JP2003348283A - Image input/output processor and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply and reliably give much information to a user by remote notification. <P>SOLUTION: This processor is provided with a voice conversion means for converting status information of the copying machine to voice and a remote information means for remotely giving the status information converted to voice. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an audio notification technique for notifying status information of an image input / output processing device (including electronic equipment such as a copying machine) by voice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a user is informed of status information by voice, a means for notifying the user by voice is provided in the copying machine. This is to notify by voice whether or not it has been performed.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the range of the voice is generally limited, the user is limited to the case where the user is located around the copying machine. There is a disadvantage that the method of use for notification is limited.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily and reliably notify more information by remote notification.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image input / output processing apparatus for inputting / outputting an image.
The image input / output processing apparatus further includes a voice conversion unit that converts status information of the image input / output processing device into a voice, and a remote notification unit that remotely notifies the status information converted into the voice.

[0006] More preferably, the status information of the image input / output processing device is job end information and error information.

[0007] More preferably, the remote notification means is an information terminal connected via a network or a telephone line.

[0008] More preferably, the information terminal is a computer or a mobile phone.

[0009] More preferably, the image input / output processing device is constituted by a copying device.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of an image input / output processing device 200.

As shown in FIG. 1, a scanner circuit 201, an input / output control circuit 205 to which the output of the scanner circuit 201 is supplied, an audio output circuit 203 connected to the input / output control circuit 205, a network circuit 204, and a buffer memory Circuit 206, compression / expansion circuit 207, audio signal conversion circuit 2
09. The printer device 202 is connected to the input / output control circuit 205, and the audio output circuit 203
Is connected to a telephone line, the output of the network circuit 204 is connected to a computer via a LAN, and the compression / decompression circuit 207 is connected to a storage device 208.

The image input / output processing device 200 includes an MM
I (man-machine interface) circuit 210 and RO
M211 and the above-described MMI circuit 210 and ROM 21
And a system control circuit 212 to which each output of the input / output control circuit 1 is supplied.
05.

First, the image input / output processing device 2 as described above
The 00 job operation will be described.

Here, the system control circuit 212
U, etc., which performs various settings relating to the image input / output processing device 200 performed by the MMI circuit 210 such as an operation unit, and controls the overall operation of the image input / output processing device 200 according to a processing program stored in the ROM 211 in advance. It is.

Thus, the image input / output processing device 200
Works as follows.

Here, the control program is for realizing a copying function, and this copying function is a part of the functions of the image input / output device 200.

Therefore, first, when the control program stored in the ROM 211 is read out and executed by the system control circuit 212, the system control circuit 212
Issues an image reading instruction to the scanner circuit 201 via the input / output control circuit 205, for example. Accordingly, the scanner circuit 201 converts the image on the document (not shown)
It is read as digital image data (hereinafter referred to as image data).

The image data read by the scanner circuit 201 is controlled by an input / output control circuit 205.
The data is stored in the buffer memory circuit 206.

An instruction is given to the input / output control circuit 205 so that the image data stored in the buffer memory circuit 206 is stored in the storage device 208. As a result, the input / output control circuit 205 reads out the image data from the buffer memory circuit 206 and supplies it to the compression / decompression circuit 207. The compression / expansion circuit 207 compresses the image data supplied by the input / output control circuit 205 by a predetermined compression method and stores the compressed image data in a storage device 208 such as an MO (magneto-optical disk) drive or a hard disk.

Next, the system control circuit 212 recognizes via the input / output control circuit 205 whether the scanner circuit 201 has read and input the next image. For example, an automatic document feeder (not shown) is connected to the scanner circuit 201.
Is connected, and when a plurality of documents are conveyed by the automatic document feeder and an image on the document is read, the system control circuit 212 outputs Recognize whether there is a manuscript,
When there is the next original, operation control is performed such that the above-described processing is repeated. At this time, the storage device 208 stores a plurality of image data,
The address management of each image data is performed by the system control circuit 212.

Next, an instruction is given to the input / output control circuit 205 to read the image data stored in the storage device 208. As a result, the input / output control circuit 205 controls the read operation of the storage device 208, and thereby the storage device 2
One of the image data stored in the storage unit 08 in accordance with the storage order is supplied to the compression / decompression circuit 207. The compression / decompression circuit 207 decompresses the image data from the storage device 208 by a predetermined decompression method.

Next, the input / output control circuit 205 stores the image data expanded by the compression / expansion circuit 207 in the buffer memory circuit 206.

Next, the input / output control circuit 205 reads out the image data stored in the buffer memory circuit 206 and supplies it to the printer device 202. As a result, the printer device 202 prints out the image data supplied by the input / output control circuit 205.

