Title of Invention | A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING MULTI FUNCTIONAL PERIPHERAL TO GENERATE SCANNED DOCUMENTS IN A FORMAT ACCEPTABLE FOR A PERSONAL COMPUTER |
---|---|
Abstract | A method and system for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC. According to the method, a first module runs at the PC and a second module runs at the MFP. The module installed at the PC creates and maintains a list of all the supported image formats at the PC. The PC sends this list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP. The module installed at the MFP checks for the supported image formats in the list sequentially and once the target image format is found, the MFP converts the scanned image in that particular format. In case, the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format which can be set by a user. |
Full Text | FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 [39 of 1970] & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (Section 10; Rule 13) A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING MFP TO GENERATE SCANNED DOCUMENTS IN MOST ACCEPTABLE FORMATS FOR A PC SAMSUNG INDIA SOFTWARE OPERATIONS PVT. LTD. BAGMANE LAKEVIEW, BLOCK 'BNo. 66/1, BAGMANE TECH PARK, C V RAMAN NAGAR, BYRASANDRA, BANGALORE - 560093 A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Company Limited, Korea, an Indian Company The following Specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention generally relates to embedded systems and particularly to a plug-in application within a multi-functional peripherals (MFPs). More particularly the invention relates to a method and system for allowing an MFP to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART A user of an MFP usually faces problem of finding the appropriate module to view the scanned images generated by the MFP. For example, if the scanned image is generated in TIFF format, while the PC does not have the appropriate module to view TIFF images, the scanned image will have to be transported to another PC for viewing or a new costly module has to be installed on the PC to deal with the issue, which may consume lot of space in the PC. It may also waste a lot of time of the user. Also the user needs to learn the usage of the new module. As per US patent titled," Document reading device capable of sending data to external terminal through network", describes a method involving a module installed in a PC to determine a list of the file formats displayable at the PC and sending the list to an MFP connected to the PC. The MFP then converts the scanned image into one of formats supported at the PC and sends the converted image back to the PC. However, the selection of the most appropriate format is not done automatically by the MFP and instead, the selection is carried out by a user at the MFP. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The proposed invention describes a system and a method for allowing a MFP to generate the scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC. According to the method, a module runs at the PC and another module runs at the MFP. The module installed at the PC creates and maintains a list of all the supported image formats at the PC. The PC sends this list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP The module installed at the MFP checks for the supported image formats in the list sequentially and once the target image format is found, the MFP converts the scanned image in that particular format. In case, the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format which can be set by a user. Accordingly, the invention explains a method for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC comprising the steps of: a. creating and maintaining a list of all the supported image formats at the PC where the PC sends the list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP; b. checking for the supported image formats in the list sequentially by the MFP; and c. converting the scanned image into the supporting image format once the target image format is found by the MFP, where if the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format The MFP initialize the module with the list of supported target image formats and sets a default target image format. The default image format is adapted to be changed by the user to a different image format that the MFP supports. If the Scan request message is received the MFP checks the list of target image format list sent by PC where it is checked in sequence from first to last and if there is any match found in the supported image formats the check is stopped and the first matched supported target image is selected. Once image data is generated at MFP the image is converted to target image format before sending the target image format to PC. After the target image format is obtained the said image is sent to PC where the conversion of the image and sending the image to the PC is repeated till all the scanning is completed. The installed module at the PC initialize with the list of image formats that the image viewers are adapted to use to view the images. When the PC gets a Scan Start message from MFP then PC gets the target image as requested. When the PC gets supported image format information from MFP the PC is adapted to send the Scan request with the Default supported image format to complete Scan or is adapted to ignore the Scan operation. Accordingly, the invention also claims a system for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC comprising: a. a first module at the PC which creates and maintains a list of all the supported image formats at the PC where the PC sends the said list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP; b. a second module at the MFP which checks for the supported image formats in the list send by the PC and converts the scanned image into the supporting image format once the target image format is found by the MFP; where if the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 describes method of selecting the target image viewing application at MFP. Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the functionality handled at MFP. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the process handled at the PC. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. The invention describes a system and a method for allowing an Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC. According to the method, a first module runs at the PC and a second module runs at the MFR The module installed at the PC creates and maintains a list of all the supported image formats at the PC. The PC sends this list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFR The module installed at the MFP checks for the supported image formats in the list sequentially and once the target image format is found, the MFP converts the scanned image in that particular format. In case, the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format which can be set by a user. A module runs in the MFP, while another module runs at the client (or PC) end. The Client module at the PC creates and maintains a list of all available and supported image formats that can be viewed on the PC. With this list at its disposal, the module running at the MFP (or server) instructs the MFP to generate the scanned image in the most acceptable format for the