Abstract:
An image reading device, comprising a reading unit to read images from a set of documents by carry the documents one by one; a storing unit to store read data; an error detection unit to detect an error of an operation in the reading unit; a stopping unit configured such that when the error is detected, the stopping unit stops reading of the documents by the reading unit; a restart instruction unit to instruct the reading unit to restart reading of the documents, a data processing unit to store the read data obtained after restart of reading of the document in the storing unit such that the read data obtained after restart of reading continues from the read data obtained before detection of the error; and a conversion unit to convert the entire read data of the documents into a single file having a predetermined format.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-282061, filed on Oct. 31, 2008. The entire subject matter of the application is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    Aspects of the present invention relate to an image reading device which reads an image from a document. 
         [0004]    2. Related Art 
         [0005]    Image reading devices which carries documents one by one through an automatic document feeder (ADF) to read images from the documents, and converts data (hereafter, referred to as scanned data) of the read images into a single file having a predetermined format have been widely used. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    Incidentally, when a document can not be properly carried due to an error (e.g., a paper jam) in the image reading device, a user is required to place again all the documents on the ADF of the image reading device and to execute again image scanning from the beginning. It is understood that if the number of documents is large (e.g., 100 pages) and an error occurs in the image scanning at the 99-th page of the documents, the user is required to execute the image scanning from the first page of the documents, which is very time consuming and very troublesome for the user. 
         [0007]    Aspects of the present invention are advantageous in that they provide at least one of an image reading device, a computer readable medium and a method configured such that even if an error occurs during image scanning for documents, scanned data obtained after a restart of the image scanning and scanned data obtained before occurrence of an error can be converted together into a single file. 
         [0008]    According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an image reading device, comprising: a reading unit configured to read images from a set of documents by carry the documents one by one; a storing unit configured to store read data which the reading unit has obtained by reading the documents; an error detection unit configured to detect an error of an operation in the reading unit; a stopping unit configured such that when the error is detected by the error detection unit, the stopping unit stops reading of the documents by the reading unit; a restart instruction unit configured to instruct the reading unit to restart reading of the documents, a data processing unit configured to store the read data obtained after restart of reading of the document in the storing unit such that the read data obtained after restart of reading continues from the read data obtained before detection of the error; and a conversion unit configured to convert the entire read data of the documents stored in the storing unit into a single file having a predetermined format. 
         [0009]    According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable medium having computer readable instruction stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor of an image reading device, configures the processor to perform the steps of: controlling a reading unit of the image reading device to read images from a set of documents by carry the documents one by one; storing read data obtained by reading the documents in a storing unit; detecting an error of a operation in the reading unit; stopping reading of the documents by the reading unit when the error is detected; instructing the reading unit to restart reading of the documents in response to recovery from the error, processing the read data by storing the read data obtained after restart of reading of the document in the storing unit such that the read data obtained after restart of reading continues from the read data obtained before detection of the error; and converting the entire read data of the documents stored in the storing unit into a single file having a predetermined format. 
         [0010]    According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for reading a set of documents to be implemented on an image reading device, comprising the steps of: controlling a reading unit of the image reading device to read images from the set of documents by carry the documents one by one; storing read data obtained by reading the documents in a storing unit; detecting an error of a operation in the reading unit; stopping reading of the documents by the reading unit when the error is detected; instructing the reading unit to restart reading of the documents in response to recovery from the error, processing the read data by storing the read data obtained after restart of reading of the document in the storing unit such that the read data obtained after restart of reading continues from the read data obtained before detection of the error; and converting the entire read data of the documents stored in the storing unit into a single file having a predetermined format. 
         [0011]    It is noted that various connections are set forth between elements in the following description. It is noted that these connections in general and unless specified otherwise, may be direct or indirect and that this specification is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Aspects of the invention may be implemented in computer software as programs storable on computer-readable media including but not limited to RAMs, ROMs, flash memory, EEPROMs, CD-media, DVD-media, temporary storage, hard disk drives, floppy drives, permanent storage, and the like. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an image reading device according to an embodiment. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a control process executed under control of a control unit of the image reading device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    Hereafter, an embodiment according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0015]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , an image reading device  2  includes a scanner unit  10  which reads an image from a document, an error detection unit  12  which detects an abnormal state (i.e., an error) of the scanner unit  10 , an operation unit  14  through which various commands such as an image reading command are inputted, a display unit  16  on which various types of information such as an operation status of the image reading device  2  and messages are displayed, an external memory interface  18 , a communication unit  20 , and a control unit  30  which controls the internal components of the image reading device  2 . These internal components are connected to each other via a bus  22 . 
