JP2008268984A - Image forming system and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the burden on a user when selecting an image forming apparatus which executes a job. <P>SOLUTION: Each of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected through a network to each other is provided with a detection part 201 for detecting the state of its own apparatus, and for generating the availability information (self-apparatus information 211) of its own apparatus; a communication part 26 for transmitting the generated self-apparatus information 211 to the other image forming apparatus 2, and for acquiring the availability information (other apparatus information 210) of the other image forming apparatus 2 from the other image forming apparatus 2; and a display part 25 for displaying the other apparatus information 210 (other apparatus information 232) acquired by the communication part 26. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for easily grasping the state of another image forming apparatus in an image forming apparatus.

  Conventionally, an image forming system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to a network is known. In such an image forming system, even if one image forming apparatus is in use and processing cannot be executed, a desired process is executed by using another image forming apparatus. It becomes possible.

  However, when a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected, the user has to select an image forming apparatus for executing processing. Each image forming apparatus does not grasp the state of the other apparatus, and generally, a plurality of image forming apparatuses are distributed. Therefore, unless the user goes around each image forming apparatus, the plurality of image forming apparatuses The state cannot be grasped. That is, there is a problem that the user has to go around between the plurality of image forming apparatuses until a usable image forming apparatus is found, which is a heavy burden.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 1 describes a system in which an arbitrary image forming apparatus in a system reads a billing counter of another image forming apparatus.

JP 2000-276310 A

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, since information displayed on an arbitrary image forming apparatus is not information for the user to select an image forming apparatus, the burden still remains when the user selects. There was a problem that it was not alleviated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to reduce the burden on the user.

  In order to solve the above problems, an invention according to claim 1 is an image forming system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected via a network, and each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses has its own state. Information generating means for detecting and generating usability information, sending means for sending usability information generated by the information generating means to another image forming apparatus via the network, and via the network And receiving means for acquiring availability information of the other image forming apparatus from another image forming apparatus, and display means for displaying the availability information acquired by the receiving means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first aspect of the invention, the display unit simultaneously displays two or more pieces of availability information acquired by the receiving unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network, and the usability information is received from the at least one or more image forming apparatuses via the network. It is characterized by comprising receiving means for obtaining and display means for displaying the availability information obtained by the receiving means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network, wherein the information generating means detects the state of the image forming apparatus and generates useability information. And transmission means for transmitting the usability information generated by the information generation means to the at least one image forming apparatus via the network.

  According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses detects the state of the own apparatus and generates the availability information, and the availability information generated by the information generation means. , Transmitting means for transmitting to other image forming apparatuses via the network, receiving means for acquiring availability information of other image forming apparatuses from other image forming apparatuses via the network, acquired by the receiving means By providing display means for displaying the usability information, it is possible to grasp the state (usability of use) of the other image forming apparatus in one image forming apparatus. Therefore, for example, a standby image forming apparatus can be easily selected from a plurality of image forming apparatuses. In addition, since the state of one image forming apparatus can be confirmed in another image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus in an abnormal state can be quickly found out of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, and a quick response can be made. .

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to display one or more pieces of information when confirming the state of the other image forming apparatus by simultaneously displaying the two or more pieces of usability information acquired by the receiving unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, a receiving unit that is connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network, and obtains availability information from at least one or more image forming apparatuses via the network, and a receiving unit By providing display means for displaying the acquired use availability information, the state of at least one or more image forming apparatuses can be easily grasped in the image forming apparatus.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information generating unit that is connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network, detects the state of the own device and generates usability information, and is generated by the information generating unit. By including a transmission unit that transmits the usability information to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network, the state of the image forming apparatus can be grasped in at least one or more image forming apparatuses.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<1. First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system 1 according to the present invention. The image forming system 1 is configured in such a manner that a plurality of image forming apparatuses 2 (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e) arranged in a distributed manner are connected via a network 8.

  The network 8 is preferably a LAN or the Internet, but may be a public telephone network or the like. In other words, any network may be used as long as data communication is possible between the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2. In FIG. 1, five image forming apparatuses 2 are illustrated, but the number of image forming apparatuses 2 is not limited to this. In addition, a device other than the image forming apparatus 2 may be connected to the network 8.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus 2.

