JP4218628B2 - Network MFP - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is a network composite that is connected to a terminal device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) via a communication network such as a LAN, and executes a bulletin board / circulation process of an image stored inside the device using the HTTP protocol. Related to the machine.

  Recently, facsimile systems have been widely used in offices and the like, and play a useful role in data communication. Such a system is configured, for example, by connecting a network multifunction peripheral or a terminal device so-called a client personal computer through a communication network such as a LAN. The network multifunction peripheral transfers data received by facsimile to the client personal computer. When the data specifying the transfer destination is received from the client personal computer, the received data is transmitted to the specified transfer destination.

  In such a network multifunction device, when scanning is performed from the multifunction device main body, the scanned document is stored inside the device, and the designated terminal device is notified of saving of the scanned document, or fax / mail If the network multifunction device receives the image data, it temporarily stores the image data in a predetermined storage location of the network board, and the user accesses the storage location of the network board to capture the image data. In such a case, the network multifunction peripheral notifies the terminal device that each event has occurred using a UDP / IP packet.

  Note that UDP is an upper protocol of IP, belongs to the transport layer, and does not have the functions such as connection management, response confirmation, sequence, window control, and flow control that TCP has. There is no guarantee, but the load is low and the operation is fast.

  In addition, recent network MFPs can notify received fax documents and scanned paper documents by specifying a circulator, or post such documents on a bulletin board by operations from a web browser, so that anyone can view them. Even when such circulation or document posting on the bulletin board occurs, the network multifunction peripheral notifies the terminal device by a UDP / IP packet.

On the other hand, each terminal device detects UDP / IP packets by monitoring program software installed and resident in the terminal device to detect circulation and notice on the bulletin board, and the notified event content is addressed to itself. In such a case, a pop-up screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the monitor screen of the terminal device to inform the user (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-108466 A

  As described above, a conventional network multifunction peripheral is equipped with a compact flash (registered trademark) memory or a hard disk capable of storing a large amount of image data on a network board, so that a document or fax / fax / scan scanned from the network multifunction peripheral main body is mounted. Mail documents are stored in this large-capacity storage, enabling bulletin board / circulation processing of images once stored.

  When a bulletin board process or a circulation process is executed from a certain terminal device, a network board receives a new document in a UDP / IP packet for all registered users in the case of a bulletin board, or a specified user in the case of circulation. Notify that there is. On the other hand, as described above, resident software for monitoring notifications from the network multifunction peripheral is installed in the user terminal device. Therefore, when a UDP / IP notification is received from the network multifunction peripheral, a new document exists. A pop-up screen is displayed.

In this pop-up screen, as shown in FIG. 8, “Open Image”, “List Display”, and “Close” buttons are displayed. By clicking the “Open Image” button, the image is displayed on the terminal device. The transfer protocol is executed, and a new document can be displayed on the monitor screen of the terminal device.
By the way, in general, when a notification of a new document is received, the majority of users perform an operation to display the new document, so that a network connection is established all at once from the notified terminal device to the network multifunction peripheral, and an image is captured. Will be done.

  As described above, when many protocols for displaying a new document are executed by pop-up display, a large amount of image data is transferred to each terminal device. The acquisition speed becomes slower as the number of terminal devices that are simultaneously accessed increases, and there is a problem that it takes time to display an image on the terminal device.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when a new document is notified by a pop-up display, even when a plurality of users perform image display of a new document at the same time, the image display is not delayed, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a network multifunction device capable of suppressing packets that flow simultaneously on a network.

In order to achieve the above object, the network multifunction peripheral according to the first aspect of the present invention is connected to a terminal device via a communication network, and when a bulletin board / circulation process of image data is executed, the terminal device of the target user to a network MFP notifying that there is a new document, a control means for controlling the BBS-circulation process, when the bulletin board circulation processing of the image data is executed from the terminal device, the control means is circulated Alternatively, after the image data instructed on the bulletin board is transferred to the terminal device of the target user, the terminal device of the target user is notified that there is a new document.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network multifunction peripheral according to the first aspect, the control means transfers a subject or a comment relating to the new document to the target user, and then a circulation or bulletin board instruction is given. The image data is transferred to the terminal device of the target user, and thereafter, the terminal device of the target user is notified that there is a new document .

  Furthermore, in the network multifunction peripheral according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the network multifunction peripheral according to the first aspect, in the case of bulletin board processing, the control means is a terminal of all users who are registered that there is a new document. The network multifunction peripheral according to the invention according to claim 4 is a network multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, wherein the control means includes a new document in the circulation process. A notification is sent to the terminal device of the user who is designated to that effect by a pop-up screen.

