JP3409787B2 - Information processing system and printer device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system having a scanner function, a printer function and a copy function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer has been a typical peripheral device such as a personal computer, but recently, a scanner is often used, and further, a scanner and a printer are used. There is also a system that realizes an inexpensive copy function.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a conventional configuration of an information processing system having a scanner function, a printer function and a copy function. A scanner 102 and a printer 103 are connected to a computer 101 by signal lines 104 and 105. When the scanner function is used, the computer 101 activates the scanner 102 through the signal line 104, and the image data read by the scanner 102 is taken into the computer 101 through the signal line 104. Further, when using the printer function, print data is sent from the computer 101 to the printer 103 through the signal line 105 and printed on paper. Further, when using the copy function, the scanner 102 is activated through the signal line 104 to read the image data into the memory of the computer 101 once, and then the image data in the memory is sent from the computer 101 to the printer 103 through the signal line 105. Print on paper.

In the information processing system shown in FIG. 11, the image data read by the scanner 102 is temporarily stored in the computer 101 and then transferred from the computer 101 to the printer 103 to realize a copy function. Copy operation is difficult. Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-46464 proposes an information processing system having a configuration in which a printer and a scanner are directly connected. FIG. 12 shows its schematic configuration.

In the information processing system shown in FIG. 12, a computer 111 uses a signal line 114 to send data to a printer 112.
The printer 112 is directly connected to the scanner 113 by another signal line 115. When using the scanner function, the image data read by the scanner 113 is transferred to the computer 111 through the signal line 115, the printer 112, and the signal line 114. In addition, when the printer function is used, the signal line 114 is transmitted from the computer 111.
The print data is sent to the printer 112 through the printer 112 and printed on paper. When using the copy function, the image data read by the scanner 113 is sent to the printer 112 through the signal line 115 and printed on a sheet.

[0006]

As described above, the printer 1 is provided.
According to the configuration in which the computer 12 and the scanner 113 are directly connected and the image data is directly transmitted and received between the two, the high-speed copy operation can be performed because the computer 111 does not exist on the transfer path. Therefore, it can be said that the configuration is suitable for an information processing system that requires high-speed copying. However, in the conventional information processing system of this type, when the printer function is used, the printer 112 transfers the image data of the scanner 113 as it is to the computer 111, and therefore, there are the following problems regarding the scanner function.

The data transfer rate from the scanner 113 to the printer 112 is calculated from the printer 112 to the computer 11.
Since it cannot be determined independently of the data transfer rate to the printer 1, the printer 111 has the upper limit of the data transfer rate at which the computer 111 can input the image data without omission.
2 and the maximum data transfer rate between the scanner 113 is limited. Therefore, it is difficult to realize high-speed and continuous scanning operation by connecting the printer 112 and the scanner 113 with a high-speed bus interface such as IEEE1394.

When using the scanner function, image data is always transferred to the computer 111. For this reason,
I cannot use the usage method such as checking the outline of the image data and importing only the necessary one into the computer. Further, when the image data is shared by a plurality of computers, another process such as transferring the image data from the computer that has captured the image data to another computer is required.

The present invention has solved the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing system in which a scanner is connected to a computer through a printer to provide a scanner function, a printer function and a copy function. The data transfer rate from the scanner to the printer can be defined independently of the data transfer rate from the printer to the computer.

Another object of the present invention is to enable a high-speed and continuous scanning operation by connecting a printer and a scanner with a high-speed bus interface such as IEEE1394.

Another object of the present invention is to enable image data read by a scanner to be taken into a computer asynchronously with a scan command.

Still another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily use the image data read by the scanner not only from the computer which started the scanner, but also from other computers.

[0013]

A first information processing system of the present invention is a computer connected to a printer via a network, and the printer is provided with an IEEE 1394 interface or a USB 2.0 interface having a higher data transfer rate than the network. A printer that connects a scanner via a high-speed bus interface and transfers image data read by the scanner to a printer via the high-speed bus interface for printing, and a printer that sends print data from a computer to the printer via a network to print. Function, and sends a scan command from the computer to the scanner via the network, printer, and high-speed bus interface to perform a scan operation, and the obtained image data is used for the high-speed bus interface, printer, and network. An information processing system that provides a scanner function to be loaded into a computer via a computer, wherein the printer stores image data sent from the scanner through a readable / writable storage unit and a high-speed bus interface when the scanner function is used. It is provided with means for accumulating in the storage means and means for reading the image data from the storage means and transferring it to the computer via the network.

