JP2001312433A - Information processor and method for information processing and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately grasp what equipment is connected on a network and to immediately grasp the installation states and use states of drivers when a PC and peripheral devices such as a printer and a scanner are shared through the network. SOLUTION: The processor has a communication means which transfers information between computers connected on the network, a 1st data acquiring means which obtains information on a computer on the network and connection information on the peripheral devices connected to the computer, a 2nd data acquiring means which obtains the installation states of device drivers of the peripheral devices, and a display means which displays the connection state of the computer and peripheral devices on the network according to the information on the computer on the network and the connection information on the peripheral devices.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for displaying the connection status of peripheral devices such as a scanner device and a printer device shared on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers (PCs)
With the spread of peripheral devices such as printers, scanners, and digital cameras, and the spread of networks such as LANs, there is an increasing need to share printers, modems, and image reading devices on networks. By sharing peripheral devices such as printers and scanners over a network, an environment in which all devices on the network can be used has been established.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional example, only the PC and peripheral devices such as a printer and a scanner are shared by the network, and what devices are connected on the network. The problem is that it is not possible to know immediately
There is a problem that the driver installation status and usage status cannot be immediately grasped.

According to the present invention, when a PC and a peripheral device such as a printer and a scanner are shared by a network,
To provide an information processing apparatus, a method thereof, and a storage medium capable of immediately grasping what kind of device is connected on a network, and also capable of immediately grasping a driver installation state and a use state. It is intended for.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides communication means for exchanging information with a computer connected on a network, information on the computer on the network, and information on peripheral devices connected to the computer. A first data acquisition unit for acquiring connection information, a second data acquisition unit for acquiring an installation status of a device driver of the peripheral device, information of a computer on the network, and connection information of the peripheral device. On the basis of the,
A display unit that displays a connection state between the computer and the peripheral device on the network; and controls a display mode of the display unit based on the installation status.

[0006] Preferably, the control means displays, based on the installation status, a peripheral device in which a corresponding device driver is installed and a peripheral device in which the corresponding device driver is not installed. Thus, the user can easily determine whether or not the driver of the peripheral device on the network is installed in his / her computer.

Preferably, the control means further identifiably displays that the computer connected to the peripheral device is not ready because the computer connected to the peripheral device is not ready. . This makes it easy for the user to determine whether the peripheral device cannot be used because the driver is not installed in the computer or the peripheral device cannot be used because the power of the computer to which the peripheral device is connected is turned off. It becomes possible.

Preferably, the peripheral device is a scanner device or a printer device.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document processing apparatus DP1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The document processing device DP1 is provided with a system bus 1
, CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2 and PME
M (program memory) 3, communication control unit 4, communication port 5, communication line 6, and other devices 7 on the network
, An external storage device control unit 8, an FD (floppy (registered trademark) disk) 9, and an HD (hard disk) 10
, An input control unit (keyboard) 11 and a keyboard 12
, Mouse 13 and VRAM (video image memory)
14, a display output control unit 15, a CRT 16, a printer control unit 17, a printer 18, and an external device control unit 19
And an image reading device control section 1A and an image reading device 1B.

The system bus 1 is an example of a network.

A PMEM (program memory) 3 selects / reads a program for this processing from the hard disk 10 as appropriate, and the CPU 2 executes the program. Data input from the keyboard 12 is stored as code information in the PMEM 3 which is also a text memory.

The communication control unit 4 controls input / output data at the communication port 5.

A signal output from the communication port 5 is transmitted to a communication port of another device on the network via the communication line 6. Communication with a printer or an image reading device shared on a network is performed via the communication control unit 4.

An input controller (keyboard) 11 is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 13. The operator operates the keyboard 11 to issue a system operation command or the like.

The PD (pointing device) 13 is
This is for instructing processing of image information on the CRT 16, and a mouse is used. In this way, the cursor on the CRT 16 is moved in any direction of the X and Y directions, a command icon on the command menu is selected, a process instruction is given, an edit target instruction, a drawing position instruction, etc. are also given. .

The data displayed on the CRT 16 is VRA
It is developed as bitmap data on M14.

The printer control unit 17 controls output of data to the connected printer 18.

The image reading device control section 1A controls the connected image reading device 1B. In the image reading server device, an image reading device control unit 1A and an image reading device 1B are indispensable, but in the client side device, the server side shared by the server via the communication control unit 4 and the communication port 5. Components can be used.

In the above embodiment, the image reading device 1B and the image reading device may be physically separated,
Further, the image reading device may be one component including the image reading device 1B.

In the above embodiment, the program stored in the ROM is stored in the hard disk (HD) 10 or the floppy disk (F) directly connected to the apparatus.
D) It may be stored in a storage medium such as 9 or may be stored on another device connected by a network.

The program in the above embodiment is
It can be supplied to another system or device via a storage medium such as FD or HD or a network.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above embodiment.

