JP2008234227A - Image processing system, image processor and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system or the like, in which an image processor generally used by a user can be used through a terminal device, while output can be performed from the other image processor. <P>SOLUTION: The system in which a plurality of image processors 1-5 is connected to the terminal device 6 through a network 7 includes a storage means 104 which stores user authentication information including information for the first image processor generally used by the user. When access coupled with input of authentication information is performed to any one of the image processors by the user through the terminal device, the terminal device 6 is connected to the first image processor 4 based on the input authentication information and the storage user authentication information. When use of job output function is requested to the first image processor 4 by the user through the terminal device 6, the terminal device 6 is connected to a second image processor different from the first image processor, and the job is output from the second image processor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system in which a plurality of image processing devices, such as an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), which is a multi-function digital multi-function peripheral, and terminal devices are connected via a network, and image processing that is preferably used in this system The present invention relates to an apparatus and an image processing method.

  There are a plurality of image processing devices such as MFPs on the network, and a user can access and log in to any image processing device from a terminal device. After login, the user normally uses the image processing devices. There has been proposed an image processing system configured to be automatically connected to a home image processing apparatus.

  In this image processing system, the user can use any of the image processing apparatuses from a business trip destination, for example, in the environment in which the user normally uses the home image processing apparatus.

  By the way, in such an image processing system, when using a function that can directly issue a print instruction on a web page of the image processing apparatus, such as a direct print function, the user's home image processing apparatus When a print request is made on the web page, output is executed by the home image processing apparatus.

  However, when printing at a business trip destination or the like, even if the home image processing apparatus exists in the distance, printing is performed by an image processing apparatus desired by the user such as an image processing apparatus near the user. Although convenient, it was not possible to cope with this conventionally.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for transmitting and controlling setting screen information to be displayed so that a display corresponding to an attribute is displayed on a display unit of various terminals that have registered a job.
JP 2003-11463 A

  However, although the technique described in Patent Document 1 can change the display screen, even if the home image processing apparatus as described above exists far away, printing is performed by an image processing apparatus that is close to itself. The user's desire to do so could not be answered.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an image processing system in which an image processing apparatus normally used by a user can be used from a terminal apparatus, and output can be performed from another image processing apparatus, An object is to provide an image processing apparatus and an image processing method suitable for this system.

The above problems are solved by the following means.
(1) An image processing system in which a plurality of image processing devices and terminal devices are connected via a network, and stores user authentication information including information about a first image processing device that is normally used by a user. And when the user apparatus is accessed from the terminal device with the input of authentication information by the user, based on the input authentication information and the user authentication information stored in the storage means, A specifying means for specifying the first image processing device, a first connection control means for connecting the terminal device to the first image processing device specified by the specifying means, and the terminal device. When the user requests the first image processing device to use the job output function from the terminal device, the terminal device is different from the first image processing device. The image processing system characterized by comprising: a second connection control means for connecting to the image processing apparatus 2, a.
(2) The image processing system according to (1), wherein the job output function is a direct print function for requesting use of the job output function from a web page of the image processing apparatus.
(3) The image processing system according to (1) or (2), wherein the second image processing device is an image processing device that is accessed by a user from a terminal device.
(4) The image processing system according to item 1 or 2, wherein the second image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus located closest to the terminal device.
(5) information about an image processing apparatus normally used by a user stored in a reception unit that receives an input of authentication information from a terminal device, the received authentication information, and a storage unit of the own device or another device; Characterized in that it comprises: specifying means for specifying the image processing device based on user authentication information, and connection control means for connecting the terminal device to the image processing device specified by the specifying means. An image processing apparatus.
(6) A connection control unit is provided for connecting the terminal device to another image processing device when receiving a use request of the job output function by the user made from the terminal device in a state of being connected to the terminal device. An image processing apparatus.
(7) When an access accompanied by an input of authentication information by a user is made from a terminal device via a network to any one of a plurality of image processing devices connected to each other via a network, the input Identifying the first image processing device based on the authentication information and the user authentication information including information about the first image processing device normally used by the user stored in the storage means, and the terminal A first connection control step for connecting a device to the specified first image processing device, and a job output function by a user from the terminal device to the first image processing device connected to the terminal device When a use request is made, a second connection control step for connecting the terminal device to a second image processing device different from the first image processing device. An image processing method characterized by comprising the and.

