JP2006270712A - Image processing apparatus and image processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and accurately select service useable by a user utilizing external apparatus service via a network. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing apparatus performs a function of connecting itself to a server via the network N and acquiring and outputting image data from the server or a function of transferring input image data to the server, and comprises authentication means (display/input part 1) for authenticating a user utilizing the function; display means (display/input part 1) for performing screen display for utilizing the function; and display control means (control part 6) for performing control of displaying on the display means an address of a server corresponding to only a function usable by a user authenticated by the authentication means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing program connected to a server via a network, and in particular, a function of outputting image data acquired from the server via the network and a function of transferring input image data to the server. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing program.

  Currently, an image processing apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral and a server which is an external apparatus are connected via a network, and image data is imported from the server to the image processing apparatus and output, or image data input by the image processing apparatus is transmitted to the server via the network. An image processing apparatus that can use an external apparatus service such as storing data in a mail or sending an e-mail is considered.

  When a user uses such an image processing apparatus, the user selects a desired service displayed on the touch panel display or the like of the image processing apparatus, and selects a connection destination server as necessary to execute the process. ing. For example, in a print service that captures and outputs image data stored in a server, the user selects a print service and then selects a connectable server to establish a network connection with the server. When desired image data is specified from a server connected to the network, the image data is sent from the server to the image processing apparatus via the network, and the image processing apparatus that has received the image data outputs it to a sheet.

  Also, in a scan service that transfers image data captured by an image processing device to a server, the user selects the scan service, selects a connectable server, and then scans the image data, so that the captured image data is networked. Can be transferred to a connected server.

  In such an image processing apparatus, an address of a server that can be connected when an external device service is performed is displayed on a display unit such as a touch panel display, and the user selects a desired server address from the display. (See Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-195027 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-195028

  However, when all of the list of available external device services is displayed, it will be very troublesome to select a desired external service from among them. In addition, among the external device services displayed on the display screen, there are some services that can be used / not available for each user, and the user cannot select which service he / she can use. However, when a connection is attempted, authentication may not be obtained and the connection may be rejected.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of user operations and improve operability by using the main body authentication function of the image processing apparatus and displaying only the connection destinations in the external apparatus service that can be used by the authenticated user. To do.

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides an image processing for performing a function of connecting to a server via a network and acquiring and outputting image data from the server, or a function of transferring input image data to the server. In the apparatus, an authentication means for authenticating a user who uses this function, a display means for displaying a screen for using the function, and a server corresponding to the function only for a function usable for the user authenticated by the authentication means Display control means for performing control to display the address on the display means.

  In addition, the present invention utilizes this function in an image processing apparatus that performs a function of connecting to a server via a network and acquiring and outputting image data from the server or a function of transferring input image data to the server. The authentication means for authenticating the user to be used, the display means for displaying the screen for using the function, and only the function that can be used for the user authenticated by the authentication means, the address of the server corresponding to the function is set as another function. Display control means for performing control to change the display state and display on the display means.

  The present invention also includes a step of authenticating a user who uses the function, a step of detecting a function available for the authenticated user, and a server corresponding to the function available for the user among servers connected to the network. This is an image processing program for executing, by a computer, the step of detecting the address and the step of displaying the address of the server corresponding to the function only on the function available to the user on the display means.

  The present invention also includes a step of authenticating a user who uses the function, a step of detecting a function available for the authenticated user, and a server corresponding to the function available for the user among servers connected to the network. An image processing program for executing, by a computer, the step of detecting the address of the server and the step of displaying the address of the server corresponding to that function only on the function available to the user on the display means while changing the display state with other functions It is.

  In the present invention, for an authenticated user, only a function that can be used by the user is displayed on the display unit as a connection destination corresponding to the function. Only the corresponding server can be selected with certainty.

  Therefore, the present invention has the following effects. That is, since the authenticated user displays only the services that can be used, the service that can be used can be easily selected from among many services. Thereby, the operability when using the service can be greatly improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image processing apparatus according to this embodiment. The image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is mainly composed of a multi-function peripheral. In a system in which a plurality of services provided by a server (a WWW server or a mail server) on a network are accessed by the image processing apparatus main body accessing the server. When an available service is registered in the image processing apparatus main body and the user is authenticated by the authentication function of the image processing apparatus main body, the address of the server that provides the service that can be used by the authenticated user (URL: Uniform Resource Locator ) List.

  That is, the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a display / input unit 1 including a touch panel display, a storage unit 2 that stores a user function table and a connection destination function table, which will be described later, and an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet. 3, an image input unit 4 that reads a document and acquires image data, a communication unit 5 that performs communication control via the network N, and a control unit 6 that controls each unit.

