JP2018037804A - Scan system and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

An image is captured into an application by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device. A scan system includes an information processing apparatus including a ticket generation unit that generates a scan ticket based on scan settings, a ticket transmission unit that transmits the scan ticket to a server apparatus, and a scan ticket received from the information processing apparatus. In a list, a list transmission unit that transmits the list to the image processing apparatus in response to a list request from the image processing apparatus, and a first transmission unit that transmits the image received from the image processing apparatus to the information processing apparatus. A server device having an image transmission unit, a list request unit for requesting a list from the server device, a scan execution unit for executing a scan based on a scan ticket selected from the list to generate an image, And an image processing device having a second image transmitting unit for transmitting the captured image to the server device. [Selection diagram] Fig. 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a scan system and a control method thereof.

Conventionally, software called a scanner driver has been used to operate an image reading apparatus such as a scanner apparatus in a computer. Among them, a scanner driver having a common interface called TWAIN is called a TWAIN driver. By calling a unified interface of the TWAIN driver, the application can capture an image from the scanner device by a unified method regardless of the scanner device. A method of giving a scan instruction from the computer to the scanner device in this way is called “pull scan”. TWAIN is an interface on the premise that a computer and a scanner device are used in a one-to-one relationship. Therefore, in an environment where there are a plurality of scanner devices, the user needs to specify the scanner device he / she uses before giving a scan instruction. When it is determined that the scanner device is in use after the user gives a scan instruction, the user needs to give the scan instruction again to change to another scanner device.
On the other hand, in response to “pull scan” in which a scan instruction is issued from a computer, a scan instruction from a scanner device is referred to as “push scan”. Generally, the user can use an arbitrary scanner device by push scanning. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that enables a push scan using an arbitrary scanner device by creating a scan ticket with a server and the scanner device acquiring and processing the scan ticket from the server.

JP 2012-120114 A

  However, TWAIN is an interface on the premise that a computer and a scanner device are used in a one-to-one relationship. For this reason, the method of Patent Document 1 cannot deal with an application using a TWAIN driver, and cannot capture an image into an application using a TWAIN driver by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of capturing an image into an application by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

  In order to solve the above problems, a scanner system of the present invention is a system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function, and the information processing device scans based on a scan setting. A list that includes a ticket generation unit that generates a ticket and a ticket transmission unit that transmits the scan ticket to the server device, wherein the server device manages the scan ticket received from the information processing device in a list In response to a list request from the image processing apparatus, a list transmission unit that transmits the list to the image processing apparatus, and a first image that transmits an image received from the image processing apparatus to the information processing apparatus An image transmission unit, and the image processing device requests the server device to request the list; A scan execution unit that executes a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list and generates an image; and a second image transmission unit that transmits the image generated in the scan execution unit to the server device And having.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the system which can perform the image capture to an application by the push scan system from arbitrary scanner apparatuses can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the connection form of a scanning system. It is a figure which shows the structure of a client, a server, and an MFP. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a TWAIN driver. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a scan ticket management service. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a scan ticket processing application. It is a figure which shows the sequence in the use case for 1 scan. It is a flowchart which shows the whole process of a scan ticket management service. It is a flowchart which shows a scan ticket registration process. It is a flowchart which shows a scan ticket list transmission process. It is a flowchart which shows a scan image transmission process. It is a figure which shows UI of a TWAIN driver. It is a figure which shows UI of a scan ticket processing application. It is a figure which shows a scanning capability, a ticket list | wrist, and UI component. It is a figure which shows the sequence at the time of the scanning capability acquisition in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating UI components of a TWAIN driver according to a second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a UI of a TWAIN driver in Embodiment 2.

Example 1
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a connection form of a scan system. The scan system includes a server 4000, a client 1000 which is an information processing apparatus such as a computer or a tablet used by a user, and a multi-function machine A2000 and a multi-function machine B3000 having an image processing apparatus having a scan function. In this embodiment, they are all connected to the network 100. However, any connection form may be used as long as the client 1000 and the server 4000, the server 4000, the multi-function device A2000, and the multi-function device B 3000 can communicate with each other. The server 4000 may be on the cloud. Also, here, an example in which there are two multifunction peripherals is given, but there may be more than that. Further, the present invention can be implemented even if there are two or more servers 4000 and clients 1000.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the client 1000, the server 4000, and the multifunction machine A2000. Since the configuration of the multi-function device B3000 is the same as that of the multi-function device A2000, the description is omitted here.
First, the configuration of the client 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. The client 1000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 1040 including a CPU 1041 and a memory 1042. The display unit 1010 indicates an output device such as a display, and the operation unit 1020 indicates an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. The storage unit 1030 stores software such as the OS 1032, various applications 1031, and the TWAIN driver 1100. Those programs are loaded into the memory 1042 as necessary, and are executed by the CPU 1041. The OS 1032 is software that controls the basic operation of the client 1000. A network communication unit 1050 is connected to the network 100 to input / output data with an external device. All processing of the client 1000 is realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 1030 into the memory 1042 in the control unit 1040 and executing it by the CPU 1041. CPU is an abbreviation for Central Processing Unit.

