JP2000115435A - Image-reading/printing system, image-reading processor, image-reading/printing method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To relieve the load of a network by only transferring image data for confirmation to a client device and directly transferring actual image data to only a printer. SOLUTION: This image-reading/printing system consists of at least an image reader 2i, a client device 2b and a printer 21, that are interconnected by a network 2a. Display image data for confirming display are generated from image data read by the image reader 2i and transferred to the client device 2b, and actual print image data are transferred directly to only the printer 21 so as to relieve the load of the network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image reading / printing system, an image reading / processing apparatus, an image reading / printing method and a storage medium, and more particularly to an image reading apparatus shared on a network and a management method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an image reading / printing system which not only outputs to a printer locally connected to a client computer but also transfers and prints image data to a printer connected via a network.

[0003]

Conventionally, however, when reading an image, almost all of the image can be read only from a locally connected image reading device.
Further, when the image reading device is configured to read an image from an image reading device connected via a network, when the printing device is connected via a network, the image reading device reads the image. At the stage of printing the image data read by the reading device by the printer, since the image data is transferred via the network, there is a problem that the load on the network is significantly increased.

In view of the above problems, the present invention reduces the load on the network by transferring only the image data for confirmation to the client device and transferring the actual image data directly only to the printing device. It is intended to reduce.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image reading processing apparatus comprising: image reading means; means for generating display image data for display confirmation from image data read by the image reading means; Means for generating actual print image data from the image data read by the means.

An image reading / printing system according to the present invention generates display image data for confirmation from image data read by an image reading device connected to a network, transfers the generated display image data to a client device, and outputs an actual print image. It is characterized in that data is directly transferred only to the printing device. Another feature of the image reading / printing system of the present invention is that an image reading device, reading device control means for controlling the operation of the image reading device, and image data read by the image reading device. The present invention is characterized in that display image data for confirmation is generated and transferred to a client device, and image data transfer means for directly transferring actual print image data only to a printing device is connected on a network. Another feature of the image reading / printing system of the present invention resides in that an image reading device, reading device control means for controlling the operation of the image reading device, and data transfer between the reading device control means. An image reading server that performs transmission and reception and controls the operation of the image reading device; a network server that converts data exchanged between the image reading server and a general-purpose network protocol; Image data expanding means for expanding the obtained image data into display image data for confirmation and print image data in a printable format, and the display image data for confirmation expanded by the image data expanding means to the client. Display image data transfer means for transferring the image data to the apparatus; A print image data transfer means for transferring the printing device for printing image data is characterized by formed by connecting to the network. Another feature of the image reading / printing system of the present invention is that a plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are connected on the network, and a plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are selected from the plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices. An operating device selecting means for selecting one or a plurality of devices to be operated is provided in the client device. Other features of the image reading / printing system of the present invention include:
It has a client application corresponding to the network protocol, controls an image reading device shared on the network, and acquires data from the image reading device. Other features of the image reading / printing system of the present invention include a server load detecting means for detecting a load condition of a network server connected to the network, and load information obtained from the server load detecting means. Based on
And a transfer destination determining means for switching a transfer destination of the image data.

