JP5739724B2 - Image processing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system, and more particularly to an image processing system including an information processing apparatus and an image output apparatus for displaying a search result of an image forming apparatus connected to a communication network.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image output apparatuses that output image data transmitted from an information processing apparatus such as a PC (personal computer) have become widespread. As an image output device, a printer having only a printing function, a multifunction machine (MFP (multifunctional peripheral device) etc.) having a scanner function in addition to a printing function, a data transmission / reception function by FAX, e-mail, etc., a printing function There are also mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablet terminals that display and output image data on a display screen.

  These image output devices are often connected to a network such as a LAN by wire or wirelessly. For example, in an office, a plurality of image output devices are installed at a plurality of locations. The user can select an image output device to be used in consideration of the installation location of the image output device, functions supported by the image output device, and the like.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-26883, an image displayed on a preview image on an image processing apparatus and an image printed on the image forming apparatus are actually printed. An image processing apparatus for the purpose of matching an image is disclosed.
When the information processing apparatus causes the image forming apparatus to perform printing, information to be printed is transferred to the image processing apparatus. Based on the received information, the image processing apparatus generates image data based on a bitmap depending on the image forming apparatus (printer) and stores the image data in a storage device. When a preview instruction is given by the information processing apparatus on the network, the stored image data is transferred and displayed. When there is a print instruction, the image data is output to the image forming apparatus to execute printing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-297057

When image data generated by the information processing apparatus is transmitted to the image forming apparatus to perform image formation, the image data stored in the image forming apparatus can be confirmed or used by, for example, a portable terminal If possible, a lot of convenience can be given to the user.
However, conventionally, when the image data stored in the storage device of the image forming apparatus is transmitted to a mobile terminal and displayed, for example, the image data has a format that cannot be displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal, or the resolution of the image data Therefore, the image data stored in the image forming apparatus cannot always be confirmed on the portable terminal due to the fact that it cannot be displayed on the portable terminal having a low resolution. Alternatively, when referring to image data with a mobile terminal, there is a problem that the storage location of the image data cannot be known with the mobile terminal. In addition, the technique related to the image processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 cannot solve such a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and improves the operability by enabling easy display and use of image data for image formation by an image forming apparatus on a mobile terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system that can provide high convenience.

In order to solve the above problem, a first technical means of the present invention is an image processing system in which an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus are connected via a communication network, and the information processing apparatus an operation input means for accepting an operation input, from among the communication network to the connected image forming apparatus, means for storing the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus, for communicating with a mobile terminal at a predetermined communication method A portable terminal that displays image data in accordance with an operation input to the operation input unit, and a file format that is predetermined according to the identified portable terminal. Image data generating means for generating image data and the image data selected from the image forming apparatuses searched by the search means for the image data And transmitting means for transmitting the image data is formed means generated is obtained by further comprising a.

  According to a second technical means, in the first technical means, the image forming apparatus associates a name of the mobile terminal, an e-mail address of the mobile terminal, and a file format of image data that can be displayed on the mobile terminal. And storing the image data received from the information processing apparatus in advance and determining the file format of the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus, and storing the portable data stored in the storage means. E-mail processing for extracting mobile terminals that can be displayed in the image data file format with reference to the terminal information, and sending e-mail describing information indicating the storage location of the image data to the extracted mobile terminals Means.

  According to a third technical means, in the second technical means, when the image forming apparatus is accessed according to information indicating a storage location of the image data from the portable terminal that has transmitted the electronic mail, the information processing apparatus The image processing apparatus includes image output processing means for transmitting the transmitted image data to the mobile terminal that performed the access.

  According to a fourth technical means, in the third technical means, the storage means stores, as the portable terminal information, information relating to image quality that can be displayed on the portable terminal in association with each portable terminal, and the image output processing means Is characterized in that the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus is converted into an image quality that can be displayed on the accessed mobile terminal and transmitted.

