Patent Application
20140362406
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system which transmits image data generated by reading received image data and a document.
2. Description of the Related Art
Until now, there has been known a function in which a client computer generates image data and transmits it to a facsimile machine via a local area network (LAN). The facsimile machine transmits the received data as a facsimile message. In this case, the address of facsimile transmission can be designated by a user on a personal computer side.
There has been also known a function in which the facsimile machine is notified of only the address designated by the user and the image data is not prepared on the client computer side. Instead, the image data generated by the facsimile machine which reads a document is faxed to the designated address (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open NO. 7-288625).
For example, there may be a case where a user desires to fax both of a cover page generated by the client computer and the image data acquired by the facsimile machine reading a document. However, with the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open NO. 7-288625, both of the image data generated by the client computer and the image data generated by the facsimile machine cannot be transmitted. In other words, in the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open NO. 7-288625, the cover page generated by the client computer is first faxed and then the facsimile transmission of the image data generated by reading the document needs to be separately instructed. In this case, operation for transmitting the cover page and operation for transmitting the image data of the document need to be separately performed, which causes a burdensome task to a user.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an image processing system includes a reception unit configured to receive image data transmitted by an information processing apparatus, a reading unit configured to read a document to generate image data, and a transmission unit configured to transmit both of the image data received by the reception unit and the image data generated by the reading unit, according to an instruction received by the information processing apparatus.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Various exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
The present exemplary embodiment described below does not limit the invention according to claims. All of combinations of characteristics described in the exemplary embodiment are not always essential as means for solving the problem of the invention.
A first exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described below.
Communication pathways of the tablet terminal 101 and the MFP 103 are not always limited to the above pathways. For example, the tablet terminal 101 may be connected with the wireless network router 102 via a wired LAN. The MFP 103 may be connected with the wireless network router 102 via a wireless LAN. The tablet terminal 101 and the MFP 103 may be connected with the same network.
The HDD 214 stores image data and various programs. An operation unit interface (I/F) 215 connects the control unit 210 with an operation unit 220. The operation unit 220 includes a liquid crystal display with a touch panel function and a keyboard, and serves as a receiving unit for receiving an operation, input, and designation from a user.
A printer interface (I/F) 216 connects the control unit 210 with a printer 221. Image data to be printed by the printer 221 are transferred from the control unit 210 via the printer I/F 216 and printed on a recording medium by the printer 221.
A scanner interface (I/F) 217 connects the control unit 210 with a scanner 222. The scanner 222 reads an image on a document to generate image data and inputs the image data to the control unit 210 via the scanner I/F 217.
A modem interface (I/F) 218 connects the control unit 210 with a modem 223. The modem 223 is connected with the PSTN and executes facsimile communication of the image data with a facsimile machine (not illustrated). A network interface (I/F) 219 connects the control unit 210 (MFP 103) with the wired LAN. The MFP 103 can transmit and receive image data and various pieces of information from an external apparatus using the network I/F 219.
In the present exemplary embodiment, the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 are received via the network I/F 219 in accordance with the network protocol stored in the protocol stack unit 304. The received image data are stored by an image file unit 303. The image file unit 303 is a software module for managing the image data stored in the RAM 213 and the HDD 214.
The image file unit 303 stores the image data generated by the scanner 222 as well as the image data received via the network I/F 219. The generation of image data by the scanner 222 is controlled by a scan unit 306. The facsimile unit 305 controls facsimile communication to be conducted via the modem 223. When the MFP 103 transmits a facsimile message, the facsimile unit 305 reads the image data stored in the image file unit 303 and transmits the image data.
An operating system (OS) unit 308 coordinates each module and task and manages the entire software of the MFP 103. A device driver unit 307 is incorporated into the OS unit 308. The device driver unit 307 controls hardware devices such as the scanner 222 and the modem 223.
An operation unit I/F 413 connects the control unit 410 with an operation unit 410. The operation unit 420 includes a liquid crystal display with a touch panel function and serves as a unit for receiving an operation, inputting, and an instruction from the user. A network I/F 414 connects the control unit 410 (the tablet terminal 101) with a wired LAN. The tablet terminal 101 can transmit image data to an external apparatus using the network I/F 414 and receive various pieces of information.
When the facsimile transmission application is activated by the tablet terminal 101, the operation screen illustrated in
A setting field 502 is a field where a telephone number (a facsimile number) as the destination of the facsimile message is set. The user may input a telephone number using a soft keyboard displayed on the tablet terminal 101 or select a telephone number with reference to an address book stored in the tablet terminal 101.
A setting field 503 is a field where a detailed setting of scan processing (reading processing) to be executed using the scanner 221 of the MFP 103 is made. When a user touches the setting field 503, a screen for specifying reading parameters such as resolution, document size, and color/monochrome is displayed and the scanning setting is received via the screen.
A facsimile transmission key 504 is a key for instructing the MFP 103 to transmit facsimile massage. When a facsimile transmission key 504 is pressed after the setting fields 501 to 503 are set, communication starts between the tablet terminal 101 and the MFP 103.