According to the image reading / printing method of the present invention, display image data for confirmation is generated from image data read by an image reading device connected to a network, transferred to a client device, and an actual print image is printed. It is characterized in that data is directly transferred only to the printing device. Another feature of the image reading / printing method of the present invention is that a reading control process for controlling an operation of an image reading device connected to a network and a confirmation process based on image data read by the image reading device. The display image data is generated and transferred to the client device, and the actual print image data is directly transferred only to the printing device. Another feature of the image reading / printing method of the present invention resides in that a reading control process for controlling an operation of an image reading device connected on a network and a reading device control means for performing the above reading control process. An image reading operation control process for transmitting and receiving data between the devices and controlling the operation of the image reading device, and a protocol conversion process for converting data exchanged when performing the image reading operation control to a general-purpose network protocol, An image data expanding process for expanding the image data read by the image reading device into display image data for confirmation and print image data in a printable format; and a confirmation image developed by the image data expanding process. A display image data transfer process for transferring the display image data to the client device; It is characterized by performing the image information generation process and for transferring the print image data expanded by the expansion process in the printing device. Further, the image reading / reading of the present invention
Another feature of the printing method is that a plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are connected on the network, and one device operated from among the plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices, or It is characterized in that an operating device selection process for selecting a plurality is performed. Other features of the image reading / printing method of the present invention include a client application process corresponding to the network protocol, a control process for controlling an image reading device shared on the network, and Image data acquisition processing for acquiring image data from a reading device. Another feature of the image reading / printing method of the present invention is that a server load detecting process for detecting a load status of a network server connected to the network,
A transfer destination determining process for switching a transfer destination of image data is performed based on the load information obtained by the server load detection process.

[0008] The storage medium of the present invention is characterized in that a program for causing a computer to function as each means constituting the image reading / printing system is stored so as to be readable from the computer. Another feature of the storage medium of the present invention is that a program for causing a computer to execute the procedure of the image reading / printing method is stored so as to be readable from the computer.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image reading / printing system to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a system bus.
Each is connected to a bus. 2 is CPU (Central
Processing Unit). 3 is a program memory (P
MEM), a program for processing of the image reading apparatus of the present embodiment is appropriately selected / read from the hard disk 10 and executed by the CPU 2.

Data input from the keyboard 12 is stored as code information in the PMEM 3 which is also a text memory. Reference numeral 4 denotes a communication control unit which controls input / output data at a communication port 5. Communication port 5
Is transmitted to the communication port of another device on the network via the communication line 6. Communication with the printer 18 and the image reading device shared on the network is performed via the communication control unit 4.

Although the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a network such as a LAN or the like, the present invention is applicable even if the communication port and communication line connected to the communication control unit are general public lines. Needless to say.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an external storage device control unit; 9 and 10 are data file disks; for example, 9 is a floppy disk;
A disk (referred to as FD) and 10 is a hard disk (referred to as HD).

An input controller 11 is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 13. The operator operates the keyboard 11 to input operation commands and the like for the system.

The mouse 13 is used as a pointing device (referred to as PD) for processing and instructing image information on the CRT 16. In the present embodiment, a mouse is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Not something. This allows the cursor on the CRT 16 to be moved arbitrarily in the X and Y directions to select a command icon on the command menu to give a processing instruction.
An instruction of a drawing position is also performed.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a video image memory (VRA).
M), 15 is a display output control unit, and 16 is a CRT. The data displayed on the CRT 16 is developed on the VRAM 11 as bitmap data.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a printer control unit, which controls output of data to the connected printer 18. 1
A is an image reading device control unit that controls the connected image reading device 1B. In the present embodiment, the components of the image reading device control unit 1A and the image reading device 1B are indispensable for the image reading server device, but the communication control unit 4 and the communication The same components shared on the server side via the port 5 can be used.

In FIG. 2, 2a is a network, 2b is a client device, 2h is a server machine,
i is a reading device and a reading device control device, and 21 is a printing device. Although not directly related to the description of the present embodiment, a server machine (2
c, 2f, 2j), printing devices (2k, 2e), reading devices (2d, 2g), and the like.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment. First, parameters for controlling the reading device twist, such as reading resolution and size, are input together (step S311).

Next, a setting for instructing whether or not to transfer a sample image is performed (step S312). Next, the client device (2b) accesses the server machine (2h) to which the image reading device is connected by using application software such as a browser, and starts the reading device control device (not shown) (step). S313).
FIG. 6 is a sample of various setting screens when an instruction is sent to the server device.

The reading device control device activates the reading device (2i) according to the input parameters (step S314). The reading device (2i) determines whether or not there is a designated parameter (step S315).
If there is an input parameter, a process for setting the parameter is performed (step S316). Also,
If there is no input parameter, a process for setting the default setting as a read parameter is performed (step S31).
7).

