JP7283956B2 - IMAGE READING DEVICE, CONTROL METHOD AND PROGRAM OF IMAGE READING DEVICE - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for reading the contents printed on a document, a control method for the image reading apparatus, and a program.

In general, an image reading device and a personal computer (PC) controlling the device are connected via a USB or the like in order to read the contents printed on a document and convert them into image data. In that case, the general method of use is to install software and a driver for controlling the image reading device in the PC. However, in a PC installed with a general operating system, PC management authority is required in order to install software. Moreover, even if the user has the management authority of the PC, when using a plurality of image reading devices, it is necessary to install the drivers for the number of devices, which is cumbersome.

In recent years, with the development of networks, the number of image reading apparatuses that can be directly connected to networks is increasing. Some of such image reading apparatuses can be accessed from a web browser such as a PC.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-200003 discloses a technique of using an image reading device using a web browser that operates on a PC in a form in which the image reading device and the PC are connected via a network.

One image reading apparatus connected to a network is often used by a plurality of users. In order to restrict the simultaneous use of such an image reading device by multiple users, it is common to grant usage rights to only one PC currently in use and to exclusively control requests from other PCs. is performed on After the scan is completed, the use authority is given to the PC that next requests the scan, and control is performed so that the request from the PC is received.

JP-A-2005-45437

Although there is a scanner system that reads an image via a web browser as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200010, the mechanism that enables reading of the document has a problem that it is not convenient to use .

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism that eliminates the troublesomeness of installing a driver and enables easy-to-use document reading.

The present invention is an image reading apparatus that reads an image from a document, and performs processing according to a request from an information processing apparatus that can communicate via a network without installing a driver for operating the image reading apparatus. When the processing is being performed, control means for performing exclusive control not to accept requests from other information processing devices, and access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device are displayed. and an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser in response to a request from the web browser, and capable of accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser. providing means, wherein the control means does not accept a request from the other information processing apparatus when the image is being selected on the operation screen after the image reading is completed. and

According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the troublesomeness of driver installation and to read a document with good usability .

1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an image reading unit; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the control configuration of the image reading apparatus; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a document detection sensor; 5 is a flowchart showing an example of control processing for document detection; FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining processing until a user can download a scan application from an image reading device to a PC; FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a screen obtained by a user operating a web browser running on a PC and making a screen request to the image reading apparatus; FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a screen obtained by a user operating a web browser running on a PC and making a screen request to the image reading apparatus; The figure which shows an example of a structure of a download file. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of device configuration description; 4 is a flowchart for explaining activation of a scan application in a PC; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a scan application screen; 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the scan application; FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining scan session ID acquisition processing; FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining error detection in an image reading apparatus; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of task processing for managing scan session IDs in the image reading apparatus; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a connection form of an image reading device; The figure which shows an example of a structure of the system which shows 3rd Embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining the flow of the scan using a mobile terminal. FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a menu screen displayed on the UI unit of the scanner; FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a URL display screen displayed on the UI unit of the scanner; FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a scan setting screen displayed on the UI unit of the mobile terminal in the third embodiment; FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a scanning screen displayed on the UI unit of the mobile terminal; FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a scanning screen displayed on the UI unit of the mobile terminal; The figure which shows an example of the screen in use by other users displayed on the UI part of a portable terminal. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of a web application mode termination process according to the third embodiment; FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of an end confirmation screen displayed on the UI unit of the scanner according to the third embodiment; FIG. FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of a scan setting screen displayed on the UI unit of the mobile terminal in the fourth embodiment; FIG. FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of a passcode input screen displayed on the UI unit of the scanner according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of a passcode input screen displayed on the UI unit of the scanner according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a web application mode ending process according to the fourth embodiment; FIG.

[First embodiment]
Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, each following embodiment is an illustration, and this invention is not limited to the content of each embodiment. Also, in each of the following drawings, descriptions of components that are not necessary for the description of the embodiments will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an image reading apparatus 100 showing an embodiment of the invention.
A document platen 102 stacks and stores the document 101 to be read.
Documents on the platen 102 are detected by a platen plate detection sensor 110 , separated one by one by a paper feed roller 106 , and sent to a transport path 108 . The document fed by the feed roller 106 is transported along the transport path 108 by the transport roller 107 and discharged to the discharge unit 103 . Note that the paper feed roller 106 may be composed of a pickup roller and a separating feeding section in which a feeding roller and a separating roller provided downstream of the pickup roller are arranged to face each other.
The discharge unit 103 stacks and stores the document 101 for which image reading processing has been completed.
A discharge unit document detection sensor 111 detects the presence or absence of discharged document sheets stacked and accommodated in the discharge unit 103 .

A registration sensor 109 detects the document 101 conveyed on the conveying path 108 . When the registration sensor 109 detects the document 101, the image reading unit 104 starts reading the image formed on the document. In this embodiment, two image reading units 104 are provided on both sides of the transport path 108 , one reading the front side of the document 101 and the other reading the back side of the document 101 . Note that the configuration may be such that there is only one image reading unit 104 . A background plate 105 is provided at a position facing each image reading unit 104 . The background plate 105 is, for example, a black member.
A discharge port sensor 112 detects whether the document 101 remains on the transport path 108 or is discharged to the discharge section 103 .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the image reading unit 104. As shown in FIG.
The interior of the image reading unit 104 is hermetically sealed by a housing 1041 and a glass plate 1042 provided facing the transport path 108 .

Inside the image reading unit 104, a line image sensor 1043 and a pair of light emitting portions 1044a and 1044b are provided.
The line image sensor 1043 extends in a direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the conveying direction of the document 101, and reads an image for one line in the main scanning direction at one time. The line image sensor 1043 is, for example, a CCD line sensor or contact image sensor.

The light emitting unit 1044a is arranged upstream of the line image sensor 1043 in the direction in which the document 101 is conveyed, and has a light source that emits visible light. The light emitting unit 1044b has a light source arranged downstream of the line image sensor 1043 in the transport direction.

The line image sensor 1043 is arranged so as to be sandwiched between a pair of light emitting portions 1044a and 1044b. Each of the pair of light emitting units 1044a and 1044b extends substantially parallel to the line image sensor 1043, and is composed of, for example, an LED array composed of a plurality of LEDs.
The line image sensor 1043 receives and detects reflected light emitted by the light emitting units 1044a and 1044b and reflected by the document 101, as indicated by broken arrows in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the control configuration of the image reading apparatus 100. As shown in FIG.
The control unit 10 of the image reading device 100 includes a CPU 11 , ROM 12 , RAM 13 , input/output I/F 14 and communication I/F 15 .

The CPU 11 executes programs stored in the ROM 12 and controls the entire image reading apparatus 100 . The ROM 12 stores programs executed by the CPU 11 and fixed data. The RAM 13 stores variable data such as image data read by the line image sensor 1043 and calculation results of the CPU 11 . ROM 12 and RAM 13 may be other storage devices.

The input/output I/F 14 is connected to a drive circuit 24 that drives the light emitting units 1044a and 1044b, and an image processing circuit 26 that performs image processing such as shading correction on the image read by the line image sensor 1043. FIG. The ADC 25 is an analog/digital converter that converts the analog image signal output by the line image sensor 1043 into digital image data.
The CPU 11 acquires image data output from the image processing circuit 26 via the input/output I/F 14 .

A communication I/F 15 is an interface for connecting with a personal computer (PC) 200 . For example, image data read by the image reading device 100 is output to the PC 200 via the communication I/F 15 . Communication I/F 15 includes a network interface, and image reading apparatus 100 is communicably connected to PC 200 via a network as shown in FIG. 17, which will be described later.

