JP2007133817A - Data processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To guide e-mail print so as to enable anybody to easily print data by using the e-mail print. <P>SOLUTION: A processor 100 transmits e-mail for guide to a client device 110. A description for describing the e-mail print and samples of commands for designating a print condition are described in message text of the e-mail for guide. A transmission source of the e-mail is a mail address of the processor 100. The client device 110 corrects a command of the received e-mail in accordance with a desired print condition, prepares e-mail, attaches data and returns the e-mail to the processor 100. The processor 100 prints the attached data according to the received command. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing system that transmits a message through a network and performs processing such as printing of attached data.

  Usually, in a data processing system using a network, a processing device such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral device (MFP) is connected to the network, and data output from a client device such as a personal computer is printed by the processing device.

In such a data processing system, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, an electronic mail attached with data is transmitted from a user's client device to the processing device and printed.
JP 2003-167694 A

  By the way, in printing using e-mail, a predetermined command is described in the message body of the e-mail in order to specify printing conditions. The processing device that has received the e-mail reads the command in the message body, sets the printing conditions, and performs printing.

  This command is like a program language, and is composed of a command name and a setting value. Each command name represents functions such as the number of copies, double-sided, and post-processing. Therefore, a general user must understand the contents of the command name and also know how to describe the setting value to be input. Therefore, it is very difficult for a general user to master the command.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system in which anyone can easily create a message and request processing.

  In the present invention, a requesting device for requesting data processing and a processing device for processing data are connected via a network, and the requesting device transmits a request message and data including request contents to the processing device. A data processing system for processing received data in accordance with the request content of the request message, comprising guidance means for transmitting a guide message usable as a request message to the requesting device. These messages only need to be capable of data communication through a network such as e-mail.

  The guidance message can be used as a request message. The processing device that has received this guidance message can easily create a request message simply by modifying the guidance message. The requested data is transmitted by any method such as attaching to the request message, including in the request message, or including link information of the data storage destination in the request message.

  To be available, the guidance message includes a sample request content and the address of the processing device. Therefore, if a reply is made to the guidance message, the request message can be automatically transmitted to the processing device. Further, by using the sample request contents, it is possible to easily specify the processing desired by the user, and it is easy to request data processing.

  The processing apparatus has guide means. The sender of the guidance message becomes the address of the processing device. That is, the processing device transmits a guidance message directly to the requesting device. Or the management apparatus which manages a processing apparatus is connected to a network, and a processing apparatus transmits a guidance message by the command from a management apparatus. In the former case, the processing device registers the address of the requesting device. Therefore, the guidance message can be transmitted to the registered requesting device. The latter case is useful when the processing device does not register the address of the requesting device. Since the management device registers the address of the requesting device, the processing device can obtain the address of the requesting device from the management device and transmit a guidance message to the requesting device.

  Instead of the processing device, the management device may have a guide means. The reply destination of the guidance message is the address of the processing device. The management device transmits a guidance message to the requesting device managed by the management device. Alternatively, the management device obtains the address of the requesting device from the processing device and transmits a guidance message to the corresponding requesting device. The requesting device that has received this guidance message returns a request message to the processing device. Therefore, the management apparatus can transmit a guidance message at an arbitrary time. For example, when a new client device is registered or when a processing device is replaced.

  According to the present invention, by sending a guide message that can be used as a request message, a request message can be easily created with reference to the guide message. Therefore, it is possible to easily request data processing using a message such as an electronic mail. In particular, when the requesting device is located far away from the processing device, it is possible to easily request the necessary data processing by using the guidance message.

  A data processing system of this embodiment is shown in FIG. The data processing system includes a processing device 100 that processes input data, a client device 110 that is a requesting device that requests processing of data, and a management device 120 that manages the entire system including the processing device 100. Are connected via a network. The processing apparatus 100 is a multi-functional peripheral device, and a digital multifunction peripheral having a copy mode, a printer mode, a scanner mode, and a facsimile mode is used. An information processing device such as a personal computer or a portable information terminal is used as the client device 110 used by the user. As the management device 120, an information processing device such as a personal computer used by an administrator is used. The network includes an intranet such as a LAN and a WAN, and the Internet.

  The processing device 100, the client device 110, and the management device 120 are each equipped with a browser and mail software, and have respective IP addresses and mail addresses. Each device can send and receive electronic mail over a network.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-function peripheral that is the processing apparatus 100 performs an image reading unit 1 that reads a document and inputs image data, an operation unit 2 that receives user input, and prints the input image data. An image forming unit 3, a hard disk device 4 for storing image data, a communication unit 5 for data communication with an external device, a FAX modem 7 for communicating with a facsimile device 6, and control information and setting information for the entire device And the like, and a device control unit 9 that controls the entire apparatus.