  According to the present invention, image data for forming an image on an image forming apparatus can be easily displayed and used on a portable terminal, thereby improving operability and providing a user with high convenience. A forming system can be provided.

It is a figure for demonstrating embodiment of the image processing system which concerns on this invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of an information processing apparatus and an image output apparatus that constitute an image processing system according to the present invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the example of a search process by the information processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the search result by information processing apparatus. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen used when image data for printing is transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the registration information of the portable terminal registered into the image forming apparatus. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an electronic mail transmitted from an image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the registration information of the portable terminal registered into the image forming apparatus, It is a figure which shows an example of the flow of a process of the whole image processing system which consists of an information processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a portable terminal.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention. The following embodiments are examples embodying the present invention, and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of an image processing system according to the present invention. In the image processing system, the information processing apparatus 20 and the image forming apparatus 10 are connected via a network 80 such as the Internet or an intranet. Mobile terminals 30 and 40 can be connected to the network 80 via wireless communication means such as a wireless LAN port 70. If the image forming apparatus 10 includes a wireless LAN adapter 60 such as a Wi-Fi I / F, the portable terminal 50 and the image forming apparatus 10 can communicate with each other via the wireless LAN adapter 60. As the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, for example, a tablet terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet PC, or a terminal such as a mobile phone can be applied.

  The network 80 is an IP network such as a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), PLC (Power Line Communication), c. It can also be connected.

The image forming apparatus 10 has at least a printing (image forming) function for printing image data on a recording medium and a function for communicating with an external device. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a printer, a printer with a scanner function, a multifunction peripheral (MFP (MultiFunction Printer / Product / Peripheral)) is applicable. Therefore, the output of the image data is executed in the form of a print output for the recording medium.
In addition, the image forming apparatus 10 uses the communication function described above for the web server function that accepts access from the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, and the like, and the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, and the like that have made the access. In addition, it has a function of transmitting image data in a form that can be displayed on each portable terminal. One or more image forming apparatuses 10 can be connected to the network 80.

  The information processing apparatus 20 is an information processing apparatus such as a PC / AT compatible machine or a MAC (Macintosh) standard machine, and may be a terminal such as a portable terminal such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). A plurality of information processing apparatuses 20 having the same configuration can be connected to the network 80.

The mobile terminals 30, 40, 50 usually do not have a printing function and display image data on the display screen. That is, image data is output in the form of display output. It is also possible to send and receive e-mails and send and receive image data with external devices.
In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10, the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, and the like are image output apparatuses that are search targets of the information processing apparatus 20. The form of image output can take the form of printing, display, external transmission, etc. according to the function of each network device as described above.

  Then, the information processing apparatus 20 extracts an image forming apparatus that forms an image of image data on a recording medium from the searched image output apparatuses, and further transmits the image data from the information processing apparatus 20 from the extracted image forming apparatuses. An image forming apparatus including a storage unit such as an HDD for storing image data and a unit for communicating with the portable terminals 30, 40, 50 and the like by a predetermined communication method is extracted.

  The image forming apparatus 10 stores the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 in its own HDD or the like, and transmits an e-mail to the portable terminals 30, 40, 50 corresponding to the format of the image data. When there is a transmission request for image data from the mobile terminals 30, 40, and 50 that transmitted the e-mail, the image data is converted to an image quality that can be displayed on the mobile terminal and transmitted. As a result, even in the case of the portable terminals 30, 40, and 50 that cannot display the image data stored in the image forming apparatus as they are due to problems such as the file format and resolution that can be displayed on the display device, the image data is displayed on the display screen. The contents can be confirmed and the image data can be used.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the information processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus that constitute the image processing system according to the present invention. The information processing apparatus 20 includes a communication unit 21, a control unit 22, a user interface (I / F) 23, and a storage unit 24.
The control unit 22 includes a common format data generation unit 221, a selection unit 222, a search unit 223, a command generation unit 224, a presentation unit 225, a reception unit 226, and a preview display editing unit 227. The control unit 22 includes an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU and a memory such as a ROM / RAM as hardware, and implements various functions of the control unit 22 by reading and executing a program stored in the memory. To do.

