JP3797559B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device incorporating a scanner, and more particularly to a communication device connectable to a plurality of printers.

A communication device composed of a multifunction machine having a scanner and a printer is connected to a network to perform processing such as copying, scanning, facsimile, and printing. However, in many cases, many printers are connected to the network in addition to the multi-function peripheral, and the performance is also varied. Driving such a printer on the network from a multifunction peripheral is not known to the extent investigated by the inventors. Therefore, when the scanned image data is printed by a printer other than the multifunction machine, the image data is transmitted to the client, converted into a data format suitable for the printer by the client, and transmitted. However, in this case, it is necessary for the user to move from the multi-function peripheral to the client and re-send to the printer.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-336375

An object of the present invention is to enable output of image data matched to a printer on a network from a communication device .
Another object of the present invention is to enable printing by selecting an optimum printer for a user from a plurality of printers without the user having to select a printer.

The present invention provides a communication apparatus that can be connected to an external printer and includes an image reading unit.
An operation panel for selecting a printer , a printer information management table in which a user who designates each printer is registered for each printer, as well as managing information related to external printers, are provided, and the print data format of the selected printer is set. Obtained from the table, the image data from the image reading unit is converted to the print data format after the printer selection by the conversion means, and sent to the selected printer, if there is no printer selection from the operation panel, The image data from the image reading unit is preferentially given to the printer designated by the user in the table, converted to the print data format by the conversion means, and transmitted .

In the present invention, since the image data from the image reading unit is converted into a data format suitable for an external printer, the external printer can be driven directly from the communication device . Further, the user can select an external printer from the operation panel, and even when there is no selection of the printer, by giving priority to the printer designated by the user on the table, an image can be output with a printer convenient for the user.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment. In these drawings, reference numeral 2 denotes a multifunction peripheral, also called MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral), which includes a color scanner and a monochrome printer. 4 is a LAN, 6 is a client such as a personal computer, 8 and 9 are color printers, and 10 is a monochrome printer. The multifunction device 2 can read a monochrome or color image using a color scanner, and may be provided with a photographing unit or the like instead of the scanner, and can perform monochrome printing (number of colors 1) using a monochrome printer. . The multifunction device 2 can transmit and receive image data via the LAN 4. In particular, the image data read by the color scanner is converted into a print data format suitable for the printer selected from the printers 8 to 10, and the printer Can be sent to and printed. Similarly, the image data received from the client 6 can be converted into a print data format suitable for the printer selected from the printers 8 to 10 and transmitted to the selected printer for printing. Of course, in addition to this, it is possible to print using its own monochrome printer.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the multi-function device 2; 12 is a LAN interface, 13 is a monochrome printer, 14 is a G3 facsimile, and G3 facsimile is transmitted / received via a public telephone network (not shown), and 15 is an Internet facsimile. The LAN interface 12 transmits and receives Internet facsimile using the LAN 4 and a router (not shown).

  The image memory 16 stores an image (color or black and white) scanned by the color scanner 22 or an image obtained by receiving a facsimile. The image memory 16 is added with an image obtained by converting the number of colors, resolution, image size, etc., printer control commands and parameters, for facsimile transmission and transmission to the printers 8 to 10. Thus, the image converted into the print data format is stored. An image conversion unit 17 performs conversion such as converting a color image into a monochrome image, converting the resolution of the image, and converting the size of the image with respect to the stored image data or the received image data.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes an HTTP server that serves as an interface for operating the multi-function device 2 from the client 6, transmits an HTML screen for operating the multi-function device 2 to the client 6, and receives instructions from the client 6. The operation panel 21 includes an appropriate touch panel or the like, and a user on the multifunction machine 2 side operates the multifunction machine 2 via the operation panel 21.

  A color scanner 22 can output an image such as a color image (number of colors 3 or 4), a black and white image, or a two-color image (number of colors 2), and a parameter (reading parameter) for determining scanning conditions is a scanning condition changing unit. 23 can be changed. Such reading parameters include the number of colors such as a color image, a monochrome image, or a two-color color, resolution, and image size. The data format conversion unit 24 adds a printer control command or parameter to the image data to convert the data format so that the print data is suitable for the printer selected by the printer selection unit 26 described later. As a result, if a printer is selected at the time of image reading, the image is read with reading parameters suitable for the printer, and the read image data is converted into a data format suitable for the printer and output.

  When the printer is selected after the image has already been read or after the image data has been received from the client 6 or the like, parameters such as color or black and white, what is the resolution, what is the size of the image, and the printer If these parameters are not compatible with the printer, the image data is converted by the image conversion unit 17 to obtain image data with parameters suitable for the printer. Next, a printer control command or parameter is added to the image data, and the data format conversion unit 24 converts the image data into a print data format suitable for the selected printer.