A second information processing system according to the present invention is
The first information processing system has a configuration in which image data read by the scanner is transferred to the computer via the printer in synchronization with a scan command issued from the computer to the scanner via the printer.

A third information processing system of the present invention is
In the second information processing system, T on the computer
An application program having a WAIN interface sends a scan command to the scanner via the printer via the TWAIN driver, and the image data sent from the scanner via the printer is delivered from the TWAIN driver to the application program.

A fourth information processing system of the present invention is
In the first information processing system, an HTML file is created in the printer, which includes a unit for converting the image data stored in the storage unit into a predetermined image format, and a list of the image data converted into the predetermined image format. The image data read by the scanner is transferred to the computer via the printer asynchronously with the scan command issued from the computer to the scanner via the printer.

The fifth information processing system of the present invention is
In the fourth information processing system, the browser on the computer is used to browse the HTML file on the printer to acquire the image data.

The sixth information processing system of the present invention is
In the fourth information processing system, F on the computer
The image data converted into a predetermined image format on the printer by the TP program is acquired.

On the other hand, the first printer device of the present invention comprises a network interface for communicating with a computer via a network, a high speed bus such as an IEEE 1394 interface or a USB 2.0 interface for communicating with a scanner at a data transfer rate higher than the network. An interface, a printing unit for printing on paper, a readable / writable storage unit for storing image data sent from a scanner, and a control unit for controlling the entire apparatus according to a control program are provided, and the control unit is a network. When the print command is received from the computer via the means to control to print the print data received from the computer in the printing section, when the print command is received from the scanner via the high speed bus interface, the image data received from the scanner Means for controlling the printing by the printing unit,
When the scan command is received from the computer via the network, the scan command is transmitted to the scanner via the high-speed bus interface, and the image data sent from the scanner via the high-speed bus interface is stored in the storage means and stored in the storage unit. The image data is read from the means and transferred to the computer via the network.

The second printer device of the present invention is the first printer device.
In the printer device, the image data read by the scanner is transferred to the computer in synchronization with a scan command issued from the computer.

The third printer device of the present invention is the first printer device.
In the printer device, the control unit converts the image data stored in the storage unit into a predetermined image format and stores the image data so that the image data can be acquired from a computer via a network, and the image data converted into the predetermined image format. And a means for creating an HTML file that includes a list of the above and can be browsed from a browser of a computer via a network, and is configured to transfer image data read by the scanner to the computer asynchronously with a scan command issued from the computer.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 10, a printer 20, and a scanner 3.
0, the PC 10 and the printer 20 are network-connected by a network cable 40, and the printer 20 and the scanner 30 are serially connected by an IEEE 1394 interface cable 50.
There is no physical connection between C10 and scanner 30. Data transfer rate by network cable 40 is cable 5
It is set lower than the data transfer rate of 0. As the communication protocol by the network cable 40,
For example, TCP / IP is used. The scanner 30
The connection interface between the printer and the printer 20 is IEEE13
High speed bus interface other than 94, eg US
A B2.0 interface is also acceptable. Further, the printer 20 and the PC 10 may be connected in parallel or the like.

In the information processing system according to the present embodiment, since the scanner 30 and the printer 20 are directly connected to each other by a high speed bus, a high speed copying operation is possible. When using a copy, an original is placed on the reading surface of the scanner 30 and the copy button on the operation panel of the scanner 30 is operated. Then, the scanner 30 scans the original,
The read image data is transmitted to the printer 20 through the cable 50, and the image data received by the printer 20 is printed on paper. Further, by sending a print command from the PC 10 to the printer 20 via the network cable 40, the printer function can be used from the application on the PC 10.

Further, by sending a scan command from the PC 10 to the printer 20 via the network cable 40, the scan command can be transmitted from the printer 20 to the scanner 30 via the cable 50. At this time, the image data obtained by scanning by the scanner 30 is sent at high speed to the printer 20 through the cable 50, and then the image data is sent to the PC 10 through the network cable 40. The difference from the conventional technique is that when the scanner 30 is conventionally activated from the PC 10 via the printer 20, the printer 20 operates as the scanner 30.
The image data sent from the computer was immediately transferred to the PC 10 as it is, but in the present embodiment, the image data is once stored in a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk provided in the printer 20.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of processing when the scanner 30 is used from the PC 10. In this example, the PC 10
The image data transmitted at high speed by the scanner 30 via the cable 50 in response to the scan command issued from the printer 20 is temporarily stored in the buffer area provided in the printer 20. Then, the image data in the buffer area is transmitted to the PC 10 via the network cable 40 having a lower data transfer rate than the cable 50.
By thus providing the printer 20 with a buffering function for image data that is irrelevant to print data, the scanner 30 performs high-speed and continuous scanning operation to transfer image data to the printer 20 at high speed through the IEEE 1394 interface cable 50. On the other hand, the PC 10 can reliably receive the image data without dropping it.

