JP2004133921A - Web service provision processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a Web service provision processor cooperating with another Web service processor via a communication line to acquire documents stored in the other Web service provision processor and to realize the copying or printing in the processor itself, and allowing user's operation in any processor on the communication line. <P>SOLUTION: This Web service provision processor controls reception of a processing request from a request device requesting a process connected via the communication line and transmission of a processing response to the request device according to the processing request based on a prescribed protocol, executes control for acquiring information that is a target of the process from a management device on the basis of a first processing possible condition enabling the processing of the information between the Web service provision processor and the management device managing the information, executes the process to the information acquired on the basis of the first processing possible condition, and notifies a server processing means of the processed result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

According to the present invention, a document stored in another Web service providing processing device is acquired by cooperating between devices via a communication line, and copying or printing is realized by the own device. An object of the present invention is to provide a Web service providing processing device that enables a user to operate the device. Further, a Web service providing processing method for performing processing in such a device is provided.

As a conventional technique for causing an image forming apparatus connected via a network to perform processing relating to image data, in an image forming apparatus connectable to an information output apparatus via a network, when output is performed by all apparatuses on the network There is a known technology that acquires correction data for image processing via a network so as not to impair the output image quality, performs optimal image correction for output, and outputs the data to a device connected to the network. (For example, see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2000-6496.

However, in the above-described related art, since the purpose is to output image data to another device on the network, the control of the processing sequence between the image forming apparatuses according to the type of processing is not performed. Therefore, even if a compound image forming apparatus having various functions not limited to the image processing exists on the network, it is not possible to realize the processing according to the processing type in cooperation with the apparatuses. was there.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obtain a document stored in another Web service providing processing apparatus by cooperating between apparatuses via a communication line to realize copying or printing by the own apparatus, The present invention provides a Web service providing processing device that enables a user to operate any device on the line. Another object of the present invention is to provide a Web service providing processing method for performing processing in such a device.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method for receiving a processing request from a requesting device requesting a processing connected via a communication line and receiving the processing request in response to the processing request. Server processing means for controlling transmission of a processing response to the apparatus according to a predetermined protocol, and a management apparatus for managing information to be processed specified by the processing request in accordance with an instruction from the server processing means And condition acquisition control means for controlling the acquisition of the information from the management device based on a first processable condition enabling processing of the information, and acquiring the information based on the first processable condition. Service providing means for executing the processing on the information and notifying a result of the processing to the server processing means.

In such a Web service providing processing apparatus, a first processing that can be performed by the managing apparatus and the Web service providing processing apparatus between the managing apparatuses in accordance with information to be processed set in the processing request. Control for acquiring the processable condition can be realized.

The predetermined protocol is, for example, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program having the condition acquisition control means, the service providing processing means, and a control service for managing hardware resources used in the processing. , And an operating system that controls the application and the control service.

(5) Such a Web service providing processing device has a function as a computer device and can directly control hardware resources used for image formation.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in response to an instruction from the condition acquisition control unit, the transmission of a processing request to the management apparatus and the reception of a processing response from the management apparatus are performed by the predetermined processing. Client processing means for controlling according to a protocol.

In such a Web service providing processing apparatus, in order to acquire a condition that can be processed between the management apparatus and the Web service providing processing apparatus, the condition acquisition control unit performs communication (processing sequence) using a processing request and a processing response by the client processing unit. ) Control.

According to the present invention, as set forth in claim 4, the condition acquisition control means includes a second processable condition for the information in the management device and an internal third processable condition for the information in the own device. Sequence control means for controlling a processing sequence for obtaining the first processing enable condition based on the second process enable condition and the third process enable condition obtained by the sequence control means. Means.

In such a Web service providing processing device, it is possible to acquire the second and third processable conditions of the management device and the own device, and determine the appropriate first processable condition of the management device and the own device. It becomes.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 5, the sequence control means transmits the processing request for requesting the second processable condition to the management device, thereby transmitting the processing request from the management device. By internally issuing a first control means for controlling the client processing means so as to obtain a second processable condition and the processing request for requesting the third processable condition to the server processing means Second control means for controlling the client processing means so as to obtain the third processing possible condition from the own device; and the condition determining means making a determination based on the second processing possible condition and the third processing possible condition. Determination instructing means for causing, and information obtaining means for obtaining the information from the management device according to the first processable condition determined by the condition determining means, It can be configured to have.

In such a Web service providing processing device, the sequence control means obtains the second and third processable conditions that can be processed for the information in the management device and the own device, respectively, and these conditions are controlled by the sequence control means. Is determined based on the first processable condition. Further, information can be acquired from the management device based on the first processable condition.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 6, the client processing means is responsive to an instruction from the sequence control means to execute the processing indicating the instruction transmitted to the management device according to the predetermined protocol. A processing request construction unit for constructing a request, and a processing response interpretation unit for interpreting the processing response received from the management device in response to the processing request and notifying the result to the sequence control unit are configured. be able to.

In such a Web service providing processing device, the processing request construction means is controlled by the sequence processing means, and the result of the processing response interpretation means is also controlled by the sequence processing means.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 7, the service providing processing means executes a processing corresponding to a processing request transmitted from the requesting device or an internally generated processing request. Can be configured.

In such a Web service providing processing device, processing is performed on a processing request received from a requesting device via a network, and processing is also performed on an internally generated processing request. it can. Therefore, it is possible to execute processing in the same manner as the processing request from the requesting device, even for the processing request generated by the client processing unit in response to the instruction from the condition acquisition control unit.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 8, the server processing means executes processing request interpreting means for interpreting the processing request indicating processing for the information according to the predetermined protocol, and executes the processing. A processing response construction means for constructing a processing response indicating a processing result in accordance with the predetermined protocol may be provided.

Such a Web service providing processing device includes a processing request interpreting means for processing a processing request and a processing response constructing means for processing a processing response in accordance with a predetermined protocol such as SOAP, so that it can function as a Web server. it can.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 9, the processing request interpreting means includes a determining means for determining whether the processing request requires acquisition of the information from the management device. And a notifying means for notifying the condition acquisition control means of the processing request based on a result of the judgment by the judging means.

In such a Web service providing processing device, a processing request is notified to the condition acquisition control unit based on the result of the determination by the determination unit, and thereafter, the processing sequence is performed by the condition acquisition control unit with a management device that manages information. Control can be started.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the processing response construction means includes a control result construction means for constructing a processing response indicating a control result by the condition acquisition control means in accordance with the predetermined protocol. Can be configured.

In such a Web service providing processing device, a control result of control of a processing sequence with a management device that manages information by the condition acquisition control unit is transmitted to the requesting device as a processing response to a processing request indicating a request from the requesting device. can do.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 11, the condition acquisition control means comprises: attribute information acquisition means for acquiring from a user attribute information of a process for the information managed by the management device; A processing unit that internally issues a processing request for performing the above-described processing to the information based on the attribute information to the server processing unit, wherein the service providing processing unit includes: The processing may be configured to execute the processing requested by the requesting device based on the attribute information to the condition acquisition control means via a processing means.

で は Such a Web service providing processing device can execute the process requested by the requesting device based on the attribute information on the information to be processed.

Further, according to the present invention, as a twelfth aspect, a first display means for displaying a device list of devices existing on the communication line selectable by a user on a display unit, and the management device, When the user selects a desired device from the device list, a second display means for displaying an information list of information managed by the management device on the display unit on the display unit; and By specifying desired information from a list, and further specifying one of the desired devices from the device list, it is possible to have a device determining means that can determine a device to perform the processing. it can. Further, according to the present invention, the display means may be configured to display the information on the display unit in a reduced image obtained by reducing the information.

In such a Web service providing processing device, a user can determine a device that processes desired information by a simple operation such as drag and drop.

Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 14, the request device is the Web service providing processing device itself, the management device, or a computer terminal connected via the network. Can be configured.

In such a Web service providing processing device, whether it is a requesting device, the requesting device is the same as the management device, or the requesting device is a computer terminal such as a personal computer, By cooperating with each other, a document stored in another Web service providing processing apparatus can be acquired, and processing such as copying or printing can be realized by the own apparatus.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer to execute the image forming method, or a storage medium storing the program.

As described above, according to the present invention, the processing sequence is controlled between the document source device and the document destination device, and the document of the document source device is converted into a document based on the document types that can be processed with each other. The processing can be performed in the destination device.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

画像 The image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention that combines a plurality of image forming functions has, for example, a functional configuration as shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall functional configuration of an image forming apparatus that integrates a plurality of image forming functions according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1200 includes a plotter 1201 that is a hardware resource for performing a printer process, a scanner 1202 that is a hardware resource for performing a scanner process, and other hardware resources 1203. The system includes a software 1210 including a platform 1220 and an application 1230, and an activation unit 1240.

The activation unit 1240 is first executed when the power of the image forming apparatus 1200 is turned on, and activates the platform 1220 and the application 1230.

An API (Application Program Interface) 1205 provides an interface between the application 1230 and the platform 1220. The platform 1220 interprets a processing request from the application 1230 notified via the API 1205, and manages one or a plurality of hardware resources, and a control service 1250 described below for generating a hardware resource acquisition request. , An OS 1221 and a system resource manager (SRM (System Resource Manager) 1223) for arbitrating an acquisition request from the control service 1250.

The control service 1250 is formed by a plurality of service modules. Specifically, the SCS (System Control Service) 1222, the ECS (Engine Control Service) 1224, the MCS (Memory Control Service) 1225, and the OCS (Operation panel) Control Service) 1226, FCS (FAX Control Service) 1227, NCS (Network Control Service) 1228, and IMH (Imaging Memory Handler) 1229.

The OS 1221 is an operating system such as UNIX (registered trademark), and executes each software of the platform 1220 and the application 1230 as a process in parallel. By using the open source UNIX (registered trademark), the security of the program can be ensured, the network can be supported, and the source code can be easily obtained. Furthermore, royalties for OS and TCP / IP are not required, and outsourcing is also facilitated. The OS 1221 differs from an operating system such as a personal computer (PC) in that the OS 1221 directly controls each hardware resource used for image processing. Usually, the PC can control the connected image forming apparatuses such as the scanner and the printer, but cannot control the hardware resources in the image forming apparatuses.

