JP2000312222A - Client and method for device retrieval - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save re-retrieval time and labor by relaxing retrieval conditions even if there is no device satisfying all the retrieval conditions on a network when a device on the network is retrieved. SOLUTION: A device retrieval client 111 inquires of a device retrieval server 112 on the basis of a retrieval condition entered by an operator to acquire the retrieval result. When there is a device satisfying all the entered retrieval conditions by using the device obtained from the retrieval result for an object, the device is displayed and when there is no device to satisfy all the entered retrieval condition, a device partially satisfying the entered retrieval condition is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a search client and a search method for searching for devices on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called directory service has been provided as a method for efficiently finding and using various resources (printers, servers, scanners, etc.) on a network. The directory service is, so to speak, a telephone directory relating to a network, and stores various information. As a specific example of the directory system, for example, LDAP (Lightweight Directo
ry Access Protocol). The LDAP specification is described in RFC1777 issued by the IETF. In addition, as a commentary, for example, “L
DAP Internet Directory Application Programming "was published on November 1, 1997. By using this directory service, for example, by searching for devices connected to the network, a list of network addresses of devices available on the network can be obtained.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, for example, in the case of searching for a network printer, various attributes such as having or not having a staple function and having or not having double-sided printing support are specified and searched. In this case, only devices that satisfy all the conditions are searched.
If there is no device that satisfies all of the conditions, there is a problem that the conditions must be re-entered and the search must be performed again.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. In the case where there is a device that satisfies all the conditions, not only a correct display but also a device that satisfies all the conditions does not exist. In some cases, by displaying devices that have similar conditions,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device search client and a device search method in which a user does not have to perform a search again by relaxing conditions.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is directed to a device search client for searching for a device on a network, wherein a device search condition is input. Inputting means, extracting means for extracting predetermined search conditions from the search conditions input by the input means, and transmitting the search conditions extracted by the extracting means to a search server on the network. A first search unit for obtaining a search result; a second search unit for performing a search on the search result of the first search unit based on a search condition input by the input unit; And display means for displaying search results output by the search means. The second search means includes at least two criteria for outputting search results, and first satisfies the first criteria. Outputs device information, if the device that satisfies the first criterion does not exist, first
And outputting device information satisfying a second criterion different from the criterion.

A second invention of the present application is characterized in that, in the first invention of the present application, the second criterion is a criterion that is less strict than the first criterion. .

A third invention of the present application is the invention according to the first or second invention of the present application, wherein the first determination criterion is to determine a device that satisfies all search conditions input by the input means. And the second criterion is:
The device is characterized in that a device that satisfies a predetermined number or more of the search conditions input by the input means is determined.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the device information output by the second search means based on the second determination criterion includes the device information. It is characterized in that information on search conditions that are not satisfied is included.

According to a fifth invention of the present application, in the first to fourth inventions of the present application, the extracting means extracts and outputs only a condition relating to an object class.

A sixth invention of the present application is a device search method for searching for a device on a network,
An input step of inputting a search condition of a device, an extraction step of extracting a predetermined search condition from the search conditions input in the input step, and a search on the network for the search condition extracted by the extraction step A first search step of transmitting the search result to the server and obtaining the search result, and a second search for searching the search result of the first search step based on the search condition input in the input step And a display step of displaying a search result output by the second search step. The second search step includes at least two criteria for outputting the search result. Outputting device information satisfying the criterion, and outputting device information satisfying a second criterion different from the first criterion when there is no device satisfying the first criterion. To And butterflies.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the second criterion is a criterion that is more relaxed than the first criterion. .

According to an eighth invention of the present application, in the sixth or seventh invention of the present application, the first determination criterion is to determine a device that satisfies all search conditions input in the input step. And the second criterion is:
The device is characterized in that a device that satisfies a predetermined number or more of the search conditions input in the input step is determined.

According to a ninth invention of the present application, in an eighth invention of the present application, the device information output by the second search step based on the second determination criterion includes: It is characterized in that information on search conditions that are not satisfied is included.

According to a tenth invention of the present application, in the sixth to ninth inventions of the present application, the extracting step extracts and outputs only a condition relating to an object class.