  Next, the configuration of the server 4000 will be described with reference to FIG. The server 4000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 4040 including a CPU 4041 and a memory 4042. A display unit 4010 indicates an output device such as a display, and an operation unit 4020 indicates an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. The storage unit 4030 stores an OS 4032 and various programs 4031. These software are loaded into the memory 4042 as necessary, and are executed by the CPU 4041. The OS 4032 is software that controls the basic operation of the server 4000. Of the programs 4031, a program that resides on the server 4000 and is always operating is called a service. A network communication unit 4050 connects to the network 100 and inputs / outputs data with an external device. All the processes of the server 4000 are realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 4030 into the memory 4042 in the control unit 4040 and executing it by the CPU 4041.

  Next, the configuration of the multifunction machine A2000 will be described with reference to FIG. The multifunction device A2000 is entirely controlled by a control unit 2040 including a CPU 2041 and a memory 2042. The display unit 2010 indicates an output device such as a liquid crystal panel, and the operation unit 2020 indicates an input device using a touch panel or various buttons. The storage unit 2030 stores an OS 2032 and firmware 2031 and various applications 2033 that operate on the OS 2032 and firmware 2031. These software are loaded into the memory 2042 as necessary, and are executed by the CPU 2041. The OS 2032 is software that controls the basic operation of the multifunction peripheral A2000.

  A network communication unit 2050 is connected to the network 100 to input / output data with an external device. The reading unit 2070 is a scanner that reads characters, photographs, and the like drawn on a document sheet in accordance with instructions from the control unit 2040 and imports them into a memory as digital data. Specifically, a scan image is obtained by applying light to a sheet, measuring the intensity and light of the reflected light with a sensor, and digitizing it. There are CCD, CIS, and the like as a reading method, but any method may be used in this embodiment. A document to be read is placed on an automatic paper feeder called a pressure plate or ADF. The MFP A2000 includes a printing unit (not shown), but the description is omitted because it is not directly related to the present embodiment. All the processes of the MFP A 2000 are realized by loading the software stored in the storage unit 2030 into the memory 2042 in the control unit 2040 and executing it by the CPU 2041.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the TWAIN driver 1100 shown in FIG. The TWAIN driver is a scanner driver having a common interface called TWAIN.
The UI unit 1110 is a screen display unit that controls the user interface of the TWAIN driver 1100. Specifically, when UI display is instructed from the application 1031 to the TWAIN driver 1100, the UI unit 1110 displays the UI on the display unit 1010 of the client 1000. The UI is used by the user to specify scan settings, and details will be described later.

  The scan setting specified by the UI unit 1110 is managed by the scan setting management unit 1120. When the scan setting is determined by the scan setting management unit, the scan ticket generation unit 1130 converts the scan setting into digital data called a scan ticket. The scan ticket also includes the user ID of the user who specified the scan settings. The scan ticket may be in an XML format or a binary format uniquely defined by the TWAIN driver 1100.

  The TWAIN driver 1100 includes a communication unit 1140, and performs data communication with the network 100 via the network communication unit 1050 of the client 1000. The communication unit of the TWAIN driver 1100 mainly communicates with the outside using the scan ticket output unit 1150 and the image input / output unit 1160. The scan ticket output unit 1150 (ticket transmission unit) transmits the scan ticket generated by the scan ticket generation unit 1130 to the outside. An image input / output unit 1160 (first image transmission unit) receives a scan image received from the outside such as a multifunction peripheral and transmits the scan image to the application 1031.

FIG. 4 shows a software configuration of a scan ticket management service (hereinafter referred to as a management service) 4100 which is one of the programs 4031 shown in FIG. FIG.
The management service 4100 is always activated while the server 4000 is activated, and waits for a scan ticket received from the client 1000. The management service 4100 uses the communication unit 4150 to communicate with the external client 1000 and the multifunction peripheral A2000.