PC. Thus, the image will be generated in a format that the User at PC can view. The various image formats that can be covered include BMP, JPG, TIFF, PDF, and the like. Figure 1 describes a method of selecting the target image viewing mechanism at MFR PC initially prepares a list of image formats the image viewers can support to be viewed by the end user. When a user selects a scan operation to scan as image at MFP the client application running at PC will send the Scan request along with the target image formats supported at PC. MFP receives the scan request and also the target image formats supported by PC. MFP checks with the supporting image format for target image conversion and sends Scan Start message to PC and starts scanning the image. After the image is scanned the image is then converted to Target image by using any standard image conversion mechanism. The converted image is then sent to PC. The PC will receive the Target scanned image as requested. The flowchart shown in the figure 2 explains the various steps involved in performing the functionality handled at MFP. MFP will initialize the Server application with the list of supported target image formats. Also a default target image format is set. This default target image format may be any industry standard format such as BMP. This default image format can be changed by the user to any other image format that the MFP supports. After the initialization of the MFP is done the MFP waits for Scan request command from PC. When Scan request message is received the MFP checks the list of target image format list sent by PC. The Target image format is checked in sequence from first to last and if there is any match found in the supported image formats the check is stopped and the first matched supported target image is selected. If the match is not found for the target image formats then MFP will send the default target image format that it will support to PC. Once the Target image format is selected then MFP sends start scan message to PC starts scanning at MFP. Once image data is generated at MFP the image is converted to target image format before sending the target image format to PC. After the target image format is obtained it is sent to PC. This process is repeated till all the scanning is completed. Figure 3 describes the process handled at the PC. Initially at the PC side a client module is installed. The installed module will initialize with the list of image formats that the image viewers can be used to view the images. When a PC scan request is initiated, the Client application will take the list of image formats and send them along with the Scan request to PC. When the PC gets the Scan Start message from MFP then PC will get the target image as requested. When the PC gets Supported image format information from MFP the PC can again send the Scan request with the Default supported image format to complete Scan or it can ignore the Scan operation. The architecture can be extended to other systems also. For example, in a mobile phone having a camera, the mobile phone can have the application running when it is connected to a PC (or other such device) so that the phone can generate the image in a format that can be recognized by the PC. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a microchip, microprocessor, handheld communication device, computer, rendering device or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND DEFINITIONS THEREOF MFP- Multi Functional Peripheral TIFF- Tagged Image File Format BMP- BitMaP PDF- Portable Document FormatWE CLAIM 1. A method for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC comprising the steps of: a. creating and maintaining a list of all the supported image formats at the PC where the PC sends the list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP; b. checking for the supported image formats in the list sequentially by the MFP; and c. converting the scanned image into the supporting image format once the target image format is found by the MFP, where if the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the MFP initialize the module with the list of supported target image formats and sets a default target image format. 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the default image format is adapted to be changed by the user to a different image format that the MFP supports. 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein if the Scan request message is received the MFP checks the list of target image format list sent by PC where it is checked in sequence from first to last and if there is any match found in the supported image formats the check is stopped and the first matched supported target image is selected. 5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein once image data is generated at MFP the image is converted to target image format before sending the target image format to PC. 6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein after the target image format is obtained the said image is sent to PC where the conversion of the image and sending the image to the PC is repeated till all the scanning is completed. 7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the installed module at the PC initialize with the list of image formats that the image viewers are adapted to use to view the images. 8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein when the PC gets a Scan Start message from MFP then PC gets the target image as requested. 9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein when the PC gets supported image format information from MFP the PC is adapted to send the Scan request with the Default supported image format to complete Scan or is adapted to ignore the Scan operation. 10. A system for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC comprising: a. a first module at the PC which creates and maintains a list of all the supported image formats at the PC where the PC sends the list of supported image formats along with a scan request to the MFP; b. a second module at the MFP which checks for the supported image formats in the list send by the PC and converts the scanned image into the supporting image format once the target image format is found by the MFP; where if the target image format is not found, the MFP sends the scanned image in a default format. 11. A method for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. 12. A system for allowing a Multi Functional Peripheral (MFP) to generate scanned documents in most acceptable formats for a PC substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this the 9th day of January 2007 |
---|
Patent Number | 265507 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indian Patent Application Number | 55/CHE/2007 | ||||||||
PG Journal Number | 09/2015 | ||||||||
Publication Date | 27-Feb-2015 | ||||||||
Grant Date | 26-Feb-2015 | ||||||||
Date of Filing | 09-Jan-2007 | ||||||||
Name of Patentee | SAMSUNG R& D INSTITUTE INDIA BANGALORE PRIVATE LIMITED | ||||||||
Applicant Address | #2870 ORION BUILDING BAGMANE CONSTELLATION BUSINESS PARK OUTER RING ROAD DODDANEKUNDI CIRCLE MARATHAHALLI POST BANGALORE -560037 | ||||||||
Inventors:
|
|||||||||
PCT International Classification Number | H04L9/32 | ||||||||
PCT International Application Number | N/A | ||||||||
PCT International Filing date | |||||||||
PCT Conventions:
|