JP2000293473A - Network terminal device and its display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the states of various devices connected to a network without any complicated operation by displaying state information on a device selected by a user among various devices displayed by an icon display means. SOLUTION: When a pointing device cursor 802 is positioned on a peripheral device icon 801 for a certain time, a tool chip 803 is displayed nearby the tool icon 801. Here, the contents displayed in the tool chip 803 are 'server informationw', 'information on a user', etc., for, for example, a server device 804. An ion 801 showing an image input device such as a scanner, on the other hand, has 'information on a server', 'network namew', 'device name', 'information on the state of the devicew', etc. Thus, information on the state of an arbitrary machine or various peripheral equipment is displayed by the tool chip 803 and then the state of the arbitrary machine or various peripheral equipment can easily be displayed before various processes are performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network terminal device and a display method therefor.

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional network system composed of an image input server device and a client device on a network, it is determined whether or not an output device such as an image input device or a printer to be processed can be used. There is no means (difficult) to determine the state at the time, and in some cases, it is inconvenient because "there is no way to know until the process is executed".

As described above, when various devices on the network are used by the above-described conventional client device, the "state of the device to be used" is set to "perform processing for actual use". There is a problem that it cannot be confirmed unless the above operation is performed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a network terminal device capable of displaying the status of various devices connected to a network without performing complicated operations, and a display method therefor. The purpose is to do.

In order to achieve the above object, a network terminal device of the present invention comprises a search means for searching for a connection state of various devices connected on a network, and a search means for searching for a connection state. Icon display means for displaying the connection status of various devices as icons, and status display means for displaying status information of the device selected by the user among the various devices displayed by the icon display means. I do.

In order to achieve the above object, a method for displaying a network terminal device according to the present invention includes a searching step of searching for a connection state of various devices connected to a network, and a searching method of the various devices searched in the searching step. And a status display step of displaying status information of a device selected by a user among various devices displayed in the icon display process.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the configuration of a network system according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a case where a network board (NB) 101 for connecting a printer to a network is connected to a printer 102 having an open architecture. The NB 101 connects to a local area network (LAN) 100 by, for example, an Et having a coaxial connector.
It is connected via a LAN interface such as a hernet interface 10Base-2 or 10Base-T having RJ-45.

A plurality of personal computers (PCs) 1
03, 104, etc. are also connected to the LAN 100,
Under the control of the network operating system, these PCs 103 and 104 can communicate with the NB 101. In this state, one of the PCs, for example, a PC
103 can be designated for use as a network manager. Also, for example, PC1
A peripheral device such as the printer 105 connected to the printer 04 may be connected.

A file server 10 is connected to the LAN 100.
6 is connected, and manages access to files stored in the network disk 107 having a large capacity (for example, 10 gigabytes). Print server 108
Causes the connected printers 109a and 109b or the printer 105 at a remote location to perform printing. Further, other peripheral devices (not shown) may be connected to the LAN 100.

More specifically, the network shown in FIG. 1 can use network software such as Novell or UNIX software in order to efficiently communicate between various connected network members. Although any network software can be used, for example, NetWare, a Novell network software (registered trademark of Novell, hereinafter abbreviated)
Can be used. See the online documentation included with the NetWare package for a detailed description of this networking software. It can be purchased from Novell with the NetWare package.

Briefly describing the configuration of FIG. 1, the file server 106 plays a role as a file management unit for receiving, storing, queuing, caching, and transmitting data files between LAN members. For example, a data file created by each of the PC 103 and the PC 104 is sent to the file server 106,
The file server 106 arranges these data files in order, and according to a command from the print server 108,
The arranged data file is transmitted to the printer 109a.

The PC 103 and the PC 104 generate a data file, transmit the generated data file to the LAN 100, receive a file from the LAN 100, and display and / or process such a file. It consists of a normal PC that can.
It should be noted that although FIG. 1 shows a personal computer device, other computer devices that are suitable for executing network software may be included. For example, if you are using UNIX software,
IX workstations may be included in the network,
These workstations, under appropriate circumstances,
It can be used with the PC shown.

