JP2001296988A - Peripheral device monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the increase of the scale of information related with each error which has to be held previously on a computer for monitoring an error in a printer and displaying information related with the produced error. SOLUTION: When receiving an error code indicating the production of the error and the kind of the error from the printer 300, a printer monitor 104 refers to a resource location table 105 in which correspondence is written at the location of the error code and resource data being information related with the error code, and discriminates whether the resource data related with the received error code is on its own computer 100 or on a server device 400. When it is on the device 400, the monitor 104 obtains the resource data from the device 400 and displays it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer which monitors the status of a peripheral device such as a printer in an electronic computer and provides information relating to the status of the peripheral device. Etc. to the user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, monitoring of the status of a printer in an electronic computer and presentation of information related to the status to a user have been performed as follows.

A printer, which is software that operates as a process on an electronic computer, periodically inquires of the printer about its status. In response to the inquiry, the printer returns a status code indicating its own status to the printer.

[0004] Each state of the printer and a state code representing the state are predetermined, and the printer holds information on the state corresponding to each state code in advance.
When receiving the status code from the printer, the printer monitor displays information on the status corresponding to the status code on the monitor.

Here, in the case of a printer, the status represented by the status code includes an error condition such as out of paper, out of toner, out of ink, or paper jam.
The information displayed corresponding to the status code indicating the error status received from the printer includes information indicating the content of the error and information indicating how to deal with the error.

[0006]

The types and the number of status codes that can be returned to the printer monitor by the printer in response to the inquiry from the printer monitor differ from printer to printer. For example, ink jet printers return a status code indicating an out of ink error, but do not return a status code indicating an out of toner error that can occur only with laser printers.

Here, in order for the printer monitor to present high-value information to the user about the status of the printer, it is necessary to respond finely to various statuses of the printer, and to provide extensive information on the individual status of the printer. It is preferred to present. However, the more detailed information is provided to the user in response to the status of the printer, the more status codes to be used. Also,
The more information that is provided to the user for each state of the printer, the greater the amount of information presented to the user for each state.

Therefore, when a printer monitor is configured to correspond to various printers or is configured to present high-use information related to the status of the printer, the printer monitor must be configured in advance. The amount of information about the state corresponding to each status code that must be held is large. As a result, the size of the printer monitor becomes large, the consumption of storage resources of the computer increases, and it takes time to download the printer monitor software, especially when distributing it via a network. Such various problems will occur.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an electronic computer
Even if the number of status codes handled by the peripheral device monitor that monitors the status of the peripheral device and the amount of information presented by the peripheral device monitor in response to the status code received from the peripheral device increase, without increasing the scale significantly. It is an object to provide a peripheral device monitor capable of responding.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object,
The present invention is, for example, an electronic computer system having an electronic computer and a peripheral device available from the electronic computer, wherein the peripheral device sends a status code indicating its own status to the electronic computer, Means for holding information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the state code, and means for providing each piece of information held in response to a request from the computer to the computer, wherein the computer is A peripheral device monitor for monitoring a state of the peripheral device; the peripheral device monitor, when receiving a status code indicating the state of the peripheral device from the peripheral device, corresponding to the received status code to the peripheral device; And a means for displaying the obtained information by requesting the information to be provided.

According to such an electronic computer system,
Since it is not necessary to keep all the information presented to the user in relation to the state of the peripheral device on the computer, the amount of information that must be kept in advance on the computer can be reduced. Further, when a peripheral device is shared by a plurality of computers, it is not necessary for each computer to hold the same information, and only the peripheral device needs to hold the information. It is possible to achieve efficient use.

[0012] Further, the present invention provides the above-mentioned object,
A computer system including a server device, a computer connectable to the server device via a network, and a peripheral device available from the computer,
The peripheral device has means for sending a status code representing its own status to the computer, and the server device presents to the user in relation to the status represented by each status code sent by the peripheral device to the computer. Means for holding information, and means for providing each piece of information held in response to a request from the computer to the computer, wherein the computer has a peripheral device monitor for monitoring the state of the peripheral device When the peripheral device monitor receives a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device from the peripheral device,
An electronic computer system comprising: means for obtaining information corresponding to a received status code by requesting the information; and means for displaying the obtained information.

According to such an electronic computer system,
Since it is not necessary to hold all of the information presented to the user in relation to the state of the peripheral device on the computer, the amount of information that must be held in advance on the computer can be reduced, and By simply updating the information on the server device as appropriate, it becomes possible to update the information presented in each computer for a large number of computers.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

In the following, an embodiment in which a computer monitors the status of peripheral devices and presents information relating to the status to a user will be described. An electronic computer monitors printer errors, and displays information relating to the errors. The case of presenting to the user will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an electronic computer system according to the present embodiment.

