JP4053567B2 - Scanner device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a scanner device that is connected to a client PC on a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark) and reads a document image, and relates to a scanner device that distributes image data obtained by image input to the client PC.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system is known in which a server, a client PC, and a plurality of network compatible scanner devices that transmit image data to a client PC that reads a document are connected to a LAN such as Ethernet. In such a system, the transmission destination address of the scanner device is managed by a server, and the registration of the address is also performed on the server.

  However, in the conventional system as described above, since the management and registration of the transmission destination address of the network compatible scanner device on the network is performed by the server, the user can freely change the transmission destination address or There is a problem that registration is not possible and operability in address setting is lowered.

  In addition, when the network-compatible scanner device to be used cannot be used due to operation or trouble, the user has to search for a free scanner device again, which is troublesome. there were.

  Further, in the management of the transmission destination address of the scanner device, since the memory capacity is limited, the occurrence of overflow due to an increase in the address amount must be avoided. For this reason, it is necessary to perform operations such as periodic address check and deletion / reorganization, and considering the space of the scanner display unit, as the amount of addresses increases, it becomes impossible to display in a batch on the display space of the scanner device. Because the possibility of not being able to hit in a single search increases, the address search work becomes troublesome. When the address amount increases in this way, there is a problem that operations for address management and search become troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and by making it possible to set the address of the scanner device on the client PC side without going through the server, the operability for changing and registering the transmission destination address by the user is improved. It is the first object to improve.

  Also, by setting the destination address for multiple scanner devices on the network at the same time, if the scanner device you plan to use cannot be used, you can search for another available scanner without searching for a free device again. A second object is to make the device readily available and improve the convenience of the system.

  In addition, due to memory capacity and limitations on the display space of the scanner device, the setting of the destination address of the scanner device is set temporarily or permanently, thereby suppressing an increase in the amount of address and avoiding memory over. A third object is to improve address management and searchability in a small display space by maintaining the address amount to the minimum necessary.

In order to achieve the above object, in the scanner device according to claim 1, in a scanner device connected to a client PC via a network, a transmission destination address and a destination name of the client PC via the network a receiving means for receiving a designation of temporary settings or permanent set from the client PC, and memory means for memorize and said destination name with the destination address received by the receiving means, stored in said storage means Display selection means for selectively displaying the destination name, and data transmission means for transmitting data to the client PC based on a transmission destination address corresponding to the destination name selected by the user from the display selection means And the destination address does not pass through an external server on the network. It said received by the receiving means, when the specification is the temporary settings, is to remove the destination address a series of processing is stored in the storage means and ends with the client PC.

According to the first aspect, when the scanner device connected on the network transmits image data to the client PC, the scanner device transmits the image data according to the transmission destination address previously transmitted from the client PC. It becomes possible to set the address of the device.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of transmission destination addresses to be internally held by setting the transmission destination addresses held internally by the scanner device according to whether they are temporary or permanent. It becomes.

In the scanner device according to claim 2, the transmission destination address is an IP address.

According to the second aspect, if the scanner device connected to the network to send image data to the client PC, by transmitting according to the IP address sent earlier from the client PC, a scanner device in client PC Can be set.

In the scanner device according to claim 3, when the designation is a permanent setting, the scanner device holds the transmission destination address in the storage unit .

According to the scanner device of the present invention (Claim 1), when the scanner device connected on the network transmits image data to the client PC, the image data is transmitted to the transmission destination address previously transmitted from the client PC. Thus, transmission destination information such as an address is registered in the scanner device on the client PC side, so that the user can change and register the transmission destination address from the client PC without going through the server, and the operability is improved.
According to the scanner device of the present invention (Claim 1), the transmission destination address held internally by the data communication device is set separately for temporary / permanent, so that the amount of address to be held internally is set. Since the increase is suppressed and the smaller the amount of addresses held, the desired addresses can be collectively displayed in a limited display space, so the search hit rate increases, and the destination address is managed and searched. The operability can be improved.

According to the scanner device of the present invention (Claim 2), when the scanner device connected on the network transmits image data to the client PC, the image data is transmitted according to the IP address previously transmitted from the client PC. Thus, the address of the scanner device can be set on the client PC side.

Embodiments of a scanner device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, the configuration of the system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a system configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this system, network compatible scanner devices (hereinafter referred to as scanner devices) 1a, 1b and a plurality of client PCs 3a, 3b, 3c are connected to a network 2 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). In this embodiment, two scanner apparatuses 1 and three client PCs 3 are illustrated as being connected to the network 2. However, this is for convenience of explanation and is limited to this number. Is not to be done.

