JP2006139376A - Image reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a user interface corresponding to the capability of a scanner by a simple method at the time of switching an available scanner during the start of a scanner driver which controls a network scanner by using a Web browser. <P>SOLUTION: This image reading device is provided with a virtual scanner driver having a TWAIN interface equipped with a receiving means for receiving a read image read according to a scan start instruction from a Web browser, and transferred by the transferring means of a network scanner, and configured so that information unique to a machine type such as scan setting or capability information can be provided to the scanner itself, and browsed and set by the Web browser. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a network scanner and a scanner driver.

  With the spread of local area networks (hereinafter referred to as LAN), network scanners that can be directly connected to a LAN are widely provided. The network scanner can be directly controlled from a host computer by a user connected to the LAN and use its function. In order to control the network scanner, it is necessary to prepare dedicated control software called a scanner driver in the host computer. Some scanner drivers that control network scanners search and select scanners connected to the network, and change the display of the scan setting user interface according to the capability information acquired from the scanner. ing. For example, in the case of a scanner that does not support color reading, this corresponds to deleting color reading from the menu or changing the settable resolution range.

  Incidentally, image data obtained by a scanner is generally processed and managed by an image processing application such as photo retouching software. The TWAIN interface is widely used for transferring images between a scanner driver that controls the image scanner and an image processing application, and has become a de facto standard.

Another conventional example is an image transmission system that uses a virtual TWAIN driver and enables image information to be transmitted from a scanner to a client computer via a computer network (see, for example, Patent Document 1). I can do it.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-232925

  However, when switching the scanner to be used by the user, it is difficult to dynamically change the display of the user interface according to the ability of the scanner after switching when the user interface of the scanner driver is displayed. The interface must be closed and redisplayed, or it must be a separate scanner driver for each model.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, a web server function capable of transmitting a web page capable of scan setting and scan start instruction, a storage device for temporarily storing a scanned image, and a scanned image on a network Data generation for generating search data including a hyperlink to a predetermined URL possessed by the network scanner based on a search result based on a search result Means, a storage means for temporarily storing the search data, a web browser start means for starting a web browser with the temporarily stored search data and displaying the search data, and a scan start instruction from the web browser , Transferred by network scanner transfer means By providing a virtual scanner driver having a TWAIN interface with a receiving means for receiving a captured image, the scanner itself has model-specific information such as scan settings and capability information, and is browsed and set by a web browser On the other hand, the scanner driver searches for a scanner on the network, converts the search result into HTML, and enables browsing with a web browser. The search result converted into HTML has a hyperlink to the scan setting page of each network scanner, and even if the scanner used is switched while the scanner driver is running, the setting screen corresponding to the scanner's ability can be displayed immediately. An image reading apparatus is provided. Further, like a conventional scanner driver, an image reading apparatus that can meet the needs of users by having a TWAIN interface that is a de facto standard is provided.

  As described above, the web server function that can transmit a web page that can be scanned and instructed to start scanning, the storage device that temporarily stores the scanned image, and the transfer unit that transfers the scanned image on the network. A network scanner provided; means for searching for the network scanner; data creation means for generating search data including a hyperlink to a predetermined URL of the network scanner based on a search result; and the search data temporarily Saving means for saving, Web browser starting means for starting the web browser with the temporarily saved search data and displaying the search data, and reading by the scan start instruction from the web browser, and transferring by the transfer means of the network scanner Receiving received scanned images Provided with a virtual scanner driver having a TWAIN interface, and having the scanner itself have model-specific information such as scan settings and capability information for browsing and setting with a web browser, while the scanner driver Searches for a scanner on the network, converts the search result into HTML, and enables browsing with a web browser. The search result converted into HTML has a hyperlink to the scan setting page of each network scanner, and even if the scanner used is switched while the scanner driver is running, the setting screen corresponding to the scanner's ability can be displayed immediately. An image reading apparatus is provided. Further, like the conventional scanner driver, it is possible to provide an image reading apparatus that can meet the needs of users by having a TWAIN interface that is a de facto standard.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. The host computer 101 is a computer device represented by a personal computer, for example, and the network scanners 102, 103, and 104 are image scanners that can optically read a document, and both are connected by a LAN 105. The user operates each network scanner through the host computer 101.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the network scanner. The network scanner has, for example, a microprocessor-type CPU (central processing unit) 201 and executes the contents of programs and data stored in 202 RAM and 203 ROM, whereby a scanner unit 204 connected via a 207 bus line, The hard disk 205 and the network interface 206 are controlled.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the host computer 101. The host computer has, for example, a microprocessor-type 301 CPU (central processing unit), and controls each device connected via the 309 bus line by executing the contents of programs and data stored in 302 RAM and 303 ROM. .