In the figure, 100 is an electronic computer, 300 is a printer, 200 is a network printer, 400 is a server device, and 500 is a network. The printer 300 is directly connected to the computer 100 and performs printing under the control of the computer 100 as a peripheral device of the computer 100. Further, the computer 100 is connected to the network printer 200 via the network 500, and controls the network printer 200 as a peripheral device to perform printing. In addition, the computer 100 includes a server 40
0 via the network 500 and receive the service from the server 400 as a client. Here, the network between the computer 100 and the network printer 200 and the network between the server device 400 of the computer 100 may be different networks. For example, a LAN may be used as a network between the computer 100 and the network printer 200, and The Internet to which the computer 100 connects via a public network may be used as a network between the server device 400 of the computer 100.

Although only one computer 100 is shown in the figure, a plurality of computers may exist on the network 500. In this case, the network printer 200 and the server 400
It is shared by a plurality of computers in the same manner as used by 0.

In the computer 100, 101
Is an operating system, 102 is an application, 103 is a printer driver, 104 is a printer monitor, 105 is a resource location table, and 106 is a resource data group. In such a configuration, the application 102 operates in the operating system 10.
Operating system 1 and sends print requests to the operating system 1
01 to the printer driver 103. The printer driver starts the operating system 101, issues a print command to the printer 300 or the network printer 200 according to the issued print request,
Make prints.

Next, in the printer 300, 301 is an interface unit, 302 is a print control unit, 303 is a status monitoring unit, 304 is a resource data group providing unit, 305
Denotes a resource data group, and 306 denotes a print engine. In such a configuration, the print control unit 302 receives a print command issued from the computer 100 via the interface unit, controls the print engine 306 according to the print command, and performs printing. The network printer 200 has the same configuration as the printer 300.

Next, in the server 400, 401
Denotes a server unit, and 402 denotes a resource data group.

Here, FIG. 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the computer according to the present embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the hardware configuration of the computer includes a CPU 601, a main memory 602, an external storage device 603a as a hard disk device, 603b as another external storage device, and a keyboard and a pointing device. A hardware configuration of a general computer including a device 605, an output device 606 such as a display device, a communication control device 608, and various interfaces can be used.

In this case, the operating system 101, application 102, printer driver 103, printer monitor 104, etc. shown in FIG.
01 is executed as a process embodied on the computer by executing the program loaded in the main memory 602. Also, resource location table 1
05, the resource data group 106 is realized as information stored in the main storage 602 or the external storage device 603.

The main memory 602 is loaded into the CPU 60
1 is implemented by a portable storage medium 607, for example, a CD-R.
The resource location table 10 is transferred from the portable storage medium 307 to the external storage device 603a such as a hard disk device via the external storage device 603b that handles the OM.
5. After being installed together with the resource data group 106, it is loaded into the main memory
01.

Alternatively, the CPU loaded into the main memory 602 and
The program executed by 601, the resource location table 105, and the resource data group 106 are downloaded via the communication control device 608 to a communication path such as a network, for example, an external storage device 603 a such as a hard disk device from The Internrt, Installed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the computer 100 in such a computer system in which errors of the printer 300 and the network printer 200 are monitored, and information relating to the error generated in the printer 300 and the network printer 200 is presented to the user. Will be described. In the following, an operation of monitoring a printer 300 error and presenting information related to the error generated in the printer 300 to a user will be described as an example. However, the operation described below is not limited to monitoring the error of the network printer 200 and presenting information related to the error that has occurred in the network printer 200 to the user.
The communication between the computer 100 and the network printer 200 is the same except that the communication between the computer 100 and the network printer 200 is performed via the network 500, while the communication between the computer and the network printer 200 is performed directly.

When the printer monitor 104 of the computer 100 is started, it periodically inquires of the printer 300 via the operating system 101 about an error state.

On the other hand, the status monitor 303 of the printer 300
Monitors the status of its own printer continuously, and upon receiving an inquiry about an error status from the computer 100, if an error has occurred, it is assumed that the error represents the content of the currently occurring error. The defined error code is returned to the computer 100.

The printer 104 that has received the error code from the printer 300 via the operating system 101 searches the resource location table 105 for the received error code, and stores the resource data corresponding to the received error code in its own computer 100. It is determined whether the error code is on the printer 300 that sent the error code.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the resource location table 105 and the resource data group 106.

