JP6732607B2 - Scan system and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a scan system and its control method.

Conventionally, software called a scanner driver has been used to operate an image reading device such as a scanner device in a computer. Above all, a scanner driver having a common interface called TWAIN is called a TWAIN driver. By calling the unified interface of the TWAIN driver, the application can capture an image from the scanner device by a unified method regardless of the scanner device. A method in which the computer issues a scan instruction to the scanner device in this way is called “pull scan”. TWAIN is an interface based on the assumption that a computer and a scanner device are used in a one-to-one relationship. Therefore, in an environment where there are a plurality of scanner devices, the user needs to specify the scanner device that he/she uses before issuing a scan instruction. If it is found that the scanner device is in use after the user gives a scan instruction, the user needs to issue the scan instruction again in order to change to another scanner device.
On the other hand, in response to a “pull scan” in which a computer issues a scan instruction, instructing a scan instruction from a scanner device is called a “push scan”. Generally, a user can use any scanner device by push scan. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-242242 discloses a technique that enables a scan scan by a server, and a scanner device acquires the scan ticket from the server and processes the scan ticket to enable push scan using an arbitrary scanner device.

JP2012-120114A

However, TWAIN is an interface on the assumption that the computer and the scanner device are used in a one-to-one relationship. Therefore, the method of Patent Document 1 cannot support an application using the TWAIN driver, and it is not possible to capture an image into the application using the TWAIN driver by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system capable of capturing an image in an application by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

In order to solve the above problems, a scanner system of the present invention is a system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function, wherein the information processing device scans based on scan settings. A list that includes a ticket generation unit that generates a ticket and a ticket transmission unit that transmits the scan ticket to the server device, and the server device manages the scan ticket received from the information processing device in a list. A management unit, a list transmission unit that transmits the list to the image processing device in response to a list request from the image processing device, and a first transmission unit that transmits the image received from the image processing device to the information processing device. An image transmitting unit of, the image processing apparatus, to the server apparatus, a list requesting unit for requesting the list, and performs a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list, A scan execution unit that generates an image, and a second image transmission unit that transmits the image generated by the scan execution unit to the server device.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a system capable of capturing an image in an application by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

It is a figure which shows the connection form of a scanning system. It is a figure which shows the structure of a client, a server, and a multifunctional device. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a TWAIN driver. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a scan ticket management service. It is a figure which shows the software configuration of a scan ticket processing application. It is a figure which shows the sequence in the use case for one scan. It is a flowchart which shows the whole process of a scan ticket management service. It is a flowchart which shows a scan ticket registration process. It is a flowchart which shows a scan ticket list transmission process. It is a flowchart which shows a scan image transmission process. It is a figure which shows UI of a TWAIN driver. It is a figure which shows UI of a scan ticket processing application. It is a figure which shows a scanning capability, a ticket list, and a UI component. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a sequence at the time of acquiring scan capability in the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing UI components of a TWAIN driver in the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a UI of a TWAIN driver in the second embodiment.

(Example 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a connection form of a scan system. The scanning system includes a server 4000, a client 1000 that is an information processing device such as a computer or tablet used by a user, a multifunction peripheral A2000 having an image processing apparatus having a scan function, and a multifunction peripheral B3000. In the present embodiment, all of them are connected to the network 100, but any connection form may be used as long as the client 1000 and the server 4000, the server 4000 and the multifunction peripheral A 2000 and the multifunction peripheral B 3000 can communicate with each other. The server 4000 may be on the cloud. Further, although an example in which there are two multifunction peripherals is given here, there may be more multifunction peripherals. Furthermore, it can be implemented even if there are two or more servers 4000 and clients 1000.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the client 1000, the server 4000, and the multifunction peripheral A2000. The configuration of the multi-function peripheral B3000 is the same as that of the multi-function peripheral A2000, and a description thereof will be omitted here.
First, the configuration of the client 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. The client 1000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 1040 including a CPU 1041 and a memory 1042. The display unit 1010 is an output device such as a display, and the operation unit 1020 is an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. Further, the storage unit 1030 stores software such as an OS 1032, various applications 1031 and a TWAIN driver 1100. These programs are loaded into the memory 1042 as needed and are executed by the CPU 1041. The OS 1032 is software that controls the basic operation of the client 1000. The network communication unit 1050 connects to the network 100 and inputs/outputs data with an external device. All the processes of the client 1000 are realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 1030 into the memory 1042 in the control unit 1040 and executing it by the CPU 1041. The CPU is an abbreviation for Central Processing Unit.

