JP2016173857A - Device cooperation system, information processing apparatus, and device cooperation program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience of a user.SOLUTION: In a device cooperation system that performs cooperative processing between a first device that is connected through a communication network or a predetermined interface and one or a plurality of second devices, the first device includes: device monitoring means that searches for an available device out of the second devices on the basis of preset device information; device registration means that introduces software for using the device that is determined as an available device by the device monitoring means; and device management means that manages registration information of the device registered by the device registration means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a device cooperation system, an information processing apparatus, and a device cooperation program.

  Conventionally, by connecting the multifunction device and the controller device via a network, the limited functions of the multifunction device and the flexible functions of the controller device work together to create new functions not found in existing multifunction devices. The system to provide is already known.

  However, in a multi-function machine equipped with a conventional controller device, it is assumed that the multi-function device and the controller device are connected on a one-to-one basis. Costs were incurred. In addition, since a conventional multifunction peripheral has a mechanism for obtaining one output for one job such as a print instruction, for example, all jobs are executed when the next job is executed using the first job data. It was inefficient because it was necessary to operate in front of the multi-function machine until the operation was completed.

  Conventionally, a cooperation system of an image forming apparatus and a server device on which a device driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus is mounted is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  However, the conventional method as shown in Patent Document 1 described above, for example, connects a server device equipped with dedicated software such as a device driver and an image forming device corresponding to the software, thereby enabling an image forming device to This request is realized by software on the server device side. Therefore, there is a problem that the server only executes a process according to an instruction from an image forming apparatus in which corresponding dedicated software is installed in advance, and the expandability is low.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a device cooperation system, an information processing device, and a device cooperation program that improve user convenience.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a device cooperation system that performs processing cooperation between a first device connected by a communication network or a predetermined interface and one or a plurality of second devices. The first device is determined to be a device that can be used by the device monitoring unit and a device monitoring unit that searches for a usable device based on preset device information from the second device. A device registration unit that installs software for using the device; and a device management unit that manages registration information of the device registered by the device registration unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve user convenience.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the apparatus cooperation system which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the search and registration process of the apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the apparatus monitoring process which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the job processing which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the job selection screen which concerns on this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

<Outline of device linkage system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a device cooperation system according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the device cooperation system 10 according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 11 as a first device and multifunction peripherals 12A to 12C (hereinafter referred to as “ And a client PC (Personal Computer) 13, a portable terminal 14, a file server 15, a FAX device 16, and a printer device 17 are connected via a communication network 18. .

  The multifunction machine 12, the client PC 13, the mobile terminal 14, the file server 15, the FAX apparatus 16, and the printer apparatus 17 have functions as various input / output devices for the image forming apparatus 11. The communication network 18 may be an interface that connects a predetermined space, for example.

  The image forming apparatus 11 employs a general-purpose OS (Operating System) and can be connected to the above-described various input / output devices via, for example, the communication network 18. The image forming apparatus 11 has dedicated software installed therein, for example, uses a general-purpose network protocol such as UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) to search for available devices (including devices) and is necessary for the operation. Install software dynamically. Further, the image forming apparatus 11 constantly monitors, for example, whether or not a device connected to the communication network 18 is in a usable state.

  Note that the image forming apparatus 11 may be configured in an integrated form with an information processing apparatus that performs high-performance processing, or may be configured in an independent form. In the case where the image forming apparatus 11 is configured in a form independent of the information processing apparatus described above, it may be connected via the communication network 18.

  The multifunction machine 12 is a multifunction machine capable of operating the image forming apparatus 11 from an operation panel, for example. For example, the data output from the multifunction machine 12 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 11, and after necessary data processing is executed, the data can be output to other devices connected to the image forming apparatus 11. .

  The multifunction machine 12 transmits, for example, the scanned image data to the image forming apparatus 11, converts the data into, for example, OCR (Optical Character Reader) processing or a necessary format, and then transmits the file from the image forming apparatus 11 to a file server or the like. Or output data to other output devices. Further, the multifunction machine 12 may temporarily store the acquired data in the image forming apparatus 11 using a simple file storage function of the image forming apparatus 11.