  The scan ticket received from the client 1000 is received by the scan ticket input / output unit 4160. The received scan ticket is stored in the ticket list 4110 by the ticket list management unit 4120 managed by the user management unit 4140 and sorted for each user. The stored ticket list 4110 is transmitted from the scan ticket input / output unit 4160 to the external multifunction peripheral A2000 or the like. Accordingly, the scan ticket input / output unit 4160 has a function as a ticket reception unit that receives a scan ticket from the client 1000 and a function as a list transmission unit that transmits a ticket list to the multifunction peripheral.

  On the other hand, the management service 4100 receives the scan image received from the MFP A 2000 or the MFP B 3000 by the image input / output unit 4170 and transmits the scan image to the corresponding client 1000. The plug & play management unit 4180 controls the plug & play ID as if the management service 4100 in the server 4000 as viewed from the client 1000 is a single multifunction device or scanner.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the scan ticket processing application 2100 that operates on the multi-function peripheral A2000 as one of the applications 2033 shown in FIG.
The scan ticket processing application 2100 may be installed from the time of shipment of the MFP A2000, or may be configured in a format that can be installed later by the user. The scan ticket processing application 2100 also has a UI unit 2120 and a communication unit 2140, displays a user interface on the display unit 2010 of the MFP A2000, and communicates with the outside. The user management unit 2110 authenticates a user who wants to log in to the multifunction machine A2000. When the user performs an operation for requesting a scan ticket list, the ticket list request unit 2170 issues a list request to the server 4000 via the communication unit 2140. The list request includes the user ID of the logged-in user acquired from the user management unit 2110.

  The UI unit 2120 (display unit) mainly displays a list of scan tickets input by the scan ticket input unit 2150. When the user selects a scan ticket that the user wants to scan from the scan tickets displayed on the UI unit 2120 and presses a “start scan” button, the scan is started. At the time of scanning, the scan execution unit 2130 operates to generate a scan image from the reading unit 2070. The generated scan image is transmitted to an external server 4000 or the like by the image output unit 2160 (second image transmission unit).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating sequences of the client 1000, the server 4000, and the multifunction peripheral A2000 in a use case for one scan. The operation performed by the management service 4100 will be described later with reference to FIGS.
First, when the user issues a scan instruction using the application 1031 on the client 1000, the application 1031 makes a scan request to the TWAIN driver 1100 (S5100).
Receiving the scan request, the TWAIN driver 1100 newly generates a scan ticket (S5101). Then, the TWAIN driver 1100 transmits the generated scan ticket to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S5102). A unique identifier is assigned to the scan ticket. The identifier is called a scan ticket ID and is stored inside the scan ticket.
The management service 4100 that has received the scan ticket stores the scan ticket in the ticket list 4110 (S5103).

Thereafter, the user goes to the front of the multifunction device A2000 and logs in to the multifunction device A2000. The user operates the display unit 2010 to activate the scan ticket processing application 2100 and makes a scan ticket list request (S5104). The scan ticket list request includes the user ID of the user who logged in. The scan ticket list request in S5104 is received by the management service 4100 of the server 4000, and the scan ticket list corresponding to the list request is returned (S5105). The scan ticket processing application 2100 on the MFP A 2000 displays the received scan ticket list on the display unit 2010 (S5106).
The user places a paper sheet as a document on the reading unit 2070, selects an arbitrary scan ticket, and presses a scan start button 2126. When the scan start button 2126 is pressed, the scan ticket processing application 2100 executes a scan and generates a scan image (S5107). Then, the scan ticket processing application 2100 transmits the scan image and an identifier called a scan ticket ID stored in the scan ticket to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S5108).
The management service 4100 transmits the received scanned image to the TWAIN driver 1100 of the client 1000 (S5109).
The TWAIN driver 1100 transmits the received scan image to the application 1031 (S5110).

  The sequence described above is an example when the multifunction device A2000 is used, but the same result can be obtained when the multifunction device B3000 is actually used. By executing the above sequence by each software, it is possible to perform image capture into an application using the TWAIN driver 1100 by a push scan method from an arbitrary scanner device.