The eleventh invention of the present application is a computer-readable storage medium storing a program code for executing each of the steps described in any of the sixth to tenth inventions of the present application.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. According to the present invention, a network device having an attribute desired by a user is easily searched, and a search result is displayed in a format that is easy for the user to understand. This is particularly effective when printing is performed by connecting a portable computer to a visited network. Details will be clarified in the following description.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a network on which the device search system of the present embodiment can operate. In the figure, 101 is a color printer, 102 is an MFP
(Multi Function Peripheral, which is a copy machine but can also be used as a network printer.)
Reference numerals 3 and 104 denote monochrome printers, and 105 denotes a scanner connected to a network. 111 and 113
Is a desktop computer (hereinafter referred to as PC
And a notebook computer (hereinafter referred to as a notebook PC).
). These are executable by the device search client program of the present embodiment, and issue a device search request that satisfies desired conditions to the device search server as described later and receive the search result. Display on the display screen. Hereinafter, a PC that can execute the device search client program
111 and the notebook PC 113 are referred to as device search clients 111 and 113, respectively. 112 is
The PC of the present embodiment is a PC that can execute the program of the device search server, and stores information (database) related to the network devices 101 to 105 as described later. Accept and return the result. Hereinafter, the PC 112 capable of executing the program of the device search server is referred to as the device search server 11.
No. 2.

Of these devices, 101, 10
2, 103, 111, 112 and 120 are installed on the second floor, and 104 and 105 are installed on the first floor. Since 113 is a notebook PC, it is currently LAN from the first floor
100, but may be removed from its portability. Further, the network 100 that connects these devices to each other is connected to the Internet 130 via a firewall 120, and is also connected to another network 140 via the Internet 130.

FIG. 2 shows search clients 111 and 113.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a search server 112, which has the same configuration as a general-purpose personal computer. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 200 denotes an entire PC on which device search client software or device search server software (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as device search software), and 111, 112, or 113 in FIG.
Is equivalent to The PC 200 includes a CPU 201 that executes device search software stored in a ROM 202 or a hard disk (HD) 211 or supplied from a floppy disk drive (FD) 212, and collectively manages each device connected to a system bus 204. Control. A RAM 203 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 201. 205 is a keyboard controller (KBC), which is a keyboard (KB).
209 and an instruction input from a pointing device (not shown) or the like. 206 is a CRT controller (CRT)
In C), the display of the CRT display (CRT) 210 is controlled. 207 is a disk controller (DKC)
Controls access to a hard disk (HD) 211 and a floppy disk controller (FD) 212 that store a boot program, various applications, edit files, user files, a network management program, and the like. A network interface card (NIC) 208 bidirectionally exchanges data with a network printer, another network device, or another PC via the LAN 220. Note that LAN2
20 is the same as the LAN 100 in FIG.

Next, the configuration and operation of the device search server will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram expressing the structure of a database related to network devices stored in the search server 112 in a table format. In the search server 112, information of the database 300 is physically stored on the hard disk 211. In the table of FIG. 3, each row represents one network device. Each column includes a device name (301), a printer network address (302), an object class (303) indicating a device function type, and a device type (30).
4) Whether color printing is supported (30
5) Whether double-sided printing is supported (30
6) Whether staples are supported (30)
7) respectively.

Here, the object class (ObjectClas
s) indicates the function type of the device. For example, if the device is a printer, the printer class (pr
inter). If a device has a printing function, the device may be registered as a printer class device even if the device is an MFP. On the other hand, the device type indicates the overall function of the device, and here, a single printer and an MFP are distinguished. In the notations 305 to 307, 1 indicates that it is supported, and 0 indicates that it is not supported. NA indicates that information on the attribute is not stored.

The data shown in FIG. 3 will be described in detail by taking, for example, a device registered in the first row of the table as an example. A device named "Color" exists at a network address of 192.168.16.131. Has a print function, is a single printer in form, and supports color printing and staple as attributes, but does not support the function of double-sided printing. In the present embodiment, the devices in the first to fifth rows illustrated in FIG. 3 correspond to 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105 in FIG. 1, respectively. Note that the information shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the information stored in the search server 112 may include additional information such as an installation location.

