JP2019068148A - Image reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve the efficiency of utilization of an image reading device.SOLUTION: A management server 4 (a) when receiving a reservation registration request based on a user operation, registers reservation while associating with each other a user, image reading devices (here, image forming apparatuses 1a, 1b), network identifiers of transmission destinations of image data created by the image reading devices, and a reservation period, which are designated in the reservation registration request, and (b) when receiving a scan instruction in the reservation period, specifies a network identifier of the image reading device reserved by the user who issues the scan instruction and the network identifiers of the transmission destinations, transmits, to terminal devices 3a, 3b designated by the specified network identifiers of the transmission destinations, the scan instruction indicating the specified network identifier of the image reading device; the terminal devices 3a, 3b cause the image reading device specified by the network identifier to execute image reading.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading system.

  An image forming apparatus issues a password when (a) a reservation is accepted, (b) when the reservation time comes, it becomes a use prohibited state, and (c) when a password is input in the use prohibited state, the use prohibited state (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, some image forming apparatuses have transmission functions (so-called scan-to-send functions) such as ScanToSMB and ScanToFTP.

JP, 2015-196253, A

  However, in the device as described above, the user needs to carry the password issued at the time of reservation until the reservation time, which is inconvenient.

  Also, the scan-to-send feature described above generally requires the user to specify the destination of the data (folder), and when multiple users use the device, they correspond to multiple users. Different folders are often used for data destinations.

  When making a reservation and using the scan-to-send function, the user needs to enter a password on the device and specify a data destination. Therefore, it takes time to start the use, and the occupation time is prolonged, so it is necessary to extend the reservation time, and the utilization efficiency of the apparatus is lowered.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an image reading system that improves the utilization efficiency of the image reading apparatus.

  An image reading system according to the present invention includes an image reading apparatus that reads an image and generates image data of the read image, and a management server. When the management server receives (a) a reservation registration request based on a user operation, the management server specifies the user, the image reading apparatus, the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period specified by the reservation registration request. (B) When a scan instruction is received in the reservation period, a network identifier of the image reading apparatus reserved by the user who has issued the scan instruction and a network identifier of the transmission destination are specified. A scan instruction indicating the network identifier of the identified image reading apparatus is transmitted to the terminal device designated by the identified network identifier of the transmission destination. The terminal device receives the scan instruction indicating a network identifier of the image reading device, causes the image reading device specified by the received network identifier to execute image reading, and receives the image data from the image reading device Get and store.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image reading system that improves the utilization efficiency of the image reading apparatus.

  The above or other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1a in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of the data structure of the user data 13a in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the terminal device 3a in the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management server 4 in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of reservation data 71 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the image reading system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1a in the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the terminal device 3a in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of reservation data 71 in the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the image reading system according to the second embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Embodiment 1

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1 a and 1 b are connected to the network 2, and a plurality of terminal apparatuses 3 a and 3 b are connected to the network 2. Furthermore, a management server 4 is connected to the network 2. Each of the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b is a multifunction peripheral, but may be another image reading apparatus having an image reading function, such as a scanner or a copier. The network 2 may be a local area network such as an in-house LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as the Internet.

  The image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b read an image and generate image data of the read image.

  The terminal devices 3a and 3b access the specific image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, and acquire image data generated by image reading by the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b.

  The management server 4 performs reservation management of the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b.

  Here, configurations of the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, the terminal devices 3a and 3b, and the management server 4 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1a in the first embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1b has the same configuration as the image forming apparatus 1a. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 a includes an image reading unit 11, an operation panel 12, a storage device 13, a communication device 14, and a controller 15.

  The image reading unit 11 optically reads an original image and generates image data of the read image.

  The operation panel 12 is disposed on the surface of the case of the image forming apparatus 1a, and has a display device for displaying various information to the user and an input device for detecting a user operation. For example, a liquid crystal display is used as the display device. A key switch, a touch panel or the like is used as the input device.

  The storage device 13 is a device capable of storing various data and programs. As the storage device 13, a nonvolatile mass storage medium such as a nonvolatile memory, a hard disk drive, etc. is used.