Next, the system control circuit 212 determines via the input / output control circuit 205 whether or not all the image data stored in the storage device 208 has been read out and printed out.

If the printing of all the image data has not been completed, the system control circuit 212 performs operation control to repeat the above-described processing.

As a result, all the image data stored in the storage device 208 are read out in the storage order and printed out by the printer device 202.

As described above, when the printout of all the image data stored in the storage device 208 is completed,
The system control circuit 212 includes, for example, the MMI circuit 210
It is determined whether or not the print output up to the final number of print copies set by (1) has been completed. And the system control circuit 2
Reference numeral 12 denotes an operation control for ending this processing when printing up to the final number of copies has been completed, and for repeating the above processing when printing has not been completed.

Therefore, in the case of print output of only one copy, the image data is read out from the storage device 208 in the order of accumulation by repeating the processing by the number of image data stored in the storage device 208, The printout is sequentially output from the printer device 202.

In the case of printing out a plurality of copies, the above-described process of printing only one copy is repeatedly performed for the set number of copies, so that the image data is repeatedly read from the storage device 208 in the accumulation order. The printout is sequentially output from the printer device 202.

The above is the description of the job operation of the copy function.
1. All the image data read in step 1
After the image data is stored in the storage device 208, the image data is already stored in the storage device 208 while the image data is being stored in the storage device 208 in order to improve the throughput. The image data may be read out and printed out.

Next, the operation after the end of the job operation will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing sequence of the image input / output processing device according to the present invention. First, before performing the above-described job operation of the copy function, it is set in advance whether or not to perform a job end notification of notifying that the job operation has been completed (step S301). When the end of the job is to be notified, personal information such as a destination to which the end of the job is notified is set by the MMI circuit 210 (step S302). The personal information set next is transferred to the buffer memory circuit 20 via the input / output control circuit 205.
6 (step S303).

Further, the input of the personal information is not limited to directly setting by the MMI circuit 210. In other words, it is only necessary that the destination of the end notification can be specified.
For example, by inputting an ID number and using personal information such as a destination corresponding to the ID number registered in advance, or by recognizing physical characteristics such as fingerprints and voices, the information is registered in advance. It is also possible to automatically use personal information such as a destination corresponding to a certain physical feature.

Next, the personal information is stored in the buffer memory circuit 2.
After being stored in step 06, the operation of the job of, for example, the copying function as described above is started (step S304). If the job end notification is not set in step S301, the job operation of step S304 is performed, bypassing steps S302 and S303.

When the job operation is completed as scheduled or when an error such as a jam, no paper, or no toner occurs, the job is completed or stopped (step S30).
5) The system control circuit 212 determines the status information of the job, such as whether the job has been completed normally or has been stopped due to an error, and pre-registers various data of audio data corresponding to the status information of the job. From the stored storage device 208 (step S30).
6) and store it in the buffer memory circuit 208 (step S307).

The status information may include not only the contents of the status but also additional information such as the status occurrence time.

Next, regarding the transfer operation of the job end notification, first, the personal information stored in the buffer memory 206, for example, an external computer such as a desired computer connected to the LAN by the IP address designating the computer. It can communicate with the device by a predetermined protocol, and via the network circuit 203 and the input / output control circuit 205,
Communication is performed by the system control circuit 212 and data can be transmitted and received to and from an external device.

As a result, the audio data stored in step S307 is read from the buffer memory circuit 206,
The data is transmitted to the external device via the input / output control circuit 205 and the network circuit 204 (step S309). This audio data is converted into an audio signal by an external device, output to a speaker, and notifies job status information.

The audio data is supplied to the audio signal conversion circuit 209 via the input / output control circuit 205, converted into an audio signal (step S308), and is input via the input / output control circuit 205 and the audio output circuit 203. The data may be transmitted to a desired receiver such as a mobile phone through a telephone line (step S309). In this case, a telephone number is read from the buffer memory circuit 206 as personal information, and a voice is output according to a predetermined protocol.

In the above-described first embodiment, L
The voice data was transferred to an external device via a network such as an AN or the voice signal was transferred using a telephone line. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, another method such as transfer using a different method may be used.

Further, when a telephone line is used via a modem and a facsimile function is provided as a function of the image input / output processing device 200, a common circuit for data transmission / reception may be used.

In the first embodiment described above, L
Although audio data is transferred to an external device via a network such as an AN, image data may be transferred from the external device to the image input / output processing device 200 and printed out by the printer device 202.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described.

