JP2002189546A - Network terminal equipment, display control method and display control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly reflect the state of equipment on icon display. SOLUTION: When the use of arbitrary peripheral equipment is instructed by the operation of a mouse 213 of a user, the information of the various peripheral equipment to be used is reacquired by retrieval, and the newly acquired information is compared with an already acquired information group, and whether or not any updated information is present is determined. When the updated information is present, the updated information is updated for the pertinent part of the already acquired recorded data, and recorded in a program memory 203, and the display of an equipment icon is updated, and the result is displayed at a CRT 216.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a network terminal device, a display control method, and a display control program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a network system composed of an image input server device and a client device has conventionally been used to determine whether an image input device to be processed or an output device such as a printer can be used or not. Icons can be displayed to indicate the state at the time.

[0003]

However, even if the state changes after the display is processed, this state is not reflected in the new icon display. For example, even if the state is actually usable, , An old icon indicating "unusable" was displayed, and a user who relied on the icon display could not use the icon.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network terminal device and a display control method capable of solving the above-mentioned problems, appropriately reflecting the state of a device on an icon display, and improving user convenience. To provide.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a network terminal device according to the present invention comprises a search means for searching for a connection state of a device connected via a network, and a search means for searching for a connection state. And a display control means for displaying the connected state as an icon, comprising: an instruction means for giving an instruction to use the device indicated by the icon by the display control means, wherein the search means comprises: In response to the instruction, searching for the connection state of the specified device, the display control unit updates the icon display of the specified device to an icon display indicating the connection state searched by the search unit. It is characterized by.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a display control method of the present invention searches for a connection state of a device connected via a network, and displays the searched connection state by displaying an icon. In the control method, in response to an instruction to use the device indicated by the icon, a search step of searching for a connection state of the specified device, and an icon display of the specified device are searched by the search step. Update step of updating to an icon display indicating the connected state.

In order to solve the above problems, a display control program according to the present invention includes a search procedure for searching for a connection state of a device connected via a network, and a connection state searched for by the search procedure. A display control procedure for displaying an icon, wherein the search procedure further searches for a connection state of various devices in response to an instruction to use the peripheral device displayed by the display control procedure. Updating the icon display of the instructed device to an icon display indicating the connection state searched in the search procedure.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of a network system, and a network board (NB) for connecting a printer to a network.
101 is a printer 102 having an open architecture
Connected to

[0010] The NB 101 is a LAN (local area network).
k) To 100, for example, L such as an Ethernet interface 10Base-2 having a coaxial connector or a 10Base-T having an RJ-45.
Connected via AN interface.

A personal computer (PC) 103,
104 is also connected to the LAN 100, and these PCs 10 are controlled under the control of the network operating system.
3 and 104 can communicate with the NB 101. In this state, for example, it is possible to specify to use the PC 103 as a network management unit.

A file server 106 is connected to the LAN 100, and manages access to files stored in a large-capacity (for example, 10 gigabytes) network disk 107. The print server 108 includes a connected printer 109a,
109b or a printer 105 at a remote location for printing.

More specifically, the network shown in FIG. 1 uses network software such as Novell (registered trademark) or UNIX (registered trademark) software in order to efficiently communicate between various connected network members. be able to. It is possible to use any network software, for example Novove
It is possible to use NetWare (registered trademark), which is network software of ll. See the online documentation included with the NetWare package for a detailed description of this networking software. It is available for purchase from Novell with the NetWare package.

The file server 106 serves as a file management unit for receiving, storing, queuing, caching, and transmitting data files between LAN members. For example, the data files respectively created by the PC 103 and the PC 104 are stored in the file server 10.
6, the file server 106 arranges these data files in order, and in accordance with a command from the print server 108, the arranged data files are
9a.

The PC 103 and the PC 104 can generate a data file, transmit the generated data file to the LAN 100, receive a file from the LAN 100, and display and / or process such a file. It is composed of a normal PC. The PC 104 is connected to a printer 105 as an image output device and a scanner 110 as an image input device.