  The user interface (I / F) 23 includes a display unit and an operation input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse. Moreover, what was comprised as a touchscreen with which the display part and the operation input part were united may be sufficient. The display unit of the user interface 23 displays device information of the image output device on the network 80 searched by the information processing device 20. The operation input unit accepts an operation input by the user and transmits it to the control unit 22.

  The common format data generation unit 221 of the control unit 22 has a common format for various types of application data such as documents, spreadsheets, vector diagrams, raster diagrams, and photographs created based on various application programs (software). Create data. The common format data generation unit 221 is a type of printer driver, and can be activated when printing is performed from an arbitrary application.

  For example, PDF (Portable Document Format), XPS (XML Paper Specification), and XMDF (ever-eXtending Mobile Document Format) can be used as a common format that can be printed by any image output apparatus.

  When the generation of common format data is started by the common format data generation unit 221, the selection unit 222 selects the output method of the common format data according to the user operation input to the user interface 23. The output method defines an image data output method in an external image output device (image forming apparatus 10, portable terminals 30, 40, 50, etc.) connected to the network 80. For example, as the output method, printing of image data, display of image data, transmission of image data to an external device, or the like can be selected. As transmission of image data, Fax transmission, I-Fax transmission, E-Mail transmission, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) transmission, and the like can be selected. The selection may be any of these, or may be performed simultaneously.

When the output unit is selected by the selection unit 222, the search unit 223 searches for an image output device connected on the network 80 via the communication unit 21. Here, the search unit 223 searches for an image output device capable of outputting common format data in the output method selected by the selection unit 222 from one or a plurality of image output devices connected on the network 80. For example, if the selected output method is print output, the search unit 223 searches for an image output apparatus having a print function, that is, the image forming apparatus 10 from image output apparatuses connected to the network 80.
If the selected output method is display output, the mobile terminals 30, 40, and 50 are searched. At this time, the search unit 223 can perform a search using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) or WSD (WS-Discovery).

  The search unit 223 searches the network 80 by broadcast, and acquires device information of a device that can output an image using the output method selected by the selection unit 222. The acquired device information is function information that can output an image with a device name, an IP address, and common format data. The device name can include product name and serial number information. The function information is information related to the function of image output processing supported by the image output apparatus, and includes a print function, an image display function, an image data transmission function, and the like. From the device name information, the types of the image forming apparatus 10 and the mobile terminals 30, 40, and 50 can be determined.

  Further, when the image output apparatus searched above is the image forming apparatus 10, the search unit 223 communicates with the storage unit that stores the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 and the portable terminal using a predetermined communication method. The image forming apparatus having the above means is further searched. Specifically, the search unit 223 uses Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) (registration) from the searched image forming apparatus for information indicating whether or not a storage unit such as an HDD is provided and the image data stored in the storage unit. Whether it has an I / F (Interface) that transmits to an external device (such as a portable terminal 50) using a wireless LAN adapter such as a trademark), or can it communicate with the portable terminals 30, 40, etc. via the wireless LAN port 70 Information indicating whether or not is acquired from the image output apparatus, and only the image forming apparatus having means for communicating with the storage means is extracted from the acquired information.

Wi-Fi is a name indicating that the interoperability between wireless LAN devices has been authenticated by Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group based in the United States. The Wi-Fi name is used for devices certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance for interoperability between wireless devices using the IEEE 802.11 series (IEEE 802.11a / IEEE 802.11b), which is a communication standard. Is done.
For example, if the Wi-Fi I / F is a wireless LAN adapter, the Wi-Fi I / F may have a function capable of connecting a portable terminal by ad hoc connection.