  The scanner devices 1a and 1b are network-compatible devices having a function of communicating with other devices based on the communication protocol of the network 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the scanner devices 1a and 1b. The CPU 10 is a microcomputer that comprehensively controls the entire scanner apparatus. The CPU 10 via the bus 19 stores a ROM 11 in which a control program for the CPU 10 is stored, a RAM 12 that is used as a system work memory and that stores various setting information and transmission destination addresses, and compresses and stores the read image. The RAM 13 that controls the network 2, the LAN control unit 14 that controls the network 2, the operation control unit 16 that controls the operation unit 15, and the reading control unit 18 that controls the reading unit 17 are connected.

  The operation unit 15 includes a key group for performing settings required when starting the scanner devices 1a and 1b, and a panel such as an LCD for displaying the setting status and the device status. The panel uses a dot display, for example, and is configured to perform an optimal display graphically.

  The reading unit 17 includes a scanning optical system that illuminates a document like a normal image scanner, and a reading optical system that uses a CCD to electrically read a document image (light) obtained by the scanning optical system. Have. The reading unit 17 may be any type such as a document moving type and an optical system moving type.

  Next, the operation of the system configured as described above will be described. First, an example in which the transmission destination address (IP address) of the scanner apparatus is set from an arbitrary client PC connected on the network will be described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of setting the transmission destination address of the scanner device from an arbitrary client PC.

  Requests for device information are sent to all scanner devices on the network 2 grouped by broadcast (broadcast communication) from an arbitrary client PC (hereinafter referred to as PC 3a) of the client PCs 3a, 3b, 3c. Upon receiving the broadcast message, the scanner device (hereinafter referred to as the scanner device 1a) returns its device information to the PC 3a. The PC 3a received from the scanner device 1a displays the scanner device connected to the network 2 on the screen (display) on the PC 3a.

  The user on the PC 3a selects the corresponding scanner device 1a, and after selection, in order to easily identify the transmission destination address of the image read from the scanner device 1a, the destination name setting and the transfer destination network address are set to the PC 3a. Set on the upper operation screen 30. On this operation screen (screen display setting screen) 30, the name is set to PCB and the IP address is set to “133.139.999.999”. After performing this setting, by executing a transmission operation, transmission to the destination name and network address set for the selected scanner device 1a is performed.

  The scanner device 1a that has received the information from the PC 3a stores the information on the RAM 12 as destination information. When the user transfers the read image by the scanner device 1a, the read information is set, the transmission destination address display is selected, and the start key is pressed, the original image is read, and transfer processing is performed. In the transmission destination address display on the scanner device 1a side, only the destination name is displayed on the display as shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the network compatible scanner devices 1a and 1b are used, the destination information can be freely set from any of the PCs 3a, 3b, and 3c connected to the network 2, thereby enabling the scanner devices 1a and 1b. Since there is no need for complicated address setting on the side or setting of an address from a limited server PC, it is possible to easily change the registration of the destination address.

  Next, an example of setting a transmission destination address to an arbitrary scanner device or simultaneously setting to a plurality of scanner devices when there are a plurality of scanner devices on the network 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for setting a transmission destination address when there are a plurality of scanner apparatuses on the network 2. In FIG. 4, first, a broadcast message is issued to all scanner devices connected to the grouped network (step S21). That is, an inquiry about devices connected in a segment which is a network unit is made. Then, it receives messages from all the scanner devices in the segment that issued the broadcast message (step S22), and selects a free scanner device (step S23). Subsequently, the selected scanner device is displayed on the screen of the PC 3 (step S24), a registration destination device is selected (step S25), and after setting the IP address as shown in FIG. The operation of displaying the destination name on the operation unit is executed.

  That is, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the scanner device connected to the network 2 is recognized and the corresponding scanner device 1 a is selected. In the example of FIG. 3, the scanner device 1 a is connected to the network 2. All scanner devices can be selected. Further, when the setting of the transmission destination address of the scanner device 1 on the PC 3 is completed by the user, the set transmission destination address can be transmitted to all the scanner devices 1.

  As described above, when the network compatible scanner device 1 is used, an address can be freely set from an arbitrary client PC 3 connected on the network 2. There is no need to set an address from an address setting or a limited server PC, and convenience in setting a destination address is improved.