         [0016]    The scanner unit  10  has an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) which picks up documents one by one from a set of documents placed on a document base (not shown) and to carry the document to a line sensor for image reading. Therefore, through use of the ADF, it is possible to read continuously images from a plurality of documents. 
         [0017]    The error detection unit  12  detects an abnormal state such as a paper jam caused when a document is being carried on a carrying path by the ADF. More specifically, the error detection unit  12  has a sensor which detects an abnormal state and outputs a detection signal. 
         [0018]    The control unit  30  is implemented, for example, by a microcomputer chip in which a CPU, a ROM  31  and a RAM  32  are embedded (see  FIG. 1 ). In accordance with a program stored, for example, in the ROM  31 , the control unit  30  controls the scanner unit  10  to read images from documents placed on the document base. 
         [0019]    When an image reading command is inputted through the operation unit  14 , the control unit  30  controls the scanner unit  10  to read sequentially images from the documents, and acquires read data (hereafter, referred to as scanned data) outputted by the scanner unit  10 . 
         [0020]    When the reading operation of all the documents by the scanner unit  10  has finished. The control unit  30  converts the scanned data including images corresponding to the total number of documents, into a file having a predetermined file format (e.g., PDF (Portable Document Format), or TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)). 
         [0021]    To the external memory interface  18 , various types of external memories such as a flash memory can be attached. The communication unit  20  interfaces the image reading device  2  with a network to communicate with external devices (e.g., information processing terminals (i.e., personal computers) and a file server) on the network. 
         [0022]    A user is able to operate the image reading device  2  through the operation unit  14  or an information processing terminal. More specifically, the user is allowed to make settings on the image reading device  2  to define one of an external memory, an information processing device and a file server on the network as a destination device to which a file created by the control unit  30  is to be transmitted. The control unit  30  transmits a file to the destination device set as described above. 
         [0023]    Through a control process shown in  FIG. 2 , the control unit  30  acquires scanned data of images corresponding to the tonal number of documents by controlling the scanner unit  10 , and converts the scanned data into a single file. The control process is executed when an image reading command is inputted to the image reading device  2  through the operation unit  14  or when an image reading command is inputted from the information processing device on the network to the image reading device  2 . 
         [0024]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , when the control process is started, the control unit  30  drives the ADF of the scanner unit  10  to carry a document (step S 110 ). Then, the control unit  30  judges whether an abnormal state (an error) such as a paper jam is detected by the error detection unit  12 . When an error is not detected (S 120 : NO), the control unit  30  controls the scanner unit  10  to execute image reading (i.e. scanning) with the line sensor (step S 130 ). The scanned data obtained in step  5130  is stored in a certain area for storing the scanned data in the RAM  32 . 
         [0025]    When the scanning process of steps  5110  to  5130  is finished, the control unit  30  judges whether the image scanning for one page is finished (step S 140 ). When the image scanning for one page is not finished (S 140 : NO), control returns to step S 110  to continue the image scanning. 
         [0026]    When the image scanning for one page is finished (S 140 : YES), the control unit  30  creates identification information of the scanned data based on the page number of the document for which the last image scanning is finished (step S 150 ). Then, the control unit  30  adds the identification information to the bottom of the scanned data stored in the RAM  32  (step S 160 ). The page number means the number of documents of which images have been successfully obtained through the steps S 110  to S 140  since the start of the control process. The page number is incremented by one (“1”, “2”, “3” . . . ) each time the image scanning for one page is finished in step S 140 . 
         [0027]    Then, the control unit  30  judges whether a next document to be scanned exists on the document base of the scanner unit  10  (step S 170 ). When the next document exists on the document base (S 170 : YES), control returns to step S 110 . When no document exists on the document base (S 170  NO), control proceeds to step S 180  where the scanned data corresponding to the total pages of the documents stored in the RAM  32  is converted into a single file having the predetermined format. 