  When the search unit 223 searches for an image forming apparatus having a means for communicating with a mobile terminal, an external device (mobile terminal) may be used using a wireless LAN adapter such as Wi-Fi unless otherwise specified in the search conditions. 50) and the like and an image forming apparatus having an I / F that can communicate with the mobile terminals 30, 40, etc. via the wireless LAN port 70 are searched. To do. If the search condition is specified so that only the image forming apparatus having any of these I / Fs is searched, the search is performed according to the specification.

In this case, with regard to whether or not communication via the wireless LAN port 70 is possible, the image forming apparatus administrator or the like beforehand indicates that the wireless LAN port exists in a state where the image forming apparatus can be used. It may be registered, and if the presence of the wireless LAN port is registered, it may be determined that the image forming apparatus has a means for performing communication via the wireless LAN port.
As described above, the means for performing communication using a predetermined communication method according to the present invention includes an I / F that transmits to an external device (such as the portable terminal 50) using a wireless LAN adapter such as Wi-Fi, and the like. This refers to an I / F for communicating with the mobile terminals 30, 40, etc. via the wireless LAN port 70. Furthermore, if it is determined that communication is possible when the wireless LAN port is registered, the registration information The presence / absence also affects the determination of the presence / absence of the means for communicating.

  The storage unit 24 is a storage unit configured by various memories and stores the search results searched by the search unit 223. The search results to be stored include information such as the name and IP address of an image output device capable of outputting common format data as an image, information related to the function of image output processing supported by the image output device, and image formation by the image output device. This is information on storage means such as an HDD in the case of the device 10, information on presence / absence of means for performing communication by Wi-Fi I / F, and the like.

The presentation unit 225 of the control unit 22 presents the search result searched by the search unit 223 using the user interface 23. Specifically, the user interface 23 presents device information of an image output apparatus that can output an image using the output method selected by the selection unit 222. If the retrieved device is an image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus having storage means such as an HDD for storing image data and means for communicating with the portable terminal by a predetermined communication method is used as the user interface 23. To present.
In this case, the presentation is generally performed by displaying the device information on the display screen of the user interface 23. However, such information may be presented by voice to a user with visual impairment. .

  The receiving unit 226 of the control unit 22 receives an operation input by a user using the user interface 23, selects an image output device as a transmission destination of common format data, selects an output method of the image data, and a selected output method. An operation input such as an image output condition input or an image output execution instruction is accepted.

  The preview display editing unit 227 of the control unit 22 creates a preview image of the common format data generated by the common format data generation unit 221 and displays the preview image on the display unit of the user interface 23. Also, the preview display editing unit 227 performs page replacement / editing on the preview image display screen in accordance with an operation input by the user.

  When the reception unit 226 receives an image output instruction by a user operation, the command generation unit 224 generates a command that causes the image output apparatus to execute output processing under the received output condition. The generated command is transmitted to the selected image output device together with the common format data.

  The communication unit 21 transmits the common format data generated by the common format data generation unit 221 and the command generated by the command generation unit 224 to the image output device selected as the transmission destination via the network 80. For transmission of common format data and commands, LPR (Line Printer daemon protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), or the like can be used.

  The search unit in the image processing system of the present invention corresponds to the search unit 223, and the image data generation unit corresponds to the common format data generation unit 221. Moreover, the communication part 21 corresponds to the transmission means of the present invention.

  On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a communication unit 11, a control unit 12, a user interface (I / F) 13, a storage unit 14, and a print engine 15. The control unit 12 includes a command analysis unit 121, an image output processing unit 122, a response unit 123, and an e-mail generation unit 124. The control unit 12 has an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU and a memory such as a ROM / RAM as hardware, and implements various functions of the control unit 12 by reading and executing a program stored in the memory. To do.

  The communication unit 11 receives the common format data and the command transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20. When image data transmission is instructed as an image data output process, the image data is transmitted to a designated destination.