  The display / input unit 1 is composed of a touch panel display as described above, displays a list of functions that can be used in the image processing apparatus, displays a screen for inputting predetermined parameters, and provides a password input by the user. It has a function of accepting and authenticating a user. As a function for performing user authentication, other authentication methods such as a card and biometrics may be used, or a separate authentication device may be used.

  The storage unit 2 is composed of, for example, a hard disk or a memory, and temporarily stores image data necessary for image formation and has a user use space. It is also a part for storing table data (user function table) indicating functions available for each user, and table data (connection destination function table) indicating correspondence between addresses and functions of connection destination servers.

  2 is an example of a user function table, and FIG. 3 is an example of a connection destination function table. In the user function table shown in FIG. 2, available functions corresponding to the user ID are shown. For example, User1 can use the scan function and print function, and User2 can use only the scan function. The user function table can be freely set by, for example, a machine administrator, and can add new usable functions, delete usable functions, and register new users.

  Further, the connection destination function table shown in FIG. 3 stores a server name as a connection destination, an address (URL) corresponding to the server name, and usable functions in association with each other. For example, the server 1 has a URL of http://www1.fujixerox.co.jp/, the usable functions are scan and print, and the server 2 has a URL of http://www2.fujixerox.co.jp/ The only function that can be used is scanning. This connection destination function table can be set freely by the machine administrator, for example, by inquiring outside by the function (detection means) of the communication unit 5 to detect a connectable server, the URL of the server, and the correspondence You may make it acquire automatically the data of the function to perform.

  The image forming unit 3 is a so-called print engine. In the case of an electrophotographic system, an electrostatic latent image based on image data is formed on a photosensitive member, and a toner image is formed by the electrostatic latent image. It has a function of transferring and fixing to a medium (paper).

  The image input unit 4 is a scanner part that reads a document image and converts it into image data. For example, the scanner portion reads an image of a document placed on a platen glass with a sensor by optical scanning, and converts the image into an electrical signal (image data). The original image may be read while moving the original.

  The communication unit 5 is a part that controls data communication with the servers SB1 and SB2 via a network N such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. That is, the communication unit 5 performs network connection control with the servers SB1 and SB2 and data input / output control with the servers SB1 and SB2 via the network N based on a predetermined protocol via the network N.

  The control unit 6 is a part that controls each unit and executes a program to perform display control to the display / input unit 1 and a browser (WWW browser) that interprets HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). is there. The control of each unit performed by the control unit 6 includes display control means for causing the display / input unit 1 to display the server address corresponding to the function only for the function available for the authenticated user. The display control means is realized by executing an image processing program described later.

  In the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment having such a configuration, when a user uses a service (external apparatus service) using the servers SB1 and SB2 which are external apparatuses, the user can use the service based on user authentication. For only the functions, the addresses (URLs) of the servers SB1 and SB2 corresponding to the functions are displayed on the display / input unit 1. Thus, since the user can accurately select only the external device service that can be used by the user, the user can execute the service without being wasted, such as being confused about selecting a connection destination.

  Here, the characteristic processing of the present embodiment is realized by an image processing program executed by the control unit 6. The flow of the image processing program according to this embodiment will be described below.

  First, a user ID and a password are input to an authentication screen displayed on the display / input unit 1 of the image processing apparatus to authenticate the user. In the following example, the case of authenticating User1 is taken as an example.

  Next, the control unit 6 refers to the user function table (FIG. 2) stored in the storage unit 2 and detects a function that can be used by the authenticated User 1. Here, it can be seen that the scan service and the print service.

  The control unit 6 refers to the connection destination function table (FIG. 3) from the available functions of the User 1 detected from the user function table, and connects the server name (connection destination name) corresponding to the available function and Get the URL. Then, on the display / input unit 1, the connection destination name and URL corresponding to only the functions available to User 1 are displayed. As for the display method, only the connectable server name is displayed, or the connectable server name is changed to another server name (for example, the connectable server name is normally displayed, and the other server names are grayed out). ). In addition, when other server names are displayed in gray, it is possible to prevent selection of an incorrect connection destination by making it impossible to select it.

  Here, the scan service is a function of inputting (scanning) an image with the image processing apparatus, transferring the image to the connection destination server, and storing it in the area of the connection destination server. When the user selects a WWW server that provides a scan service from the list (FIG. 4) displayed on the display / input unit 1, the communication unit 5 accesses this URL. When accessed, the WWW server displays a list of areas that can be read and written by an authenticated user (User 1 in this case) among areas (represented by folders and directories) for storing images scanned by the image processing apparatus. Information is generated, and the image processing apparatus displays this screen. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list display of the readable / writable area corresponding to when the user 1 selects the server 1, for example. The user refers to this screen and selects an area for transferring and storing the scanned image.