  Further, by making it possible to set the transmission destination address for all the scanner devices 1 connected on the network 2, it is not necessary for the user to specify the scanner device 1. In addition, since any scanner device 1 can be used even during use and in a state where it cannot be used due to some trouble, its workability is improved.

  By the way, on the scanner device side that holds the set address, it is necessary to consider the management of the transmission destination address amount, the occurrence of overflow of the transmission destination address with respect to the memory capacity, or the operability for the address search for the storage area of the RAM 12. There is. That is, since a large number of addresses cannot be displayed collectively on the limited display space of the scanner device 1 and the possibility of obtaining a desired address by a single search is reduced, a minimum destination address and It is preferable for the search operation to hold information about the address. Therefore, in this embodiment, as will be described below, it is possible to select whether the set destination address is stored permanently or temporarily, and in the case of temporary storage, the set address is set to a predetermined value. It corresponds by deleting with the condition of.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example from setting of a transmission destination address to processing of address data according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, as described above, a transmission destination address is set on the client PC 3 (step S31). Then, it is determined whether or not to store the set address temporarily (step S32). Here, if the set address is to be temporarily stored, it is further determined whether or not a series of processing has been completed (step S33). If it is determined that the series of processing has been completed, temporary storage can be performed. A certain destination address is deleted from the storage area of the RAM 12 (step S34). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S32 that the destination address is not temporarily stored, the destination address is stored in the storage area of the RAM 12 (step S35).

  That is, on the client PC 3 described above, only the destination name and network address are set and transferred, but the address is set temporarily or the address is permanently stored in the RAM 12 of the scanner device 1 and stored. It is possible to transfer (instruct) the scanner device 1 to the scanner device 1. If the transmission destination address information is temporarily set, the destination selection display after setting is displayed and set in the same manner as a normal destination on the scanner device 1 side.

  When a temporary address is set, an image is read by a user operation and the image data is transferred to the client PC 3 as in normal processing. On the other hand, if a series of processing is not completed due to some abnormality in image reading, image transfer, and reception completion notification from the destination client PC, the temporary storage is started from the storage area of the RAM 12 of the scanner device 1. The setting address information is not deleted. Further, when a series of processing is normally performed, and the read image is normally transmitted to the client PC 3 as the transmission destination and is normally received on the client PC 3 side, the temporary setting is made from the storage area of the RAM 12 of the scanner device 1. It is assumed that the deleted address is not displayed even if the address information is deleted and a destination display instruction is issued next time.

  As described above, when the use frequency of the scanner device 1 is increased by a plurality of users, an overflow of the address storage area (storage area of the RAM 12) of the scanner device 1 occurs, and the address is periodically checked, deleted, and organized. Processing is necessary, but by setting temporary addresses as described above, the amount of data increase caused by erasing the temporary set addresses under specified conditions is suppressed, and overflow of the address storage area is avoided. Therefore, the above problem is solved.

  In addition, in the temporary address setting, if an abnormality occurs during processing by the scanner device 1 or reception processing of a transfer image by the client PC 3, the destination information is always deleted from the client PC 3 when the destination information is deleted. However, since the destination information is not deleted when an abnormality occurs, it is possible to reliably transfer the read image from the scanner device 1 at the set address.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the system configuration | structure concerning this Embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the scanner device in FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a setting of the transmission destination address of a scanner apparatus from arbitrary client PCs. It is a flowchart which shows the setting procedure of the transmission destination address in case the some scanner apparatus exists in the network concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example from the setting of the transmission destination address concerning this Embodiment to the process of address data.

Explanation of symbols

1a, 1b Scanner device 2 Network 3a, 3b, 3c Client PC
10 CPU
12 RAM
14 LAN control unit 15 operation unit 17 reading unit 30 operation screen

Claims (3)

In a scanner device connected to a client PC via a network,
Receiving means for receiving from the client PC designation of a destination address and destination name of the client PC , temporary setting or permanent setting via the network;
And destination address received with the destination name storage means for memorize the by the receiving means,
Display selection means for selectively displaying the destination name stored in the storage means;
Data transmission means for transmitting data to the client PC based on a destination address corresponding to the destination name selected by the user from the display selection means,
The destination address is received by the receiving means without going through an external server on the network ,
When the designation is the temporary setting, the transmission destination address stored in the storage unit is deleted when a series of processing with the client PC ends .   The scanner apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission destination address is an IP address. 3. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein, when the designation is a permanent setting, the scanner device holds the transmission destination address in the storage unit . 4.

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