The SRM 1223 controls the system and manages resources together with the SCS 1222. The SRM 1223 includes an engine unit such as the scanner 1202 and the plotter 1201, a memory, an HDD file, a host I / O (Centro I / F, a network I / F, an IEEE1394 I / F, RS232CI / F, etc.) and performs arbitration in accordance with a request from an upper layer using hardware resources, and controls execution.

Specifically, the SRM 1223 determines whether the requested hardware resource is available (whether the requested hardware resource is not used by another request), and if the requested hardware resource is available, the requested hardware resource is Communicate availability to upper layers. In addition, hardware resource utilization scheduling is performed in response to a request from an upper layer, and the content of the request (for example, paper conveyance and image forming operation by printer engine (plotter 1201), memory reservation, file generation, etc.) is directly performed. It may be.

The SCS 1222 includes application management (function 1), operation unit control (function 2), system screen display (job list screen, counter display screen, etc.) (function 3), LED display (function 4), resource management (function 5), Performs a plurality of functions such as interrupt application control (function 6). Specifically, in the application management (function 1), processing for registering an application and notifying the information to another application is performed. In the operation unit control (function 2), exclusive control of the operation unit use right of the application is performed. In the system screen display (function 3), a warning screen corresponding to the state of the engine unit is displayed according to the request content from the application having the operation unit use right. In the LED display (function 4), display control of system LEDs such as a warning LED and an application key is performed. In the resource management (function 5), when an application (ECS) executes a job, a service is provided for exclusive control of engine resources (scanners, staples, etc.) that must be excluded. In the interrupt application control (function 6), control and service for giving priority to a specific application are performed.

The ECS 1224 controls an engine unit such as a plotter 1201, a scanner 1202, and other hardware resources 1203, and performs image reading and printing operation, status notification, jam recovery, and the like.

The MCS 1225 performs memory control, and specifically acquires and releases an image memory, uses a hard disk device (HD), and compresses and expands image data.

The OCS 1226 is a module that controls an operation panel serving as information transmission means between the operator and the main body control. The OCS 1226 provides a process for notifying the main body control of a key operation event of the operator, and provides a library function for each application to construct a GUI. Processing, processing for managing the constructed GUI information for each application, processing for reflecting the display on the operation panel, and the like are performed.

The FCS 1227 performs facsimile transmission / reception using PSTN / ISDN from each application layer of the system controller, registration / quotation of various facsimile data managed by BKM (backup SRAM), facsimile reading, facsimile reception printing, and fusion transmission / reception. API 1205 is provided.

The NCS 1228 is a group of modules for providing services that can be used in common to applications that require network I / O. The NCS 1228 distributes data received from the network according to each protocol to each application, and distributes data from an application. Mediates transmission to the network side. The NCS 1228 includes, for example, an httpd (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon) 2 for controlling at least communication with a device connected via a network, and a usbd (Universal Serial Bus Daemon) for controlling communication via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. 2-1; 1349d (Daemon) 2-2 for controlling communication by IEEE1349 connection; centrod (Centronics Daemon) 2-3 for controlling communication by Centronics connection; and brts (Bluetooth Daemon) for controlling communication by Bluetooth connection. 2-4, an ird (Infrared Daemon) 2-5 for controlling infrared communication, a scsid (SCSI Daemon) 2-6 for controlling communication by SCSI connection, and a file transfer protocol ftpd (File Transfer Protocol Daemon) 3 Having.

$ IMH1229 maps image data from a virtual memory area to a physical memory area. In response to the activation of the process, a system call is performed to map a virtual memory area for the process, to release the mapped virtual memory area at the end of the process, and the like.

The application 1230 includes a printer application 1211 that is a printer application having a page description language (PDL), PCL, and PostScript (PS), a copy application 1212 that is a copy application, and a facsimile application 1213 that is a facsimile application. , A scanner application 1214 as a scanner application, a net file application 1215 as a net file application, and a document management Web service application having a document processing control unit 300 for controlling a processing sequence for cooperating with another device And a ticket management Web service application 1217 for issuing and managing tickets for each document processing.

Since each of the applications 1211 to 1217 can operate and execute using each process on the platform 1220, a screen display control program that performs screen control, key operation control, job generation, and the like is mainly performed. Note that a new application can be installed via the network connected by the NCS 1228. Further, each application can be added or deleted for each application.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1200, the processing commonly required by each application is unified by the platform 1220.

Next, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1200 includes an operation panel 1310, an engine unit 1350 including an FCU (fax control unit) 1320, a plotter 1201, a scanner 1202, and other hardware 1203; The configuration is such that the ASIC 1301 is connected by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus or the like.

The FCU 1320 has a non-volatile memory (NVM) 1321 for storing the received fax data and an RTC (Real Time Clock) 1322 for measuring time in the FCU 1320. Send and receive. The FCU 1320 may further include the G3 standard and the G4 standard as options.

The controller 1300 connects the ASIC 1301 with the MEM-C 1302, the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 1303, and the like, and connects the ASIC 1301 and the CPU 1304 via the NB 1305 of the CPU chipset. The reason for connecting via the NB 1305 is that the interface of the CPU 1304 itself is not disclosed.

Here, the ASIC 1301 and the NB 1305 are not simply connected via the PCI, but are connected via the AGP 1308. The reason why the connection is established via the AGP 1308 is that, since the image forming apparatus 1200 controls the execution of a plurality of processes forming the platform 1220 and the application 1230, if these are connected by low-speed PCI, This is because the performance is reduced.

The CPU 1304 performs overall control of the image forming apparatus 1200. Specifically, the SCS 1222, the SRM 1223, the ECS 1224, the MCS 1225, the OCS 1226, the FCS 1227, and the NCS 1228, which form the platform 1220 on the OS 1221, are executed and executed as processes. At the same time, the printer application 1211, copy application 1212, fax application 1213, scanner application 1214, document management Web service application 1215, and ticket management Web service application 1217 that form the application 1230 are activated and executed.

An NB 1305 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 1304 to the MEM-P 1306, the SB 1307, and the ASIC 1301, the MEM-P 1306 is a system memory used as a drawing memory of the image forming apparatus, and the MEM-C 1302 is a copy image. An ASIC 1301 is a local memory used as a buffer and a code buffer. The ASIC 1301 is an IC for image processing having hardware components for image processing.

$ SB 1307 is a bridge for connecting NB 1305 to ROM, PCI devices, and peripheral devices. The SB 1307 has an RTC (Real Time Clock) 1323 that measures time in the controller 1300. The SB 1307 has a USB host inside, and can capture image data by connecting a USB-connected camera, for example, and can also receive data from another USB target.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, data transmitted and received via a plurality of standard G3, G3 option, and G4 option ports of the SB 1307, NIC 1311, USB target 1312, IEEE1394, Centronics 1314, serial 1315, USB host 1316, and FCU 1320 are stored in the HDD 1303. And are managed centrally.

The HDD 1303 is a storage for storing image data, storing programs, storing font data, and storing forms. The operation panel 1310 receives an input operation from an operator and performs display for the operator. An operation unit.

Therefore, the ASIC 1301 is provided with a RAM interface for connecting the MEM-C 1302 and a hard disk interface for connecting the HDD 1303. When inputting and outputting image data to and from these storage units, The destination is switched to the RAM interface or the hard disk interface.

AGP1308 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphics processing, and speeds up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the system memory at high throughput.

Hereinafter, the document and image data stored in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1200 having the overall functional configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. An example of a functional configuration for providing copying or printing such as the above as a Web service will be described. Here, the Web service means that the image forming apparatus 1200 performs a predetermined process in response to a service request by an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) request from a device connected via a network, and the processing result is used as an HTTP response. Providing to the device.

First, a mechanism in which a Web service is provided from the image forming apparatus 1200 via a network will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network system configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3, an image forming apparatus 1200 having the overall functional configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 includes an image forming apparatus 1000 having the same functions as the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 30 via a network 15. Here, the image forming apparatus 1000 may not include the document processing control unit 300 in the document management Web service application 1216 illustrated in FIG.

The terminal 30 is an information processing terminal such as a PC (personal computer) 30-1, a mobile phone 20-2, or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). For convenience of explanation, the terminal 30 will be described below assuming the PC 30-1.

Also, a case will be described in which communication is performed via the network 15, but in communication with the terminal 30 and the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200, the network 15 may be either a wired LAN or a wireless LAN. Furthermore, communication by USB connection, communication by IEEE1349 connection, communication by Centronics connection, communication by Bluetooth connection, infrared communication, or communication by SCSI connection may be used.

FIG. 3 shows three patterns for copying a document or image data (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a document) stored in the HDD 1303B of the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200. Here, image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the stored document to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document sending apparatus. Further, image forming apparatus 1200 copies the document transmitted from image forming apparatus 1000 by storing it in HDD 1303 as a document destination apparatus.

First, as the pattern 1, the user may copy the document of the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 using the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200. Next, as pattern 2, the user may copy a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 using the operation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000. Further, as pattern 3, the user may copy a document of image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1200 using a screen for copying a document displayed on display unit 13 of terminal 30.

The functional configurations of the image forming apparatuses 1200 and 1000 and the terminal 30 shown in FIG. 3 will be described. First, an image forming apparatus 1200 having a document processing control unit 300 for controlling a document copy sequence for copying a document from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 in response to a user's document copying request in the above patterns 1 to 3. The functional configuration of will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus having a document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4, only the main functional components of the functional components of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 1 are shown, and other functional components are omitted. 4, the document management Web service application 1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 mainly includes a server unit 100 that controls message exchange according to a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and a Web service function (a function of providing a Web service). A document management Web service execution unit 130 that executes a process related to document management as a WSF by accessing an HDD 1303 in which documents are stored; a client unit 200 that exchanges messages in accordance with SOAP for requesting and providing a web service; The document processing control unit 300 controls a processing sequence for performing a cooperative process with another device with respect to the document processing performed by the client unit 200 based on the notification from the server 100.