Next, the configuration of the server 4000 will be described with reference to FIG. The server 4000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 4040 including a CPU 4041 and a memory 4042. The display unit 4010 is an output device such as a display, and the operation unit 4020 is an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. An OS 4032 and various programs 4031 are stored in the storage unit 4030. These pieces of software are loaded into the memory 4042 as needed and are executed by the CPU 4041. The OS 4032 is software that controls the basic operation of the server 4000. Further, among the programs 4031, programs that are resident on the server 4000 and are always operating are called services. The network communication unit 4050 connects to the network 100 and inputs/outputs data with an external device. All the processes of the server 4000 are realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 4030 into the memory 4042 in the control unit 4040 and executing it by the CPU 4041.

Next, the configuration of the multifunction peripheral A2000 will be described with reference to FIG. The multifunction machine A2000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 2040 including a CPU 2041 and a memory 2042. The display unit 2010 is an output device such as a liquid crystal panel, and the operation unit 2020 is an input device including a touch panel and various buttons. Further, the storage unit 2030 stores the OS 2032, the firmware 2031 and various applications 2033 operating on the OS 2032. These pieces of software are loaded into the memory 2042 as needed and are executed by the CPU 2041. The OS 2032 is software that controls the basic operation of the multifunction peripheral A2000.

The network communication unit 2050 connects to the network 100 and inputs/outputs data with an external device. The reading unit 2070 is a scanner that reads characters, photographs, and the like drawn on a document sheet according to an instruction from the control unit 2040 and captures them as digital data in a memory. Specifically, a scan image is obtained by shining light on a sheet, measuring the intensity of reflected light and light with a sensor, and digitizing the same. Although there are CCD and CIS as a reading method, any method may be used in this embodiment. The original document to be read is placed on an automatic paper feeder called a pressure plate or ADF. The multifunction peripheral A2000 also has a printing unit (not shown) and the like, but the description thereof is omitted because it is not directly related to this embodiment. All the processing of the multifunction peripheral A2000 is realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 2030 into the memory 2042 in the control unit 2040 and executing it by the CPU 2041.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the TWAIN driver 1100 shown in FIG. The TWAIN driver is a scanner driver having a common interface called TWAIN.
The UI unit 1110 is a screen display unit that controls the user interface of the TWAIN driver 1100. Specifically, when the application 1031 instructs the TWAIN driver 1100 to display a UI, the UI unit 1110 displays the UI on the display unit 1010 of the client 1000. The UI is used by the user to specify scan settings, and details will be described later.

The scan setting specified by the UI unit 1110 is managed by the scan setting management unit 1120. When the scan settings are confirmed by the scan settings management unit, the scan ticket generation unit 1130 converts the scan settings into digital data called a scan ticket. The scan ticket also describes the user ID of the user who designated the scan settings. The scan ticket may be in the XML format or may be in the binary format uniquely set by the TWAIN driver 1100.

Further, the TWAIN driver 1100 has a communication unit 1140, and performs data communication with the network 100 via the network communication unit 1050 of the client 1000. The communication unit of the TWAIN driver 1100 mainly uses the scan ticket output unit 1150 and the image input/output unit 1160 to communicate with the outside. The scan ticket output unit 1150 (ticket transmission unit) transmits the scan ticket generated by the scan ticket generation unit 1130 to the outside. The image input/output unit 1160 (first image transmission unit) receives a scan image that has arrived from the outside such as a multi-function peripheral, and transmits the scan image to the application 1031.

FIG. 4 shows a software configuration of a scan ticket management service (hereinafter referred to as a management service) 4100, which is one of the programs 4031 shown in FIG. 2B and operates resident on the server 4000. It is a figure.
The management service 4100 is always activated while the server 4000 is activated, and waits for a scan ticket received from the client 1000. The management service 4100 uses the communication unit 4150 to communicate with the external client 1000 and the multifunction peripheral A2000.

