JP2005123814A - Method of delivering document, program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of delivering a document which can output an image read out in a desired output state by a desired printer even when a complicated operation is not performed in an MFP device. <P>SOLUTION: The method of delivering the document includes a step of forming a job containing information for specifying the printers 102-104 to output an image read out by the MFP device 100 and set information in response to characteristics of the printer in a client PC101 to register by the MFP device 100, and reading out the image in the MFP device 100 according to the registered job; and a step of transmitting the read out image to the printer specified by the registered job. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a document distribution method, a program, and a storage medium.

  In recent years, so-called digital multi-function peripherals have become widespread in offices, and opportunities for use as shared network scanners or printers have increased.

  However, there are still many uses as a copy machine, and in order to improve the usability, it is possible to reduce the user's operation procedure by registering what is called a job that operates according to a user's desired setting operation in advance. Proposals have been made.

By the way, conventionally, in an image output processing apparatus capable of print job control, various controls such as output processing control are performed, and image data acquired from an image processing apparatus connected to an external network is printed out by a digital copying machine. What was made is known (for example, refer patent document 1).
JP 2000-177212 A

  However, in the above conventional example, when a digital copying machine is used as a scanner, an output destination is registered in an ID (identifier) card, and this ID card is set in the digital copying machine to read out the output destination, or a separate user's Although the output destination is designated by the operation, it was not considered how to output the read image.

  Accordingly, there is a problem that the image output form cannot be specified at all, or various operations must be performed by operating the digital copying machine.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to achieve a desired output form in a desired image output apparatus without performing complicated operations in the image reading apparatus. It is intended to provide a document distribution method, a program, and a storage medium that can output an image read by the computer.

  To achieve the above object, the document delivery method of the present invention is a document delivery method for delivering a document by a document delivery system to which an image reading device, a computer terminal, and an image output device are connected via a network. A registration step in which a job including information for specifying an image output device to output an image read by the device and setting information corresponding to characteristics of the image output device is created in the computer terminal and registered in the image reading device; A reading step of reading an image in the image reading device according to the job registered in the registration step, and a transmission step of transmitting the image read in the reading step to the image output device specified by the job registered in the registration step It was characterized by comprising.

  In order to achieve the above object, the document delivery method of the present invention is a document delivery method for delivering a document by a document delivery system to which an image reading device, a computer terminal, and an image output device are connected via a network. A registration step of registering in the image reading device a job including information for specifying an image output device to output an image read by the image reading device, a reading step of reading an image in the image reading device, and the reading step Transmitting the image read in step 1 and the job registered in the registration step to the computer terminal, and in the computer terminal, the image transmitted in the transmission step is specified by the job transmitted in the transmission step. And an output step of processing according to the characteristics of the image output device to be output to the image output device. And it features.

  As described above, according to the present invention, by registering a job created in advance in the image reading apparatus, the desired setting is output to the desired image output apparatus in accordance with the setting contents of the job. It becomes possible.

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

[First Embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a document distribution system (hereinafter, referred to as the present document distribution system as necessary) for carrying out a document distribution method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 100 is an MFP device that transmits a document, 101 is a client PC (personal computer) that is a computer terminal having the function of this document distribution system, 102, 103, and 104 are printers (image output devices). These are connected via a LAN (local area network) 105. The MFP device 100 has multiple functions such as a print function, a copy (copy) function, a facsimile (FAX) function, and an image reading function. Therefore, the MFP device 100 is described in the claims of the present invention. Corresponding to the image reading apparatus.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions of the document distribution system (configuration of the document distribution client system) in the client PC 101. In FIG. 2, the same parts as those in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, 201 is a manager main unit, 202 is a printer information acquisition unit, 203 is setting information, 204 is a server application, and has an FTP server 205, a server core unit 206, a job management unit 207, and a printer job creation unit 208. ing.

  The manager main unit 201 is configured to perform a user-desired operation by a user operation. The printer information acquisition unit 202 acquires printer information. The server application 204 actually receives image data from the MFP device 100 and operates according to information set by the user in the manager main unit 201 (the manager main unit 201 saves the content set by the user in the setting information 203). A print command is issued to a plurality of printers 102, 103, 104 connected via the LAN 105. As shown in FIG. 2, the server application 204 uses an FTP server 205 as a communication unit with the MFP device 100. However, when SMTP or SMB is used, a server for handling a protocol corresponding to each of them is used. It may be added as a configuration.

  The FTP server 205 accumulates image data files. The server core unit 206 stores image data and information indicating an output method to the printer. The job management unit 207 manages the image data acquired from the server core unit 206 and the output method. The printer job creation unit 208 creates a printer job.

  In the following description, only the case where the FTP server 205 is used as a communication protocol between the MFP device 100 and the server application 204 will be described.

  The processing operation of the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 to 4.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a document delivery system for implementing the document delivery method according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, the same parts as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, “Images” indicates an image data file.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing operations of the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 3, the same step numbers as in FIG. 4 are given.

  First, in step S401, the user uses the manager main unit 201 to create a job including setting information such as a function of a printer to which an image is to be printed, image processing according to characteristics, and a printing method. The manager main unit 201 automatically searches for a printable printer via the printer information acquisition unit 202 and selects the searched printer as a job output destination. Job information including setting information such as the created output destination printer and image processing and printing method according to the printer is saved in the setting information 203.

  In step S402, the user registers the job created in step S401 in the MFP device 100. The method for registering this job in the MFP device 100 is to scan the sheet on which the setting information 203 is written in the MFP device 100, or to set the setting information in the MFP device 100 via a network protocol such as FTP or TCP / IP. A known technique such as a notification of 203 may be used.