Next, the detailed operation of the management service 4100 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of processing of the management service 4100 operating on the server 4000.
The management service 4100 starts operation based on a connection request from the external network 100. When there is a connection request (S600), the management service 4100 first opens a connection in the connection management unit 4130 (S610). As a result, network communication with the external client 1000, the multifunction peripheral A2000, and the like via the network 100 becomes possible. Each connection is given a unique identifier. This identifier is called a connection ID.

Thereafter, when the management service 4100 receives a scan ticket (S620), a scan ticket registration process described later is performed (S630).
On the other hand, when the management service 4100 receives a scan ticket list request (S640), a scan ticket list transmission process (S650) described later is performed.
When the management service 4100 starts receiving a scanned image (S660), a scanned image transmission process (S670) described later is performed. Since the scan image has a large data size, the management service 4100 starts the scan image transmission process even when the scan image data is being received.
If the service is terminated (S680), the management service 4100 closes all open connections (S690) and terminates. Unless the service is terminated, the management service 4100 continues to wait for a connection request.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan ticket registration process (S630) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires the connection ID of the connection that received the scan ticket in S620 from the connection management unit 4130 (S631). Then, the management service 4100 adds the connection ID to the received scan ticket (S632).

Next, the management service 4100 obtains the user ID described in the received scan ticket (S633). Then, the management service 4100 confirms in the ticket list management unit 4120 whether or not the scan ticket list of the user exists in the ticket list 4110 (S634).
If it exists, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket list from the ticket list 4110 (S635). If it does not exist, the management service 4100 creates a new scan ticket list for the user ID (S638).

Then, the management service 4100 adds the scan ticket received earlier to the scan ticket list and registers it in the ticket list 4110.
With the above flow, the scan ticket received from the client 1000 is registered in the ticket list 4110 for each user with the connection ID information added.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan ticket list transmission process (S650) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires a user ID included in the scan ticket list request (S651). Then, the management service 4100 confirms in the ticket list management unit 4120 whether or not the scan ticket list of the user ID exists in the ticket list 4110 (S652).

If it is determined that it exists, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket list of the user ID from the ticket list 4110 (S653). Then, the management service 4100 transmits the scan ticket list to the connection for which the scan ticket list request has been made (S655).
If it is determined that the request does not exist, the management service 4100 transmits an empty scan ticket list to the connection for which the scan ticket list is requested (S654).

Then, the management service 4100 closes the connection for which the scan ticket list is requested (S656).
With the above flow, the management service 4100 can transmit only the scan ticket list of the requested user in response to the scan ticket list request from the MFP A2000.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the scan image transmission process (S670) in FIG.
First, the management service 4100 acquires the scan ticket ID received together with the scan image (S671). Then, the management service 4100 acquires a scan ticket corresponding to the scan ticket ID from the ticket list 4110 (S672).
Next, the management service 4100 acquires the connection ID stored in the acquired scan ticket (S673). Then, the management service 4100 starts transmitting a scan image to the corresponding connection (S674).

Thereafter, the management service 4100 continues to receive all the scanned images (S675). When the reception of the scan image is completed, the management service 4100 closes the connection that has received the scan image in the connection management unit 4130 (S676).
Thereafter, the management service 4100 continues the transmission until the transmission of the scanned image is completed (S677). When the transmission of the scan image is completed, the management service 4100 closes the connection that transmitted the scan image in the connection management unit 4130 (S678).
Finally, the management service 4100 deletes the corresponding scan ticket from the ticket list 4110 (S679).

  With the above flow, only the scan ticket for which the scan image has been transmitted is deleted from the ticket list 4110 of the server 4000, and the scan ticket that has not been transmitted remains in the server 4000. Further, only the connection for which the transmission of the scan image is completed is closed, and the connection for which the transmission has not been completed is kept open.

Next, the user interface in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100. A UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is displayed in accordance with a UI display request from the application 1031 and is a setting screen having a dialog box appearance, for example. Various scan settings are displayed on the UI. The UI 1111 is displayed on the display unit 1010 of the client 1000 by the UI unit 1110 that is a screen display unit that displays a setting screen.
A user can input an arbitrary character string in the job name 1112. In the document size 1113, the size of the document to be read by the scanner is designated. In the resolution 1114, a reading resolution is designated. In the scanner 1115, the user designates where to place the original paper. When the document is placed at the ADF, it is possible to designate single-sided scanning or double-sided scanning. In the color mode 1116, it is specified whether the scanned image is acquired as color data or monochrome data.