  The print service is a service that allows a user to select a document stored in a WWW server or a document stored in another storage area on the network and print the selected document using the image processing apparatus. . As an example of this, when accessing the URL of a WWW server that provides a print service, the WWW server generates a UI (User Interface) screen that displays a list of documents to be printed and instructs various print settings. Then, this UI screen is displayed on the display / input unit 1. When a user selects a document from the UI screen display of the image processing apparatus and print settings are made, the document is printed by the image forming unit 3 of the image processing apparatus based on the print settings.

  Here, an example of a list display using the connection destination function table by the control unit 6 is shown below.

(Pattern 1)
Screen display control is performed so that only URLs having all available functions (scan and print in User1) can be used. In this example, since only the server 1 is available, only the server 1 displays a URL. Alternatively, a screen for selecting the server 1 is displayed.

(Pattern 2)
Screen display control is performed so that only URLs having either a scan or print function can be used. In this example, since the servers 1 to 4 can be used, the URL of the servers 1 to 4 is displayed or a screen for selecting the servers 1 to 4 is displayed (see FIG. 4).

  In any of the above patterns, functions that cannot be used by the user and server addresses corresponding to the functions are not displayed or inconspicuous, and it is easy for the user to specify only the server addresses corresponding to the functions that the user can use. It can be selected.

  When the user selects a usable URL and issues a connection instruction, the server accesses the server specified by the communication control by the communication unit 5, and the server transmits the menu screen / top page of the function provided by the server to the image processing apparatus. . Information sent from the server is interpreted by the browser and displayed on the display / input unit 1. On the menu screen displayed on the display / input unit 1 by information sent from the server, an icon or the like for selecting a function that can be used by the server is displayed.

  Then, when the user selects, for example, a scan function from the menu screen display, the user designates a directory in which a document can be stored, and, for example, when a print function is selected, designates document information that can be printed. Thus, in the scan function, the image data captured by the image input unit 4 is transmitted to the directory designated by the server via the network N, and in the print function, the designated image data sent from the server is received, and the image forming unit 3 receives the paper. Print out on a medium such as

  By executing the image processing program as described above, the user can refer to only the external device service that can be used by the user or in a form that is distinguished from other services, and selects a desired service accurately from the service. Therefore, the service can be executed without wasting time and effort in selecting the connection destination and the like.

It is a block diagram explaining the image processing apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of a user function table | surface. It is a figure which shows an example of a connection destination function table. It is a figure which shows an example of a connectable server list. It is a figure which shows the example of a list display of the readable / writable area when User1 selects the server 1.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Display / input part, 2 ... Memory | storage part, 3 ... Image formation part, 4 ... Image input part, 5 ... Communication part, 6 ... Control part, N ... Network, SB1 ... Server, SB2 ... Server

Claims (6)

In an image processing apparatus that performs a function of connecting to a server via a network and acquiring and outputting image data from the server, or a function of transferring input image data to the server,
An authentication means for authenticating a user who uses the function;
Display means for displaying a screen for using the function;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a display control unit that performs control to display only the function that can be used for the user authenticated by the authentication unit, on the display unit, the address of the server corresponding to the function. In an image processing apparatus that performs a function of connecting to a server via a network and acquiring and outputting image data from the server, or a function of transferring input image data to the server,
An authentication means for authenticating a user who uses the function;
Display means for displaying a screen for using the function;
Only for functions that can be used for a user authenticated by the authentication means, a display control means for controlling the server address corresponding to the function to be displayed on the display means while changing the display state with other functions. An image processing apparatus. Table data indicating correspondence between the user and available functions and the server address;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit performs display control on the display unit based on the table data. A detecting means for inquiring of the server via the network whether or not the user authenticated by the authenticating means can be used;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit performs display control on the display unit based on a result inquired by the detection unit. Authenticating a user using the function;
Detecting available functions for the authenticated user;
Detecting an address of a server corresponding to a function available for the user among servers connected to the network;
An image processing program for executing, by a computer, only the function available to the user, the step of displaying on the display means the address of the server corresponding to the function. Authenticating a user using the function;
Detecting available functions for the authenticated user;
Detecting an address of a server corresponding to a function available for the user among servers connected to the network;
An image processing program that executes, by a computer, only the functions that can be used for the user, and displays the address of the server corresponding to the functions on the display means while changing the display state with other functions.

Images