  The image forming apparatus 2 includes a CPU 20 that calculates various data, a RAM 21 that is used as a temporary working area of the CPU 20, a read-only ROM 22 that mainly stores programs, and a memory 23 that stores a database 230. These configurations mainly have a function as a control unit of the image forming apparatus 2.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 2 includes an operation unit 24 that is operated by a user to input an instruction, a display unit 25 that displays information to the user, and a communication unit 26 that connects the image forming apparatus 2 to the network 8.

  The operation unit 24 includes buttons (not shown). The display unit 25 is a general liquid crystal panel, and appropriately displays data based on the control of the display control unit 202 (CPU 20). Note that a device having the functions of the operation unit 24 and the display unit 25, such as a touch panel display, may be employed.

  The communication unit 26 is a general network interface and has a function of performing data communication with other image forming apparatuses 2. The communication unit 26 according to the present embodiment receives the availability information (FIG. 3: other device information 210) of the other image forming device 2 from the other image forming device 2, and the other image forming device 2 has its own device. Use availability information (FIG. 3: own device information 211) is transmitted.

  Although not shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a scanner unit that optically reads a document, a printer unit that forms an image on a medium such as recording paper, and the like. Thus, the image forming apparatus 2 is configured as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) that provides a printer function, a scan function, a facsimile function, a copy function, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the image forming apparatus 2 together with a data flow. The registration unit 200, the detection unit 201, and the display control unit 202 illustrated in FIG. 3 are functional blocks that are realized mainly when the CPU 20 operates according to a program stored in the ROM 22.

  The registration unit 200 has a function of registering the other device information 210 received from the other image forming apparatus 2 by the communication unit 26 in the database 230. The registration unit 200 registers the received other device information 210 as the other device information 232 in the database 230 in association with the identification information 231 that identifies the image forming apparatus 2 that has transmitted the other device information 210. That is, the database 230 is updated by the registration unit 200.

  It should be noted that the registration unit 200 controls the communication unit 26 to transmit the other machine information 210 (the own machine information 211 for the other image forming apparatus 2) to another image forming apparatus 2 at a predetermined timing. You may comprise so that it may request | require. When the other device information 210 for this request is not received, the registration unit 200 determines that the other image forming apparatus 2 cannot respond, and generates the other device information 232 based on the determination result. You may register. With this configuration, for example, the image forming apparatus 2 in a state where the other apparatus information 210 cannot be transmitted in the first place, such as the image forming apparatus 2 that is not turned on, is not Information can be provided.

  The detection unit 201 detects the state (abnormal state) of the image forming apparatus 2 based on inputs from various sensors (not shown), and generates own device information 211. The detection unit 201 determines whether or not the image forming apparatus 2 is usable according to the detected state, and generates own device information 211 based on the determination result. That is, the self-device information 211 includes information indicating whether or not the image forming apparatus 2 can be used (hereinafter referred to as “usability information”).

  Further, the detection unit 201 includes information indicating the detected abnormal state (hereinafter referred to as “abnormal information”) in the own device information 211. The abnormal state detected by the detection unit 201 is the state of consumables such as running out of paper or toner, the presence or absence of a failure in each part of the image forming apparatus 2 such as a paper jam, or the execution of another job. . However, the information is not limited to the above information, and is preferably information that is useful for the user to select the image forming apparatus 2 on which the job is to be executed.

  The display control unit 202 has a function of performing image processing on various data and displaying the data on the display unit 25. In particular, the display control unit 202 in the present embodiment displays the other device information 232 stored in the database 230 and the own device information 211 generated by the detection unit 201.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the screen 40 displayed on the display unit 25 under the control of the display control unit 202. The example shown in FIG. 4 shows a screen 40 displayed on the display unit 25 of the image forming apparatus 2a.

  The display control unit 202 generates image information constituting the screen 40 based on the other device information 232 stored in the database 230 and causes the display unit 25 to display the image information.

