Network scanning system

Abstract

An image scanner device connected to a general information processing apparatus can be used on a network at a low cost, and further, the firmware of hardware for this purpose can be a maintenance-free firmware, thus user's convenience can be improved. A scanner / network connection apparatus 100 to connect a scanner 200 to a network 300 has an LCD server to drive a LCD as a display unit, a touch panel task to transmit a touch position on a touch panel, and a SCSI server to connect the scanner 200 to the network. A PC 500 to control the scanner has a virtual LCD driver, a virtual touch panel driver, and a virtual SCSI driver, operating to provide an environment as if the LCD, the touch panel and the image scanner of the scanner / network connection apparatus 100 are connected to the PC 500. The virtual LCD driver draws a screen image as a user interface for various operations, and the result of drawing is displayed on the LCD of the scanner / network connection apparatus 100. Thus an interactive operation environment can be provided to the user.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a technique of connecting an image scanner device to a network. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Generally, an image scanner device is connected to a general information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a work station (hereinbelow, generally referred to as a “PC”) via a SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface. [0003] As applications of the image scanner device, optical character recognition (OCR), filing and other various applications are known. In recent years, the variety of uses for the image scanner device such as generation of attachment to an electronic mail is further increased. [0004] On the other hand, in workplaces, employees respectively use one PC, and the PCs are connected to a network to share network resources (files, printers etc.). As it is desirable that the image scanner device can also be shared on the network, several network-connectable s...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a technique for enabling use of image scanner device, which is connected to a general information processing apparatus, on a network at a low cost, and further, for improvement of user's convenience by realizing maintenance-free firmware in hardware for use of the scanner device on the network.

Problems solved by technology

As it is desirable that the image scanner device can also be shared on the network, several network-connectable scanner devices (generally many of them have a complex machine form) are known, however, such devices are very expensive.

According to the technique disclosed in the above patent document, the existing image scanner device can be connected to the network via the scan box, however, as the scan box is controlled by the particular application which operates on the PC, the scanner connected to the scan box can be utilized by the particular application but cannot be utilized by a general application such as a graphic application.

Further, this technique of enabling connection between an existing image scanner to a network via the scan box has the following problems.

That is, the processing by the CPU cannot be simplified.

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