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EP-4343531-B1 - IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, NON-TRANSITORY STORAGE MEDIUM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

EP4343531B1EP 4343531 B1EP4343531 B1EP 4343531B1EP-4343531-B1

Inventors

  • SATO, YUSUKE

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230322

Claims (9)

  1. An image forming apparatus (2) installed on an inside of a firewall (6), the apparatus comprising: a processor (11) configured to: transmit, to an information processing apparatus (4) installed outside of the firewall (6), an image generated in accordance with an instruction of a user, process information indicating a content of a process on the image, and storage destination information indicating a storage destination of a process image obtained in a manner that the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to execute the process according to the process information on the image; set a communication protocol used for transferring the process image to the storage designation to a predetermined type of communication protocol used on the inside of the firewall (6) in accordance with an instruction of a user, and when receiving the process image, the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image exists in an internal business system (3); set the communication protocol used for transferring the process image to the storage designation to a predetermined type of communication protocol used on the outside of the firewall (6) in accordance with the instruction of the user, and when receiving the process image, the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image exists in an external business system (5); in a case where the process image is received from the information processing apparatus (4) as a response to an acquisition request of a process result on the image for the information processing apparatus, transfer the received process image to a storage destination instructed in accordance with the storage destination information, and end a process instructed by the user; and in a case where only the process result on the image is received as the response to the acquisition request, store the process result on the image in a storage device, and end the process instructed by the user, wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to directly store the process image in the external business system (5) on the outside of the firewall (6) in a case where the storage destination of the process image obtained from the storage destination information is the storage destination on the outside of the firewall (6).
  2. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 1, wherein the storage destination information is information regarding a communication attribute used for transferring the process image to the storage destination, and wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize whether the storage destination of the process image is on the outside or the inside of the firewall (6) by setting the information regarding the communication attribute.
  3. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 2, wherein the communication attribute is a communication protocol used for transferring the process image to the storage destination, and wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image is on the outside of the firewall (6) by setting, as the communication protocol, a predetermined type of communication protocol used on the outside of the firewall (6).
  4. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 2, wherein the communication attribute is an IP address of the storage destination, and wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image exists on the outside of the firewall (6) by setting a predetermined type of IP address as the IP address of the storage destination of the process image.
  5. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 2, wherein the communication attribute is an IP address of the storage destination, and wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image is on the outside of the firewall (6) in a case where the information processing apparatus (4) is capable of recognizing the storage destination of the process image by using the IP address of the storage destination.
  6. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 1, wherein the storage destination information is information indicating necessity of transmission of the process image to the image forming apparatus (2), and wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image is on the outside of the firewall (6) by setting, in the storage destination information, that the transmission of the process image to the image forming apparatus (2) is unnecessary.
  7. The image forming apparatus (2) according to claim 6, wherein the processor (11) is configured to: perform control of transmitting, in advance to the information processing apparatus, an instruction to forcibly transmit the process image to the image forming apparatus (2), and when receiving the instruction, the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image is not on the outside of the firewall (6) even in a case where it is set, in the storage destination information, that the transmission of the process image to the image forming apparatus (2) is unnecessary.
  8. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program capable of being executed by a computer installed on an inside of a firewall (6) to execute an image forming process comprising: transmitting, to an information processing apparatus (4) installed outside of the firewall (6), an image generated in accordance with an instruction of a user, process information indicating a content of a process on the image, and storage destination information indicating a storage destination of a process image obtained in a manner that the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to execute the process according to the process information on the image; setting a communication protocol used for transferring the process image to the storage designation to a predetermined type of communication protocol used on the inside of the firewall (6) in accordance with an instruction of a user, and when receiving the process image, the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image exists in an internal business system (3); set the communication protocol used for transferring the process image to the storage designation to a predetermined type of communication protocol used on the outside of the firewall (6) in accordance with the instruction of the user, and when receiving the process image, the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to recognize that the storage destination of the process image exists in an external business system (5); in a case where the process image is received from the information processing apparatus (4) as a response to an acquisition request of a process result on the image for the information processing apparatus, transfer the received process image to a storage destination instructed in accordance with the storage destination information, and end a process instructed by the user; and in a case where only the process result on the image is received as the response to the acquisition request, store the process result on the image in a storage device, and end the process instructed by the user, wherein the information processing apparatus (4) is adapted to directly store the process image in the external business system (5) on the outside of the firewall (6) in a case where the storage destination of the process image obtained from the storage destination information is the storage destination on the outside of the firewall (6).
  9. An information processing system comprising: an image forming apparatus (2) installed inside of a firewall (6) according to claim 1; and an information processing apparatus (4) installed outside of the firewall (6).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (i) Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, a non-transitory storage medium, and an information processing system. (ii) Description of Related Art JP6264800B discloses an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses that execute a plurality of processes defined by workflow information. The workflow information is information for defining an order of a plurality of processes and an information processing apparatus as an execution subject for each of the plurality of processes and, in which one information processing apparatus selected among the plurality of information processing apparatuses can be defined as the execution subject. Regarding the plurality of information processing apparatuses, an information processing apparatus defined as the execution subject executes each of a plurality of processes defined in the workflow information in the defined order, and one information processing apparatus selected in accordance with a predetermined determination condition executes a process having an execution subject defined to be one information processing apparatus selected among the plurality of information processing apparatuses in the workflow information. The workflow information defines a connection process between a process having an execution subject that is a first information processing apparatus and a process having an execution subject that is a second information processing apparatus. In the connection process, the first information processing apparatus transmits target data to the second information processing apparatus from the first information processing apparatus, changes the execution subject for the next process to the second information processing apparatus. After that, in a case where the connection process having a probability that the execution subject is brought back to the first information processing apparatus is included, the first information processing apparatus transitions the execution to the next connection process. In the next connection process, the first information processing apparatus receives, from the second information processing apparatus, information indicating that the execution subject is changed from the second information processing apparatus to the first information processing apparatus. In a case where the execution subject is changed to the first information processing apparatus, the target data is received from the second information processing apparatus. US 2020/336609 A1 discloses an image forming apparatus collaborating with a server outside the firewall to process an image generated in accordance with an instruction of a user. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An image forming apparatus on an inside of a firewall may execute, on an image, a process instructed by a user in cooperation with a server on an outside of the firewall. In this case, transmission starting from the server from the server to the inside of the firewall may be prohibited by the setting of the firewall. Thus, the server temporarily transmits a process image being the processed image to the image forming apparatus in response to the polling from the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus transfers the process image to each storage destination. However, in a case where the storage destination of the process image is on the outside of the firewall, the server transmits the process image to the image forming apparatus even though the server can directly transfer the process image to the storage destination. An object of the present disclosure is to provide an image forming apparatus, a non-transitory storage medium, and an information processing system capable of improving storage efficiency of a process image as compared with a case where a process image processed by a server installed on an outside of a firewall is stored in each storage destination provided on the inside and the outside of the firewall, and all process images are temporarily transmitted from the server to an image forming apparatus provided on an inside of the firewal The invention is defined by the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Exemplary embodiment(s) of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein: Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration example in an information processing system;Fig. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a data flow in the information processing system in a case where a storage destination of a process image is specified as an internal business system;Fig. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a data flow in the information processing system in a case where a storage destination of a process image is specified as an external business system;Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a main part of an electrical system of an image forming apparatus configu