Next, the operation of the device search server 112 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the device search server 112. The determination and execution of these series of processes are performed by the CPU 201 inside the device search server in terms of hardware. When the device search server 112 is started, first, in step S401, a reception port for receiving a device search request from a device search client is opened. With this operation, when a search request from the device search client is received, the operating system issues a reception event and the program is notified of the reception of the search request. Next, the process proceeds to step S402, and waits until a certain event is notified from the operating system. If any event is notified, get the event and go to the next step. In the next step S403, it is determined whether or not the event acquired in step S402 is a system shutdown event by the user. If it is a shutdown event, the program closes the receiving port after closing the receiving port in step S408. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S403 that the event is not a shutdown event, the process proceeds to step S403.
Proceeding to 404, it is determined whether or not the event is an inquiry reception event from the device search client. If it is an inquiry reception event, step S40
Proceeding to step 5, an appropriate device is selected by comparing the search conditions acquired in the event with the database shown in FIG. In subsequent step S406, step S405
Reply the search result obtained in the above to the device search client. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S407 that the received event is not the inquiry reception event, the process advances to step S407 to perform processing other than the shutdown event or the inquiry reception event, such as updating the display screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the database search operation of step S405 in FIG. 4 in more detail. Briefly describing the whole, in the database search step of the present embodiment, when the device search client specifies a plurality of search conditions,
A method of processing these search conditions one by one is adopted. That is the outer loop from step S501 via the NO determination and returning to step S501 again.
The inner loop that comes out of the NO determination from step S504 and returns to step S504 again is for scanning all the registered information in the database for one search condition. Hereinafter, each step will be described in detail. In the database search operation, step S50
In step 1, it is determined whether all search conditions have been processed. If all the conditions have been processed, the process proceeds to step S502, and the search result is returned to the host program.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S501 that all search conditions have not been processed, step S503 is performed.
To retrieve one search condition from the information received from the device search client.

Next, the process proceeds to step S504, where the database 300 relating to the network device described with reference to FIG.
It is determined whether or not all have been scanned. If it is determined that the scanning is completed, the process returns to step S501,
The next search condition is processed. On the other hand, step S504
If it is determined that the scanning of the database 300 has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S505. Step S5
At 05, data for one device is extracted from the database 300. In a succeeding step S506, it is determined whether or not the data extracted in the step S505 matches the search condition. If the condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S507. On the other hand, step S50
If it is determined in step S505 that the data extracted in step S505 does not match the search condition, the process returns to step S504, and the process is continued for the next device information registered in the database 300. In step S507,
Among the information of the devices determined to match the search condition in step S506, the device name 301, the network address 302, the device type 304, and the color 30
5. The double-sided printing 306 and the staple 307 are taken out and added to the search result in the subsequent step S508. Upon completion of the process in the step S508, the process returns to the step S504 to continue scanning the next data.

Hereinafter, in this embodiment, the client
The description will be made assuming a case where "device whose object class is a printer" is requested as a search condition. FIG. 6 shows a search result obtained by performing a search on the database 300 under the search conditions. In the figure, the search result 600 includes four devices that meet the condition that the object class is “printer”, and each has a device name 601 and a network address 60.
2, device type 603, color function 60
4, information on the presence / absence of the double-sided printing function 605 and the presence / absence of the staple function 606 are shown.

Next, the operation of the device search client will be described. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the screen display of the client before searching for a device. In the figure, various information is displayed in a window 700. Reference numeral 701 denotes a combo box for specifying an object class of a device to be searched. 70
By operating the first combo box, the object class of the device to be searched can be changed to “printer” or “scanner”. Further, in response to the change, the search attribute condition of the area for specifying the search attribute indicated by 703 changes to an attribute corresponding to the object class. For example, the double-sided printing attribute 703b and the stapling attribute 703c are displayed when the object class is a printer, but the object class is "scanner".
If they are changed, they will not be displayed because they are invalid. Reference numeral 702 denotes a search start button. When the user presses this button using the keyboard 209 or a pointing device (not shown), an inquiry is made to the device search server as to whether there is a device meeting the conditions.

Reference numeral 703 denotes an area for specifying a search attribute.
At present, a printer is selected as an object class in a combo box 701, and therefore, in 703, attributes relating to the printer are indicated by three check boxes. The user can specify whether color printing is possible 703a, whether double-sided printing is possible 703b, and whether stapling is possible 703c. In the example shown in FIG. 7, since all check boxes are checked, a device capable of color printing, capable of duplex printing, and capable of stapling is searched. Reference numeral 704 denotes an area for displaying a search result, and a device name 704 is displayed.
a, a network address 704b, and items 704c related to the search condition are displayed. Reference numeral 705 denotes an area for displaying a result indicating whether or not the specified condition is completely matched, in which either “completely matched” or “incompletely matched” is displayed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of search conditions specified on the display screen of FIG. 7 and search condition data for making an inquiry to the device search server. In this embodiment, the specification of RFC 1960 issued by IETF is shown. Notation based on is used. Reference numeral 801 denotes search condition data input by the operator. The object class is a printer (first line), and color printing is possible (second line), double-sided printing is possible (third line), stapling is possible. (4th line) A device is specified. 80
Reference numeral 2 denotes search condition data for inquiring the device search server. As will be described later on the operation of the device search client, only the condition that the object class is a printer is shown as a condition for querying the server by extracting only a search condition related to the object class from the search condition. Here, the search condition shown in 801 is changed every time the user operates the window shown in FIG. 7 to change the search condition.
01 and temporarily stored in the RAM 203.

