JP3416482B2 - Image reading system and information processing terminal control method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading system having an image reading device for reading an image of a document and an information processing terminal for controlling the image reading device, and a control method for the information processing terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an image reading system including an information processing terminal and an image reading device. The instruction to start image reading on this type of image reading device is
If it is done in the operation from the information processing terminal, for example, image <br/> image reading apparatus and the information processing terminal was sometimes installed in a physically remote location, to start image reading It is considered to be useful to have a means for giving instructions directly from the image reading device.

[0003]

However, if the instruction to start the image reading is accepted from both the image reading device and the information processing terminal as in the case of the above-mentioned conventional case, the reading starts from a plurality of users. There is a problem that instructions are given multiple times.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and an instruction to read an image to be transferred to an information processing terminal can be given by operating the image reading device, and the instruction information at that time can be given. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading system and a control method of an information processing terminal, which can control the information processing terminal.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document and outputting image data, and an information processing for inputting image data output from the image reading apparatus. In the control method of the information processing terminal in the image reading system having a terminal,
The information held by the image reading device is referred to as to whether or not an image reading instruction has been issued from the operation unit of the image reading device.
Confirmed by, instructed to start reading the image with respect to the image reading device when it is confirmed that the read instruction of the image is performed, the image reading apparatus has read outputs an image in accordance with the instruction It is characterized by receiving image data.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has an image reading device that reads an image of a document and outputs image data, and an information processing terminal that inputs the image data output from the image reading device. In the control method of the image reading system, the image reading device stores information input from an operation unit of the image reading device in a memory of the image reading device, and the information processing terminal stores information stored in the memory. When it is confirmed that there is an image reading instruction from the operation unit of the image reading apparatus, the image reading is started, and the image reading apparatus reads the image based on the instruction and outputs the image data. , The information processing edge
The end is characterized by receiving the output image data.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image reading system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure,
An image reading apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a scanner) 101 is an image reading apparatus having a connection interface with an information processing terminal 102, and optically reads a sheet-shaped or book-shaped document and converts it into electric image data. Then, the information is output to the information processing terminal 102. The scanner 101 starts reading an original according to an instruction from the connected information processing terminal 102. In addition, the user's instruction is received from the operation unit described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal arrangement of the scanner 101. In the figure, a CPU 201 is a system control unit, and controls the entire scanner 101 via a system bus 211. ROM202 is CPU2
01 control program and operating system (O
S) Store programs and the like. In addition, RAM203,
For example, it is composed of SRAM or the like and stores program control variables and the like. That is, the RAM 203 stores setting values registered by the operator, system management data, and the like, and also functions as a buffer for various works.

The image memory 204 is composed of, for example, a DRAM or the like, and stores input image data. In the present embodiment, each control program stored in the ROM 202 is managed by the OS stored in the ROM 202,
Performs software control such as scheduling and task switching.

The operation unit 205 includes various keys, LEDs, and LC.
D is used to perform various input operations by the operating system and display the operating status of the image reading system.

The reading control unit 206 is composed of, for example, a CS image sensor, a document feeding mechanism, and the like. The reading control unit 206 optically reads an image on a document using a CS image sensor and converts the image into electrical image data. Various types of image processing such as binarization processing and halftone processing are performed on the converted image data by the image processing control unit 207, and as a result, high-definition image data is output. Then, the converted image data is encoded according to a predetermined encoding method via the reading decoding control unit 208, and stored in the image memory 204.

The I / F control unit 210 includes the main scanner 101.
Interface control with the information processing terminal 102 connected to the outside. In this embodiment, a parallel interface such as a bidirectional Centronics interface is supported. Further, the I / F code decoding processing unit 209 transfers the image data to the external information processing terminal 102 via the interface when the image memory 2 is used.
Depending on the types of images stored in 04, if necessary, the necessary decoding / encoding processing is performed here, and the image data is sent to the information processing terminal 102 side.