In addition, a light emitting unit driving circuit 123 and an analog/digital converter (ADC) 124 are also connected to the control unit 10 .
A light-emitting unit drive circuit 123 drives the document detection light-emitting unit 121 . The document detection light emitting section 121 constitutes the document platen document detection sensor 110 and the discharge section document detection sensor 111 .
The ADC 124 converts the analog signal received by the document detection light receiving section 122 into digital data.

Next, processing executed by the image reading apparatus 100 will be described.
The image reading apparatus 100 starts reading the document 101 when the user instructs to start reading via the PC 200, for example. The CPU 11 first drives the paper feed roller 106 to start conveying the document 101 . When the registration sensor 109 detects that the document 101 has reached the reading position of the image reading unit 104, the CPU 11 controls the light emission of the light emitting units 1044a and 1044b, drives the line image sensor 1043, and reads the document 101. read the image of

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of document detection sensors such as the document platen document detection sensor 110 and the discharge unit document detection sensor 111 .
In the document detection sensors such as the document platen document detection sensor 110 and the discharge section document detection sensor 111, the document detection light emitting section 121 is a light emitting section such as an LED. The document detection light emitting unit 121 turns on and off under the control of the CPU 11 .
The document detection light-receiving section 122 is a light-receiving body including a condenser lens. The document detection light receiving unit 122 photoelectrically converts the received light and outputs the converted light to the CPU 11 via the ADC 124 . The document detection process will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of a document detection control process executed by the CPU 11 . The processing of this flowchart is implemented by the CPU 11 reading out and executing a program stored in the ROM 12 .

First, the CPU 11 causes the document detection light emitting unit (LED) 121 to emit light (S501). Further, the CPU 11 operates the received light A/D converter (S502), waits for a predetermined A/D conversion time (S503), and obtains the amount of received light by the document detection light receiving section 122 (S504). Let the value obtained here be V1.

Next, the CPU 11 turns off the document detection light emitting unit (LED) 121 (S505). Further, the CPU 11 operates the received light A/D converter (S506), waits for a predetermined A/D conversion time (S507), and acquires the amount of received light by the document detection light receiving section 122 (S508). Let the value obtained here be V2.

Next, the CPU 11 determines whether or not there is a document based on the formula "|V2-V1|>S" (S509). If |V2-V1|>S (Yes in S509), the CPU 11 determines that the state is as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when |V2-V1|≤S (No in S509), the CPU 11 determines that the state is as shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram showing how the image reading apparatus 100 is connected to a network environment Local Area Network (LAN) as an example of the connection mode.
As shown in FIG. 17, when connected to the LAN 300, the image reading apparatus 100 can be used from a plurality of host computers (PC200a to PC200n). Note that the PC 200a to PC 200n are referred to as PC 200 when they are not distinguished from each other.

6 to 8, the processing up to the user downloading the scan application from the image reading apparatus 100 to the PC 200 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram for explaining the process until the user can download the scan application from the image reading apparatus 100 to the PC 200. As shown in FIG. In this sequence diagram, the processing of the PC 200 is realized by the CPU of the PC 200 executing a web browser (web browser) program stored in the HDD or the like. Further, the processing of the image reading apparatus 100 is realized by the CPU 11 executing a program stored in the ROM 12 .

7 and 8 are diagrams showing examples of screens obtained when the user operates the web browser running on the PC 200 to make a screen request to the image reading apparatus 100. FIG. In this embodiment, screen requests, scan commands, and image data requests from the PC 200 to the image reading apparatus 100 are all performed using the http protocol using the network port 80, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, the image reading apparatus 100 of this embodiment is connected to the network using a fixed IP address. This IP address is device-specific data stored in the ROM 12 in advance, and is notified to the user, for example, by being attached to the exterior of the image reading device 100 (not shown). The user can connect to the image reading device 100 using this IP address. Note that the IP address of the image reading device 100 can be changed, and may be automatically obtained by a method such as DHCP.

As shown in FIG. 6, first, the user operates the PC 200 to make an http connection from the web browser of the PC 200 to the image reading apparatus 100 (S601). In this example, the IP address of the image reading device 100 is 192.168.0.10. In response, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 instructs the web browser of the PC 200 to redirect to the login screen (S602). In response, the web browser of PC 200 accesses the login screen (S603). In response, the image reading apparatus 100 transmits a login screen as shown in FIG. 7 to the web browser of the PC 200 (S604). Here, the image reading device 100 stores the IP address of the PC 200 included in the http request header in the RAM 13 as an access PC.
The web browser of PC 200 that has received the data transmitted in S604 displays a login screen as shown in FIG. 7 based on the received data.

After that, when the user inputs a login name and password from the login screen as shown in FIG. 7 and presses the "Login" button, the web browser of the PC 200 sends the entered login name and password to the image reader. 100 (S605).

Upon receiving this login name and password, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 performs login processing (S606). In this login process, the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 verifies the login name and password. The login name and password are data stored in advance in the ROM 12 and held by the device. Here, if it is determined that the login request is incorrect as a result of verification of the login name and password, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 controls to return to S602 and redo the processing. On the other hand, as a result of verifying the login name and password, if it is determined that the correct login name and password have been sent, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 generates a session ID and stores it in the RAM 13, and then saves the session ID as a cookie. set. Here, the image reading device 100 stores the IP address of the PC 200 included in the http request header in the RAM 13 as a login PC. In the login process executed in S606, the login name and password may be registered in advance in the ROM 12 or other database. You can judge what
Further, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 instructs to redirect to "webmenu.html" (S607).

The web browser of PC 200 that has received the instruction of S607 saves the cookie. Then, the web browser of PC 200 accesses "webmenu.html" together with the cookie (S608).

When the web browser accesses "webmenu.html", the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 verifies the session ID stored in the RAM 13 in S606 and the session ID included in the cookie corresponding to the access (S609). All subsequent web requests are verified using the session ID set in the cookie.

As a result of the verification, if the session ID in the RAM 13 is different from the session ID in the cookie, or if the session ID is not included in the cookie, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines that the session ID is not compatible, and returns to step S602. control to start over. On the other hand, if the session ID stored in the RAM 13 is equal to the session ID of the cookie as a result of the verification, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines that the session ID is correct, and displays a screen as shown in FIG. 8A. is sent to the web browser of PC 200 (S610).
The web browser of PC 200 receiving this displays a screen as shown in FIG. 8(a).

The IP address of the image reading apparatus 100 is displayed in a text box arranged in the input form 801 on the screen of FIG. 8A.
A "download" button 802 for downloading the scan application is also arranged on the screen in FIG. 8(a). When a “download” button 802 is pressed, the web browser of PC 200 transmits a scan application download request to image reading apparatus 100 . In response to this scan application download request, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 generates a scan application download file, which will be described later, and transmits it to the PC 200 . As a result, the scan application for executing the scan locally (that is, on the PC 200) is downloaded to the PC 200. FIG. Further, the image reading device 100 stores the IP address of the PC 200 included in the http request header of the download request in the RAM 13 as a download PC.
Note that the user can change the IP address of the image reading apparatus from which the scan application is downloaded by using the text box and "change" button arranged in the input form 801 .

When the download of the scan application is completed, the web browser of the PC 200 displays the completion of the download in the status bar 803 as shown in FIG. 8B, and the user can easily start the download application. It becomes possible. Note that the download button 802 shown in FIG. 8A is merely an example, and a button having another function (for example, a scan setting button) may have an equivalent function.

