mobile phone 6 is registered in a database stored on the network (not shown) or MFP 4. This prevents the transfer of document references to mobile phones belonging to visitors who will return to their normal working environment where they do not have access to the networked environment where the document is stored. If a user attempts to save a document to a mobile phone 6 which has not been registered, a Save Failed screen 156 is displayed on the mobile phone display 34, as shown in Figure 15. A message 158 informs the user that the document reference cannot be saved. It is then necessary for the user to make more space available on the mobile phone or to cancel the Save operation. Exit soft key 116 returns the user to the document selection screen 58.

Having now described embodiments of the invention, numerous modifications will become apparent to the skilled person.

The zoom function within the document view used for previewing documents on the mobile phone may be provided by several medium-resolution images at different scales or by one image with a method to scale being provided by an image manipulation system.

The wireless networking may use protocols other than Bluetooth. The document data transfer may be via the same communication method as the initial communication.

When the system prevents the transfer of a document to the mobile phone due to, for example, lack of storage space on the mobile, the message displayed on the mobile phone may request confirmation from the user regarding whether to proceed with saving the reference or the system may automatically save the reference without further input required from the user. The display may then indicate that the reference is being or has been saved. Alternatively or additionally, the system may prevent the transfer of a document to the mobile phone when the document size is greater than a predetermined limit, when the data transfer rate and/or bandwidth of the communication channel between the mobile phone and the MFP is less than a predetermined limit.

The user may scan a document into the MFP in order to make a soft copy of a nv document or to scan in a document already in soft copy, the system being arranged to then search all networked document stores for the document and retrieve the existing soft copy of the document scanned in.

Security may be provided in various ways. For example, the system may be arranged to give the user access to a document for a predetermined number of times and/or over a predetermined length of time. Security settings may be set at the document level, each document having associated authorised mobile phones. The document references may also be provided with security features.

The security settings of the mobile phone may block the transfer of certain types of documents, for example document types which are susceptible to viruses, to the mobile phone, thereby helping to prevent the infection of the mobile phone with a virus.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS

1. A method of transferring document data between a first device and a second device, comprising the step of transferring document data from the first device to the second device, wherein the document data comprises at least one of a document and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store, and wherein the type of document data transferred depends on a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices.

2. A method according to Claim I wherein the characteristic of the second device is at least one of: a total storage space, an available storage space, and a security setting.

3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the characteristic of the document is at least one of size, type and security setting.

4. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the characteristic of the communication channel between the first and second devices is at least one of data transfer rate and bandwidth.

5. A method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one of: a thumbnail of the document, plain text of at least part of the document, a summary of the document, and document attributes, is transferred with the document and/or document reference.

6. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the document data transferred from the first device to the second device is a document reference when the document size is larger than at least one of: the total storage space of the second device, the available storage space of the second device, and a predetermined size limit.

7. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of displaying a request for confirmation by a user that a document reference is to be saved.

8. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of transferring the document data from the second device to a third device.

9. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of transferring a document attribute from the first device to the second device.

10. A method according to any preceding claim further comprising the step of transferring a document from a fourth device to the first device, prior to transferring document data from the first device to the second device.

11. A method of enabling identification of documents on a mobile phone display, comprising the step of providing at least one of a document summary and plain text of at least part of the document, with a thumbnail of the document.

12. A software application for transferring document data between a first and second device, arranged such that when executed it performs the following steps: - determining a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices, and - transferring document data from the first device to the second device, wherein the type of document data comprises at least one of a document and a document reference identifying a location of the document in a document store and wherein the type of document data transferred depends on the determined characteristic.

13. A software application according to Claim 12, arranged to perform the further step of: - corn paring the size of the document with at least one of: the total storage space of the second device, the available storage space of the second device, and a predetermined limit, wherein the document reference is transferred when the document size is larger than the compared value.

14. A software application according to Claim 12 or 13 wherein the application is stored on a storage medium.

15. A document data transfer system comprising: - a first and second device; - communication means for communicating between the first and second devices, and - determining means for determining a characteristic of at least one of: the second device, the document, and a communication channel between the first and second devices, wherein the type of document data transferred depends on the determined characteristic.

16. A method of enabling identification of documents on a mobile phone display substantially as hereinbefore described, and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A method of transferring document data between a first device and a second device substantially as hereinbefore described, and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A document data transfer system substantially as hereinbefore described, and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. A software application substantially as hereinbefore described, and with reference to the accompanying drawings.