The server unit 100 further includes a SOAP command analysis unit 110 that analyzes a SOAP command indicating a processing request set in the HTTP request according to the SOAP, and a SOAP response that constructs a response according to the SOAP as a message set in the HTTP response. And a construction unit 120.

The SOAP command analysis unit 110 analyzes a SOAP command from an HTTP request, stores the document processed by the image forming apparatus 1200 in the HDD 1303, updates the document stored in the HDD 1303, deletes the document, and executes other processes. The processing is notified to the document management Web service execution unit 130 that executes processing for acquiring the bibliographic information of the documents stored in the document management server. Also, the SOAP command analysis unit 110 extracts a SOAP command from the HTTP request, receives a document to be processed from the image forming apparatus 1000 connected via the network 15, and designates that a predetermined process is to be performed. A SOAP command determining unit 111 that determines whether the command is a SOAP command for performing a predetermined process in cooperation with at least one device connected via the network 15 is provided. If the SOAP command is a SOAP command for performing a predetermined process in cooperation between apparatuses, the SOAP command determining unit 111 notifies the sequence control unit 310 of the document processing control unit 300 of the SOAP command. In the first embodiment, the SOAP command determination unit 111 determines whether the SOAP command specified by the HTTP request is a document copy request command requesting that the document specified by the user be copied from the image forming apparatus 1000. to decide.

The SOAP response construction unit 120 receives the processing result of the processing executed by the document management Web service execution unit 130 from the document management Web service execution unit 130 in response to the notification of the processing by the SOAP command analysis unit 110, and receives the processing result. A message according to the indicated SOAP is generated, and transmitted as a HTTP response over the network 15 by httpd2 of the NCS 1228. Further, the SOAP response construction unit 120 generates a message according to the SOAP indicating the processing result notified from the sequence control unit 310 of the document processing control unit 300.

The client unit 200 further includes a SOAP command construction unit 210 that constructs a message in accordance with the SOAP so that a SOAP command indicating the processing request is set in the HTTP request, and a message in accordance with the SOAP set in the HTTP response. And a SOAP response interpreting unit 220 for interpreting.

The document processing control unit 300 can be processed by a sequence control unit 310 that controls a processing sequence with the image forming apparatus 1000 for copying a document from the image forming apparatus 1000, and by the image forming apparatus 1200 and the image forming apparatus 1000. And a document type determining unit 320 for determining a proper document type.

When the sequence control unit 310 receives from the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100 the notification of the SOAP command for performing the processing in cooperation between the devices, the sequence control unit 310 sends the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 the image forming apparatus 1000 Is requested from the image forming apparatus 1000 to obtain a document type list that can be obtained when a document specified by the user is obtained from the user. Upon acquiring the document type list from the SOAP response interpretation unit 220, the sequence control unit 310 requests the document type determination unit 320 to specify a document type that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 1000 and the image forming apparatus 1200. Then, the sequence control unit 310 instructs the SOAP command construction unit 210 to request a page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 using the document type specified by the document type determination unit 320, and Upon receiving the page image transmitted from image forming apparatus 1000 from SOAP response interpreting section 220 in response, SOAP command constructing section 210 of client section 200 internally transmits a SOAP command for accumulating the page image in HDD 1303 to the SOAP section of server section 100. The command analysis unit 110 issues the command. Therefore, the document management Web service execution unit 130 executes a process of storing a page image in the HDD 1303 in response to a processing request from the SOAP command interpretation unit 110.

The document type determination unit 320 indicates a source type list 302 indicating a list of document types that can be acquired by the image apparatus 1000 notified from the sequence control unit 310, and a list of document types writable by the image forming apparatus 1200. It is determined whether there is a document type that can be processed in common with the destination type list 304, and one of the most preferable document types is specified. The document type determination unit 320 notifies the sequence control unit 310 of the specified document type.

Next, a description will be given of a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1000 that does not have the document processing control unit 300 as a document sending apparatus that transmits a stored document to the image forming apparatus 1200. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus having no document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, for convenience of description, the same reference numerals are given to the same processing units as those of the image forming apparatus 1200, and an alphabetic character B is added to the end. That is, the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1000 is the same as that of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, when receiving a HTTP request from the image forming apparatus 1200 or the terminal 30 via the httpd2B of the NCS1228B, the SOAP command analyzing unit 110B of the server unit 100B analyzes the SOAP command set in the HTTP request, and The processing corresponding to the command is requested to the document management Web service execution unit 130B as a Web service function (WSF). Upon receiving the processing result from the document management Web service execution unit 130B, the SOAP response construction unit 120B of the server unit 100B constructs the processing result as a SOAP response, and as the HTTP response via the httpd2B of the NCS1228B, the image forming apparatus 1200 or the terminal. 30 to provide a Web service.

The document management Web service execution unit 130B controls the HDD 1303B in response to a processing request as a Web service from the SOAP command analysis unit 110B, so that a document list, thumbnail data, bibliographic information, a document obtainable type list, or A page image or the like is acquired as a processing result, and is notified to the SOAP response construction unit 120B.

(4) The SOAP command construction unit 210B of the client unit 200B makes a processing request using a ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 in accordance with a user operation. The SOAP response interpretation unit 220B of the client unit 200B interprets the processing result received from the image forming apparatus 1200. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a terminal having no document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Next, the terminal 30 shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, a terminal 30 includes a network control unit 330 that controls communication via the network 15 in accordance with HTTP, a client unit 200C that controls message exchange in accordance with SOAP, and data input / output performed between users. It has an input / output control unit 340 for controlling output and a display unit 13 for displaying display data output from the input / output control unit 340.

The user uses the terminal 30 to select a document to be copied from the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000 displayed on the display unit 13 by using an input device (not shown) such as a mouse or a keyboard, and to select a copy destination. Is selected as the image forming apparatus 1200. In this case, the data input by the user is notified by the input / output control unit 340 to the SOAP command construction unit 210C. The SOAP command construction unit 210C creates a SOAP command indicating a processing request for copying a document from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the data notified from the input / output control unit 340, and Notify. Network control section 330 transmits the request to image forming apparatus 1200 as an HTTP request.

(4) Upon receiving the HTTP response from the image forming apparatus 1200, the network control unit 330 of the terminal 30 notifies the SOAP response interpretation unit 220C of the client unit 200C. The SOAP response interpreting unit 220C extracts the processing result from the notified HTTP response and notifies the input / output control unit 340 of the processing result to display the processing result on the display unit 13. The input / output control unit 340 causes the display unit 13 to display the processing result.

A description will be given of a document copy sequence in the case of the pattern 1 shown in FIG. 3 realized in the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 and the image forming apparatus 1000 as described above. Pattern 1 is a case where a user copies a document using the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a first document copy sequence when operated from the document destination device shown in pattern 1.

In FIG. 7, a user using image forming apparatus 1200 selects image forming apparatus 1000 in which a desired document is stored from an apparatus list indicating a list of apparatuses connected via network 15 displayed on operation panel 1310. Then (step S110), image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a document list request command for requesting a document list to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S111). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the document list acquired from the HDD 1303B by the document management Web service execution unit 130B to the image forming apparatus 1200 (Step S111-2).

When image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document list, image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a thumbnail request command for requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on operation panel 1310 to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S112). In the image forming apparatus 1000, the document management Web service execution unit 130B performs a process according to the thumbnail request command. The thumbnail data of the document notified from the document management Web service execution unit 130B is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S112-2). The thumbnail data is, for example, an image sample obtained by reducing the first page of a document.

When a list of documents stored in image forming apparatus 1000 is displayed on operation panel 1310 of image forming apparatus 1200 by thumbnails representing the respective documents received in step S112-2, the user can select a desired document. A document to be copied and a device to which the document is to be copied are specified by dragging and dropping the thumbnail of the document to a desired device shown in the device list (step S113). In this case, the user performs a drag-and-drop operation on the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1200.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S114). In response to a bibliographic information request command from image forming apparatus 1200, image forming apparatus 1000 obtains bibliographic information on a document from HDD 1303B by document management Web service execution unit 130B, and transmits the bibliographic information to image forming apparatus 1200 ( Step S114-2).

(4) Upon receiving the bibliographic information, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally acquires the system information and confirms that the ticket can be processed (step S115). Then, image forming apparatus 1200 displays a copy confirmation dialog on operation panel 1310 (step S116). When the user selects OK indicating the execution of the copying process (step S117), the sequence control unit 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts control for performing the process in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a document obtainable type list request command for requesting a list of obtainable document types to the image forming apparatus 1000 by the sequence control unit 310 (step S118). In response to the document obtainable type list request command from image forming apparatus 1200, image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list (step S118-2). . When image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document obtainable type list from image forming apparatus 1000, the document obtainable type list is held as source type list 302. Further, the sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command for requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200 to acquire the document writable type list. It is set as the destination type list 304 (step S119).

The sequence control unit 310 determines, by the document type determination unit 320, a source type list 302 indicating a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and a destination type list 304 indicating a document type that can be written in the image forming apparatus 1200. Based on the above, it is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and is writable by the image forming apparatus 1200, and an optimum document type is specified (step S120). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type. Sequence control section 310 instructs SOAP command construction section 210 to transmit a ticket request command as a SOAP command.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a ticket request command for requesting a ticket indicating permission to use the document selected by the user to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S121). The image forming apparatus 1000 issues a ticket indicating permission of use of a document for the image forming apparatus 1200 to perform processing on the image forming apparatus 1000 by the ticket management Web service application 1217 and transmits the ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step). S121-2). Upon receiving the ticket, image forming apparatus 1200 internally performs a document copy request for copying a document from image forming apparatus 1000 using the ticket (step S122). That is, the image forming apparatus 1200 generates a document copy request command as a SOAP command issued to itself.

In response to the internally issued document copy request command, image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a page image request command for requesting a page image to image forming apparatus 1000 using the ticket specifying the document type specified in step S120 (step S120). S123). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S123). -2). In the page image request command, for example, a plurality of page images of the document selected by the user may be specified, or a page image of one page is specified and the page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000. Each time the process is performed, the process of transmitting a page image request command specifying the next page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 may be repeated.

The image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page image received from the image forming apparatus 1000 in the HDD 1303 (Step S124). When all page images are stored in HDD 1303, a dialog indicating that copying has been completed is displayed on operation panel 1310 of image forming apparatus 1200 (step S125).