  The screen 40 is configured as an image having a size that can fit in the display area of the display unit 25, and is divided into screens 41, 42, 43, and 44. In other words, by displaying the screen 40, the contents of the screens 41, 42, 43, and 44 are simultaneously displayed on the display unit 25.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, the screens 41 to 43 are screens that display images representing the other device information 232. That is, the screen 41 shows the availability information of the image forming apparatus 2b, the screen 42 shows the availability information of the image forming apparatus 2c, and the screen 42 shows the availability information of the image forming apparatus 2d.

  By confirming the screen 40 of the image forming apparatus 2a in this way, the user can grasp the states of the image forming apparatuses 2b, 2c, 2d (2e) arranged at other places. In the example shown in FIG. 4, it can be recognized that both the image forming apparatuses 2b and 2c are currently printable (usability information) and that the image forming apparatus 2d is out of paper (abnormal information).

  The screen 44 is an operation screen for determining the contents to be displayed on the screens 41 to 43. That is, the user can switch the contents (which image forming apparatus 2 is to be displayed) displayed on the screens 41 to 43 by operating the operation unit 24 according to the screen 44. That is, when the number of image forming apparatuses 2 included in the image forming system 1 is large and all other device information 232 cannot be displayed simultaneously in the display area of the display unit 25, the screen cannot be displayed by switching the screen according to the screen 44. The machine information 232 can also be displayed.

  As shown in the screen 44 of FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 2a that is the own apparatus can be selected as the image forming apparatus 2 that displays the state. That is, the image forming apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment can display the own device information 211 on the display unit 25. As a result, the user can easily know even the state of the image forming apparatus 2 that cannot be determined from the appearance.

  As described above, in the image forming system 1 according to the present exemplary embodiment, the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2 are connected via the network 8, and each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2 detects the state of the own apparatus. The detection unit 201 that generates the availability information (own device information 211) and the generated own device information 211 are transmitted to the other image forming apparatus 2 via the network 8, and other images are also transmitted via the network 8. By including the communication unit 26 that acquires the availability information (other device information 210) of the other image forming device 2 from the forming device 2, and the display unit 25 that displays the other device information 210 acquired by the communication unit 26, One image forming apparatus 2 can grasp the state (usability of use) of another image forming apparatus 2. Therefore, for example, the standby image forming apparatus 2 can be easily selected from the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2. Further, since the state of one image forming apparatus 2 can be confirmed in a plurality of image forming apparatuses 2, an image forming apparatus 2 in an abnormal state can be quickly found out of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2, and a prompt response can be made. Is possible.

<2. Modification>
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the screen 40 displayed on the display unit 25 is divided into four, but the number of divisions is not limited to this. The number of divisions of the display area of the display unit 25 may be determined as appropriate based on the size of the display area.

  Further, it has been described that the functional blocks (the registration unit 200, the detection unit 201, and the display control unit 202) in the above-described embodiment are realized by software in the image forming apparatus 2. However, part or all of the functions of the functional block may be realized as hardware by a dedicated logic circuit.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming system according to the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus. 2 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the image forming apparatus together with a data flow. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on a display part by control of a display control part.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming system 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e Image forming apparatus 20 CPU
200 Registration Unit 201 Detection Unit 202 Display Control Unit 21 RAM
210 Other machine information 211 Own machine information 22 ROM
23 memory 230 database 231 identification information 232 other machine information 24 operation unit 25 display unit 26 communication unit 8 network

Claims (4)

An image forming system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected via a network,
Each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses includes:
Information generating means for detecting the state of the own device and generating usability information;
A transmission unit configured to transmit the usability information generated by the information generation unit to another image forming apparatus via the network;
Receiving means for acquiring usability information of the other image forming apparatus from another image forming apparatus via the network;
Display means for displaying availability information acquired by the receiving means;
An image forming system comprising: The image forming system according to claim 1,
The image forming system, wherein the display unit simultaneously displays two or more pieces of availability information acquired by the receiving unit. An image forming apparatus connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network,
Receiving means for acquiring usability information from the at least one image forming apparatus via the network;
Display means for displaying availability information acquired by the receiving means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: An image forming apparatus connected to at least one or more image forming apparatuses via a network,
Information generating means for detecting the state of the image forming apparatus and generating usability information;
Transmission means for transmitting the usability information generated by the information generation means to the at least one image forming apparatus via the network;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images