  In step S <b> 403, the user sets a document to be printed on the document table of the MFP device 100 or an ADF (automatic document feeder), and selects a job from an operation panel (not shown) in the MFP device 100. Thereafter, when the scan button on the operation panel is pressed, the MFP device 100 transmits the image data file to the FTP server 205.

  In step S <b> 404, the image data file transmitted via the LAN 105 is accumulated in the FTP server 205. Note that the MFP device 100 stores image data files in a folder in the FTP server 205 determined by the setting information 203.

  Next, in step S <b> 405, the server core unit 206 acquires an image data file from the FTP server 205. The image data file is acquired after the FTP server 205 notifies the server core unit 206 that the image data file has been received when the MFP device 100 has finished transmitting the image data file to the FTP server 205. It is.

  Next, in step S406, the image data file obtained in step S405 is subjected to image processing according to the setting information 203.

  In step S407, the job management unit 207 acquires the image file processed in step S406 and the setting information 203 information selected by the user (information indicating which printer to output).

  In step S408, the job management unit 207 spools the image data file and the printer job acquired from the printer job creation unit 208. The oldest spool information (image data file or printer job) is the target of processing.

  Next, in step S409, the printer job creation unit 208 receives the image file and setting information 203 information acquired in step S408 and outputs them to the printer (printer language interpretable by the designated printer). Create a printer job, such as expanding.

  Next, in step S410, the job management unit 207 outputs to the printer from the printer job created in step S409.

  Hereinafter, each process in the document delivery system for implementing the document delivery method according to the present embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

  First, a job creation processing operation will be described.

  The user can create detailed setting information 203 by making detailed settings for each job using the manager main unit 201. The manager main unit 201 displays items such as a job name, a job manager name, a job manager mail address, communication means with the MFP device 100 (here, mainly shows protocol settings), image processing, and the like. Set.

  Next, the manager main unit 201 automatically detects a printable network printer via the printer information acquisition unit 202 in order to allow the user to select which printer the image scanned by the MFP device 100 is to be output. , The manager main unit 201 is notified.

  Here, in the present embodiment, in order for the printer information acquisition unit 202 to detect a printable network printer, information on printers that can be connected via the LAN 105 is acquired by SNMP.

  When the manager main unit 201 is operated, printable printer information is also automatically updated, so that the user can always grasp the printable printer, and the user himself / herself can obtain information on the printer as the output destination. The troublesomeness of specifying can be reduced.

  The printer information includes not only whether or not printing is possible, but also information about the printer such as the duplex printing function, sorter function, stapling function, and color printing function, and the printer capability list is stored as a template. .

  The manager main unit 201 acquires a list of printers that can be printed from the printer information acquisition unit 202 and displays the list. The user selects a printer as an output destination. At this time, the user can also select an output method to the printer. The output method to the printer is not limited to general print settings such as stapling, sorting, and print resolution, but “output one copy at a time to a plurality of selected printers”, “output when the number of copies / number of copies is large. "Distributed output to multiple selected printers to save time", "From the viewpoint of printing guarantee, by setting priority to multiple selected printers, you can print if some error occurs in the printer, etc. It also includes an additional function (printing method) such as “output to the next highest priority printer if no more”.

  The print setting items may be other than these.

  The user saves the setting contents for the above-described operation in the setting information 203.

  Next, a processing operation for registering a job in the MFP device 100 will be described.

  The setting information 203 created by the manager main unit 201 is registered in the MFP device 100. More specifically, the client PC 101 uses the remote user interface (not shown) of the MFP device 100 to import the setting information 203 and register it in the MFP device 100.

  Note that the method of registering the setting information 203 in the MFP device 100 is not limited to the method described above. For example, the setting information 203 may be automatically transmitted to the MFP device 100 via the network protocol when a new job is created and updated by the manager main unit 201. Also, when a new job is created and updated in the manager main unit 201, the setting information 203 is printed on a client PC 101 by a printer (not shown) that is locally or connected to the network, and is registered by scanning the MFP device 100. It doesn't matter.

  Next, file transmission processing operations of the MFP device 100 and the server application 204 via the FTP server 205 (FTP protocol) will be described.

  In the present embodiment, only the FTP protocol is described as means for communicating with the MFP device 100, but other protocols may be used.

  3 and 4, the user transmits image data of a document set by the user on the document table or ADF (automatic document feeder) of the MFP device 100 from the MFP device 100. More specifically, after the user selects a job registered in the MFP device 100 in step S402 in FIGS. 3 and 4, the user presses a scan (document reading or image data transmission) button (not shown). An original set on the MFP device 100 is read, and an image data file is transmitted to the FTP server 205 according to a path stored in the FTP server 205 described in the job.

  Note that there may be a plurality of documents. In this case, when the user sets an original on the ADF of the MFP device 100 and presses a scan button (not shown), all the originals are read, and the read data is transmitted to the FTP server 205. At this time, the file format of the transmitted image data file may be any format.

  Next, a processing operation for accumulating files in the FTP server will be described.

  3 and 4, the image data file transmitted from the MFP device 100 via the LAN 105 is stored in the FTP server 205. More specifically, the image data file is stored in a folder of the FTP server 205 designated by the MFP device 100. At this time, the MFP device 100 issues a directory creation command below the folder of the FTP server 205 designated by the MFP device 100 via the LAN 105, and then designates the created directory as a path for storing the created directory. You may send a file.