In step S604, the tablet terminal 101 transmits to the MFP 103 a scan command instructing the MFP 103 to execute scanning. In step S605, the MFP 103 which has received the command confirms that the scanner 222 is available and then sends the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
In step S606, the tablet terminal 101 transmits a job end command to the MFP 103. In step S607, the MFP 103 which has received the command returns the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
The MFP 103 waits until the user performs operation and, in step S608, when the MFP 103 receives the user's operation, the MFP 103 proceeds to step S609. In step S609, the MFP 103 performs scan processing on a document using the scanner 222. The processing is performed according to the contents set in the setting field 503. In step S610, the MFP 103 faxes the image data acquired by the scanning in step S609. The address of the facsimile transmission is the telephone number set in the setting field 502.
As described above, the MFP 103 scans the document and faxes the acquired image data according to the contents set in the tablet terminal 101. Hereinafter, the processing is referred to as a first transmission processing. In the first transmission processing, only the image data acquired by scanning of the MFP 103 are faxed. In a second transmission processing described below, on the other hand, the image data prepared by the tablet terminal 101 are faxed from the MFP 103.
When the user presses an operation key 701 on the operation screen illustrated in
It can be seen that a setting field 803 is added if the operation screen in
In the setting field 803, “ON” or “OFF” can be selected. By setting “OFF”, the second transmission processing is executed. By setting “ON”, the third transmission processing is executed.
In step S903, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the job generation command to the MFP 103. In step S904, the MFP 103 which has received the command returns the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
In step S905, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the image transmission command to the MFP 103. The image transmission command includes image data to be faxed from the MFP 103. The image data is data displayed on the operation screen illustrated in
In step S907, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the job end command to the MFP 103. In step S908, the MFP 103 which has received the command returns the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
In step S909, the MFP 103 faxes the image data received from the tablet terminal 101. The address of the facsimile transmission is the telephone number set in the setting field 802. In the second transmission processing, the MFP 103 does not execute the scan processing. For this reason, unlike the first transmission processing, the user does not need to wait for the operation of the MFP 103.
As described above, the processing (the second transmission processing) is performed in which the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 to the MFP 103 are faxed from the MFP 103 according to the information set by the tablet terminal 101. The third transmission processing is described below.
In step S1001, the tablet terminal 101 receives the image selection from the user via the operation screen in
In step S1005, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the image transmission command to the MFP 103. The image transmission command includes image data to be faxed from the MFP 103. The image data is the data displayed on the operation screen illustrated in
In step S1007, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the scan command to instruct the MFP 103 to execute scanning to the MFP 103. In step S1008, the MFP 103 which has received the command confirms that the scanner 222 is available and then sends the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
In step S1009, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the job end command to the MFP 103. In step S1010, the MFP 103 which has received the command returns the OK response to the tablet terminal 101.
The MFP 103 waits until the user performs operation and, in step S1011, when the MFP 103 receives the user's operation, the MFP 103 proceeds to step S1012. In step S1012, the MFP 103 performs scan processing of a document using the scanner 222. The processing is performed according to the information set in the setting field 804. In step S1013, the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 in step S1005 and the image data acquired in step S1012 are merged together. The term “merge” means that a plurality of image data is turned into one piece of image data comprised of a plurality of pages (it may be referred to as a document or a document file). In step S1014, the MFP 103 faxes the image data merged in step S1013. The address of the facsimile transmission is the telephone number set in the setting field 802.
As described above, the processing is performed in which the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 to the MFP 103 and the image data acquired by scanning of the MFP 103 are merged together according to the information set by the tablet terminal 101 and the MFP 103 faxes the merged data. For example, the third transmission processing is used in a case where the cover page generated by the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by the MFP 103 has read in a document are merged into one image data and are to be faxed. In other words, the third transmission processing significantly reduces a burdensome task in transmitting the image data generated by the tablet terminal 101 merged with the image data generated by the MFP 103.
The purpose of the third transmission processing can be achieved if both of the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by scanning of the MFP 103 are transmitted from the MFP 103 through a simple operation, so that the processing in step S1013 may be omitted. Furthermore, the facsimile transmission of the image data received in step S1005 may be started before scanning is started in step S1012. In this case, the document is scanned in parallel with the transmission of the image data from the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by scanning is transmitted in succession to the image data from the tablet terminal 101 (in the same call).
In step S1101, the CPU 211 determines the contents of the instruction from the tablet terminal 101. More specifically, if the MFP 103 receives the image transmission command but does not receive the scan command (YES in step S1101), the CPU 211 determines that the MFP 103 is instructed to fax only the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 (the first transmission processing), and the processing proceeds to step S1106. In step S1106, the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 are faxed.
If the MFP 103 receives the scan command (NO in step S1101), the CPU 211 determines that the MFP 103 is instructed to fax the image data acquired by scanning of the MFP 103 (the second or the third transmission processing) and the processing proceeds to step S1102. In step S1102, the CPU 211 waits for the user's instruction. If the CPU 211 receives the user's instruction (YES in step S1102), the processing proceeds to step S1103.
