JP2010278635A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

Each time a user adds a peripheral device such as a scanner to the image processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) or replaces the model of the peripheral device, a driver corresponding to the peripheral device is installed. There is a problem that it is necessary and the user has trouble in management and convenience.
[Solution]
In the image processing system 1 including a plurality of scanners 4 connected to the PC 2, the PC 2 has an application interface unit 204 that commonly receives operation information necessary for the operation of the scanner 4 and settings of the application interface unit 204. A driver 203 having a user interface control unit 205 for instructing the scanner 4 to perform an operation instruction. The scanner 2 includes an operation information storage unit 216 for storing operation information of the scanner 4, and an operation information storage unit 216. The server unit 215 transmits the operation information to the PC 2.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system including a plurality of peripheral devices such as a scanner connected to an image processing device via a network.

In the image processing system, various images are obtained such as converting images from a plurality of image scanners (hereinafter simply referred to as scanners) into data, transferring them to a personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as PCs) via a network, and storing them as image data. There is technology to process.
Conventionally, such an image processing system is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below.
The image processing system comprises: means for registering access possibilities for transmission / reception between a scanner and a PC; means for installing a driver at a user site; and means for the driver to associate one of the PC and the scanner; Means for generating an image file at the user site by the scanning software, means for transferring commands from the scanning software at the user site to the scanner, and resulting TWAIN code, image data and other Means are provided for transferring data from the PC to the user site through the network.
TWAIN is one of the technical standards for inputting an image from a scanner, and is used as an interface between a scanner as hardware and image processing software.

JP 2003-198780 A

By the way, when the PC receives image data from a scanner, the scanner is controlled by a scanner-dedicated driver provided in the PC.
However, since the scanner functions vary depending on the model, in the conventional image processing system, a dedicated driver for each scanner must be prepared in the PC. Therefore, every time a user adds a scanner or replaces the scanner model, the user needs to install a driver corresponding to the scanner on the PC, which causes a problem that the user has trouble in management and convenience. It was.
(Object of invention)
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the image processing apparatus uses the driver in the image processing apparatus in common even in peripheral apparatuses having different functions based on the operation information acquired from the peripheral apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing system that can eliminate the need for installing a driver for each peripheral device and save the user's administrative trouble.

  The present invention provides an image processing system including a plurality of peripheral devices connected to an image processing device, wherein the image processing device includes a communication unit that commonly receives operation information necessary for the operation of each peripheral device; A driver having a control unit for instructing each peripheral device to perform an operation according to a setting of a communication unit, and the peripheral device includes a storage unit that stores operation information of the peripheral device, and an image of the operation information from the storage unit. And a server unit for transmission to the processing device.

  By configuring as described above, the peripheral device has a server function capable of transmitting operation information necessary for each peripheral device to the image processing device, and the operation information acquired from each peripheral device by the driver as a virtual driver corresponding to the interface Since it is possible to set the operation settings specific to the peripheral device based on this, there is an advantage that the driver can be shared, and it is not necessary to install the driver according to each peripheral device, thereby saving the user's administrative effort .

1 is a block diagram of an image processing system of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of the image processing system of this invention. 3 is a flowchart of a processing procedure on the PC side according to the first embodiment. 3 is a flowchart of a processing procedure on the scanner side of the first embodiment. (A) is a block diagram of the dialog display compatible scanner of the first embodiment, and (b) and (c) are examples of dialog display by the driver of the first embodiment. 6 is a block diagram of an image processing system according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process of the Example 2. An example of HTML of operation information provided in the Web server of the scanner is shown.

  Embodiments of the image processing system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the basic configuration of the image processing system of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing system 1 includes a PC 2 and a plurality of scanners 4 connected to the PC 2 via a network 3 such as a LAN.
As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 2 includes an apparatus main body 201, a keyboard and a display (not shown), an I / O port, and the like.
The apparatus main body 201 includes a CPU, volatile and nonvolatile storage means, an API (Application Program Interface) 210, and the like.

  The storage means stores an OS program for controlling the entire apparatus, in addition to programs such as an image application 202 and a driver (hereinafter simply referred to as a driver) 203 common to the scanner. Here, the image application 202 has a TWAIN interface (I / F) function, and communicates with the driver 203 via the TWAINI / F function.