As shown, the resource data group 106
Is a set of resource data provided for each error code, and individual resource data corresponding to each error code indicates an error content (out of paper, out of toner, paper jam, etc.) represented by the corresponding error code. It consists of status data and countermeasure data indicating a procedure to be performed by the user in order to resolve an error represented by the corresponding error code.

Here, in the resource data group 402 held by the server device 400, the resource data group 305 held by the printer 300 is also a set of resource data provided for each error code, similarly to the resource data group 106. However, error codes corresponding to resource data included in each resource data group are different.

Now, the resource location table 10
Reference numeral 5 denotes a description of a resource location for each error code. In each resource location, whether the resource data corresponding to the error code is included in the resource data group 106 on the computer 100 or not. Device 40
0 is included in the resource data group 402 held or the resource data group 305 of the printer 300. In the case where the resource data corresponding to the error code is included in the resource data group 402 held by the server device 400, the resource location includes address information for accessing the server device 400. It is.

In the present embodiment, for a so-called general error which may occur irrespective of the type of printer and which frequently occurs, a resource data corresponding to the error code of the error is stored in the computer 100. It is included in the resource data group 106 above. For an error that occurs depending on the printer model or an error that rarely occurs, the resource data corresponding to the error code of the error is stored in the resource data group 402 held by the server device 400 or in the printer 300. It is included in the resource data group 305.

Returning to FIG. 1, if the printer 104 determines that the resource data corresponding to the received error code is present on the computer 100, the printer 104 converts the resource data from the resource data group 106 to the error code received from the printer 300. It is obtained by reading the corresponding status data.

The printer 104 stores the resource data corresponding to the received error code in the printer 300.
If it is determined that the error code is present, a request is made to the printer 300 via the operating system 101 to provide status data corresponding to the received error code.
Upon receiving this request from the computer 100 via the interface unit 301, the resource data providing unit 304 of the printer 300 reads out status data in the resource data corresponding to the error code from the resource data group 305, The data is sent to the computer 100 via the interface unit 301. Then, the printer monitor 104 obtains this status data by receiving it via the operating system 101.

The printer 104 stores the resource data corresponding to the received error code in the server 40.
If it is determined that the error code is above 0, a request is made to the server device 400 via the operating system 101 to provide the received error code and status data corresponding to the error code. Upon receiving this request from the computer 100, the server unit 401 of the server device 400 reads out status data in the resource data corresponding to the error code from the resource data group 402, and sends the status data to the computer 100. Then, the printer monitor 104 obtains this status data by receiving it via the operating system 101.

The printer 104, which has obtained the status data corresponding to the error code received from the printer 300, displays the status display window shown in FIG. This figure is for the case where the status data is a character string and a graphic representing the content of the error. As shown in the figure, the box on the left side of the status display window is a graphic that allows the user to intuitively grasp the content of the error. , And a character string indicating the content of the error is displayed in the box on the right.

When the "close" button in the status display window is pressed by the user, the printer 104 displaying the status display window receives the status via the operating system 101 and this time receives the status from the printer 300. Terminates the processing related to the error code. The operating system 101 closes the status display window.

On the other hand, when the user presses the “Response” button in the status display window, the printer 104 first determines that the resource data corresponding to the received error code is present on the computer 100. In this case, it is obtained by reading the handling method data corresponding to the error code received from the printer 300 from the resource data group 106.

The printer 104 stores the resource data corresponding to the received error code in the printer 300.
If it is determined that the error code is present, a request is made to the printer 300 via the operating system 101 to provide coping method data corresponding to the received error code. When the resource data providing unit 304 of the printer 300 receives the request from the computer 100 via the interface unit 301, the resource data providing unit 304 reads coping method data in the resource data corresponding to the error code from the resource data group 305. , To the computer 100 via the interface unit 301. Then, the printer monitor 104 obtains the coping method data by receiving the coping method data via the operating system 101.

The printer 104 stores the resource data corresponding to the received error code in the server 40.
When it is determined that the error code is above 0, a request is made to the server device 400 via the operating system 101 to provide the received error code and coping method data corresponding to the error code. When receiving this request from the computer 100, the server unit 401 of the server device 400 reads out the coping method data in the resource data corresponding to the error code from the resource data group 402 and sends it to the computer 100. Then, the printer monitor 104 obtains the coping method data by receiving the coping method data via the operating system 101.

The printer 104 that has obtained the coping method data corresponding to the error code received from the printer 300 as described above,
5, a countermeasure display window shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. This figure is for the case where the coping method data represents a plurality of pages each showing a coping method for an error by a character string and a graphic.
Each page shows one procedure of a method for coping with an error, and the order of the pages matches the order of the procedure.