FIG. 9 shows the device search client 111.
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of 113. still,
A device search client program may be executed on the device search server 112. First, the general operation of the device search client program will be described. The system waits for an event until the system is terminated, and operates as an event-driven program that processes the event when an event occurs. The main events are a system end event, a device search request event, and a device search result reception event. Hereinafter, the individual steps will be described in detail.

When the search client starts, it waits until an event occurs in step S901. If an event has occurred, the event is acquired and step S90
Proceed to 2. In step S902, it is determined whether or not the event acquired in step S901 has been issued by the user using the keyboard 209 or a pointing device (not shown) to end the system. If it is determined that the user has issued the end command, the program ends. On the other hand, step S90
If it is determined in step 2 that the event is not an end command issuance event, the process advances to step S903. Step S9
In 03, it is determined whether or not the event acquired in step S901 is caused by issuing a device search command by selecting the search menu 701 by the user. If the event is a device search command issuance, the process advances to step S904 to transmit a device search request to the device search server 112. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S903 that the event is not caused by issuing the device search command, the process advances to step S905. In step S905, it is determined whether or not the event acquired in step S901 is an event caused by receiving a search result reply from the device search server 112 in response to the transmission of the device search request transmitted in step S904. If it is determined that the answer is received, the process advances to step S906 to display the received search result in the window 700. Upon completion of the process in the step S906, the process returns to the step S901 and waits for a next event.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S905 that the event is not a response-response event, the flow advances to step S907 to perform other processing. The other processing is, for example, redrawing the screen when the program is activated or when the user moves the window through the window. Upon completion of the process in the step S907, the process returns to the step S901 to wait for a next event.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of FIG.
It is a flow chart which explained search request operation S904 in detail. First, in step S1001, R
By accessing the AM 203, the search condition stored in advance as described with reference to FIG. 8 is obtained. In the following step S1002, only the conditions relating to the object class are extracted from the search conditions, and the search server 11
2 to request a search for a network device.

The address of the device search server is
In the present embodiment, for example, a value input by the user using the keyboard 209 is written to the hard disk 211 and is known in advance by reading the value. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As another method, for example, a method such as a tuple space in the programming language Linda may be used to acquire from the network. There are various papers and commentaries on the programming language Linda. For example, see "D. Gelernter
By "Generative Communication in Linda", ACM Trans
actions on Programming Languages and Systems, volu
me7, number1, pp80-112, 1985 ".

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of FIG.
It is a flow chart which explained search result display operation S906 in detail. In the search result display operation, in step S1101, the received search result is checked.
It is determined whether or not there is a device that completely matches the search condition temporarily stored in the RAM 203. If there is at least one device that completely matches the condition, the process proceeds to step S1102. In step S1102, the screen is rewritten by operating the CRTC 206, and a message indicating that the search result is completely matched is displayed in the search result display area 705. In the following step S1103, a temporary variable fExi indicating whether or not a perfect match is stored in order to memorize the fact that the match is complete.
Assign TRUE to st. Upon completion of the process in the step S1103, the process proceeds to a step S1106. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1101 that no device completely matches the condition, the process advances to step S1104. In step S1104, the screen is rewritten by operating the CRTC 206, and the fact that the search result is incomplete is displayed in the search result display area 705. In the following step S1105, a temporary variable fE
Assign FALSE to xist. Upon completion of the process in the step S1105, the process merges to the step S1106.