The devices constituting each LAN are not limited to those shown in FIG. 1, but may include other computer devices suitable for executing network software. For example, if UNIX software is used, UNIX workstations may be included in the network, and these workstations may be used in appropriate circumstances with the PC of FIG.

Normally, a LAN such as the LAN 100
Serving a somewhat local group of users, such as a group of users on one floor or multiple consecutive floors in a building. For example, a wide area network (WAN) may be created as a user moves away from another user, such as when the user is in another building or another prefecture. WA
N basically uses some LANs for ISDN (inte
grated services digital network) A complex formed by connecting with high-speed digital lines such as telephone lines.

Accordingly, the LANs 100, 120, and 150 are connected via a MODEM (modulator / demodulator) / transponder 130 and the backbone 140 to form a WAN. These connections are simple electrical connections with several buses. In addition, each LAN
Includes a dedicated PC, and usually, but not necessarily, includes a file server and a print server.

The LAN 150 includes a PC 151 and a PC 15
2, a file server 153, a network disk 154, a print server 155, a printer 156,
157.

The LAN 120 includes a PC 121 and a PC 122
Including only.

Devices connected to the LANs 100, 120 and 150 can access the functions of other LAN devices via the WAN.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the PC 104 of FIG. P
C104 is a CPU (central processing unit) 20
2 and a program memory (hereinafter referred to as PMEM) 20
3, a communication control unit 204, an external storage control unit 208,
An input control unit 211 and a video image memory (hereinafter, V
A RAM (referred to as RAM) 214, a display output control unit 215, a printer control unit 217, an external device control unit 219, and an image input device control unit 220 are mutually connected via a system bus 201.

The PMEM 203 is a hard disk (HD)
A program (such as a program corresponding to a flowchart described later) stored in 210 is selected and read. The PMEM 203 also functions as a text memory, and stores data input from the keyboard 212 as code information. The CPU 202 executes the PM
Each part of the apparatus is controlled according to the program of EM203.

The communication control unit 204 controls data communication performed through the communication port 205. The communication port 205 is connected to a communication port of another device on the network by a communication line 206. Data exchange with peripheral devices such as printers and scanners shared on the network is performed via the communication control unit 204. The communication line 206 is described as a network such as a LAN. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a case where the communication port connected to the communication control unit 204 and the communication line 206 are general public lines.

The VRAM 214 stores bitmap data developed for display. The display output control unit 215 converts the bitmap data of the VRAM 214 to a CRT.
216. Printer control unit 217
Controls output of data to the connected printer 105.

The external storage control unit 208 includes a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) 209 and a hard disk 2
10, for controlling access to a data file disk. The keyboard 212 and the mouse 213 are connected to the input control unit 211. The operator operates the keyboard 211 to issue a system operation command and the like, and operates the mouse 213 to operate the system.
An instruction for processing image information is issued on the CRT 216. More specifically, the cursor on the CRT 216 is arbitrarily moved in the X and Y directions to select a command icon on the command menu to give a processing instruction, and to give an instruction on an edit target, a drawing position, and the like.

The image input device control unit 220 includes the scanner 1
10 is performed. An external device control unit 219 controls the printer control unit 217 and the image input device control unit 220.

When a scanner is connected and used as an image input server device, the configurations of the image input device control unit 220 and the scanner 110 are indispensable, but the PC 103 of FIG.
In the client side device such as 104, the communication control unit 2
A scanner provided on the server side can be used via the communication port 04 and the communication port 205.

As described above, the scanner 110 and the image input device control unit 220 may be constituted by physically separate components, or the scanner 110 may be constituted by one component including the image input device control unit 220. You may comprise.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a configuration of a module for realizing each function related to the image input device of the image input server device. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a network server module, which converts data received from a server extension module, which will be described later, into a data format that can be exchanged on a network corresponding to a general-purpose network protocol, transmits the data to a client, The server converts the network data sent from the device into an internal data format that can be interpreted by the server extension module.