  According to the invention described in the preceding item 1, when an access accompanied by an input of authentication information by a user is made to any of the image processing apparatuses from the terminal device, the input authentication information and the user authentication information stored in the storage means Based on the above, the first image processing apparatus normally used by the user is specified, and the specified first image processing apparatus and the terminal device are connected. When the user instructs the first image processing apparatus connected to the terminal apparatus to use the job output function from the terminal apparatus, the terminal apparatus is different from the first image processing apparatus. It is connected to a different second image processing apparatus. That is, when the job is output, the connection of the terminal device is switched from the image processing apparatus normally used by the user to another image processing apparatus, so the job is output from the image processing apparatus desired by the user. It is possible and convenient.

  According to the invention described in item 2 above, when the user performs direct printing, the connection of the terminal device can be switched to an image processing device that outputs a printed matter.

  According to the invention described in item 3 above, the user can cause the image processing apparatus accessed from the terminal apparatus to output a job.

  According to the invention described in item 4 above, the user can cause the image processing apparatus located closest to the terminal device to output a job.

  According to the invention described in item 5 above, the authentication information input from the terminal device is received, and the authentication information input and the image normally used by the user stored in the storage unit of the own device or another device are received. Since the image processing device is specified based on user authentication information including information about the processing device, and the terminal device is connected to the specified image processing device, image formation different from the image processing device normally used by the user Even if authentication input is performed on the apparatus, the terminal apparatus can be connected to the image processing apparatus terminal apparatus normally used by the user.

  According to the invention described in item 6 above, there is no image processing apparatus capable of switching the connection of the terminal apparatus to another image processing apparatus when a user instructs the use of the job output function from the terminal apparatus. sell.

  According to the invention described in item 7 above, when the job output function is used, the connection of the terminal device is switched from the image processing apparatus normally used by the user to another image processing apparatus. It is possible to output a job from the image processing apparatus, which is convenient.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the image processing system, a plurality (five in this embodiment) of image processing devices 1 to 5 and a terminal device 6 are connected to each other via a network 7.

  Each of the image processing apparatuses 1 to 5 uses an MFP which is a multifunction digital multi-function peripheral. A personal computer is used for the terminal device 6.

  A schematic configuration of the image processing apparatuses 1 to 5 will be described with reference to FIG. Although the image processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2, the same applies to the other image processing apparatuses 2 to 4, and thus description of the other image processing apparatuses is omitted.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus 1 includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, a storage unit 104, an operation panel unit 105, an image reading unit 106, a printing unit 107, a network interface unit 108, A web page providing unit 109, and ROM 102, RAM 103, storage unit 104, operation panel unit 105, image reading unit 106, printing unit 107, network interface unit 108, web server 109, and the like are connected via a data transmission path 110. Connected to the CPU 101.

  The CPU 101 controls the overall operation of the MFP 100.

  The ROM 102 is a memory that stores an operation program of the CPU 101 and the like.

  The RAM 103 is a memory that provides an operation area when the CPU 101 executes a program.

  The storage unit 104 includes, for example, a hard disk, and various data and applications, user name and password, authentication information for each user such as a group to which the user belongs, and an image processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a home apparatus) normally used by each user. Information, information on the installation location of the terminal device 6 and each image processing device, and the like are stored.

  The operation panel unit 105 includes a key input unit including a plurality of keys such as a numeric keypad and a start key, and a display unit (none of which is shown) including a touch panel type liquid crystal.

  The image reading unit 106 includes an automatic document feeder (ADF) (not shown) and the like, and reads a document image and converts it into image data.

  The printing unit 107 prints the image data read by the image reading unit 106 according to the job condition designated by the user or the print job data transmitted from the terminal device 6 on a sheet and outputs it.

  The network interface unit 108 functions as a communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the terminal device 6 and includes a transmission unit and a reception unit (not shown).

  The web server 109 creates and provides a web page to the terminal device 6 connected to the network 7 by a web browser.

  Next, the operation of the image processing system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In this example, the user logs in from the terminal device 6 to the image processing apparatus 1 located closest to his / her seat, and the user's home apparatus is the image processing apparatus 4.

  First, when a user logs in to the image processing apparatus 1 from the terminal device 6 via the network 7, the web server 109 of the image processing apparatus 1 provides a web page of a login screen which is an initial screen by a web browser. When the user inputs a user name and password from this initial screen, user authentication is performed.

