JP2008092341A - Image reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To place an appropriate type of copy paper on a paper feed tray depending on the type of original when copying a plurality of types of original in an image reading apparatus provided with an ADF. Further, when outputting a document in which a plurality of types are mixed to an application and saving the document with the application, it takes time and effort to change the image format each time the document type changes.
In an image reading apparatus 2 equipped with an ADF having a function of discriminating the type of original, when reading a plurality of types of originals such as plain paper and inkjet paper and outputting a scanned image, the same type is provided. The scanned image of the original is output continuously. Determine the type of document, store the identified document type in association with the scanned image, and after all the documents have been read, rearrange the scanned images and continue scanning images of the same type of document. Output.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a scanner driver that, when reading an original using an ADF having a function for discriminating the type of original, discriminates the type of original and continuously outputs a scanned image of the same type of original.

  According to the present invention, the type of document and the scanned image are stored in association with each other, and the scanned image of the same type of document is continuously output, thereby reducing the user's trouble when printing and saving the scanned image. Is aimed at. As described above, a method for changing the output of a scanned image depending on the type of document is also proposed in the image reading apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. The image reading apparatus of Patent Document 1 adds a background color of a document to a scanned image, and stores the scanned image by dividing a storage area for each color information data. As a result, when a plurality of types of originals are read at once, the user can easily classify the scanned images by changing the original color according to the original type.

In the present invention, the output order is changed depending on the type of original such as plain paper or inkjet paper. On the other hand, the image processing apparatus of Patent Document 2 changes the output order in consideration of the size when sequentially reading originals in which different size originals are mixed. For example, when sequentially reading a document in which “A4” and “A3” are mixed, all the scanned images are stored once, and the scanned images of “A4” are output together, and then “A3” By outputting the scanned images collectively, the same size document is laid out on one page and output.
JP-A-10-27238 JP 10-117273 A

  Patent Document 1 has a problem that the user cannot read the original as it is because it is necessary for the user to change the original color according to the original type in order to classify the scanned images. On the other hand, according to the present invention, the type of the original can be determined without changing the original. Patent Document 2 changes the output order by paying attention to the size of the original, whereas the present invention changes the output order by paying attention to the type of the original. Thus, the present invention is different from the background art, and two problems to be solved by the present invention will be described below.

  First, the first problem is to use an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) to read an original that contains a mixture of inkjet paper and plain paper in a copier with a single paper feed tray. When copying on paper, every time the type of original read using ADF changes, it is necessary to place an appropriate type of copy paper on the paper feed tray, which is troublesome. Here, an appropriate type of copy paper refers to a copy paper on which a document is printed cleanly, such as inkjet paper if the document is inkjet paper, or plain paper if the document is plain paper.

  Next, as the second problem, as a premise of this problem, when scanning a document containing inkjet paper and plain paper using ADF, the inkjet paper is a picture or photo data. Since there are many cases, the image data is saved in an image format such as a JPEG format, and since plain paper is often character data, it may be desired to save it in a format suitable for saving characters such as a PDF format. However, with conventional scanner drivers, when inkjet paper and plain paper are mixed, scanned images of inkjet paper and plain paper are sent to the application in the mixed order, so every time the type of document changes It is necessary to change the format in the save dialog of the application and save it. This work is time-consuming for the user, and this is the second problem.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a document type discriminating means for discriminating the type of a document in an image reading apparatus having an ADF (automatic document feeder) capable of discriminating the type of document, and an ADF. A reading unit that sequentially reads the original using the document, a storage unit that stores the type of the original determined by the original type determination unit, the scan image read by the reading unit in association with each other, and the storage unit Output means for rearranging the scanned images of the original and rearranging the scanned images to continuously output the scanned images of the same type of original. The storage means has a function of counting the number of each document type and storing the total number of each. In addition, after all the scanned images are stored in the storage unit, the type of the document determined by the document type determination unit and the number of each document type are presented to the user using a dialog or the like. A feature is that the user has the function of setting the output order based on the type. Further, the output means continuously outputs a scan image of the same type of document, and when the document type changes, a dialog is used to notify the user that the type of the scan image to be output changes. It has a function.