In step S1103, the CPU 211 operates the scanner 222 and causes the scanner 222 to read images on the document and generate image data. In step S1104, the CPU 211 determines whether the MFP 103 has received the image transmission command. If the MFP 103 has not received the image transmission command (NO in step S1104), the CPU 211 determines that the MFP 103 is instructed to fax only the image data acquired by scanning of the MFP 103 (the second transmission processing) and the processing proceeds to step S1106. In step S1106, the image data acquired by the scanning are faxed.
If the MFP 103 has received the image transmission command (YES in step S1104), the CPU 211 determines that the MFP 103 is instructed to merge and fax the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by scanning (the third transmission processing), and the processing proceeds to step S1105. In step S1105, the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 are merged with the image data acquired by the scanning. In step S1106, the image data merged in step S1105 are faxed.
As described above, if the tablet terminal 101 receives the instruction of the first transmission processing from the user, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the scan command to the MFP 103 (but does not transmit the image transmission command). If the MFP 103 receives the scan command but does not receive the image transmission command, the MFP 103 executes the first transmission processing. If the tablet terminal 101 receives the instruction of the second transmission processing from the user, the tablet terminal 101 transmits the image transmission command to the MFP 103 (but does not transmit the scan command). If the MFP 103 receives the image transmission command but does not receive the scan command, the MFP 103 executes the second transmission processing. If the tablet terminal 101 receives the instruction of the third transmission processing from the user, the tablet terminal 101 transmits both of the image transmission command and the scan command to the MFP 103. If the MFP 103 receives both of the image transmission command and the scan command, the MFP 103 executes the third transmission processing.
In the second and the third transmission processing, the tablet terminal 101 may transmit the image transmission commands in each job more than once. This allows the MFP 103 to collectively fax a plurality of the image data prepared by the tablet terminal 101. Similarly, in the first and the third transmission processing described above, the scan commands may be transmitted in each job more than once. This allows the MFP 103 to collectively fax a plurality of the image data acquired by multiple scan processing.
A second exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described below. In the first exemplary embodiment, when the third transmission processing is performed, the order of merging the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 with the image data acquired by scanning is fixed, however, the present exemplary embodiment is different from the first exemplary embodiment in that the order can be designated by the user. The second exemplary embodiment is similar to the first exemplary embodiment in other respects, so that the description thereof is omitted.
If “ON (add to back)” is set in the setting field 1201, the processing is performed according to the sequence diagram illustrated in
If “ON (add to front)” is set in the setting field 1201, the processing is performed according to the sequence diagram illustrated in
In step S1402, the scanned image data are added to the front of the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 to be merged therewith. In step S1403, the scanned image data are added to the back of the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 to be merged therewith.
Thus, the order of merging the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 with the image data acquired by the scanning is changed according to the sequence in which the image data and the scan command are received. In other words, the order can be designated by the user on the tablet terminal 101, which further improves user friendliness.
In the above configuration, when the third transmission processing is performed, although the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 merged with the image data acquired by the scanning are faxed in one outgoing call, the configuration of the third transmission processing is not limited to the above configuration. For example, independent image data may be collectively faxed as it is in one outgoing call without merging the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 with the image data acquired by the scanning. Furthermore, the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by the scanning may be automatically and continuously faxed in different outgoing calls respectively. If the image data transmitted from the tablet terminal 101 and the image data acquired by the scanning are collectively transmitted, this is treated in the present specification as included in the third transmission processing.
Furthermore, electronic mail, server message block (SMB), or file transfer protocol (FTP) as well as facsimile transmission may be used as a method for transmitting data from the MFP 103. If the electronic mail is used, a mail address needs to be set as an address. If the SMB or the FTP is used, a host name or a folder path of a destination server needs to be set as an address. If the electronic mail is used, the image data merged together are attached as one file to the electronic mail, a plurality of files may be attached to one electronic mail without merging the image data, or an individual file may be divided and attached to a plurality of electronic mails. If the SMB or the FTP is used, the image data merged together may be transmitted in one session as one file, a plurality of files may be transmitted in one session without merging the image data, or a divided individual file may be transmitted in a plurality of sessions.
The above description takes the MFP including the printer 221 as an example of the image processing system. If an apparatus has a scanner function, the apparatus does not necessarily need to have a printer function.
The above description takes the tablet terminal having a wireless communication function as an example of the image processing apparatus. However, if an apparatus can store image data and has a user interface communicable with the outside, another type of the apparatus may be used. For example, a personal computer (PC), a smart phone, a digital camera, or the like may be used.
Although the above description is based on a case where software processing is performed to realize the operation of each step illustrated in
Embodiments of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions recorded on a storage medium (e.g., computer-readable storage medium) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) of the present invention, and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU), or other circuitry, and may include a network of separate computers or separate computer processors. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-121842 filed Jun. 10, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-121842 | Jun 2013 | JP | national |