  The command analysis unit 121 of the control unit 12 analyzes the command transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20, and the image transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 to the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, etc. connected to the network. The file format (format) for transferring data is determined. Here, for example, a file format predetermined for each mobile terminal and an image quality condition of an image that can be displayed for each mobile terminal are stored in the image forming apparatus 10 and output according to the mobile terminal. The file format is determined, and the image quality of the output image data is determined. For example, it is determined whether the file format for transferring the image data transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10 is PDF or XDMF, and the file format of the image data to be transferred is converted, or the resolution is lowered. It is determined whether it is necessary to do so.

The image output processing unit 122 of the control unit 12 outputs the received image data in the common format according to the setting determined by the command analysis unit 121. When the designated output processing is printing, the image output processing unit 122 outputs the image data in the common format to the print engine 15 together with the print setting conditions determined by the command analysis unit 121.
In addition, if the designated output processing is Fax transmission, I-Fax transmission, or the like, the image output processing unit 13 converts the image data in the common format into TIFF file data, and together with information such as destination setting, the communication unit 11 Send to.

  Further, the image output processing unit 122 converts the image data in the common format transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 and stored in the storage unit 14 into a predetermined image quality conversion (file format or resolution) for each terminal such as the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, etc. Are sent to the communication unit 11 together with destination setting information (e-mail URL) and the like for each portable terminal.

  When the response unit 123 of the control unit 12 receives an inquiry related to the search from the search unit 223 of the information processing device 20 on the network 80, the response unit 123 relates to the name of the own device, the IP address, and the function supported by the own device. Information regarding communication functions such as information, presence / absence of HDD installation, presence / absence of Wi-Fi I / F, etc. is read from the storage unit 14 and responded.

  The e-mail generation unit 124 converts the image data transmitted from the information processing device 20 into image data in a file format analyzed from a predetermined mobile terminal based on the file format analyzed by the command analysis unit 121. A process of generating and transmitting a predetermined e-mail to a portable terminal that can be displayed is performed.

  The command analysis unit 121, the image output processing unit 122, the response unit 123, and the e-mail generation unit 124 are constructed in the control unit 12. The control unit 12 implements the functions of the above-described units when a CPU (not shown) executes programs stored in the ROM and RAM and uses the RAM as a work area.

  The storage unit 14 is a storage unit using an HDD or various memories. The name of the own device, the IP address, the function information provided in the own device, the presence or absence of a storage unit for storing image data such as the HDD, and Wi-Fi I Self-device information such as presence / absence of means for performing communication of a predetermined method such as / F is stored. The own apparatus information is appropriately read according to the reading control of the response unit 123 and transmitted to the information processing apparatus 20. The storage unit 14 stores image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 and image-formed by the print engine 15. The image data is appropriately read out by the image output processing unit 122, the file format, the image quality, and the like are converted for each portable terminal on the network and output from the communication unit 11.

The user interface (I / F) 13 includes a display unit and an operation input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse. Moreover, what was comprised as a touchscreen with which the display part and the operation input part were united may be sufficient.
The Web server unit 17 receives an access input from the mobile terminals 30, 40, 50, etc. via Wi-Fi or through the wireless LAN port, and is stored in the storage unit 14 and is subjected to image processing by the image output processing unit 122. Send data to the mobile device.

<Example of Processing for Searching and Displaying Image Output Device by Information Processing Device>
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example of search processing by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.
First, the information processing apparatus 20 starts searching for an image output apparatus connected to the network by broadcasting (step S1). Then, using MIB (Management Information Base) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) communication, device information including a device name such as a product name and serial number of an image output apparatus connected to a network, and an IP address is obtained. Obtain (step S2).

  Then, an image forming apparatus is identified from the acquired device information, and MIB or SOAP communication is performed again on the image forming apparatus, and communication such as presence / absence of storage means such as HDD and presence / absence of Wi-Fi I / F is performed. The information regarding the means for performing is acquired (step S3). The information processing apparatus 20 stores the acquired search result in the storage unit 24 (step S4), and displays the search result on the display unit of the user interface 23 (step S5).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of search results by the information processing apparatus. The display screen 100 is displayed on the user interface 23 of the information processing apparatus 20. A preview image of the common format data generated by the common format data generation unit 221 is displayed on the preview display unit 102 of the display screen 100. The user can change the page or edit the image by checking the display state of the preview display unit 102.