  According to the network multifunction peripheral of the inventions according to claims 1 to 4, when the bulletin board / circulation processing is executed from a certain terminal device, the image data and, if necessary, the subject and comment on the new document Is transferred to the terminal device of the target user, so that when the user performs an operation to display a new document on the pop-up screen, an already transferred image can be displayed on the monitor screen of the terminal device. Even if the users perform image display operations all at once, the image display does not become slow, and packets do not flow through the network, so that packets flowing simultaneously through the network can be suppressed.

  Embodiments of a network multifunction peripheral according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration example of a system including a network multifunction device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the network multifunction device, and FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the network board.

  In the network configuration diagram shown in FIG. 1, 1 is a network multifunction device, 2, 3, 4... Are personal computers, 5 is a public switched telephone network (PSTN), 6 is a LAN (Local Area Network), and 7 is an Internet network. is there. The network multifunction device 1 has functions of a copy mode, a printer mode, and a fax mode, and also has a mail transmission function, and is connected to the PSTN 5 and the LAN 6, and a plurality of personal computers 2, 3, 4,.・ ・ Is connected. The LAN 6 is also connected to the Internet network 7, and the network MFP 1 can send and receive mail via the Internet network 7.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the network multifunction device 1. As shown in the figure, the network multifunction device 1 has a CPU 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and a display. An operation unit 14, a reading unit 15, an image memory 16, a recording unit 17, a codec 18, a modem 19, a network control unit NCU 20, a network board 21 and a LAN interface (I / F) 22 are configured. Connected.

  The CPU 11 controls each part of the hardware of the network multifunction peripheral 1 via the bus 23 and executes various programs based on the programs stored in the ROM 12. The ROM 12 performs various programs and operations necessary for the operation of the network multifunction peripheral. Operation messages and the like are stored in advance. The RAM 13 is composed of an SRAM or the like and stores temporary data generated when the program is executed.

  The display / operation unit 14 includes a display unit that displays an operation state of the network multifunction peripheral or displays an operation screen for various functions, and a number of operation keys for operating the network multifunction peripheral. . The reading unit 15 includes a reading document placing table such as an auto document feeder (ADF) or a flatbed scanner (FBS), reads a document with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted into black and white binary. .

  The image memory 16 is configured by using a DRAM or the like, and stores image data to be transmitted or received image data or image data read by the reading unit 15, and a recording unit 17 is a printer device such as an electrophotographic system. And printing out received data, copy original data, or print data transmitted from an external personal computer.

  The codec 18 encodes and decodes in accordance with a predetermined protocol. In order to transmit the image data of the read original, the codec 18 is encoded by the MH, MR, or MMR method, and decodes the image data received from the outside. Also, encoding and decoding are also performed in correspondence with the TIFF method, which is an image format generally used as a file that can be attached to an e-mail.

  The modem 19 is connected to the bus 23 and has a function as a fax modem capable of facsimile communication. The modem 19 is also connected to the NCU 20 connected to the bus 23. The NCU 20 is hardware that closes and opens an analog line, and connects the modem 19 to the PSTN 5 as necessary.

  The LAN interface 22 is connected to the LAN 6 and receives data from an external personal computer or a signal from the Internet network 7 via the LAN 6, while transmitting signals and data to the LAN 6. Perform interface processing such as protocol conversion.

  The network multifunction device 1 has the above-described configuration. During facsimile transmission, document image data is read by the reading unit 15, compressed by the codec 18, and stored in the image memory 16. The compressed image data is read from the image memory 16, modulated by the modem 19, and transmitted from the NCU 20 to the communication partner through the PSTN 5. At the time of facsimile reception, the received image data is demodulated by the modem 19, stored in the image memory 16, decoded by the codec 18, and printed by the recording unit 17.

  On the other hand, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 3, the network board 21 includes a TCP / IP protocol control unit 31, an HTTPD control unit 32, a homepage management unit 33, and a document management unit 34. And a memory such as a RAM, a magnetic disk (hard disk) storage device, and the like.

The TCP / IP protocol control unit 31 controls TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol), and the HTTPD control unit 32 uses the data stream transfer function of the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31 to perform HTTPD (Hyper Text Transfer). Protocol Deamon) function is executed, and requests from WWW (World Wide Web) browsers such as personal computers 2, 3, 4 are processed.
Note that HTTPPD is a daemon that provides the functions of an HTTP server, and is used when a web server is operated on a UNIX (registered trademark) operating system.