FIG. 5 shows a state where the first page is displayed. As shown in the figure, a box on the upper part of the countermeasure display window contains a figure of the first page indicating the first procedure by a figure. In the lower box, the character string of the first page indicating the first procedure by a character string is displayed.

Thereafter, when the “Next>” button in the coping method display window is pressed by the user, the printer 104 changes the page displayed in the processing method display window to the next page if the next page exists. Switch to page. Similarly, when the “<Previous” button in the handling method display window is pressed by the user, the page displayed in the handling method display window is switched to the previous page if a previous page exists.

On the other hand, when the user presses the “close” button in the countermeasure display window, the printer 104 receives the button via the operating system 101 and ends the processing related to the error code received from the printer 300 this time. . Further, the operating system 101 closes the coping method display window.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

In the above embodiment, the printer 10
In No. 4, the status data and the coping method data were separately obtained, but they may be obtained simultaneously. The coping method data may be obtained for each page when the page is displayed.

In the above embodiment, the printer 30
0 or the network printer 200 and the server device 400, the resource data group is arranged in both the printer 300 and the network printer 20.
0, or the resource data group may be arranged only in one of the server devices 400. In the above embodiment, the resource data group is also arranged on the computer 100. However, the resource data group may not be arranged on the computer 100.

In the above embodiment, the server device 400 may be, for example, an HTTP server (Web server) on The Internet, and the resource data on the server device 400 may be an HTTP document. In this case, in the resource location table 105, as shown in FIG. 6, for an error code having resource data on the server device 400, a URL to an HTTP document as resource data corresponding to the error code is registered. 104
May obtain an HTTP document, which is resource data on the server device 400, from the URL and display the HTTP document. In this case, the switching of the display from the status data to the coping method data and the switching of the display of each page of the coping method data on the printer monitor 104 are performed as follows.
The link may be incorporated in the displayed HTTP document and selected by the user according to the HTTP procedure.

FIG. 6 also shows a case where a pointer to the corresponding resource data is registered in the resource location table 105 for an error code having resource data on the computer 100. As described above, the format of the resource location table 105 and each resource data group may be determined as appropriate.

In the above embodiment, the case where the state in which the related information is displayed is an error has been described as an example.
This is not limited to an error, and information related to an arbitrary state may be displayed.

In the above embodiment, the printer monitor and the printer driver are provided separately. However, the function of the printer monitor may be included in the printer driver.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to hold all the information related to the error state of the printer on the computer, so the printer monitor is configured to correspond to various printers. Also, when configuring the printer monitor so that it can present useful information related to printer errors, the printer monitor must maintain information on the error status corresponding to each error code, which must be held in advance. The amount can be kept small. Further, the information presented by the printer can be updated for a large number of computers by simply updating the resource data on the server device 400 as appropriate. In addition, since information corresponding to a general error is arranged on a computer, the information can be promptly presented to the user with only the computer.

The present embodiment can be similarly applied to monitoring the status of various peripheral devices other than the printer and presenting information relating to the status.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an electronic computer, the number of status codes handled by a peripheral device monitor for monitoring the status of a peripheral device and the status code received by the peripheral device monitor from the peripheral device are supported. Even if the amount of information to be presented increases, it is possible to provide a peripheral device monitor that can cope without increasing the scale so much.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a computer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of a resource location table and a resource data group according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a status display window according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a target method display window according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing contents of a resource location table and a resource data group according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Computer 101 ... Operating system 102 ... Application 103 ... Printer driver 104 ... Printer monitor 105 ... Resource location table 106 ... Resource data group 200 ... Network printer 300 ... Printer 301 ... Interface part 302 ... Print control part 303 ... State monitoring part 304: Resource data group providing unit 305: Resource data group 306: Print engine 400: Server device 401: Server unit 402: Resource data group 500: Network