  The communication device 14 is, for example, a network interface connected to the network 2 and is a circuit that performs data communication with other devices (terminal devices 3a and 3b, management server 4 and the like) connected to the network 2. .

  Further, the controller 15 has a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc., loads an application program from the ROM, the storage device 13 or the like to the RAM, By being executed by the CPU, it operates as various processing units. In this embodiment, the controller 15 operates as the login processing unit 21, the reservation processing unit 22, and the scan control unit 23.

  The login processing unit 21 performs login processing when there is a predetermined user operation on the operation panel 12. In the login process, the login processing unit 21 identifies the user ID of the user who is operating based on the user operation on the operation panel 12, and determines whether or not the user can login based on the user data 13a. When the login processing unit 21 permits the login of the user, the login processing unit 21 permits the use of the image forming apparatus 1a by the user until a logout operation is performed.

  The reservation processing unit 22 receives a user operation for a reservation registration request. Then, the reservation processing unit 22 determines the user who has performed the user operation (that is, the user ID of the user), the image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b), and the image data generated by the image reading apparatus Of the transmission destination (that is, the client side of the pull-type scan-to-send process) and a reservation registration request indicating the reservation period are sent to the management server 4.

  Further, the reservation processing unit 22 adds later-described reservation data corresponding to the reservation registration request to the user data 13a, and when the reservation period comes, the image reading apparatus other than the user (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) Prohibit the use of At this time, the reservation processing unit 22 specifies the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data corresponding to the user based on the user data 13a.

  Furthermore, the reservation processing unit 22 transmits a scan instruction to the management server 4 in accordance with the user operation during the reservation period. As a result, a scan instruction is transferred from the management server 4 to the terminal devices 3a and 3b that are the destinations of the above-described image data, and the terminal devices 3a and 3b perform scan-to-send processing on the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b. To obtain image data.

  When the scan control unit 23 receives an instruction to start scanning from the terminal devices 1a and 1b in the communication device 14, the scan control unit 23 controls the image reading unit 11 to cause the image reading unit 11 to read an image. The data is acquired, and the image data is transmitted by the communication device 14 to the terminal devices 1a and 1b that transmitted the scan start instruction, and when the image reading is completed, the scan completion notification is transmitted to the terminal devices 1a and 1b by the communication device 14 Do.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of the data structure of the user data 13a in FIG.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the user data 13a has a user ID and a password used for login processing for each registered user. Further, the user data 13a includes a client network identifier such as an IP address of an image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) reserved for use, which is associated with the user ID.

  In addition, when a certain user makes a reservation for use of the image reading apparatus, the user data 13a includes reservation data associated with the user ID. The reservation data includes a reservation state, a reservation period (a period in which the user can exclusively use the image reading apparatus), and the like.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the terminal device 3a in the first embodiment. The terminal device 3b has the same configuration as the terminal device 3a. The terminal device 3a is, for example, a personal computer having a network communication function in which an operating system, an application program, and the like are installed. The terminal device 3 a includes a communication device 31, a display device 32, an input device 33, a storage device 34, and an arithmetic processing unit 35.

  The communication device 31 is a device connected to the network 2 and performing data communication with other devices (image forming devices 1a and 1b, management server 4 and the like) via the network 2 according to a predetermined communication protocol. As the communication device 31, a network interface, a modem or the like is used. The display device 32 is a device such as a liquid crystal display that displays various screens to the user. The input device 33 is a device such as a keyboard, a mouse or the like that detects a user operation by a user.

  The storage device 34 is a device capable of storing various data and programs. As the storage device 34, a non-volatile mass storage medium such as a non-volatile memory or a hard disk drive is used.

  The arithmetic processing unit 35 is a computer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like, loads a program from the storage device 34 and the ROM to the RAM and executes the program by the CPU to operate as various processing units. .

  After activation of the terminal device 3a, an application program is appropriately executed by the arithmetic processing unit 35, and the arithmetic processing unit 35 operates as a processing unit such as the login processing unit 51, the reservation confirmation unit 52, and the scan processing unit 53.

