COMPUTER NETWORK SCANNING

• US 20100033763A1
• Filed: 10/15/2009
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Anooshfar, Saeed
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,953 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00212 Attaching image data to computer messages, e.g. to e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00222 details of image data generation or reproduction, e.g. scan-to-email or network printing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00225 details of image data generation, e.g. scan-to-email or network scanners using an image reading device as a local input to a computer H04N1/00241
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00954 Scheduling operations or managing resources H04N1/0096 takes precedence; program initiating or switching G06F9/48; allocation of computer resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00957 Compiling jobs, e.g. for batch processing H04N1/3208 takes precedence; program code compilation G06F8/41
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32507 a plurality of input devices

Abstract

A computer network scanning system and method for fulfilling a scan order using at least one scanner node on a computer network. The computer network scanning includes at least one computer terminal adapted to receive input for the creation of the scan order, at least one order entry server computer configured to create and distribute the scan order, and at least one scanner node, each scanner node configured to process scan orders set to or received by the scanner node. The computer network scanning method includes the steps of creating a can order, submitting he scan order to a scanner node, processing he scan order at the scanner node, and updating the computer network scanning system of the completion of the scan order.

Claims

1. A scanning system distributed on a network, comprising:

a computer terminal configured to accept input of a scan setting for causing a scanner node to scan an image, and a destination to which the scanned image is to be sent;

a server configured to receive the scan setting and the destination from the computer terminal over the network, and to store a scan order including the scan setting and the destination;

a scanner node configured to obtain the scan order from the server over the network, to scan the image according to the scan setting included in the obtained scan order, and to cause the scanned image to be sent to the destination included in the obtained scan order.

2. The scanning system of claim 1, wherein the computer terminal invokes a scan order entry form from the server, and accepts the input according to the invoked scan order entry form.

3. The scanning system of claim 1, wherein the computer terminal has a browser software for displaying the invoked scan order entry form.

4. The scanning system of claim 1, wherein the server reconciles the input scan setting with a capability profile of the scanner node to perform scanning, and creates the scan order in accordance with the reconciliation result.

5. The scanning system of claim 1, wherein the scanner node sends a notification of a completion of the scan order.

6. The scanning system of claim 1, wherein the computer terminal accepts input of information indicating when the scan order expires.

7. The scanning system of claim 5, wherein the scanner node deletes the obtained scan order in a case where the obtained scan order expires.

8. A scanning method distributed on a network, comprising the steps of:

accepting input of a scan setting and a destination at a computer terminal, wherein the scan setting is a setting for causing a scanner node to scan in image and the destination is a destination to which the scanned image is to be sent;

receiving the scan setting and the destination at a server from the computer terminal over the network;

storing a scan order in the server, wherein the scan order includes the scan setting and the destination;

obtaining the scan order at a scanner node from the server over the network;

scanning the image at the scanner node according to the scan setting included in the obtained scan order; and

causing the scanned image to be sent to the destination included in the obtained scan order.

9. A computer-readable memory medium having computer-executable process steps stored thereon, wherein said process steps cause a computer terminal and a server and a scanner node to perform a scanning method distributed on a network, wherein said process steps comprise:

an accepting step to accept input of a scan setting and a destination at the computer terminal, wherein the scan setting is a setting for causing a scanner node to scan in image and the destination is a destination to which the scanned image is to be sent;

a receiving step to receive the scan setting and the destination at the server from the computer terminal over the network;

a storing step to store a scan order in the server, wherein the scan order includes the scan setting and the destination;

an obtaining step to obtain the scan order at the scanner node from the server over the network;

a scanning step to scan the image at the scanner node according to the scan setting included in the obtained scan order; and