JP2001326780A - Image reading apparatus and electronic conference system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reading apparatus and an electronic conference system using the same which convert conference materials recorded on a document like paper into electronic data and use the electronic data on site for progress of a conference. SOLUTION: The system is provided with the image reading apparatus, at least one terminal device, and a network which connects the image reading apparatus and the terminal device. The image reading apparatus is provided with a network connection means which is an interface to the network, an image reading means which reads an image from the document, a storage means where image data read with the image read means is stored, and a delivery control means which delivers image data stored in the storage means through the network. The terminal device is provided with a network connection means which is an interface to the network, a reception means which receives image data delivered from the picture reader, and a display means which display image data received with the reception means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus and an electronic conference system using the image reading apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic conference system in which a conference participant brings a terminal device and refers to electronic data (for example, image data or text data) distributed at the time of the conference by himself / herself to proceed with the conference. Also, there is known an electronic conference system in which electronic data in a terminal device is displayed on a large screen, and a conference participant refers to the electronic data to proceed with the conference.

[0003]

However, in the above-described electronic conference system, for example, when a conference is held suddenly and there is not enough time to prepare electronic data of materials used in the conference, etc. Copies the materials to be used at the meeting for the number of participants and distributes them to the participants as paper to proceed with the conference.
To display on a large screen and proceed with the meeting.

[0004] In this case, there is a problem that the advantage that the conference material can be held as electronic data, which is an advantage of the conventional electronic conference system in which each participant brings his / her own terminal device, cannot be utilized. Was.

That is, in the conventional electronic conference system,
There has been a problem that conference materials recorded on paper or the like cannot be left as electronic data on the spot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a method of making a conference material recorded on an original such as paper into electronic data immediately, and using the electronic data for proceeding with the conference on the spot. It is an object to provide an electronic conference system using a reading device and an image reading device.

[0007]

In the present invention, the electronic data used in the electronic conference system is created by, for example, reading an image recorded on a document by an image reading device.

As an image reading apparatus, for example, an original on which an image to be read is recorded is placed on an original platen, and the image recording surface of the original is irradiated with light, and the reflected light or transmitted light from the original at this time is transmitted. An optical image reading device that reads an image based on light intensity can be used.

The image reading apparatus is provided as an image reading apparatus alone (for example, a so-called scanner). However, the image reading apparatus includes an image reading means for realizing the same function as the image reading apparatus, and an image forming means for forming an image on a recording paper or the like. The present invention is also provided as an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine having the above.

An electronic conference system according to the present invention is provided as an image forming system configured by connecting the image forming apparatus and a terminal device such as an information processing apparatus via a network.

The image forming system includes, for example, an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine, and information such as a personal computer or a workstation for instructing the image forming apparatus to scan (read) or print (print) an image. The processing device is configured to be mutually connected by a network. Further, a configuration in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses and a plurality of information processing apparatuses are connected to a network may be adopted.

In such an image forming system,
For example, a method of using the scanner mode in which the image processing apparatus instructs the image forming apparatus to read an image and transfers the image read by the image forming apparatus to the information processing apparatus is generally considered. Then
This image data is transferred from the image forming apparatus to the information processing apparatus in response to a request from the information processing apparatus, and cannot be simply applied as an electronic conference system. There was no idea to associate the system with the electronic conferencing system.

That is, according to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a network connection unit serving as an interface with a network, an image reading unit for reading an image from a document, and storing image data read by the image reading unit. An image reading apparatus including a storage unit, and a distribution control unit that distributes the image data stored in the storage unit via the network; a network connection unit serving as an interface with the network; At least one terminal device provided with a receiving means for receiving the image data received by the external device, a display means for displaying the image data received by the external receiving means, and a network for connecting the image reading device and the terminal device. It is characterized by being constituted.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, a digital copying machine is taken as an example of an image reading apparatus, and an image forming system is constructed by connecting this digital copying machine and a personal computer as an example of a terminal device via a network. The electronic conference system will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an electronic conference system according to the present invention.

This embodiment has a digital copying machine 1 as an image reading apparatus. The digital copying machine 1 is capable of reading (scanning) an image and forming (printing) an original document alone. In addition, the digital copying machine 1 is connected to a network 4 so that the image read by the digital copying machine 1 The digital copying machine 1 can transfer the image to another device via the network 4 or form an image received from the other device via the network 4.

