Information processing device, system, method, recording medium and computer program product

Abstract

An information processing device, an information processing system, a recording medium and an information processing method, wherein the information processing device comprises: an execution unit for executing a job in response to receiving a job including the transmission of data to an external device; and a control unit for performing the following control: in a case where the first job being executed by the execution unit is a job of transmitting a processing object, i.e., first data, to an external device and receiving a processing result, i.e., second data, from the external device, in response to the completion of the transmission of the first data to the external device, the first job is interrupted and a second job using the transmission protocol used in the first job is enabled to be executed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing system, a recording medium and an information processing method. Background Art

[0002] Patent document 1 discloses a workflow generation device for generating a workflow composed of a plurality of processes, comprising: an identification unit for identifying whether each execution location of one or more processes constituting the process is a device or a cloud; a switching unit for switching the processing order to call out a plurality of processes identified by the identification unit as having an execution location in the cloud; and a generation unit for generating the workflow for a plurality of consecutively arranged processes identified by the identification unit as having an execution location in the cloud as a result of the switching performed by the switching unit.

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-056488

[0004] In an information processing device such as an image forming device having a plurality of service functions, for example, if there is a request for transmission processing, image data is acquired and the acquired image data is transmitted to a storage destination. For example, image processing such as character recognition processing may be performed on the acquired image data, and the image data after image processing may be transmitted to a storage destination.

[0005] The information processing device may also request a part or all of the processing such as image processing before transmission to the server on the cloud. Hereinafter, the unit of processing requested by the user to the information processing device is referred to as a "job".

[0006] In the past, in order to guarantee the processing results, information processing devices would not execute a second job using a certain transmission protocol while executing a first job using the same transmission protocol. When the image processing results are fed back to the information processing device from a server on the cloud, the information processing device cannot start the second job until the first job is completed. Summary of the invention

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device, an information processing system, a recording medium and an information processing method which, when accepting a job including the transmission of data to an external device and executing the job, can start a second job using the same transmission protocol before the first job accepted previously is completed.

[0008] The information processing device involved in the first method includes: an execution unit, which executes the job in response to accepting a job including the transmission of data to an external device; and a control unit, which performs the following control: when the first job being executed by the execution unit is a job of transmitting a processing object, i.e., first data, to an external device and receiving a processing result, i.e., second data, from the external device, in response to the completion of the transmission of the first data to the external device, the first job is interrupted and a second job using the transmission protocol used in the first job is enabled to be executed.

[0009] An information processing device according to a second aspect is the information processing device according to the first aspect, wherein the control unit interrupts the use of the protocol used in the first job in response to completion of the transfer of the first data to the external device.

[0010] The information processing device according to a third aspect is the information processing device according to the first aspect, wherein the control unit stores a processing result of the first job before interruption, before interrupting the use of the protocol used in the first job.

[0011] The information processing device involved in the fourth embodiment is an information processing device involved in the first embodiment or the second embodiment, wherein the control unit switches between a first mode and a second mode, wherein the first mode controls the second job to be executable when there is an interrupted job using the same protocol, and wherein the second mode controls the second job to be in a state of waiting for execution when there is an interrupted job using the same protocol.

[0012] In the information processing device involved in the fifth aspect, in the information processing device involved in the third aspect or the fourth aspect, when one of the transfer destinations specified in the second job is consistent with the transfer destination specified in the first job including the folder name, the control unit controls the second job to be put into a state of waiting for execution.

[0013] The information processing device involved in the 6th mode is an information processing device involved in any one of the 1st mode to the 5th mode, when the control unit receives a notification from the external device that the processing of the interrupted first job has been completed, and makes the first job become recoverable.

[0014] The information processing apparatus according to a seventh aspect is the information processing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, wherein the control unit performs control of restoring the first job to the restorable state after the second job being executed is completed.

[0015] The information processing apparatus according to the eighth aspect is the information processing apparatus according to the sixth aspect or the seventh aspect, wherein the notification is received via electronic mail.

[0016] An information processing device according to a ninth aspect is the information processing device according to the eighth aspect, wherein the electronic mail is encrypted.

[0017] An information processing device according to a tenth aspect is the information processing device according to the eighth aspect or the ninth aspect, wherein the second data is attached to the electronic mail.

[0018] The information processing device according to the eleventh aspect is the information processing device according to any one of the seventh to tenth aspects, wherein when the first job in the interrupted state is restored, the execution unit obtains a processing result based on the external device and executes the remaining jobs.