  As described above, the search unit 223 of the information processing device 20 searches for an image output device connected to the network according to the image output method determined based on the user operation, and acquires the device information. Then, an image forming apparatus is extracted based on the acquired device information, and the extracted image forming apparatus again communicates such as presence / absence of storage means such as HDD and presence / absence of Wi-FI I / F. Get information about presence / absence. Among the searched image forming apparatuses, display of a search result on the display screen 100 shows an image forming apparatus that has storage means such as an HDD and has a Wi-Fi I / F or can communicate via the wireless LAN port 70. Displayed on the unit 101.

The image forming apparatus can be displayed in the form of icons 101a to 101c. In addition to the icons 101a to 101c, model names 101d to 101f of the image forming apparatus and IP address information 101g to 101i are displayed. The display order in the search result display unit 101 can be the order in which the response to the search is early.
The user performs an operation of arbitrarily selecting an image forming apparatus displayed on the search result display unit 101, thereby transmitting image data to the selected image forming apparatus, and image forming (printing) processing of the image data Can be executed.
Note that the email processing means of the image forming apparatus in the image processing system of the present invention is realized by the command analysis unit 121 and the email generation unit 124 of the control unit 12. The image output processing means of the present invention corresponds to the image output processing unit 122.

<Example of processing for transmitting image data for printing from information processing apparatus to image forming apparatus>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen used when printing image data is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 10. When image data created by an application of the information processing apparatus 20 is image-formed (printed) by an arbitrary image forming apparatus 10 via the network 80, the user uses the setting screen 200 as shown in FIG. You can open and set the printing process.

  In the setting screen 200 of FIG. 5, check boxes 201 to 203 capable of individually selecting normal printing, portable terminal I, and portable terminal II are displayed, and the user performs an operation of checking an arbitrary check box to select. be able to. Here, a plurality of check boxes can be selected.

  The normal printing is a process for performing printing as usual in any image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network 80. Here, when the user instructs image formation by the selected image forming apparatus 20, image data is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 forms an image on a medium such as recording paper. Is done.

  The mobile terminal I and the mobile terminal II determine the type of the mobile terminal, and the product name and model name of the mobile terminal may be displayed on the actual setting screen 200. For example, the portable terminals I and II are distinguished as having different OSs and different file formats. Here, the portable terminal I performs display using a PDF file, and the portable terminal II performs display using an XDMF file.

For example, when the portable terminal I is selected, the common format data generation unit 221 of the information processing apparatus 20 generates PDF format image data and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 10. Then, the image forming apparatus 10 determines the file format of the transmitted image data, and transmits an e-mail to the portable terminal I that can display in the PDF format. The portable terminal I that transmits the electronic mail is held in the image forming apparatus 10 together with information such as a mail address in advance. The e-mail describes the file format and resolution of the image data, a URL for accessing the image data, and the like.
Similarly, when the portable terminal II is selected, the common format data generation unit 221 of the information processing apparatus 20 generates image data in the XDMF format and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 10. Then, the image forming apparatus 10 determines the file format of the transmitted image data, and transmits an e-mail to the portable terminal II that can display in the XDMF format.

<Process for sending e-mail from image forming apparatus to portable terminal>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of registration information of the mobile terminal registered in the image forming apparatus. The information processing apparatus 20 can register setting information for transmitting the above-described e-mail with respect to a specific image forming apparatus 10. The setting information can be registered as table information as shown in FIG. 6, for example. In this table information, the name, type, electronic mail (e-mail) address, and file format of the portable terminal are associated and defined in advance. A name is prescribed | regulated like the portable terminal I of the owner A, for example. In this example, the type is either portable terminal I or portable terminal II. The mobile terminals I and II can use the product names and model names of the mobile terminals that are actually used. The file format is PDF in the case of the portable terminal I, and XDMF in the case of the portable terminal II.