  The client PC 13 implements the same work as the work that can be performed on the operation panel of the multifunction machine 12 by using, for example, the WEB browser function of the image forming apparatus 11. For example, the client PC 13 executes a process requested by software in the image forming apparatus 11 by an operation from the client PC 13 and outputs data to a necessary output device.

  In addition, the client PC 13 refers to detailed information of various devices connected to the image forming apparatus 11, executes registration of additional devices, installation of correction patches, and the like, and stores files stored in the image forming apparatus 11. Perform operations and so on.

  For example, the portable terminal 14 uses the WEB browser function or the like of the image forming apparatus 11 to enable an operation equivalent to that of the client PC 13 described above. For example, the portable terminal 14 transfers the acquired image file or the like to the image forming apparatus 11 via the communication network 18 and uses it in other devices or the like.

  The file server 15 corresponds to, for example, a server device or a general-purpose PC. The file server 15 transfers data processed by the image forming apparatus 11 to a file using a general network protocol such as SMB (Server Message Block).

  Here, the image forming apparatus 11 executes processing such as a directory creation rule and a command rule when a file is transferred to the file server 15 based on, for example, authority assigned to each login user or the like. Information necessary for executing the processing is set as setting information of the image forming apparatus 11 from the client PC 13 or the portable terminal 14, for example.

  The FAX device 16 and the printer device 17 are used as output devices of the image forming apparatus 11. As described above, the image forming apparatus 11 can use various input / output devices in response to a request from the user.

<Hardware Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus 11>
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a memory unit 22, a storage device control unit 23, a network control unit 24, an input / output device control unit 25, and an external medium. An input / output device 26 and various interfaces 27 are provided.

  The CPU 21 performs control of each device in the image forming apparatus 11, calculation of data, processing, and the like. The CPU 21 is an arithmetic device that executes, for example, a program stored in the memory unit 22 or the like, and executes the device cooperation program according to the present embodiment. The CPU 21 receives data from the storage device control unit 23 and the input / output device control unit 25, calculates and processes the data, and then outputs the data to the storage device control unit 23 and the input / output device control unit 25.

  The memory unit 22 is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), or the like, and stores programs and data such as OS, application software, and dedicated software including driver files that are basic software executed by the CPU 21 or Save temporarily.

  The storage device control unit 23 controls a storage device 23A such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The storage device 23A stores data related to application software, the device cooperation program according to the present embodiment, device information used in the present embodiment, device registration information, and the like. The storage device 23A stores various information (for example, user information) managed by the image forming apparatus 11, and is managed by functions such as a database and a file system.

  The network control unit 24 is, for example, an Ethernet (registered trademark) controller or the like, and controls communication with another computer using a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network).

  The input / output device control unit 25 manages the external media input / output device 26 and various interfaces 27 and controls the input / output of data from the external device.

  The external media input / output device 26 controls external media such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) media, CF (Compact Flash (registered trademark)), and SD cards to input / output data.

  The various interfaces 27 are interfaces for connecting external devices such as a serial port, a USB port, and IEEE1394, for example, and general-purpose input / output devices can also be used with the various interfaces.

<Functional Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus 11>
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 11 includes a common framework 31, a network processing unit 32, a host request processing unit 33, an authentication processing unit 34, an image processing unit 35, and a format conversion processing unit 36. UI processing means 37, equipment monitoring means 38, equipment registration means 39, equipment management means 40, stored data management means 41, user information management means 42, history management means 43, and storage means 44. Configured to have.

  The common framework 31 is a mechanism for a plurality of software including dedicated software in the image forming apparatus 11 to communicate, and is used for transmission and reception of various requests and data.

  The network processing unit 32 controls network access from the multifunction machine 12 connected to the communication network 18, the client PC 13, the portable terminal 14, and the like. Further, the network processing unit 32 serializes a request acquired by network access from each device for each request source, and then outputs it to the host request processing unit 33 via the common framework 31.