  The login processing unit 51 executes login processing based on a user operation on the input device 33, and identifies the user ID of the user who is operating.

  The reservation confirmation unit 52 transmits a reservation confirmation request specifying the user who has performed the user operation to the management server 4 according to the user operation on the input device 33, and the management server 4 transmits reservation reservation information of the user (reserved The image reading device, the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period are received and displayed on the display device 32.

  The scan processing unit 53 receives a scan instruction and a network identifier of the image reading apparatus, which will be described later, from the management server 4, and reads an image to the image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) specified by the received network identifier. To obtain image data from the image reading apparatus and store the image data in the storage device 34 or the like.

  For example, the arithmetic processing unit 35 operates as the scan processing unit 53 by executing the TWAIN driver.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management server 4 in FIG. The management server 4 is, for example, a server computer having a network communication function in which an operating system, a server program and the like are installed.

  The management server 4 includes a communication device 61, a storage device 62, and an arithmetic processing unit 63.

  The communication device 61 is a device that is connected to the network 2 and performs data communication with other devices (image forming devices 1a and 1b, terminal devices 3a and 3b, etc.) via the network 2 according to a predetermined communication protocol. As the communication device 61, a network interface, a modem or the like is used.

  The storage device 62 is a device capable of storing various data and programs. As the storage device 62, a nonvolatile mass storage medium such as nonvolatile memory, hard disk drive, etc. is used. The storage device 62 stores reservation data 71.

  The arithmetic processing unit 63 is a computer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like, loads a program from the storage unit 62 and the ROM to the RAM and executes the program by the CPU to operate as various processing units. . After startup of the management server 4, various programs are appropriately executed by the arithmetic processing unit 63, and the arithmetic processing unit 63 operates as an operating system (not shown) and a reservation management unit 81.

  When the reservation management unit 81 receives (a) a reservation registration request based on a user operation, the user designated by the reservation registration request, the reserved image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b), and the image The network identifier (IP address etc. here) of the transmission destination of the image data generated by the forming device 1a, 1b (here, the terminal device 3a, 3b) and the reservation period are associated with each other and reservation registration is performed. When the scan instruction is accepted in step S. 6, the network identifier and the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image reading apparatus reserved by the user who issued the scan instruction are specified, and to the terminal devices 3a and 3b designated by the specified network identifier of the transmission destination. And transmits a scan instruction indicating a network identifier of the identified image reading apparatus. When the reservation management unit 81 receives a plurality of reservation registration requests based on user operations by each of a plurality of users, the reservation management unit 81 transmits the user, the image reading device, and the image data transmission destination designated by the respective reservation registration requests. The network identifier and the reservation period are associated with each other and registered for reservation respectively.

  In the first embodiment, the reservation management unit 81 receives a reservation registration request from the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, and the user or the image reading apparatus reserved (image forming apparatus 1a, 1b) specified by the received reservation registration request. 1b) The network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data and the reservation period are associated with each other and registered for reservation. Specifically, the reservation management unit 81 adds the user, the reserved image reading apparatus (image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b), the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period to the reservation data 71 in association with each other.

  Further, when the reservation management unit 81 receives a reservation confirmation request from the terminal devices 3a and 3b, the reservation management unit 81 searches for the reservation registration of the user designated by the reservation confirmation request, and detects the image reading device, transmission destination, and the like in the found reservation registration. The reservation period is notified to the terminal devices 3a and 3b.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of reservation data 71 according to the first embodiment.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in the reservation data 71, for each of the registered image reading devices (here, the image forming devices 1a and 1b), a machine network identifier such as an IP address of the image reading device, and a reservation record Are included in association with each other. The machine network identifier is specified as a network identifier (such as an IP address) of a transmission source of the reservation registration request based on the communication protocol of the network 2.

  One reservation record is generated corresponding to one reservation registration request, and one reservation record includes a user ID, a client network identifier, a reservation state, and a reservation period designated by the reservation registration request.

  Next, the operation of the image reading system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the image reading system according to the first embodiment.

  In the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, when the user operation for login is received, the login processing unit 21 executes the above-described login process (step S1).