Next, the download file of the scan application will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a scan application download file generated by the image reading apparatus 100. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9, a startup application Launcher 901 is located at the top address 000000h of the download file. When generating the download file, the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 reads the Launcher 901 stored in the ROM 12, which is a non-volatile memory, and adds it to the download file.

A compressed file 902 is arranged at a location continuing from address 001000h after Launcher 901 . The compressed file 902 stores an execution file ScanApplication.exe necessary for scanning operation, an image processing engine for performing gamma correction, device configuration, and the like. ScanApplication.exe is an application program that operates on the PC 200 that can communicate via a network and uses the image reading device 100 to read a document. Also, the image processing engine is composed of various DLLs and the like. In this embodiment, the Zip format is used to generate the compressed file 902, but the format is not limited to this. When generating the download file, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 reads ScanApplication.exe, image processing engine, etc. stored in the ROM 12 and adds them to the compressed file 902 .

DeviceConfiguration.xml is data expressed in XML format as shown in FIG.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of DeviceConfiguration.xml included in the download file.
As shown in FIG. 10, DeviceConfiguration.xml stores settings for various devices. For example, in addition to a session ID and a scan session ID indicating exclusive rights related to scanning, which will be described later, set values such as the device name, MAC address, main body IP address, and image reading capability value are saved. Note that the name of the device, the MAC address, the IP address of the main body, and the like function as information (specific information) that specifies the image reading apparatus. When generating the download file, the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 reads out the setting values stored in the ROM 12 as described above, creates an XML file, and adds it to the compressed file 902 .

As shown in FIG. 9, finally, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 adds a signature 903 to the download file by signing it using the digital signature private key stored in the ROM 12, and downloads the file. Complete file generation.

Here, the session ID and scan session ID described above will be described.
The session ID is an identification ID for an operation "without scanning" for checking setting values of the image reading apparatus 100 using a web browser. For this "no scan" operation, multiple users are allowed access at the same time, and session IDs may be assigned to multiple users at the same time.

On the other hand, the scan session ID is an identification ID (identification information) for occupying the reading unit of the image reading apparatus 100, and is not assigned to a plurality of users at the same time. A user who has a scan session ID is a user who is permitted to perform a scan operation. That is, the scan session ID is used for session management with the scan application running on PC 200 .

After generating the scan session ID, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 saves it in the RAM 13, and discards (deletes) the scan session ID in the RAM 13 when scanning is completed. Note that if the scan session ID has already been stored in the RAM 13, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 does not generate a new scan session ID, and transmits to the PC 200 the download file in which the invalid ID is embedded. In this embodiment, the session ID and the scan session ID are character strings obtained by MD5 conversion based on the time and MAC address. , including certain strings and spaces.

Further, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 discards the scan session ID from the RAM 13 when scanning is not started within a predetermined period of time after issuing the scan session ID.

Note that when the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 generates a download file, if a scan session ID, which will be described later, has already been saved in the RAM 13, the CPU 11 displays a message such as "currently being used by user A." A pop-up for downloading may be displayed on the web browser of the PC 200 that requested the download. Alternatively, this message may be displayed on the screen of FIG. 8(b). In this case, when the download button 802 is pressed, it may be notified that the scan session ID will not be issued.

Activation of the scan application in the PC 200 will be described below with reference to FIG.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining activation of a scan application in PC 200. As shown in FIG. When the download is completed, a general web browser displays a message prompting the user to activate or save the downloaded file, like the status bar 803 in FIG. 8B. The same applies to the web browser of PC 200 . When the user activates the download file from status bar 803 or the like, the web browser of PC 200 activates Launcher 901 shown in FIG. The processing of the flowchart of FIG. 11 is implemented by the CPU of the PC 200 executing the Launcher 901 . Processing performed by the web browser of the PC 200 based on the Launcher 901 will be described below with the Launcher 901 as the main component.

First, the Launcher 901 checks the signature to determine that the file has not been tampered with and that the download has not been completed (S1101). If the signature verification is NG (No in S1101), the Launcher 901 determines that the file has been tampered with or that the download is incomplete, and terminates the process.

On the other hand, if the signature confirmation is OK (Yes in S1101), the Launcher 901 determines that the file has not been tampered with and the download is not incomplete, and advances the process to S1102.
In S1102, the Launcher 901 extracts data from offset 001000h of its own file, performs Zip decompression processing, and stores the data in a writable folder (for example, "/tmp" in a Linux (registered trademark) system).
Next, the Launcher 901 activates ScanApplication.exe, which is a scan application, from the data saved in S1102 (S1103), and ends the process.

When the scan application is activated, scan buttons corresponding to the reading modes are displayed as shown in FIG.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the scan application screen.
Note that if the device configuration.xml deployed in the same directory (folder) as the scan application does not contain a valid scan session ID, the scan application displays "Other users is in use" may be displayed.

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram explaining the operation of the scan application. In this embodiment, for example, a scan operation in which the monochrome document button 1201 is pressed will be described. In this sequence diagram, the processing of the PC 200 is implemented by the CPU of the PC 200 executing the downloaded scan application. Note that processing performed by the web browser of the PC 200 based on the scan application will be described mainly with respect to the scan application. Further, the processing of the image reading apparatus 100 is realized by the CPU 11 executing a program stored in the ROM 12 .

When a button for executing scanning (for example, a monochrome document button 1201) is pressed on the scanning application screen as shown in FIG. (S1301). At this time, the scan application refers to device configuration.xml expanded in the same directory (folder) as the scan application, reads the IP address, and incorporates it into the URI. Also, the scan application reads the session ID and scan session ID from the configuration.xml expanded in the same directory, sets them in the cookie of the request header, and issues the above-mentioned request.

In response to the request in S1301, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 verifies the scan session ID included in the cookie. Here, if the verification of the scan session ID is unsatisfactory (if it differs from the scan session ID stored in the RAM 13), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 responds with "status":"InvalidID" indicating that the scan session ID is unsatisfactory. is returned to the scan application of the PC 200 (not shown).
If "status": "OK" is not returned from the image reading apparatus 100 in S1302, the scan application of the PC 200 attempts S1301 a predetermined number of times, then notifies the user of an error message and terminates. In this case, the scan application of PC 200 attempts to acquire a scan session ID by a scan session ID request shown in FIG. 14, which will be described later.

On the other hand, if the verification of the scan session ID is successful, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 returns "status": "OK" as a response to the scan application of the PC 200 (S1302). In this embodiment, the response data of the image reading device 100 is returned in JSON format in response to the request issued by the scan application.

Further, when the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 transmits "status": "OK" in S1302, the scanning operation is started as it is, and the image data is stored in the RAM 13 (S1305).
After receiving "status": "OK" in S1302, the scan application transmits a request ("readimage") to the image reading apparatus 100 to read the image data (S1303).
The CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 that has received the request (“readimage”) in S1303 returns “status”:“Busy” if there is no image data that can be returned (S1304). The scan application repeats the request (“readimage”) in S1303 until “status”: “OK” is returned from the image reading apparatus 100 .

Then, when "status": "OK" is returned from the image reading apparatus 100 (S1307), the scan application converts the data element included in the returned response from a character string (Base64) to a binary image. Data is formed (S1308).

Next, the scan application performs image processing such as gamma correction and edge enhancement on the image data formed in S1308, converts the image data into an image file format such as a TIFF file format through two-tone image conversion. (S1309).
Further, the scan application saves this image file in the storage unit (hard disk, etc.) of the PC 200, and completes the processing of one image (S1310).

