JP2009049795A - History information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a constitution for generating an image stored as history information of job data from the job data of a plurality of formats. <P>SOLUTION: A history information management system 1 includes an image processing part 106 for generating an output image by image extension treatment specified for each type of job data; a compositing machine 10, having an image formation part 108 for forming an image, based on the output image and a storage image generation part 110 for generating a storage image, based on the output image; and a history information management server 20 for managing the storage image as history information of the job data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a history information management system.

  For job data of each function processed by a multi-function machine having a plurality of functions such as printing, copying, and fax, the history information for storing and managing the image itself printed by the multi-function machine as history information, so-called image log, on a server A management system (image log system) has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 4A shows a system configuration diagram of a conventional history information management system (conventional) 2. The history information management system (conventional) 2 includes a multifunction device 11 and a history information management server 20, and the multifunction device 11 and the history information management server 20 are capable of data communication with each other. The history information management server 20 receives a saved image generated by compressing an image printed by the multifunction machine 11 from the multifunction machine 11, and manages the received saved image as job data history information (image log).

  The multifunction machine 11 includes a CPU 100, a storage unit 102, a communication unit 104, an image processing unit 107, an image forming unit 108, and a saved image generation unit 111. The CPU is a central processing unit that controls each unit of the multifunction machine 11 in accordance with a control program stored in the storage unit 102. In addition to the control program, the storage unit 102 stores various job data such as print, copy, and fax received from a client device (not shown), and is also used as a work memory for the CPU 100. The image processing unit 107 generates an output image by image expansion processing according to job data stored in the storage unit 102, and outputs the generated output image to the image forming unit 108. The image forming unit 108 forms an image on printing paper based on the output image input from the image processing unit 107 and outputs the image. Then, the saved image generation unit 111 loads job data from the storage unit 102 and generates a saved image for the processed job data.

FIG. 4B shows a hardware configuration of the saved image generation unit 111. As shown in FIG. 4B, the stored image generation unit 111 includes a page buffer 200, decompressors 202A, B, and C, color converters 204A, B, and C, and a reduction / compressor 206. Is done. In the illustrated conventional multifunction machine 11, as many decompressors 202 and color converters 204 are provided as there are combinations of the data format of the input job data and the data format of the output image log (stored image). For example, in FIG. 4B, three decompressors 202 and three color converters 204 are provided in order to perform conversion processing to the image log format for the print, copy, and FAX job data formats. It has been.
JP 2005-57490 A

  As apparent from FIG. 4B, in the prior art, in order to generate an image to be stored as job data history information from a plurality of types of job data, different hardware is used for each type of job data. In addition, the hardware configuration of the multi-function device becomes complicated and costly.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a history information management system that simplifies a configuration for generating an image stored as history information of job data from a plurality of types of job data.

  In order to achieve the above object, the history information management system according to claim 1 includes an output image generation means for generating an output image by image expansion processing determined for each format of job data, and the output image. An image forming unit that forms an image based on the output image; a stored image generating unit that generates a stored image based on the output image; and a management unit that manages the stored image as history information of the job data. And

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the output image has a single format.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the storage image generation unit changes the color space, the image compression method, and the image size of the output image and changes the storage. An image is generated.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the storage image generation means generates a plurality of storage images having different data amounts based on the output image. It is characterized by.

  The history information management system according to claim 5 includes: an image forming apparatus that processes job data to form an image; and a history management apparatus that manages a history of job data processed by the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes: an output image generating unit that generates an output image by an image expansion process determined for each job data format; an image forming unit that forms an image based on the output image; and Storage image generation means for generating a storage image based on the means, and means for transmitting the storage image to the history management device, the history management device receiving the transmitted storage image, and the reception Management means for managing the stored image as history information of the job data.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the configuration for generating a saved image from a plurality of types of job data.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the format of the output image generated from a plurality of types of job data is determined, a saved image can be generated if there is a converter for image data of one system. .

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the data format of the stored image can be converted into a desired data format and managed as job data history information.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, by generating a plurality of stored images having different data amounts, for example, when displaying history information, the smaller data amount is used for list display, and the data amount is large. Can be used for detailed display.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to simplify the configuration for generating a saved image from a plurality of types of job data. By doing so, the image forming apparatus can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of a history information management system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the history information management system 1 includes a multifunction device 10 and a history information management server, and the multifunction device 10 and the history information management server 20 are capable of data communication with each other. Data communication may be performed using, for example, a TCP / IP protocol.

  The multifunction machine 10 includes a CPU 100, a storage unit 102, a communication unit 104, an image processing unit 106, an image forming unit 108, and a saved image generation unit 110 as components. The CPU 100 is a central processing unit that controls each unit of the multifunction machine 10 according to a control program stored in the storage unit 102. In addition to the control program, the storage unit 102 stores various job data such as print, copy, and fax received from a client device (not shown), and is also used as a work memory for the CPU 100.

  The image processing unit 106 performs image expansion processing determined for each job data format on various job data stored in the storage unit 102 to generate an output image. The image decompression process defined for each job data format is, for example, a process of rasterizing PDL data describing print job data and decompressing it to YMCK bitmap data when the job data is print job data. That is. Similarly, other data formats are expanded to YMCK bitmap data. The output image generated by the image processing unit 106 is output to the image forming unit 108 and the saved image generation unit.