[0019] An information processing system according to a twelfth aspect includes: the information processing device according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects; and an external device that executes a process requested from the information processing device.

[0020] The information processing system according to the 13th aspect is the information processing system according to the 12th aspect, further comprising a storage device for storing a processing result transmitted from the information processing device.

[0021] A recording medium according to a fourteenth aspect records a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the information processing apparatus according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects.

[0022] The information processing method involved in the 15th mode includes the following steps: an execution step, in response to accepting a job including the transmission of data to an external device, executing the job; and a control step, performing the following control: in a case where the first job being executed by the execution step is a job of transmitting a processing object, i.e., first data, to an external device and receiving a processing result, i.e., second data, from the external device, in response to the completion of the transmission of the first data to the external device, the first job is interrupted and a second job using the transmission protocol used in the first job is enabled to be executed.

[0023] Effects of the Invention

[0024] According to the first, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth methods, when a job including data transfer to an external device is accepted and executed, a second job using the same transfer protocol can be started before the first job accepted previously is completed.

[0025] According to the second aspect, the first job being executed can be placed in the suspended state at a timing when the device itself is no longer processing the job.

[0026] According to the third aspect, the processing result before the interruption can be guaranteed regardless of the success or failure of the processing by the external device.

[0027] According to the fourth aspect, it is also possible to switch the mode and execute the work in the order in which the requests were received.

[0028] According to the fifth aspect, when a transfer destination having the same folder name is specified in the second job using the same transfer protocol, skipping can be prohibited.

[0029] According to the sixth aspect, it is possible to know the timing for resuming the interrupted work.

[0030] According to the seventh aspect, it is possible to resume an interrupted operation at an appropriate step position.

[0031] According to the eighth aspect, the ninth aspect, and the tenth aspect, even when a firewall exists between external devices, information can be acquired from the external device.

[0032] According to the eleventh aspect, the job in the suspended state can be executed to the end. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings.

[0034] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of an information processing system involved in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electrical structure of an information processing device;

[0036] Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of an image processing server;

[0037] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of transmission processing;

[0038] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of a management table for transfer processing;

[0039] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the information processing system as a premise;

[0040] Figure 7 is a timing diagram showing an example of the operation in the order guarantee mode;

[0041] Figure 8is a schematic diagram showing an example of a mode setting screen;

[0042] Fig. 9 is a timing diagram showing an example of the operation in skip mode;

[0043] Fig.10 is a timing diagram showing another example of the operation in skip mode;

[0044] Fig.11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Fig.12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing of a program involved in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Fig.13 This is a flowchart showing an example of the process of “image processing”;

[0047] Fig.14 is a diagram showing an update example of the management table;

[0048] Fig.15 This is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of “execution determination processing”;

[0049] Fig.16 This is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of "recovery processing of a transfer job";

[0050] Fig.17 This is a diagram showing an update example of the management table.

[0051] Explanation of symbols

[0052] 1-information processing system, 2-system, 10-information processing device, 12-information processing unit, 14-operation display unit, 16-image reading unit, 18-communication unit, 19-storage unit, 20-image processing server, 22-information processing unit, 24-communication unit, 26-storage unit, 30-document management server, 40-communication line, 42-firewall, 50-communication line, 100-transmission job, 102-data acquisition process, 104-image processing process, 106-transmission process, 200-mode setting screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0054] <Information processing system>

[0055] First, the information processing system will be described.

[0056] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, the information processing system 1 includes an information processing device 10, an image processing server 20, and a document management server 30. The image processing server 20 is an example of an external device and is a virtual server configured on the cloud. The information processing device 10 and the document management server 30 are respectively configured in the system 2. The system 2 is a local system such as a company's internal dedicated system.

[0057] The information processing device 10 and the document management server 30 are connected via a local communication line 50 such as an internal LAN. In addition, the information processing device 10 and the document management server 30 are connected to the image processing server 20 on the cloud via a communication line 40 such as the Internet and a firewall 42. The firewall 42 blocks unauthorized communications from the outside to the local system 2.

[0058] The information processing device 10 has a transmission function of acquiring image data from a storage device or the like according to a user's instruction and transmitting the acquired image data to a designated destination. In the present embodiment, an image forming device having the above-mentioned transmission function, a scanning function of reading an image of an original to acquire image data, an image processing function of performing various image processing on the acquired image data, and the like is used as the information processing device 10.

