# US 11,368,561 B2 · Image forming apparatus and data transfer method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,368,561 B2 - Document ID: US11368561B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/913,002 - Filed: 2020-06-26 - Published: 2020-12-31 - Granted: 2022-06-21 - Earliest claimed: 2019-06-28 - Assignees: Konica Minolta, Inc. - Applicants: Konica Minolta, Inc. - Inventors: Kazuhiro Tomiyasu; Kaoru Fukuoka; Hiroaki Sugimoto - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11368561B2 ## CPC - H04L 69/18: Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols - H04L 69/165: Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor - H04N 1/00877: {Recording information, e.g. details of the job} - H04N 1/00928: {Initialisation or control of normal start-up or shut-down, i.e. non failure or error related} - Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit including a scanner and a printer, a server, and a local network circuit connecting the image forming unit and the server. In each of the image forming unit and the server, a hardware processor selects one of a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol in accordance with data to be transmitted by a transceiver. The first communication protocol includes a provision for ensuring reliability of communication, and the second communication protocol does not include a provision for ensuring reliability of communication. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit including a scanner configured to scan a document to generate image data and a printer configured to print image data generated by the scanner or another image data on a recording medium; a server; and a local network circuit configured to connect the image forming unit and the server, the image forming unit and the server each including: a transceiver configured to transmit and receive data through the local network circuit; and a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor of one of the image forming unit and the server selects one of a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol in accordance with data transmitted by the transceiver of the one of the image forming unit and the server when data is transmitted by the transceiver of the one to the transceiver of the other, the first communication protocol includes a provision for ensuring reliability of communication, and the second communication protocol does not include a provision for ensuring reliability of communication. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication protocol is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and the second communication protocol is User Datagram Protocol (UDP). ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of one of the image forming unit and the server selects the second communication protocol when encoded data is transmitted by the transceiver of the one to the transceiver of the other. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the encoding includes at least one of compression, encryption, and data format conversion. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of one of the image forming unit and the server selects the second communication protocol when data transmitted by the transceiver of the one to the transceiver of the other includes an error detection code. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of one of the image forming unit and the server selects the second communication protocol when a size of data transmitted by the transceiver of the one to the transceiver of the other is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the image forming unit selects the second communication protocol when image data generated by the scanner is transmitted by the transceiver of the image forming unit to the transceiver of the server. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the local network circuit is connected to an external network through a security gateway. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the hardware processor of the image forming unit selects the first communication protocol when image data generated by the scanner is transmitted by the transceiver of the image forming unit to a device connected to the external network. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the image forming unit selects the second communication protocol when an image log in which a log of a job executed by the image forming unit is stored as image data is transmitted by the transceiver of the image forming unit to the transceiver of the server. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the server selects the second communication protocol when import data for changing setting information of the image forming unit is transmitted by the transceiver of the server to the transceiver of the image forming unit. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the image forming unit selects the second communication protocol when export data for backing up current setting information of the image forming unit is transmitted by the transceiver of the image forming unit to the transceiver of the server. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the server selects the second communication protocol when update data of firmware for the image forming unit is transmitted by the transceiver of the server to the transceiver of the image forming unit. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the server selects the second communication protocol when data stored in the server is transmitted by the transceiver of the server to the transceiver of the image forming unit and the stored data is printed by the printer of the image forming unit. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardware processor of the server performs image processing on image data generated by the scanner, and the hardware processor of the server selects the second communication protocol when data generated as a result of the image processing is transmitted by the transceiver of the server to the transceiver of the image forming unit. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the image processing includes an optical character recognition (OCR) process. ### Claim 17 A data transfer method in an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit including a scanner configured to scan a document to generate image data and a printer configured to print image data generated by the scanner or another image data on a recording medium; a server; and a local network circuit configured to connect the image forming unit and the server, the data transfer method comprising: selecting one of a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol in accordance with data to be transmitted, by a transmitter side of the image forming unit and the server, when data is transferred between the image forming unit and the server through the local network circuit; and transmitting data by the transmitter side to a receiver side using the selected communication protocol, wherein the first communication protocol includes a provision for ensuring reliability of communication, and the second communication protocol does not include a provision for ensuring reliability of communication.