The scan ticket received from the client 1000 is received by the scan ticket input/output unit 4160. The received scan ticket is stored in the ticket list 4110 by the ticket list management unit 4120, which is managed by the user management unit 4140 and is sorted for each user. The stored ticket list 4110 is transmitted from the scan ticket input/output unit 4160 to the external multifunction peripheral A2000 or the like. Therefore, the scan ticket input/output unit 4160 has a function as a ticket receiving unit that receives a scan ticket from the client 1000 and a function as a list transmitting unit that transmits a ticket list to the multifunction peripheral.

On the other hand, the management service 4100 receives the scan image received from the multi-function peripheral A2000 or the multi-function peripheral B3000 at the image input/output unit 4170, and transmits the scan image to the corresponding client 1000. The plug & play management unit 4180 controls the plug & play ID as if the management service 4100 inside the server 4000 from the perspective of the client 1000 is one multifunction peripheral or scanner.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a software configuration of a scan ticket processing application 2100 which is one of the applications 2033 shown in FIG. 2C and which operates on the multifunction peripheral A2000.
The scan ticket processing application 2100 may be installed from the factory of the multifunction peripheral A2000, or may be configured in a format that can be installed later by the user. The scan ticket processing application 2100 also has a UI unit 2120 and a communication unit 2140, displays a user interface on the display unit 2010 of the multifunction peripheral A2000, and communicates with the outside. The user management unit 2110 authenticates a user who attempts to log in to the multifunction peripheral A2000. The ticket list request unit 2170 makes a list request to the server 4000 via the communication unit 2140 when the user performs an operation of requesting a scan ticket list. The list request includes the user ID of the logged-in user acquired from the user management unit 2110.

The UI unit 2120 (display unit) mainly displays a list of scan tickets input by the scan ticket input unit 2150. The scan is started when the user selects a scan ticket that the user wants to scan from the scan tickets displayed on the UI unit 2120 and presses the “start scan” button. At the time of scanning, the scan executing unit 2130 operates to generate a scan image from the reading unit 2070. The generated scan image is transmitted to the external server 4000 or the like by the image output unit 2160 (second image transmission unit).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence of each of the client 1000, the server 4000, and the multifunction peripheral A2000 in the use case for one scan. The operation performed by the management service 4100 will be described later with reference to FIGS.
First, when the user gives a scan instruction with the application 1031 on the client 1000, the application 1031 issues a scan request to the TWAIN driver 1100 (S5100).
Upon receiving the scan request, the TWAIN driver 1100 newly generates a scan ticket (S5101). Then, the TWAIN driver 1100 transmits the generated scan ticket to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S5102). A unique identifier is given to the scan ticket. The identifier is called a scan ticket ID and is stored inside the scan ticket.
The management service 4100 having received the scan ticket stores the scan ticket in the ticket list 4110 (S5103).

After that, the user goes to the front of the multifunction peripheral A2000 and logs in to the multifunction peripheral A2000. The user operates the display unit 2010 to activate the scan ticket processing application 2100 and makes a scan ticket list request (S5104). The scan ticket list request includes the user ID of the logged-in user. The scan ticket list request of S5104 is received by the management service 4100 of the server 4000, and the scan ticket list corresponding to the list request is returned (S5105). The scan ticket processing application 2100 on the multifunction peripheral A2000 displays the received scan ticket list on the display unit 2010 (S5106).
The user places a sheet of the document on the reading unit 2070, selects an arbitrary scan ticket, and presses the scan start button 2126. When the scan start button 2126 is pressed, the scan ticket processing application 2100 executes a scan and generates a scan image (S5107). Then, the scan ticket processing application 2100 transmits the scan image and the identifier called the scan ticket ID stored in the scan ticket to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S5108).
The management service 4100 transmits the received scan image to the TWAIN driver 1100 of the client 1000 (S5109).
The TWAIN driver 1100 transmits the received scan image to the application 1031 (S5110).

The sequence described above is an example of the case where the multifunction peripheral A2000 is used, but the same result is actually obtained when the multifunction peripheral B3000 is used. By executing the above-mentioned sequence by each software, it becomes possible to capture an image into an application using the TWAIN driver 1100 by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

Next, the detailed operation of the management service 4100 will be described using the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 to 10.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart outlining the processing of the management service 4100 operating on the server 4000.
The management service 4100 starts operation based on a connection request from the external network 100. When there is a connection request (S600), the management service 4100 first opens a connection in the connection management unit 4130 (S610). As a result, network communication with the external client 1000, the multifunction peripheral A2000, or the like can be performed via the network 100. Each connection is given a unique identifier. This identifier is called a connection ID.