[0059] The information processing device 10 receives a request for processing from a user and executes the received processing. The image processing server 20 is an information processing device that provides image processing services. Examples of image processing performed in the image processing server 20 include character recognition processing and document discrimination processing. The character recognition processing is a processing for performing character recognition on image data read from a manuscript. The document discrimination processing is a processing for performing character recognition on image data read from a document and extracting a value corresponding to each item using the result of the character recognition.

[0060] In the present embodiment, the information processing device 10 entrusts a part or all of the image processing among the accepted processes to the image processing server 20. When entrusting the image processing, the information processing device 10 transmits the image data to the image processing server 20. The image processing server 20 accepts the entrustment of the image processing from the information processing device 10, and performs the image processing on the transmitted image data.

[0061] The information processing device 10 acquires the image processing result from the image processing server 20. For example, in the case of character recognition processing, the image processing result includes the recognized character string and the processed image data in which the character string is associated with each region.

[0062] The document management server 30 is an information processing device that provides services for storing and managing electronic documents such as image data. The user can specify the server of the transmission destination by the IP address or host name. The user can specify the folder of the storage destination by the folder name. When the document management server 30 is specified as the transmission destination, the information processing device 10 transmits the image processing result obtained from the image processing server 20 to the document management server 30. The image processing result is stored in the folder specified as the storage destination.

[0063] In this embodiment, the image processing server 20 is configured as an external device, but the external device is not limited to a server that provides image processing services. The external device can be any server that requests a part of the processing accepted by the information processing device 10, and can also be a server that provides other processing services.

[0064] -Information Processing Device-

[0065] Figure 2 This is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical structure of an information processing device.

[0066] The information processing device 10 includes an information processing unit 12 which is a computer that performs overall control of the device and various operations. The information processing unit 12 includes a CPU 12A, a ROM 12B storing various programs, a RAM 12C used as a work area when executing the programs, a nonvolatile memory 12D, and an input / output unit 12E. The CPU 12A, the ROM 12B, the RAM 12C, the memory 12D, and the input / output unit 12E are connected via a bus 12F. The information processing unit 12 is an example of an execution unit that executes a job and an example of a control unit.

[0067] The information processing device 10 includes an operation display unit 14, an image reading unit 16, a communication unit 18, and a storage unit 19. The operation display unit 14 is an interface for displaying various information to the user and for accepting the user's operation. The image reading unit 16 is a device such as a scanner that optically reads an image recorded in an original document. The communication unit 18 is an interface for communicating with an external device. The storage unit 19 is an external storage device such as a hard disk. Each unit (operation display unit 14, image reading unit 16, communication unit 18, and storage unit 19) is connected to the input / output unit 12E. The information processing unit 12 controls each unit by transferring information between it and each unit.

[0068] In this embodiment, the control programs of the "transmission control process" and "transmission job recovery process" described later are stored in the ROM 12B of the information processing unit 12. In addition, the "management table" described later is stored in the memory 12D. In addition, various programs or various data may be stored in other storage devices inside or outside the device, or may be recorded in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. In addition, various programs or various data may be obtained via communication.

[0069] -Image Processing Server-

[0070] Figure 3 This is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of an image processing server.

[0071] The image processing server 20 includes an information processing unit 22 which is a computer that performs overall control of the device and various calculations. The information processing unit 22 includes a CPU 22A, a ROM 22B, a RAM 22C, a memory 22D, and an input / output unit 22E. The CPU 22A, the ROM 22B, the RAM 22C, the memory 22D, and the input / output unit 22E are connected via a bus 22F.

[0072] The image processing server 20 includes a communication unit 24 and a storage unit 26. The communication unit 24 is an interface for communicating with an external device. The storage unit 26 is an external storage device such as a hard disk. Each unit (communication unit 24 and storage unit 26) is connected to the input / output unit 22E. The information processing unit 22 controls each unit by exchanging information with each unit.

[0073] In addition, similarly to the image processing server 20, the document management server 30 is an information processing device that provides services, and has the same electrical configuration as the image processing server 20. Here, the description thereof is omitted.

[0074] <Transfer Process Management>

[0075] Next, the transfer process will be described.

[0076] When accepting a job including the transfer of data to an external device (hereinafter referred to as a “transfer job”), information processing apparatus 10 executes the accepted transfer job using a transfer protocol corresponding to the processing content.