Reference numeral 302 denotes a server extension module which analyzes data passed from the network server module 301 and selects a designated one from a plurality of image service modules under the control of this module.
The service is provided, or data is transferred from one service module to another service module. For example, an OCR (optical
The image input / output control module is called from the module 304 for character recognition.

Reference numeral 303 denotes a common interface conversion module, which is a control unit corresponding to a module for controlling the requested image input device when the server extension module 302 requests service provision to any of the image input devices. Convert to instructions. Conversely, control information unique to the device, which is sent from the module that controls image input, is converted into general control information that can be passed to the server extension module 302. Specifically, one is parameter setting information for instructing reading of an image from the client device, and the other is image information and its additional information obtained as a result of the reading instruction.

Reference numeral 304 denotes an OCR module, which is called from the server extension module 302 when there is a request from a client device to convert image data read by an image input device into document data. An image data format conversion module 305 is a module for converting the format of image data obtained from an image input device into an image data format specified by a client. Reference numeral 306 denotes an image input device control module for performing control corresponding to each image input device 307 (such as the scanner 110), and inputting / outputting (specialized) control commands / information corresponding to each device. Do.

Next, a module for realizing each function for inputting image information from an image input device locally connected to the client device, and image information from an image input server device connected via a network. A configuration of a module that realizes each function for input will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of each functional module in the client device. In FIG. 4, the module 40
Reference numerals 1 to 404 are necessary for accessing an image input device (such as a scanner) locally connected from a general application in the PC 103. Here, reference numeral 401 denotes a general application that requires input of image information, and 402 denotes the application 40
1 is an image input device manager that provides a general-purpose image input interface to the device. The image input device manager, in response to an instruction from the image input interface, from among the image input device control modules under its management,
Exchanges information with the designated one.

Reference numeral 403 denotes an image input device control module having general-purpose I / O. A module 403 controls the image input devices individually connected by a general-purpose interface, which are negotiated with the image input device manager 402. Also, the module 40
3 provides a general-purpose interface (control information) unlike the image input device control module 306 in FIG. That is, functionally, the image input device control module 306 and the common interface conversion module 303
And a general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module to be described later.

That is, the image input device manager 402
Is, for example, TWAIN (Technology Without Any Int.)
403 is a TWAIN driver corresponding to each image input device. 4
Reference numeral 04 denotes individual image input devices locally connected to the apparatus.

Reference numeral 405 denotes a client function control module which performs overall management of a module for implementing a client extension function described later. An image input device connection information generation module 406 obtains attribute information of peripheral devices connected to the server device and information necessary for network connection obtained by using a network client module 408 described later. Is a module for generating the image input device information 410 of FIG. At the same time, the virtual image input device control module 409 is automatically generated. By generating these modules, the image input device manager 40
2 can be handled as if the image input devices on the network are virtually connected. The image input device information 410 will be described later.

Reference numeral 407 denotes a general-purpose image input interface conversion module which converts control information for an image input device on the server side obtained by using the network client module 408 into a general-purpose interface corresponding to the image input device manager 402. It is for doing. The module 407 does not directly provide the functions of these interfaces to the image input manager 402 but provides them via individual virtual image input device control modules 409 as described later.

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

Virtual image input device control module 409
Is one with the image input device on the set network
Generated one-to-one. The module 409 basically returns the information of the corresponding image input device connection information 410 or passes the information to the general-purpose image input interface conversion module 407 and outputs the result to the image input manager 4.
02, only intermediate processing is performed. As described above, since most of the actual processing is performed by the general-purpose image input interface conversion module, the module can be small, and the overhead can be reduced even if modules for a plurality of image input devices on the network are created. .