Further, the scanning application and the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 cooperate to repeat the processing (A) of S1306 to S1310 described above, so that the front and back images of all the originals can be obtained from the hard disk of the PC on which the scanning application is executed. (S1311), and the process ends.
Further, when all the images have been read, the image reading apparatus 100 discards the scan session ID stored in the RAM 13 and terminates the process.

Next, a scan session ID request will be described.
FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating scan session ID acquisition processing. In this sequence diagram, the processing of the PC 200 is implemented by the CPU of the PC 200 executing the downloaded scan application. Note that processing performed by the web browser of the PC 200 based on the scan application will be described mainly with respect to the scan application. Further, the processing of the image reading apparatus 100 is realized by the CPU 11 executing a program stored in the ROM 12 .

After generating the scan session ID, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 saves it in the RAM 13, and discards the scan session ID when scanning is completed. Further, when the scan session ID is already stored in the RAM 13, the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 does not generate a new scan session ID, and transmits to the PC 200 the download file in which the invalid scan session ID is embedded. . Therefore, the scan application of the PC 200 needs to request the scan session ID from the image reading apparatus 100 when it wants to scan again or when it acquires an invalid scan session ID.

The scan application of the PC 200 transmits a scan session ID request (scan session ID issuance request) from the image reading apparatus 100 to the image reading apparatus 100 in the following cases (S1401). For example, if the device configuration.xml does not contain a scan session ID or contains an invalid scan session ID, "status":"InvalidID" representing session ID incompatibility is received from the image reading apparatus 100. Cases, etc. fall under this category.

If the scan session ID is not stored in the RAM 13, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 generates a new scan session ID and stores it in the RAM 13 in response to the request in S1401, and sends the generated scan session ID to the PC 200. (S1402). As a result, the scan application of the PC 200 can receive the scan session ID transmitted from the image reading apparatus 100 and scan.

If the scan session ID has already been stored in the RAM 13, the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 does not generate a new scan session ID, and transmits an invalid ID to the PC 200, for example. In this case, the scan application of PC 200 needs to request the scan session ID again.

In this embodiment, the IP address of the image reading apparatus 100 is configured to refer to the deviceconfiguration.xml file, but the configuration is not limited to this. For example, a multicast DNS (mDNS) response may be used as an example of how to obtain the IP address. When an mDNS request is issued from the PC 200 by the scan application program, the MAC address or scanner name is entered in the TXT record of the response data of the image reading device 100 . By comparing the TXT record of the response data with the deviceconfiguration.xml, the scan application can determine whether it is the image reading device 100 of the download source, a different image reading device, or a different network device.

Further, in this embodiment, the application to be downloaded is configured to operate only on a specific OS. However, when creating the download file in FIG. 9, the client OS may be detected from the user agent (HTTP_USER_AGENT) information included in the HTTP request header, and the download file may be configured by selecting the launcher or scan application based on the OS. .

Also, in the present embodiment, the invalid session ID and the invalid scan session ID are set to "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e", but they are not limited to this. For example, in device configuration.xml, the scan-session-id element does not have to be written, and an empty string or characters that are not normally used in MD5 (such as double-byte characters) can be used. .

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the configuration of the image reading apparatus can be kept at a low cost, and even a user of the information processing apparatus who does not have administrative authority can use it, and the troublesomeness of driver installation can be eliminated. be able to. In addition, when the image reading device is connected to a network with multiple users, complicated operations such as requesting the user to re-enter the IP address or obtain usage rights can be reduced. It is possible to reduce the operation time. In this way, it is possible to provide a user-friendly image reading apparatus.

[Second embodiment]
The image reading apparatus of the first embodiment described above discards the scan session ID at the end of scanning, and enters a state in which the scan session ID can be issued to another PC. Therefore, even if an error such as a jam occurs during scanning and the scanning ends, the scan session ID is discarded. In the case of an error termination, the user who cleared the jam may not be able to rescan immediately. For example, if a scan application on another PC requests scanning during jam clearing, a valid scan session ID is assigned to that scan application. In addition, there is a possibility that a time-out occurs while the user is solving the error, and the right to use the image reading apparatus is transferred to another PC. In such a case, the user who has cleared the jam must wait until the other PC user finishes scanning, and the scanning operation cannot be completed quickly. Therefore, in the second embodiment, when scanning ends due to an error such as a jam, the scanning session is continued, timeout is prevented, and the like. A detailed description will be given below.

First, with reference to FIG. 15, detection of a paper jam (jam) of the document 101 will be described.
FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining error detection in the image reading apparatus. Here, the detection of a document jam will be described as an example.

The CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 controls the scanning operation of the document 101 based on information from various sensors. For example, when the registration sensor 109 detects that the document 101 has passed the reading position of the image reading unit 104 , the CPU 11 controls the image reading unit 104 to finish reading the document 101 . Further, the CPU 11 detects a jam error of the document 101 conveyed on the conveying path 108 based on the information of the registration sensor 109 and the discharge outlet sensor 112, for example, as follows.

First, FIG. 15A shows the state of each sensor when the document is normally conveyed.
The registration sensor 109 detects the arrival of the document 101 (point A) after T1 time has passed since the start of conveyance, and the time required for the document to be conveyed by the distance from the registration sensor 109 to the image reading unit 104 has elapsed. Start reading later. After that, it is detected that the document has passed the registration sensor 109 (point B), and the time is T3.
After the registration sensor 109 detects the arrival of the document 101, the paper exit sensor 112 detects the arrival of the document 101 (point C) after the lapse of T2 time, and further detects the passage of the document 101 after the lapse of T3 time. (Point D).

On the other hand, the state of each sensor when, for example, the document 101 is jammed is as follows.
As shown in FIG. 15B, the registration sensor 109 does not detect the arrival of the document 101 even after the time T4 has elapsed since the document 101 was started to be transported. However, T4>>T1.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 15C, the registration sensor 109 does not detect the passage of the document 101 even after T6 time has passed since the registration sensor 109 detected the arrival of the document 101 (point A). However, T6>>T3.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 15D, even after the registration sensor 109 detects arrival of the document 101 (point A) and T5 time elapses, the discharge outlet sensor 112 does not detect arrival of the document 101 . However, T5>>T2.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 15E, the discharge port sensor 112 detects the arrival of the document 101 (point C) and does not detect the passage of the document 101 even after T6 time has passed. However, T6>>T3.

When the states shown in FIGS. 15B to 15E occur, the CPU 11 determines that a document jam error has occurred, and stops the document transport and image reading operations. In the present embodiment, the jam error detection is performed based on the information from the registration sensor 109 and the paper exit sensor 112. However, the jam detection may be performed based on the image read by the line image sensor 1043. may
Also, in the present embodiment, an example of a jam error is given as an error, but it is of course possible to include errors such as a cover open error, a double feed error, and a staple detection error. Note that the cover open error corresponds to an error when the sensor detects that the cover of the image reading apparatus 100 has been opened during the scanning operation. A multi-feeding error corresponds to an error that occurs when, for example, an ultrasonic sensor detects that a plurality of documents are being transported in an overlapping state. A staple detection error is an error in which a stapled document is conveyed. be.

Next, management of scan session IDs will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of task processing for managing scan session IDs in the image reading apparatus 100 . The processing of this flowchart is realized by executing a program stored in the ROM 12 by the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 .