  When there is a printer designation from the client 6 or the operation panel 21, the printer selection unit 26 follows the designation. If no printer is specified, the printer is selected so as to conform to image data parameters such as color, resolution, and image size. In addition to this, the printer selected by the user is given priority in the selection of the printer, so that the faulty printer is excluded from the selection and a plurality of printers can be selected. Note that the printer designated by the user here is a printer designated by the user to be preferentially selected, but if it is incompatible with the image data, printing may be performed by another printer.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the printer information management table 30. The table 30 is stored in the printer selection unit 26, and inquires the printer from the multifunction device 2 periodically, for example, every 30 seconds to 30 minutes in accordance with a change in the printer status on the LAN 4, for example. get. Alternatively, each time a print instruction is input or reading of image data designated by a printer is designated, an inquiry is made to the printer designated by the multifunction device 2 to acquire data.

  The table 30 lists printers that can request printing from the multi-function device 2, and the range may be the printer of the own device, a printer on the LAN, or a more remote printer. The table 30 describes GDI, PCL, etc. as data formats used in the printer, along with their versions and supplementary conditions. The GDI printer is a printer that supports a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) command, and print data to be transmitted to the printer can be described using the GDI command. Similarly, for PCL printers, print data can be described using PCL commands. The conversion of the print data format according to the type of printer such as GDI or PCL is the conversion of the print data format according to the present invention.

  For each printer, the color or black-and-white, or in the case of a two-color printer, the number of colors such as two is described, and the resolution (DPI) of each printer and the supported paper type are described. It also preferably stores specifications such as whether or not double-sided printing is possible and print speed, and further distinguishes the printer status from normal / abnormal, etc., and selects an abnormal printer (printer that cannot be used due to failure or out of toner) from the printer selection. Try to remove. If the user designates which printer has priority, the designation is stored. For example, in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the users A to E have selected the monochrome print and the color printer 2 of the multifunction peripheral, and the users F to G Selects a color printer 1 and a monochrome printer 2. If the user selects, print data is output to the printer selected by the user within a range that matches the parameters of the image data such as color, resolution, and paper size. Note that the user here includes a group of users in addition to individual users, and designation of which printer is to be given priority may be performed by a LAN administrator or the like instead of the actual user. By providing the table 30, an optimum printer for each print job can be selected from a plurality of printers.

  FIG. 4 shows an operation when an image is read by a color scanner with the printer already selected. In this case, it is assumed that the user has already designated which printer to use from the operation panel or client of the multifunction machine. The color scanner scans the image and generates image data according to reading parameters such as color or black and white, what is the resolution of the image, and what size is the image. The data format conversion unit 24 converts the obtained image data into a data format suitable for the selected printer and outputs it to the selected printer 32.

  FIG. 5 shows processing when a printer is selected for a scanned image. When the scanned image is stored in an image memory or the like and the printer is selected by the printer selection unit 26, if the resolution, color, size, or the like of the image is not suitable for the printer, the image is converted and adapted to the printer. Next, the format of the image data is converted, adapted to the printer, and output.

  In addition to this, when printing an image received from the client 6 or the like, there is a designated printer, and when the image data does not fit to the printer, processing such as resolution conversion and size conversion is performed, and the designated printer is applied. Convert the data format to fit and output. If no printer is specified, a printer is selected using the printer information management table 30 shown in FIG. 3, and the data format is converted so as to be compatible with the printer and output.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Printers other than its own can be easily driven from the multifunction device.
(2) Since multiple printers on the network can be driven, it is possible to select and print the most suitable printer in terms of image type, user preference, special specifications such as duplex printing, and printing speed.
(3) An appropriate printer on the network can be designated and an image can be read with reading parameters suitable for the printer.

Block diagram showing the usage environment of the MFP of the embodiment The block diagram which shows the constitution according to function of the compound machine of execution example The figure which shows the printer information table in an Example Diagram showing scan condition change and format conversion in the embodiment The figure which shows the image conversion after the scan in an Example

Explanation of symbols

2 MFP 4 LAN
6 Client 8, 9 Color printer 10 Black and white printer 12 LAN interface 13 Black and white printer 14 G3 facsimile 15 Internet facsimile 16 Image memory 17 Image conversion unit 20 HTTP server 21 Operation panel 22 Color scanner 23 Scan condition change unit 24 Data format conversion unit 26 Printer Selection unit 30 Printer information management table 32 Selected printer

Claims (1)

In a communication device that can be connected to an external printer and includes an image reading unit,
An operation panel for selecting a printer,
A printer information management table is provided for managing information related to external printers and for registering a user who designates each printer for each printer .
Get the print data format of the selected printer from the table,
The image data from the image reading unit is converted to the print data format after the printer is selected by the conversion means, and sent to the selected printer .
If no printer is selected from the operation panel, the image data from the image reading unit is preferentially given to the printer designated by the user in the table, converted to the print data format by the converting means, and transmitted. A communication device characterized by that.

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