7, a request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 in the image forming apparatus 1200 as a document destination apparatus is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 ( In steps S111, S112, S114, S118, S121, and S123), an HTTP response indicating a processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220 of the client unit 200.

Also, in the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending apparatus, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110B of the server unit 100B, and the corresponding processing is executed by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. You. The processing result of the document management Web service execution unit 130B is provided to the image forming apparatus 1200 as a Web service by the SOAP response construction unit 120B of the server unit 100B (steps S111-2, S112-2, S114-2, S118-2, S121-2 and S123-2).

As described above, in the pattern 1 shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 acquires a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 designated by the user who uses the image forming apparatus 1200 in an appropriate document type. However, by storing the data in the HDD 1303, document copying can be realized.

A description will be given of a document copy sequence in the case of the pattern 2 shown in FIG. 3 realized in the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 4 and the image forming apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. Pattern 2 is a case where the user copies a document using the operation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the second document copy sequence when operated from the document source device shown in pattern 2.

In FIG. 8, the user of the image forming apparatus 1000 determines the image forming apparatus 1000 in which the desired document is stored from the apparatus list indicating the list of apparatuses connected via the network 15 displayed on the operation panel 1310B. When selected (step S210), the image forming apparatus 1000 internally generates a document list request command for requesting a document list, and the document management Web service execution unit 130B controls the document managed by the image forming apparatus 1000 itself from the HDD 1303B. Is obtained (step S211). Further, upon receiving the document list, image forming apparatus 1000 internally generates a thumbnail request command requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on operation panel 1310B, and generates a thumbnail request command based on the thumbnail data acquired by document management Web service execution unit 130B. Then, a thumbnail representing each document is displayed on the operation panel 1310B (step S212).

When the document list is displayed as thumbnails on the operation panel 1310B, the user performs a drag and drop operation on the documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S213). In response to the drag and drop operation by the user, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be copied, and the bibliography on the document is issued by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. Information is obtained from the HDD 1303B (step S214).

The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a system information request command for requesting system information to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S215). Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 acquires system information including ticket information indicating whether or not the ticket can be used, and transmits the acquired system information to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S215-2). Then, image forming apparatus 1000 displays a copy confirmation dialog on operation panel 1310B (step S216). When the user selects OK indicating the execution of the copying process (step S217), a ticket is internally issued by the ticket management Web service application 1217 (step S218). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a document copy request command for requesting a document copy using the internally acquired ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S219).

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document copy request command from the image forming apparatus 1000, the document processing control unit 300 starts control of a processing sequence for performing cooperative processing with another apparatus. By the sequence control unit 310 of the document processing control unit 300, the image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a document obtainable type list request command for requesting a list of document types obtainable from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step). S220). In response to the document obtainable type list request command from image forming apparatus 1200, image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list (step S220-2). . When image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document obtainable type list from image forming apparatus 1000, the document obtainable type list is held as source type list 302. Further, the sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command for requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200 to acquire the document writable type list. This is set as the destination type list 304 (step S221).

Sequence control section 310 forms an image based on source type list 302 indicating a document type that can be obtained from image forming apparatus 1000 and destination type list 304 indicating a document type that can be written by image forming apparatus 1200. It is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the apparatus 100 and can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200, and specifies an optimal document type (step S222). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type. Further, the sequence control unit 310 causes the SOAP command construction unit 210 to transmit, as a SOAP command, a page image request command using a ticket specifying the document type specified in step S221 to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S223). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S223). -2). A plurality of page images may be designated by a page image request command, or one page image is designated, and each time a page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000, the next page image is designated as a page image. A process of requesting a page image from the image forming apparatus 1000 by designating the request command may be repeatedly performed.

The image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page image received from the image forming apparatus 1000 in the HDD 1303 (Step S224). When all the page images are stored in HDD 1303, image forming apparatus 1200 transmits an end response to image forming apparatus 1000 by sequence control section 310 (step S224-2). Upon receiving the end response, the image forming apparatus 1000 displays a copy end dialog indicating that the copy processing has ended on the operation panel 1310B (step S225).

In the description of FIG. 8, in the image forming apparatus 1200 as the document destination apparatus, a request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 ( In steps S220 and S223), an HTTP response indicating a processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220 of the client unit 200. The request command received from the image forming apparatus 1000 is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100, and determines whether the SOAP command is a document copy request command using a ticket.

Also, in the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending source, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1200 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210B of the client unit 200B (steps S215 and S219). ), An HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220B of the client unit 200B. Further, the request command received from image forming apparatus 1200 is analyzed as a SOAP command by SOAP command analyzing section 110B of server section 100B.

As described above, in the pattern 2 shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 acquires the document of the image forming apparatus 1000 specified by the user using the image forming apparatus 1000 in an appropriate document type. However, by storing the data in the HDD 1303, document copying can be realized.

A description will be given of a document copy sequence in the case of the pattern 3 shown in FIG. 3 realized in the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 5, and the terminal 30 shown in FIG. Pattern 3 is a case where a user copies a document on a screen displayed on the display unit 13 of the terminal 30. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a third document copy sequence when operated from the terminal shown in pattern 3.

In FIG. 9, when the user using the terminal 30 selects the image forming apparatus 1000 in which the desired document is stored from a device list indicating a list of devices connected via the network 15 displayed on the display unit 13 ( In step S310, the terminal 30 transmits a document list request command for requesting a document list to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S311). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the document list acquired from the HDD 1303B by the document management Web service execution unit 130B to the terminal 30 (Step S311-2).

When the terminal 30 receives the document list, the terminal 30 transmits a thumbnail request command for requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on the display unit 13 to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S312). In the image forming apparatus 1000, the document management Web service execution unit 130B performs a process according to the thumbnail request command. The thumbnail data of the document notified from the document management Web service execution unit 130B is transmitted to the terminal 30 (step S312-2). The thumbnail data is, for example, an image sample obtained by reducing the first page of a document.

When a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is displayed on the display unit 13 of the terminal 30 by thumbnails representing each document based on the thumbnail data received in step S312-2, the user By dragging and dropping the thumbnail of the desired document to the desired device indicated in the device list, the document to be copied and the device to which the document is to be copied are specified (step S313). In this case, the user performs a drag-and-drop operation on the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1200.

The terminal 30 transmits a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S314). In response to the bibliographic information request command from terminal 30, image forming apparatus 1000 obtains bibliographic information on the document from HDD 1303B by document management Web service execution unit 130B, and transmits the bibliographic information to terminal 30 (step S314-2). ).

Upon receiving the bibliographic information, the terminal 30 transmits a system information request command for requesting the system information to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S315). Upon receiving the system information from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S315-2), the terminal 30 confirms that the copying process can be performed using the ticket. Then, the terminal 30 displays a copy confirmation dialog on the display unit 13 (step S316).

When the user selects OK indicating the execution of the copying process (step S317), terminal 30 transmits a ticket request command requesting a ticket for using the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1000. (Step S318). Upon receiving the ticket from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S318-2), the terminal 30 requests the image forming apparatus 1200 to copy a user's desired document from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the document using the ticket. A copy request command is transmitted (step S319).

In image forming apparatus 1200, when a document copy request command using a ticket is received from terminal 30, sequence control section 310 of document processing control section 300 for performing processing in cooperation with image forming apparatus 1000 starts control. The sequence control unit 310 causes the image forming apparatus 1200 to transmit a document obtainable type list request command for requesting a list of document types obtainable from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S320). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to the image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list in response to a document obtainable type list request command from the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S320-2). . Upon receiving the document obtainable type list from image forming apparatus 1000, image forming apparatus 1200 holds the document obtainable type list as source type list 302. Further, the sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command for requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200 to acquire the document writable type list. This is set as the destination type list 304 (step S321).

The sequence control unit 310 determines, by the document type determination unit 320, a source type list 302 indicating a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and a destination type list 304 indicating a document type that can be written in the image forming apparatus 1200. Based on the above, it is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and is writable by the image forming apparatus 1200, and specifies an optimal document type (step S322). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type. Sequence control section 310 instructs SOAP command construction section 210 to transmit a ticket request command as a SOAP command.

The image forming apparatus 1200 specifies the document type specified in step S322 in the ticket specified by the document copy request command received in step S319, and transmits a page image request command for requesting a page image to the image forming apparatus 1000. (Step S323). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S323). -2). A plurality of page images may be designated by a page image request command, or a page image for one page is designated, and each time a page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000, the next page image is designated. The process of transmitting the designated page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1000 may be repeated.

The image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page image received from the image forming apparatus 1000 in the HDD 1303 (Step S324). When all the page images are stored in the HDD 1303, an end response indicating that the document copying has been completed is transmitted to the terminal 30 that has transmitted the document copying request command in step S319 (step S324-2). Upon receiving the end response, the terminal 30 displays a dialog on the display unit 13 indicating that the copying has been completed (step S325).

In the description of FIG. 9, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 or the image forming apparatus 1200 in the terminal 30 as the operating side is set as a SOAP command in the HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210C of the client unit 200C. (Steps S311, S312, S314, S315, S318, and S319), and the HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220C of the client unit 200C.

Also, in the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending apparatus, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110B of the server unit 100B, and the corresponding processing is executed by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. You. The processing result by the document management Web service execution unit 130B is provided as a Web service to the terminal 30 or the image forming apparatus 1200 by the SOAP response construction unit 120B of the server unit 100 (steps S311-2, S312-2, S314-2, and S318). -2).

Further, in the image forming apparatus 1200 as the document destination apparatus, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 (steps S320 and S323). ), An HTTP response indicating a processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220 of the client unit 200. Further, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100, and a processing result obtained by executing a process corresponding to the SOAP command is transmitted to the Web service by the SOAP response construction unit 120 of the server unit 100. Is provided to the terminal 30 (steps S315-2 and S324-2).

As described above, in the pattern 3 shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 acquires the document of the image forming apparatus 1000 specified by the user using the terminal 30 in an appropriate document type, By storing the data in the HDD 1303, document copying can be realized.