FIG. 3 shows another processing flow when the scanner 30 is used from the PC 10. In this example, the image data transmitted by the scanner 30 in response to a scan command issued from the PC 10 through the printer 20 is temporarily stored in a storage device such as a hard disk provided in the printer 20, and the stored image data is stored in the PC 10. A standardized image format that can be easily handled by
Create an HTML file saved in PEG format.
At this point, the image data remains in the printer 20 and has not been sent to the PC 10. After that, PC1
The HTML file created from 0 to the printer 20 is browsed to check the contents, and if necessary, the image data is taken into the PC 10 via the network cable 40 by saving it with a name.

In the present specification, the PC as described in FIG.
The usage of the scanner 30 that transmits the image data of the scanner 30 to the PC 10 in synchronization with the scan command from the scanner 10 is called the synchronous use of the scanner, and the scan command at that time is called the synchronous scan command. Further, as described with reference to FIG. 3, the usage of the scanner 30 that captures the image data of the scanner 30 into the PC 10 asynchronously with the scan command from the PC 10 is called asynchronous usage of the scanner, and the scan command at that time is asynchronously scanned. Call it an instruction. The synchronous use of the scanner is the same as the method of using the scanner compatible with TWAIN from the TWAIN driver. On the other hand, asynchronous use of the scanner is a new usage method that has never existed before.

[0029]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows a hardware configuration example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a plurality of PCs 10 exist, and each of them is connected to the printer 20 through a network cable 40 and a network 60 formed of a global network or a local network. Each PC 10 has the same configuration and includes a CPU 11 and a ROM 12 connected to its bus,
RAM 13, interface 14, and network interface 15 connected to network cable 40
And a keyboard 16 connected to the interface 14,
A mouse 17, an HDD (hard disk device) 18, and a display 19 are included. In ROM12,
A control program 121 including an OS, various application programs (hereinafter referred to as AP) 122, a TWAIN driver 123 that is a driver for the scanner 30 used when the scanner is used synchronously, and a TWAIN driver 123 used when the scanner is used asynchronously. Asynchronous scanner driver 124 that is a driver, browser 125 that is browsing software
Also, various software such as the FTP program 126 is stored.

The printer 20 has a network cable 4
Is connected to the network 60 via the
It is connected to the scanner 30 via an EE1394 interface cable 50. Inside, a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, and a printing unit 2 connected to the bus thereof.
4, I connected to interface 25, cable 50
A network interface 27 connected to the interface 26 for EEE1394 communication and a network cable 40, and an HDD connected to the interface 25
28 and an operation panel 29 are provided. RAM2
Reference numeral 3 is used as a print buffer or a buffer area for buffering described in FIG. HDD2
Reference numeral 8 denotes an image data storage area, HT, described in FIG.
It is used as a storage area for ML files. ROM
A control program 221 that controls the entire printer 20 is stored in the printer 22. The printing unit 24 is a unit that prints the data in the print buffer on a sheet, and the printing head 24
1 and a drive motor 242 and the like. The operation panel 29 includes a display unit for displaying a message such as a paper exhaustion to the user and a button unit such as a reset button.

The scanner 30 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32 connected to its bus, a RAM 33, a scanning unit 34,
An interface 36 for IEEE 1394 communication connected to the interface 35 and a cable 50 of the IEEE 1394 interface, and an operation panel 37 connected to the interface 35 are included. The operation panel 37 is provided with various buttons for a copy function such as a start button and a copy number designation key. ROM 32
Is a control program 3 that controls the entire scanner 30.
21 is stored. The scanning unit 34 is a portion that reads an image of a document set on the reading surface, and includes a reading sensor 341 such as an image sensor and the sensor 341.
Alternatively, the drive motor 342 for moving at least one of the originals in the sub-scanning direction is included.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a processing example of the printer 20, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a processing example of the scanner 30, and FIG. 7 is a P when the scanner 30 is used synchronously.
8 and 9 are flowcharts showing a processing example of C10, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts showing a processing example of the PC 10 when the scanner 30 is used asynchronously. The operation of this embodiment will be described below for each case with reference to the drawings.