  The image reading unit 1 functions as a data input unit that inputs image data, and includes an image sensor such as a CCD 1a and a document detection sensor 1b that detects a document set on a document table or an automatic document feeder (ADF). Image data read by the CCD 1 a is output to the image forming unit 3.

  The operation unit 2 includes an input unit 2a composed of various input keys and a display unit 2b such as a liquid crystal display. The operation unit 2 operates the entire apparatus and inputs various settings, and displays the input contents and the operation status of the entire apparatus. Is done.

  The image forming unit 3 includes a local memory 10 that stores input image data, a printing unit 3a including a laser scanning unit, and a paper feeding unit 3b. As the local memory 10, a readable / writable semiconductor memory such as an SDRAM or a flash memory is used. The local memory 10 stores image data by overwriting old image data with new image data. The printing unit 3 a prints an image on a recording sheet supplied from the paper feeding unit 3 b based on the image data stored in the local memory 10.

  In the image forming unit 3, the input image data is stored in the local memory 10. The image data is subjected to image processing such as compression, expansion, and processing by the image processing unit 11 and is stored in the local memory 10. The image data subjected to the image processing is output to the printing unit 3a, the hard disk device 4, or the device control unit 9. That is, the image forming unit 3 functions as a data processing unit.

  The local memory 10 is divided into an area for storing input image data and an area for storing image data for output. Instead of dividing and using one local memory 10, two local memories 10 may be used for input and output, respectively.

  The communication unit 5 is connected to a router, a switching hub, and the like via a LAN cable, and is connected to an internal network constituted by an information processing device such as a personal computer or a server, thereby forming an intranet. The intranet is connected to the Internet via a communication line such as a telephone line network or an optical fiber. The information processing apparatus includes a management apparatus 120 and a client apparatus 110.

  The communication unit 5 transmits / receives data and electronic mail to / from the management apparatus 120 and client apparatus 110 in the internal network, and transmits / receives data and electronic mail to / from the external client apparatus 110 and facsimile apparatus 13 through the Internet. The facsimile machine 13 has a function of data communication through the Internet and becomes a client device. The FAX modem 7 is connected to the telephone line network via a telephone line, and performs facsimile communication with the external facsimile apparatus 6. Thus, since image data is input through the communication unit 5 and the FAX modem 7, these also function as data input means.

  When there is an input from the operation unit 2 or a data input from an external device such as the client device 110, the device control unit 9 controls each unit based on information stored in the management unit 8 to input the data Process. That is, any one of a copy mode, a printer mode, a scanner mode, and a facsimile mode is executed on the input image data, and the input image data is output in a desired form.

  The hard disk device 4 is storage means for temporarily storing image data. When the image data is stored in the hard disk device 4 by the encryption / decryption unit 3c, the image data is encrypted. When image data is read from the hard disk device 4, the image data is decoded.

  An erasing unit 14 for erasing the image data of the hard disk device 4 is provided. The image data to be erased is data stored in the processing work area. The device control unit 9 controls the operation of the erasing unit 14 after processing and outputting the image data. The erasure means 14 overwrites random data or meaningless data, or erases the data, making the stored image data unreadable and invalidating it so that the original image cannot be reproduced. To do. Note that the erasing unit 14 may also invalidate the image data in the local memory 10 by erasing the old image data by overwriting or erasing the image data.

  Next, the operation when each mode is executed will be described. First, in the copy mode, image data of a document read by the image reading unit 1 is output as a copy from the image forming unit 3. Specifically, the image of the original set at the reading position is read by the CCD 1a. The image data output from the CCD 1a is completed as an output image on the local memory 10, and is once transferred to the hard disk device 4 and stored. When there are a plurality of documents, the reading and storing operations are repeated.

  Thereafter, based on the processing contents instructed from the operation unit 2, the image data stored in the hard disk device 4 is sequentially read out at an appropriate timing and sent to the local memory 10. Then, the image data is transferred from the local memory 10 to the printing unit 3a at the timing of writing to the printing unit 3a, and the image is printed on the recording sheet.

  Similarly, when printing a plurality of read image data, the image data is stored in the hard disk device 4 in units of pages as output images, and sent from the hard disk device 4 to the local memory 10 in accordance with the output mode. The image data in the local memory 10 is repeated for the number of output sheets, and transferred to the printing unit 3a in accordance with the writing timing to the printing unit 3a.

  In the printer mode, image data output from the client device 110 or the management device 120, which is an information processing device, is output from the image forming unit 3. That is, the image data from the information processing apparatus is received by the communication unit 5. The device control unit 9 sends the input image data to the local memory 10, develops it as page data as output image data, and temporarily stores it in the hard disk device 4. Then, the image data is sent from the hard disk device 4 to the local memory 10 and transferred to the printing unit 3a in the same manner as in the copy mode, and an image is printed.