The loop from step S1106 to the step S116 again via the NO determination is to process all the device information included in the received search result (search result 600 shown in FIG. 6) one by one (search condition). This is a loop for determining whether the user is satisfied or not, displaying the information, and the like). In step S1106, it is determined whether all the device information included in the received search result has been processed.
If it is determined that all the processes have been completed, the entire process ends. On the other hand, in step S1106,
If it is determined that all the received information has not been processed, the process advances to step S1107 to extract one piece of information from the received one or more pieces of device information.
In the following step S1108, in step S11
03 or the value of fExist substituted in step S1105 is
Processing is divided according to TRUE or FALSE. fExist is TRUE,
That is, when there is a device that completely matches the condition, the process proceeds to step S1109. Since some of the received device information does not completely match the search condition, only the device information that completely matches the condition is selected. The selection is performed in step S1109. In step S1109, it is determined whether the device information acquired in step S1107 completely satisfies the search condition 801 temporarily stored in the RAM 203. If it is completely satisfied, the process proceeds to step S1110.
In step S1110, the screen is rewritten by controlling the CRTC 206, and the device information display area 704 displays the device name, the network address, and the fact that they completely match. Upon completion of the process in the step S1110, the process returns to the step S1106 to process the next device information. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1109 that they do not completely match, the display process in step S1110 is not performed and step S110 is immediately performed.
Return to 6.

Now, in step S1108, fExi
The processing when st is FALSE will be described below. If fExist is FALSE in step S1108, the process advances to step S1111. In this case, the received search results include various information from information that does not match the search condition 801 at all, except for the matching of the object class, to information one step before the perfect match. . It is desirable for the user to select and display only important information as much as possible from the information. It is step S1111 to determine for that. Here, if three or more of the three specified search conditions (color, double-sided, and staple) are matched, that is, N-1 conditions out of N conditions are matched. In this case, it is determined that the value matches a certain criterion. It goes without saying that the criteria of the matching condition such as N-2 or N-3 may be set as appropriate.

In step S1111, the device information acquired in step S1107 has two or more of the three attributes (color, double-sided, and staple) of the search condition 801 temporarily stored in the RAM 203. Determine whether the attribute is satisfied. If it is determined that two or more attributes are satisfied, the process proceeds to step S1112. In step S1112, the attributes that are not satisfied are checked. Following step S1113
Then, the CRTC 206 is controlled to update the screen, and the search result display area 704 displays the printer name, network address, and step S11 based on the information acquired in step S1107.
The conditions (attributes) that did not match in step 12 are displayed.
When the processing in step S1113 is completed, step S1
Returning to 106, processing of the next information is continued. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1111 that two or more attributes are not satisfied, the process returns to step S1106.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the screen display of the device search client after the search operation has been completed. In the example of the figure, the object class is printer,
This shows the result of searching for devices having a color printing function, a double-sided printing function, and a staple function. Since no device completely matched the condition, an incomplete match is indicated by 705. In addition, as devices having similar conditions, there are devices having the names of “color-kun” and “second-order high-speed machine”, and the conditions that do not match among the conditions specified in 703 for each device are displayed in 704c. .

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of the device search client when there is a device completely matching the search condition. In the example shown in the figure, a search result is shown for a device whose object class is a printer, which has a double-sided printing function, and which has a stapling function. Since a device named “2nd floor high speed machine” exists as a device that completely matches the condition, information on the device is displayed in 704 and the fact that the device completely matches is displayed in 705 and 704c. I have.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, if a device that satisfies all the conditions specified by the user is found, the device can be displayed. Even if the device is not found, a close device that satisfies some of the conditions can be displayed. Is displayed, and the trouble of re-search operation can be saved.

The network device control program according to the present invention may be executed by the PC 200 by a program installed from the outside.
In that case, the program loads the information group including the program onto the PC 200 from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or a floppy disk, or from an external storage medium via a network such as e-mail or personal computer communication. Thus, the present invention is applied even when supplied to the PC 200.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a memory map of a storage medium in which the program according to the present embodiment is stored. Here, a CD-ROM is assumed as the storage medium. 9
An area 999 stores directory information, and an area 9998 stores subsequent installation programs.
And the position of the area 9997 storing the network device control program. Reference numeral 9998 denotes an area in which an installation program is stored. 99
An area 97 stores a network device control program. When the network control program of the present invention is installed in the PC 200, first, the installation program stored in the area 9998 storing the installation program is loaded into the system and executed by the CPU 201. Next, CPU
The installation program executed by 201 is
The network device control program is read from the area 9997 in which the network device control program is stored, and stored in the hard disk 211.

The present invention can be applied to a system or an integrated device including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, etc.).
You may apply to the apparatus which consists of one apparatus.

A storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. Needless to say, the object of the present invention can be achieved by reading and executing the program code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, 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, C
A D-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, and the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized. In addition, the OS or the like running on the computer performs the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code. The functions of the above-described embodiment can be realized by performing a part or all of the above.

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 instruction of the program code, A CPU or the like provided 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 can also be realized by the processing.

The present invention is applicable to a case where the program is distributed from a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a requester via a communication line such as a personal computer communication. Needless to say, this can also be applied.

[0050]

As described above, according to the invention of the present application, even if a device satisfying the condition specified by the user cannot be found, a device having a close condition can be displayed. As a result, it is possible to save the user from having to perform an operation such as re-searching with a relaxed condition.

In particular, according to the third and eighth inventions of the present application, if a device that satisfies all the conditions specified by the user is found, it can be displayed. Even if it is not found, some devices can be displayed. By displaying close devices that satisfy the conditions, it is possible to save the trouble of re-search operation.

According to the fourth and ninth aspects of the present invention, when a device satisfying all the conditions specified by the user is not found and a device having a close condition is displayed, the unsatisfied conditions are combined. The display allows the user to easily select a device.

Further, according to the fifth and tenth aspects of the present invention, a condition that satisfies an object class condition from a condition designated by a user is obtained from a search server,
Further, by performing a detailed search on the client side, an efficient search can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network in which a device search system according to an embodiment can operate.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a device search server and a device search client.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of device information possessed by a device search server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the device search server.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a database search operation of the device search server.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result output by a device search server.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of a device search client at a time before a device search.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of search conditions and inquiry conditions temporarily stored in a device search client.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the device search client.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a search request operation of a device search client.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a search result display operation of the device search client.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display of a device search client. (For incomplete matches)

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display of a device search client. (For exact match)

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a memory map in a storage medium of the device search software of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 LAN 101 Color Printer 102 MFP 103 Monochrome Printer 104 Monochrome Printer 105 Scanner 111 Device Search Client (Desktop P
C) 112 Device search server 113 Device search client (notebook PC) 120 Firewall 130 Internet 140 Other network

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A device search client for searching for a device on a network, comprising: input means for inputting a search condition of a device; and a predetermined search condition extracted from the search condition input by the input means. Extraction means;
A first search unit that transmits a search condition extracted by the extraction unit to a search server on the network to obtain a search result thereof; and a first search unit that obtains a search result based on the search condition input by the input unit. A second search unit for performing a search on the search result of the search unit; and a display unit for displaying the search result output by the second search unit, wherein the second search unit outputs the search result. And at least two device criteria that satisfy the first criterion are output. If there is no device that satisfies the first criterion, the first criterion is output. Different second
A device search client that outputs device information that satisfies the above criterion. 2. The device search client according to claim 1, wherein the second criterion is a criterion that is more relaxed than the first criterion. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first criterion is to determine a device that satisfies all of the search conditions input by the input unit, and the second criterion is that a device is input by the input unit. 3. The device search client according to claim 1, wherein a device that satisfies a predetermined number or more of the search conditions is determined. 4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the device information output by the second search unit based on the second determination criterion includes information on search conditions that the device does not satisfy. The described device search client. 5. The device search client according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts and outputs only a condition relating to an object class. 6. A device search method for searching for a device on a network, comprising: an input step of inputting a search condition of a device; and extracting a predetermined search condition from the search conditions input in the input step. An extraction step, a first search step of transmitting a search condition extracted by the extraction step to a search server on the network to obtain a search result, and a search condition input in the input step, A second search step of performing a search on the search result of the first search step; and a display step of displaying a search result output by the second search step, wherein the second search step includes: At least 2 criteria for outputting search results
First, device information that satisfies the first criterion is output. If there is no device that satisfies the first criterion, a second criterion different from the first criterion is satisfied. A device search method for outputting device information to be searched. 7. The device search method according to claim 6, wherein the second criterion is a criterion that is more relaxed than the first criterion. 8. The first determination criterion is for determining a device that satisfies all of the search conditions input in the input step, and the second determination criterion is that a device is input in the input step. 8. The device search method according to claim 6, wherein a device that satisfies a predetermined number or more of the search conditions is determined. 9. The device information according to claim 8, wherein the device information output by the second search step based on the second determination criterion includes information on search conditions that the device does not satisfy. The device search method described. 10. The device search method according to claim 6, wherein said extracting step extracts and outputs only a condition relating to an object class. 11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program code for executing each of the steps according to claim 6.