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

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

Reference numeral 501 denotes information for identifying a connection destination server on the network, that is, a machine name or a network address on the network. Reference numeral 502 denotes information on the user of the machine. 503
Is information required for other network connections.

Information 510 to 514 store information for identifying peripheral devices that are set to be shared on the network. The information read from the server device is stored in this area. Among them, this example shows a case where n peripheral devices are present in the server device, and 510n to 514n, 510 to 514,.
Indicates that each is a set of identification information.

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

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the control program stored in the PMEM 203 of FIG.
In step S601, information on machines and various peripheral devices belonging to the network is searched. Here, FIG.
And search for the connection information of the peripheral device shown in FIG. Then, in step S602, various types of information for each machine and information of various peripheral devices obtained by the search are recorded in the data structure of the connection information shown in FIG. In step S603, configuration information of machines and various peripheral devices in the network is displayed based on the information searched in step S602.

Then, in step S604, when an operation to use an arbitrary peripheral device is instructed by a user's operation, in step S605, various operations used for performing the processing instructed in step S604 are performed. Re-acquire peripheral device information by searching. Here, the user's operation includes, for example, "copy processing of inputting an image from a scanner and outputting to a printer" and "processing of inputting an image from a scanner and performing OCR conversion".

In step S606, step S605
The information acquired in step S602 is compared with the information group in the data structure of the connection information acquired in step S602 (FIG. 5) to determine whether there is any updated information. If there is any whose information has been updated, step S607 is performed.
Proceed to. In step S607, the updated information is updated and recorded in the corresponding portion of the recording data acquired in step S602. In step S608, a process of updating the display of the corresponding device icon is performed.

On the other hand, if there is no information whose information has been updated, the process proceeds to step S609, and the process proceeds to step S60.
At 9, it is determined whether the operation designated in step S604 is executable.

When the designated operation is executable,
Proceeding to step S610, the corresponding operation, for example, "copy processing for inputting an image from a scanner and outputting it to a printer" or "processing for inputting an image from a scanner and performing OCR conversion" is performed. On the other hand, if the designated operation is not executable, for example, if the scanner to be used is in use, etc., step S6
Then, an error message indicating that the process cannot be executed is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the connection state of the menu icons and the machines and various peripheral devices belonging to the network. In FIG. 7, a menu icon 701 is composed of tool icons for executing respective functions such as copy, FAX, scan, OCR, and print. Reference numeral 702 denotes a client device, and reference numerals 703, 704, and 705 denote peripheral devices connected to the respective machines. “+” Indicates that peripheral devices are connected to the machine but is not displayed, and “−” indicates that all connected peripheral devices are displayed.

The icons indicating the peripheral devices shown in FIG. 7 are changed to predetermined icons according to the states of “in use”, “usable” and “power off”.

As described above, when the image input device, output device, and other peripheral devices connected on the network are used, the setting information / status information of the peripheral device to be used is displayed by a device icon described later. When the status information is updated when the peripheral device is actually used, the operation instructed by the user is executed and the device icon display can be updated and displayed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a user instructs an operation in a network system including a server device and a client device of various peripheral devices on a network, various peripheral devices are operated. By searching for and reacquiring the device status information, the latest status information on the peripheral device to be used can be correctly reflected in the connection status display.

In this embodiment, the peripheral device connected to the server device has been described. However, the peripheral device may be directly connected to a network. In this case, a controller having the same function as the above-described server device may be built in the peripheral device.

As described above, the storage medium storing the program codes of the software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the system or the apparatus, and the computer (or the CPU or the MP) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
It goes without saying that the object of the present invention is also achieved when U) reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM (com
pactdisk ROM), CD-R (compact disk recordable),
Magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM (read o
nly memory), and so on.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (opera- tion system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code.
Needless to say, a case in which the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing by a ting system or the like is also included.

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

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With the above-described configuration, the state of the device can be appropriately reflected on the icon display, and thus the convenience for the user can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a PC 104 in FIG.