[0077] In addition to the operation using only the "transfer function" of the information processing device 10, the transfer operation includes a complex operation using the transfer function and other functions in combination. The complex operation is, for example, a process of acquiring image data, performing image processing on the acquired image data, and transmitting the image processing result to a storage destination.

[0078] The transfer protocol is a protocol used for file transfer. The transfer protocol is a communication protocol specified for the application layer. Examples of transfer protocols include SMB (Server Message Block), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning).

[0079] Figure 4 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a transmission operation. The transmission operation 100 includes a data acquisition process 102 for acquiring image data from a storage device, an image processing process 104 for performing image processing on the acquired image data, and a transmission process 106 for transmitting the image processing result to a designated transmission destination. As described above, there are also transmission operations that do not include an image processing process.

[0080] In the present embodiment, the entrustment of processing is performed through a job instruction. The processing content is specifically defined by specifying a device through a job instruction. The job instruction includes a job identifier (hereinafter referred to as a job ID) for identifying a transmission job. The following is an example of the processing content defined by the job instruction. This example is an example of the processing content entrusted to the information processing device 10.

[0081] (1) Image data to be processed is acquired from the storage device A storing reading results by a scanner.

[0082] (2) In the image processing server B, character recognition processing is performed on the image data.

[0083] (3) The image data and the results of the character recognition processing are stored in the document management server C.

[0084] Next, the management of the transfer job will be described.

[0085] Figure 5 2 is a table showing an example of a management table for a transmission job. When receiving a request for a transmission job, the information processing device 10 generates a job ID, specifies a transmission protocol used in the transmission job, and registers the job information in the management table.

[0086] The job information includes, for example, information indicating the job ID, the transfer protocol, the transfer destination, the storage destination, and information indicating the execution status. There are multiple execution states such as being executed and waiting for execution in the transfer job. In addition, in this embodiment, in addition to being executed and waiting for execution, new execution states such as "interrupted" and "waiting for recovery" are added. Interrupted and waiting for recovery will be described later.

[0087] When the transfer job is completed, the job information is deleted from the management table. During the period from when the job information is registered in the management table to when it is deleted, the information processing device 10 manages the execution status of the transfer job.

[0088] The information processing device 10 manages the transmission jobs according to the rule that multiple transmission jobs using the same transmission protocol cannot be executed simultaneously. When a transmission job using a certain transmission protocol is "being executed", other transmission jobs using the same transmission protocol cannot be executed and enter the "waiting for execution" state.

[0089] Conventionally, the information processing device 10 executes each transfer job being managed in the order in which the request is received. There is a later stage of collaborative processing that starts when the file is stored in the server through the transfer job, and in the case where the processing order of the later stage of collaborative processing cannot be changed, it is necessary to ensure the order in which the request is received.

[0090] For example, Figure 5 As shown, the information processing device 10 prioritizes the transmission jobs being managed in the order of receiving the requests, and executes them in descending order of priority. If a transmission job is completed and the job information is deleted, the priorities of other transmission jobs are gradually increased.

[0091] exist Figure 5 In the example shown, the transfer job (ABCDE) with the first priority uses SMB / FTP. Therefore, the transfer job (BCDEF) with the second priority using SMB, the transfer job (CDEFG) with the third priority using FTP, and the transfer job (DEFGH) with the fourth priority using SMB / FTP are not executed and are in the "waiting for execution" state.

[0092] Next, if the transmission job (BCDEF) with the second priority is being executed, the transmission job (DEFGH) with the fourth priority using SMB is not executed and becomes a "waiting for execution" state. On the other hand, since there is no previous transmission job using FTP, the transmission job (CDEFG) with the third priority using FTP is executed and becomes a "being executed" state.

[0093] <Outsourcing image processing to the cloud>

[0094] Next, the entrustment of image processing to the cloud will be described.

[0095] In the case where the transfer job includes an image processing process (refer to Figure 4 ), the information processing device 10 can entrust all or part of the image processing to the image processing server 20 on the cloud.

[0096] Whether to delegate to the image processing server 20 can be determined from various perspectives. For example, in the information processing device 10, image processing for which the device itself has the function can be performed by the device itself, and image processing for which the device itself does not have the function can be delegated to the image processing server 20. As for high-value-added functions such as image processing using machine learning, since they consume a lot of resources such as CPU and memory, they are configured externally such as in the cloud.