FIG. 12A is a table showing an example of options in each scan setting item. FIG. 12A shows examples of various scan settings displayed on the setting screen of the UI 1111 and options for each setting displayed in the dialog box.
A feature of the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 according to the present embodiment is that options are determined regardless of the actual capability of the multifunction peripheral. As a specific example, the scanning capabilities of the multifunction peripheral A2000 and the multifunction peripheral B3000 of this embodiment are shown in FIG. The MFP B 3000 does not support the A3 size document size, but the UI 1111 document size options of the TWAIN driver 1100 include the A3 size. This is because the TWAIN driver 1100 according to the present embodiment is created so that an arbitrary multifunction device may exist in the system without depending on a specific multifunction device. In this embodiment, the TWAIN driver 1100 displays all possible options as scan setting items.
The ticket list in FIG. 12C shows an example in which a plurality of scan tickets are registered in the ticket list 4110 of the server 4000 using the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100. It can be seen that scan tickets with various settings are registered.

  When the user presses the scan start button 1118 on the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100, the UI 1111 is closed and the TWAIN driver 1100 enters a waiting state for receiving a scanned image. When the user presses the cancel button 1117, the scan setting specified by the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is discarded and the focus returns to the application 1031.

FIG. 13 shows the UI 2127 of the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the MFP A 2000 in this embodiment. The UI unit 2120 of the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays the UI 2127 on the display unit 2010 of the MFP A2000.
The user name 2121 at the upper left displays the name of the user who is logged in to the multifunction machine A2000. When the list acquisition button 2122 is pressed by the user, the scan ticket processing application 2100 makes a scan ticket list request 5102 to the server 4000. Based on the received scan ticket list, a list of scan tickets that can be executed by the MFP A 2000 is displayed in the scan ticket list 2123. Here, one scan ticket is displayed in one line in the scan ticket list 2123.
The user can make a selection state by pressing one scan ticket. When the detail button 2124 is pressed while an arbitrary scan ticket is selected by the user, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays more detailed scan settings. When the delete button 2125 is pressed by the user, the scan ticket processing application 2100 deletes the display of the selected scan ticket and makes a delete request to the server 4000 together with the corresponding scan ticket ID. The processing at the time of the deletion request is omitted in this embodiment. When the scan start button 2126 is pressed by the user, the scan ticket processing application 2100 starts scanning according to the setting of the selected scan ticket.

When the ticket list shown in FIG. 12C is registered in the server 4000, the scan tickets displayed in the scan ticket list 2123 of the UI 2127 displayed on the MFP A2000 are tabulated. D). As described above, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays in the scan ticket list 2123 only a list of scan tickets that can be executed by the MFP A2000. As shown in FIG. 12B, the multi-function device A2000 supports only “ADF single-sided”, and “ADF double-sided” cannot be implemented. Therefore, the scan ticket with the job name “requirement document” shown in FIG. 12C is not displayed on the multi-function peripheral A2000.
Similarly, FIG. 12E shows the scan ticket list 2123 displayed by the scan ticket processing application 3100 of the multifunction peripheral B 3000 when the ticket list shown in FIG. It is. Only the “Receipt” is displayed for the document size and resolution that can be executed by the MFP B3000 because the job name is “Receipt” only.
As described above, the scan ticket processing application 2100 displays only scan tickets that can be executed only by the corresponding multifunction peripheral as options, thereby preventing the user from accidentally selecting a scan ticket that cannot be executed. It becomes possible.

  Depending on the embodiment, the scan ticket processing application 2100 may be configured to display a scan ticket having a scan setting that cannot be executed by the corresponding multifunction peripheral. In this case, the same effect can be obtained by displaying a mark or color on a scan ticket that cannot be executed, for example, so that it can be easily understood by the user. Further, when a scan ticket that cannot be executed is selected and the scan start button 2126 is pressed, the following processing may be performed in a pseudo manner.

  For example, if a scan ticket with a document size of A3 size is selected in the multifunction device B3000 having a scanning capability of A4 size, the maximum document size is twice for A4 size for a document of one page for A3 size. The scan is divided into two. Then, the scanned images are combined to create an A3-sized scanned image. In this case, the user is instructed to fold the A3-size document in half and scan it in two steps.

  For example, when a scan ticket with a resolution of 600 dpi is selected in the multi-function peripheral B3000 having a maximum resolution of 300 dpi, a scan image is first generated once at 300 dpi. Then, one pixel is duplicated into 4 pixels of 2 pixels × 2 pixels to create a pseudo 600 dpi scan image.