  In the scanner mode, image data of a document read by the image reading unit 1 is communicated to an arbitrary information processing apparatus through an internal network. In other words, the image data output from the CCD 1 a is completed as an output image on the local memory 10 and temporarily stored in the hard disk device 4. Then, the image data is sent from the hard disk device 4 to the local memory 10, and the device control unit 9 establishes communication with the information processing device in the internal network instructed via the operation unit 2, and the communication unit 5 The image data is transmitted to the information processing apparatus. Further, the image data is transmitted from the network to the external information processing apparatus or facsimile apparatus 13 by the communication unit 5 via the Internet. The device control unit 9 transmits image data from the FAX modem 7 to the facsimile apparatus 6 through the telephone line 6 by the same operation in the facsimile mode.

  As described above, when processing the image data input from the data input unit, the image data is temporarily stored in the local memory 10. When the image data is processed and output is completed, the erasing unit 14 erases the image data from the hard disk device 4.

  The processing apparatus 100 has an e-mail print mode for printing data attached to an e-mail. In the e-mail print mode, the processing apparatus 100 confirms the e-mail with the mail server, and prints the data attached to the received request e-mail. The client apparatus 110 creates and sends a request e-mail with the processing apparatus 100 as a destination and data to be printed attached.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a predetermined command indicating the request content is described in the message body of the request e-mail. The command includes a command name that represents a function necessary for printing, and a setting value that represents the necessity of each function and a designated value. In the subject, a command keyword indicating execution of the e-mail print mode such as “E-mail direct print” is described. Note that the message body is in text format. The attached data is image data of a file such as PDF or JPG.

  When the device control unit 9 of the processing apparatus 100 receives the e-mail, the device control unit 9 selects the request e-mail. That is, the device control unit 9 determines that it is a request e-mail when the subject is the above command keyword. Alternatively, when the extension of the attached file is designated in advance, it is determined as a request e-mail. Further, if the transmission source of the received e-mail is a pre-registered e-mail address, it may be determined that the e-mail is a request e-mail from the client device 110.

  Then, the device control unit 9 reads a command from the message body of the request e-mail, sets the printing conditions, and executes the printer mode according to the printing conditions. In this way, the received image data is printed. If nothing is described in the message body, the device control unit 9 prints the image data under standard printing conditions.

  By the way, the processing apparatus 100 has a guidance function for transmitting a guidance e-mail for guiding e-mail printing to the client apparatus 110. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the device control unit 9 of the processing device 100 creates a guide e-mail addressed to the mail address of the client device 110 and transmits it through the network.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the guidance e-mail, the subject is a command keyword. In the message body, an explanatory text for explaining the electronic mail print and a sample of the command are described. The e-mail transmission source is the e-mail address of the processing apparatus 100. An e-mail print manual may be attached to the guidance e-mail.

  Upon receiving the guidance e-mail, the client device 110 creates and sends a request e-mail attached with the printed data as a reply to the guidance e-mail as shown in FIG. 6 when using this printing. . When the processing apparatus 100 receives the request e-mail, it prints the attached data in accordance with the designated printing conditions.

  As in the case shown in FIG. 3, in the request e-mail, the destination is the mail address of the processing apparatus 100, and the subject is a command keyword. Commands are described in the message body. This command is obtained by correcting a sample of commands described in the guidance e-mail by the user.

  The guidance e-mail is transmitted by an input from the operation unit 2 of the processing device 100 by the administrator or based on a command from the management device 120 to the processing device 100. The destination of the guidance is all or part of the mail address of the client device 110 registered in the processing device 100.

  When a guidance e-mail is transmitted according to a command from the management apparatus 120, the management apparatus 120 may specify a transmission destination. The management device 120 stores the email address of the client device 110 and transmits information on the designated email address to the processing device 100. The processing device 100 creates and sends a guide email to the designated client device 110.

  As another guide for the e-mail print mode, the management apparatus 120 has the guide function described above. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the management device 120 creates a guide e-mail addressed to the mail address of the client device 110 and transmits it through the network. The guidance e-mail is the same as that shown in FIG. 5, but the transmission source is the e-mail address of the management apparatus 120 and the reply destination is the e-mail address of the processing apparatus 100. The management device 120 creates a guidance e-mail, but if the management device 120 does not have information about the command, the processing device 100 provides information about the command, and the management device 120 creates a message body based on the information. .

  When the client apparatus 110 that has received the guidance e-mail wants to use this printing, as shown in FIG. 8, the client apparatus 110 creates and sends a request e-mail with the printed data attached to the reply destination of the guidance e-mail. To do. When the processing apparatus 100 receives the request e-mail, it prints the attached data in accordance with the designated printing conditions.