  According to the present invention, in an image reading apparatus provided with an ADF (automatic document feeder), when a plurality of types of documents are copied onto an appropriate copy sheet, a paper feed tray is selected depending on the types of documents that are sequentially read. It is possible to reduce the trouble of placing an appropriate type of copy paper. In addition, when a plurality of types of originals are output to an application and saved by the application, it is possible to reduce the trouble of changing and saving the image format each time the type of the original is changed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the present embodiment. The image reading apparatus 2 is an image reading apparatus provided with an ADF (automatic document feeder) that does not have a function of simultaneous reading on both sides. The host computer 1 includes a CPU 3, a memory 4, an auxiliary storage device 5 such as a hard disk, and a keyboard 6 and a pointing device such as a mouse 7 as input devices.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a system when the present invention is mounted on a scanner driver. In the host computer 1, a scanner driver 11 is installed in the auxiliary storage device 5 in order to control the image reading device 2 such as a scanner. As described above, if the scanner driver 11 is installed, the application 10 can call the scanner driver 11 and read a scanned image from the image reading apparatus 2. In the present invention, the scanner driver 11 includes a reading unit 12 that sequentially reads a document, a document type determining unit 13 that determines the type of the document, a scanned image of all pages of the document obtained by the reading unit 12, and a document type determining unit 13. Are stored in the auxiliary storage device 5 in association with the document type determined in step (b), and output unit 15 is arranged to output the scanned image obtained by the reading unit 12 by sorting the document types.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 illustrates an outline of the first and second embodiments. The first embodiment shows an example in which the output destination of the scanner driver of the present invention is a printer driver and the present invention is used for the purpose of copying.

  First, a plurality of types of originals are placed on the ADF original table (S101). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, there will be described a case where there are two types of originals, plain paper and inkjet paper, and there are 6 plain papers and 4 inkjet papers. When the user activates the scanner driver, the reading mode selection dialog shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. In the dialog shown in FIG. 5, the normal reading mode is a mode in which scanned images are output to the application in the order of the read originals, the classification reading mode is a mode in which scanned images of the same type of originals are continuously output to the application, and normal copying. The mode is a mode in which scanned images are printed in the order of the read originals, and the classification copy mode is a mode in which scanned images of the same type of originals are continuously printed. In the first embodiment, the classification copy mode is selected from these modes. When the user selects the classified copy mode, the originals placed on the ADF original table are determined one by one by the original type discriminating means 13 (S102), and then sequentially read (S103). . At this time, the scanner driver stores the document type determined by the document type determination unit 13 in association with the scanned image in the auxiliary storage device 5 (S104). The scanner driver also stores the total number of each document type.

  When all the originals have been read in this way (YES in S105), the scanner driver displays the dialog shown in FIG. 6 on the display of the host computer 1, and the type and number of originals detected by the original type discriminating means 13. Then, the type of document to be copied in order is presented to the user (S106), and based on this, the user determines the output order (S107). In this description, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the user has set in the dialog so that plain paper is copied first and the inkjet paper is copied second.

  After the user presses the OK button of the dialog shown in FIG. 6, the scanner driver displays the dialog shown in FIG. 7 and informs the user to place 6 plain papers on the paper feed tray (S108). After the user places six plain papers (S109) and presses the OK button in the dialog shown in FIG. 7, the copy is performed on the placed plain papers (S110). At this time, the scanner driver outputs a scanned image whose original is plain paper among the stored scanned images to the printer driver for printing. When all the copying of the plain paper is completed, the scanner driver displays a dialog shown in FIG. 8 and tells the user to place four inkjet papers on the paper feed tray. When the user presses the OK button in the dialog shown in FIG. 8 after placing four sheets of inkjet paper, the scanner driver outputs a scanned image whose document is inkjet paper to the printer driver, and copying to the inkjet paper starts. Is done. In this way, when the output of all scanned images is completed (S111), the plain paper document is copied to plain paper, and the inkjet paper document is copied to inkjet paper.

  Conventionally, when copying a document that contains various types of documents to the appropriate paper, it is necessary to replace the appropriate copy paper with the paper feed tray each time the type of document being scanned changes. That was a hassle. In the first embodiment, as the number of times the copy paper is placed is two times, in the present invention, since the same type of original is continuously copied, it is possible to reduce the user's trouble of replacing the copy paper. I can do it.