[0097] In the present embodiment, the image processing server 20 is instructed to entrust all or part of the image processing through a job instruction received in the information processing device 10. The image processing server 20 is also entrusted with the image processing through the job instruction. The job instruction entrusting the image processing includes the image data to be processed, the job ID, and the entrusted processing content.

[0098] In the past, when image processing was performed on the cloud, the image processing results were also stored on the cloud. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the information processing system as a premise. Figure 6 As shown, in this embodiment, the information processing device 10 is based on the operation of requesting image processing to the image processing server 20 on the cloud and obtaining the image processing result from the image processing server 20 on the cloud.

[0099] As described above, the image processing server 20 receives a request for image processing from the information processing device 10 through a job instruction, and performs image processing according to the job instruction. The information processing device 10 obtains the result of the image processing from the image processing server 20. The information processing device 10 generates output data based on the obtained result of the image processing. The information processing device 10 transmits the generated output data to the document management server 30.

[0100] In the case of an action based on feedback of the result of image processing, if order guarantee is performed, the information processing device 10 cannot execute the next transmission job using the same protocol until the previous transmission job including image processing on the cloud is completed. As long as the same protocol is used, the transmission job without image processing will not be executed.

[0101] Figure 7 This is a timing diagram showing an example of actions in the order guarantee mode. Here, the case where a request for a transmission job 2 using the same transmission protocol is accepted while the transmission job 1 is being executed is described. The transmission job 1 and the transmission job 2 include the processes of data acquisition, image processing, and transmission, respectively. The image processing is performed by the image processing server 20 on the cloud.

[0102] As described above, multiple transmission jobs using the same transmission protocol are not executed simultaneously. During the period from when the image processing of transmission job 1 is requested to the cloud to when the result of the image processing is received from the cloud, the information processing device 10 does not process transmission job 1 by itself. When the order is guaranteed, transmission job 2 is not executed until the transmission of transmission job 1 is completed. After the request for transmission job 2 is accepted, the waiting time until the start of transmission job 2 becomes longer.

[0103] Therefore, in this embodiment, the user of the management information processing device 10 can select one of the order guarantee mode and the skip mode to set the execution order of the transmission job. In the order guarantee mode, the transmission job is executed in the order in which the request is received. In the skip mode, the execution order of the transmission job can be effectively changed. Next, the skipping of the transmission job is described.

[0104] Figure 8 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a mode setting screen. The mode setting screen 200 is displayed on the operation display unit 14 of the information processing device 10, and a selection from a user is accepted. The mode setting screen 200 includes a button 202 for selecting the order guarantee mode, a button 204 for selecting the skip mode, a button 206 for instructing to cancel, and a button 208 for instructing to execute. If the skip mode is selected by the button 204 and the execution is instructed by the button 208, the skip mode is set.

[0105] <Skip of transfer job>

[0106] Next, skipping of the transfer job will be described.

[0107] In the skip mode, after the image processing request to the cloud is completed, the information processing device 10 puts the transmission job being executed into a suspended state. When the transmission of the image data to the image processing server 20 is completed, the image processing request to the cloud is completed.

[0108] Then, the next transmission job using the same transmission protocol as the interrupted transmission job is skipped and executed first. Here, making the transmission job into the interrupted state means stopping the communication using the transmission protocol for a period of time and saving the processing content until the interruption time point.

[0109] Fig. 9This is a timing diagram showing an example of the operation in the skip mode. After entrusting the cloud with the image processing of the transmission job 1, the information processing device 10 puts the transmission job 1 into the interrupted state. When the transmission job 2 using the same transmission protocol is accepted during the interruption of the transmission job 1, the transmission job 2 accepted later is executed. The waiting time of the transmission job 2 is zero. Compared with the case where the sequence guarantee is performed, when the image processing on the cloud takes time, the waiting time of the transmission job 2 can be shortened.

[0110] When the image processing of the transmission job 1 is completed, the image processing server 20 notifies the information processing device 10 that the image processing has been completed. When receiving the processing completion notification from the image processing server 20, the information processing device 10 puts the transmission job 1 into a state of waiting for resumption. After the transmission job 2 is completed, the information processing device 10 resumes the transmission job 1 and returns the transmission job 1 to the state of being executed. Here, resuming the transmission job means resuming the communication using the transmission protocol and executing the remaining processing of the transmission job.