The image input / output processing apparatus according to the present invention is implemented, for example, by a color copying machine 700 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the color copying machine 700 is provided so as to irradiate a document table glass 701 on which a document 702 to be read is set and a document 702 set on the document table glass 701. Lighting 703,
An optical system 707, mirrors 704 to 706 for guiding light from the original 702 to the optical system 707, an image sensor 708 on which the light from the optical system 707 is imaged, a mirror 704 and illumination 7
03 including the first mirror unit 710 and the mirror 7
A motor 709 for driving each of the second mirror units 711 including the image sensors 05 to 706, an image processing circuit 712 to which the output of the image sensor 708 is supplied, and semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 to which the output of the image processing circuit 712 is supplied. Polygon mirrors 717 to 720 to which respective outputs of semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 are supplied correspondingly, and polygon mirror 717
Photosensitive drum 725 to which each output is supplied correspondingly
To 728, developing units 721 to 724 for supplying toner onto the photosensitive drums 725 to 728, and a paper cassette 729 to
731, a manual feed tray 732, and a transfer belt 734
And the paper cassettes 729 to 731 or the manual feed tray 73
2, a registration roller 733 that guides the sheet fed by the sheet 2 onto the transfer belt 734, a fixing device 735 that fixes the toner transferred to the sheet on the transfer belt 734 by the photosensitive drums 725 to 728, and a toner that is fixed by the fixing device 735. A paper discharge tray 736 for discharging the fixed paper and a network circuit 737 for exchanging data with an external device via a LAN are provided.

The above-described color copier 700 has the functions of the above-described image input / output processing device 200 (FIG. 1), and includes a platen glass 701, an illumination 703, an optical system 707, an image sensor 708, First mirror unit 7
10, second mirror unit 711, and motor 709
And the like are image reading portions, and correspond to the scanner circuit 201 in FIG. Further, the image processing circuit 712 includes:
It is a part that outputs an image signal for printing, and
A part for converting audio data into an audio signal is also included, and the input / output control circuit 205 and the storage device 20 shown in FIG.
8, buffer memory circuit 206, compression / expansion circuit 207,
Audio signal conversion circuit 209 and system control circuit 212
And so on. Further, semiconductor lasers 713 to 716,
Polygon mirrors 717 to 720, photosensitive drums 725 to 7
28, paper cassettes 729 to 731, manual feed tray 73
2. The transfer belt 734, the registration roller 733, the fixing device 735, and the paper discharge tray 736 are portions that print out an image, and correspond to the printer device 202 in FIG.

Further, the network circuit 737 corresponds to FIG.
And a part of the audio output circuit 203 is included.

Therefore, first, an original 702 to be read is set on the original glass 701. The original 702 is illuminated by the illumination 703, and the reflected light of the original 702 is imaged on the imaging surface of the imaging element 708 by the optical system 707 via mirrors 704, 705, and 706 in this order.

At this time, the motor 709 is connected to the mirror 704
And a first mirror unit 710 including the illumination 703 and the mirror 705 and 70
6 is mechanically driven at a speed V / 2. Thus, the entire surface of the document 702 is scanned.

The image sensor 708 is a solid-state image sensor (CC
D: Charge Coupled Device) or the like. The image formed by the optical system 707 is converted into an electric image signal by photoelectric conversion, and the image is processed by an image processing circuit 712.
To supply.

The image processing circuit 712 performs a predetermined process on the image signal from the image sensor 708 and outputs it as a print signal. The semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 operate according to the print signal output from the image processing circuit 712. Driven,
The laser light emitted by each of the semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 is
A latent image is formed on the photosensitive drums 725 to 728.

The developing devices 721 to 724 are K, Y, C, M
The latent images formed on the photosensitive drums 725 to 728 are developed by using the toners.

At this time, the paper cassettes 729 to 731,
The paper fed from any one of the manual feed tray 732 is adsorbed onto the transfer belt 734 via the registration roller 733 and is conveyed.

In synchronization with the sheet feeding timing at this time,
The toner of each color is developed on the photosensitive drums 725 to 728 in advance, and the toner of each color is transferred to the paper as the paper is transported.

The paper on which the toner of each color is transferred is separated and conveyed from the transfer belt 734, and is fixed by the fixing device 735.
The toner is fixed on the paper, and the paper is discharged from the paper discharge tray 736.

By the way, regarding the transfer of an image or audio signal to or from an external device, when transmitting the image or audio signal to the external device, the image or audio signal output from the image processing circuit 712 is output to the external device via the network circuit 737. When receiving the image signal, the image signal is input from the external device to the image processing circuit 712 via the network circuit 737, and when printing is performed, the image signal is output from the image processing circuit 712 as a print signal as described above.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.