  The FTP server 205 outputs the date / time and image data file transmitted from the MFP device 100 as a log. Information output as a log may be other than these. Further, as a log output method, a file may be created at an arbitrary location in the client PC 101, and a means for notifying a log may be included in a means for collecting logs such as the manager main unit 201.

  Next, a processing operation for acquiring a file from the FTP server will be described.

  In step S405, the server core unit 206 acquires the image data file stored in the FTP server 205.

  Next, the file transmission end determination processing operation until the FTP server 205 passes data to the server core unit 206 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the file transmission end determination processing operation.

  In step S501, the FTP server 205 monitors whether or not the MFP device 100 has logged in until the login. When it is recognized that the user has logged in, monitoring of a file transmitted from the MFP device 100 is started in the next step S502.

  The FTP server 205 records and manages the transmission from the device as a session from login to logout. As a result, it is possible to grasp which data has been transmitted for each session. For example, even when the device transmits image data or the like to a folder in the same FTP server 205 at the same time, it is possible to determine the data for each session. Can be handled without problems. All processing described later is executed for each session recorded and managed here.

  Next, in step S503, whether or not the MFP device 100 has logged out is monitored until logging out. If it is recognized that the user has logged out, in the next step S504, it is determined whether or not the logout is a normal logout. If it is recognized that the user has logged out due to an abnormality due to a timeout or the like, in step S505, the contents are notified as an error, and the process proceeds to step S507. In this embodiment, since all error processing is performed in the server core unit 206, the user is notified using a mail transmission unit (not shown). However, in this step S505, a mail is notified or the client PC 101 is not shown. Error information may be displayed on the monitor.

  On the other hand, if it is recognized in step S504 that the logout has been normally completed, the file monitoring is terminated in step S506, and the process proceeds to step S507.

  In step S507, the server core unit 206 is notified of the result of the processing in steps S501 to S506 and the location of the image data file. If fraud or error is detected in step S501 or step S504, the server core unit 206 is notified of the error information.

  The image data file is deleted from the server core unit 206 after successful output to the printer, and the image data file is deleted accordingly. By not deleting the data until the output to the printer is successful, it is possible to guarantee the data when printing fails for some reason.

  Next, an image file processing operation will be described.

  In step S406 of FIG. 4, image processing such as document orientation correction (top and bottom correction) is performed on the image data file in accordance with the setting information 203, and the image data file is stored on the hard disk or memory in the client PC 101. By performing the top-and-bottom correction process, the direction of all image data can be automatically corrected even if the user scans the MFP device 100 with the orientations of the documents being ununiform.

  Note that in step S406, general processing relating to improvement of print image quality such as edge enhancement and contrast enhancement may be performed.

  Next, a processing operation in which the job management unit acquires an image file will be described.

  In step S407 in FIG. 4, the job management unit 207 acquires the image data that has been processed in step S406. At this time, information on the printer (IP address or the like) of the output destination instructed by the setting information 203 and information on the output method are also acquired.

  Next, a processing operation for spooling an image file / printer job will be described.

  In step S408 in FIG. 4, the job management unit 207 manages the image data and the output method acquired from the server core unit 206 in step S407.

  Hereinafter, a printer job spool processing operation until the job management unit 207 acquires image data and an output method and spools it as a printer job will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the spool processing operation of the printer job.

  In step S601, the job management unit 207 determines the output method acquired from the server core unit 206. Specifically, if the same image data is to be printed for several printers, in the next step S602 (step S409 in FIG. 4), a print job for all image data for each printer is created. Command. If the printing method guarantees complete printing, the printer main unit 201 instructs the printer main body 201 to create a printer job only for the highest priority printer.

  On the other hand, if an error occurs in the printer during printing for the printer job, the printer driver instructs the printer job for the next highest priority printer to be created. In this manner, a method for creating a printer job according to the output method is determined.

  Next, in step S603, it is determined whether or not the printer job has been normally created in step S602. At this time, if an error occurs during the creation of the printer job, an error notification is sent to the server core unit 206 in step S604, and then this processing operation ends. Since the server core unit 206 stores the image data and the output method until the job ends normally, the job in which an error has occurred can be re-executed.

  The means for instructing re-execution may select a job in which an error has occurred from the job status management screen in the manager main unit 201 (not shown) and instruct re-execution. The method may be used. The method of actually notifying the user of the error may be displayed on a monitor (not shown) of the client PC 101, or by specifying a mail address for notifying an error for each job in the manager main unit 201 in advance. You may send an email notification. Other methods for notifying errors may be used.

  Next, when it is recognized in step S603 that the printer job has been normally created, the printer job is spooled in step S605. Next, in step S606 (step S405 in FIG. 4), printing is performed as needed by the printer released from the printer job.

  Next, in step S607, it is confirmed whether or not the printer has successfully printed in step S606. If an error has occurred, an error notification is sent to the server core unit 206 in step S604, and the processing operation is terminated. Further, when printing is normally completed, this processing operation is ended as it is.

  Next, a printer job creation processing operation will be described.

  In step S409 in FIG. 4, the printer job creation unit 208 creates a printer job in accordance with the job management unit 207 in step S408. This process is a known process, and generally creates a printer language from image data for printing by a printer.

  Next, processing operations output to the printer will be described.

  In step S410 of FIG. 4, the data is output to the printer according to the job management unit 207 in step S408.

  As described above, according to the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, the user sets the print method once and registers the created job in the MFP device 100, thereby When document data is transmitted using the MFP device 100 without using a PC, desired printing can be automatically performed in accordance with a set job. For example, a circulation document printer existing on a certain paper recording medium can be used. Document distribution using can be easily performed.