[0111] Fig.10 is a timing diagram showing another example of the operation in skip mode. Fig.10 As shown, when the transmission job 1 is suspended after the request of the transmission job 2 is accepted, the transmission job 2 that was requested later is executed after the transmission job 1 is suspended. At this time, the transmission job 2 that was requested later is first in the waiting state, and then changes from the waiting state to the executing state.

[0112] <Transmission control processing>

[0113] (System-wide Action)

[0114] First, the outline of the operation of the information processing system will be described.

[0115] The information processing device 10 transmits a job instruction including image data to the image processing server 20 via the communication lines 40 and 50. The information processing device 10 receives the result of image processing from the image processing server 20 via the communication lines 40 and 50.

[0116] exist Figure 1 In the example shown, a firewall 42 is arranged between the information processing device 10 and the image processing server 20. Therefore, the information processing device 10 may not be able to receive the image processing result from the image processing server 20 through the communication means for sending the job command. In this case, the image processing result is received by changing the communication means such as receiving an e-mail or receiving a content from a network server.

[0117] In the present embodiment, a web browser is installed in the information processing device 10. The information processing device 10 accesses the URL notified from the image processing server 20 and receives contents indicating the result of image processing from the web server.

[0118] Fig.11 1 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, in step S500, the information processing device 10 receives a request for a transmission job. Next, in step S502, the information processing device 10 confirms the processing content of the transmission job.

[0119] Next, in step S504, the information processing apparatus 10 generates a job ID for the transmission job. Next, in step S506, the information processing apparatus 10 determines the transmission protocol used for the transmission job. Next, in step S508, the information processing apparatus 10 registers the job information in the management table.

[0120] Next, in step S510, the information processing device 10 acquires the image data from the storage device. Next, in step S512, the information processing device 10 transmits the image data to the image processing server 20 on the cloud and requests image processing. Next, in step S514, the information processing device 10 puts the transmission operation into a suspended state.

[0121] Next, in step S516, the image processing server 20 performs image processing. Next, in step S518, the image processing server 20 saves the result of the image processing in a saving destination. Next, in step S520, the image processing server 20 notifies the information processing device 10 of the completion of the processing via an e-mail. Even if the firewall 42 is disposed, the information processing device 10 can receive the e-mail sent from the image processing server 20.

[0122] The job ID and the success or failure of the image processing are recorded in the email. The success or failure of the image processing indicates whether the image processing is successful or failed. If the image processing is successful, the URL of the destination where the image processing result is saved is recorded in the email. The content of the email can be encrypted using encryption technology such as S / MIME. The image processing result can be attached to the email as an attachment.

[0123] Next, in step S522, the information processing device 10 changes the transmission job in the interrupted state to a state of waiting for resumption. Next, in step S524, the information processing device 10 resumes the transmission job waiting for resumption. Next, in step S526, the information processing device 10 accesses the URL of the storage destination and obtains the result of the image processing.

[0124] Next, in step S528, the information processing device 10 generates output data from the result of the image processing. When multiple image processing is performed, the output data is generated by integrating the results of the multiple image processing. Next, in step S530, the information processing device 10 transmits the output data to the document management server 30. Next, in step S532, the information processing device 10 deletes the job information of the completed transmission job from the management table.

[0125] (Transmission control processing)

[0126] Next, the transfer control process for controlling the execution order of the transfer process will be described.

[0127] Fig.12 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing of a program according to an embodiment of the present invention. The program of the transmission control processing is read from the ROM 12B by the CPU 12A of the information processing device 10 and executed (see Figure 2 ). If a request for a transmission job is accepted, the transmission control processing sequence starts.

[0128] First, in step S100, the processing content of the transmission job described in the job instruction is confirmed. Next, in step S102, the job ID of the transmission job is generated. Next, in step S104, the transmission protocol used by the transmission job is determined. Next, in step S106, the job information is registered in the management table.

[0129] Next, in step S108, "executability determination processing" is performed. "Executability determination processing" is processing for determining whether the requested transfer job can be executed when a transfer job request is accepted. If the transfer job cannot be executed, it is determined as "not executable", and if the transfer job can be executed, it is determined as "executable".

[0130] Here, the detailed procedure of the "executability determination process" is described.

[0131] Fig.15 This is a flowchart showing an example of the process of "determination of whether or not to execute". First, in step S300, it is determined whether there is a transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol. If there is a transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol, the routine proceeds to step S302. In step S302, it is determined as "not executable" and the routine ends.