  After login, when the user performs a user operation for reservation registration on the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, the reservation processing unit 22 receives data necessary for the above-mentioned reservation registration (step S2), and The reservation registration request is sent to the management server 4, and the reservation data is added to the user data 13a (step S3).

  In the management server 4, upon receiving the reservation registration request, the reservation management unit 81 executes a reservation registration process, and adds a reservation record corresponding to the reservation registration request to the reservation data 71 (step S4). When the reservation registration processing is completed, the reservation management unit 81 transmits a registration completion notification to the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b that are the transmission sources of the reservation registration request (step S5). In the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, upon receiving the registration completion notification, the reservation processing unit 22 displays on the operation panel 12 a message indicating that the reservation registration has been completed.

  Thereafter, in the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, when the user operation for logging out is accepted, the login processing unit 21 executes the logout process (step S6), and the user operation for login of another user can be accepted. The image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b are set in (for example, a login screen for inputting a user ID, a password and the like is displayed).

  The same user can similarly perform reservation registration using the same image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b or different image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b. Further, another user can similarly perform reservation registration using the same image forming apparatus 1a or 1b or another image forming apparatus 1a or 1b. That is, a plurality of users can make reservations for the plurality of image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b.

  After the reservation registration is performed as described above, the user can perform reservation confirmation using the terminal devices 3a and 3b.

  In the terminal devices 3a and 3b, after user login processing (Step S11), when a user operation for reservation confirmation is accepted, the reservation confirmation unit 52 transmits a reservation confirmation request for the user to the management server 4 ((S11) Step S12).

  In the management server 4, when receiving the reservation confirmation request, the reservation management unit 81 searches the reservation record in the reservation data 71 with the user ID designated by the reservation confirmation request, and finds out the reservation record of the user ( Step S13) The detected reservation record is transmitted to the terminal 3a, 3b as a search result (step S14).

  In the terminal devices 3a and 3b, the reservation confirmation unit 52 receives the search result and displays it on the display device 32 (step S15).

  Thus, each user can confirm the reserved image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b), the reservation period, the transmission destination of the image data generated by the image reading, and the like.

  Then, within the reservation period, the user who made the reservation logs in to the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b (step S21), and the user operation for image reading (so-called scan-to-send processing) by the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b is performed. This is performed on the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b. When this user operation is accepted (step S22), the reservation processing unit 22 transmits a scan instruction indicating the user ID of the user to the management server 4 according to the user operation (step S23).

  In the management server 4, when the reservation management unit 81 receives the scan instruction, the reservation record 71 of the user ID designated by the scan instruction is searched in the reservation data 71, and the client network identifier in the found reservation record (that is, The network identifiers of the terminal devices 3a and 3b serving as clients of scan-to-send processing are specified (step S24), and the image reading devices reserved for the network identifiers (here, the image forming devices 1a and 1b) And transmits a scan instruction indicating a network identifier (step S25).

  In the terminal devices 3a and 3b serving as clients of scan-to-send processing, when the scan processing unit 53 receives the scan instruction, the scan processing unit 53 of the image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) specified by the scan instruction A scan start instruction is transmitted to the network identifier, and the image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) is caused to execute image reading (step S26). As a result, pull-type scan-to-send processing is performed.

  In the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, which are destinations of the scan start instruction, when the scan control unit 23 receives the scan start instruction, the scan control unit 23 controls the image reading unit 11 to cause the image reading unit 11 to execute image reading. The image data is acquired from the reading unit 11, and the image data is transmitted to the terminal devices 1a and 1b that transmitted the scan start instruction (step S27). When the image reading is completed, the scan completion notification is sent to the terminal devices 3a and 3b. It transmits (step S28).