First, in step S201, connection information between a PC and peripheral devices shared by all on the network is obtained. Then, the information is stored.

Next, in S202, a driver list of each device installed in the own device is acquired, and in S2
In 03, a check is made for all of those drivers. When all the drivers have been checked, step S2
Go to 09. If all the drivers have not been checked, the process proceeds to step S204.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main window 300 as an example of a screen display in the above embodiment.

The main window 300 has a menu 3
01, a toolbar 302, icons 303 representing PCs and peripheral devices, and icons 302a to 302i and 303a to 302q are displayed.

The icons 302a to 302i are icons for various functions for operating the PC and peripheral devices.

For example, an icon 302a is an icon for executing a copy function of reading image data from a selected scanner and outputting the image data to a selected printer, and an icon 302b is an icon for a facsimile function. The icon 302c indicates an image data reading function, and the icon 302d
Is an icon indicating a function of reading image data and performing OCR processing. An icon 302e is an icon indicating a function of managing FAX reception data and distribution data, an icon 302f is an icon indicating display switching, an icon 302g is an icon indicating a display screen editing function, and an icon 302h is an icon indicating a display screen editing function. , An icon indicating an information update process, and an icon 302i is an icon for stopping the update process.

The icons 303a to 303q are icons indicating PCs and peripheral devices shared on the network.

These icons 303a to 303q are
The icon is changed and displayed according to the type of device such as a PC, a printer, a scanner, or a FAX modem, or a status such as "processing" or "error occurred".

The icon 303c is an icon representing the user's own device, and the icon 303b is an icon indicating that the user is logged on to the domain. Since the own device is a special device, it is displayed at the top in distinction from other PCs. Other PCs are displayed in alphabetical order, in ascending order or in descending order.

As in the case of the icon 303p, the display shapes of the icons of the PCs and the peripheral devices which are shared on the network but have no driver installed are grayed out. However, in FIG. 3, instead of being displayed in gray, it is shown by a broken line.

If a connected device exists as shown by the icon 303j but is not expanded and displayed, a + mark is displayed and the icons 303h and 303k are displayed.
When the data is expanded as shown in the figure, a minus mark is displayed.

Further, when there is no connected device like the icons 303q and 303g, no mark is added.

As described above, by looking at the main window 300, it is possible to immediately confirm the connection status and status of all PCs and peripheral devices on the network.

In the above embodiment, all the icons are not displayed for convenience of the screen, but all the PCs and peripheral devices can be confirmed using the scroll bar arranged on the side of the screen.

S20 in the flowchart shown in FIG.
In 4, it is determined whether or not there is a PC sharing a device corresponding to the installed driver. If the PC does not exist, the process proceeds to step S205, and stores that “the server PC corresponding to the driver does not exist” as the display information. If there is a corresponding server PC, the process proceeds to step S206.

Here, it is determined whether there is a corresponding device next, or whether it is shared on the network. If there is no corresponding device, the process proceeds to step S207, and the fact that "a device corresponding to the driver does not exist" is stored as display information.
If there is a corresponding device, the process proceeds to step S208,
The information indicating that "a device corresponding to the driver exists (normal state)" is stored as the display information.

After performing the above-described processing for all the drivers, the process proceeds to step S209, where the display position of each device is calculated based on the created display information and displayed on the screen.

For example, in FIG. 3, since the printer 303i connected to the PC 303h has a normal display,
This indicates that the driver is shared on the network and the driver is also installed on its own device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of the screen display in the above embodiment.

The example shown in FIG. 4 is almost the same as the example shown in FIG. 3, except that the printer is not shared on the network or is in an unusable state. The difference from the example shown in FIG. 3 is that an unacceptable mark (x mark in red circle) is displayed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the screen display in the above embodiment.

Further, in FIG. 5, the PC 403h shown in FIG.
Printer 403 does not exist on the network because the power of the printer 503 is not turned on.
It is a figure showing that it is displayed like e. In this case, since there is no PC to be displayed, an unusable mark (x mark in a red circle) is displayed at the lower right of “my PC” 503c representing its own device, similarly to the printer 403i.

Further, when the installation state of the driver or the connection state of the device changes, the change is received and necessary information is obtained again. Then, the same processing as described above is performed based on the updated information, the display information is created again, and the screen display is updated.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the structure 60 for storing the display information created in the above embodiment.

The structure 60 has a header section 61 and a data section 62.

The header section 61 includes a number (number of data) 61a of registered PCs or peripheral devices and a comment 61b.
And Data is stored for the number of registrations stored in the data number 61a.

The data section 62 includes “device type” 6
2a, “attribute information” 62b, “device name” 62
c, "Attached PC name" 62d, connection information 62e are set, and a comment 62f is provided.

The "device type" 62a is "PC",
This is information indicating the type of device such as “image reading device” or “printer”.