The image input / output processing device according to the present invention is implemented by, for example, an information processing device 800 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the information processing apparatus 800 includes a CPU 801, a ROM 802, a RAM 80
3, an image scanner 807, a storage device 808, a disk drive 809, a VRAM 810, a display 811, a keyboard 812, a pointing device 813, a printer 814, and a network circuit 815 are connected to a bus 816.
And are configured to mutually exchange data.

The information processing apparatus 800 as described above has the function of the image input / output processing apparatus 200 (FIG. 1). First, the CPU 801 controls the operation of the entire information processing apparatus 800. The CPU 801 corresponds to the input / output control circuit 205 and the system control circuit 212 in FIG.

The ROM 802 stores a boot program and B
IOS (Basic Input / Output Sy)
) is stored in advance.

The RAM 803 is used as a work area of the CPU 801, and controls information including a control program 804 corresponding to a series of processing procedures, a buffer area 805 used when capturing and printing an image, and a control program 804. An operating system (OS) 806 for controlling the operation of the entire device 800 is developed or secured. The CPU 801 executes the control program 804 expanded in the RAM 803, so that the operation of the entire information processing apparatus 800 is controlled.

The image scanner 807 corresponds to the scanner circuit 201 shown in FIG. 1 and reads an image.

The storage device 808 is a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device, and corresponds to the storage device 208 in FIG. The storage device 808 also stores the above-described OS 806 and the like in advance.

The disk drive 809 reads data from a portable storage medium, for example, a floppy (R) disk. A floppy (R) disk set in the disk drive 809 or the storage device 8
08, the control program 804 described above is stored in advance, read by the CPU 801 and expanded on the RAM 803.

The VRAM 810 is for developing a bitmap image to be displayed on the screen, and
1 displays a bitmap image developed on the VRAM 810.

The keyboard 812 is for inputting various information, and the pointing device 813 is
This is for designating a desired position on the display screen of the display unit 811 and selecting a desired menu from various menus such as a menu screen. The CPU 801 controls the operation of the entire information processing apparatus 800 according to the respective inputs of the keyboard 812 and the pointing device 813.

A printer 814 corresponds to the printer device 202 shown in FIG. 1 and prints out an image or the like read by the image scanner 807.

The network circuit 815 corresponds to the network circuit 204 shown in FIG. 1, and is connected to another host via a LAN or the like by the network circuit 815.

The present invention can be applied to a data processing method in a single device as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4, and FIG. May be.

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the host and the terminal of each of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer for the system or the apparatus. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by a program (or CPU or MPU) reading and executing a program code stored in a storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As storage media for supplying the program code, ROM, floppy (R) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-RO
M, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and the like can be used.

By executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also an OS or the like running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in an extension function board inserted into the computer or a function extension unit connected to the computer, based on an instruction of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0075]

As described above, according to the present invention, various status information of the copying apparatus such as the end of a job and an error (paper out, toner out) and the like are converted into voice, and the personal PC is connected via a network. It is possible to reliably notify the user by notifying the speaker connected to the mobile phone or directly to the personal mobile phone.

As a result, when a large number of jobs are performed by the copying apparatus, the user can leave the copying apparatus once without waiting for the end of the job, and is immediately notified when a trouble occurs in the copying apparatus. This is very efficient because it is not necessary to notice the trouble of the copying apparatus only after the document prepared by predicting the end time is retrieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a data processing system to which an image input / output processing device according to the present invention is applied in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of the image input / output processing device according to the present invention in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a color copying machine to which an image input / output processing device according to the present invention is applied in a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing device to which an image input / output processing device according to the present invention is applied in a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

200 Image input / output processing device 201 Scanner circuit 202 Printer 203 Audio output circuit 204 Network Circuit 205 I / O control circuit 206 buffer memory circuit 207 compression / expansion circuit 208 storage device 209 Audio signal conversion circuit 210 MMI circuit 211 ROM 212 System control circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme coat ゛ (reference) G10L 19/00 G10L 3/00 Q NF term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 BB10 CQ32 CQ34 CQ41 5B021 AA05 AA19 BB01 BB10 CC05 QQ07 5C062 AA05 AA12 AA14 AA37 AB23 AB26 AB41 AB42 AC05 AC29 AC58 AC65 AE11 AE15 AF15 5D045 AB26 AB30

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image input / output processing apparatus for inputting / outputting an image, comprising: an audio conversion unit configured to convert status information of the image input / output processing apparatus into audio, and transmitting the status information converted into audio. It is characterized by having remote notification means for remote notification. 2. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the status information of the image input / output processing apparatus is job end information and error information. 3. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said remote notification means is an information terminal connected via a network or a telephone line. 4. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information terminal is a computer or a mobile phone. 5. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image input / output processing apparatus is constituted by a copying apparatus.