  The image forming unit 108 forms and outputs an image on a printing sheet based on the output image input from the image processing unit 106. The image forming unit 108 forms a transfer image on the photoconductor based on the bitmap data input from the image processing unit 106. Then, the transfer image formed on the photoconductor is transferred to the printing paper fed by the paper feeding mechanism.

  The stored image generation unit 110 receives input of the same data as the output image input from the image processing unit 106 to the image forming unit 108, and generates a stored image based on the input output image.

  FIG. 1B shows a hardware configuration of the saved image generation unit 110. As shown in FIG. 1B, the saved image generation unit 111 includes a page buffer 200, a color converter 204, and a reduction / compression unit 206. In the saved image generation unit 110, the output image input from the image processing unit 106 is stored in the page buffer 200. The color space of the output image stored in the page buffer 200 is converted from YMCK to RGB by the color converter 204. The color-converted output image is reduced in image size by the reduction / compression unit 206, and then compressed by a predetermined image compression method, for example, JPEG, and saved as job data history information (image). Log) is generated. The generated saved image is stored in the page buffer 200.

  The stored image stored in the page buffer 200 is read by the CPU 100 and transmitted to the history information management server 20 by the communication unit 104 together with the attribute information of the job data. The job data attribute information may include job data ID, job data owner user name, date and time of job data processing, and the like.

  The history information management server 20 sequentially stores and manages job data history information based on the stored image and job data attribute information received from the MFP 10. FIG. 2 shows an example of a job history information table for managing job data by the history information management server 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the job history information table stores the job data owner user, the processing date and time, and the saved image in association with the job ID.

  The history information of job data managed in the history information management server 20 may be used as follows, for example. When the history information management server 20 receives a browsing request for job data history information for a user of the client device from a client device that is communicably connected via a network, the history information management server 20 refers to the job history information table to be managed, and Find the records associated with. Then, the history information management server 20 transmits the search result record list to the client device in the form of HTML data in which the stored image of the job data is displayed as a thumbnail image together with the attribute information of the job data. Also good. The client device displays a history list of job data based on the HTML data indicating the list of job data received from the history information management server 20. This makes it easy to check the history of job data processed by the multifunction machine 10.

  Next, a series of processing of job data by the multifunction machine 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The multi-function device 10 stores the job data received via the communication unit 104 in the storage unit 102 (S101). The image processing unit 106 reads job data stored in the storage unit 102 and generates an output image (S102). For example, if the job data is print job data, data in a PDL (page description language) format describing the print job is rasterized and YMCK bitmap data (output image) is output. The output image format is YMCK bitmap data because it is used for printing. Similarly, output images of other types of job data are generated as YMCK bitmap data.

  The output image of the generated bitmap (for example, color space YMCK, image size A4) is a predetermined format of the saved image (for example, color space is RGB, image compression format is JPEG, image size is 320 × 240 pixels, etc.) Converted according to That is, the color space of the output image is converted from YMCK to RGB (S103), the image size is further reduced to 320 × 240 (S104), and the bitmap is compressed by the JEPG method (S105). The saved image thus generated is transmitted to the history information management server 20 (S106). The history information management server 20 stores and manages the saved image received from the multifunction machine 10 as job data history information (image log), for example, in a job history information table as shown in FIG.

  According to the history information management system 1 described above, the conventional multi-function machine 11 has a different system of converter for each job data format as shown in FIG. In contrast to the necessity, the multifunction machine 10 according to the present embodiment generates a saved image for the output image generated by the image processing unit 106, thereby making it possible to perform one operation as shown in FIG. A stored image can be generated simply by providing a system converter. Thus, according to the present invention, the hardware configuration of the multifunction peripheral can be simplified as compared with the conventional one. Since the hardware configuration of the multi-function peripheral can be simplified, the number of parts of the multi-function peripheral can be reduced, and as a result, downsizing and cost reduction of the multi-function peripheral can be achieved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment.

  In the above-described embodiment, the multifunction device 10 and the history information management server 20 that manages job data history information are configured in separate housings. However, the multifunction device 10 may manage job data history information. Absent.

It is a system configuration figure of the history information management system concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of a job history information table. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of job data processing of the multifunction machine. It is a system configuration diagram of a conventional history information management system.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 History information management system, 2 History information management system (conventional), 10 MFP, 11 MFP (conventional), 20 History information management server, 100 CPU, 102 Memory | storage part, 104 Communication part, 106 Image processing part, 107 image Processing unit (conventional), 108 image forming unit, 110 stored image generating unit, 111 stored image generating unit (conventional), 200 page buffer, 202A, B, C decompressor, 204, 204A, B, C color converter, 206 Reduction / compressor.

Claims (5)

Output image generation means for generating an output image by image expansion processing determined for each job data format;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the output image;
Saved image generation means for generating a saved image based on the output image;
Management means for managing the stored image as history information of the job data;
A history information management system characterized by including: The output image is in a single format;
The history information management system according to claim 1. The stored image generation means generates the stored image by changing at least one of a color space, an image compression method, and an image size of the output image.
The history information management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above-mentioned. The stored image generation means generates a plurality of stored images having different data amounts based on the output image.
The history information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein An image forming apparatus that processes job data to form an image, and a history management apparatus that manages a history of job data processed by the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Output image generation means for generating an output image by image expansion processing determined for each job data format;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the output image;
Saved image generation means for generating a saved image based on the output image;
Means for transmitting the stored image to the history management device,
The history management device includes:
Means for receiving the transmitted stored image;
Managing means for managing the received stored image as history information of the job data,
A history information management system characterized by that.

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