Typically, a LAN, such as LAN 100, provides services to a somewhat local group of users, such as a group of users on one floor or multiple consecutive floors in a building. For example, a wide area network (WAN) may be created as a user moves away from another user, such as when the user is in another building or another prefecture. W
An AN is basically an aggregation formed by connecting several LANs with a high-speed digital line such as an integrated high-speed service digital network (ISDN) telephone line. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
N110 and LAN 120 are modulated / demodulated (MODE
M) / Connected via transponder 130 and backbone 140 to form a WAN. These connections are
It is a simple electrical connection with several buses. Each LAN includes a dedicated PC, and usually, but not necessarily, includes a file server and a print server.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Is a PC 111, a PC 112, and a file server 113.
, Network disk 114, print server 1
15 and a printer 116 and a printer 117.
In contrast, LAN 120 includes only PC 121 and PC 122. LAN100, LAN110, LAN1
20 can access the functions of other LAN devices via a WAN connection.

Here, an example will be described in which an image input device such as a scanner is connected to the PCs 103 and 104 shown in FIG. 1 and connected to a network as an image input server device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image input server device according to the embodiment. In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a system bus, which is a bus that connects each constituent block described later. 202 is a CPU (central processing unit)
And controls the entire apparatus according to a program described later. Reference numeral 203 denotes a program memory (referred to as PMEM), and a program to be executed by the CPU 202 is appropriately selected and read from a hard disk described later. The PMEM 203 also functions as a text memory, and stores data input from a keyboard described later as code information.

Reference numeral 204 denotes a communication control unit which controls data communication performed through a communication port described later. A communication port 205 is connected to a communication port of another device on the network via a communication line 206. In this embodiment, data exchange with peripheral devices such as printers and scanners shared on a network is performed via the communication control unit 204. Also,
The communication line 206 is described as a network such as a LAN, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied even if the communication port connected to the communication control unit 204 and the communication line 206 are general public lines.

Reference numeral 208 denotes an external storage device control unit, for example, a 209 floppy disk (referred to as FD),
Access to a data file disk, such as a hard disk 210 (referred to as HD).

An input control unit 211 is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 212 and a mouse 213 as a pointing device (PD). The operator operates the keyboard 211 to issue a system operation command or the like. By operating the mouse 213, a processing instruction of image information is issued on a CRT described later. More specifically, a cursor on a CRT, which will be described later, is arbitrarily moved in the X and Y directions, a command icon on a command menu is selected to give a processing instruction, and an instruction to be edited, a drawing position instruction, and the like are given. Do.

Reference numeral 214 denotes a video image memory (VR)
AM), and stores bitmap data developed for display. 215, a display output control unit;
The bitmap data on the RAM is output to the CRT 216. A printer control unit 217 controls data output to the connected printer 218. 2
Reference numeral 20 denotes an image input device control unit, which controls an image input device 221 such as a connected scanner. An external device control unit 219 controls the printer control unit 217 and the image input device control unit 220.

When an image input device is connected to form an image input server device, the configurations of the image input device control unit 220 and the image input device 221 are indispensable, but the PCs 103 and 104 shown in FIG. Such a client-side device can use the same components shared by the server via the communication control unit 204 and the communication port 205 described above.

Also, as described above, the image input device 221
The image input device control unit 220 and the image input device control unit 220 may be configured by physically separate components, or the image input device 221 may be configured by one component including the image input device control unit 220.

Next, a description will be given of a configuration of a module for realizing each function related to the image input device in the image input server device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of each functional module in the image input server device. In the figure, reference numeral 301 denotes a network server module, which converts data received from a server extension module, which will be described later, into a data format that can be exchanged on a network compatible with a general-purpose network protocol, and is transmitted from a client-side device. The server network module converts the network data into an internal data format that can be interpreted by the server extension module.

Reference numeral 302 denotes a server extension module which analyzes data passed from the network server module 301 and selects a designated one from a plurality of image service modules under the control of this module.
The service is provided, or data is transferred from one service module to another service module. For example, an image input device control module is called from an OCR module described later.

Reference numeral 303 denotes a common interface conversion module, which is a control corresponding to a module for controlling the requested image input device when a service provision is requested from the server extension module 302 to any of the image input devices. Convert to instructions. Conversely, it converts the device-specific control information from the module that controls the image input device into a general interface that can be passed to the server extension module 302. Specifically, one is image reading parameter setting information from the client device, and the other is a result of the reading instruction,
These are the obtained image information and its accompanying information.

Reference numeral 304 denotes an OCR module, which is called from the server extension module 302 when there is a request from a client device to convert image data read by an image input device into document data. An image data format conversion module 305 is a module for converting the format of image data obtained from an image input device into an image data format specified by a client. Reference numeral 306 denotes an image input device control module for performing control according to each image input device 307, and performing input / output of (specialized) control commands / information corresponding to each device.