  In the terminal devices 3a and 3b, when receiving the scan completion notice, the scan processing unit 53 completes the scan-to-send process, and transmits the scan completion notice to the management server 4 (step S29).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, when the management server 4 receives (a) a reservation registration request based on a user operation, the user designated by the reservation registration request, the image reading apparatus (here, , The image forming apparatus 1a, 1b), the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data generated by the image reading apparatus, and the reservation period are associated with each other for reservation registration, and (b) The network identifier of the image reading apparatus reserved by the user who issued the instruction and the network identifier of the transmission destination are specified, and the network of the specified image reading apparatus is specified to the terminal devices 3a and 3b specified by the specified network identifier of the transmission destination. Send a scan indication indicating the identifier. The terminal devices 3a and 3b receive the scan instruction, cause the image reading device specified by the network identifier in the scan instruction to execute image reading, and obtain and store image data from the image reading device.

  As a result, when logging in to the image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) at the time of reservation, it is possible to immediately execute pull-type scan-to-send processing, so that the utilization efficiency of the image reading apparatus is improved.

  In addition, since there are users with long and short occupancy times and the reservation effective time is appropriately adjusted according to the occupancy time of the users, the use efficiency of the image reading apparatus by a plurality of users does not decrease. Furthermore, since the terminal device before using the scan-to-send function does not need to be connected to the image reading device, the user operation after login is reduced in the occupied time, and the utilization efficiency of the image reading device is improved.

Second Embodiment

  In the second embodiment, the terminal devices 3a and 3b receive a user operation for a reservation registration request.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1a in the second embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1b has the same configuration as the image forming apparatus 1a. As shown in FIG. 8, in the second embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 a includes a login processing unit 91 similar to the login processing unit 21 and a scan control unit 92 similar to the scan control unit 23. In the second embodiment, in the image forming apparatus 1 a, the reservation processing unit 22 is not particularly required.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the terminal device 3a in the second embodiment. The terminal device 3b has the same configuration as the terminal device 3a. As shown in FIG. 9, in the second embodiment, the terminal device 3a scans the login processing unit 101 similar to the login processing unit 51, the reservation confirmation unit 102 similar to the reservation confirmation unit 52, and the scan similar to the scan processing unit 53. A processing unit 103 and a reservation processing unit 104 similar to the reservation processing unit 22 are provided.

  However, in the second embodiment, the user data 34a similar to the user data 13a is stored in the storage device 34, and the login processing unit 101 executes login processing using the user data 34a.

  In the second embodiment, since the reservation registration request is transmitted from the terminal devices 3a and 3b serving as clients of scan-to-send processing to the management server 4, an image reading apparatus (image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) that executes scan-to-send processing Is specified by the reservation registration request. The image reading apparatus (image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) that executes the scan-to-send process is selected by, for example, a user operation from the machine list.

  The reservation processing unit 104 of the terminal devices 3a and 3b includes the user who performed the user operation, the image reading device specified by the user operation, the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data generated by the image reading device, and the reservation period. The reservation registration request shown is sent to the management server 4.

  In the second embodiment, the reservation management unit 81 of the management server 4 receives the reservation registration request from the terminal devices 3a and 3b, and transmits the user, the image reading device, and the image data specified by the received reservation registration request. The former network identifier and the reservation period are associated with each other for reservation registration. Further, the reservation management unit 81 transfers a reservation record to the reserved image reading apparatus (here, the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b), and the image reading apparatus executes the first embodiment and the embodiment based on the reservation record. Similarly, the reservation operation (prohibition of use of other users in the reservation period) is performed.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of reservation data 71 in the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, as described above, the image reading apparatus (image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) that executes the scan-to-send process is designated, and the machine ID of the designated image reading apparatus (image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b) Is used instead of the machine network identifier.

  Next, the operation of the image reading system according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the image reading system according to the second embodiment.

  In the terminal devices 3a and 3b, when the user operation for login is received, the login processing unit 101 executes the above-described login process (step S41).

  After login, when the user performs a user operation for reservation registration on the terminal devices 3a and 3b, the reservation processing unit 102 receives data necessary for the above-mentioned reservation registration (step S42), and the above-mentioned reservation The registration request is sent to the management server 4, and reservation data is added to the user data 34a (step S43).