After that, when the management service 4100 receives the scan ticket (S620), the scan ticket registration process described later is performed (S630).
On the other hand, when the management service 4100 receives the scan ticket list request (S640), the scan ticket list transmission process (S650) described later is performed.
When the management service 4100 starts receiving the scan image (S660), the scan image transmitting process (S670) described later is performed. Since the scanned image has a large data size, the management service 4100 starts the scanned image transmission process even while receiving the scanned image data.
If the service ends (S680), the management service 4100 closes all open connections (S690) and ends. Unless the service ends, the management service 4100 continues to wait for a connection request.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan ticket registration process (S630) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires the connection ID of the connection that received the scan ticket in S620 from the connection management unit 4130 (S631). Then, the management service 4100 adds the connection ID to the received scan ticket (S632).

Next, the management service 4100 acquires the user ID described in the received scan ticket (S633). Then, the management service 4100 confirms in the ticket list management unit 4120 whether or not the scan ticket list of the user exists in the ticket list 4110 (S634).
If it exists, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket list from the ticket list 4110 (S635). If it does not exist, the management service 4100 newly creates a scan ticket list for the user ID (S638).

Then, the management service 4100 adds the previously received scan ticket to the scan ticket list and registers it in the ticket list 4110.
According to the above flow, the scan ticket received from the client 1000 is registered in the ticket list 4110 for each user with the connection ID information added.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan ticket list transmission process (S650) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires the user ID included in the scan ticket list request (S651). Then, the management service 4100 confirms in the ticket list management unit 4120 whether or not the scan ticket list of the user ID exists in the ticket list 4110 (S652).

When it is determined that the user ID exists, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket list of the user ID from the ticket list 4110 (S653). Then, the management service 4100 transmits the scan ticket list to the connection for which the scan ticket list request has been made (S655).
When it is determined that the scan ticket list does not exist, the management service 4100 transmits an empty scan ticket list to the connection that requested the scan ticket list (S654).

Then, the management service 4100 closes the connection for which the scan ticket list request has been made (S656).
Through the above flow, the management service 4100 can send only the scan ticket list of the requesting user in response to the scan ticket list request from the multifunction peripheral A2000.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan image transmission process (S670) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket ID received together with the scan image (S671). Then, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket corresponding to the scan ticket ID from the ticket list 4110 (S672).
Next, the management service 4100 acquires the connection ID stored in the acquired scan ticket (S673). Then, the management service 4100 starts transmitting the scan image to the corresponding connection (S674).

After that, the management service 4100 continues to receive all the scan images until the reception is completed (S675). When the reception of the scanned image is completed, the management service 4100 causes the connection management unit 4130 to close the connection that received the scanned image (S676).
After that, the management service 4100 continues the transmission of the scan image until the transmission is completed (S677). When the transmission of the scanned image is completed, the management service 4100 closes the connection that transmitted the scanned image in the connection management unit 4130 (S678).
Finally, the management service 4100 deletes the corresponding scan ticket from the ticket list 4110 (S679).

According to the above flow, only the scan ticket for which the transmission of the scan image is completed is deleted from the ticket list 4110 of the server 4000, and the scan ticket for which the transmission is not completed remains in the server 4000. In addition, only connections for which scan images have been sent will be closed, and connections that have not been sent will remain open.

Next, the user interface in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100. The UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is a setting screen displayed according to a UI display request from the application 1031 and having a dialog box appearance, for example. Displayed on the UI are various scan settings. The UI 1111 is displayed on the display unit 1010 of the client 1000 by the UI unit 1110 that is a screen display unit that displays a setting screen.
The user can input an arbitrary character string in the job name 1112. In the document size 1113, the size of the document to be read by the scanner is designated. A reading resolution is designated as the resolution 1114. In the scanner 1115, the user specifies where to place the manuscript paper. When the document is placed in the ADF, it is possible to specify either single-sided reading or double-sided reading. In the color mode 1116, it is designated whether the scan image is acquired as color data or monochrome data.