  The homepage management unit 33 outputs a homepage file to the HTTPD control unit 32 in response to a homepage request from the HTTPD control unit 32, and the document management unit 34 scans documents, fax / fax / In addition to storing / saving documents such as mail-received delivery documents, the list information of the saved documents is converted into HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format files in response to a request from the HTTP PD control unit 32, and the HTTP PD control unit 32 The information output and analyzed from the HTTPD control unit 32 is analyzed to perform processing such as transfer and deletion of a stored document.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, a personal computer 2, 3, 4, etc. connected to the network multifunction device 1 via the LAN 6 has a CPU 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, a display unit 44, an input unit 45, a hard disk drive (HDD). 46 and a LAN interface 47, which are connected via a bus 48.
The CPU 41 controls each part of the hardware of the personal computer 2 via the bus 48 and executes various programs based on the software program stored in the ROM 42. The RAM 43 is configured by an SRAM or the like and is generated when the program is executed. Store temporary data.

The display unit 44 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and the input unit 45 is a keyboard for operating the personal computer 2. The HDD 46 is a storage device with a built-in storage medium that stores programs of various functions and stores various data, monitors UDP / IP packets from the network multifunction peripheral 1, and stores and receives documents. The monitoring program software is installed to notify the user by displaying a pop-up screen in response to the notification, and this program is resident when the personal computer is turned on.
The LAN interface 48 is connected to the LAN 6 and functions in the same manner as the LAN interface 22 described above.

Next, an operation when the user executes posting on the bulletin board of an image stored in the network multifunction peripheral 1 from the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc., circulation processing, and the like will be described.
For example, when the user starts the WWW browser and performs access by designating the IP address of the network MFP 1 on the WWW browser screen displayed on the display unit 44 of the personal computer 2, the HTTPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 is activated. This is detected, and a homepage file described in HTML is read from the homepage management unit 33 and transferred to the personal computer 2 via the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31, the LAN interface 22, and the LAN 6.

When the user selects and gives an instruction to display a document list from the home page, this list display instruction information is transferred to the network multifunction peripheral 1 via the LAN 6 and the HTTPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 detects this. As a result, the HTTP PD control unit 32 instructs the document management unit 34 to transfer the document list, and the document management unit 34 converts the stored document list information into an HTML format file and transfers it to the personal computer 2.
Thereby, the document list screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display unit 44 of the personal computer 2.

  As shown in FIG. 5, at the top of the document list screen, a scan image, a transmission document, a reception document, a shared reception document, a bulletin board, a circulation document, and a processing request document switching tab, “transfer”, “transmission”, “ Function selection buttons such as “print”, “download”, “delete”, “bulletin board”, and “circulation” are displayed. In the lower part of the document list screen, in the case of a received document, a destination name, document classification, number of pages, reception date and time, and the like are displayed.

  If you want to perform bulletin board processing or circulation processing for a certain document, check the document you want to perform bulletin board processing on the above list display screen and click the “bulletin board” button or the “circulation” button. The instruction is transmitted to the network MFP 1 by HTTP POST Method. At this time, an instruction on a bulletin board posting position, an instruction of a circulation target user, and the like are performed, but detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Note that HTTP POST Method is one of the methods for transmitting the contents described in the HTML form to the web server, and is specified in the <= "attribute of the <FORM> tag. When POST is specified, the content described in the form does not appear directly in the URL, so it is possible to transmit long data that does not fit within the URL length limit, and the transmitted content is touched by the user or remains in the history. There is nothing to do.

  The HTTPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 always executes the program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 and determines whether a packet is received from the personal computer 2, 3, 4, etc. via the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31. (Step 101). For example, when it is determined that a packet is received from the personal computer 2, the HTTP PD control unit 32 determines whether or not the received packet is an HTTP packet (step 102). If the received packet is not an HTTP packet, network processing other than HTTP is executed (step 103). If it is determined that the packet is an HTTP packet, has the HTTP PD control unit 32 received an HTTP POST Method & Circular / Bulletin Board instruction? It is determined whether or not (step 104).

  If it is determined in step 104 that the HTTP POST Method & circulation / bulletin board instruction is not specified, the HTTPD control unit 32 executes other processing of HTTP (step 105). The subject and comment contents are converted into image data and transferred to each personal computer of the registered user or registered user (step 106).

Next, the HTTPD control unit 32 reads the image designated by the circulation or bulletin board from the document management unit 34 and transfers it to each personal computer of the designated user or registered user (step 107), and then the UDP / IP packet. In step 108, the designated user or registered user is notified that there is a new document.