The document copy request command described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an HTTP request indicating a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. In the HTTP request shown in FIG. 10, a description 31 indicates a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to which the HTTP request is transmitted by the POST method, and is, for example, "netdoc". Further, a URL indicating the purpose of the request is indicated in the description 32. For example, “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentmanagement” specifies “document management”.

The description 33 indicates the SOAP header, and indicates the root element. Description 34 shows the SOAP body. In the description 34, a SOAP command for specifying a requested process, information referred to at the time of the process, and the like are set in a description 35 indicated by <ns: documentmanagement> to </ ns: documentmanagement>. For example, in the case of a document copy request command using a ticket, the description 36 specifies the ticket number by <ticketId>, and the description 37 specifies the SOAP command by <operation>. For example, “123” is set as the ticket number, and “copyFileByTicket” is set as the SOAP command.

Ｈ An HTTP response corresponding to the HTTP request shown in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. In the HTTP response shown in FIG. 11, the description 42 indicates that the request was successful. The description 43 indicates a SOAP header, and indicates a root element. Description 44 shows the SOAP body. In the description 44, the processing result is indicated by a description 45 indicated by <ns: documentmanagementResponse> to </ ns: documentmanagementResponse>. For example, “success” indicating that the processing has been completed normally is set in the description 46 indicated by <result>.

The document obtainable type list request command described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request indicating a document obtainable type list request command by SOAP. 12, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 10 denote the same parts, and a description thereof will be omitted. In the SOAP body according to the description 34 of the HTTP request shown in FIG. 12, the SOAP command “getFileVariation” is specified in the description 50 by <operation>.

Ｈ An HTTP response corresponding to the HTTP request shown in FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. In FIG. 13, the same reference numerals are given to the same descriptions as in FIG. 11, and the description will be omitted. In the SOAP body according to the description 44 of the HTTP response illustrated in FIG. 13, three document types that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 are set by descriptions 52, 53, and 54 based on <type>. In the description 52, the compression format “Tiff” of the image data is specified by <format>, the image type “1 bit / dot” by <imageType>, and the resolution “600 × 600” by <binary>. In the description 53, the compression format “Jpeg” of the image data is specified by <format>, the image type is “8 bit / dot” by <imageType>, and the resolution is “300 × 300” by <binary>. In the description 54, the compression format “Jpeg2000” of the image data is specified by <format>, the image type is “8 bit / dot” by <imageType>, and the resolution is “600 × 600” by <binary>.

When such an HTTP response is received by the image forming apparatus 1200, the document types indicated by the descriptions 52 to 54 are extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220, and as the sender type list 302, for example, {"Tiff", "1 bit / dot ", 600 × 600}, {“ Jpeg ”,“ 8 bit / dot ”, 300 × 300}, {“ Jpeg2000 ”,“ 8 bit / dot ”, 600 × 600}. As the destination type list 304, for example, {“Tiff”, “1 bit / dot”, 300 × 300} obtained by internally issuing a document writable type list request command in the image forming apparatus 1200, {“Jpeg”, “8 bit / dot”, 300 × 300} are set. The document type determination unit 320 compares the source type list 302 and the destination type list 304 to determine whether there is a matching document type. In this case, {“Jpeg”, “8 bit / dot”, 300 × 300} is determined to be the matching document type, and since it is the only matching document type, the document type is specified. The specified document type is set in an HTTP request as shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of an HTTP request indicating the page image request command described above. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request indicating a page image request command by SOAP. 14, the same description as in FIG. 10 is given the same reference numeral, and the description is omitted. In the SOAP body according to the description 34 of the HTTP request shown in FIG. 14, the description 59 specifies the document type by <type>, and the description 60 specifies the SOAP command by <operation>. For example, as the document type, the format 53 of the image data is “Jpeg” by <format>, the image type is “8 bit / dot” by <imageType>, and the resolution is “300 × 300” is designated. Also, the SOAP command “getFile (TicketID)” is specified in the description 60 by <operation>.

Ｈ The HTTP response corresponding to the HTTP request shown in FIG. 14 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a page image request command by SOAP. 15, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 11 denote the same parts, and a description thereof will be omitted. The description 61 of the HTTP response shown in FIG. 15 indicates that there are a plurality of data in different formats, and that "XX_boundary" of the description 66 indicates the boundary between the plurality of data. In the description 62, information such as a description format of a text related to text data, a code, and a text data length are set. In the description 63 in the SOAP body of the description 44, "success" indicating that the processing for the page image request command has been completed normally is indicated by <result>.

In the description 64, information such as the data format of the image relating to the image data, the transfer data type indicating text or binary, and the image data length are set, and then the image data 66 is set. For example, if the data format is Tiff and the transfer data type is binary, the image data 66 is set to binary Tiff image data.

に よ っ て According to the HTTP response shown in FIG. 15, the image forming apparatus 1200 extracts binary Tiff image data from the HTTP response and stores the tiff image data in the HDD 1303 to copy the document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000.

In the above example, the method of incorporating the image data into the HTTP response and transmitting the image data to the image forming apparatus 1200 has been described. However, the transmission and reception of the image data may be performed by the file transfer protocol (ftpd3).

In the first embodiment, the following SOAP commands are used.

上記ＳＯＡＰコマンドは、図１０、図１２及び図１４で説明したように、ＳＯＡＰボディの<operation>で指定される。

The SOAP command is specified by <operation> of the SOAP body as described with reference to FIGS. 10, 12, and 14.

Next, examples of screens displayed on the operation panels 1310 and 1310B and the display unit 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the copy operation screen. In FIG. 16, a screen 400 includes a display area 401 that displays a device list indicating devices connected via the network 15 and a document list that indicates documents stored by the device selected by the user in the display area 401. And a display area 402 for displaying thumbnails representing individual documents. On the screen 400, for example, when the user selects the image forming apparatus 1000 from the display area 401 as the source apparatus, a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is displayed in the display area 402. The user selects the document A in the display area 402, and designates the image forming apparatus 1200 as a destination apparatus by an arrow 403 by a drag and drop operation. Here, the user can also select a plurality of documents.

(4) When the image forming apparatus 1200 is designated by the user's drag and drop operation, a copy confirmation dialog for confirming the copy as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed. FIG. 17 shows an example of the copy confirmation dialog. 17, the copy confirmation dialog 410 has a display area 411 for displaying a message to the user, a cancel button 412 for canceling the copy processing, and an OK button 413 for executing the copy processing. For example, when the user selects a plurality of documents A, B, C, and D on the copy operation screen 400 in FIG. 16, the display area 411 displays “Document A, Document B, Document C, and Document D as images. Message such as "Do you want to make a copy on the forming device 1200?" Is displayed, and the user confirms the document to be copied and the device to be copied.

When the user selects the OK button 413 in the copy confirmation dialog 410, a dialog for specifying a copy mode of a plurality of documents as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed. On the other hand, for example, when the user selects only the document A on the copy operation screen in FIG. 16 and selects the OK button 413 in the copy confirmation dialog in FIG. 17, the copy processing is executed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a multiple document copy mode designation dialog. As shown in FIG. 18, a multiple document copy mode designation dialog 440 includes a selection area 441 for selecting a copy mode, an order designation button 442 for designating an order, a cancel button 443 for canceling a copy process, and a copy process. And an OK button 444 for execution. In the selection area 441, for example, a message such as “Copy the selected document as a separate document and copy it as a single document” is displayed. When the user selects either one, a circle is displayed with a circle. You. Further, when the user selects the order designation button 442 to designate the order of copying a plurality of documents, a dialog for designating the order of copying a plurality of documents as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a multiple document order designation dialog. As shown in FIG. 19, the multiple document order designation dialog 450 includes a display area 451 for displaying a document list of a plurality of documents selected by the user, a button 452 for moving the document order forward (up), and a document order. It has a button 453 for later (lowering), a cancel button 454 for canceling the copying process, and an OK button 455 for executing the copying process.

When the user wants to change the copy order of the document B in the multiple document order designation dialog 450, the user selects the document B from the display area 451 and selects the button 452 to copy the document B before the document A, for example. Can be set to Further, by selecting the button 453, it is possible to set to copy after the document C or the document D. When the copy order is set and the OK button 455 is selected by such an operation, copy processing is executed, and the documents A to D are copied from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 in the copy order set by the user. .

In the first embodiment described above, a method of performing a process of copying a document from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 in the patterns 1 to 3 shown in FIG. In a third embodiment, a method of printing the document of the image forming apparatus 1000 by the image forming apparatus 1200 in cooperation with the apparatuses will be described in a second embodiment. Hereinafter, in the second embodiment, the overall functional configuration and hardware configuration of the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 are the same as the configurations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the first embodiment. The mechanism configuration of the image forming apparatus 1000 having no document processing control unit is the same as the functional configuration shown in FIG. Further, the functional configuration of the terminal having no document processing control unit 300 is the same as the functional configuration shown in FIG. Therefore, detailed description of those functional configurations will be omitted.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a network system configuration according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 20, an image forming apparatus 1200 having the functional configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 includes an image forming apparatus 1000 having the same functions as the image forming apparatus 1200 illustrated in FIG. And the terminal 30 via the network 15. Here, the image forming apparatus 1000 may not include the document processing control unit 300 in the document management Web service application 1216 illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 20 shows three patterns in which a document or image data (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a document) stored in HDD 1303B of image forming apparatus 1000 is printed by image forming apparatus 1200 and image-formed paper 4 is output. It is. Here, image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the stored document to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document sending apparatus. Image forming apparatus 1200 prints and outputs a document transmitted from image forming apparatus 1000 as a document destination apparatus.

First, as the pattern 1, a user may print a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 using the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 with the image forming apparatus 1200. Next, as the pattern 2, a user may print a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 with the image forming apparatus 1200 using the operation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000. Further, as the pattern 3, a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 may be printed by the image forming apparatus 1200 using a screen for printing a document displayed on the terminal 30 by the user.