FIG. 12A is a table showing an example of options in each scan setting item. FIG. 12A shows an example of various scan settings displayed on the setting screen of the UI 1111 and options for each setting displayed on the dialog box.
A feature of the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 of this embodiment is that the options are decided regardless of the actual capability of the multifunction peripheral. As a specific example, FIG. 12B shows the scanning capabilities of the multifunction peripheral A2000 and the multifunction peripheral B3000 of this embodiment. Although the multifunction peripheral B3000 does not support the A3 size document size, the A11 size is also included in the document size options of the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100. This is because the TWAIN driver 1100 of the present embodiment is created so that it does not depend on a specific multifunction peripheral and any multifunction peripheral may exist in the system. In this embodiment, the TWAIN driver 1100 displays all possible options as scan setting items.
The ticket list of FIG. 12C shows an example in which a plurality of scan tickets are registered in the ticket list 4110 of the server 4000 using the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100. You can see that scan tickets with various settings are registered.

When the user presses the scan start button 1118 on the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100, the UI 1111 is closed and the TWAIN driver 1100 is in a waiting state for receiving a scan image. When the user presses the cancel button 1117, the scan setting specified by the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is discarded and the focus is returned to the application 1031.

FIG. 13 shows the UI 2127 of the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the multifunction peripheral A2000 in this embodiment. The UI unit 2120 of the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays the UI 2127 on the display unit 2010 of the multifunction peripheral A2000.
In the upper left user name 2121, the user name currently logged in to the multifunction peripheral A2000 is displayed. When the list acquisition button 2122 is pressed by the user, the scan ticket processing application 2100 makes a scan ticket list request 5102 to the server 4000. Then, based on the received scan ticket list, a list of scan tickets that can be executed by the multifunction peripheral A2000 is displayed in the scan ticket list 2123. Here, one scan ticket is displayed in one line in the scan ticket list 2123.
The user can enter the selected state by pressing one scan ticket. When the detail button 2124 is pressed while the user selects an arbitrary scan ticket, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays more detailed scan settings. When the user presses the delete button 2125, the scan ticket processing application 2100 deletes the display of the selected scan ticket and issues a delete request together with the corresponding scan ticket ID to the server 4000. The processing upon deletion request is omitted in this embodiment. When the user presses the scan start button 2126, the scan ticket processing application 2100 starts scanning according to the settings of the selected scan ticket.

When the ticket list shown in FIG. 12C is registered in the server 4000, the scan ticket displayed in the scan ticket list 2123 of the UI 2127 displayed on the multifunction peripheral A2000 is shown in FIG. D). As described above, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays only the list of scan tickets that can be executed by the multifunction peripheral A2000 in the scan ticket list 2123. As shown in FIG. 12B, in the multifunction peripheral A2000, only "ADF single sided" is supported and "ADF double sided" cannot be implemented. Therefore, the scan ticket whose job name is “Requirement” shown in FIG. 12C is not displayed on the multifunction peripheral A2000.
Similarly, when the ticket list shown in FIG. 12C is registered in the server 4000, FIG. 12E shows the scan ticket list 2123 displayed by the scan ticket processing application 3100 of the multi-function peripheral B3000. Is. Since only the job ticket whose job name is "receipt" can be executed in the multifunction peripheral B3000 with a document size and resolution, only "receipt" is displayed.
As described above, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays only the scan ticket that can be executed only by the corresponding multifunction device as an option, thereby preventing the user from mistakenly selecting the scan ticket that cannot be executed. It will be possible.

Depending on the embodiment, the scan ticket processing application 2100 may be configured to display a scan ticket having a scan setting that cannot be executed by the corresponding multifunction peripheral. In this case, a similar effect can be obtained by displaying a scan ticket that cannot be executed by marking or coloring it so that the user can easily understand it. Further, when a scan ticket that cannot be executed is selected and the scan start button 2126 is pressed, the following processing may be performed in a pseudo manner.

For example, if a scan ticket with a document size of A3 size is selected in the multi-function peripheral B3000 having a scan capability of A4 size as the maximum document size, A4 size document is scanned twice for A3 size one page. Scan in two steps. Then, the scan images are combined to create a scan image of A3 size. In this case, the user is instructed to fold an A3 size document in half and scan the document twice.

For example, when a scan ticket having a resolution of 600 dpi is selected in the multifunction peripheral B3000 having a scanning capability of 300 dpi, the scan image is first generated at 300 dpi. Then, one pixel is duplicated into four pixels of 2 pixels×2 pixels to artificially create a scan image of 600 dpi.