For example, when the ADF double-sided scan ticket is selected in the multi-function peripheral B3000 having an ADF that can scan only one side, the single-sided scanning is performed twice for scanning the front side and the back side. Then, the front side scan results are arranged on odd pages, and the back side scan results are arranged in reverse order on even pages. As a result, a scanned image of a plurality of pages equivalent to the case where an ADF capable of duplex scanning is used is generated. In this case, the user is instructed to scan a document bundle placed on the ADF, then turn the document over again and place a bundle of documents on the ADF.
In this way, even a scan ticket with a scan setting that is not feasible with the corresponding multifunction device can generate a scan image in a pseudo manner to perform scanning even in an environment where only a multifunction device with insufficient capability exists Is possible.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the scan ticket created by the client TWAIN driver can be selected in the multifunction peripheral. Then, the scan image generated based on the scan ticket can be sent from an arbitrary multifunction peripheral to the application using the TWAIN driver by the push scan method.

(Example 2)
In the first embodiment, the description has been given of the scan system that can cope with multifunction devices having various capabilities by displaying all the options that can be considered as setting items on the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100. In the second embodiment, a more flexible system that dynamically creates a UI 1111 that is a scan setting screen of the TWAIN driver 1100 will be described. In addition, since the connection form in the scan system of Example 2, each component, scanning capability, etc. are substantially the same as Example 1, description is omitted and only a difference is demonstrated.

In the second embodiment, the TWAIN driver 1100 on the client 1000 grasps the scanning capability of all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scanning system. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing a process in which the TWAIN driver 1100 acquires each scan capability.
First, the TWAIN driver 1100 makes a scan capability request to the management service 4100 of the server 4000 (S6100). The timing for making the scanning capability request may be any time, for example, when the scan system is constructed or when the UI 1111 of the TWAIN driver 1100 is displayed.

The management service 4100 that has received the scan capability request issues a scan capability request to all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scan system. Specifically, first, a scan capability request is issued to the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the MFP A2000 (S6101). In response to this, the scan ticket processing application 2100 transmits the scan capability of the multi-function device A2000 in which it operates (S6102). The scanning ability is specifically the ability as shown in FIG. 12B, and relates to, for example, the document size, the image resolution, the ADF, and the presence / absence of the image color.
Next, the management service 4100 issues a scan capability request to the scan ticket processing application 3100 of the multi-function peripheral B3000 (S6103). The scan ticket processing application 3100 transmits the scan capability of the MFP B 3000 that is operating in the same manner as the scan ticket processing application 2100 of the MFP A 2000 (S6104). In this way, the management service 4100 of the server 4000 acquires the scanning capability from all multifunction devices in the system registered in advance.

  Then, the management service 4100 of the server 4000 transmits a list of scan capabilities of all the multifunction peripherals existing in the scan system to the TWAIN driver 1100 (S6105). As a result, the TWAIN driver 1100 can maintain the scan capability of all the multifunction peripherals in the system. In the second embodiment, the scanning capability is acquired from a multifunction device registered in advance. However, the scanning capability can be obtained dynamically by searching for the multifunction device in the network 100 and finding it. It is.

FIG. 15 is a table showing options for each scan setting item of the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100 according to the second embodiment.
The TWAIN driver 1100 that holds the scan capabilities of all the MFPs in the system determines the scan setting item options by merging the scan capabilities of each MFP when displaying the UI. Compared to FIG. 12A, which shows the choices for each setting item of the UI of the TWAIN driver in the first embodiment, the setting items on both sides of the ADF cannot be selected. This is because neither the multi-function machine A2000 nor the multi-function machine B3000 is equipped with an ADF capable of reading both sides. As described above, when the TWAIN driver 1100 performs UI control, it is possible to obtain an effect that the user does not specify scan settings that cannot be performed by the multifunction peripheral in the system.

  In addition, the TWAIN driver 1100 may display a list of MFPs that can be used with the current scan settings to the user by using the scanning capabilities of all the MFPs in the system held by the TWAIN driver 1100. it can. FIG. 16 illustrates a UI when a list of multifunction devices that can be used on the UI of the TWAIN driver 1100 is displayed in the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16A, when 300 dpi is selected as the resolution, the MFP A 2000 and the MFP B 3000 are displayed as “usable devices”. On the other hand, when the user changes the resolution to 600 dpi, as shown in FIG. 16B, only the multi-function device A2000 is displayed as “usable device”. As a result, the user can check at a glance which MFP can perform the scan settings that the user is about to start scanning, and can carry the original to be scanned to the appropriate MFP without hesitation. Become.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the setting items in the UI of the TWAIN driver can be changed according to the scanning capability of the multifunction peripheral. Therefore, the user does not specify scan settings that cannot be performed by the multifunction peripheral in the system using the TWAIN driver.