  Further, since the image data once read by the MFP device 100 and the output method can be stored in the document distribution system for executing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, some error occurs. Even when printing cannot be performed, the user operates the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, and executes the printing process again without going through the MFP device 100. Can do.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Note that the configuration of the document distribution client system in the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment is the same as that in FIG. 2 in the first embodiment described above. explain.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a document distribution system (hereinafter referred to as the present document distribution system) for carrying out the document distribution method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  In FIG. 7, in the intranet, an MFP device 100, a client PC 101, and a plurality of printers 102, 103, and 104 are connected via a LAN 105.

  In the printing server group, a print service server PC (personal computer) 701 and a shop management server PC (personal computer) 702 are provided.

  In the print shop, a shop PC (personal computer) 703 and a plurality of printers 704, 705, and 706 are connected via a LAN 707.

  The client PC 101 is connected to the print service server PC 701 for converting the document distribution system into a WEB service via the Internet, and the shop PC 703 is also connected to the shop management server PC 702 via the Internet. The shop management server PC 702 collects information on printers that can be printed from the shop PC 703 and stores them as a database. At this time, there may be a plurality of shops. That is, there may be a plurality of shop PCs 703. The print service server PC 701 can acquire printable shop and printer information from the shop management server PC 702 and collect information from the client PC 101.

  The present embodiment is substantially the same as the document distribution system shown in the first embodiment described above. The difference is that the first embodiment is for a printer in an intranet. In the embodiment, it is possible to print to a printer in a shop connected via the Internet.

  Hereinafter, the processing operation of the document distribution system will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 7 to 9.

  First, job creation processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing operations until the user creates a job in the client PC 101.

  First, in step S801, the shop PC 703 in the print shop acquires information on the printers 704, 705, and 706 existing in the shop. Here, the information may include a printing capability of each of the printers 704 to 706 and a status indicating whether printing is possible.

  Next, in step S <b> 802, the shop management server PC 702 collects shop and printer information from the shop PC 703. At this time, since the shop management server PC 702 has a plurality of shops and collects information from the shop PC 703 existing in each shop, the shop management server PC 702 searches the shop PC 703 and collects information. Since a load is applied to the PC 702, it is preferable that each shop PC 703 uploads information to the shop management server PC 702 only when information is updated. The data format at the time of uploading is preferably an easy-to-handle data format for managing information, such as an XML format.

  In step S803, the print service server PC 701 acquires the shop and printer information collected by the shop management server PC 702. The shop and printer information is acquired only when a notification (event) indicating that the information has been updated is received from the shop management server PC 702, and it is desirable to avoid processing with as much traffic as possible.

  When the print service server PC 701 acquires shop and printer information, it is not necessary to convert the special data format, and the data format collected from the shop PC 703 may be used as it is.

  In step S804, the client PC 101 collects shop and printer information from the print service server PC 701. Specifically, the print service server PC 701 notifies the printer information acquisition unit 202 in the document distribution client system shown in FIG. Upon receiving this notification, the printer information acquisition unit 202 automatically acquires shop and printer information from the print service server PC 701.

  The information format for acquiring the shop and printer information may be the same as the data format collected by the shop management server PC 702 from the shop PC 703. It is only necessary to analyze the data format and display the shop and printer information in the manager main unit 201.

  In step S805, a job is created using the manager main unit 201 in the document delivery client system shown in FIG. The operation when creating this job is substantially the same as the contents described in the first embodiment, and the printer that can be selected is a printer in a shop located in a remote place as described above. The user saves the created job in the setting information 203.

  In step S806, the user registers the job created in step S805 in the MFP device 100.

  Next, in the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, a processing operation until the user prints on a printer in the shop will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing operations until the user prints on a printer in the shop.

  First, in step S <b> 901, the user sets a printed document on a document table of the MFP device 100 or an ADF (automatic document feeder), and selects a job from an operation panel (not shown) in the MFP device 100. Thereafter, when the scan button on the operation panel is pressed, the MFP device 100 transmits image data to the document distribution client system shown in FIG. 2 existing in the client PC 101 in step S902. The document distribution client system analyzes the received image data and a job (printing method) for the image data, and creates a printer job for the printer to be printed.

  Note that the client PC 101 does not need to create a printer job. In that case, means for uploading image data and a printing method to the print service server PC 701 in the next step and creating a printer job from the image data and the printing method in the print service server PC 701, the shop management server PC 702, or the shop PC 703 is necessary. It becomes.

  In step S903, the printer job created in step S902 is uploaded to the print service server PC 701 via the Internet. The uploading method may be a general protocol such as HTTPS, and is preferably encrypted from the viewpoint of security.

  In step S904, the shop management server PC 702 receives the printer job acquired by the print service server PC 701 in step S903.

  In step S905, the shop management server PC 702 transmits the printer job acquired in step S904 to the shop PC 703.

  In step S906, the shop PC 703 performs printing by a printer in the shop according to the printer job received in step S905. At this time, the printing status of the printer is monitored by the shop PC 703 and notified to the shop management server PC 702 by the success or failure of the printing. In the shop management server PC 702, if the printer job is not printed normally, recovery processing is performed according to the contents of the job created by the user, and the error result is notified to the document distribution client system shown in FIG. Alternatively, an error notification may be made by sending an email to the user.

  Note that even when printing is normally completed, a notification to that effect is given to the user.