(1) When the printer function is used When printing is performed using the printer 20 with the AP 122 operating on the PC 10, for example, the menu item of the printer in the window of the AP 122 displayed on the display 19 is clicked with the mouse 17. Then, the control program 121 uses the network interface 15 to send a print command to the printer 20 via the network cable 40 and the network 60, and subsequently send print data. The printer 20 waits for an event to occur as shown in FIG. 5 (S10
1), PC 10 via the network interface 27
When an event that the print command is received from is detected (YES in S104), the print data transmitted from the PC 10 is received by the network interface 27 and accumulated in the print buffer of the RAM 23 (S119).
When the print data for one page is accumulated, the process of transferring the contents of the print buffer to the printing unit 24 and printing on the paper is repeated (S120). When printing of all pages is completed, a notification of printing completion is sent to the network interface 2
7 notifies the PC 10 of the print request source via the network 60 (S121), and erases the print data for which printing is completed from the print buffer (S122).

If an event such as paper exhaustion or toner exhaustion occurs during printing, a message is displayed on the operation panel 29 in the process of step S105 in FIG. 5 to prompt the user to replenish paper or toner. Is done.

(2) When using the copy function When the user wants to make a copy of a certain original using the scanner 30 and the printer 20, the original is placed on the reading surface of the scanner 30 and copied from the operation panel 37. By setting copy conditions such as the number of sheets and pressing the start button, the start of copying is instructed. The scanner 30 waits for the occurrence of an event as shown in FIG. 6 (S20
1) When an event that a copy condition such as the number of copies is input from the operation panel 37 is detected (N in S203)
O), a process of displaying the copy conditions such as the number of copies designated on the operation panel 37 on the monitor in the other process of step S204 is performed. When an event that the copy instruction is input is detected (YES in S202), I
A print command is transmitted to the printer 20 through the EEE1394 communication interface 36, and the scanning unit 34 starts scanning the document (S20).
5). The print command specifies print conditions such as the number of prints. Then, the image data of the document read by the scanner unit 34 is transmitted as print data to the printer 20 through the interface 36 (S206), and the printer 20
When the notification of the end of printing is received from (S207), the state returns to the image standby state.

On the other hand, the printer 20 is an IEEE 1394
When an event that the print command from the scanner 30 is received is detected by the communication interface 26 (S in FIG. 5).
(YES in 103), the image data (print data) continuously transmitted from the scanner 30 is received, and RAM is received.
It is stored in the print buffer 23 (S115). Then, when the image data for one page is accumulated, the process of transferring the contents of the print buffer to the printing unit 24 and printing on the paper is repeated for the designated number of prints (S11).
6). Then, when printing is completed, a notification of printing completion
The scanner 30 is notified from the EE1394 communication interface 26 (S117), and the image data for which printing has been completed is deleted from the print buffer (S118).

(3) Synchronous use of scanner 30 When the scanner 30 is used synchronously by the AP 122 of the PC 10, as shown in FIG. 7, the TWAIN driver 123 is activated from the AP 122 (S301) to set the scanner.
Parameters such as paper size (read size) and resolution are set (S302). Then, when instructing to capture an image, the TWAIN driver 123 sends a synchronous scan command specifying various parameters to the printer 20 via the network 60 through the network interface 15 (S303). After that, when the image data read by the scanner 30 is transmitted from the printer 20 as described later, the image data is received by the network interface 15 and the TWAIN driver 1 is received.
23 (S304), and the TWAIN driver 12
The image data is passed from 3 to the AP 122 (S30
5).

On the other hand, in the printer 20, when the network interface 27 detects the event that the synchronous scan command is received from the PC 10 (YES in S102 of FIG. 5, synchronous in S106), the received synchronous scan command is transmitted to the interface for IEEE 1394 communication. 26 to the scanner 30 via the cable 50 (S11
1). After that, when image data is transmitted from the scanner 30 through the cable 50, the interface 26
And is stored in the buffer area of the HDD 28 (S112). The buffer area of the RAM 23 may be used instead of the HDD 28. Further, in parallel with the storage processing in the buffer area, the image data stored in the buffer area is sequentially read at a speed at which the PC 10 can read the data without omission and is sent from the network interface 27 to the PC 10 via the network 60 (S11).
3). Then, when the transmission of the image data received from the scanner 30 to the PC 10 is completed, the image data is erased from the buffer area (S114).