In this embodiment, the network 4
PCs 2 and 3 are connected to the PC. The personal computers 2 and 3 display electronic data such as image data and text data distributed from the digital copying machine 1 on a display device, and store and save the electronic data in a storage means such as a built-in hard disk. Can be done.

Although FIG. 1 shows a desktop personal computer as an example of a terminal device, when a conference participant brings the terminal device during an electronic conference, a notebook or book type computer that is convenient to carry is used. It goes without saying that a terminal device such as a personal computer having such a shape can be connected to the network 4 and used.

In FIG. 1, the network 4 comprises:
For example, a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or any other network having the same function as the Internet may be used.

FIG. 2 shows the digital copying machine 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

The digital copying machine 1 includes a network connecting means 11 serving as an interface with the network 4 shown in FIG. 1, a control means 12 for controlling the operation of the entire digital copying machine 1, and an image reading means for reading an image from a document. 13, image forming means 14 for forming an image on paper, for example, and storage for storing image data read by the image reading means 13 as electronic data, and other parameters necessary for the operation of the digital copying machine 1. Means 15
And input means 16 for the user to input operations, instructions, and the like to the digital copier 1, and display means 17 for displaying various information to the user.

The storage means 15 compresses and stores electronic data such as image data by any compression method, and distributes the compressed data to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3. By doing so, the data amount at the time of distribution can be reduced, and an efficient and high-speed electronic conference can be realized.

Regarding this compression method, in the case of an ordinary image forming system, a compression method for performing lossless compression, ie, ZI, so as not to lower the quality value of image data.
It is necessary to compress the image data by a compression method such as the P method which guarantees a 100% quality value. However, in the case of the electronic conference system of the present invention, the electronic data delivered to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 is digitally copied. Considering that the display is displayed on the display device of the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 having a relatively low resolution as compared with the resolution of the display device, if it is possible to secure a quality that satisfies the resolution of the display device, the compression is performed. A compression method that reduces the original quality value, such as the JPEG method, which has high efficiency and can further reduce the data amount after compression may be used.

As described above, in the electronic conference system according to the present invention, the compression efficiency of electronic data can be increased and the amount of data at the time of distribution can be further reduced as compared with a normal image forming system. Needless to say, this is not the case when it is necessary to keep the high quality of the original image, for example, when reusing the electronic data delivered to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3.

Further, regarding the compression method, in the present invention, a progressive compression method in which the resolution is increased as the data reception progresses can be used.
If electronic data is distributed from the digital copying machine 1 to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 using the progressive compression method, the resolution of the display device of the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 is increased from the early stage of data reception. Although it is possible to display the received electronic data although it is low, there is an effect that it is possible to give a participant using the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 a sense of security that the distribution of the electronic data is in progress. .

In correspondence with the compression of the electronic data in the digital copying machine 1, the personal computer 2 and the personal computer 3 are required to have a function of expanding the compressed electronic data.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

First, when starting a conference using the electronic conference system according to the present embodiment, the operator of the digital copying machine 1 scans a document of the conference material by the digital copying machine 1. The electronic data obtained by scanning by the image reading unit 13 is compressed by the above-described predetermined compression method and stored in the storage unit 15.

At this time, it is desirable that the digital copying machine 1 be configured to perform the respective operations by separate tasks so that the original scanning operation and the compressed electronic data distribution operation can be performed in parallel. . That is, it is preferable that the electronic data can be distributed at an arbitrary timing even during the scanning operation. For example, the storage unit 15
It is preferable that the electronic data of a plurality of originals can be stored, and the distribution operation can be performed simultaneously with the completion of the compression processing of the electronic data obtained by scanning the originals.

Similarly, the digital copying machine 1 is configured to perform each operation by a separate task so that the distribution operation of the compressed electronic data and the printing operation by the image forming means 14 can be performed in parallel. It is desirable.

Subsequently, the operator of the digital copying machine 1
The electronic data stored in the storage means 15 is distributed to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 as the conference progresses. For example, this distribution is executed by pressing a progress button (not shown) provided on the input means 16 of the digital copying machine 1. Each time the progress button is pressed, the image reading means 13 of the digital copying machine 1 is pressed. The distribution is performed in order from the electronic data scanned earlier.

The personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 which has received the compressed electronic data from the digital copying machine 1 expands the received compressed data and displays the expanded electronic data on the respective display devices. In the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3, the received compressed data can be stored and stored in a storage means such as a built-in hard disk as needed.

By the way, as a method of realizing the operation of distributing the electronic data, several other methods can be adopted.

One of the methods for realizing the electronic data distribution operation
One method is to form a server-client system in which the digital copying machine 1 serves as a server and the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 serves as a client to realize an electronic data distribution operation. In this case, the client basically obtains the electronic data from the server by FTP. However, you need to ensure that all clients receive the same data at the same time, and that all servers know that the electronic data is available on the server. This may be notified, for example, by the operator of the digital copying machine 1 pressing a progress button provided on the input means 16 of the digital copying machine 1.

In this case, since the client requests the server to distribute the electronic data, for example, even in the case of a client who is late and participates in the conference from the middle, it is possible to smoothly cope with the progress of the conference. .

Another example of a method for realizing an electronic data distribution operation will be described below. Also in this example, a server-client system in which the digital copying machine 1 serves as a server and the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3 serves as a client is formed to realize an electronic data distribution operation.
In this example, the server repeatedly distributes the same electronic data to the client until the conference proceeds and the next electronic data is displayed. Each of the plurality of clients sets a reception channel and receives electronic data.

This example is based on, for example, Mu of RFC1301.
lticast Transport Protocol
For example, using the same protocol as 1, the digital copying machine 1 becomes a master member to transmit and manage electronic data, and the personal computers 2 and 3 become consumer members to receive electronic data. Such a configuration is conceivable.

Note that RFC 1301 is: Perform reliable Multicast delivery between sending and receiving. 2. Service provider arbitrator (master), service provider (producer), consumer (consu)
(mer) is defined as a three-level membership hierarchy, with the former being a superset of the latter. 3. The service provider receives a token with the order information of the message from the master and transmits the data. If there are multiple producer services, this to
ken is used to indicate / confirm the message arrival order. 4. Retransmit data when receiving error. Etc.

The protocol adopted by the method for realizing the operation of distributing electronic data is not limited to this, and is a protocol that allows clients to freely participate and allows all clients to share the same electronic data almost simultaneously. I just need.

In the above embodiment, the electronic data composed of the image data read by the image reading means 13 is distributed to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3.
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, the control unit 12 of the digital copying machine 1 has an OCR (character recognition) function, and converts a character portion in image data read by the image reading unit 13 into text data. The text data may be stored in the storage unit 15 as electronic data. Further, electronic data created by another device or the like may be stored in the storage unit 15 or distributed to the personal computer 2 or the personal computer 3. The electronic data in this case is not limited to image data and text data,
It goes without saying that all multimedia such as audio, music data, moving images, video data and the like can be included.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an image reading apparatus and an electronic conferencing system using the image reading apparatus, which can immediately convert the meeting material recorded on an original such as paper into electronic data, and use the electronic data to proceed with the meeting on the spot. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electronic conference system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the digital copying machine shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital copier 2, 3 Personal computer 4 Network 11 Network connection means 12 Control means 13 Image reading means 14 Image forming means 15 Storage means 16 Input means 17 Display means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading an image from a document, a storage means for storing image data read by the image reading means, and an image data stored in the storage means. And a distribution control means for distributing the image data via the network. 2. Network connection means serving as an interface with a network, image reading means for reading an image from a document, storage means for storing image data read by the image reading means, and image data stored in the storage means An image reading apparatus provided with a distribution control means for distributing the image data via the network; a network connection means serving as an interface with the network; a receiving means for receiving image data distributed from the image reading apparatus; An electronic conference, comprising: at least one terminal device having display means for displaying image data received by means, and a network connecting the image reading device and the terminal device. system. 3. The electronic conference system according to claim 2, wherein the image data distributed by the image reading device is compressed by a predetermined compression method. 4. The electronic conference system according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined compression method is a compression method for reducing the quality value of original image data and performing compression. 5. Multicast of RFC1301
3. The electronic conference system according to claim 2, wherein a protocol based on Transport Protocol is used.