  As described above, according to the document distribution system according to the present embodiment, the user sets the printing method once and registers the created job in the MFP device 100, so that the user can use the MFP device without going through the PC. When document data is transmitted using 100, desired printing can be automatically performed by printers 704 to 705 existing in a shop connected via the Internet according to a set job. For example, it exists in an intranet. The ability of the printers 102 to 104 is ineffective, and when bookbinding printing or the like is performed, it is possible to omit troublesome procedures and output to the printers 704 to 705 in the shop.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Note that the basic configuration of the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment is the same as that in FIGS. 1 to 3 in the first embodiment described above. To explain.

  Hereinafter, the processing operation of the document delivery system for implementing the document delivery method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4 in the first embodiment described above together with FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a document distribution system for carrying out the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, in which “Images” is an image data file, “Attributes” is an attribute information file, and Show.

  In step S401 in FIG. 4, the user creates a job using the manager main unit 201. The manager main unit 201 automatically searches for a printable printer via the printer information acquisition unit 202 and selects the searched printer as a job output destination. The created job information is saved in the setting information 203.

  In step S402, the user registers the job created in step S401 in the MFP device 100. The method for registering this job in the MFP device 100 is to scan the sheet on which the setting information 203 is written in the MFP device 100, or to set the setting information in the MFP device 100 via a network protocol such as FTP or TCP / IP. A known technique such as a notification of 203 may be used.

  In step S403, the user sets a document to be printed on the document table of the MFP device 100 or an ADF (automatic document feeder), and sets a reading mode and a job from an operation panel (not shown) in the MFP device 100. select. Thereafter, when the scan button on the operation panel is pressed, the MFP device 100 transmits an image data file and an attribute information file to the FTP server 205.

  In step S <b> 404, the image data file transmitted via the LAN 105 is accumulated in the FTP server 205. The MFP device 100 stores an image data file and an attribute information file in a folder in the FTP server 205 determined by the setting information 203.

  In step S405, the server core unit 206 acquires an image data file and an attribute information file from the FTP server 205. The timing for acquiring the image data file and the attribute information file is such that when the MFP device 100 finishes transmitting the image data file and the attribute information file to the FTP server 205, the FTP server 205 sends the image data file and the attribute information file to the server core unit 206. And after notifying that the attribute information file has been received.

  In step S406, the image data file obtained in step S405 is subjected to image processing according to the attribute information file and the setting information 203.

  In step S407, the job management unit 207 acquires the image data file processed in step S406, the attribute information file selected by the user, and the information of the setting information 203 (information indicating which printer to output). To do.

  In step S408, the job management unit 207 spools the image data file and the printer job acquired from the printer job creation unit 208. The oldest spool information (image data file or printer job) is the target of processing.

  In step S409, the printer job creation unit 208 receives the image data file, attribute information file, and setting information 203 information acquired in step S408, and develops the printer job into a language for output to the printer. create. Next, in step S410, the job management unit 207 outputs to the printer from the printer job created in step S409.

  Next, a job creation processing operation will be described.

  The user can create detailed setting information 203 by making detailed settings for each job using the manager main unit 201. The manager main unit 201 displays items such as a job name, a job manager name, a job manager mail address, communication means with the MFP device 100 (here, mainly shows protocol settings), image processing, and the like. Set.

  Next, the manager main unit 201 automatically detects a printable network printer via the printer information acquisition unit 202 in order to allow the user to select which printer the image scanned by the MFP device 100 is to be output. , The manager main unit 201 is notified.

  Here, in the present embodiment, in order for the printer information acquisition unit 202 to detect a printable network printer, information on printers that can be connected via the LAN 105 is acquired by SNMP.

  When the manager main unit 201 is operated, printable printer information is also automatically updated, so that the user can always grasp the printable printer, and the user himself / herself can obtain information on the printer as the output destination. The troublesomeness of specifying can be reduced.

  The printer information includes not only whether or not printing is possible, but also information about the printer such as the duplex printing function, sorter function, stapling function, and color printing function, and the printer capability list is stored as a template. .

  The manager main unit 201 acquires a list of printers that can be printed from the printer information acquisition unit 202 and a template indicating the capabilities of each printer and displays them. As a result, the user can select a printer as an output destination without searching, and grasp printer capability information necessary for reproducing a document or realizing a user-desired output. Can do. At this time, the user can also select an output method to the printer. The output method to the printer is not limited to general print settings such as stapling, sorting, and print resolution, but “output one copy at a time to a plurality of selected printers”, “output when the number of copies / number of copies is large. "Distributed output to multiple selected printers to save time", "From the viewpoint of printing guarantee, by setting priority to multiple selected printers, you can print if some error occurs in the printer, etc. It also includes an additional function such as “output to the next highest priority printer when there is no more”.

  The print setting items may be other than these.

  The user saves the setting contents for the above-described operation in the setting information 203.

  Next, a processing operation for registering a job in the MFP device 100 will be described.

  The setting information 203 created by the manager main unit 201 is registered in the MFP device 100. More specifically, the client PC 101 uses the remote user interface (not shown) of the MFP device 100 to import the setting information 203 and register it in the MFP device 100. At this time, each job includes information of a printer as an output destination, and template information relating to the capability of the printer is also registered.

  Note that the method of registering the setting information 203 in the MFP device 100 is not limited to the method described above. For example, the setting information 203 may be automatically transmitted to the MFP device 100 via the network protocol when a new job is created and updated by the manager main unit 201. Also, when a new job is created and updated in the manager main unit 201, the setting information 203 is printed on a client PC 101 by a printer (not shown) that is locally or connected to the network, and is registered by scanning the MFP device 100. It doesn't matter.

  Next, the MFP device 100 file transmission processing operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing operations until the MFP device 100 transmits a file to the server application 204.

  Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  The MFP device 100 transmits image data obtained by reading a document that the user wants to output to the printer and attribute information obtained from the user's operation and the information of the read document to the server application 204 as files.

  The user sets a document to be output to the printers 102 to 104 on the document table of the MFP device 100 or an ADF (automatic document feeder), and sets the reading mode for reading the document by an operation (not shown) of the MFP device 100. From the department.

  In contrast, first, in step S1101, the MFP device 100 determines the printer capability required to reproduce the document from the reading mode. Here, the printer capability includes double-sided printing, color printing, printing resolution, and the like.

  Next, in step S1102, whether or not there is a printer having a printer capability capable of reproducing a document in the job registered in step S402 in FIG. 4 with respect to the printer capability determined in step S1101. Is determined using the template information. If there is a job whose output destination is a printer having a printer capability for reproducing a document, the job is displayed on an operation unit (not shown) of the MFP device 100 in step S1104, and the process proceeds to step S1106. .

  In step S1102, if there is no printer having a printer capability for reproducing an original, the fact that there is no printer capable of reproducing the original is displayed on an operation unit (not shown) of the MFP device 100 to display the user. In step S1103, it is determined whether or not to reset the reading mode to the user. If the user resets the reading mode, the process returns to step S1101. If it is determined in step S1103 that the user does not reset the reading mode, in step S1105, all registered jobs are displayed on the operation unit (not shown) of the MFP device 100, and the process advances to step S1106.

  Next, when the user selects from jobs displayed on an operation unit (not shown) of the MFP device 100 and presses a scan (document reading or image data transmission) button (not shown) of the MFP device 100, in step S1106. The MFP device 100 determines whether all user settings have been completed. If all user settings have not been completed, the process returns to step S1101. If all the user settings are completed in step S1106, in step S1107, the reading mode set by the user in step S1103 and the document information obtained when the MFP device 100 reads the document are set as attributes. Collect as information. Here, the document information includes a document size, a document configuration for each page (whether it is a character, a photograph, or a mixture of characters and photographs, or a color document).

  Finally, in step S1108, the image file obtained by reading the document and the attribute information file collected in step S1107 are transmitted to the server application 204.

  In the present embodiment, the MFP device 100 and the server application 204 exchange files via the FTP protocol. More specifically, the image data file and the attribute information file are transmitted to the FTP server 205 according to the path stored in the FTP server 205 of the server application 204 described in the job selected by the user.

  Note that there may be a plurality of documents. In this case, when the user sets an original on the ADF of the MFP device 100 and presses the scan button, all the originals are read, and the read data is transmitted to the FTP server 205. At this time, the file format of the transmitted image data file may be any format.

  In the present embodiment, only the FTP protocol is described as means for communicating with the MFP device 100, but other protocols may be used.

  Next, the processing operation for accumulating the image data file and the attribute information file in the FTP server will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 10, the same step numbers as in FIG. 4 are given.

  10 and 4, the image data file and the attribute information file transmitted from the MFP device 100 via the LAN 105 are stored in the FTP server 205. More specifically, the image data file and the attribute information file are stored in a folder of the FTP server 205 designated by the MFP device 100. At this time, the MFP device 100 issues a directory creation command below the folder of the FTP server 205 designated by the MFP device 100 via the LAN 105, and then designates the created directory as a path for storing the created directory. And an attribute information file may be transmitted.

  The FTP server 205 outputs the date and time, the image data file, and the attribute information file transmitted from the MFP device 100 as a log. Information output as a log may be other than these. Further, as a log output method, a file may be created at an arbitrary location in the client PC 101, or a means for notifying the log may be included in a means for collecting logs such as the manager main unit 201. .

  Next, a processing operation for acquiring an image data file and an attribute information file from the FTP server 205 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 in the first embodiment.

  In step S405 of FIG. 4, the server core unit 206 acquires the image data file and the attribute information file stored in the FTP server 205.

  In step S501, the FTP server 205 monitors whether the MFP device 100 has logged in.

  Next, when it is recognized in step S501 that the user has logged in, monitoring of a file transmitted from the MFP device 100 is started in step S502. The FTP server 205 records and manages transmission from the MFP device 100 as a session from login to logout. As a result, it is possible to grasp which data is transmitted for each session. For example, even when the MFP device 100 transmits image data or the like to a folder in the same FTP server 205 at the same time, In order to manage such information, it can be handled without problems. All processing described later is executed for each session recorded and managed here.

  Next, when it is recognized in step S503 that the MFP device 100 has logged out, it is determined in step S504 whether the logout is a normal logout. When it is recognized that the user has logged out due to an abnormality due to a timeout or the like, the content is notified as an error in step S505.

  In the present embodiment, since all error processing is performed in the server core unit 206, a user is notified using a mail transmission unit (not shown). However, in step S505, a mail is notified or the client PC 101 is not shown. An error may be displayed on the monitor. In step S504, when it is recognized that the user has logged out normally, the file monitoring is terminated in step S506.

  In step S507, the server core unit 206 is notified of the results of the processing in steps S501 to S506 and the location of the image data file and attribute information file. If fraud or error is detected in step S501 or step S504, the server core unit 206 is notified of the error information.

  Note that the image data file and the attribute information file are deleted from the server core unit 206 after successful output to the printer, and the image data file is deleted accordingly. By not deleting the data until the output to the printer is successful, it is possible to guarantee the data when printing fails for some reason.

  Note that the processing operation of the image data file in the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment and the processing operation in which the job management unit 207 acquires the image file are the same as those in the first embodiment described above. Since they are the same, their description is omitted.