When the image reading apparatus 100 is powered on, the CPU 11 processes a download request from a web browser, a scan request from a scan application, a scan session ID request, and a scan end processing request instructed by the image reading apparatus 100. Create a session management task to Then, the CPU 11 initializes the scan session ID address storing the scan session ID in the RAM 13 (for example, overwrites all with "0" to make it empty), and initializes (sets to 0) the scan session ID timer. (S1610), start accepting each of the requests described above. A scan session ID timer corresponds to a timer that measures the elapsed time after a scan session ID is issued.

When the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 receives a download request, a scan request, or a scan session ID request (S1620), the process proceeds to S1625.
In S1625, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines whether the scan session ID address is empty. If the scan session ID address is empty (Yes in S1625), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines that there is no user permitted to perform the scan operation, creates a new scan session ID, and sets the scan session ID address. (S1626). Further, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 creates a download file to which the valid scan session ID created in S1626 is added in response to the download request, and permits scanning in response to the scan request. Also, in response to the scan session ID request, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 returns the valid scan session ID created in S1626. Also, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 restarts the scan session ID timer that measures the time after the scan session ID is generated (S1628). As a result, it is possible to remeasure the elapsed time after a valid scan session ID is issued and extend the time until timeout. After that, the process proceeds to S1620.

On the other hand, if the scan session ID address is not empty in S1625 (No in S1625), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1627.
In S1627, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 compares the scan session ID sent from the scan application in response to the scan request and the ID stored in the scan session ID address, and determines whether the two match. .

In S1627, if both IDs match (Yes in S1627), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 permits scanning (step not shown), and proceeds to S1628. That is, the scan session ID timer is restarted.

On the other hand, if both IDs do not match in S1627 (No in S1627), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1629 without permitting scanning. If the request received in S1620 is a download request or a scan session ID request, the request does not include a scan session ID, so S1627 is always determined as No.

In S1629, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 creates an invalid scan session ID and responds to the requester, and proceeds to S1620. In the case of a download request, the CPU 11 creates a download file to which an invalid scan session ID is added and responds to the request source. In this embodiment, the session ID and scan session ID are character strings obtained by MD5 conversion based on the time and MAC address, and the invalid ID is "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e".

If the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 does not receive any download request, scan request, or scan session ID request in S1620 (No in S1620), the CPU 11 of the image reading device 100 proceeds to S1630. Proceed with processing.

In S1630, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines whether or not the scanning has ended. It should be noted that the state in which the scanning has been completed means that the scanning has been completed and the processing to be performed when the scanning has been completed has not yet been performed. Then, if scanning has been completed (Yes in S1630), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1635.

In S1635, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines whether an error has occurred in the completed scanning. If an error has occurred (that is, if the finished scan ended in error) (Yes in S1635), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1628 and restarts the scan session ID timer. In this case, the scan session ID stored at the scan session ID address remains valid.

On the other hand, in S1635, if no error has occurred (that is, if the finished scanning was completed normally) (No in S1635), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1645.
In S1645, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 initializes (empties) and discards the scan session ID stored in the scan session ID address, initializes (0) the scan session ID timer, and proceeds to S1620. to migrate.

Further, in the above S1630, if scanning is not completed (No in S1630), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 advances the process to S1640.
In S1640, the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 determines whether or not the scan session ID has timed out (a predetermined time has passed since the scan session ID was created). Then, if the scan session ID has not timed out (No in S1640), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 proceeds to S1620.

On the other hand, if the scan session ID has timed out in S1640 (Yes in S1640), the CPU 11 of the image reading apparatus 100 proceeds to S1645, initializes the scan session ID and the scan session ID timer, and proceeds to S1620. to migrate.

In the present embodiment, in session management, when an error occurs and scanning ends, the scan session ID is not discarded but held as it is, regardless of the type of error. However, in the case of an error such as a cover open that is judged to have the intention of interrupting scanning, or an error such as a hardware error that is expected to prevent processing from being resumed, the scan session ID is discarded. In the case of a predetermined error such as a jam or staple detection error that is expected to restart processing, the scan session ID may be held without being discarded. You may control so that a process may be switched. Also, the timeout period may be changed according to the type of error. For example, in the case of a stapling detection error, it is expected that it will take some time to resume processing, so the timeout period may be set longer than the normal timeout period. A staple detection error can be detected by detecting the bounce of the document by a sensor (not shown) provided in the document transport path, or by detecting staple needles by a metal sensor (not shown).

Also, in the above description, an example was given in which, in session management, when an error occurred and scanning ended, the scan session ID was not discarded but held as it is. However, if an error occurs and scanning ends, the scan session ID may be temporarily discarded, another scan session ID may be created, and a scan session with the scan application may be established again. That is, in the case of Yes in S1635 of FIG. 16, S1626 and S1628 may be executed to recreate and save the scan session ID, send it to the scan application, and restart the scan session ID timer. .

As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, even if an error such as a jam (document jam) occurs during scanning and the scanning ends, the other scanning applications can be effectively processed. By continuing to establish a session with the current scanning application without assigning a session ID and preventing timeout, the user can complete the scanning operation (original reading operation).

In the first and second embodiments described above, the image reading apparatus 100 sets "status":"InvalidID" when an invalid scan session ID is included in the document reading request from the scan application of the PC 200. The configuration for returning to the scan application of the PC 200 has been described. In this configuration, the PC 200 that receives "status":"InvalidID" performs the scan session ID acquisition process shown in FIG. 14, and issues a document reading request again.
However, if the scan session ID is not saved in the RAM 13 of the image reading apparatus 100, even if the document reading request from the scan application of the PC 200 includes an invalid scan session ID, "status":"InvalidID" will be displayed. is not returned, and the scan session ID is issued to the scan application of the PC 200, and the scan operation is started as it is. With this configuration, it is possible to omit exchanges between the scan application of the PC 200 and the image reading apparatus 100 and quickly start the scan operation.

Also, a configuration has been described in which the scan application of the PC 200 includes the scan session ID in the request when requesting the image reading apparatus 100 to read a document. The image reading apparatus 100 uses the scan session ID included in the document reading request to determine whether or not the document reading request is valid for the held scan session ID. .
However, the scan session ID may not be included in the document reading request. In this configuration, for example, when the scan session ID is issued, the image reading apparatus 100 holds the IP address or the like (or the MAC address or the like) of the PC 200 to which the scan session ID is issued in association with the scan session ID. When there is a request, the IP address, etc. of the request source is compared with the held IP address, etc., and it is determined whether or not the document reading request is valid for the held scan session ID. You may make it judge.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which the scan session ID is generated using a MAC address or the like has been described. You may generate|occur|produce using a rule. Alternatively, the scan session ID may be stored only on the image reading apparatus 100 side without being embedded in the download file. In this case, when a document reading request is received from a scan application of the PC 200, the image reading apparatus 100 temporarily creates a scan session ID using the above-described specific rules based on the information of the PC 200, and stores the scan session ID. By comparing with the session ID, it may be determined whether or not the received document reading request is valid.

[Third embodiment]
Among the information processing devices connected to the image reading device 100, particularly portable information processing devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs generally operate with a storage battery. Forcibly switching between applications is likely to occur. Due to these factors, if an application executing scanning on the information processing apparatus side ends or is interrupted during scanning processing, there is a possibility that the scanning processing will not end on the image reading device. In this case, the other information processing apparatus may not be able to use the image reading apparatus until timeout occurs. In the third embodiment, a configuration for solving this problem will be described. In this embodiment, an image reading device (scanner) is used as an example of a peripheral device, but peripheral devices to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to scanners. It can also be applied to devices.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a system showing the third embodiment of the invention. Here, a system including a scanner 1810, mobile terminal a (1820), and mobile terminal b (1830) will be described as an example.
As shown in FIG. 18, a scanner 1810, mobile terminal a (1820), and mobile terminal b (1830) are connected to the same LAN 1800, and can transmit and receive data. For example, the scanner 1810 is assigned an IP address of 192.168.1.10, the mobile terminal a (1820) is assigned an IP address of 192.168.1.100, and the mobile terminal b (1830) is assigned an IP address of 192.168.1.101. It should be noted that although the number of mobile terminals may be increased, or a normal non-portable terminal (for example, a PC) may be used, the configuration described above is used in this example for the sake of simplicity.