The functional configuration of each of the image forming apparatuses 1200 and 1000 shown in FIG. 20 will be described. First, an image forming apparatus 1200 having a document processing control unit 300 for controlling a document copy sequence for copying a document from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 in response to a user's document copying request in the above patterns 1 to 3. The functional configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus having a document processing control unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 21, the same reference numerals are given to the same processing units as in FIG. 4, and the description thereof will be omitted. 21, only the main functional components of the functional components of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 1 are shown, and other functional components are omitted. 21, the document management Web service application 1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 prints a document specified by a user by controlling the plotter 1201 as a Web service function (WSF) as a function of providing a Web service. The document management Web service application 1216 according to the first embodiment is different from the document management Web service application 1216 in that a print Web service execution unit 140 is provided.

The document processing control unit 300 controls a processing sequence with the image forming apparatus 1000 for printing a document of the image forming apparatus 1000, and a document that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 1200 and the image forming apparatus 1000. A document type determining unit 320 for determining the type.

When the sequence control unit 310 receives from the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100 the notification of the SOAP command for performing the processing in cooperation between the devices, the sequence control unit 310 sends the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 the image forming apparatus 1000 Is requested from the image forming apparatus 1000 to obtain a document type list that can be obtained when a document specified by the user is obtained from the user. Upon acquiring the document type list from the SOAP response interpretation unit 220, the sequence control unit 310 requests the document type determination unit 320 to specify a document type that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 1000 and the image forming apparatus 1200. The sequence control unit 310 instructs the SOAP command construction unit 210 to request a page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 using the document type specified by the document type determination unit 320, and responds to the page image request command. When the page image transmitted from the image forming apparatus 1000 is received from the SOAP response interpreting unit 220, the SOAP command constructing unit 210 of the client unit 200 internally transmits a SOAP command for printing the page image by the plotter 1201 to the SOAP of the server unit 100. The command analysis unit 110 issues the command. Accordingly, the print Web service execution unit 140 executes a process of printing a page image by the plotter 1201 in response to a processing request from the SOAP command interpretation unit 110.

The document type determination unit 320 transmits a source type list 302 indicating a list of document types that can be acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 notified from the sequence control unit 310 and a list of document types that can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200. It is determined whether there is a document type that can be processed in common with the destination type list 304, and one of the most preferable document types is specified. The document type determination unit 320 notifies the sequence control unit 310 of the specified document type.

A description will be given of a document copy sequence in the case of the pattern 1 shown in FIG. 20 realized in the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 and the image forming apparatus 1000 as described above. Pattern 1 is a case where a user prints a document on the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200. FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a first document print sequence when operated from the document destination device shown in pattern 1.

In FIG. 22, a user using image forming apparatus 1200 selects image forming apparatus 1000 in which a desired document is stored from an apparatus list showing a list of apparatuses connected via network 15 displayed on operation panel 1310. Then (step S150), image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a document list request command for requesting a document list to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S151). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the document list acquired from the HDD 1303B by the document management Web service execution unit 130B to the image forming apparatus 1200 (Step S151-2).

When image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document list, it transmits a thumbnail request command for requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on operation panel 1310 to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S152). In the image forming apparatus 1000, the document management Web service execution unit 130B performs a process according to the thumbnail request command. The thumbnail data of the document notified from the document management Web service execution unit 130B is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S152-2). The thumbnail data is, for example, an image sample obtained by reducing the first page of a document.

When a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is displayed on the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 with thumbnails representing the respective documents based on the thumbnail data received in step S152-2, the usage is started. The user drags and drops the thumbnail of the desired document to the desired device indicated in the device list to specify the document to be printed and the device to print the document (step S153). In this case, the user performs a drag-and-drop operation on the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1200.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be printed to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S154). In response to a bibliographic information request command from image forming apparatus 1200, image forming apparatus 1000 obtains bibliographic information on a document from HDD 1303B by document management Web service execution unit 130B, and transmits the bibliographic information to image forming apparatus 1200 ( Step S154-2).

(4) Upon receiving the bibliographic information, the image forming apparatus 1200 acquires the system information internally, and confirms that the ticket can be processed (step S155). Further, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally generates a document printable type list request command for requesting a list of printable document types to acquire a document type list (step S156). Then, image forming apparatus 1200 displays a copy confirmation dialog on operation panel 1310 (step S157). When the user selects OK indicating the execution of the printing process (step S158), the sequence control unit 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts control for performing the process in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a document obtainable type list request command requesting a list of document types obtainable from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1000 by the sequence control unit 310 (step S159). Image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list in response to a document obtainable type list request command from image forming apparatus 1200 (step S159-2). . When image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document obtainable type list from image forming apparatus 1000, the document obtainable type list is held as source type list 302. Further, the sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command for requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200 to acquire the document writable type list. It is set as the destination type list 304 (step S160).

The image forming unit 320 forms an image based on a source type list 302 indicating a document type that can be acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 and a destination type list 304 indicating a document type that can be printed by the image forming apparatus 1200. It is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the apparatus 1000 and can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200, and specifies an optimal document type (step S161). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type. Sequence control section 310 instructs SOAP command construction section 210 to transmit a ticket request command as a SOAP command.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a ticket request command for requesting a ticket indicating permission to use the document selected by the user to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S162). The image forming apparatus 1000 issues a ticket for the image forming apparatus 1200 to perform processing to the image forming apparatus 1000 by the ticket management Web service application 1217 and transmits the ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S162-2). Upon receiving the ticket, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a document print request for printing a document from the image forming apparatus 1000 using the ticket (step S163). That is, the image forming apparatus 1200 generates a document print request command as a SOAP command issued to itself.

In response to the internally issued document print request command, the image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a print attribute information request command requesting print attribute information indicating that the document specified by the user indicates one side or both sides. (Step S164). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the print attribute information to the image forming apparatus 1200 (Step S164-2). Upon receiving the print attribute information, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a job creation request command to create a job (step S165). Further, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets the print attribute information acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 in Step S164-2 (Step S166).

Using the ticket acquired in step S162-2, image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a page image request command for requesting a page image, specifying the document type specified in step S161, to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S167). . The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S167). -2). In the page image request command, for example, a plurality of page images of the document selected by the user may be specified, or a page image of one page is specified and the page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000. Each time the process is performed, the process of transmitting a page image request command specifying the next page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 may be repeated.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all page images from the image forming apparatus 1000, the print Web service execution unit 140 performs a printing process by the plotter 1201 (step S168). A dialog indicating that printing has been completed is displayed on the operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S169).

In the description of FIG. 22, in the image forming apparatus 1200 as a document destination apparatus, a request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 ( In steps S151, S152, S154, S159, S162, S164, and S167), the HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpretation unit 220 of the client unit 200.

Also, in the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending apparatus, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110B of the server unit 100B, and the corresponding processing is executed by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. You. The processing result of the document management Web service execution unit 130B is provided to the image forming apparatus 1200 as a Web service by the SOAP response construction unit 120B of the server unit 100B (steps S151-2, S152-2, S154-2, S159-2, S162-2, S164-2, and S167-2).

A description will be given of a document printing sequence in the case of the pattern 2 shown in FIG. 20 realized by the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. Pattern 2 is a case where the user prints a document on the operation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second document print sequence when operated from the document source device illustrated in pattern 2.

In FIG. 23, the user of the image forming apparatus 1000 determines the image forming apparatus 1000 in which the desired document is stored from the apparatus list indicating the list of apparatuses connected via the network 15 displayed on the operation panel 1310B. When selected (step S250), image forming apparatus 1000 internally generates a document list request command for requesting a document list, and indicates a document held by image forming apparatus 1000 itself from HDD 1303 by document management Web service execution unit 130B. A document list is obtained (step S251). Further, upon receiving the document list, image forming apparatus 1000 internally generates a thumbnail request command for requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on operation panel 1310, and generates a thumbnail request command based on the thumbnail data acquired by document management Web service execution unit 130B. Then, a thumbnail representing each document is displayed on the operation panel 1310B (step S252).

When the document list is displayed as thumbnails on the operation panel 1310B, the user performs a drag and drop operation of the documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S253). In response to the drag and drop operation by the user, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be printed, and the bibliography on the document is issued by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. Information is obtained from the HDD 1303B (step S254).

The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a system information request command for requesting system information to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S255). Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 acquires system information including ticket information indicating whether or not the ticket can be used, and transmits the system information to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S255-2). Further, image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a document printable type list request command for requesting a document type list printable by image forming apparatus 1200 to image forming apparatus 1200 (step S256). Image forming apparatus 1200 transmits the document printable type list to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S256-2).

Then, when the image forming apparatus 1200 acquires the document printable type list, the image forming apparatus 1000 displays a print confirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310B (step S257). The image forming apparatus 1200 as the document destination apparatus may have different printing facilities (peripheral devices) such as punches and staples from the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document source apparatus. Therefore, the document acquired in step S256-2. Based on the printable type list, an attribute that cannot be set in the image forming apparatus 1200 can be displayed in gray, or an attribute that can be set in the image forming apparatus 1200 can be set. When the user selects OK indicating execution of the print process (step S258), the ticket management Web service application 1217 issues a ticket internally (step S259). Image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a document print request command for requesting printing of a document using the internally acquired ticket to image forming apparatus 1200 (step S260).

When image forming apparatus 1200 receives a document print request command from image forming apparatus 1000, document processing control section 300 starts control of a processing sequence for performing cooperative processing with image forming apparatus 1000. By the sequence control unit 310 of the document processing control unit 300, the image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a document obtainable type list request command for requesting a list of document types obtainable from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step). S261). Image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list in response to a document obtainable type list request command from image forming apparatus 1200 (step S261-2). . The sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200, acquires the document writable type list, and It is set as a list 304 (step S262).

The sequence control unit 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 includes a source type list 302 indicating document types that can be acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 and a destination type list 304 indicating document types that can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200. Based on this, it is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200, and specifies an optimal document type (step S263). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a print attribute information request command for requesting print attribute information indicating that the document specified by the user is single-sided or double-sided (step S264). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the print attribute information to the image forming apparatus 1200 (Step S264-2). Upon receiving the print attribute information, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a job creation request command to create a job (step S265). Further, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets the print attribute information acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 in Step S264-2 (Step S266).