  Next, the processing operation until the image data file / printer job is spooled will be described with reference to FIG. 6 in the first embodiment.

  In step S408 of FIG. 4, the job management unit 207 manages the image data file, attribute information file, and setting information 203 acquired from the server core unit 206 in step S407.

  In FIG. 6, in step S <b> 601, the job management unit 207 determines an output method using the attribute information file and the setting information 203 acquired from the server core unit 206. The output method is not only detailed output settings for each printer, such as paper size determination, double-sided printing, stapling, sorting, etc., for reproducing a document or outputting a user-desired printed matter. In addition, a print service-like element set as a job is also included. Specifically, if the same image data is to be printed for several printers, in step S602, an instruction is issued to create a printed job for all image data for each printer. If the printing method guarantees complete printing, a printer job is created only for the printer with the highest priority among the plurality of printers selected in the manager main unit 201. On the other hand, if an error occurs in the printer during printing for the printer job, the printer driver instructs the printer job for the next highest priority printer to be created. In this manner, a method for creating a printer job according to the output method is determined.

  In step S603, it is determined whether the printer job has been normally created in step S602. At this time, if an error occurs during the creation of the printer job, an error notification is sent to the server core unit 206 in step S604, and then this processing operation ends. Since the image data file, the attribute information file, and the setting information 203 are stored in the server core unit 206 until the job ends normally, the job in which an error has occurred can be re-executed. The means for instructing re-execution may select a job in which an error has occurred from the screen of a job status management unit (not shown) in the manager main unit 201 and instruct re-execution. This method may be used. The method of actually notifying the user of the error may be displayed on a monitor (not shown) of the client PC 101, or by specifying a mail address for notifying an error for each job in the manager main unit 201 in advance. You may send an email notification. Other methods for notifying errors may be used.

  Next, when it is recognized in step S603 that the printer job has been normally created, the printer job is spooled in step S605. Next, in step S606, printing is performed as needed by the printer released from the printer job.

  Next, in step S607, it is confirmed whether or not the printer has successfully printed in step S606. If an error occurs and printing cannot be performed normally, an error notification is sent to the server core unit 206 in step S604, and the processing operation is terminated. If the printing is normally completed in step S607, the processing operation is terminated.

  Note that the printer job creation processing operation and the processing operation to be output to the printer in the document distribution system for executing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment described above. Is omitted.

  As described above, according to the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, the user sets the print method once and registers the created job in the MFP device 100, thereby Transmits an image data file obtained by scanning a document using the MFP device 100 without using a PC, and an attribute information file that collects document information, etc., and information on the document in the attribute information file and the set job Accordingly, desired printing can be automatically performed, and the work of performing detailed print settings each time printing is performed can be simplified.

  In addition, since jobs registered in the MFP device 100 can also manage template information about the capabilities of the printer that is the output destination, there are jobs whose output destination is a printer that can implement the reading settings specified on the MFP device 100 by the user. Since it is possible to automatically detect whether or not to perform, it becomes easy for the user to select a job capable of desired output.

  In addition, since the image data file, the attribute information file, and the setting information read once by the MFP device 100 can be stored in the system, even when an error occurs and printing cannot be performed. By operating this system, the user can execute the printing process again without going through the MFP device 100.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The basic configuration of the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment is the same as that in FIG. 7 in the second embodiment described above, and will be described with reference to FIG. . Further, job creation processing and printer output processing in the document distribution system for executing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 in the second embodiment described above.

  First, the job creation processing operation in the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S801, the shop PC 703 in the print shop acquires information on the printers 704, 705, and 706 existing in the shop. Here, the information includes not only the printing capability of each of the printers 704 to 706 and the status indicating whether printing is possible, but also information relating to the printer capability such as the duplex printing function, sorter function, stapling function, and color printing function. Including the printer capability list as a template.

  Next, in step S <b> 802, the shop management server PC 702 collects shop and printer information from the shop PC 703. At this time, since the shop management server PC 702 has a plurality of shops and collects information from the shop PC 703 existing in each shop, the shop management server PC 702 searches the shop PC 703 and collects information. Since a load is applied to the PC 702, it is preferable that each shop PC 703 uploads information to the shop management server PC 702 only when information is updated. The data format at the time of uploading is preferably an easy-to-handle data format for managing information, such as an XML format.

  In step S803, the print service server PC 701 acquires the shop and printer information collected by the shop management server PC 702. The shop and printer information is acquired only when a notification (event) indicating that the information has been updated is received from the shop management server PC 702, and it is desirable to avoid processing with as much traffic as possible.

  When the print service server PC 701 acquires shop and printer information, it is not necessary to convert the special data format, and the data format collected from the shop PC 703 may be used as it is.

  In step S804, the client PC 101 collects shop and printer information from the print service server PC 701. Specifically, the print service server PC 701 notifies the printer information acquisition unit 202 in the document distribution client system shown in FIG. Upon receiving this notification, the printer information acquisition unit 202 automatically acquires shop and printer information from the print service server PC 701.

  The information format for acquiring the shop and printer information may be the same as the data format collected by the shop management server PC 702 from the shop PC 703. It is only necessary to analyze the data format and display the shop and printer information in the manager main unit 201.

  In step S805, a job is created using the manager main unit 201 in the document distribution system shown in FIG. The operation when creating this job is substantially the same as the contents described in the first embodiment, and the printer that can be selected is a printer in a shop located in a remote place as described above. The user saves the created job in the setting information 203.

  In step S806, the user registers the job created in step S805 in the MFP device 100.