In the scanner 30, the IEEE 139 is used.
4 When the event that the scan command is received from the printer 20 from the communication interface 36 is detected (YES in S203), the scanning unit 34 starts scanning and the original is read (S208). Is transmitted from the interface 1394 for IEEE 1394 communication to the printer 20 through the cable 50 (S209).

(4) Asynchronous use of scanner 30 When the scanner 30 is used asynchronously by the AP 122 of the PC 10, the asynchronous scanner driver 124 is activated from the AP 122 (S401) as shown in FIG. Parameters such as paper size (read size) and resolution are set (S402). Then, when an instruction to capture an image is issued, the asynchronous scanner driver 124
An asynchronous scan command specifying various parameters from the network 6 through the network interface 15
It is transmitted to the printer 20 via 0 (S403). After that, the notification of the processing end of the asynchronous scan instruction is received from the printer 20, and the content of the notification is displayed on the display 19 (S404). The notification content includes a URL indicating the address of the HTML file created on the printer 20 side.
And JPEG file name are included.

On the other hand, when the printer 20 detects an event that the network interface 27 receives an asynchronous scan command from the PC 10 (S102 in FIG. 5).
YES in step S106, asynchronously in step S106), the received asynchronous scan command is used as an interface 26 for IEEE 1394 communication.
To the scanner 30 via the cable 50 (S
107). After that, when the image data is transmitted from the scanner 30 through the cable 50, the image data is received by the interface 26 and stored in the image data storage area of the HDD 28 (S108). When the image data reception and storage processing is completed, the control program 221
The image data is converted into a standardized image format (for example, JPEG format) that can be easily handled by a PC, named and saved in a file, and an HTML file containing a list of the images is created. (S1
09). Here, for example, one HTML file is created for each PC 10, and the same HTML file is created in the HTML file corresponding to the PC 10 that has sent the asynchronous scan command.
All of the image data related to the asynchronous scan command issued from C10 is stored in a predetermined list format. After that, the network interface 2 sends a processing end notification including the URL of the HTML file and the JPEG file name.
7 to the PC 10 via the network 60 (S
110).

The operation of the scanner 30 is the same as the case of the synchronous scan command, and when an event that the scan command from the printer 20 is received from the IEEE 1394 communication interface 36 is detected (Y in S203).
ES), scanning by the scanning unit 34 is started to read the original document (S208), and the obtained image data is transmitted from the IEEE 1394 communication interface 36 to the printer 20 through the cable 50 (S20).
9).

As described above, the HDD 2 of the printer 20
9 shows an example of processing on the PC 10 side when browsing the HTML file created on the PC 8 from the PC 10. First, the browser 125 is activated (S501), and the URL notified from the printer 20 is input to the address input field of the browser screen displayed on the display 19 so that the content of the corresponding HTML file on the HDD 28 of the printer 20 is entered. Is browsed via the network 60 (S502). Figure 1
0 shows an example of the screen of the display 19 when the content of the HTML file is browsed by the browser 125. The part denoted by the symbol IM in FIG. 10 is the image data read by the scanner 30, and in this example, six pieces of image data are arranged on one page. On the right side of each image data IM, parameters such as paper size and resolution and a save file name are described.

If the user sees this list screen and finds the image data to be captured in the PC 10, the user should place the mouse cursor on the corresponding image data and right-click to select a process to save with a name. Alternatively, by selecting a file in the menu bar and selecting a process of similarly naming and saving the file, the HDD 2 of the printer 20 is selected.
The image data (JPEG file) on 8 can be taken into the PC 10 via the network 60 and stored in the HDD 18 or the like. If the image data is unnecessary, a delete operation is performed on the browser 125 to delete the information (JPEG file, corresponding image data in the HTML file, etc.) related to the image data from the HDD 28 of the printer 20. It is also possible. The screen as shown in FIG. 10 can be viewed from another PC 10 and necessary image data can be loaded into the PC from the printer 20. Also, browser 1
Instead of 25, the FTP program 126 can be used to load the image data (JPEG file) stored in the HDD 28 of the printer 20 into the PC 10.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

In an information processing system in which a scanner is connected to a computer via a printer to provide a scanner function, a printer function and a copy function, the data transfer rate from the scanner to the printer is independent of the data transfer rate from the printer to the computer. Can be specified. The reason is that the image data sent from the scanner via the high-speed bus interface when the scanner function is used is stored in the storage means of the printer, the image data is read from this storage means, and the data transfer rate is lower than that of the high-speed bus. This is because the data is transferred from the printer to the computer via the network. As a result, by connecting the printer and the scanner with a high-speed bus interface such as IEEE 1394, high-speed and continuous scanning operation becomes possible.