  FIG. 4 is an example of a block diagram of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. The host computer 401 and the network scanner 408 are each connected to the LAN 414. The TWAIN application 402, the virtual driver 403, and the web browser 404 are software that operates on the operation system 405. The TWAIN application 402 activates the virtual driver 403 through the TWAIN interface. The web browser 404 is a general-purpose browser that can browse web pages. The virtual driver 403 and the web browser 404 communicate with the network scanner 407 connected to the LAN 413 through the network interface 406. The disk 407 is for storing data and programs, and performs reading and writing as necessary through the operation system 405. The control unit 410 is software that controls each device of the network scanner 408. The disk 411 is a storage device for temporarily storing a read image. The scanner engine 412 controls the scanner unit according to an instruction from the control unit 410. The network scanner 408 also has a web server function, and the web server 413 transmits and receives data according to a request from the web browser 404. The network scanner 408 has a scan setting page for the user to set scan settings on the disk 411, transmitted from the web server 413 in response to a request from the web browser 404, and displayed on the display device of the host computer 401. The user performs scan settings on the scan setting page displayed on the web browser 404 and transmits the form to the web server 413 in the network scanner 408. The web server 413 interprets the received form, and the control unit 410 performs appropriate processing based on the result. The control unit 410 communicates with the host computer 401 through the network interface 409.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an operation of starting a virtual driver on a host computer, searching for a network scanner, and displaying a scan setting page in the image reading apparatus according to the present invention. The virtual driver 403 activated by the TWAIN application 402 searches for a network scanner connected to the LAN 413 in 501. The network scanner returns a response to the virtual driver, and further transmits capability information such as a supported scan mode, resolution, document size, and presence / absence of a document feeder in response to a request from the virtual driver. In 503, the virtual driver stores the search result and capability information on the disk 407 as HTML data as shown in FIG. 10, for example, and starts a web browser with this HTML file. HTML data has a hyperlink to a scan setting page of the network scanner, such as 1101. FIG. 11 is a display example of the HTML data shown in FIG. 10 on a web browser. When the user follows a hyperlink to the scan setting page in 504, the scan setting page is displayed in the web browser in 505. FIG. 12 shows an example of the display contents of the scan setting page.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an operation until the scan setting is performed on the host computer in the image reading apparatus according to the present invention. In 601, the web browser 404 communicates with the web server 413 to receive and display a scan setting page. When the user performs reading setting on the scan setting page and presses the scan button, a scan setting form is transmitted in 602. The network scanner 408 that has received the scan setting form performs reading according to the setting, temporarily stores the read image in the disk 410, and transmits an image generation notification to the virtual driver 403 in 603. Upon receiving the image generation notification, the virtual driver 403 transmits an image transfer request in 604. In accordance with the image transfer request, the control unit 410 transmits the read image to the virtual driver 403 in 605. In 606, the virtual driver 403 that has received the read image transfers the read image to the TWAIN application 402 through the TWAIN interface, and the transfer process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the virtual driver. When activated by the TWAIN application, the network scanner on the LAN is searched in 701. If no scanner is found at 702, the process is terminated. If found, scanner capability information is acquired from the scanner at 703. Next, in 706, HTML data as shown in FIG. 10 is generated based on the search result and saved in a file. In step 706, the web browser is activated using the HTML data stored in step 705. Thereafter, the scan setting and scan execution are performed by the user, and the process waits until the read image is stored in the storage device of the network scanner. If it is determined in 708 that the image generation apparatus has been received from the network scanner, in 709, the network scanner is requested to transfer the read image. After receiving the read image in 710, in 711, the image is transferred to the TWAIN application through the TWAIN interface, and again waits for reception of the image generation notification. If there is a close request by a user operation or a TWAIN application, the determination is made in 707 and the process is terminated.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network packet processing procedure of the network scanner control unit when there is a search and capability information request from the virtual driver. If a packet from the virtual driver is received during standby in 801, it is determined in 802 whether it is a search packet. If it is a search packet, response processing is performed on the virtual driver. If it is determined in 803 that the packet is a scanner capability information request packet, in 805, the scanner capability information is transmitted to the virtual driver.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a scan processing procedure of the network scanner control unit. If it is determined at 901 that the scan setting form has been received, at 902 the scanner engine is instructed to execute scanning according to the settings. After the scan is executed, the read image is stored in the storage device in 903, and an image generation notification is transmitted to the virtual driver in 904. Next, in 905, the process waits until the image transfer request is received. In 906, the image is transferred to the virtual driver, the series of procedures is terminated, and the process returns to 901 to wait for the next scan setting form.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a network scanner. The figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a host computer. 1 is a block diagram of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of starting a virtual driver on a host computer, searching for a network scanner, and displaying a scan setting page in the image reading apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating operations until scan settings are obtained on a host computer in the image reading apparatus according to the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the process sequence of a virtual driver. The figure which shows an example of the network packet processing procedure of a network scanner control part when there exists a search and capability information request | requirement from a virtual driver. The figure which shows an example of the scanning process procedure of a network scanner control part. The figure which shows an example of the HTML data which the virtual driver produced | generated based on the scanner search result. The figure which shows the example of a display on the web browser of the HTML data shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the display content of a scan setting page.

Explanation of symbols

  1

Claims (1)

  A network server provided with a web server function capable of transmitting a web page that can be scanned and instructed to start scanning, a storage device that temporarily stores a scanned image, and a transfer unit that transfers the scanned image over a network; Means for searching for the network scanner, data generating means for generating search data having a hyperlink to a predetermined URL of the network scanner based on a search result, storage means for temporarily storing the search data, Web browser activation means for activating a web browser with the temporarily stored search data to display the search data, and a scanned image read by a scan start instruction from the web browser and transferred by a network scanner transfer means Receiving means for receiving T Image reading apparatus characterized by comprising a virtual scanner driver with AIN interface.

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