≪Scanner≫
A scanner 1810 is an image reading device that includes an image reading unit 1811 that reads a paper document and converts it into electronic data. Under the control of the control unit 1813 , the image reading unit 1811 reads an image on a document, creates electronic data, and stores the electronic data in the storage unit 1812 .
A control unit 1813 controls the scanner 1810 as a whole.

The UI unit 1814 includes, for example, a display panel (a display device with a touch panel), various keys such as an OK key, a cancel key, an up key, a down key, and ten keys. Screens displayed on the display panel and pressing of various keys are detected under the control of the control unit 1813 .

The transmitting/receiving unit 1815 transmits a UI (user interface) created by a UI providing unit 1816, which will be described later, to the terminal in response to a request issued from the terminal. Further, the transmission/reception unit 1815 receives requests such as scan start requests, status confirmation requests, and image acquisition requests, and transmits responses to the received requests.

The UI providing unit 1816 displays operation screens such as a scan setting screen for setting scan settings, an image saving screen for saving a scanned image in a terminal, and a status display screen indicating the current status during scanning in HTML format. create and serve to the terminal. The UI providing unit 1816 may create HTML format data in which a program written in JavaScript (registered trademark) or the like is embedded. Also, by creating in html format, the screen created by the UI providing unit 1816 can be displayed on the web browser of the terminal.

In addition, the UI providing unit 1816 has an exclusive function to exclusively control requests from other terminals when the scanner 1810 is being used by a specific terminal.
This exclusion function is performed by session management. Specifically, when accessing the scanner 1810 from the web browser of the terminal, the scanner 1810 acquires the IP address of the accessing terminal. Then, the scanner 1810 stores the IP address of the accessing terminal in the UI providing unit 1816 as a session ID for session management.

The initial value of the session ID stored in the UI providing unit 1816 is a value (for example, "0") indicating an initial state. Then, when the session ID is the initial value, the IP address of the terminal that first issued the UI provision request to the UI provision unit 1816 is overwritten as the session ID to be stored in the UI provision unit 1816 . Then, when a series of processing related to scanning is completed, the UI providing unit 1816 overwrites the session ID with the initial value.
With such a configuration, it is possible to accept requests only from terminals in session and to exclude requests from other terminals. Note that when there is no access from a terminal in session for a certain period of time, the UI provision unit 1816 executes processing to overwrite the initial value of the session ID (initialization of the session ID by timeout).

For example, when the session ID of the UI providing unit 1816 is the initial value, when the mobile terminal a (1820) accesses the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810, the UI providing unit 1816 sets the session ID to the mobile terminal a (1820). ), the IP address “192.168.1.100” is stored. After that, the UI providing unit 1816 compares the session ID saved in the UI providing unit 1816 with the IP address of the access source for the access from the terminal. If the comparison results are the same, the UI provision unit 1816 returns a normal response to the request. If the comparison results are different, the UI providing unit 1816 returns a response indicating that the scanner is in use.
Note that the control unit 1813 and the UI providing unit 1816 perform various controls by executing programs stored in an internal storage unit or the storage unit 1812 or the like. Note that the session ID is an example, and other than the IP address may be used.

≪Mobile terminal≫
The mobile terminal a (1820) and the mobile terminal b (1830) are, for example, portable terminals such as smart phones and tablet PCs. The mobile terminal a (1820) and the mobile terminal b (1830) have the same configuration, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The transmitting/receiving unit 1821 transmits/receives various data to/from devices on the LAN.
The storage unit 1822 stores various programs such as the OS of the mobile terminal and applications such as a web browser, and can start various programs under the control of the control unit 1823 .
A UI unit 1824 has a touch panel and displays a home screen, a web browser screen, and the like. The UI unit 1824 can detect a tap when a button is displayed on the screen displayed on the touch panel. The UI unit 1824 also includes a home key, and when the home key is pressed, a home screen is displayed on the touch panel. On the home screen, it is possible to select an application such as a web browser. Screen display of the touch panel, tap detection, and home button press detection are performed under the control of the control unit 1823 .

The mobile terminal may be equipped with a camera 1825 and have a function of reading an image code such as a two-dimensional bar code (QR code (registered trademark)) read by the camera 1825 under the control of the control unit 1823 . If the QR code can be read, the mobile terminal can use the URL information obtained from the QR code to access the URL destination. Also, the URL destination can be accessed by performing OCR processing on the character string included in the captured image.

<<Scan processing flow>>
The flow of scanning using the mobile terminal a (1820) will be described below.
FIG. 19 is a diagram explaining the flow of scanning using the mobile terminal a (1820).
When the scanner 1810 is powered on, it transitions to a standby state in which a menu screen 1900 as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed on the display panel of the UI unit 1814 .
FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen displayed on the UI unit 1814 of the scanner 1810. As shown in FIG.
There are two menu items: web application mode and main unit settings. The user presses the up key and down key of the UI unit 1814 to select an item (1901 or 1902), and presses the OK key to confirm the item. Here, if the web application mode 1901 is selected, the scanner starts the web application mode following S2100. When the main body setting 1902 is selected, items related to the main body setting are displayed, and scanning can be executed using the setting, but the description is omitted here.

In S2100, when the web application mode is started, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays a URL display screen 1910 as shown in FIG. 21 on the display panel of the scanner.
FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a URL display screen displayed on the UI unit 1814 of the scanner 1810. As shown in FIG. This screen displays a URL and a QR code in which the content of the URL is embedded, and this screen is displayed in the web application mode. In this embodiment, communication with the scanner is performed by HTTP communication using the web browser of the terminal. Also good.

In S2101, the user activates the web browser of the mobile terminal a (1820), inputs the URL displayed as shown in FIG. 21, and accesses the scanner from the mobile terminal a (1820). A scan setting screen 2000 as shown in FIG. 22 is displayed. If the terminal device a is equipped with a camera and can read the QR code, the input of the URL may be substituted by that camera.
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a scan setting screen displayed on the UI unit 1824 of the mobile terminal in the third embodiment.

In S2102, the user operates buttons 2001 to 2003 on the scan setting screen 2000 displayed on the browser of the mobile terminal a (1820) to determine scan settings. Here, as an example, the color mode is set to "color", the document size is set to "A4", and the resolution is set to "300 dpi".

In step S<b>2103 , when the user presses the scan start button 2004 , the terminal device a issues a scan start request to the scanner 1810 . Upon receiving the scan start request, the scanner 1810 starts scan processing based on the scan settings set in the request. Thereafter, mobile terminal a (1820) periodically issues a status confirmation request to inquire of scanner 1810 whether the scanning process has ended. In response to this request, the scanner 1810 creates a status display screen showing the current status and provides it to the terminal device a (1820). If the scanning process is not completed, a scanning screen 2010 indicating that scanning is in progress is provided as shown in FIG. 23, and an image saving screen 2020 as shown in FIG. 24 is provided when the scanning process is completed.
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a scanning screen displayed on the UI unit 1824 of the mobile terminal.
FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of an image save screen displayed on the UI unit 1824 of the mobile terminal.