For example, if the ADF double-sided scan ticket is selected in the multifunction peripheral B3000 having the ADF capable of scanning only one side, the one-sided scanning is performed twice for the front side and the back side scanning. Then, the scan results on the front surface are arranged on odd pages, and the scan results on the back surface are arranged in reverse order and arranged on even pages. As a result, a scan image of a plurality of pages is generated, which is equivalent to the case where an ADF capable of double-sided scanning is used. In this case, the user is instructed to place a bundle of originals on the ADF for scanning, then turn over the originals again and place the bundle of originals on the ADF for scanning.
In this way, even if the scan ticket has a scan setting that cannot be executed by the corresponding multifunction device, a pseudo scan image is generated so that the scan can be performed even in an environment where only the multifunction device with insufficient capability exists. Is possible.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the scan ticket created by the TWAIN driver of the client can be selected in the multi-function peripheral. Then, the scan image generated based on the scan ticket can be sent to the application using the TWAIN driver from the arbitrary multifunction peripheral by the push scan method.

(Example 2)
In the first embodiment, the scan system capable of coping with multi-function peripherals having various capabilities by displaying all possible setting items on the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100 has been described. In the second embodiment, a more flexible system that dynamically creates a UI 1111 that is a scan setting screen of the TWAIN driver 1100 will be described. The connection form, respective components, scanning capability, etc. in the scan system of the second embodiment are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted and only the differences will be described.

In the second embodiment, the TWAIN driver 1100 on the client 1000 grasps the scan capabilities of all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scan system. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing a process in which the TWAIN driver 1100 acquires each scanning capability.
First, the TWAIN driver 1100 makes a scan capability request to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S6100). The timing for issuing the scan capability request may be any time, but, for example, when the scan system is constructed or when the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is displayed is considered.

The management service 4100 having received the scan capability request issues the scan capability request to all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scan system. Specifically, first, a scan capability request is issued to the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the multifunction peripheral A2000 (S6101). In response to this, the scan ticket processing application 2100 transmits the scan capability of the multifunction peripheral A 2000 that is operating by itself (S6102). The scanning capability is specifically the capability as shown in FIG. 12B, and relates to, for example, the document size, the image resolution, the ADF, and the presence or absence of image color.
Next, the management service 4100 issues a scan capability request to the scan ticket processing application 3100 of the multifunction peripheral B3000 (S6103). The scan ticket processing application 3100 transmits the scan capability of the multifunction device B3000 in which the scan ticket processing application 3100 is operating, as in the case of the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the multifunction device A2000 (S6104). In this way, the management service 4100 of the server 4000 acquires the scanning capability from all the multifunction peripherals registered in the system in advance.

Then, the management service 4100 of the server 4000 sends a list of scan capabilities of all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scan system to the TWAIN driver 1100 (S6105). As a result, the TWAIN driver 1100 can maintain the scanning capability of all the multifunction peripherals in the system. In the second embodiment, the example in which the scanning capability is acquired from the pre-registered multi-function peripheral is given. However, it is also possible to search for the multi-function peripheral within the network 100 and dynamically acquire the found multi-function peripheral. Is.

FIG. 15 is a table showing options of each scan setting item of the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100 according to the second embodiment.
The TWAIN driver 1100, which holds the scanning capabilities of all the multifunction peripherals in the system, merges the scanning capabilities of the respective multifunction peripherals at the time of UI display and determines the options of the scan setting items. Compared to FIG. 12A showing the options of each setting item of the UI of the TWAIN driver in the first embodiment, the setting items on both sides of the ADF cannot be selected. This is because neither the multifunction peripheral A2000 nor the multifunction peripheral B3000 is equipped with a double-sided readable ADF. As described above, since the TWAIN driver 1100 performs UI control, the TWAIN driver 1100 eliminates the need for the user to specify scan settings that cannot be performed by the multifunction peripheral in the system.

In addition, the TWAIN driver 1100 may display a list of multifunction devices available in the current scan settings to the user by using the scanning capabilities of all the multifunction devices in the system that the TWAIN driver 1100 holds. it can. FIG. 16 illustrates a UI when a list of multifunction devices that can be used on the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100 is displayed in the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16A, when 300 dpi is selected as the resolution, the multifunction peripheral A2000 and the multifunction peripheral B3000 are displayed as "usable devices". On the other hand, when the user changes the resolution to 600 dpi, only the multifunction peripheral A2000 is displayed as the “usable device” as shown in FIG. As a result, the user can check at a glance which multifunction device can execute the scan settings that are about to start scanning, and it is therefore possible to carry the document to be scanned to the appropriate multifunction device without hesitation. Become.