  Next, in the document distribution system for implementing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, a processing operation until the user prints on a printer in the shop will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S <b> 901, the user sets a printed document on a document table of the MFP device 100 or an ADF (automatic document feeder), and selects a job from an operation panel (not shown) in the MFP device 100. Thereafter, when the scan button on the operation panel is pressed, the MFP device 100 collects document information and the like obtained by reading the image data file and the document into the document distribution system shown in FIG. 2 existing in the client PC 101 in step S902. Send an information file. The document distribution client system analyzes the received image data file, attribute information file, and job, and creates a printer job for the printer to be printed.

  Note that the client PC 101 does not need to create a printer job. In that case, in the next step, the image data and the printing method are uploaded to the print service server PC 701, and the print service server PC 701, the shop management server PC 702, or the shop PC 703 uses the image data file, the attribute information file, and the job settings to set the printer. A means for creating jobs is required.

  In step S903, the printer job created in step S902 is uploaded to the print service server PC 701 via the Internet. The uploading method may be a general protocol such as HTTPS, and is preferably encrypted from the viewpoint of security.

  In step S904, the shop management server PC 702 receives the printer job acquired by the print service server PC 701 in step S903.

  In step S905, the shop management server PC 702 transmits the printer job acquired in step S904 to the shop PC 703.

  In step S906, the shop PC 703 performs printing by a printer in the shop according to the printer job received in step S905. At this time, the printing status of the printer is monitored by the shop PC 703 and notified to the shop management server PC 702 by the success or failure of the printing. In the shop management server PC 702, when the printer job is not printed normally, recovery processing is performed according to the contents of the job created by the user, or the error result is notified to the document distribution system shown in FIG. Alternatively, an error notification may be made by sending an email to the user.

  Note that even when printing is normally completed, a notification to that effect is given to the user.

  As described above, according to the document distribution system for performing the document distribution method according to the present embodiment, the user sets the print method once and registers the created job in the MFP device 100 so that the user can When an attribute data file that collects image data files and document information obtained by scanning a document using the MFP device 100 without using a PC is transmitted, the document information and the set job in the attribute information file are transmitted. Since the desired printing can be automatically performed by the printers 704 to 705 existing in the shop connected via the Internet, for example, the capability of the printers 102 to 104 existing in the intranet is ineffective, When printing is not possible, troublesome procedures are omitted, and printers 704 to 70 in the shop It is possible to output to.

(Other embodiments)
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, and the like), and a device (for example, a copying machine and a facsimile device) including a single device. You may apply to.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, and a DVD. -RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) running on the computer based on an instruction of the program code, etc. However, it is needless to say that a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the application in the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation in the user side in the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the processing operation in the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a processing operation until the FTP server of the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention passes data to a server core part. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing operations until the job management unit of the document distribution system for executing the document distribution method according to the first embodiment of the present invention acquires image data and an output method and spools it as a printer job. It is. It is a conceptual diagram of the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the processing operation until the user of the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention produces a job. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a processing operation until the user of the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention prints on the printer in a shop. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation on the user side in the document delivery system for enforcing the document delivery method concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation of an MFP device accompanying a user operation in a document distribution system for performing a document distribution method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 MFP device 101 Client PC (personal computer) which is information processing apparatus
102 Printer (image output device)
103 Printer (image output device)
104 Printer (image output device)
105 LAN (Local Area Network)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 201 Manager main part 202 Printer information acquisition part 203 Setting information 204 Server application 205 FTP server 206 Server core part 207 Job management part 208 Printer job creation part 701 Print service server PC (personal computer)
702 Shop management server PC (personal computer)
703 Shop PC (personal computer)
704 Printer 705 Printer 706 Printer 707 LAN (Local Area Network)

Claims (9)

In a document delivery method for delivering a document by a document delivery system to which an image reading device, a computer terminal, and an image output device are connected via a network,
A job including information for specifying an image output device to output an image read by the image reading device and setting information corresponding to characteristics of the image output device is created in the computer terminal and registered in the image reading device. Registration process;
A reading step of reading an image in the image reading device according to the job registered in the registration step;
A document distribution method comprising: a transmission step of transmitting an image read in the reading step to an image output device specified by the job registered in the registration step.   The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein the job registered in the registration step includes information for specifying a plurality of image output apparatuses.   2. The setting information included in the job registered in the registration step includes setting information related to image processing, and the reading step performs image processing according to the setting information related to image processing when reading an image. Or the document delivery method of 2.   The job registered in the registration step includes setting information regarding a printing method that can be executed by the specified image output device, and the image output device prints the image transmitted in the transmission step by a method according to the setting information. The document delivery method according to claim 1, wherein the document delivery method is performed. In a document delivery method for delivering a document by a document delivery system to which an image reading device, a computer terminal, and an image output device are connected via a network,
A registration step of registering in the image reading device a job including information for specifying an image output device to output an image read by the image reading device;
A reading step of reading an image in the image reading device;
A transmission step of transmitting the image read in the reading step and the job registered in the registration step to the computer terminal;
An output step of processing the image transmitted in the transmission step according to the characteristics of the image output device specified by the job transmitted in the transmission step and outputting the processed image to the image output device in the computer terminal; Document delivery method characterized by the above.   6. The document processing method according to claim 5, wherein the job registered in the registration step includes information for specifying a plurality of image output apparatuses.   The output step converts the image transmitted in the transmission step into a printer language that can be interpreted by the image output device specified by the job, and outputs the printer language to the image output device. Document delivery method described in 1.   A program comprising computer-readable program code for realizing the document distribution method according to claim 1.   6. A storage medium having computer-readable program code for realizing the document distribution method according to claim 1.

Images