When the setting of the parameters is completed as described above, the image is read in accordance with the set parameters (step S318). Then, the read image is temporarily stored in a storage device (not shown) of the server machine (2h).

Next, it is determined whether display of a sample image has been instructed (step S319). As a result of this determination, if display of the sample image has been instructed,
The read image is processed to reduce the data size (step S320), and is sent to the client device (step S321). The method for reducing the data size is not particularly specified. The user confirms the display, and if so, sends an image confirmation command (transfer command) to the server machine (2h) (step S322).

When the server machine (2h) receives the transfer command from the client device (after reading the image if it is not instructed to display the sample image), it reads out the temporarily stored image data and prints it. It is developed into a format (step S323).

Thereafter, the developed image data is transferred to the printing device (2l) (step S324). afterwards,
The printing device (2l) prints the transferred rasterized image data (step S325).

FIG. 5 is a display and selection screen of the devices connected to the network. When reading is instructed from the image reading device (2i) connected to the network, the devices connected to the network are displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. From among them, the image reading device (2i) and the printing device are selected.

(Other Embodiments) Next, the operation of another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, prior to the image reading instruction, the client device sets the server machine (2h) to check the load status of the server machine (2h) (step S411).

Next, the client device transmits an image reading command to the server machine (2h) (step S412). The server machine (2h) activates the reading device (2i) upon receiving an image reading command from the client device (step S413), and starts image reading (step S414).

After reading the image (step S414), the server machine (2h) determines whether or not it is set to check the load status of its own work. (Step S41)
6).

Next, as a result of the examination of the load condition, it is determined whether the load is excessive (step S417). If it is determined that the load is large, the size of the image is reduced (step S418). Next, the image data having the reduced size is transferred to the client device (step S41).
9).

The client device that has received the notification develops the transferred image into data in a printable format (step S420), and transfers the data from the client device to the printing device (step S421).

On the other hand, when the load situation is investigated (step S415), if it is determined that the load is not large,
As described in the above embodiment, the server machine (2h)
To expand the image into a printable format (step S42).
2). Thereafter, the image data expanded into the printable format is sent from the server machine (2h) to the printing device (step S423). In either case, the printing is finally performed by the printing device (step S424).

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but can be applied to an apparatus composed of one device. You may.

Further, in order to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, a device connected to the above-mentioned various devices or a computer in a system is operated so as to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments. The present invention also includes programs implemented by supplying the program code of the software described above and operating the various devices according to programs stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus.

In this case, the program code of the software implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer,
For example, a storage medium storing such a program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM,
A magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the O-step S (operating system) or Needless to say, the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with other application software or the like.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where the CPU or the like provided in the first embodiment performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0038]

As described above, the image data is directly transferred from the image reading device connected to the network to the image printing device connected to the network without the intervention of the client device. Can be reduced. Further, the task of expanding the read image into a printable format and transmitting the image to a printing device is much more expensive than the task of transferring the image data as it is, but other features of the present invention. According to the above, when the load on the server is high due to other work, the image data is returned to the client device, and then the client device expands and transfers the image data. Therefore, the load on the server can be reduced. To avoid overloading the server.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the exemplary embodiment and illustrating a configuration example of an image reading / printing system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an image reading / printing method according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a sample of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sample of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 system bus 2 CPU 3 program memory (PMEM) 4 communication control unit 5 communication port 6 communication line 7 other device on network 8 external storage device control unit 9 floppy disk (FD) 10 hard disk (HD) Reference Signs List 11 Input control unit 12 Keyboard 13 Mouse 14 Video image memory (VRAM) 15 Display output control unit 16 CRT 17 Printer control unit 18 Printer 1A Image reading device control unit 1B Image reading device 1B

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 BB10 HH07 HJ06 HK03 HK11 HN05 HQ12 5B021 AA01 AA02 BB02 EE05 PP08 QQ04 5C062 AA05 AA13 AA35 AB17 AB22 AB23 AB38 AB42 AC02 AC04 AC05 AC43 AE15