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

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

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of connection information of a peripheral device on a network.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control program stored in a PMEM 203 of FIG. 2;

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

[Explanation of symbols]

100, 120, 150 LAN 102, 105, 109a, 109b, 156, 157
Printers 103, 104, 121, 122, 151, 152, 1
55 Personal computer 106, 153 File server 107, 154 Network disk 108 Print server 110 Scanner 130 MODEM / transponder 201 System bus 202 CPU 203 Program memory 204 Communication control unit 205 Communication port 206 Communication line 208 External storage control unit 209 Floppy disk 210 Hard disk 211 Input control unit 212 Keyboard 213 Mouse 214 Video image memory 215 Display output control unit 216 CRT 217 Printer control unit 219 External device control unit 220 Image input device control unit

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A network terminal device comprising: a search unit for searching for a connection state of a device connected via a network; and a display control unit for displaying an icon of the connection state searched by the search unit. An instruction unit for issuing an instruction to use the device indicated by the icon by the control unit, wherein the search unit responds to the instruction by the instruction unit,
A network terminal for searching for a connection state of the specified device, wherein the display control means updates an icon display of the specified device with an icon display indicating the connection state searched by the search means. apparatus. 2. The network according to claim 1, wherein said display control means further controls to display device information, a network name, a device name, and device status information. Terminal device. 3. The network terminal device according to claim 2, wherein said display control means further controls to display user information. 4. The network terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the information on the state of the device further includes information indicating that the device can be used, is being used, and is turned off. 5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information on the status of the device includes information indicating that the device can be used, is printing, is offline,
A network terminal device including the number of jobs waiting to be printed. 6. The device is a peripheral device of a device connected to a network, wherein the search unit responds to an instruction from the instruction unit,
The connection state between the designated peripheral device and the device and the connection state of the device connected to the network are searched, and the display control unit searches the icon display of the designated device by the search unit. 2. The network terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the icon is updated to an icon display indicating the connection state. 7. A display control method for searching for a connection state of a device connected via a network and controlling the searched connection state to be displayed as an icon, wherein a response to an instruction to use the device displayed as an icon is provided. A search step of searching for a connection state of the specified device; and an update step of updating an icon display of the specified device to an icon display indicating the connection state searched in the search step. A display control method, comprising: 8. The display control according to claim 7, wherein the information to be displayed with respect to the designated device includes information of the device, a network name, a name of the device, and information of a state of the device. Method. 9. The display control method according to claim 8, wherein the information to be displayed further includes information of a user. 10. The display control method according to claim 8, wherein the information on the status of the device further includes information indicating that the device can be used, is being used, and is turned off. 11. The display control method according to claim 8, wherein the information on the state of the device includes information on available, printing, offline, and the number of jobs waiting to be printed. 12. The device is a peripheral device of a device connected to a network, and in the searching step, in response to an instruction to use the device, a connection state between the designated peripheral device and the device. And a connection state of a device connected to the network. In the updating step, the icon display of the designated device is updated to an icon display indicating the connection state searched by the search unit. The network terminal device according to claim 7, wherein 13. A program comprising: a search procedure for searching for a connection state of a device connected via a network; and a display control procedure for displaying an icon of the connection state searched by the search procedure. In the procedure, further, in response to the instruction to use the peripheral device displayed by the display control procedure, the connection state of various devices is searched, and the icon display of the designated device is searched by the search procedure. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an update procedure for updating to an icon display indicating a connected state. 14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein in the display control procedure, a program including information on a device, a network name, a device name, and information on a device state is stored as information to be further displayed. Possible storage medium. 15. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein a program including user information is stored as information to be further displayed in the display control procedure. 16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, further comprising a program including information indicating that the device is usable, in use, and turned off as information on the state of the device. 17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein a program including usable, printing, offline, and the number of jobs waiting for printing is stored as the information on the status of the device. .