  On the other hand, the CPU 41 of the personal computer 2 has resident software for monitoring requests from the network multifunction peripheral 1, and always determines whether or not a packet has been received from the network multifunction peripheral 1, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. (Step 201). If it is determined that the packet is received from the network multifunction peripheral 1, the CPU 41 determines whether the received packet is a new document notification using a UDP / IP packet (step 202). The process is executed (step 203).

  If it is determined that the received packet is a new document notification using a UDP / IP packet, the CPU 41 determines whether or not the new document notification is addressed to itself (step 204). If it is determined that there is, a pop-up screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display unit 44 to display that there is a new document (step 205).

  After displaying the pop-up screen, the CPU 41 determines whether or not a new document display operation has been executed by determining whether or not “open image” on the pop-up screen has been clicked (step 206). If it is determined that the new document display operation has not been executed, the CPU 41 determines whether or not the list document display operation has been executed by determining whether or not “list display” on the pop-up screen has been clicked. If it is determined that the list document display operation has been executed (step 207), the network multifunction device 1 is requested to transfer the document list list (step 208).

  If it is determined in step 207 that the list document display operation has not been executed, the CPU 41 determines whether or not to end the process by determining whether or not “Close” on the pop-up screen has been clicked ( Step 209) If the process is not terminated, the process returns to Step 206. If it is determined that “Close” on the pop-up screen has been clicked, the pop-up screen is erased and then the process returns to Step 201 to determine whether the next packet has been received. Determine whether.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 206 that a new document display operation has been executed, the CPU 41 transfers the subject, comment contents, and circulation or bulletin board instructions already transferred from the network board 21 of the network multifunction peripheral 1 and stored in the HDD 46. The image thus displayed is displayed on the display unit 44 (step 210).

As described above, according to the network multifunction peripheral of the present invention, when the bulletin board / circulation process is executed, the subject, the content of the comment, and the image instructed in the circulation or bulletin board from the network multifunction peripheral to the target terminal device in advance. Since the images are transferred, if the user performs an operation to display a new document on the pop-up screen, the transferred images can be immediately displayed on the display unit of the personal computer, so that multiple users can perform image display operations all at once. The image display will not be delayed even if the operation is performed.
Note that images are transferred all at once when transferring an image from the network multifunction peripheral, but since the image data specifying the receiving terminal device is only transmitted once on the LAN, packets flowing through the communication network do not increase.

  In the above embodiment, the subject and comment contents are transferred before notification of the new document. However, when such a subject and comment contents are unnecessary, they can be omitted. In the above embodiment, the UDP is used as a packet. / IP packets and HTTP POST Method are used, but packets with other equivalent functions can also be adopted.

It is a figure which shows the network structural example of the system provided with the network multifunction device. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the network multifunction peripheral of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of a network board used in the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the document list list screen displayed by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of the network multifunction device in the case of performing a bulletin board process or a circulation process. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of the terminal device when new document notification is performed. It is a figure which shows an example of the pop-up screen of a document reception notification.

Explanation of symbols

1 Network MFP 2, 3, 4 PC 5 PSTN
6 LAN
7 Internet 11, 41 CPU
12, 42 ROM
13, 43 RAM
14 Display / Operation Unit 15 Reading Unit 16 Image Memory 17 Recording Unit 18 Codec 19 Modem 20 NCU
21 Network board 22, 47 LAN I / F
23, 48 Bus 31 TCP / IP protocol control unit 32 HTTPD control unit 33 Homepage management unit 34 Document management unit 44 Display unit 45 Input unit 46 HDD

Claims (4)

A network multifunction device that is connected to a terminal device via a communication network and notifies that there is a new document on the terminal device of the target user when a bulletin board / circulation process of image data is executed,
The control means for controlling the bulletin board / circulation processing is provided, and when the bulletin board / circulation processing of image data is executed from the terminal device, the control means transfers the image data instructed to the circulation or bulletin board to the terminal device of the target user. Then, a network multifunction device that notifies the terminal device of the target user that there is a new document. 2. The network multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, wherein the control means transfers the subject and comment on the new document to the target user, and then transfers the image data instructed by circulation or bulletin board to the terminal device of the target user. A network multifunction device that notifies a terminal device of a target user that there is a new document .   2. The network complex according to claim 1, wherein in the bulletin board process, the control means notifies the terminal devices of all registered users that there is a new document through a pop-up screen. Machine.   2. The network multifunction device according to claim 1, wherein, in the case of circulation processing, the control means notifies a designated user terminal device of a new document by a pop-up screen.

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