[0132] If there is no transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol, the routine proceeds to step S304. In step S304, it is determined whether there is an interrupted transmission job using the same transmission protocol. If there is no interrupted transmission job using the same transmission protocol, the routine proceeds to step S308. In step S308, it is determined as "executable", and the routine ends.

[0133] In step S304, if there is an interrupted transfer job using the same transfer protocol, the routine proceeds to step S306. In step S306, it is determined whether the skip mode is set. If the skip mode is set, it is determined as "executable" in step S308, and the routine ends. If the skip mode is not set, since the order guarantee mode is set, it is determined as "not executable" in step S302, and the routine ends.

[0134] Return to Fig.12 Next, in step S110, it is determined whether to start the requested transmission operation based on the determination result. If it is determined to be "executable", the requested transmission operation is started. If it is determined to be "not executable", the requested transmission operation is not started.

[0135] If the transmission job is started, the routine proceeds to step S112. In step S112, the execution status of the transmission job is changed to "executing", and the job information of the transmission job that is being requested is registered in the management table. If the transmission job is not started, the routine proceeds to step S130. In step S130, the execution status of the transmission job is changed to "waiting for execution", the job information of the transmission job that is being requested is registered in the management table, and the routine ends.

[0136] Next, in step S114, "image processing" is performed. In the present embodiment, image processing is performed in a plurality of processes. The plurality of processes are respectively performed by devices specified by the job instructions. Next, in step S116, it is determined whether the image processing is completed. If the processing results are obtained for all the plurality of processes, the image processing is completed. It is determined whether the image processing is completed until the processing results are obtained for all the processes.

[0137] Here, the detailed procedure of “image processing” is described.

[0138] Fig.13 This is a flowchart showing an example of the process of "image processing". First, in step S200, image data of the processing object is acquired. Then, in step S202, it is determined whether the image processing is performed in the cloud. If the image processing is not performed in the cloud, the process proceeds to step S204. In step S204, the image processing is performed by the device itself.

[0139] Next, in step S206, it is determined whether there is a next image processing. If there is a next image processing, the routine returns to step S200. On the other hand, if there is no next image processing, the routine proceeds to step S208. In step S208, the result of the image processing is stored and the routine ends.

[0140] In step S202, if it is determined that the image processing is to be performed in the cloud, the process proceeds to step S210. In step S210, the image processing is requested to be performed to the image processing server in the cloud using a job instruction including the image data of the processing object, the job ID, and the requested processing content. After the image processing request is completed, the process proceeds to step S212. In step S212, the execution state of the transmission job being executed is changed to "interrupted". Fig.14 is a diagram showing an example of updating the management table. Fig.14 As shown, Figure 5 The execution status of the transmission job being executed is changed to "suspended".

[0141] If the transmission job is interrupted, the image processing result obtained before the interruption is stored in step S208, and the routine ends. After receiving the processing end notification from the image processing server, the interrupted transmission job is resumed by the "transmission job resumption process" described later.

[0142] Return to Fig.12 If the image processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S118. In step S118, the result of the image processing is transmitted to the document management server 30. If the transmission to the document management server 30 is completed, the transmission job is completed. Next, in step S120, the job information of the completed transmission job is deleted from the management table.

[0143] Next, in step S122, it is determined whether there is a transmission job waiting to be resumed. If there is a transmission job waiting to be resumed, the process proceeds to step S126. In step S126, the execution status of the transmission job waiting to be resumed is changed to "executing". If there is no transmission job waiting to be resumed, the process proceeds to step S124.

[0144] In step S124, it is determined whether there is a transmission job waiting to be executed. If there is a transmission job waiting to be executed, the process proceeds to step S128. In step S128, the execution status of the transmission job waiting to be executed is changed to "executing". Fig.14 As shown, Figure 5The execution status of the transmission job waiting to be executed is changed to “being executed.” If there is no transmission job waiting to be executed, the routine ends.

[0145] (Resume processing of transfer job)

[0146] Next, the recovery process of the transfer job will be described.

[0147] Fig.16 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of "recovery processing of a transfer job". The program of the recovery processing of a transfer job is read from ROM 12B and executed by CPU 12A of information processing device 10 (see Figure 2 ). If the processing end notification is received from the image processing server, the procedure for resuming the transfer job begins. As described above, the processing end notification includes the job ID, the success or failure of the image processing, and the URL of the storage destination for storing the result of the image processing.