Claims (15)

[Claims] An image reading unit that generates display image data for display confirmation from the image data read by the image reading unit; and an actual print image data from the image data read by the image reading unit. Means for generating an image. 2. An image reading / printing system in which at least an image reading device, a client device, and a printing device are connected to a network, wherein display image data for display confirmation is generated from image data read by the image reading device. An image reading / printing system, wherein actual image data for printing is directly transferred to only a printing device. 3. An image reading / printing system in which at least an image reading device, a client device, and a printing device are connected to a network, a reading device control means for controlling an operation of the image reading device, and reading by the image reading device. Image data transfer means for generating display image data for confirmation from the received image data and transferring it to the client device, and transferring the actual print image data directly to only the printing device. Reading / printing system. 4. An image reading / printing system in which at least an image reading device, a client device, and a printing device are connected to a network, wherein: a reading device control means for controlling an operation of the image reading device; An image reading server that transmits and receives data to and controls the operation of the image reading device; a network server that converts data exchanged with the image reading server into a general-purpose network protocol; Image data expanding means for expanding the image data read by the image reading device into display image data for confirmation and print image data in a printable format; and a display for confirmation expanded by the image data expanding means. Display image data for transferring display image data to the client device. Image reading / printing system characterized by comprising a transfer means and a printing image data transfer means for transferring the print image data developed in the print apparatus by the image data expanding means. 5. An operating device, wherein a plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are connected on the network, and one or a plurality of devices to be operated from the plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are selected. 4. The image reading / printing system according to claim 3, wherein a selection unit is provided in the client device. 6. A client application corresponding to the network protocol, wherein the client application controls an image reading device shared on the network and acquires data from the image reading device. Item 5. The image reading / printing system according to item 3 or 4. 7. A server load detecting means for detecting a load condition of a network server connected to the network, and a load condition obtained from the server load detecting means,
The image reading / printing system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising a transfer destination determining unit that switches a transfer destination of the image data. 8. An image reading / printing system in which at least an image reading device, a client device, and a printing device are connected to a network, a display image for confirmation from image data read by the image reading device connected to the network. An image reading / printing method, wherein data is generated and transferred to a client device, and actual print image data is directly transferred to only a printing device. 9. A process for controlling the operation of an image reading device connected to a network, generating display image data for confirmation from the image data read by the image reading device, transferring the generated display image data to a client device, An image reading / printing method, wherein an actual image data for printing is directly transferred only to a printing device. 10. A process for controlling the operation of an image reading device connected to a network, and transmitting and receiving data to and from the reading device control means for performing the reading control process to control the operation of the image reading device. An image reading operation control process, a protocol conversion process of converting data exchanged when performing the operation control of the image reading device into a general-purpose network protocol, and an image data read by the image reading device for confirmation. Image data expansion processing for expanding into display image data and printable image data in a printable format, and display image data transfer for transferring display image data for confirmation expanded by the image data expansion processing to a client device Processing and printing the print image data expanded by the image data expansion processing. The image reading / printing method and performing the image information generation processing to be transferred to the device. 11. An operating device in which a plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are connected on the network, and one or a plurality of devices to be operated from the plurality of the image reading devices and the printing devices are selected. The image reading / printing method according to claim 10, wherein a selection process is performed. 12. A client application process corresponding to the network protocol, a control process for controlling an image reading device shared on the network, and an image data obtaining process for obtaining image data from the image reading device. The image reading / printing method according to claim 10, wherein the method is performed. 13. A server load detecting process for detecting a load status of a network server connected to the network, and a transfer destination for switching a transfer destination of image data based on load information obtained by the server load detecting process. The image reading / printing method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the image reading / printing method is performed. 14. A storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as each unit constituting the image reading / printing system according to claim 1 so as to be readable from the computer. 15. A storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the procedure of the image reading / printing method according to claim 8 so as to be readable from the computer.