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An electronic computer system having an electronic computer and a peripheral device usable by the electronic computer, wherein the peripheral device sends a state code representing its own state to the electronic computer, and each state. Means for holding information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the code, and means for providing each piece of information held in response to a request from the computer to the computer, wherein the computer A peripheral device monitor that monitors a status of the device, wherein the peripheral device monitor corresponds to the received status code when the peripheral device receives a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device from the peripheral device. An electronic computer system comprising: means for obtaining information by requesting information; and means for displaying the obtained information. 2. An electronic computer system comprising a server device, an electronic computer connectable to the server device via a network, and a peripheral device usable by the electronic computer, wherein the peripheral device is Means for sending a status code representing its own state to the computer, the server device holding information presented to the user in connection with the state represented by each status code sent by the peripheral device to the computer; and Means for providing each information held in response to a request from the computer to the computer, the computer having a peripheral device monitor for monitoring the state of the peripheral device, Requesting the server device for information corresponding to the received status code, when receiving a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device from the peripheral device. Computer system, characterized in that it comprises a means for displaying and means for obtaining the information, the information obtained by. 3. An electronic computer system having an electronic computer and a peripheral device usable by the electronic computer, wherein the peripheral device sends a status code indicating its own state to the electronic computer, First holding means for holding information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the state code for some of the state codes which can be notified by the state notification means; Means for providing each piece of information held accordingly to the computer, wherein the computer has a peripheral device monitor that monitors the status of the peripheral device, and the peripheral device monitor displays a status represented by the status code. Second holding means for holding information to be presented to the user in relation to a part of status codes which can be notified by the status notification means; When receiving the status code indicating the state of the peripheral device from the second storage unit, if the second storage unit holds information to be presented to the user in relation to the state indicated by the received status code, the information is stored in the second storage unit. When the first holding unit holds information obtained by reading from the second holding unit and presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the received status code, the information is received by the peripheral device. An electronic computer system comprising: means for obtaining information by requesting information corresponding to a status code; and means for displaying the obtained information. 4. An electronic computer system comprising a server device, an electronic computer connectable to the server device via a network, and a peripheral device usable by the electronic computer, wherein the peripheral device is Means for sending a status code indicating its own status to the computer, wherein the server device is a status code that can be notified by the status notification unit, to the information presented to the user in relation to the status represented by the status code. A first holding unit that holds a part of the status codes, and a unit that provides the computer with the information held by the first holding unit in response to a request from the computer; Having a peripheral device monitor for monitoring the status of the peripheral device, wherein the status notification means can notify information to be presented to the user in relation to the status represented by the status code. Second holding means for holding a part of the status codes of the peripheral device, and when a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device is received from the peripheral device, a user is associated with the status represented by the received status code. In the case where the information to be presented to the user is held by the second holding means, the information is obtained by reading the information from the second holding means, and the information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the received status code When the first holding means holds the information, the means for obtaining the information by requesting the server device for information corresponding to the received status code, and the means for displaying the obtained information include: An electronic computer system comprising: 5. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein said peripheral device is a printer. 6. A peripheral device, which is available from a computer and sends a status code indicating its own status to the computer,
A peripheral device monitor for monitoring on the computer, wherein the peripheral device holds information to be presented to a user in relation to a state represented by a status code sent to the computer, and stores a location other than on the computer. When receiving a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device from the peripheral device, the storage device stores the information to be presented to the user in relation to the status represented by the received status code. A peripheral device monitor comprising: means for obtaining information corresponding to a received status code from a stored location; and means for displaying the obtained information. 7. A peripheral device, which can be used by a computer and sends a status code representing its own status to the computer,
A peripheral device monitor monitored on the computer, wherein information to be presented to a user in relation to a state represented by the status code is held for a part of status codes that can be sent by the peripheral device. Holding means for storing a location other than on the computer, for holding information that is not held by the holding means among information presented to the user in connection with a state represented by a status code sent by the peripheral device to the computer; The storage means having received the status code indicating the state of the peripheral device from the peripheral device, and the storage means holding information to be presented to the user in relation to the information represented by the received status code. In a place other than on the computer, the information is obtained from the holding means, and information to be presented to the user in association with the information represented by the received status code is stored. When a location is stored in the storage means, the peripheral device monitor includes means for obtaining the information from the location, and means for displaying the obtained information. 8. The peripheral device monitor according to claim 7, wherein the peripheral device is a printer. 9. A storage medium storing a program which is read and executed by a computer capable of using a peripheral device, wherein the program includes a status code which the peripheral device sends to the computer on the computer. Holding means for storing information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the storage means for storing a place other than on the computer; and receiving, from the peripheral device, a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device. Means for obtaining information corresponding to the received status code from a location stored in the storage means as a location holding information to be presented to the user in relation to the status represented by the received status code; and And a means for displaying a peripheral device monitor. 10. A method of presenting to a user on a computer information relating to a state of a peripheral device, which sends a status code indicating a self state available from the computer to the computer. The information to be presented to the user in relation to the state represented by the code, on at least some of the status codes that can be sent by the peripheral device, on other devices than the computer accessible from the computer In the computer, when a status code indicating the status of the peripheral device is received from the peripheral device, information to be presented to the user in relation to the status represented by the status code is displayed on the other device. When it is located, it accesses the other device to obtain information corresponding to the received status code, and presents the obtained information to the user. State-related information presentation method comprising.