Next, the PC 103, PC 10 shown in FIG.
4, a module for realizing each function for inputting image information from a locally connected image input device, and an image input server device connected via a network. The configuration of a module that realizes each function for inputting a.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of each functional module in the client device. In FIG.
Each of the modules 1 to 404 is necessary for accessing a locally connected image input device from a general application in the client device.
Here, reference numeral 401 denotes a general application that requires input of image information, and reference numeral 402 denotes an image input device manager that provides a general-purpose image input interface to the application 401. The image input device manager exchanges information with a designated one of the image input device control modules under the control thereof in response to an instruction from the image input interface.

Reference numeral 403 denotes an image input device control module having general-purpose I / O. This module 403 is for controlling the image input devices individually connected by a general-purpose interface, which are negotiated with the image input device manager 402. Further, the module 403 includes the image input device control module 3 shown in FIG.
Unlike 06, it provides a general-purpose interface. That is, functionally, the image input device control module 3
06 and the common interface conversion module 303
And a general-purpose image input interface conversion module described later.

That is, the image input device manager 402
For example, TWAIN (Technoligy Without Any Intereste
d Name) manager, and 403 corresponds to a TWAIN driver corresponding to each image input device. Reference numeral 404 denotes individual image input devices locally connected to the apparatus.

Reference numeral 405 denotes a client function control module which performs overall management of a module for realizing a client extension function described later. Reference numeral 406 denotes an image input device connection information generation module which obtains attribute information of peripheral devices connected to the server device obtained by using a network client module described later and information necessary for network connection. This is a module for generating individual image input device information. At the same time, a virtual image input device control module 409 is automatically generated. By generating these modules, the image input device manager 402 can handle image input devices on the network as if they were virtually connected. The image input device information 410 will be further described later.

Reference numeral 407 denotes a general-purpose image input interface conversion module. The image input device manager 402 stores control information for the image input device on the server side obtained by using the network client module 408.
It is for converting to a general-purpose interface corresponding to. The module 407 directly controls the functions of these interfaces by using the image input device manager 402.
, But via an individual virtual image input device control module 409 as described later.

Network client module 40
8 converts the data into a data format that can be exchanged on a network compatible with a general-purpose network protocol so that the above-described modules and the server-side module can communicate with each other.

Virtual image input device control module 409
Is one with the image input device on the set network
Generated one-to-one. This module 409 basically returns the information of the corresponding image input device connection information 410, or passes the information to the general-purpose image input interface conversion module 407, and passes the result to the image input device manager 402. Only intermediate processing is performed. As described above, since most of the actual processing is performed by the general-purpose image input interface conversion module 407, the module needs to be small, and even if modules for a plurality of image input devices on the network are created, the overhead is small. I'm done.

Next, the data structure of the connection information 410 of the image input device and the connection information of the output device (connection information of the peripheral devices existing on the network) generated in the client device will be described.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of connection information of peripheral devices on a network according to the embodiment. In the figure, reference numerals 501 to 503 denote network connection information of target machines in the network. These pieces of information are read from the server device for devices shared on the network, and are connection information of the machine connected to the own machine. In the case where a plurality of machines exist in a network, each piece of the information has network connection information corresponding to the number of machines.

Reference numeral 501 denotes information for identifying a connection destination server on the network, that is, a machine name or a network address on the network. 5
02 is information of the user of the machine. Reference numeral 503 denotes other information necessary for network connection.

In the fields 510 to 514, information for identifying peripheral devices which are set to be shared on the network is stored. The information read from the server device is stored in this area. Among them, this example shows a case in which n peripheral devices are present in the server device, and 510n to 514n are a group of identification information.

First, in 510, identification information of a peripheral device, for example, information such as "image input device such as scanner" or "output device such as printer" is set. In 511, a network name of the device is set to identify the device that is set to be shared on the network. In 512, device name information is set. In 513, information on a state such as “the device is in a usable state” or “the device is in use” is set. In 514, other identification information is set. 510n to 514n have 51
The n-th identification information is set in the same format as 0-514.

In the above configuration, when an image input device, an output device, and other peripheral devices connected on a network are used, setting information of the peripheral device to be used is displayed by a tool tip described later. Display processing in the device will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a tool tip display process according to the embodiment. Note that this process is a CP
This is realized by the U202 executing the program stored in the PMEM 203.

First, in step S601, information on machines and various peripheral devices belonging to the network is searched. Here, the connection information of the peripheral device shown in FIG. 5 is searched to acquire each information. Then, in step S602, various information of each machine and information of various peripheral devices obtained by the search are recorded.