The information processing terminal 102 is a general-purpose personal computer and includes an MPU, a hard disk, a keyboard, a display and the like. Information processing terminal 2
In addition to the scanner 101, the LAN 12 can be connected to a LAN.
A plurality of client terminals on N can receive the image data input from the scanner 101.

The remote operation from the information processing terminal 102 to the scanner 101 is performed by transmitting predetermined command, parameter, data and the like to the scanner 101 via the I / F control unit 210.

In the present embodiment, the information processing terminal 102 and the scanner 101 exchange information with each other by a protocol conforming to IEEE1284.

Further, according to the standard specifications of this protocol, since no special channel is provided, in principle, the information processing terminal 102 takes the initiative in the communication with the scanner 101. Except for the defined notification (alert), the scanner 101 does not itself send a response to the intelligent terminal 212. When the scanner 101 returns a response to the information processing terminal 212, the message from the information processing terminal 102 needs to have a reply required flag. The information processing terminal 102 can recognize the state of the scanner 101 (for example, the operation content of the operation unit 205) by the state of this flag.

In the present embodiment, the information processing terminal 10
2, application software and driver software for controlling the above-described remote operation and remote operation request are installed in the hard disk.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the schematic arrangement of the operation unit 205 of the scanner 101. In the figure, key 301
Is a key 302 for instructing the start of document reading
Is a key to reserve the start of document scanning, LED
Reference numeral 303 denotes an LED that indicates the start reservation status of document reading. A key 304 is a key for designating the density when reading the original.

The LEDs 305, 306 and 307 are the keys 3
L indicating the density at the time of reading the original specified by 04
It is ED. Here, each time the key 304 is pressed, L
ED305 → LED306 → LED307 → LED30
Lights in the order of 5 → ...

Further, a key 308 is a key for designating a resolution when reading a document, and the LEDs 309 and 31 are used.
Reference numerals 0 and 311 denote LEDs designated by the key 308 and indicating the resolution at the time of reading the original. That is, the key 30
Every time 8 is pressed, LED309 → LED310 → LE
The lights are turned on in the order of D311 → LED309 →.

When the keys 301 and 302 are operated, the information processing terminal 212 is notified of the operation. Turning on and off the LED 303 is performed by the information processing terminal 102.
Can be controlled from. Each key is manually operated by an operator.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure when the information processing terminal 102 according to the present embodiment controls the scanner 101.

This flowchart shows the information processing terminal 10
2 shows a control flow executed by the MPU based on an application program installed in a hard disk managed by the second MPU.

At step S401 in FIG.
It is checked whether the scanner 101 is reading the original. If it is reading a document, step S
If the operation of 401 is repeated and the document is not being read,
It proceeds to step S402. In step S402, it is checked whether or not the pressing of the key 302 (a key for reserving the start of document reading) is notified. Here, if it is determined that the key 302 is pressed, step S403.
If the key 302 is not pressed, the process proceeds to step S409.

In step S403, the fact that image reading has been reserved is stored from the operation unit 205 of the scanner 101, and the scanner 101 is instructed to turn on the LED 303 correspondingly. At this time, the reading instruction from the keyboard of the information processing terminal 102 is not accepted. Step S
At 404, it is checked whether or not there is a notification that the key 301 (key for instructing the start of document reading) is pressed. Here, if the push of the key 301 is notified, the process proceeds to step S405, and if the key 301 is not pushed, the process of step S404 is repeated.

In step S405, it is checked whether the document to be read is set on the scanner 101. If the original is set, step S4
Proceed to 06, and if it is not set, proceed to step S408. That is, in step S406,
The scanner 101 is instructed to call the image reading module and start reading the image on the original. Then, the image data obtained by reading the image of the document by the scanner 101 is read from the image memory 204, received by the information processing terminal 102 via the I / F control unit 210, and stored in a predetermined area of the hard disk.

In step S407, the above-mentioned step S
Cancel the image reading reservation stored in 403,
The scanner 101 is instructed to turn off the LED 303. On the other hand, in step S408, it is confirmed that the document to be read is not set on the scanner 101.
The information is displayed on the display of the information processing terminal 102 to notify the user of the information processing terminal.