{Circle around (2)} Using the ticket specified in step S260, image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a page image request command for requesting a page image, specifying the document type specified in step S263, to image forming apparatus 1000 (step S267). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S267). -2). In the page image request command, for example, a plurality of page images of the document selected by the user may be specified, or a page image of one page is specified and the page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000. Each time the process is performed, the process of transmitting a page image request command specifying the next page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 may be repeated.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all page images from the image forming apparatus 1000, the print Web service execution unit 140 performs a printing process using the plotter 1201 (step S268). When the print processing by the print Web service execution unit 140 is completed, an end response indicating that the print processing is ended is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 as a response to step S260 (step S268-2). The image forming apparatus 1000 that has received the end response displays a print end dialog indicating that the printing has ended on the operation panel 1310B (step S269).

In the description of FIG. 23, in the image forming apparatus 1200 as the document destination apparatus, a request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 ( In steps S265, S268, and S272), the HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpretation unit 220 of the client unit 200. The request command received from the image forming apparatus 1000 is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100, and determines whether the SOAP command is a document copy request command using a ticket.

In the image forming apparatus 1000 serving as the document source, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210B of the client unit 200B (steps S258 and S259). And S264), and an HTTP response indicating a processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpreting unit 220B of the client unit 200B. Further, the request command received from image forming apparatus 1200 is analyzed as a SOAP command by SOAP command analyzing section 110B of server section 100B.

As described above, in the pattern 2 shown in FIG. 20, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 acquires a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 specified by a user using the image forming apparatus 1000 in an appropriate document type. Then, document printing can be realized by the plotter 1201.

A description will be given of a document copy sequence in the case of the pattern 3 shown in FIG. 20 realized by the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 21, the image forming apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 5, and the terminal 30 shown in FIG. Pattern 3 is a case where a user copies a document on a screen displayed on the display unit 13 of the terminal 30. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a third document print sequence when operated from the terminal indicated by pattern 3.

In FIG. 24, when the user using the terminal 30 selects the image forming apparatus 1000 in which the desired document is stored from a device list indicating a list of devices connected via the network 15 displayed on the display unit 13 ( In step S350, the terminal 30 transmits a document list request command for requesting a document list to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S351). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the document list acquired from the HDD 1303B by the document management Web service execution unit 130B to the terminal 30 (Step S351-2).

When the terminal 30 receives the document list, the terminal 30 transmits a thumbnail request command for requesting thumbnail data to be displayed on the display unit 13 to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S352). In the image forming apparatus 1000, the document management Web service execution unit 130B performs a process according to the thumbnail request command. The thumbnail data of the document notified from the document management Web service execution unit 130B is transmitted to the terminal 30 (step S352-2). The thumbnail data is, for example, an image sample obtained by reducing the first page of a document.

When a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is displayed on the display unit 13 of the terminal 30 with thumbnails representing each document based on the thumbnail data received in step S352-2, the user Then, the thumbnail of the desired document is dragged and dropped to the desired device indicated in the device list to specify the document to be copied and the device for printing the document (step S353). In this case, the user performs a drag-and-drop operation on the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1200.

The terminal 30 transmits a bibliographic information request command for requesting bibliographic information on a document to be printed to the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S354). In response to the bibliographic information request command from terminal 30, image forming apparatus 1000 obtains bibliographic information on the document from HDD 1303B by document management Web service execution unit 130B, and transmits the bibliographic information to terminal 30 (step S354-2). ).

Upon receiving the bibliographic information, the terminal 30 transmits a system information request command for requesting the system information to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S355). Upon receiving the system information from the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S355-2), the terminal 30 confirms that the printing process can be performed using the ticket. Further, the terminal 30 transmits a document printable type list request command for requesting a printable document type list to the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S356). Image forming apparatus 1200 transmits the document printable type list to terminal 30 (step S356-2).

Then, the terminal 30 displays a print confirmation dialog on the display unit 13 (step S357). When the user selects OK indicating execution of the printing process (step S358), terminal 30 transmits a ticket request command for requesting a ticket for using the document stored in image forming apparatus 1000 to image forming apparatus 1000. (Step S359). Upon receiving the ticket from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step S359-2), the terminal 30 requests the image forming apparatus 1200 to print a document desired by the user from the image forming apparatus 1000. A print request command is transmitted (step S360).

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives the document copy request command using the ticket from the terminal 30, the image processing apparatus 1200 starts controlling the processing sequence for performing the cooperative processing with the image forming apparatus 1000 by the document processing control unit 300. By the sequence control unit 310 of the document processing control unit 300, the image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a document obtainable type list request command for requesting a list of document types obtainable from the image forming apparatus 1000 (step). S361). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits a list of obtainable document types to the image forming apparatus 1200 as a document obtainable type list in response to the document obtainable type list request command from the image forming apparatus 1200 (step S361-2). . The sequence control unit 310 stores the document acquisition type list as the source type list 302. Further, the sequence control unit 310 internally issues a document writable type list request command for requesting a list of writable document types in the image forming apparatus 1200 to acquire the document writable type list. It is set as the destination type list 304 (step S362).

The sequence control unit 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 includes a source type list 302 indicating document types that can be acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 and a destination type list 304 indicating document types that can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200. Based on this, it is determined whether there is a document type that can be obtained from the image forming apparatus 1000 and can be written by the image forming apparatus 1200, and specifies an optimal document type (step S363). If there are a plurality of document types based on the result of the determination, the document type determination unit 320 specifies one optimal document type from the plurality of document types. If the document type does not exist, a preset document type is set as the optimum document type.

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits to the image forming apparatus 1000 a print attribute information request command for requesting print attribute information indicating that the document specified by the user is one-sided or two-sided (step S364). Image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the print attribute information to image forming apparatus 1200 (step S364-2). Upon receiving the print attribute information, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a job creation request command to create a job (step S365). Further, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets the print attribute information acquired from the image forming apparatus 1000 in Step S364-2 (Step 3271).

The image forming apparatus 1200 transmits a page image request command for requesting a page image, which specifies the document type specified in step S363, to the image forming apparatus 1000 using the ticket specified in step S360 (step S367). The image forming apparatus 1000 transmits the page image of the document selected by the user with the document type specified by the page image request command to the image forming apparatus 1200 based on the ticket specified by the page image request command (step S367). -2). In the page image request command, for example, a plurality of page images of the document selected by the user may be specified, or a page image of one page is specified and the page image is received from the image forming apparatus 1000. Each time the process is performed, the process of transmitting a page image request command specifying the next page image to the image forming apparatus 1000 may be repeated.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all page images from the image forming apparatus 1000, the print Web service execution unit 140 performs a printing process by the plotter 1201 (step S368). When the print processing by the print Web service execution unit 140 is completed, an end response indicating that the print processing is completed is transmitted to the terminal 30 as a response to step S360 (step S368-2). The terminal 30 that has received the end response displays a print end dialog indicating that the printing has ended on the display unit 13 (step S369).

In the description of FIG. 24, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 or the image forming apparatus 1200 at the terminal 30 as the operating side is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210C of the client unit 200C. Then, (steps S351, S352, S354, S355, S356, S359, and S360), the HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpretation unit 220C of the client unit 200C.

Also, in the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending apparatus, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110B of the server unit 100B, and the corresponding processing is executed by the document management Web service execution unit 130B. You. The processing result by the document management Web service execution unit 130B is provided as a Web service to the terminal 30 or the image forming apparatus 1200 by the SOAP response construction unit 120B of the server unit 100 (steps S351-2, S352-2, S354-2, S359). -2, S362-2, S364-2, and S367-2).

Further, in the image forming apparatus 1200 as the document destination apparatus, the request command transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1000 is set as a SOAP command in an HTTP request message by the SOAP command construction unit 210 of the client unit 200 (steps S361 and S364). And S367), and the HTTP response indicating the processing result corresponding to the HTTP request is extracted by the SOAP response interpretation unit 220 of the client unit 200. Further, the received request command is analyzed as a SOAP command by the SOAP command analysis unit 110 of the server unit 100, and a processing result obtained by executing a process corresponding to the SOAP command is transmitted to the Web service by the SOAP response construction unit 120 of the server unit 100. Is provided to the terminal 30 (steps S355-2, S356-2, and S368-2).

As described above, in the pattern 3 shown in FIG. 20, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 acquires a document of the image forming apparatus 1000 designated by the user who uses the image forming apparatus 1200 in an appropriate document type. Then, document printing can be realized by the plotter 1201.

Next, screen examples displayed on the operation panels 1310 and 1310B and the display unit 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. 25 and 26, the same reference numerals are given to the same display units as in FIG. 16, and the description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of a copy or print confirmation dialog. 25, the copy or print confirmation dialog 420 includes a selection area 421 for selecting copy or print, a detail button 422 for setting processing details, a cancel button 423 for canceling copy or print processing, a copy or print An OK button 424 for executing a printing process. When the user selects the document A on the copy operation screen 400 in FIG. 16, a message such as “Copy the document A to the image forming apparatus 1200 and print the same” is displayed in the selection area 421. The user is made to select copying or printing of the document A. When the user selects printing, ◎ is displayed.

(6) When the user selects printing in the copy or print confirmation dialog 420 and selects the details button 422, a dialog for setting details of the printing process as shown in FIG. 26 is displayed. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of the detailed print setting dialog. 26, the detailed print setting dialog 430 includes a setting area 431 for setting the number of copies, a selection area 432 for selecting a printing order, a selection area 433 for selecting a finishing process, and a cancel button for canceling the printing process. 434, and an OK button 435 for executing print processing. The user sets the number of copies in the setting area 431. When the number of copies is two or more, the user can select either sort printing or stack printing in the setting area 432. For example, when the user selects the sort printing, the display of ○ changes to ◎. Further, the user can select either stable or punch in the setting area 433. For example, when the user selects staples, the display of ○ changes to ◎. Then, when the user selects the OK button 435, the printing process is executed.

In the first and second embodiments, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processing control unit 300 allows the image forming apparatus 1000 to notify the user based on the image types that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 1000 and the image forming apparatus 1200. By requesting the specified document by specifying the document type, appropriate image processing can be executed in the image forming apparatus 1200, and cooperative processing can be performed between the apparatuses via a network. For example, when the document of the image forming apparatus 1000 as the document sending apparatus is larger than the maximum size that can be stored in the image forming apparatus 1200 as the document sending apparatus, the image of the image is determined by the document type determining unit 320 of the document processing control unit 300. A page image reduced by using the reduction function can be designated.