(Other examples)
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

Claims (14)

A scan system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function,
The information processing apparatus includes:
A ticket generation unit that generates a scan ticket based on the scan setting;
A ticket transmission unit that transmits the scan ticket to the server device;
The server device
A list management unit that manages the scan ticket received from the information processing apparatus in a list;
In response to a list request from the image processing apparatus, a list transmission unit that transmits the list to the image processing apparatus;
A first image transmission unit that transmits an image received from the image processing device to the information processing device;
The image processing apparatus includes:
A list requesting unit for requesting the list to the server device;
A scan execution unit that executes a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list and generates an image;
A scan system comprising: a second image transmission unit configured to transmit the image generated in the scan execution unit to the server device. The scan ticket is data including the scan setting, user ID, and scan ticket ID,
The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the scan setting includes at least one of a document size, a resolution, a color mode, and an image reading unit.   The scan system according to claim 2, wherein the list is created for each user ID of the scan ticket.   The list management unit obtains a user ID from the scan ticket received from the information processing apparatus, and if the user ID list exists, registers the scan ticket in the list, and lists the user ID 4. The scan system according to claim 3, wherein if there is not, a list is created, and the scan ticket is registered in the created list. The request from the list request unit includes a user ID,
When there is a list corresponding to the user ID included in the list request from the image processing apparatus, the list transmission unit transmits the list, and the user ID included in the list request from the image processing apparatus 5. The scan system according to claim 1, wherein an empty list is transmitted when there is no list corresponding to. The information processing apparatus includes a connection management unit that adds a connection ID corresponding to a connection that has received the scan ticket to the scan ticket;
The second image transmission unit transmits a scan ticket ID of the scan ticket used for generating the image together with the image to a server device,
The first image transmission unit acquires the scan ticket corresponding to the scan ticket ID from the list, and transmits the scan ticket to the information processing apparatus via the connection corresponding to the connection ID included in the acquired scan ticket. The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the image is transmitted.   The scan according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein when the transmission of the image is completed, the list management unit deletes the scan ticket used for generating the image from the list. system. The information processing apparatus includes an application and a scanner driver,
The scanner driver includes the ticket generation unit and the ticket transmission unit,
The scan system according to claim 1, wherein the ticket generation unit receives the scan request from the application and generates the scan ticket.   The scanning system according to claim 8, wherein the scanner driver of the information processing apparatus includes an image output unit that receives the image from the server device and outputs the received image to the application.   The scan system according to claim 8, wherein the scanner driver is a TWAIN driver. A display unit for displaying the list received from the server device;
The display unit displays only the scan ticket that can be implemented by the image processing apparatus in the list,
The scan system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the scan execution unit selects a scan ticket for executing the scan from the scan ticket displayed on the display unit. . The information processing apparatus includes a screen display unit that displays a setting screen for performing scan settings.
The screen display unit acquires scan capabilities of all image processing apparatuses in a scan system, and determines scan setting options on the setting screen based on the acquired scan capabilities. The scan system according to any one of 1 to 10.   The scan system according to claim 12, wherein the screen display unit displays an image processing apparatus capable of performing a scan with a current scan setting. A control method of a scan system including an information processing device, a server device, and an image processing device having a scan function,
In the information processing apparatus, a ticket generation step of generating a scan ticket based on a scan setting;
In the information processing apparatus, a ticket transmission step of transmitting the scan ticket to the server apparatus;
In the server device, a list management step of managing the scan ticket received from the information processing device in a list;
In the image processing device, a list requesting step for requesting the list to the server device;
In the server device, a list transmission step of transmitting the list to the image processing device in response to a list request from the image processing device;
In the image processing device, a scan execution step of executing a scan based on the scan ticket selected from the list received from the server device and generating an image;
In the image processing device, a first image transmission step of transmitting the image generated in the scan execution step to the server device;
A control method comprising: a second image transmission step in which the server device transmits an image received from the image processing device to the information processing device.

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