  In the management server 4, upon receiving the reservation registration request, the reservation management unit 81 executes reservation registration processing, and adds a reservation record corresponding to the reservation registration request to the reservation data 71 (step S44). When the reservation registration process is completed, the reservation management unit 81 transmits a registration completion notification to the terminal devices 3a and 3b which are transmission sources of the reservation registration request (step S45). In the terminal devices 3a and 3b, upon receiving the registration completion notification, the reservation processing unit 102 displays a message indicating that the reservation registration has been completed on the display device 32.

  Thereafter, in the terminal devices 3a and 3b, when the user operation for logout is accepted, the login processing unit 101 executes the logout process (step S46), and the user operation for login of another user can be accepted. The terminal devices 3a and 3b are set in (for example, a login screen for inputting a user ID, a password and the like is displayed).

  The same user can similarly perform reservation registration using the same terminal device 3a, 3b or another terminal device 3a, 3b. Also, another user can similarly perform reservation registration using the same terminal device 3a, 3b or another terminal device 3a, 3b.

  After the reservation registration is performed as described above, the user can perform reservation confirmation using the terminal devices 3a and 3b, as in the first embodiment.

  Then, within the reservation period, the user who made the reservation logs in to the image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b, and operates the reserved image forming apparatuses 1a and 1b in the same manner as the first embodiment (steps S21 to S29). The pull-type scan-to-send processing is executed from the reserved terminal 3a, 3b to the image forming apparatus 1a, 1b (steps S51 to S59).

  The other configurations and operations of the image reading system according to the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  Note that various changes and modifications to the above-described embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter and without diminishing the intended advantages. That is, such changes and modifications are intended to be included in the scope of the claims.

  For example, in the first and second embodiments, the management server 4 may reject the scan instruction outside the reservation period.

  The present invention is applicable to, for example, a network system including an image reading apparatus.

1a, 1b Image forming apparatus (an example of an image reading apparatus)
3a, 3b Terminal device 4 Management server

Claims (5)

An image reader for reading an image and generating image data of the read image;
Equipped with a management server,
When the management server receives (a) a reservation registration request based on a user operation, the management server specifies the user, the image reading apparatus, the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period specified by the reservation registration request. (B) When a scan instruction is received in the reservation period, a network identifier of the image reading apparatus reserved by the user who has issued the scan instruction and a network identifier of the transmission destination are specified. Transmitting a scan instruction indicating a network identifier of the identified image reading apparatus to the terminal device designated by the identified network identifier of the transmission destination;
The terminal device receives the scan instruction indicating a network identifier of the image reading device, causes the image reading device specified by the received network identifier to execute image reading, and receives the image data from the image reading device Get and store,
An image reading system characterized by The image reading apparatus receives the user operation, and transmits the reservation registration request indicating the user who performed the user operation, the image reading apparatus, the network identifier of the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period to the management server And
The management server receives the reservation registration request from the image reading apparatus, and the user, the image reading apparatus, a network identifier of a transmission destination of the image data, and a reservation period designated by the received reservation registration request are received. Relating to each other to make a reservation registration,
The image reading system according to claim 1, characterized in that The terminal device is further provided,
The terminal device accepts the user operation and performs the user operation, the image reading device designated by the user operation, a network identifier of a transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation registration request indicating a reservation period Send to the management server,
The management server receives the reservation registration request from the terminal device, and specifies the network identifier of the user, the image reading device, the transmission destination of the image data, and the reservation period specified by the received reservation registration request. Associate with each other to make a reservation registration,
The image reading system according to claim 1, characterized in that The terminal device is further provided,
The terminal device transmits a reservation confirmation request specifying the user who has performed the user operation to the management server according to the user operation.
When the management server receives the reservation confirmation request, the management server searches for the reservation registration of the user specified by the reservation confirmation request, and the image reading apparatus, the transmission destination, and the reservation period in the reservation registration are the terminal device To notify
The image reading system according to claim 1, characterized in that   When the management server receives a plurality of reservation registration requests based on user operations by a plurality of users, a network identifier of the user, the image reading apparatus, and the transmission destination of the image data designated by the reservation registration request The image reading system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reservation periods are associated with one another and registered for reservation respectively.

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