  In the first embodiment, the output destination of the scanner driver of the present invention is a printer driver, and the present invention is used for the purpose of copying. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, a case where the output destination is an application will be described. In the reading mode selection dialog shown in FIG. 5, the classification reading mode is a mode for realizing the second embodiment. Here, as in the first embodiment, a description will be given taking as an example a document in which plain paper and inkjet paper are mixed.

  Conventionally, plain paper is often text data, so it is saved in a format suitable for storing characters such as PDF format, and inkjet paper has a lot of picture and photo data, so JPEG format etc. Often saved in image format. In a document in which plain paper and inkjet paper are mixed, the conventional scanner driver sends the scanned image to the application in the order of reading, and the user decides and saves the image format each time. For this reason, it takes time and effort for the user to save in an appropriate image format when a plurality of types of originals are grouped separately.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, scan images of the same type of document are sent together. Therefore, when the scan image sent first is character data and saved in PDF format, the second image is scanned. Scanned images are also character data and are often stored in PDF format. Currently, applications often set the image format saved last time as the default image format for the next save. For this reason, when the second image is saved in the PDF format, the PDF format is already selected in the scan image saving dialog provided by the application, so there is no need to change and select the image format. In such a case, when the type of the scanned image to be output changes, it is necessary for the user to determine visually from the scanned image, determine the image format, and save it. Therefore, in order to save this trouble, in the present invention, when the type of the scanned image changes, the scanner driver informs the application of the content, and the application presents the default image format to the user according to the transmitted scanned image type. May be. As described above, when the scanned image is output to the application using the scanner driver of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the trouble of selecting and saving the image format by the application.

  As described above, according to the first and second embodiments, when a plurality of types of originals are copied onto an appropriate sheet, or output to an application and stored in an appropriate image format, Time and effort can be reduced.

  In each of the above embodiments, the scan image is stored in the auxiliary storage device 5 provided in the host computer 1, but the auxiliary storage device 5 is not limited to being provided in the host computer 1. For example, if the auxiliary storage device 5 is provided in the image reading device 2, the scanned image may be stored therein. Further, in each of the above embodiments, the scan image is stored in the auxiliary storage device 5, but may be stored in a main storage device such as the memory 4.

  In the above embodiment, the dialogs shown in FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are displayed on the display of the host computer 1, but may be displayed on a panel provided in the image reading apparatus 2.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the user's troubles regarding the copying and scanning image saving of a plurality of types of originals in the image reading apparatus provided with the ADF.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of this invention. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure of this invention. It is a figure explaining the Example of this invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, it is a dialog for selecting a reading mode. In the embodiment of the present invention, this is a dialog for setting the output order of documents. In the embodiment of the present invention, the dialog prompts the user to set plain paper in the paper feed tray. In the embodiment of the present invention, the dialog prompts the user to set the inkjet paper in the paper feed tray.

Explanation of symbols

1 Host computer 2 Image reading device 3 CPU
4 Memory 5 Auxiliary Storage Device 6 Keyboard 7 Mouse 10 Application 11 Scanner Driver 12 Reading Means 13 Document Type Discriminating Means 14 Storage Means 15 Output Means

Claims (4)

  In an image reading apparatus provided with an ADF (automatic document feeder) capable of determining the type of document, a document type determining unit for determining the type of document, a reading unit for sequentially reading a document using ADF, A storage unit that associates and stores the document type determined by the document type determination unit and the scanned image read by the reading unit, and stores the scanned images of all the documents in the storage unit, and then scans them. An image reading apparatus comprising: output means for rearranging images and continuously outputting scanned images of the same type of document.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit has a function of counting the number of sheets of each document type and storing the total number of sheets.   After all the scanned images are stored in the storage unit, the document type determined by the document type determination unit and the number of each document type are presented to the user, and the output order is set by the user from the displayed document type. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, having a function of   2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the output means has a function of continuously outputting scanned images of the same type of document and notifying the user that the type of the scanned image to be output changes when the type of the document is changed. Reader.

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