  The host request processing unit 33 analyzes the request (request from each device described above) acquired from the network processing unit 32 and distributes the request to each processing unit in order to execute processing according to the request. For example, when image processing is requested, the host request processing unit 33 transmits data to the image processing unit 35 and obtains an output result according to the request via the format conversion processing unit 36 or the like.

  The authentication processing unit 34 authenticates user information via the user information management unit 42 when user authentication is necessary. The authentication processing unit 34 may perform authentication using, for example, user information stored in the storage unit 44 in the image forming apparatus 11 or may perform authentication using an external authentication server or the like via the communication network 18. .

  The image processing unit 35 executes image processing in response to the request from the host request processing unit 33 and notifies the host request processing unit 33 of the executed processing result. The image processing unit 35 may have a character reading function such as OCR.

  The format conversion processing unit 36 converts data into another format in response to a request from the host request processing unit 33. The format conversion processing means 36 can convert data corresponding to documents such as “MS Office”, “PDF”, and “XPS”, and various image formats such as JPEG, TIFF, and PNG.

  The UI processing unit (screen generation unit) 37 dynamically constructs a UI (user interface) for displaying the WEB browser of the image forming apparatus 11. For example, the UI processing unit 37 constructs an interface when accessed from the client PC 13 or the portable terminal 14 via the communication network 18. For example, the UI processing unit 37 generates a presentation screen for presenting a device managed by the device management unit 40 (to be described later) and device information available for the device. The UI processing unit 37 may execute processing in cooperation with, for example, the authentication processing unit 34 and the user information management unit 42.

  The device monitoring unit 38 monitors the state of one or a plurality of devices connected by the communication network 18 or the like, and searches for available devices based on preset device information or the like. For example, the device monitoring unit 38 uses a general-purpose network protocol such as UPnP to determine a device that can be used in the image forming apparatus 11 based on a response message acquired from the device, a preset list of available devices, and the like. To do.

  The device monitoring unit 38 notifies the device registration unit 39 of the device information determined as an available device. The device monitoring unit 38 monitors whether or not the device once registered by the device registration unit 39 is always usable. If it is determined that the device is not usable, the device management unit 40 deletes the registration information. Notify

  The device registration unit 39 introduces software for using the available device notified from the device monitoring unit 38 and registers the available device. For example, the device registration unit 39 may acquire and install corresponding software from predetermined software or software that can be acquired via the communication network 18 or the like based on device information of available devices.

  Note that the image forming apparatus 11 employs a general-purpose OS, and includes driver software (including a driver file) and the like for making the device usable. Therefore, the device registration unit 39 determines whether there is driver software corresponding to the available device notified from the device monitoring unit 38 based on the device information of the available device, and activates the driver software of the general-purpose OS. To install automatically.

  For example, when it is determined that the driver software corresponding to the general-purpose OS is not provided, the device registration unit 39 may download and use the latest driver software via the communication network 18 or the like. In addition, when there is no corresponding driver software, the device registration unit 39 may use, for example, a general-purpose driver for controlling the device or make registration impossible.

  The device management means 40 stores the device registration information registered by the device registration means 39 in the device registration information 50 of the storage means 44. At this time, the device management unit 40 acquires function information that can be used in the registered device based on, for example, software introduced by the device registration unit 39, and associates the acquired function information with the registered device. to manage. In addition, the device management unit 40 deletes the registration information from the device registration information 50 for the device that has been unregistered by the device monitoring unit 38.

  The stored data management unit 41 stores and manages data in the stored data 51 when, for example, the storage unit 44 is designated as a data storage destination by the user. As described above, the user can designate the storage unit 44 as a storage destination of data output when processing is performed from the UI of each device.

  The user information management unit 42 manages user information 52 stored in the image forming apparatus 11. As described above, the authentication processing unit 34 can use the user information managed in the user information 52 via the user information management unit 42.

