Patent Application
20080239363
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a copier device, and in particular, it relates to a copier device that can electronically store copied documents and recall them for reprinting later.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional copier devices produce physical copies of a physical document but do not store any information regarding the content of the documents being copied that can be used later by a user to make additional physical copies of the same document. In other words, copy is a one-time transaction. Many copier devices today produce physical copies of a document by first scanning it to generate digital image data representing an image of the document, and then printing a physical copy of the document from the digital image data. Such copier devices have a scanning section and a printing section. In addition, a copier is often provided as a part of a multifunction device (sometimes referred to as a MFP or AIO (all-in-one device)), which is a device that combines copy, scan (i.e. generating a digital file from the physical document but does not generate a physical copy), and print (i.e. producing a physical copy of a document from digital data) functions in a single device. The digital image generated by the scanning section during a copy action may temporarily exist on the copier, but it is not stored and made available to the user at a later time. Thus, copy function of a conventional copier or MFP remains a one-time transaction.
The present invention is directed to a copy method and copier device that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a copy method and copier device that store digital data representing content of the copied document and allow a user to recall the digital data to produce additional physical copies of the document at a later time.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the descriptions that follow and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims thereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and/or other objects, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method implemented in a data processing system including a copier, which include: (a) making a physical copy of a physical document using the copier by scanning the physical document to generate digital image data representing the document and printing the physical copy from the digital image data; (b) storing the digital image data representing the document in a storage device; (c) generating document management information associated with the digital image data representing the document; and (d) storing the document management information in a document management database. The method may further includes: (e) displaying document management information to a user; (f) receiving a user input selecting one or more documents; (g) in response to the user input, retrieving stored digital image data representing the selected document; and (h) printing the retrieved digital image data.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a copier which includes: a scanning section for generating digital image data representing documents by scanning a physical medium; a printing section for forming images on a physical medium from digital image data; a storage device; a user interface section for communicating with a user; and a management section for storing in the storage device digital image data representing documents generated by the scanning section during a copy function, generating document management information associated with documents represented by the digital image data, storing the document management information in a document management database, displaying stored document management information to a user using the user interface, receiving a user input indicating one or more selected documents, and retrieving from the storage device stored digital image data representing the selected documents.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a data processing system which includes: a copier connected to a network including a scanning section for generating digital image data representing a document by scanning a physical medium, a printing section for forming images on a physical medium from digital image data, a user interface section for communicating with a user, and a control section for determining whether a copy function or a recall function is to be performed; a storage device connected to the network; and a server connected to the network, the server including a management section, wherein the control section of the copier transmits a first request to the server if it determines that a copy function is to be performed and transmits a second request to the server if it determines that a recall function is to be performed, wherein in response to the first request, the management section of the server stores in the storage device digital image data representing documents generated by the scanning section during the copy function, generates document management information associated with documents represented by the digital image data, and stores the document management information in a document management database, and wherein in response to the second request, the management section of the server transmits stored document management information to the copier to be displayed to a user, and retrieves stored digital image data from the storage device based on a user selection of one or more documents.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for electronically storing images of previously copied documents and recalling them for reprinting later. When a user uses a copier to make a physical copy of a physical document, the document image is stored by the copier, and certain document management information is captured and stored in a document management database to facilitate later recall and reprint of the document images.
As shown in
Although the storage device 112 is shown in
In a multi-user environment where each user is assigned a user ID to log in to the copier, it is preferable that images of previously copied documents are only available to the same user who made the copies. This protects the users' privacy. Public or shared folders may also be set up for a pre-registered user group, such that the documents in folder are available to users belonging to the group.
In step S12, if the user selects a recall function, the management section retrieves document management information from the document management database and displays the information to the user via the user interface (step S118), and the user selects one or more documents to reprint (step S19). To assist the user in selecting stored document images for reprint, the management section may use various techniques to categorize the documents based on the document management information and displays document management information to the user in an organized manner. Multiple levels of categories may be used. A use or an administrator may program the management section to define desired categories of documents. A search capability may also be implemented in the management section to allow users to search for particular documents using various search criteria. For example, a search process may include receiving search criteria from the user, retrieving document management information according to the search criteria, and displaying the retrieved document management information to the user. As pointed out earlier, to protect user privacy in a multi-user environment, all document images are associated with a user ID, and each user normally can only recall document images belonging to that user. A user may also selectively share his images, i.e. allow other users to access images belonging to that user. The above document organization, searching and sharing methods are well known in the relevant art and may be implemented by those skilled in the art without undue experimentation. Depending on the display capability of the user interface section 116 of the copier, information may be displayed to the user in a variety of ways such as lists, trees, folders, thumbnails, full images, etc. The user uses the user interface section to review and change the displayed information, select a category, search for a document, select documents, etc. This interactive process is depicted in a simplified manner as steps S18 and S19 in
After the user selects one or more documents to reprint, the copier retrieves image data of the selected documents from the storage device (step S20), and prints the retrieved images (step S21). Instead of printing the stored images as is, the user may choose to generate composite images from the stored image data (steps S22), in which case the copier generates the composite images by reducing the size of the original images and arranging multiple images on a page (step S23). Step S23 may be performed by a separate image processing section of the copier. After the selected documents are printed, if the user wishes to perform additional copy or recall tasks, steps S12 to S23 are repeated.
As stated earlier, the management section that performs various steps shown in
Further, if the document management function is performed by the server, this function may be integrated with other document management functions already performed by the server. For example, a large organization may have existing a document management system handled by a server, and the document management method (i.e. steps S14 to S17 and S18 to S20) may be implemented as a part of the over document management system. In addition, the recall function may also be performed remotely from the copier, by using a client computer 102 connected to the network 104, and the recalled images may be directed to any copier, printer or multifunction device connected to the network for printing.
An advantage of embodiments of the present invention is that it makes it possible for a user to make additional copies of a previously copied document without the original. It also makes it easy to generate composite images from one or more previously copied documents. In addition, it allows copiers and copy function to be integrated into an organization's document management system.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modification and variations can be made in the method of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