The driver 203 is software based on TWAIN for scanner operation. The contents include an application I / F unit 204 that performs confirmation of operation conditions for the image application 202 of each scanner 4 and negotiation for response, and a user. An I / F control unit 205, an image processing unit 206, a command / data processing unit 207, a search unit 208, and an I / F control unit 209 are included.
By combining these, the driver 203 receives operation information (HTML data) for each scanner 4, and the user I / F control unit 205 can cope with the scanner 4 of different models in common on the program. It becomes.

The user I / F control unit 205 sends, via the command / data processing unit 207, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) data having the operation information of the scanner 4 that the user is trying to handle from the Web server 215 of each scanner 4. The user I / F corresponding to the function of the scanner is configured as an emulator from the acquired HTML data and can operate in common with any scanner 4.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the user I / F control unit 205 displays a dialog box indicating the functions and features of each scanner 4 on the display of the PC 2. That is, in addition to text boxes such as “input method”, “color mode”, “original size”, “resolution”, and operation buttons such as “scan”, “preview”, and “close” for each scanner, “Thumbnail” is displayed. As a result, the user I / F control unit 205 is set so that the user can edit the document or select the scanner 4 according to the purpose of use, and the user operates the keyboard, mouse, or the like of the PC 2. Control is performed as a user I / F when a designation is input according to selection or determination of the dialog contents.

  The image processing unit 206 performs image processing such as gamma correction, moire removal, or edge enhancement on the image data received from the scanner 4 and various filter processing such as color matching.

  The command / data processing unit 207 transmits a command for setting the operation to the scanner 4 based on the operation condition designated by the user I / F control unit 205. The command / data processing unit 207 receives image data from the scanner 4 and passes the image data to the image processing unit 206. Further, the command / data processing unit 207 accesses the Web server 215 of the scanner 4 and performs processing for passing the received HTML data having the operation information of the scanner 4 to the user I / F control unit 205.

  The I / F control unit 209 performs control for the command / data processing unit 207 to transmit / receive commands and data to / from the scanner 4 connected via the network 3.

  The search unit 208 is constituted by an image keyword search program. In addition to the detailed specification of the operation information of the HTML data, the search unit 208 applies a document specified in advance from the PC when the user uses the scanner. On the other hand, the scanner 4 meeting the user's request is detected within a general functional range, for example, “original size can be up to A3” or “monochrome only”. Each scanner 4 is coded in advance for each function, and when the user designates only “original size” from the PC, it is detected based on this. The detected scanner is displayed in a list on the selection screen on the PC display so that the user can select it.

  The API 210 is an I / F of an OS for allowing the PC to perform network communication with the scanner, and the driver 203 can communicate with each scanner 4 through the network 3 with good compatibility using the API 210.

  The scanner 4 includes an image reading unit (not shown) that optically scans a document such as a paper medium into the scanner body 211 and converts it into image data, a control unit (CPU) 213 that controls the image reading unit, a ROM, and a RAM. A plurality of different functions with respect to one PC 2 via the network 3 (two in FIG. 2 but more). All of which have a computer function.

  The external I / F 212 performs communication such as transmitting image data from the scanner 4 to the PC 2 via the network 3 and receiving a command for operating the scanner 4 based on an instruction from the PC 2 side.

  The control unit 213 controls each scanner 4 as a whole, determines a command transmitted from the driver 203 of the PC 2 via the network 3, and allows the scanner 4 to execute a predetermined function in accordance with an operation condition designated by the user. To the scanner control unit 214.

  The Web server 215 includes an operation information storage unit 216, and transmits information necessary for the operation of the scanner 4 to the PC as HTML data in response to a request from the driver 203.

  The operation information storage unit 216 stores information necessary for the operation of the scanner 4, that is, HTML data shown in FIG. The HTML data is unique to each scanner 4 such as “color mode”, “resolution”, “original size”, and “double-sided scan” so that each scanner 4 can handle the image data as specified. Information is written. These HTML data are emulated in the PC 2 and transmitted to the driver.

Next, the operation of the image processing system according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure on the PC 2 side, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure on the scanner 4 side. Each operation will be described with reference to both figures.
First, when the user uses any of the scanners 4 from the PC 2, the operation is performed according to the flowchart of FIG.

  The user turns on the PC 2 and the scanner 4 to activate the system (start).

(S301)
When the PC 2 and the scanner 4 are started, the TWAIN-compliant image application 202 is activated, so that the PC 2 and the scanner 4 can be used.

(S302)
When the image application 202 is activated, the user generally makes a selection because it corresponds to the type (USB, network) of the driver 203 of the PC 2. In this embodiment, a network (LAN) driver 203 is selected as the driver 203.