  User authentication is performed based on whether or not the input authentication information matches the authentication information stored in the storage unit 104. In this embodiment, the authentication information is stored in the storage unit 104 of each of the image processing apparatuses 1 to 5, but the image processing apparatus is stored in only one of the image processing apparatuses and logged in. 1 may be configured to search the authentication information through each image processing apparatus in order via the network 7. Further, a server other than the image processing apparatuses 1 to 5 may have the authentication information.

  In the authentication information held in the image processing apparatus or other server, as described above, information about the logged-in user's home apparatus is also stored. Therefore, the logged-in image processing device 1 forwards the access request of the terminal device 6 to the image processing device 1 to the image processing device 4 which is the home device in this embodiment based on the information about the home device. The terminal device 6 and the image processing device 4 are connected. Further, the image processing apparatus 4 stores information about the image processing apparatus 1 to which the user has logged in and performed the transfer.

  Accordingly, after login, the user can access destination information that is a data transmission destination, a document that is stored by the user, and the like that are stored in the storage unit 104 of the image processing apparatus 4 that is the home device.

  In such an image processing system, when a user prints a document stored in the terminal device 6, the direct print function is used to provide an image processing apparatus that provides a direct print page based on a web page. It is possible to send a file from the terminal device 6 and print the file using a driver built in the image processing apparatus.

  In this case, it is convenient for the user that the printing is performed by the image processing apparatus 1 near his / her seat. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the user instructs the image processing apparatus 4 to use the direct print function via the terminal apparatus 6, the image processing apparatus 4 logs in the terminal apparatus 6 to the image processing apparatus 1 to which the user has logged in. As a result, the direct print page of the image processing apparatus 1 is displayed on the display screen of the terminal device 6.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a display screen displayed on the terminal device 6 connected to the web browser of the image processing device 4 as the home device. This screen displays information such as the device name, installation location, device type, consumables such as toner, paper feed tray, paper discharge tray, administrator information, etc., and buttons for selecting functions that can be used by the user Is displayed. In this example, the “job confirmation” button 201, “box” button 202, “direct print” button 203, and “destination registration” button 204 are displayed.

  In this screen, when the user selects the “direct print” button 203 and requests a direct print page, as described above, the terminal device 6 logs in again to the image processing apparatus 1 that is logged in and closest to the user's seat. The direct print page of the image processing apparatus 1 is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 6. This display screen is shown in FIG.

  In the screen shown in FIG. 4, a file input field 210 is displayed together with a message indicating that direct printing is possible for a PDF file, a TIFF file, and a text file. When a file is designated and the “execute” key 211 is pressed, the designated file is transmitted from the terminal device 6 to the image processing device 1 and printed by the image processing device 1.

  When the direct print function cannot be used, for example, when a user who is not permitted to print is logged in, a message indicating that the direct print function cannot be used in the current mode as shown in FIG. Is displayed. When a file transmitted from the terminal device 6 is received by the image processing device, a message indicating that the file has been transmitted is displayed on the display screen of the terminal device 6 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a connection request is received from the terminal device 6 in the image processing apparatus 1 to which the terminal device 6 has logged in. This operation is realized by the CPU 101 of the image processing apparatus 1 executing a program recorded on a recording medium such as the ROM 102.

  In FIG. 7, in step S01, a connection request from the terminal device 1 is waited. If there is a connection request (YES in step S01), the connection request is accepted in step S02, and an initial screen is output in step S03.

  When the user of the terminal device 6 inputs authentication information such as a user name and a password from the initial screen, this is accepted in step S04, authentication is performed in step S05, and the home device of the user is specified. In step S06, the connection request from the terminal device 6 is transferred to the specified image processing device 4, and the terminal device 6 and the image processing device 4 are connected.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus 4 which is the user's home apparatus to which the connection request has been transferred. This operation is also realized by the CPU 101 of the image processing apparatus 4 executing a program recorded on a recording medium such as the ROM 102.

  In step S11, the terminal device 6 is connected, and in step S12, the web page of the image processing device 4 shown in FIG. Information about the original image processing apparatus 1 transferred at this time is stored as an output destination image processing apparatus.

  Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not a button on the page has been pressed by the user. If not pressed (NO in step S13), the process waits until it is pressed. If it is pressed (YES in step S13), it is determined in step S14 whether the button is the direct print button 203 or not.

