Image processing system, processing method, image processing apparatus, and relay apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9558291-B2
Application number	US-201113243974-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2011
Priority date	Sep 30, 2010
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

An image processing system includes: a relay apparatus; a service providing apparatus for an electronic-file storing service; and an image processing apparatus, which are connected to a network. The image processing apparatus includes: a first-address-get-request transmitting unit that transmits a request for getting a first address representing a location of an electronic file to be downloaded from the service providing apparatus to the relay apparatus; a first downloading unit which, upon receiving the first address from the relay apparatus after the request for getting the first address is transmitted, downloads the electronic file stored at the first address; and a storage control unit that controls a storage unit to store the electronic file downloaded by the first downloading unit. The relay apparatus includes: a first-address-get-program storage unit; a first-address getting unit; and a first-address transmitting unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image processing system comprising:
a relay apparatus that is connected to a network, to which a service providing apparatus for an electronic-file storing service is connected; and
an image processing apparatus connected to the network,
wherein the image processing apparatus comprises:
a display unit configured to display information;
an operation unit that is operated by a user; and
a first central processing unit executable with program instructions which, when executed, cause the first central processing unit to:
transmit, to the relay apparatus, a request for getting a first address representing a location of an electronic file to be downloaded from the service providing apparatus, the request for getting the first address including service identification information;
upon receiving the first address from the relay apparatus after the request for getting the first address is transmitted to the relay apparatus, download the electronic file stored at the first address from the service providing apparatus without the electronic file being relayed by the relay apparatus;
control a storage unit to store the electronic file;
transmit, to the relay apparatus, a request for getting a second address representing a location where information for specifying at least one electronic file is stored cc, the request for getting a second address including service identification information;
upon receiving the second address from the relay apparatus after the second-address-get-request is transmitted to the relay apparatus, download the location information stored at the second address from the service providing apparatus without the location information stored at the second address being relayed by the relay apparatus;
display a selection screen which displays the location information so as to enable the user to select the at least one electronic file to be downloaded on the display unit; and
transmit, to the relay apparatus, the request for getting the first address of the electronic file selected by operating the operation unit by the user while the selection screen is displayed by the display control unit, and

wherein the relay apparatus comprises:
a second central processing unit executable with program instructions which, when executed, cause the second central processing unit to:
store a first-address get program specified by the service identification information for getting the first address from the service providing apparatus, wherein the first-address get program uses an API provided in the electronic-file storing service;
upon receiving the request for getting the first address is received from the image processing apparatus, get the first address specified by the service identification information from the service providing apparatus; and
transmit, to the image processing apparatus, the first address gotten in response to the request for getting the first address.

2. The image processing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first central processing unit of the image processing apparatus is operable for selecting one service of a plurality of electronic-file storing services provided by the service providing apparatus,
wherein the first central processing unit transmits a request for getting the first address corresponding to the electronic-file storing service selected to the relay apparatus, wherein the first address represents the location of the electronic file to be downloaded from the service providing apparatus,
wherein the second central processing unit stores a plurality of first-address get programs corresponding to the plurality of electronic-file storing services, and
wherein the second central processing unit executes the first-address get program corresponding to the electronic-file storing service so as to get the first address from the service providing apparatus.

3. The image processing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the first central processing unit further is executable with program instructions to further cause the first central processing unit to:
receive the second address from the relay apparatus after the request for getting the second address is transmitted;
transmit, to the service providing apparatus, a thumbnail image request including the second address without the thumbnail image request being relayed by the relay apparatus; and
receive the thumbnail image transmitted from the service providing apparatus without the thumbnail image being relayed by the relay apparatus in response to the thumbnail image request.

4. The image processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the request for getting the second address includes user identification information.

5. The image processing system comprising of claim 1 , wherein the second address represents a location of a thumbnail image of the at least one electronic file.

6. An image processing method used for an image processing system, wherein the image processing system comprises a relay apparatus connected to a network, to which a service providing apparatus for an electronic-file storing service is connected, and an image processing apparatus connected to the network,
wherein the image processing apparatus performs steps comprising:
a first-address-get-request transmitting step that transmits, to the relay apparatus, a request for getting a first address representing a location of an electronic file to be downloaded from the service providing apparatus, the request for getting the first address including service identification information;
a first downloading step which, upon receiving the first address from the relay apparatus after the request for getting the first address is transmitted to the relay apparatus, downloads the electronic file stored at the first address from the service providing apparatus without the electronic file being relayed by the relay apparatus;
a storage control step that stores the electronic file downloaded by the first downloading unit in a storage unit,
a second-address-get request transmitting step that transmits, to the relay apparatus, a request for getting a second address representing a location where information for specifying at least one electronic file is stored in the service providing apparatus, the request for getting a second address including service identification information;
a second downloading step which, upon receiving the second address from the relay apparatus after the second-address-get-request is transmitted to the relay apparatus, downloads the location information stored at the second address from the service providing apparatus without the location information being relayed by the relay apparatus;
a display step of displaying a selection screen which displays the location information so as to enable the user to select the at least one electronic file to be downloaded on a display unit; and
a transmitting step of transmitting, to the relay apparatus, the request for getting the first address of the electronic file selected by operating the operation unit by the user while the selection screen is displayed by the display control unit, and

wherein the relay apparatus performs steps comprising:
a first-address-get-program storage step that stores a first-address get program specified by the service identification information for getting the first address from the service providing apparatus, wherein the first-address get program uses an API provided in the electronic-file storing service;
a first-address getting step which, upon receiving the request for getting the first address from the image processing apparatus, gets the first address specified by the service identification information from the service providing apparatus by executing the first-address get program; and
a first-add

Assignees

• Ito Katsuaki
• Watanabe Satoshi
• Shimada Yusuke
• Miyazawa Masafumi
• Nagasaki Takeshi
• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Ito Katsuaki
• Watanabe Satoshi
• Shimada Yusuke
• Miyazawa Masafumi
• Nagasaki Takeshi

Classifications

• G06F16/958

  Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking · CPC title

• G06F16/957 Primary

  Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation · CPC title

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• G06F17/30899 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/3089

  Physics · mapped topic