         [0028]    After thus converting the scanned data into the single file, control proceeds to step S 190  where the converted file is output to the destination device (e.g., one of the external memory, the information processing device and the file server on the network) which has been set in advance. It should be noted that the control unit  30  which has outputted the file deletes the scanned data in the RAM  32 . 
         [0029]    When the control unit  30  judges in step  5120  that an error such as a paper jam is detected by the error detection unit  12 , control proceeds to step  5200 . Since in this case it is impossible to continue to execute the image scanning, the control unit  30  identifies, from the scanned data stored in the RAM  32 , scanned data of a page for which the image scanning for one page has not finished based on the identification information added to the bottom of the scanned data of a page for which the image scanning has successfully finished. 
         [0030]    That is, in step  5200 , the control unit  30  identifies, as a target for re-scanning, scanned data to which the identification information is not added based on the scanned data stored in the RAM  32 . 
         [0031]    If an error is detected in step S 120  while the image scanning is executed for the first page, no scanned data to which the identification information is added exists in the RAM  32 . In such a case, the control unit  30  identifies, as the target for re-scanning, the scanned data of the first page of the document. 
         [0032]    Next, the control unit  30  deletes the scanned data of the page of the target for re-scanning from the RAM  32  (step S 210 ). Then, the control unit  30  displays a predetermined message on the display unit  16  to notify the user of occurrence of an error and a way for recovering the error (step S 220 ). 
         [0033]    In this embodiment, each time the image scanning for one page of the document is finished, the identification information is added to the bottom of the scanned data. Therefore, in step S 210 , from the entire scanned data stored in the RAM  32 , data ranging between the end of entire scanned data and the identification information added to the scanned data at the last is deleted. 
         [0034]    For example, in step S 220 , a message “An error occurs in image scanning. A paper jam occurs. Please remove the jammed paper.” or an image indicating the type of the error may be displayed on the display unit  16 . 
         [0035]    When the image reading command has been inputted from the information processing device on the network, the control unit  30  transmits a notification indicating occurrence of the error to the information processing device via the communication unit  20  in addition to displaying the message on the display unit  16 . 
         [0036]    After thus displaying the error message on the display unit  16 , the control unit  30  waits until the scanner unit  10  is restored to a normal state by monitoring the detection signal from the error detection unit  12  or a restoration command inputted through the operation unit  14  to judge whether the error of the scanner unit  10  is resolved (step S 230 ). 
         [0037]    More specifically, the control unit  30  judges that the scanner unit  30  is restored to the normal state when the image scanner  10  moves to the state where the error detection unit  12  does not detect the abnormal state and the detection signal from the error detection unit  12  is inactivated, or when the restoration command is inputted by the user through the operation unit  14 . 
         [0038]    When the scanner unit  10  is restored to the normal state (S 230 : YES), the control unit  30  identifies, from the entire scanned data stored in the RAM  32 , scanned data for which the image scanning for one page is successfully finished at the last (i.e., scanned data of the last page to which the identification information has been added at the last). Further, the control unit  30  creates a thumbnail (i.e., a reduced image) of the last page based on the identified scanned data and displays the thumbnail on the display unit  16  to notify the user of the document to be targeted for re-scanning (step S 240 ). 
         [0039]    In step S 240 , the control unit  30  may obtain the page number of the document to be targeted for re-scanning based on the total number of pages of the scanned data stored in the RAM  32 , and may display the page number on the display unit  16 . 
         [0040]    After thus notifying the user of the page targeted for re-scanning in step  5240 , the control unit  30  waits until an operation command (e.g., a command for stating re-scanning or a command for ending the scanning) is inputted through the operation unit  14  (step S 250 ). 
         [0041]    When the operation command is inputted, the control unit  30  judges whether the operation command is the command for starting the re-scanning or the command for ending the scanning (step S 260 ). When the operation command is the command for staring the re-scanning (S 260 : YES), control returns to step S 110  to start the scanning from the page targeted for the re-scanning. When the operation command is the command for ending the scanning (S 260 : NO), control proceeds to step S 180  where the entire scanned image data stored in the RAM  32  is converted into a single file. 