  The history management unit 43 stores and manages various processes performed by the image forming apparatus 11 in the history information 53. The history management unit 43 can also acquire past history information from the history information 53 as necessary, for example, and present it to the user via the UI.

  The storage unit 44 stores device registration information 50, accumulated data 51, user information 52, and history information 53.

<Device search and registration process>
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of device search and registration processing according to the present embodiment. The device search and registration processing according to the present embodiment may be executed, for example, when the image forming apparatus 11 is connected to the communication network 18 or when the image forming apparatus 11 is turned on.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 11 transmits, for example, a broadcast message or the like to all devices connected to the communication network 18 by the device monitoring unit 38 (S10). The device monitoring unit 38 determines whether there is a usable device based on the presence / absence of a response message to the broadcast message (S11).

  For example, when the device monitoring unit 38 determines that there is no response message and there is no usable device (NO in S11), the device monitoring unit 38 ends the process. If the device monitoring unit 38 receives the response message and determines that there is a usable device (YES in S11), the device monitoring unit 38 acquires device information such as a device name, a model number, and an IP address from the response message, A device list is obtained (S12).

  Next, the device monitoring unit 38 determines whether the device determined to exist in the processing of S11 is a device that can be used in the image forming apparatus 11 using the device information acquired in the processing of S12 (S13).

  Here, the device monitoring unit 38 determines whether or not the device is usable based on the tag information of the device type (Device Type) defined by XML in, for example, the UPnP device description (Device Description).

  In the image forming apparatus 11, information such as the device type described above is registered for each device (for example, printer, scanner, media server, etc.) or for each type (for example, printer 1, printer 2, etc.) as a list of devices that can be used in advance. Has been. The device monitoring unit 38 refers to the list of available devices registered in this way, and when the device information such as the device type included in the response message matches, the device monitoring unit 38 identifies the devices that can be used in the image forming apparatus 11. to decide.

  For example, if the device monitoring unit 38 determines that the device is not usable in the image forming apparatus 11 or determines that the device information is unknown (NO in S13), the device monitoring unit 38 ends the process. Note that the device monitoring unit 38 also ends the process when it is determined that the device has already been registered by the device registration unit 39, for example.

  If the device monitoring unit 38 determines that the device is an available device and an unregistered device (YES in S13), the device monitoring unit 38 notifies the device registration unit 39 and proceeds to the registration process.

  The device registration unit 39 specifies and acquires a driver file corresponding to a device determined to be usable by the device monitoring unit 38 using the device information acquired in the process of S12 (S14).

  For example, the device registration unit 39 determines whether the specified driver file is included in the general-purpose OS of the image forming apparatus 11 (S15). If the device registration unit 39 determines that the identified driver file is not included in the general-purpose OS of the image forming apparatus 11, the device registration unit 39 downloads the latest version via the communication network 18 or the like and converts it to the latest version of the general-purpose OS. It is good to judge whether it is included.

  When the device registration unit 39 determines that the latest version cannot be downloaded because it is not included in the general-purpose OS of the image forming apparatus 11 described above, for example, when the URL of the download destination is determined to be unknown (NO in S15). The user is notified and it is determined whether or not manual installation is performed (S16).

  For example, when the driver file is downloaded from an external medium by a user operation via the UI or the driver file is downloaded by manually inputting the download destination URL, the device registration unit 39 determines that manual installation has been performed ( In S16, YES), the process returns to S14, and the process of acquiring the driver file is executed again.

  If the driver file has not been downloaded as described above, the device registration unit 39 determines that manual installation has not been performed (NO in S16), and ends the process.

  Next, the device registration unit 39 executes installation of the acquired driver file (S17). Here, the device registration unit 39 may perform silent installation as much as possible, and if interactive installation is necessary, display the UI and prompt the user to input.

  Next, the device registration unit 39 determines whether or not the installation of the driver file has been completed normally (success) (S18). For example, if an error occurs during installation or the installation is not completed due to inconsistency with the device, the device registration unit 39 determines that the installation has not been successful (NO in S18), and determines whether or not retry is possible. Judgment is made (S19).