If it is determined in step S402 that the key 302 has not been pressed, it is checked in step S409 whether the key 301 has been pressed. Here, if the key 301 is pressed, step S
If the key 301 is not pressed in step 405, the process proceeds to step S410.

In step S410, the information processing terminal 10
It is checked whether or not an instruction to start image reading is received from 2. If the image reading start instruction is accepted, the process proceeds to step S405 to determine whether or not there is a document, but if the image reading start instruction is not accepted, the process returns to the first process, that is, step S401.

FIG. 5 shows the scanner 101 and the information processing terminal 1.
It is a schematic diagram of the flow of data to and from 02.

In this embodiment, the scanner 101 and the information processing terminal 102 send and receive information based on IEEE1284. Therefore, transmission / reception of all information is performed by the procedure in which the scanner 101 returns a response to the command issued by the information processing terminal 102.

The information processing terminal 102 transmits a command inquiring about the operation status of the scanner 101 at every predetermined time (501). The scanner 101 operates in accordance with an instruction from the information processing terminal 102 (for example, S4
01 information) is transmitted to the information processing terminal 102 (50
2).

Regarding this operating condition, the scanner 101 writes information in a predetermined area of the image memory 204, and the information processing terminal 102 confirms this information.

Response from the scanner 101 (50
When it is confirmed that there is the notification data in 2), the information processing terminal 102 prepares to acquire further information from the scanner 101 by the notification data acquisition command (503).

The operation on the keys 301 and 302 is notified to the information processing terminal 102 by a response (504). When the keys 301 and 302 are operated, the scanner 101 stores predetermined data for notifying the information processing terminal 102 of the key operation in the image memory 204. Since the information processing terminal 102 can know that the data is accumulated in the image memory 204 by transmitting the command inquiring about the operation status of the scanner 101, the notification data acquisition command (50
In 3), the command for receiving data is issued again, and it can be known that the key operation has been performed.
Although omitted here, it is assumed that the confirmation and the like in S405 are also performed by the command and the response.

When the operator confirms the content of the operation on the operation unit 205, the information processing terminal 102 calls the image reading module and the operation unit 2 of the scanner 101 is called.
According to the contents set in 05, the reading of the document is started by the reading start instruction command.

When the normal response (506) from the scanner 101 is confirmed, a command (507) is issued to receive the image data obtained by reading the original,
The image data upload is started by the normal response (508) from the scanner 101. This image data is stored in the operation unit 20 in the hard disk of the information processing terminal 102.
It is stored in the area designated by the operator from 5 (prepared for each user).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, both the scanner 101 and the information processing terminal 102 can instruct the image reading operation of the scanner 101, and all these instructions are processed by the information processing. Terminal 10
2 allows multiple users to use the scanner 101
It is possible to share the same, and it is possible to prevent multiple reading start instructions from a plurality of terminals and the like.

Further, the operation unit 20 is used to perform an operation for reading an image.
The operation may be performed only by the operation from 5.
In other words, since it is necessary to bring the original document to the scanner 101, operating the operation unit 205 at that time does not cause complication. Therefore, the activation of the document reading can be instructed only from the operation unit 205, and the actual activation is started based on the command from the information processing terminal 102 to prevent the collision of the activation instruction and further simplify the processing on the information processing terminal side. Can be

Further, in the present embodiment, the scanner 101
Since the operation contents of the operation unit 205 are stored in a predetermined area of the image memory 205 and the information processing terminal confirms the contents, the scanner 101 can be installed without a special channel according to the standard specifications of IEEE1284.
The state of can be notified to the information processing terminal.

Further, although a single scanner has been described as an example in the present embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and may be a facsimile machine or a copying machine.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the following modifications do not depart from the gist of the present invention.