In addition, since the document processing control unit 300 controls the processing sequence between the image forming apparatus 1200 and the image forming apparatus 1000 according to the processing type such as copy processing and print processing, various processes cooperated between the apparatuses via a network. It can be performed.

In the first and second embodiments, the copying process or the printing process performed between the apparatuses via the network has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to these processes. The present invention is also applicable to file management, scanner control, and the like. Further, the present invention can be applied to process information regarding the image forming apparatus 1000 or 1200.

The communication performed between the terminal 30 and the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 is not limited to a wired LAN. In other words, message exchange by SOAP can be realized in a form of http and SOAP like a Web service, since a network system such as a wireless LAN and Bluetooth can communicate by TCP / IP although the physical layer of the network is different. is there. Further, in serial communication systems such as IEEE 1394, USB, infrared communication, etc., IP connection is possible, and therefore, like the network system, it can be realized in the form of http and SOAP like a Web service. In parallel systems such as Centronics, SCSI, etc., since the contents to be communicated can be independently extended, it is possible to exchange messages by SOAP if both parties agree on the communication.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall functional configuration of an image forming apparatus that integrates a plurality of image forming functions according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus having a document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus having no document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a terminal having no document processing control unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a first document copy sequence when operated from the document destination device shown in pattern 1; FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second document copy sequence when operated from the document source device shown in pattern 2; FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a third document copy sequence when operated from the terminal shown in pattern 3; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request indicating a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request indicating a document obtainable type list request command by SOAP. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a document copy request command using a SOAP ticket. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request indicating a page image request command by SOAP. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP response to a page image request command by SOAP. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a copy operation screen. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a copy confirmation dialog. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a multiple document copy mode designation dialog. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a multiple document order designation dialog. It is a figure showing the example of the network system composition concerning the 2nd example of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus having a document processing control unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first document print sequence when operated from the document destination device illustrated in pattern 1; FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second document print sequence when operated from the document source device illustrated in pattern 2. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a third document print sequence when operated from the terminal illustrated in pattern 3; FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a copy or print confirmation dialog. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a detailed print setting dialog.

Explanation of reference numerals

100, 100B Server unit 110, 110B SOAP command analysis unit 120, 120B SOAP response construction unit 200, 200B Client unit 210, 210B SOAP command construction unit 220, 220B SOAP response interpretation unit 300 Document processing control unit 310 Sequence control unit, 320 document Type determination unit 1000 image forming apparatus 1200 image forming apparatus
1201 Plotter 1202 Scanner 1210 Software group 1216, 1216B Document management Web service application 1217 Ticket management Web service application 1230 Application, 1220 Platform 1221 OS, 1222 SCS
1223 SRM, 1224 ECS
1225 MCS, 1226 OCS
1227 FCS, 1228 NCS
1229 IMH, 1240 Starter

Claims (25)

Server processing means for controlling reception of a processing request from a requesting device that requests processing connected via a communication line and transmission of a processing response to the requesting device in response to the processing request according to a predetermined protocol;
In response to an instruction from the server processing means, a first processing enabling condition that enables processing of the information with a management device that manages the information to be processed, which is specified by the processing request, Condition acquisition control means for performing control to acquire the information from the management device based on the
A service providing processing unit for executing the processing on the information acquired based on the first processable condition, and notifying a result of the processing to the server processing unit. . A program having the condition acquisition control means and the service provision processing means,
A control service for managing hardware resources used in the above processing,
The Web service providing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operating system that controls the application and the control service. A client processing unit for controlling transmission of a processing request to the management device and reception of a processing response from the management device in accordance with the predetermined protocol in response to an instruction from the condition acquisition control unit. Item 3. The Web service providing processing device according to Item 1 or 2. The condition acquisition control means includes:
Sequence control means for controlling a processing sequence for acquiring a second processable condition for the information in the management device and an internal third processable condition for the information in the own device,
4. A condition judging means for judging the first processable condition based on the second processable condition and the third processable condition acquired by the sequence control means. The Web service providing processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The sequence control means includes:
First control means for controlling the client processing means so as to obtain the second processable condition from the management device by transmitting the processing request requesting the second processable condition to the management device; and ,
A second control unit that controls the client processing unit to acquire the third processing enable condition from the own device by internally issuing the processing request requesting the third processing enable condition to the server processing unit. Control means;
Determination instructing means for causing the condition determining means to make a determination based on the second processable condition and the third processable condition,
The Web service provision according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising information acquisition means for acquiring the information from the management device in accordance with the first processable condition determined by the condition determination means. Processing equipment. The client processing means includes:
Processing request construction means for constructing the processing request indicating the instruction transmitted to the management device according to the predetermined protocol in response to the instruction from the sequence control means;
6. A processing response interpreting means for interpreting the processing response received from the management device in response to the processing request and notifying the result to the sequence control means. Web service providing processing device according to the item. 7. The service providing unit according to claim 1, wherein the service providing unit includes a service executing unit that executes a process corresponding to a process request transmitted from the requesting device or an internally generated process request. Web service providing processing device according to the description. The server processing means includes:
Processing request interpreting means for interpreting the processing request indicating processing for the information according to the predetermined protocol;
8. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a processing response construction unit configured to construct a processing response indicating a processing result of executing the processing according to the predetermined protocol. The processing request interpreting means,
Determining means for determining whether or not the processing request requires acquiring the information from the management device;
9. The Web service providing processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies the condition acquisition control unit of the processing request based on a result of the determination by the determination unit. 9. The processing response construction unit according to claim 1, wherein the processing response construction unit includes a control result construction unit configured to construct a processing response indicating a control result by the condition acquisition control unit in accordance with the predetermined protocol. Web service providing processing device. The condition acquisition control means includes:
Attribute information acquisition means for acquiring attribute information related to the information from the management device,
The client processing unit has a third control unit that internally issues a processing request for performing the processing to the information based on the attribute information to the server processing unit,
The Web service according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the service providing processing means executes the processing requested by the requesting device based on the attribute information via the server processing means. Provide processing equipment. First display means for displaying a device list of devices existing on the communication line selectable by a user on a display unit,
As the management device, when the user selects a desired device from the device list, a second display means for displaying an information list of information managed by the management device on the display unit on the display unit,
A device determining unit that allows the user to specify desired information from the information list and further specify one of the desired devices from the device list to determine a device to perform the processing. The Web service providing processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: 13. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 12, wherein the display means displays the information on the display unit in a reduced image obtained by reducing the information. 14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the request device is the Web service providing processing device itself, the management device, or a computer terminal connected via the communication line. Web service providing processing device. 15. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 1, wherein the communication line is a network communication line including a wireless LAN, a serial communication line including an infrared communication, or a parallel communication line. . 16. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined protocol is a Simple Object Access Protocol. A server processing procedure for controlling reception of a processing request from a requesting device that requests processing connected via a communication line and transmission of a processing response to the requesting device in response to the processing request according to a predetermined protocol;
In response to an instruction from the server processing means, a first processing enabling condition that enables processing of the information with a management device that manages the information to be processed, which is specified by the processing request, A condition acquisition control procedure for performing control to acquire the information from the management device based on the
A service providing processing means for performing the processing on the information acquired based on the first processing enabling condition and notifying the server processing means of the processing result. . Service providing processing means for managing the information and providing the information to the processing device according to the first processable condition received from the processing device executing the processing on the information;
Processing request interpreting means for interpreting a processing request requesting the processing according to a predetermined protocol, and notifying the service providing processing means of the processing;
A Web service providing processing device comprising: a processing request construction unit configured to construct a processing response indicating a processing result of the processing performed in response to the processing request according to the predetermined protocol. The service providing processing means includes:
In accordance with the predetermined message exchange protocol, in response to a processing request indicating a processing request acquisition request from the processing device, having a processable condition providing means for transmitting a processing response indicating a second processable condition,
19. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 18, wherein, after transmitting the second processable condition, the information is provided to the processing device according to the first processable condition received from the processing device. In response to an instruction requesting the processing, processing request construction means for constructing the processing request indicating the instruction according to the predetermined protocol,
20. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 18, further comprising: a processing response interpreting unit configured to interpret the processing response transmitted in response to the processing request. First display means for displaying a device list of devices existing on the communication line selectable by a user on a display unit,
When the user selects a desired device from the device list, a second display means for displaying an information list of information managed by the device on the display unit on the display unit,
The user specifies desired information from the information list, and further specifies a processing device by specifying one of the desired devices from the device list. 21. The Web service providing processing device according to claim 20, wherein: A service providing process for managing the information and providing the information to the processing device according to the first processable condition received from the processing device executing the process on the information;
A processing request interpretation procedure for interpreting a processing request requesting the processing according to a predetermined protocol and notifying the processing to the service providing processing procedure;
A processing request construction procedure for constructing a processing response indicating a processing result of the processing performed in response to the processing request according to the predetermined protocol. Processing request construction means for constructing a processing request indicating that the second device that provides processing for the information managed by the first device performs the processing by acquiring from the first device according to a predetermined protocol; ,
A processing response interpreting means for interpreting a processing response to the processing request and obtaining a processing result in the second device;
An operation terminal, comprising: display control means for displaying the processing result on a display unit. According to a predetermined protocol, a process request construction procedure for constructing a process request indicating that the second device that provides processing for the information managed by the first device performs the process by acquiring from the first device the information, ,
A process response interpretation procedure for interpreting a process response to the process request and obtaining a process result in the second device;
A recording medium recording a program for causing an information terminal to perform a display control procedure for displaying the processing result on a display unit. According to a predetermined protocol, a process request construction procedure for constructing a process request indicating that the second device that provides processing for the information managed by the first device performs the process by acquiring from the first device the information, ,
A process response interpretation procedure for interpreting a process response to the process request and obtaining a process result in the second device;
A program for causing an information terminal to perform a display control procedure for displaying the processing result on a display unit.

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