The image data read by the scanner is
It can be loaded into the computer asynchronously with the scan command. The reason is that at the time of issuing the scan command, the image data obtained by scanning is stored in the storage means of the printer, converted into a predetermined image format, and an HTML file including the list is created. Is taken into the computer because the HTML file on the printer is browsed and obtained from the browser on the computer, or is obtained from the FTP program on the computer.

The image data read by the scanner is
It can be used not only from the computer that started the scanner, but also from other computers. The reason is that the HTML file on the printer and the image data can be obtained from a computer other than the scanner activation source computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a processing flow when a scanner is used from a PC in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of another example of a processing flow when a scanner is used from a PC in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a printer in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a scanner in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the PC when the scanners are synchronously used in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the PC when the scanner is used asynchronously in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the PC when the scanner is used asynchronously in the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows the contents of the HTML file on the printer on a PC
It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen at the time of browsing with this browser.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional configuration of an information processing system having a scanner function, a printer function, and a copy function.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another example of a conventional configuration of an information processing system having a scanner function, a printer function, and a copy function.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... PC (personal computer) 20 ... Printer 30 ... Scanner 40 ... Network cable 50 ... IEEE 1394 interface cable

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printer is connected to a computer via a network, a scanner is connected to the printer via a high-speed bus interface having a data transfer rate higher than that of the network, and image data read by the scanner is connected via a high-speed bus interface. Copy function to transfer to the printer for printing, printer function to send print data from the computer to the printer via the network to print, and scan operation by sending a scan command from the computer to the scanner via the network, printer and high-speed bus interface An information processing system that provides a high-speed bus interface, a printer, and a scanner function for loading the obtained image data into a computer via a network, the printer being capable of reading and writing. Storage means, means for accumulating image data sent from the scanner via the high-speed bus interface in the storage means when using the scanner function, and means for reading the image data from the storage means and transferring it to the computer via the network An information processing system comprising: 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the image data read by the scanner is transferred to the computer via the printer in synchronization with a scan command issued from the computer to the scanner via the printer. 3. A TWAIN from an application program having a TWAIN interface on a computer
3. The information processing system according to claim 2, further comprising a configuration in which a scan command is sent to the scanner via the printer via the driver, and the image data sent from the scanner via the printer is delivered from the TWAIN driver to the application program. 4. The printer includes means for converting the image data stored in the storage means into a predetermined image format, and means for creating an HTML file containing a list of the image data converted into the predetermined image format. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a configuration in which image data read by the scanner is transferred to the computer via the printer asynchronously with a scan command issued from the computer to the scanner via the printer. 5. An information processing system according to claim 4, wherein the browser on the computer browses the HTML file on the printer to acquire the image data. 6. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein the image data converted into a predetermined image format on the printer is acquired by the FTP program on the computer. 7. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of computers are connected to the printer via a network. 8. The high speed bus interface is IEEE13.
The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing system is a 94 interface or a USB 2.0 interface. 9. A network interface for communicating with a computer via a network, a high-speed bus interface for communicating with a scanner at a data transfer rate higher than the network, a printing unit for printing on paper, a readable / writable storage unit, and a control program A control unit for controlling the entire apparatus is provided, wherein the control unit controls the printing unit to print the print data received from the computer when a print command is received from the computer via the network, and a high-speed bus interface. When a print command is received from the scanner, a means for controlling the printing unit to print the image data received from the scanner, and when a scan command is received from the computer via the network, the scan command is sent via the high-speed bus interface. Scanner Printer apparatus provided with a means for transferring from the transfer to the scanner image data sent via the high-speed bus interface and stored in the storage means, the computer through the network reads the image data from the storage means. 10. The printer apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the printer apparatus is configured to transfer image data read by a scanner to a computer in synchronization with a scan command issued from the computer. 11. The control unit converts the image data stored in the storage unit into a predetermined image format and stores the image data so that the image data can be acquired from a computer via a network, and the image data converted into the predetermined image format. 10. The printer device according to claim 9, further comprising means for creating an HTML file that includes a list of the above and is viewable from a browser of a computer via a network. 12. The high speed bus interface is IEEE1.
The printer device according to claim 9, 10 or 11, which is a 394 interface or a USB 2.0 interface.