That is, in the above-mentioned embodiment,
In the case of performing the process of canceling the image reading reservation, if the notification that the key 302 is pressed is given in step S404 shown in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S407 to cancel the scanner reservation. You can

Further, in the above-described embodiment, FIG.
In step S404 shown in FIG. 7, the time is counted, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, control is performed such that the process proceeds to step S407. You can cancel the scan reservation.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the scanner 101 monitors the elapsed time after the key 302 is pressed and notifies the information processing terminal 102 of the elapsed time. On the other hand, in step S404 shown in FIG. 4, the time read from the scanner 101 is monitored, and when a predetermined time elapses, the process is shifted to step S407, and the image reading reservation is made. As it is, the scan reservation can be automatically canceled when the start of image reading is not instructed forever.

It is an object of the present invention to supply a recording medium having a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus. It is needless to say that is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As the storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM or the like can be used.

Further, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. It is needless to say that this also includes the case where the above) performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An instruction to read an image to be transferred to the information processing terminal can be given by operating the image reading device, and the instruction information at that time can be managed by the information processing terminal, and the image reading system can be operated efficiently. Become.

[0051]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image reading system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a scanner 101 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation unit 20 of the scanner 101 according to the embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the structure of No. 5.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure when the information processing terminal 102 controls the scanner 101.

5 is a schematic diagram of a data flow between the scanner 101 and the information processing terminal 102. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 image reading device 102 information processing terminal 201 CPU 202 ROM 203 RAM 204 image memory 205 Operation part 206 Read control unit 207 Image processing control unit 208 read code decoding processing unit 209 I / F code decoding processing unit 210 I / F controller 211 system bus

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A control method of the information processing terminal in an image reading system having an image reading device for reading an image of a document and outputting image data, and an information processing terminal for inputting image data output from the image reading device. , Referring to the information held by the image reading device as to whether or not an image reading instruction has been issued from the operation unit of the image reading device
Confirmed by, instructed to start reading the image with respect to the image reading device when it is confirmed that the read instruction of the image is performed, the image reading apparatus has read outputs an image in accordance with the instruction A method for controlling an information processing terminal, characterized by receiving image data. 2. The method for controlling an information processing terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the information is held in a predetermined area of a memory of the image reading device. 3. The control method of the information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image reading module is called when it is confirmed that the image reading instruction is issued. 4. An image reading parameter set by an operation unit of the image reading apparatus is stored as information stored in the image reading apparatus.
2. The confirmation is made by referring to the claim 1.
A method for controlling the described information processing terminal. 5. The method further comprises a step of confirming whether or not image data obtained by reading and outputting an image by the image reading device is stored in a memory of the image reading device, and it is confirmed that the image data is stored. The method of controlling an information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image data is requested and received from the image reading device. 6. A control method for an image reading system, comprising: an image reading device that reads an image of a document and outputs image data; and an information processing terminal that inputs image data output from the image reading device. stores the information inputted from the operation unit of the image reading apparatus in a memory of the image reading apparatus, the information processing terminal checks the information stored in the memory, from the operation unit of the image reading apparatus image if it is confirmed that there was an image reading instruction to read image is started, and the image reading apparatus, an image based on the instruction to output the read image data, said information processing terminal, which is the output A method of controlling an image reading system, characterized by receiving data. 7. The method of controlling an image reading system according to claim 6, wherein a reservation for image reading processing is set by an operation unit of the image reading apparatus. 8. The image reading apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an image reading instruction by an operation of the information processing apparatus is not accepted when a reservation for image reading processing is set in the operation unit of the image reading apparatus. How to control the system. 9. A program for controlling the information processing terminal in an image reading system having an image reading device for reading an image of a document and outputting image data, and an information processing terminal for inputting image data output from the image reading device. there a recorded computer-readable recording medium, referring to the information whether or not the image read instruction has been issued from the operation unit of the image reading apparatus, the image reading apparatus holds child
A step of confirming by a, a step of instructing to start reading the image with respect to the image reading device when it is confirmed that the read instruction of the image is performed, the image reading apparatus image according to the instruction for executing the steps of receiving image data read output
Computer- readable record of the program
Medium .