  When image data is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 10 and is stored in the storage unit 14 such as an HDD of the image forming apparatus 10, the image forming apparatus 10 refers to the table information in FIG. 6. Then, a mobile terminal that matches the file format of the image data is extracted, and an electronic mail (e-mail) is transmitted with the mail address registered in the mobile terminal as a destination. For example, when image data in PDF format is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 10, the image data in PDF format can be displayed on the portable terminals No. 1, 3, and 4 in FIG. The device 10 transmits an e-mail to these portable terminals.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an e-mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus. An e-mail 300 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10 to a mobile terminal such as a smartphone includes an image data file format 304, resolution 305, image data, together with information on the device name 301, model name 302, and installation location 303 of the image forming apparatus. A URL 306 indicating the storage location of the file is shown. In this example, the file format of the image data is PDF, the degree of compression is medium, and the resolution is 300 dpi × 300 dpi. A user who operates the portable terminal can access the storage unit 14 of the image forming apparatus 10 in which the image data is stored by specifying the URL 306 from the screen on which the e-mail is opened.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of registration information of a mobile terminal registered in the image forming apparatus. When the image forming apparatus transmits an e-mail to the mobile terminal, information specifying a file format conversion method is shown. Is included. In the image forming apparatus 10, the table information of FIG. 8 can be registered instead of the table information of FIG.
In a portable terminal, there are image quality conditions such as displayable resolution when displaying image data in PDF or XDMF format. In the example of FIG. 8, as in FIG. 6, the name, type, e-mail address, and file format of the mobile terminal are registered. Information specifying that the map image is deleted and converted into the PDF format or the like is registered.

  For example, designations such as low resolution and medium resolution indicate that high resolution image data needs to be converted to these resolution levels in order to display the image data on these portable terminals. Assume that the actual resolution level corresponding to the low resolution or medium resolution is determined in advance.

In addition, when there is no image designation, in order to reduce the amount of processing data, the information processing apparatus deletes the image data by bitmap such as Jpeg, and only the image data in PDF or XDMF format including only the text portion is used. Is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10, it indicates a portable terminal capable of displaying the image data in PDF or XDMF format. In general, data such as PDF can be generated by adding a header or the like to image data such as Jpeg. In order to reduce the amount of processing data, the common format data generation unit 221 of the information processing apparatus 20 deletes bitmap image data such as JPEG as the original when generating image data of a common format of PDF or XDMF. Only the common format image can be transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10. At this time, by reducing the resolution of the common format data, the data processing amount and the data amount can be reduced. A portable terminal with no image designation displays data of only such a common format image.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of the entire image processing system including the information processing apparatus, the image forming apparatus, and the mobile terminal. First, the information processing apparatus 20 executes a search process by broadcast for an image output apparatus on the network (step S11). This search processing is performed in accordance with the flow shown in FIG. 3, and includes storage means such as an HDD from the searched image forming apparatus and is equipped with a Wi-Fi I / F or portable via a wireless LAN port. The image forming apparatus that can communicate with the terminal is extracted and stored, and the result is displayed on the information processing apparatus.
The information processing apparatus 20 selects an image forming apparatus in accordance with a user operation, generates image data in a specific image format in accordance with a selection operation on a printing method selection screen shown in FIG. Transmit (step S12).

  The image forming apparatus 10 that has received the image data stores the image data in the HDD (step S13). Then, referring to the pre-registered table information, a portable terminal corresponding to the file format of the image data is extracted, and an e-mail is simultaneously transmitted to the mail address (step S14). Table information shown in the example of FIG. 6 or FIG. 8 is used. The email is assumed to be shown in FIG.