  When the management device 120 manages the mail address of the client device 110, a guidance e-mail is transmitted from the management device 120. For example, when a new network is formed and a new data processing system is started up, the management apparatus 120 registers and manages the IP addresses and mail addresses of the client apparatus 110 and the processing apparatus 100. At this time, the management device 120 transmits a guide e-mail to all the client devices 110. Alternatively, when a new client device 110 is connected to the network, the management device 120 transmits a guide e-mail to the client device 110. In addition, when a new processing apparatus 100 is replaced or when the processing apparatus 100 is added, the management apparatus 120 transmits guidance e-mails to all the client apparatuses 110.

  Here, in response to a request from the processing apparatus 100, the management apparatus 120 may transmit a guidance e-mail. The processing device 100 transmits all or part of the registered client devices 100 to the management device 120. The management device 120 creates a guide e-mail based on the obtained e-mail address and transmits it to the designated client device 110. In this way, the processing device 100 can save the trouble of processing the guidance e-mail and can smoothly perform data communication related to the original processing.

  As described above, the client device 110 that has received the guidance email from the processing device 100 or the management device 120 registers the email address of the processing device 100 acquired from the guidance email as the processing device 100 that requests printing. be able to. Therefore, the trouble of setting the mail address of the processing device 100 in the client device 110 can be saved.

  In addition, since the guidance e-mail includes a sample of the command, the client apparatus 110 can easily create a command by referring to this. Therefore, setting of desired printing conditions is facilitated, and printing can be easily requested. If a sample of the command is saved, it is possible to easily create a request e-mail from the next time using this.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Of course, many corrections and changes can be added to the said embodiment within the scope of the present invention. The processing apparatus may be a multi-function machine having a copy mode and a facsimile mode, or may be a dedicated machine having only a single mode such as a copier, a printer, or a facsimile machine. The client device may be a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant capable of data communication, and communicates with the processing device through the Internet.

  The processing requested from the client device may be facsimile communication other than printing, and the destination facsimile number is described as the request content in the message body of the request e-mail. Furthermore, the process which preserve | saves data on a hard-disk apparatus may be sufficient. Further, the data processed by the processing device is not limited to image data, and may be document data created by word processing software or spreadsheet software. The processing apparatus is equipped with application software that can handle document data, and can print document data.

  In addition, in the intranet, instead of using electronic mail, messages and data are transmitted and received by a communication tool using the TCP / IP protocol. At this time, a guidance message is transmitted from the processing device or the management device to the client device using the IP address instead of the mail address. Then, a request message is transmitted from the client device to the processing device. The data to be processed is attached to the message or directly communicated.

  The data to be processed is attached to an e-mail or a message. Instead, the data storage destination is described as link information in the message body. The processing apparatus accesses the storage destination based on the link information and receives data. That is, when the data storage destination is different from the requested client device and data to be processed is stored in another client device or database in the network, the data storage destination may be notified. This method is suitable for a client device that is an external device that cannot hold a large amount of data, such as a mobile phone or a portable information terminal.

The figure which shows schematic structure of the data processing system of this invention The figure which shows schematic structure of the compound machine which is a processing device Figure showing request e-mail Diagram showing the flow of e-mail for guidance Figure showing a guide email Figure showing the flow of request e-mail The figure which shows the flow of the e-mail for guidance of other forms Diagram showing the flow of another form of request email

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image reading part 2 Operation part 3 Image formation part 4 Hard disk apparatus 5 Communication part 9 Equipment control part 100 Processing apparatus 110 Client apparatus 120 Management apparatus

Claims (8)

A requesting device that requests data processing and a processing device that processes data are connected via a network, and the requesting device transmits a request message and data including the request contents to the processing device. A data processing system for processing received data in accordance with a request content, comprising a guide means for transmitting a guide message usable as a request message to a request device. The data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the guidance message includes a sample of request contents and an address of a processing device. 3. The data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the processing device has guidance means, and the transmission source of the guidance message is an address of the processing device. 4. The data processing system according to claim 3, wherein a management device that manages the processing device is connected to a network, and the processing device transmits a guidance message in response to a command from the management device. 3. The data processing system according to claim 1, wherein a management device that manages the processing device is connected to a network, the management device has guidance means, and a reply destination of the guidance message is an address of the processing device. 6. The data processing system according to claim 1, wherein a guidance message is transmitted when a new requesting device is registered or when the processing device is replaced. 7. The data processing system according to claim 6, wherein the requesting device creates a request message using the guidance message, sends the request message back to the processing device, and requests data processing. 8. The data processing system according to claim 7, wherein each message is transmitted using an electronic mail.

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