         [0042]    It should be noted that scanned data obtained in step S 130  after reception of the command for starting the re-scanning is stored in the RAM  32  to be added to the end of the scanned data of the last page. 
         [0043]    As described above, when an error occurs in the scanner unit  12  during the image scanning by the scanner unit  12 , the control unit  30  temporarily stops obtaining the scanned data from the scanner unit  10 , and restarts obtaining the scanned data from the scanner unit  10  when the scanner unit  10  is restored to the normal state and the command for starting re-scanning is inputted by the user. 
         [0044]    The control unit  30  stores scanned data obtained after re-start of the scanning so that the scanned data obtained after re-start of the scanning is merged to the scanned data already stored in the RAM  32  before occurrence of the error. Furthermore, when the image scanning is finished for all the documents placed on the document base of the ADF, the control unit  30  converts the entire scanned data stored in the RAM  32  into a signal file having the predetermined format. 
         [0045]    Therefore, according to the embodiment, even if the image scanning for a plurality of documents is interrupted by an error in the scanner unit  10 , it is not necessary to begin again the image scanning from the first page of the documents. Such a configuration makes it possible to decrease the time for executing the image scanning for a plurality of documents. 
         [0046]    When the control unit  30  stores the scanned data obtained from the scanner unit  10  in the RAM  32 , the control unit  30  adds the identification information to the bottom of the scanned data for one page of the document. When the image scanning is interrupted due to an error of the scanner unit  10 , the control unit  30  discards the scanned data for which the image scanning for one page has not been successfully finished, based on the identification information. 
         [0047]    Such a configuration prevents unnecessary scanned data from remaining in the RAM  32  when an error occurs in the scanner unit  10 , and thereby prevents newly obtained scanned data from being merged to the unnecessary scanned data. Consequently, the file finally created after completion of the image scanning for all the documents contains only scanned data of the necessary images obtained from all the documents. That is, according to the embodiment, it becomes possible to prevent unnecessary images from being included in the file. 
         [0048]    According to the embodiment, when the scanner unit  10  is restored to the normal state and the image scanning is restarted after occurrence of an error in the image scanner  10  during the image scanning, a thumbnail of the document scanned at the last is displayed on the display unit  16 . Such a configuration enables the user to easily identify the next document for which the image scanning should be continued. Consequently, usability of the image reading device  2  can be enhanced. 
         [0049]    According to the embodiment, when the scanner unit  10  is restored to the normal state after the scanner unit  10  stops obtaining the scanned data due to an error occurred in the scanner unit  10 , the user is able to convert the entire scanned data stored in the RAM  32  into a single file. 
         [0050]    Therefore, if the user is satisfied with the scanned data of the documents which have been scanned before occurrence of an error in the scanner unit  10 , the user is allowed to convert the scanned data into a single file without continuing the image scanning. That is, it becomes possible to decrease the time for scanning the documents. 
         [0051]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. 
         [0052]    In the above described embodiment, the control unit  30  operates to store the scanned data obtained from the scanner unit  10  in the RAM  32  embedded therein. However, the image reading device  2  may be provided with a storage unit (e.g., a hard disk drive) which stores scanned data. In this case, even if the number of documents to be scanned continuously is large, the scanned data of the documents can be reliably stored in the storage unit of the image reading device  2 . Alternately, the scanned data may be stored in an external memory attached to the external memory interface  18 . 
         [0053]    The scanned data may be stored in a file server on the network, for example, by transmitting sequentially the scanned data to the file server in a streaming mode. In this case, by adding the identification information to the scanned data on a basis of a unit of one page, it becomes possible to convert the entire scanned data into a single file as in the case of the above described embodiment. 
         [0054]    In the above described embodiment, the identification information is added to the bottom of the scanned data each time the image scanning for one page of the document is finished. However, the identification information may not be necessarily added to the bottom of the scanned data as long as the scanned data can be identified with the identification information for each page. 
         [0055]    In the above described embodiment, the various features are implemented on a dedicated device (i.e., the image reading device  2 ) designed specifically for image scanning. However, the features may be implemented on various types of devices having a scanner unit with an ADF. For example, the features may be implemented on a multifunction peripheral which has multiple functions as a scanner, a printer and a copying device.