As described above, in this embodiment, the setting items in the UI of the TWAIN driver can be changed according to the scanning capability of the multi-function peripheral. Therefore, the user does not have to specify the scan setting that cannot be executed by the multi-function peripheral in the system by the TWAIN driver.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program. It can also be realized by the processing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist thereof.

Claims (14)

A scan system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function,
The information processing device,
A ticket generator that generates a scan ticket based on scan settings,
A ticket transmission unit for transmitting the scan ticket to the server device,
The server device is
A list management unit that manages the scan ticket received from the information processing device in a list;
A list transmission unit that transmits the list to the image processing apparatus in response to a list request from the image processing apparatus,
A first image transmission unit that transmits the image received from the image processing device to the information processing device,
The image processing device,
A list request unit that requests the list to the server device;
A scan execution unit that executes a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list and generates an image;
A second image transmission unit that transmits the image generated by the scan execution unit to the server device. The scan ticket is data including the scan setting, the user ID, and the scan ticket ID,
The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the scan setting includes at least one of a document size, a resolution, a color mode, and an image reading unit. The scan system according to claim 2, wherein the list is created for each user ID of the scan ticket. The list management unit acquires a user ID from the scan ticket received from the information processing apparatus, and if a list of the user ID is present, registers the scan ticket in the list and lists the user ID. 4. The scan system according to claim 3, wherein a list is created when the scan ticket does not exist, and the scan ticket is registered in the created list. The request from the list request unit includes a user ID,
If the list corresponding to the user ID included in the list request from the image processing apparatus exists, the list transmission unit transmits the list and the user ID included in the list request from the image processing apparatus. The scan system according to claim 1, wherein an empty list is transmitted when a list corresponding to No. exists. The information processing apparatus includes a connection management unit that adds a connection ID corresponding to a connection that has received the scan ticket to the scan ticket,
The second image transmission unit transmits, together with the image, a scan ticket ID of the scan ticket used to generate the image to a server device,
The first image transmission unit acquires the scan ticket corresponding to the scan ticket ID from the list, and transfers the scan ticket to the information processing apparatus via the connection corresponding to the connection ID included in the acquired scan ticket. The scanning system according to claim 1, wherein the image is transmitted. 7. The scan according to claim 1, wherein the list management unit deletes the scan ticket used to generate the image from the list when transmission of the image is completed. system. The information processing apparatus includes an application and a scanner driver,
The scanner driver includes the ticket generation unit and the ticket transmission unit,
8. The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the ticket generation unit receives the scan request from the application and generates the scan ticket. 9. The scan system according to claim 8, wherein the scanner driver of the information processing device includes an image output unit that receives the image from the server device and outputs the received image to the application. The scan system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the scanner driver is a TWAIN driver. Further comprising a display unit for displaying the list received from the server device,
The display unit displays only scan tickets that can be implemented by the image processing apparatus, from the list,
11. The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the scan executing unit selects a scan ticket for executing the scan from the scan tickets displayed on the display unit. .. The information processing apparatus has a screen display unit that displays a setting screen for performing scan settings,
The screen display unit acquires the scan capabilities of all the image processing apparatuses in the scan system, and determines the options for the scan setting on the setting screen based on the acquired scan capabilities. The scanning system according to any one of 1 to 10. The scan system according to claim 12, wherein the screen display unit displays an image processing apparatus capable of performing a scan with a current scan setting. A method for controlling a scan system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function,
In the information processing device, a ticket generating step of generating a scan ticket based on scan settings,
In the information processing device, a ticket transmitting step of transmitting the scan ticket to the server device,
In the server device, a list management step of managing the scan ticket received from the information processing device in a list,
In the image processing device, a list request step of requesting the list to the server device,
In the server device, a list transmitting step of transmitting the list to the image processing device in response to a list request from the image processing device,
In the image processing apparatus, a scan execution step of executing a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list received from the server apparatus to generate an image,
In the image processing apparatus, a first image transmitting step of transmitting the image generated in the scan executing step to the server device,
A second image transmitting step of transmitting the image received from the image processing apparatus to the information processing apparatus in the server apparatus.

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