Next, in step S603, the configuration information of the machines and various peripheral devices in the network is displayed based on the information searched in step S602.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the connection state of the menu icons and the machines and various peripheral devices belonging to the network. In the figure, reference numeral 701 denotes a menu icon, which is configured by a tool icon for executing each function such as copy, fax, scan, and OCR. Reference numeral 702 denotes a client device, and reference numerals 703, 704, and 705 denote peripheral devices connected to the respective machines.

Note that "+" on the right side of the machine is a symbol indicating that a peripheral device is connected to the machine, and "-"
Is a symbol indicating a state in which the connected peripheral device is displayed.

Next, in step S604, it is determined whether or not an instruction to update the configuration information of the machine and various peripheral devices has been issued by a user operation or the like. Here, if an update instruction has been issued, the process returns to step S601, and the above processing is repeated. If the update instruction has not been issued, the process proceeds to step S605, and the operation by the user causes
When a pointing device cursor such as a mouse is positioned on an icon indicating a machine or a peripheral device for a certain period of time,
The process proceeds to step S606, and a tooltip including information on the state of the device is displayed near the machine or peripheral device icon.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a tool tip display according to the embodiment. It is assumed that the contents displayed in this tool tip display part or all of the connection information shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the peripheral device icon 8
When the pointing device cursor 802 is positioned for a certain period of time on 01 (for example, the first peripheral device shown in FIG. 5), a tooltip 803 is displayed near the tool icon 801.

In the case of the server device 804, the contents displayed in the tooltip 803 include "server information" 501 and "user information" 502 shown in FIG. In the case of the icon 801 indicating an image input device such as the above-described scanner, the “server information” illustrated in FIG.
501, “network name” 511, “device name”
512 and “device status information” 513.

If the device is an image input device such as a scanner, the contents of the "device status information" include "usable", "in use", and "power off". In addition, when the device is an output device such as a printer, “usable”, “printing”, “offline”, “there are three jobs in printing and waiting for printing”, etc.

As described above, according to the embodiment, in a network system including a server device and a client device of various peripheral devices on a network, information on the state of an arbitrary machine or various peripheral devices is displayed by a tool tip. By doing so, it is possible to easily display the status of any machine or various peripheral devices before performing various processes.

The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but can be applied to a single device (for example, a copier, a facsimile). Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus.
It goes without saying that U) can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the status of various devices connected to the network can be displayed without performing a complicated operation, the convenience for the user can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image input server device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of each functional module in the image input server device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of each functional module in the client device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of connection information of a peripheral device on a network according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a tool tip display process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing connection states of menu icons, machines belonging to a network, and various peripheral devices.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a tool tip display according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 System Bus 202 CPU 203 PMEM (Program Memory) 204 Communication Control Unit 205 Communication Port 206 Communication Line 207 Other Devices on Network 208 External Storage Device Control Unit 209 Floppy Disk 210 Hard Disk 211 Input Control Unit 212 Keyboard 213 Mouse 214 VRAM (video image memory) 215 Display output control unit 216 CRT 217 Printer control unit 218 Printer 219 External device control unit 220 Image input device control unit 221 Image input device

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Claims (8)

[Claims] A search unit for searching for a connection state of various devices connected on a network; an icon display unit for displaying an icon of a connection state of the various devices searched by the search unit; and an icon display unit for displaying the connection state. A status display unit for displaying status information of a device selected by a user among the various devices selected. 2. The network terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when the device is a server device, the icon display means further displays icons of peripheral devices connected to the server device. 3. The network terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when the device is a server device, the status display means displays at least information on the server device and information on a user. 4. When the device is a peripheral device connected to a server device, the status display means displays at least information on the server, a network name, a device name, and device status information. The network terminal device according to claim 1, wherein 5. When the peripheral device is an image input device, the information on the state of the device is at least usable, in use,
The network terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the power is off. 6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the information on the state of the device is at least available, the number of jobs being printed, offline, and waiting for printing when the peripheral device is an output device. Network terminal device. 7. A search step of searching for connection states of various devices connected on a network, an icon display step of displaying icons of connection states of the various devices searched in the search step, and an icon display step. A status display step of displaying status information of a device selected by a user from among the various devices selected, a display method for a network terminal device. 8. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program code of a display method of a network terminal device, wherein: a code of a search step of searching for a connection state of various devices connected on a network; A code of an icon display step of displaying a connection state of the device as an icon, and a code of a state display step of displaying state information of a device selected by a user among the various devices displayed as icons. Storage media.