(S303)
In some cases, the user tries to find a scanner 4 that can easily convert the document into data (easy to use). When the user operates from the scanner designation of the PC 2 as such a countermeasure, the driver 203 causes the scanner 4 to operate. The search of the scanner 4 connected to the LAN is started by the search unit 208 regardless of the operation information from.

(S304)
If the scanner 4 corresponding to the purpose of use is not found from the PC display selection screen as specified by the user, the display of the PC 2 displays “Available scanner 4 was not found” and displays the driver 203 The operation ends (S305) or the user changes the purpose of use.

(S306)
On the other hand, when the scanner 4 suitable for the purpose of use of the user can be searched, a selection screen for the scanner 4 is displayed on the display of the PC 2 to allow the user to select the target scanner 4. When the searched scanner 4 is one, it is not necessary to display the selection screen on the display of the PC 2.

(S307)
When there are two or more usable scanners 4, the user performs “http” access to the address of the selected scanner 4 on the display of the PC 2 based on the address at the time of search.

(S308)
As a result, the PC 2 receives the HTML data from the Web server of the scanner 4, and the driver 203 configures and displays a dialog for the purpose of use on the display from the received HTML data.

(S309)
The user sets the operation of the scanner 4 while looking at the dialog displayed on the display. In other words, “input method” is used to select whether to input one copy at a time or multiple copies at once, “color mode” to select black and white or color, and to match the size of the document. Is selected from each text box of “Original Size”, and then the user presses the “Scan” button in the dialog display of the display to instruct the image application 202 to start scanning, the command / data processing unit 207 Then, according to the operation setting set by the user, a scanner operation setting and start command are created and transmitted to the scanner 4 to instruct scanner operation setting and start.

(S310)
In response to this instruction, the driver 203 receives image data generated by the image reading unit of the scanner 4 scanning the document.

(S311)
The image processing unit 206 applies image processing and various filter processes to the received image data, transfers the image data to the image application 202 via the TWAIN interface, and then checks whether there is image data (S312). . If there is untransferred image data, the next image data is received (S310). When all the received image data has been transferred to the image application 202, the process ends.

Next, the processing procedure on the scanner side will be described with reference to FIG.
(S401)
Assuming that all of the plurality of scanners 4 are activated, each scanner 4 is now waiting for a command from the PC 2.

(S402)
When any scanner 4 receives a command from the driver 203, the received scanner 4 determines whether the command is a search command by the CPU 213.

(S403)
In the case of a search command based on operation information made by a PC operation from a user, the CPU 213 of the scanner 4 responds to the driver 203 on the PC 2 side about the start of operation information search.

(S404)
If it is not a search command, the CPU 213 of the scanner 4 determines whether it is a command for setting an operation.

(S405)
In the case of the scanner operation setting / start command, the CPU 213 sets the operation condition of the scanner 4 to the scanner control unit 214.

(S406)
The image reading unit of the scanner 4 starts scanning the document according to the conditions set by the scanner control unit 214.

(S407)
When the scanner 4 generates predetermined image data as the image reading unit scans, the CPU 213 transfers the image data to the driver 203 of the PC 2.

(S408)
The CPU 213 of the scanner 4 determines whether or not the image data of the scanned document has been transferred. The CPU 213 transfers image data until the transfer is completed.
FIG. 5 shows an example in which a dialog different depending on the scanner 4 to be connected is displayed on the display of the PC 2 by the driver 203.
In this case, the display display of the PC 2 can communicate with the monochrome scanner 505 capable of A4 size single-sided scanning and the color scanner capable of A3 size double-sided scanning via the LAN 3.

In FIG. 5, when connected to the scanner (A4 monochrome) 4, monochrome and grayscale can be selected for the “color mode” displayed in the dialog (505) of the driver 203, and the color does not appear in the options.
Also, the document size is up to a maximum of A4, and the color adjustment function icon is not displayed. On the other hand, when connected to the scanner (A3 color) 4, it is possible to specify both sides of the auto document feeder (ADF) as the “input method”, color (24 bits) for the “color mode”, and A3 for the document size. The options up to are displayed.