  Here, although the retry process is automatically executed, in the case of the first retry process, the device registration unit 39 determines that retry is possible (YES in S19), and returns to the process of S17. On the other hand, if the retry process is executed twice in succession, it is determined that the retry is impossible (NO in S19), and the process ends.

  If the device registration unit 39 determines that the driver file installation has been completed normally (YES in S18), the device registration unit 39 registers device information (S20). Here, the device information acquired from the response message and the detailed information acquired from each device via the driver are registered. By using the registered information registered in this way, the device registration means 39 can manage all functions such as option functions that differ for each device.

  Next, the device monitoring unit 38 monitors whether or not the device registered in the process of S20 is always available (S21). The device monitoring unit 38 monitors devices registered at regular intervals, for example. The device monitoring process by the device monitoring unit 38 will be described later.

  Next, when ending the image forming apparatus 11, the image forming apparatus 11 determines whether or not to end the processing by the device monitoring unit 38 (S22). Here, when the process by the device monitoring unit 38 is ended (YES in S22), the image forming apparatus 11 ends all the processes. If the image forming apparatus 11 does not end the process by the device monitoring unit 38 (NO in S22), the image forming apparatus 11 returns to the process of S21 and continues to monitor the device by the device monitoring unit 38.

<Device monitoring process>
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of device monitoring processing according to the present embodiment. Note that the device monitoring process shown in FIG. 5 shows the flow of the process of S21 of FIG. 4 described above.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the device monitoring unit 38 acquires device information from devices connected to the communication network 18 at regular intervals, for example (S30), and determines whether or not a device exists based on the presence or absence of the device information (S30). S31).

  Here, when the device information is acquired, the device monitoring unit 38 determines that the device exists (YES in S31), and determines whether there is a change in the device information (S32). For example, the device monitoring unit 38 compares the device registration information registered by the device registration unit 39 via the device management unit 40 (for example, registration information at the time of new registration) with the acquired device information, Determine whether the information has changed.

  If the device monitoring unit 38 determines that there is a change in the device information (YES in S32), the device monitoring unit 38 updates the registration information (S33) and ends the process. If the device monitoring unit 38 determines that there is no change in the device information (NO in S32), the device monitoring unit 38 ends the process as it is.

  If the device information is not acquired in the process of S30, the device monitoring unit 38 determines that the communication network 18 connected to the device is disconnected or the device is in an unusable state. Then, it is determined that there is no device (NO in S31). In this case, the device monitoring unit 38 deletes the registration information via the device management unit 40 (S34) and ends the process.

<Job processing>
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of job processing according to the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 6, for convenience of explanation, a flowchart that makes clear the flow of job processing in the multifunction machine 12 used by the user and the image forming apparatus 11 is used. For example, the user may execute a job using the client PC 13 or the portable terminal 14.

  As shown in FIG. 6, for example, the user requests screen display of the image forming apparatus 11 from the WEB browser of the multifunction machine 12 (S40).

  The image forming apparatus 11 acquires device registration information from the device registration information 50 managed by the device management unit 40 by the UI processing unit 37 (S41), and extracts available functions from the acquired registration information (S41). S42). In addition, when there are a plurality of devices, it is preferable to extract a function that can be used in each device.

  Next, the UI processing unit 37 extracts an executable job (available job) from the extracted function (S43), generates a job selection screen (S44), and presents the generated job selection screen to the multifunction machine 12. To do. An example of the job selection screen will be described later.

  Next, a job to be executed is selected by the user from the job selection screen (S45), and an execution request for the selected job is output to the image forming apparatus 11 (S46).