  When the mobile terminal receives the e-mail from the image forming apparatus 20, the user can know that the image data is stored in the image forming apparatus 10 at the mobile terminal. When the user needs image data on the portable terminal, the URL link indicated in the e-mail is accessed (step S15). Specifically, the WEB browser is activated on the mobile terminal, and the Web server unit 17 of the image forming apparatus 10 is accessed via the Wi-Fi I / F 60 or the wireless LAN port 70.

  For example, when accessing the Web server unit 17 of the image forming apparatus 20 from the Web browser of the mobile terminal via the Wi-Fi I / F or the wireless LAN port, the name of the mobile terminal is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 extracts a file format from the name of the mobile terminal with reference to the table of FIG. For example, when accessing from the No. 1 portable terminal, the file format required for this portable terminal is “PDF (low resolution)”, so the image data is converted into a low resolution PDF in the image forming apparatus 20. And transmit the image to the mobile terminal.

The image forming apparatus 20 receives access to the web server unit 17 and transmits the image data stored in the HDD to the portable terminal (step S16). The portable terminal stores the received image data in a storage unit such as its own memory and displays the image data on the display screen of the portable terminal (step S17).
With such a procedure, it is possible to easily display and use image data for forming an image on the image forming apparatus 10 on a portable terminal, thereby improving operability and providing high convenience to the user. Will be able to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus, 11 ... Communication part, 12 ... Control part, 13 ... Image output process part, 14 ... Memory | storage part, 15 ... Print engine, 17 ... Web server part, 20 ... Information processing apparatus, 21 ... Communication part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 ... Control part, 23 ... User interface, 24 ... Memory | storage part, 30, 40, 50 ... Portable terminal, 60 ... Wireless LAN adapter, 70 ... Wireless LAN port, 80 ... Network, 100 ... Display screen, 101 ... Search result display , 102 ... Preview display section, 121 ... Command analysis section, 122 ... Image output processing section, 123 ... Response section, 124 ... E-mail generation section, 200 ... Setting screen, 201 ... Check box, 221 ... Common format data generation section , 222 ... selection part, 223 ... search part, 224 ... command generation part, 225 ... presentation part, 226 ... reception part, 227 ... preview display Department, 300 ... e-mail, 301 ... device name, 302 ... model name, 303 ... location, 304 ... file format, 305 ... resolution, 306 ... URL.

Claims (4)

An image processing system in which an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus are connected via a communication network, and the information processing apparatus includes:
An operation input means for receiving a user's operation input;
From among the the connected image forming apparatus to a communication network, means for storing the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus having a means for communicating with a mobile terminal at a predetermined communication method A search means for searching;
In accordance with an operation input to the operation input means, an image data generation means for specifying a mobile terminal for displaying image data and generating image data in a file format predetermined according to the specified mobile terminal;
An image processing system comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit image data generated by the image data generation unit to an image forming apparatus selected from the image forming apparatus searched by the search unit. The image processing system according to claim 1,
The image forming apparatus includes:
The name of the portable terminal, the e-mail address of the portable terminal, and the file format of image data that can be displayed on the portable terminal are stored in advance as portable terminal information, and the image data received from the information processing apparatus is stored. Storage means for storing;
The file format of the image data transmitted from the information processing device is determined, the mobile terminal information stored in the storage means is referenced, the mobile terminal that can be displayed in the file format of the image data is extracted, and the extracted An image processing system comprising: an e-mail processing unit that transmits an e-mail describing information indicating a storage location of image data to a portable terminal. The image processing system according to claim 2,
When the image forming apparatus is accessed according to the information indicating the storage location of the image data from the portable terminal that transmitted the e-mail, the image forming apparatus transmits the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the portable terminal that performed the access. An image processing system comprising image output processing means for transmitting. The image processing system according to claim 3.
The storage means stores, as the mobile terminal information, information related to image quality that can be displayed on the mobile terminal in association with each mobile terminal,
The image processing system is characterized in that the image output processing means converts the image data transmitted from the information processing apparatus into an image quality that can be displayed on the accessed mobile terminal and transmits the image data.

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