FIG. 8 shows an example of HTML data as operation information held by the Web server of the scanner, and each scanner 4 has different operation information depending on each function.
As described above, the scanner uses HTML data to process necessary operation information, but does not pass the HTML data processing to another application such as a Web browser. The user I / F does not become unstable depending on the version, and can operate even in an environment without a Web browser.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the image processing system according to the second embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the basic configuration of this image processing system includes a PC 2 and a plurality of scanners 4 connected to the PC 2 via a network 3 such as a LAN, as shown in FIG. Each scanner 4 is the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 6, the PC 2 includes an apparatus main body 601, a keyboard and a display (not shown), an I / O port, and the like.

  The apparatus main body 601 includes a CPU, volatile and nonvolatile storage means, an API 610, and the like.

  In addition to programs such as the image application 602, driver 603, and resident program 618, the storage means stores an OS program for controlling the entire apparatus. The image application 602 here includes a TWAINI / F and communicates with the driver 603 via the TWAINI / F.

The driver 603 is software based on TWAIN for scanner operation, and as its contents, an application I / F unit 604 that performs confirmation of operation conditions for the image application of each scanner 4 and negotiation for response, and user I / F An F control unit 605, an image processing unit 606, a command / data processing unit 607, a search unit 608, and an I / F control unit 609.
By combining these, the driver 603 receives the HTML data for each scanner 4, and the user I / F control unit 605 can deal with the scanners 4 of different models in common on the program.
The application I / F unit 604 performs negotiation for performing a scanning operation in the user I / F non-display mode in which the image application and the user I / F are not displayed via the TWAINI / F.

When the image application and the application I / F unit 604 negotiate in the user I / F non-display mode, the user I / F control unit 605 acquires HTML data having scanner operation information acquired from the scanner web server. Later, the driver dialog is not displayed without configuring the user I / F.
In this case, the user I / F control unit 605 uses the address acquired by the command / data processing unit 607 from the scanner information storage unit 620 of the resident program 618 for the scanner 4 to be connected. There is no need to display.
In the user I / F non-display mode, the operating condition of the scanner is determined by negotiation between the image application 602 and the driver 603, and is not set by the user using the dialog of the driver 603.

  The command / data processing unit 607 acquires the address of the scanner 4 to be connected from the scanner information storage unit 620 of the resident program 618 when the image application and the application I / F unit 604 negotiate in the user I / F non-display mode. .

  The resident program 618 is stored in a storage medium separately from the driver 603 in the PC 2, and includes an application management unit 619, a scanner information storage unit 620, a port monitoring unit, and the like. The resident program 618 can always connect to the scanner 4 via the network 3 and receives an activation command sent from the scanner 4.

  When receiving an activation command from the scanner 4, the application management unit 619 manages the name of the image application to be activated and the image application 602. When the image application 602 is activated, at least a driver name that can identify the driver 603 to be used and event information indicating that a scan event has occurred from the scanner 4 are passed as parameters.

The scanner information storage unit 620 stores the address of the scanner 4 that has transmitted the command.
The port monitoring unit 612 monitors a predetermined port using the OS • I / FAPI 610 in order to receive a command from the scanner 4.

  The scanner 4 includes an image reading unit (not shown) that optically scans a document such as a paper medium into a scanner main body 611 and converts it into image data, a control unit (CPU) 613 that controls the image reading unit, a ROM, and a RAM. Are connected to one PC 2 via the network 3 and all have a computer function.

  The external I / F 612 performs communication such as transmitting image data from the scanner 4 to the PC 2 via the network 3 and receiving a command for operating the scanner 4 based on an instruction from the PC 2 side.

  The control unit 613 controls the whole of each scanner 4 and decides to communicate with the driver 603 in advance when the destination of the PC 2 to be connected is input from the operation panel of the scanner 4 and the scan button is pressed. The activation command is transmitted to the destination of the PC 2 input using the predetermined port, and the scanner control unit 614 is instructed so that the scanner 4 can execute the predetermined function.

  The activation command has at least a driver name that can use the scanner 4, a scanner address, and a scanner activation event type as parameters. In the second embodiment, the scanner activation event means that the image application 602 is activated and scanned.

  The Web server 615 includes an operation information storage unit 616 and transmits information necessary for the operation of the scanner 4 as HTML data in response to a request from the driver 603.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, an operation in which a program on the PC side is automatically started and scanning is started in accordance with the operation of the scanner 4 is referred to as “PushScan”.
First, the resident program 618 is started from various programs installed in the PC 2 on the PC side. It is registered as a startup program for the OS, and thereafter, it is automatically started even when the OS is restarted. A predetermined port predetermined for communication with the scanner 4 is always monitored by the activation of the resident program 618. In the case of PushScan, the user registers the activation path of the image application 602 activated on the PC side in the resident program 618, and the resident program 618 activates the image application 602 using the activation path.

  FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing flow among the image application 602, the driver 603, the resident program 618, and the scanner 4 according to the second embodiment.

(S701)
In the figure, a user sets a document in the image reading unit of the scanner 4, inputs the address of the PC 2 as a destination to which image data of the scan result is transmitted from an operation panel (not shown) of the scanner 4, and enters the scanner 4. Press the provided scan button.

(S702)
The scanner 4 transmits an activation command to the input address of the PC 2 using a predetermined port.

(S703)
As a result, the resident program 618 on the PC 2 constantly monitors the port, and when a start command is received at the monitored port, the driver name in the start command parameter and the scanner start event indicating that the scanner 4 has started up The image application 602 is activated using the image application activation path registered by the user using as a parameter.
In addition, the scanner address in the parameter of the activation command is stored in preparation for the case where the scanner address is requested from the driver 603.

(S704)
If the image application 602 determines from the passed parameters that it is PushScan, the image application 602 starts negotiation with the driver 603 in the UI non-display mode.

(S705)
The driver 603 accesses the resident program 618 and acquires a scanner address (S706).

(S707)
The driver 603 accesses the scanner 4 with the acquired scanner address and acquires operation information (S708).

(S709)
The application I / F unit 604 in the driver 603 notifies the image application 602 of the capabilities such as the corresponding resolution, document size, and file format based on the acquired operation information, and negotiates.

(S710)
The image application 602 determines the operating condition for the scanner 4 from the result of the negotiation and designates the corresponding scanner 4.

(S711)
The driver 603 sets the operation condition of the scanner 4 that matches the condition specified by the image application 602.

(S712)
The driver 603 instructs the CPU 613 of the scanner 4 to start scanning via the external I / F 612.

(S713)
The scanner 4 scans the user's original with the image reading unit to generate image data, and transfers the image data to the driver 603 of the PC 2.

(S714)
The driver 603 performs image processing such as a predetermined filter on the received image data by the image processing unit 606, and then passes the image data to the image application 602 via the TWAINI / F (S715).

(S716)
The PC 2 and the scanner 4 perform image data transfer processing until the scanning of the original is completed by the scanner 4, and when the scanning of the original is completed, the CPU 613 notifies the driver 603 of the end of scanning (S717).

(S718)
The driver 603 notifies the image application 602 of the end of scanning via the TWAINI / F.
As described above, even in a configuration in which the driver 603 accesses the Web server 615 of the scanner 4 and acquires the operation information of the scanner 4, so-called PushScan that enables scanning by starting the image application 602 of the PC 2 from the scanner 4 is enabled. When the PC 2 and the scanner 4 are installed in a place separated from each other on the network 3 or the like, the user does not need to carry the document back and forth between the PC 2 and the scanner 4 many times.

  In the image processing system of the present invention, the peripheral device is applied to the scanner. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the peripheral device may be applied to a printer, a copier, or an MFP.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image processing system 2 Personal computer 3 Network 4 Scanner 201 Apparatus main body 202 Image application 203 Driver 204 Application I / F part 205 User I / F control part 206 Image processing part 207 Command data processing part 208 Search part 209 I / F control part 210 API
211 Scanner body 212 External I / F
213 Control unit 214 Scanner control unit 215 Web server 216 Operation information storage unit

Claims (5)

In an image processing system including a plurality of peripheral devices connected to an image processing device,
The image processing apparatus includes a driver having a communication unit that commonly receives operation information necessary for the operation of each peripheral device from the peripheral device, and a control unit that instructs each peripheral device to operate according to the setting of the communication unit. ,
The peripheral device includes a storage unit that stores operation information of the peripheral device;
An image processing system comprising: a server unit that transmits operation information from the storage unit to an image processing apparatus.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus includes a driver having a function of displaying an operation setting before the operation of the peripheral device. In the image processing device, means for constantly monitoring operation instructions transmitted from the peripheral device;
Means for storing an address of the peripheral device that has transmitted the operation instruction;
The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a resident program having means for starting a predetermined application in response to the operation instruction.   The image processing device, when an application from a resident program is started, performs an operation instruction to the peripheral device based on operation information received from the peripheral device by a driver without displaying a user interface. The image processing system according to claim 1 or 3.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit includes a user interface.

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