  The image forming apparatus 11 distributes the request to each processing unit by the host request processing unit 33, and generates data corresponding to the user's request, for example (S47). The image forming apparatus 11 generates scan data if, for example, a paper document is input, and executes download via the communication network 18 if the data is input from the outside. The generated data is temporarily stored in the storage unit 44 or the like. To accumulate.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 11 executes processing necessary for job execution by each processing unit (S48). For example, the image forming apparatus 11 processes data by image processing, format conversion, OCR, or the like.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 11 outputs data to an output device in response to a user request (S49). For example, if it is a print output, the image forming apparatus 11 outputs a print instruction to the multifunction machine 12 and the printer apparatus 17 via a driver. The image forming apparatus 11 may instruct, for example, FAX transmission, mail transmission, file transmission, or the like. Further, the image forming apparatus 11 may instruct to output the same data to a plurality of devices.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 11 monitors the output result (S50). Here, for example, the monitoring method and the monitoring interval differ depending on the device to be used. As an output result monitoring method, for example, the image forming apparatus 11 uses the fact that an event is generated in the OS by changing the device state via a driver, or acquires the device state at regular intervals by software. . For example, the image forming apparatus 11 may monitor the output result at a relatively short interval if it is e-mail transmission or file transmission, and may change the monitoring interval if it affects output devices such as FAX transmission or printing.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 11 determines whether or not the data output is completed (S51). For example, when the output state is specified and it is determined that the output is finished (YES in S51), the image forming apparatus 11 determines whether or not the output result is a normal end (S52). When the image forming apparatus 11 determines that the output state has not changed and the data output has not ended (NO in S51), the process returns to S50.

  Next, when the image forming apparatus 11 determines that the output result has ended normally (YES in S52), it determines whether all jobs have ended (S53). If the image forming apparatus 11 determines that all jobs have been completed (YES in S53), the image forming apparatus 11 notifies the user of the job results (S54) and ends the process. The notification of the job result may be performed on a screen, for example, or may be performed by sending a message such as an email according to the user setting.

  If the image forming apparatus 11 determines that the output result is not normally completed (NO in S52), the image forming apparatus 11 performs an abnormal process (S55). Note that the image forming apparatus 11 also determines that the process has not ended normally even if the status of the output result cannot be acquired and a time-out occurs.

<Example of job selection screen>
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job selection screen according to the present embodiment. 7A shows an example of a job selection screen showing available functions for each device, and FIG. 7B shows an example of a job selection screen showing a list of available jobs.

  The job selection screens shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B are generated by the UI processing unit 37 in the process of S44 of FIG. 6 described above, and are displayed on the screens of devices such as the multifunction machine 12 used by the user. Presented to.

  In the job selection screen 60A shown in FIG. 7A, an input function selection screen 61 and an output function selection screen 62 are shown. On the input function selection screen 61, a device capable of inputting data to the image forming apparatus 11 can be selected. On the output function selection screen 62, a device capable of outputting data from the image forming apparatus 11 can be selected. Yes.

  In the example of FIG. 7A, the MFP A is selected on the input function selection screen 61, and a list of functions (input functions A-1 to A-3) that can be used in the selected MFP A is shown. . In addition, the MFP B is selected on the output function selection screen 62, and a list of functions (output functions B-1 to B-3) that can be used in the selected MFP B is shown.

  In the present embodiment, by using a job selection screen 60A as shown in FIG. 7A, an inputable device and an outputable device are selected, and a desired function list of each device is desired. A function can be selected. When the authentication function is used for each device, it is preferable to display an authentication information input screen for each device.

  In the job selection screen 60B shown in FIG. 7B, an available job selection screen 63, an image forming apparatus setting screen 64, an input data generation device setting screen 65, and an output data transmission device setting screen 66 are shown. Yes.

  On the usable job selection screen 63, a list of jobs that can be used in the image forming apparatus 11 is shown and can be selected.

  In addition, in order to enable setting of each device at the time of executing a job selected in the available job selection screen 63, the image forming apparatus 11 itself can be set in detail on the image forming apparatus setting screen 64. In the input data generation device setting screen 65, selection of an input data generation device to the image forming apparatus 11 and detailed setting for the selected device can be performed. Further, on the output data transmission device setting screen 66, selection of an output data transmission device from the image forming apparatus 11 and detailed setting of the selected device can be performed.