In S2104, an image save screen 2020 for saving the scanned image as shown in FIG. 24 is displayed on the portable terminal a (1820). In the example of FIG. 24, an image save screen 2020 is displayed when four images are scanned, and four thumbnails 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 corresponding to the four scanned images are displayed. When the user taps an image to be saved on the image save screen 2020, an image acquisition request is sent to the scanner 1810, and the image can be downloaded. The downloaded image is stored in the storage unit 1822 of the terminal device a (1820). When the series of processes ends, the user presses the end button 2025 to end the series of processes in the web application mode. It should be noted that a batch save button for saving all thumbnail-displayed images may be included, or the end button 2025 may have that function. In that case, it is preferable to provide another button to save only the selected images and exit.

When a series of processing related to scanning is completed, the UI providing unit 1816 overwrites the session ID with the initial value, the scanner 1810 transitions to a standby state, and the menu screen 1900 of FIG. 20 is displayed.

≪Exclusive processing flow≫
In the above description, the flow of scanning processing using one mobile terminal a (1820) and a scanner has been described. Next, the flow of exclusion processing and exclusion processing cancellation that occurs when there are two mobile terminals a (1820) and b (1830) will be described.

For example, while the mobile terminal a (1820) is displaying the image save screen 2020 in S2104 of FIG. Suppose In this case, the scanner 1810 excludes access from other terminals until the session with the mobile terminal a (1820) times out. In this situation, when the scanner 1810 is accessed using the web browser of the mobile terminal b (1830), a screen 2030 in use by another user shown in FIG. 25 is displayed on the web browser.
FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of an in-use by other user screen displayed on the UI unit 1824 of the mobile terminal.

In this way, when processing cannot be continued due to some accident during a session, in this embodiment, the user presses a cancel key (not shown) of the UI unit 1814 of the main body of the scanner 1810 to cancel the exclusive processing. , you can exit the web app mode. A detailed description will be given below.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a web application mode termination process according to the third embodiment. The processing of this flowchart is implemented by the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 executing a program stored in the internal storage unit or the storage unit 1812 .

In S2700, when a cancel key (not shown) of the UI unit 1814 is pressed during the web application mode, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays a web application mode end confirmation screen 1920 as shown in FIG. 27 on the display panel. control to display. On the termination confirmation screen 1920, the user can select whether or not to terminate the web application mode.
FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of a termination confirmation screen displayed on the UI unit 1814 of the scanner 1810 according to the third embodiment.

Next, in step S<b>2701 , the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 determines whether to end the web application mode based on the user's selection on the web application mode end confirmation screen 1920 . Here, if "Yes" 1921 is selected on the web application mode end confirmation screen 1920, the scanner 1810 determines to end the web application mode (Yes in S2701), and advances the process to S2702.

In S2702, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 overwrites the session ID stored in the UI providing unit 1816 with an initial value (for example, "0"). This makes it possible to accept accesses from other terminals.
Further, in S2703, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays the menu screen 1900 as shown in FIG. 20 on the display panel of the UI unit 1814, and the process ends.

If "No" 1922 is selected on the web application mode end confirmation screen 1920 in S2701, the scanner 1810 determines not to end the web application mode (No in S2701), and advances the process to S2704.
In S2704, the scanner 1810 displays the web application mode screen 1910 as shown in FIG. 21 on the display panel of the UI unit 1814, and ends the process.

As described above, in the third embodiment, even if the scanning process cannot be continued due to some accident such as the mobile terminal running out of battery, the web application mode can be terminated without waiting for the timeout of the scanning session. Other users can enable the scanner. In addition, in S2702 of FIG. 26, the selection of whether to end the web application mode is accepted, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, only the current session ID may be discarded while maintaining the web application mode. In this case, instead of displaying the menu screen 1900 in S2703, the URL display screen 1910 may be displayed.
That is, even if a web application or the like is terminated or interrupted before the document reading process is completed and the scan session is not terminated normally, the image can be read from another information processing device without waiting for the timeout of the scan session. Allows you to use the device.

[Fourth embodiment]
In the third embodiment, anyone can exit the web application mode of the scanner 1810 by pressing the cancel key (not shown) of the UI unit 1814 . Therefore, there is a possibility that the web application mode will be terminated by a malicious user. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, a passcode input operation is requested when ending the web application mode. A detailed description will be given below.

In this embodiment, in S2102 of FIG. 19, the scan setting screen displayed on the mobile terminal a (1820) when operating the scan setting screen is the scan setting screen 2040 shown in FIG. 28 in this example.
FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of a scan setting screen displayed on the UI unit 1824 of the mobile terminal in the fourth embodiment.
Here, the difference between the scan setting screen 2040 and the scan setting screen 2000 in FIG. 22 is that an end passcode 2045 is displayed. Note that buttons 2041 to 2044 on the scan setting screen 2040 are the same as the buttons 2001 to 2004 on the scan setting screen 2000, and description thereof will be omitted.

The end passcode 2045 is required when ending the web application mode halfway. The scanner 1810 of the present embodiment stores this end passcode in the UI providing unit 1816, determines whether or not it matches the passcode input by the user, which will be described later, and controls the end of the web application mode. .

The flow of processing when the cancel key is pressed during the web application mode will be described below with reference to FIG.
FIG. 31 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a web application mode termination process according to the fourth embodiment. The processing of this flowchart is implemented by the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 executing a program stored in the internal storage unit or the storage unit 1812 .

In S3100, when a cancel key (not shown) of the UI unit 1814 is pressed during the web application mode, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays a passcode input screen 1930 as shown in FIG. Wait for passcode input from
29 and 30 are diagrams showing examples of passcode input screens displayed on the UI unit 1814 of the scanner 1810 according to the fourth embodiment.

Although the end passcode is set to "1234" in the example of the scan setting screen shown in FIG. 28, it is desirable that this end passcode be changed to a random value for each scan process. In addition, the configuration may be such that the end code can be arbitrarily set by the user. As indicated by 1940 in FIG. 30, when the end code is input, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 advances the process to S3101.

In S3101, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 determines whether the input passcodes match. As shown in FIG. 30, when it is determined that the passcode input by the user by operating the numeric keypad of the scanner matches the end passcode stored in the UI providing unit 1816 (Yes in S3101), the scanner 1810 advances the process to S3102.

In S3102, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 overwrites the session ID stored in the UI providing unit 1816 with an initial value. This makes it possible to accept accesses from other terminals.
Further, in S3103, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays the menu screen 1900 as shown in FIG. 20 on the display panel of the UI unit 1814, and the process ends.

If it is determined in S3101 above that the passcode input by the user by operating the numeric keypad of the scanner 1810 does not match the end passcode stored in the UI providing unit 1816 (No in S3101), the scanner The UI providing unit 1816 in 1810 advances the process to S3104.
In S3104, the UI providing unit 1816 of the scanner 1810 displays the web application mode screen 1910 and ends the process.
Note that if the cancel key of the scanner 1810 is pressed while the passcode input screen 1930 shown in FIG. 29 is being displayed, the scanner 1810 may return the display to the web application mode screen 1910 (FIG. 21). good.

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, in addition to the effects of the third embodiment, by requesting the input of the passcode when exiting the web application mode of the scanner 1810, malicious users, etc. It is possible to prevent the web application mode from being terminated by

In the above third and fourth embodiments, the scanner 1810 manages the session using the IP address of the mobile terminal. good.

Further, in the above-described third and fourth embodiments, the configuration for operating the scanner 1810 via a web browser that operates on a mobile terminal has been described. The scanner 1810 may be operated using a scan application, or may be operated using a dedicated application installed in a mobile terminal.