When the “device type” is PC, the “attribute information” 62 b includes “TWAIN server”, “FA”
Information such as "X server", and when "device type" is an image reading device, "color compatible", "with ADF"
Etc. are characteristic information of each image reading device, and further,
If the “device type” is a printer, the information is characteristic information of each printer such as “color compatible”, “local connection”, and “network connection”.

The "device name" 62c is the PC 303k if it is the PC indicated by the icon 303k in FIG.
Is "SNPC01".

If the “device type” is an image reading device / printer, the “attached PC name” 62d is the name of the PC to which they are connected, and may be the image reading device indicated by the icon 303m in FIG. For example, the “attached PC name” is the name “SNPC01” of the PC 303k,
If the “device type” is PC, it is NULL.

The connection information 62e is information such as "no server PC", "no corresponding device", "normal state", and the like.

According to the above embodiment, all PCs and their peripheral devices shared on the network can be efficiently displayed on the same screen, and the installation status and connection status of each device can be displayed. Can be checked immediately, so that work efficiency is improved.

Note that a disk for another data file may be used instead of the FD 9 and the HD 10.

In the above embodiment, the document processing device DP1
However, the above embodiment may be applied to a device other than the document processing device DP1 and a display and management device of a device shared on a network.

In the above embodiment, the CPU 2 and the peripheral devices are connected via a network such as a LAN. However, when the CPU 2 and the peripheral devices are connected via a general public line, the above embodiment is used. You may make it apply.

An object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus stored in the storage medium. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

The program code at this time is MP
It may be U native code, may be written in a predetermined interpreted language, and may be converted to MPU native code at runtime,
Script data described in a predetermined format may be interpreted and executed by the operating system.

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

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the operating system running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. It also includes a case where some or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

[0065]

According to the present invention, all PCs and their peripheral devices shared on the network can be efficiently displayed on the same screen, and the installation status and connection status of each device can be displayed. Can be immediately confirmed, which leads to an effect of improving work efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a document processing device DP1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of a screen display in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the screen display in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a structure that stores created display information in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DP1: Document processing device, 1: System bus 2, CPU, 4: Communication control unit, 7, Other device on network, 8, External storage device control unit, 15, Display output control unit, 16: CRT, 19 ... External device control unit, 1A: Image reading device control unit, 1B: Image reading device.

Claims (11)

[Claims] Communication means for exchanging information with a computer connected on a network; and a communication means for acquiring information on the computer on the network and connection information on peripheral devices connected to the computer. First data acquisition means; second data acquisition means for acquiring the installation status of the device driver of the peripheral device;
Display means for displaying a connection state between the computer and the peripheral device on the network based on information on the computer on the network and connection information on the peripheral device; display on the display means based on the installation status Control means for controlling an aspect; 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is a unit that displays, based on the installation status, a peripheral device in which a corresponding device driver has been installed and a peripheral device in which the corresponding device driver has not been installed. Information processing device. 3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further comprises: a computer connected to the peripheral device is not in a ready state, so that the peripheral device connected to the computer cannot be used. An information processing apparatus characterized in that the information processing means is a means for identifiably displaying the information. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a scanner device or a printer device. 5. A communication step of exchanging information with a computer connected on a network; and a step of acquiring information on the computer on the network and connection information on peripheral devices connected to the computer. A first data acquisition step; a second data acquisition step of acquiring an installation status of a device driver of the peripheral device;
A display step of displaying a connection state between the computer and the peripheral device on the network based on the information on the computer on the network and the connection information on the peripheral device; a display mode of the display means based on the installation status And a control step of controlling the information processing. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the control step is a step of displaying, based on the installation status, a peripheral device in which a corresponding device driver is installed and a peripheral device in which the corresponding device driver is not installed. Information processing method. 7. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the control step further comprises the step of determining that a computer connected to the peripheral device is not ready because the computer connected to the peripheral device is not in a ready state. An information processing method, wherein the information is displayed in a identifiable manner. 8. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the peripheral device is a scanner device or a printer device. 9. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by a computer of an information processing apparatus, wherein the communication step exchanges information with a computer connected on a network; A first data acquisition step of acquiring information on the above computer and connection information of a peripheral device connected to the computer; a second data acquisition step of acquiring an installation status of a device driver of the peripheral device; A display step of displaying a connection state between the computer and the peripheral device on the network based on the information of the computer on the network and the connection information of the peripheral device; and a display of the display means based on the installation status A program for causing a computer to execute a control step of controlling an aspect; Computer readable storage medium. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the control step is a step of displaying, based on the installation status, a peripheral device in which a corresponding device driver is installed and a peripheral device in which the corresponding device driver is not installed. Storage medium. 11. The control method according to claim 9, wherein the control step further includes the step of determining that the computer connected to the peripheral device is not in a ready state, so that the peripheral device connected to the computer cannot be used. A storage medium characterized in that it is a step of identifiably displaying.