  For example, when a “scan to print” job is selected on the available job selection screen 63, a list of devices that can be scanned is displayed on the input data generation device screen 65, and detailed settings (for example, scan settings) for the selected device are displayed. Is possible. A list of devices that can be printed is displayed on the output data transmission device setting screen 66, and detailed settings (for example, print settings) for the selected device can be performed.

  If the job processing is completed only in the image forming apparatus 11 such as a “data-in-to-file conversion” job, it may be set from the image forming apparatus setting screen 64.

  By using the job selection screen 60 as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B described above, in this embodiment, for example, printing, mail transmission, and FAX transmission using scan data after execution of a scan job. It is possible to select a series of job flows such as

  It is also possible to set a method for using the output result, such as sending the output result of the selected series of jobs to a file. Thus, for example, when another job is executed using the result of the first job or when a plurality of jobs are desired to be executed at the same time, all available jobs in the image forming apparatus 11 can be displayed. . Note that it is possible to check the final output destination device on a screen even for a job using a function across a plurality of devices.

  As described above, in this embodiment, by using all the functions of the plurality of devices connected to the image forming apparatus 11, the user can use various functions simultaneously and in combination.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to improve the convenience for the user and use the functions of a plurality of devices in one operation, for example.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. Can be changed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Device cooperation system 11 Image forming apparatus 12 Multifunction machine 13 Client PC
14 Mobile terminal 15 File server 16 FAX device 17 Printer device 18 Communication network 21 CPU
22 memory unit 23 storage device control unit 23A storage device 24 network control means 25 input / output device control unit 26 external media input / output device 27 various interfaces 31 common framework 32 network processing means 33 host request processing means 34 authentication processing means 35 image processing Means 36 Format conversion processing means 37 UI processing means 38 Equipment monitoring means 39 Equipment registration means 40 Equipment management means 41 Accumulated data management means 42 User information management means 43 History management means 44 Storage means 50 Equipment registration information 51 Accumulated data 52 User information 53 History information 60 Job selection screen 61 Input function selection screen 62 Output function selection screen 63 Available job selection screen 64 Image forming apparatus setting screen 65 Input data generation device setting screen 66 Output data transmission device setting screen

Japanese Patent No. 4493698

Claims (9)

In a device cooperation system that performs processing cooperation between a first device connected by a communication network or a predetermined interface and one or a plurality of second devices,
The first device is:
Device monitoring means for searching for available devices based on preset device information from the second devices;
Device registration means for introducing software for using a device that is determined to be usable by the device monitoring means;
And a device management system that manages device registration information registered by the device registration unit. The device registration means
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the corresponding software is acquired from predetermined software or software that can be acquired via the communication network or a predetermined interface based on device information of the device determined to be usable. Cooperation system. The device management means includes
The function information that can be used for the registered device is acquired based on the software introduced by the device registration unit, and the acquired function information and the registered device are managed in association with each other. The device linkage system described. The first device is:
The apparatus cooperation system as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3 which has a screen production | generation means which produces | generates the presentation screen for presenting the said registered apparatus managed by the said apparatus management means and the said function information. An information processing apparatus that coordinates processing with one or a plurality of devices connected via a communication network or a predetermined interface,
Device monitoring means for searching for available devices based on preset device information from the one or more devices;
A device registration means for introducing software for using a device that is determined to be usable by the device management means;
An information processing apparatus comprising device management means for managing registration information of devices registered by the device registration means. The device registration means
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the software is acquired from predetermined software or software that can be acquired via the communication network or a predetermined interface based on the device information that is determined as the usable device. The device management means includes
7. The function information according to claim 5, wherein usable function information of the registered device is acquired based on software introduced by the device registration unit, and the acquired function information and the registered device are managed in association with each other. The information processing apparatus described.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a screen generation unit configured to generate a provision screen for providing the registered device and the function information managed by the device management unit. Computer
The apparatus cooperation program for functioning as each means which the information processing apparatus as described in any one of Claims 5 thru | or 8 has.

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