Further, in the third and fourth embodiments described above, the session ID is stored in the storage unit 1812 or the like during execution of a series of processes related to scanning, and when the exclusive control of the mobile terminal is performed, the scanner 1810 The configuration in which the session ID can be canceled by operating the cancel key of the UI unit 1814 has been described. As another form, the following configuration may be provided.

For example, every time a scan setting is made on the mobile terminal side, the content is notified to the scanner 1810 . Further, the scanner 1810 is configured not to discard the scan session ID if the notification is received within a predetermined interval.
In addition, when discarding a scan session ID, the scanner 1810 may be configured to notify the mobile terminal corresponding to the scan session ID of an inquiry as to whether or not it may be discarded, and to enable the discard if there is no response. . Note that the scanner 1810 resets the scan session ID discard operation (for example, does not discard the scan session ID) when the portable terminal responds to the discard inquiry to the effect that the discard should not be discarded. , restart the scan session ID timer). Further, when the scan session ID is discarded, the scanner 1810 notifies the portable terminal corresponding to the discarded scan session ID that the scan session ID has been discarded. Note that the notification from the scanner 1810 to the mobile terminal is performed by notifying the server if the mobile terminal has a server function. Also, when the portable terminal polls the scanner 1810, polling is performed. In addition, you may carry out by another method.

In the case of mobile terminal side polling systems, the scanner 1810 indicates that the scan session ID has been discarded so that it can be polled by the mobile terminal corresponding to the discarded scan session ID. set a flag to indicate When the mobile terminal side recognizes that the scanner 1810 has discarded the scan session ID, the mobile terminal side notifies the user of this fact. Note that the method of notifying the user may be screen display or other notification methods.

Further, in the fourth embodiment, a passcode is required when an operation to cause the scanner 1810 to discard the scan session ID is performed. The scan session ID may be discarded. After the scanner 1810 completes reading an image, if an image is being selected from thumbnails on a screen such as that shown in FIG. can be
Further, the user may be allowed to set the timing for prohibiting discarding of the scan session ID in the scanner 1810, and the scanner 1810 may prohibit discarding the scan session ID at the set timing.

As described above, according to each of the embodiments, even a user who is not granted special management authority to the information processing device can access the information processing device while suppressing the required hardware configuration of the image reading device from becoming expensive. To control an image reading device and enable reading of a document without complicated operations such as re-input of an IP address and additional operation for obtaining usage authority.
Also, even if an error such as a document jam occurs during document reading and the document reading process ends, the document reading process can be resumed after the error is cleared to complete the document reading work.
In addition, even if the web application or the like is terminated or interrupted before the document reading process is completed and the scan session is not terminated normally, the image reading device can be read from another information processing device without waiting for the timeout of the session. allows you to use

The configuration and content of the various data described above are not limited to this, and may be configured in various configurations and content according to the application and purpose.
Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can be embodied as, for example, a system, device, method, program, storage medium, or the like. Specifically, it may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device.
In addition, the present invention includes all configurations obtained by combining the above embodiments.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by processing to It can also be implemented by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that implements one or more functions.
Moreover, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or to an apparatus composed of a single device.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications (including organic combinations of each embodiment) are possible based on the gist of the present invention, and they are excluded from the scope of the present invention. isn't it. In other words, the present invention includes all configurations obtained by combining each of the above-described embodiments and modifications thereof.

100 image reading device 10 control section 11 CPU
12 ROMs
13 RAM
200 PCs

Claims (11)

An image reading device for reading an image from a document,
Without installing a driver for operating the image reading device, processing is performed in response to a request from an information processing device that can communicate via a network, and other information is processed when the processing is performed. a control means for performing exclusive control that does not accept a request from a processing device;
display means for displaying access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device;
providing means for providing an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser to the web browser in response to a request from the web browser, and accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser ; have
The control means does not accept a request from the other information processing device when the image is being selected on the operation screen after the completion of reading the image.
An image reading device characterized by: An image reading device for reading an image from a document,
Without installing a driver for operating the image reading device, processing is performed in response to a request from an information processing device that can communicate via a network, and other information is processed when the processing is performed. a control means for performing exclusive control that does not accept a request from a processing device;
display means for displaying access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device;
providing means for providing an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser to the web browser in response to a request from the web browser and accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser;
Notifying the information processing device that even when processing is being performed in response to a request from the information processing device, the processing is terminated and requests from the other information processing device can be accepted. and a first notification means to
The control means, when there is no response from the information processing device notified by the first notification means, performs control so that a request from the other information processing device can be accepted, and no response is received from the information processing device. If there is, do not accept the request from the other information processing device
An image reading device characterized by: An image reading device for reading an image from a document,
Without installing a driver for operating the image reading device, processing is performed in response to a request from an information processing device that can communicate via a network, and other information is processed when the processing is performed. a control means for performing exclusive control that does not accept a request from a processing device;
display means for displaying access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device;
providing means for providing an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser to the web browser in response to a request from the web browser and accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser;
a third notification means for notifying the information processing device of a code for terminating the processing when processing is performed in response to a request from the information processing device;
Even when the control means is performing processing in response to a request from the information processing device, if the code input operation is received, the control means terminates the processing and performs the other information processing. Control so that requests from devices can be accepted
An image reading device characterized by: Even when the control means is performing processing in response to a request from the information processing device, if a predetermined operation is received, the control means terminates the processing and 4. The image reading apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein control is performed so as to be able to accept the request for . Furthermore,
receiving means for receiving processing from an operation screen displayed on a web browser operating in the information processing device;
5. The controller according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein said control means does not accept a request from said other information processing apparatus when said acceptance means accepts a process within a predetermined time interval . 10. The image reading device according to claim 1. Furthermore,
receiving means for receiving settings for reading the image from an operation screen displayed on a web browser operating on the information processing device;
6. The control means does not accept a request from the other information processing apparatus when the setting for reading the image within a predetermined time interval is accepted by the acceptance means. The image reading device according to any one of . Furthermore,
7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising: second notification means for notifying said information processing apparatus that said processing has been terminated and that requests from said other information processing apparatus can be accepted. 2. The image reading device according to item 1. 8. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said information processing apparatus is a portable terminal. A control method for an image reading device that reads an image from an original, comprising:
Without installing a driver for operating the image reading device, processing is performed in response to a request from an information processing device that can communicate via a network, and other information is processed when the processing is performed. a control step that performs exclusive control that does not accept requests from the processing device;
a display step of displaying access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device;
a providing step of providing an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser in response to a request from the web browser, and accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser ; have
In the control step, if the image is being selected on the operation screen after the reading of the image is completed, no request from the other information processing device is accepted.
A control method for an image reading device, characterized by: A program for causing a computer to execute the image reading apparatus control method according to claim 9 . An image reading system comprising: an image reading device for reading an image from a document; and an information processing device capable of communicating with the image reading device via a network,
The image reading device is
Without installing a driver for operating the image reading device, processing is performed in response to a request from the information processing device, and when the processing is being performed, requests from other information processing devices are processed. a control means for performing exclusive control that is not accepted;
display means for displaying access information for access by a web browser operating on the information processing device;
providing means for providing an operation screen for accepting processing from the web browser to the web browser in response to a request from the web browser, and accepting processing from the operation screen displayed on the web browser ; have
The information processing device is
having said web browser;
The control means does not accept a request from the other information processing device when the image is being selected on the operation screen after the completion of reading the image.
An image reading system characterized by:

Images