  If it is not a direct print button (NO in step S14), processing corresponding to the pressed button is performed in step S15, and the process ends. If it is a direct print button (YES in step S14), an output destination is searched in step S16. In this embodiment, as described above, the image processing device 1 that is the transfer source of the connection request of the terminal device 6 is specified as the output destination. Then, the use request of the direct print function from the terminal device 6 due to the pressing of the direct print button 203 is transferred to the image processing device 1, and the terminal device 6 and the image processing device 1 are reconnected (step S17). ).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus 1 to which a direct print use request has been transferred. This operation is realized by the CPU 101 of the image processing apparatus 1 executing a program recorded on a recording medium such as the ROM 102.

  In step S <b> 21, the image processing apparatus 1 outputs the direct print page shown in FIG. 4 to the terminal device 6. In step S22, it is determined whether a file to be printed has been received. If no file is received (NO in step S22), the process waits until it is received. If received (YES in step S22), printing is performed in step S23.

  Thus, in this embodiment, even if the terminal device 6 logs in to the image processing device 1, the terminal device 6 is connected to the image processing device 4 that is the user's home device, and further, the use of the direct print function is required. If the image processing apparatus 1 is connected, it is reconnected to the image processing apparatus 1 and output from the image processing apparatus 1. Therefore, even when the home image processing device 4 is far away due to a business trip or the like, printing can be performed from the image processing device near the terminal device 6, and the image processing system and the image processing device are highly convenient and easy to use. It can be done.

  In the above embodiment, the image processing apparatus 1 to which the user has logged in from the terminal device 6 has been described as the image processing apparatus closest to the user's seat, but printing is performed with the logged-in image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus may be different. In this case, printing may be performed by the logged-in image processing apparatus, or printing may be performed from an image processing apparatus close to the user's seat. Whether the user's seat is close may be determined, for example, based on whether the IP address of the image processing device is close to the IP address of the terminal device 6. Further, it may be configured to print from an image processing apparatus owned by a group to which the user belongs or an image processing apparatus registered in advance.

  In this embodiment, when the use request of the direct print function is requested, the terminal apparatus is connected to another image processing apparatus that executes printing. However, instead of the direct print function, other job output is possible. It may be configured to connect to another image processing apparatus when a function use request is made.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of an image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the display screen of a terminal device when connected with a home apparatus. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display screen of the terminal device when a direct print button is pressed on the screen of FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows the display screen of a terminal device when a direct print cannot be performed. It is a figure which shows the display screen of the terminal device after the file transmission to be printed. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus when a user tries to log in from a terminal device. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which is a home apparatus to which the connection request from the terminal device was transferred. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a destination image processing apparatus to which a direct print function use request has been transferred.

Explanation of symbols

1 to 5 Image processing device 6 Terminal device 7 Network 101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 104 Memory | storage part 106 Image reading part 107 Printing part 108 Network interface part 109 Web server 111 Data transmission path

Claims (7)

An image processing system in which a plurality of image processing devices and terminal devices are connected via a network,
Storage means for storing user authentication information including information about the first image processing apparatus normally used by the user;
Based on the input authentication information and the user authentication information stored in the storage means when the terminal device accesses any of the image processing devices with the input of the authentication information, the first Specifying means for specifying the image processing apparatus of
First connection control means for connecting the terminal device to the first image processing apparatus specified by the specifying means;
When a user requests use of the job output function from the terminal device to the first image processing device connected to the terminal device, the terminal device is different from the first image processing device. A second connection control means for connecting to the second image processing apparatus;
An image processing system comprising:   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the job output function is a direct print function that requests use of the job output function from a web page of the image processing apparatus.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus that has been accessed by a user from a terminal device.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the second image processing apparatus is an image processing apparatus located closest to the terminal device. Accepting means for accepting input of authentication information from the terminal device;
Identification that identifies the image processing device based on the received authentication information and user authentication information that is stored in the storage unit of the own device or another device and includes information about the image processing device that the user normally uses Means,
Connection control means for connecting the terminal device to the image processing apparatus specified by the specifying means;
An image processing apparatus comprising:   A connection control unit is provided for connecting the terminal device to another image processing device when receiving a use request of the job output function by the user made from the terminal device while being connected to the terminal device. An image processing apparatus. The authentication that has been input when the user is prompted to input authentication information from the terminal device via the network to any one of the plurality of image processing devices connected to each other via the network. Identifying the first image processing device based on the information and user authentication information including information about the first image processing device normally used by the user stored in the storage means;
A first connection control step for connecting the terminal device to the identified first image processing device;
When a user requests use of the job output function from the terminal device to the first image processing device connected to the terminal device, the terminal device is different from the first image processing device. A second connection control step for connecting to the second image processing apparatus;
An image processing method comprising:

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