[0148] In step S400, the transmission job for which the processing end notification is received is determined based on the job ID. The execution status of the determined transmission job is "interrupted". In the next step S402, it is determined whether there is a transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol. If there is no transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol, the process proceeds to step S403. Fig.12 The process returns to the subsequent step of the image processing, resumes the interrupted transmission operation, obtains the image data to be processed by the image processing, and performs the image processing of the next process.

[0149] If there is a transmission job being executed using the same transmission protocol, the routine proceeds to step S404. In step S404, the execution state of the interrupted transmission job is changed to "waiting for resumption", and the routine ends. Fig.17 is a diagram showing an example of updating the management table. Fig.17 As shown, Fig.14 The execution status of the interrupted transmission job is changed to “waiting for resumption.” The transmission job with the execution status of “waiting for resumption” is executed before the transmission job with the execution status of “waiting for execution.”

[0150] <Modification>

[0151] Furthermore, the configurations of the information processing device, the program, and the information processing system described in the above embodiments are merely examples, and it is apparent that the configurations may be modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0152] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the transmission control process is realized by software is described, but the same process may be realized by hardware.

[0153] In the above embodiment, regarding the interrupted transmission job and the next transmission job using the same transmission protocol, it is set that the interrupted transmission job can be skipped and executed first, but the skipping of the next transmission job can also be prohibited conditionally. For example, when the server of the transmission destination specified by the IP address or URL is the same and the folder of the specified storage destination is also the same, the skipping of the next transmission job is prohibited.

[0154] The above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention are provided for the purpose of illustration and description. In addition, the embodiments of the present invention do not fully and exhaustively include the present invention, and do not limit the present invention to the disclosed methods. Obviously, various modifications and changes are self-evident to those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs. The present embodiment is selected and described in order to most easily understand the principles of the present invention and its application. Thus, other technicians in the art can understand the present invention through various variations optimized for specific uses assumed to be various embodiments. The scope of the present invention is defined by the above claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An information processing device, comprising: an execution unit that executes the job in response to receiving a job including the transfer of data to an external device; and a control unit for performing the following control: when a first job being executed by the execution unit is a job of transmitting a first data to be processed to an external device and receiving a second data as a result of processing from the external device, in response to completion of the transmission of the first data to the external device, the first job is placed in an interrupted state, and a second job using a transmission protocol used in the first job is placed in an executable state; Here, when one of the transfer destinations designated in the second job matches the transfer destination designated in the first job in terms of folder name, the control unit performs control to put the second job into a state of waiting for execution.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: The control unit interrupts use of the protocol used in the first operation in response to completion of transfer of the first data to the external device.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: Before interrupting the use of the protocol used in the first job, the control unit stores a processing result of the first job before the interruption.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The control unit switches between a first mode and a second mode, wherein the first mode controls the second job to be executable when there is an interrupted job using the same protocol, and the second mode controls the second job to be in a state of waiting for execution when there is an interrupted job using the same protocol.

5. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: When receiving a notification from the external device that the processing of the interrupted first job has been completed, the control unit causes the first job to be in a resumable state.

6. The information processing device according to claim 5, wherein: The control unit controls the first operation to restore the restorable state after the second operation being executed is completed.

7. The information processing device according to claim 5, wherein: Receive notifications via email.

8. The information processing device according to claim 7, wherein: The email is encrypted.

9. The information processing device according to claim 7, wherein: The second data is attached to the email.

10. The information processing device according to claim 6, wherein: When the first job in the interrupted state is resumed, the execution unit acquires a processing result by the external device and executes the remaining jobs.

11. An information processing system, comprising: The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 10; and The external device executes processing requested from the information processing device.

12. The information processing system according to claim 11, further comprising a storage device that stores a processing result transmitted from the information processing device. 13 . A recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the information processing device according to claim 1 .

14. An information processing method comprising the following steps: an execution step of executing the job in response to receiving a job including the transfer of data to an external device; and a control step for performing the following control: when the first job being executed by the execution step is a job of transmitting a processing object, i.e., first data, to an external device and receiving a processing result, i.e., second data, from the external device, in response to the completion of the transmission of the first data to the external device, the first job is placed in an interrupted state, and a second job using the transmission protocol used in the first job is placed in an executable state, in, In the control step, control is performed to place the second job in a state of waiting for execution when one of the transfer destinations designated in the second job matches the transfer destination designated in the first job in terms of folder name. 15 . A computer program product comprising a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the information processing device according to claim 1 .

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