JP2009159048A - Image forming apparatus, image formation system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation system which can reflect the setting of one apparatus on other apparatus connected with the one apparatus through a network. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 includes a section 302 which stores setting, a section 308 for updating stored setting, a section 310 for confirming operation based on updated setting, a section 312 for transmitting information about stored setting, a section 314 for requesting transmission of setting information, a section 316 for receiving information, and a section 304 for controlling the setting transmission section 312 to transmit setting information when operation confirmation is normal finish, controlling the setting request section 314 to request transmission of setting information when operation confirmation is not normal finish, controlling the update section 308 to update the stored setting to received setting when the received information is setting information, and controlling the setting transmission section 312 to transmit setting information when the received information is a request of transmitting setting information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that performs data communication via a network.

  In this type of image forming apparatus, information related to the network and the like is set. Such a setting is often changed using an input device such as a touch panel provided in the image forming apparatus or an input device of a terminal device connected via a network.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an information processing system that can eliminate troublesome initial settings by receiving and setting initial setting values from a management host computer in which apparatus setting information is centrally managed. .

JP 2000-112863 A

  However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to install a management host computer in advance and to secure a communication path with the management host computer.

  The present invention has been made from the above-described background, and it is possible that settings that have been confirmed for operation are reflected in other devices connected to the device via a network simply by making settings in one device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming system that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores settings related to a connected network, an update unit that updates settings stored in the setting storage unit, An operation confirmation unit that confirms an operation based on the setting updated by the update unit; and a transmission unit that transmits information regarding the setting whose operation is confirmed by the operation confirmation unit. According to the present invention, a setting whose operation has been confirmed can be reflected in another device connected via a network simply by changing the setting.

  Preferably, the transmission unit transmits information relating to settings to another image forming apparatus.

  Preferably, the transmission means transmits information relating to settings to a predetermined transmission destination.

  Preferably, when the operation confirmation by the request confirming means for requesting transmission of the information related to the setting and the operation confirming means is normally completed, the transmitting means transmits the information regarding the setting, and the operation confirmation by the operation confirming means is performed. The control unit further controls the requesting unit to request transmission of the information related to the setting when the termination is not normal. According to the present invention, even if a setting is changed by mistake, a setting whose operation has been confirmed can be acquired via a network.

  Preferably, the control means updates the setting stored in the setting storage means by the update means to a setting transmitted in response to a request from the request means. According to the present invention, even when a setting is changed by mistake, the setting can be corrected to a setting whose operation has been confirmed.

  A second image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores settings related to a connected network, a reception unit that receives information, an update unit that updates settings stored in the setting storage unit, When the transmission unit transmits information related to the setting stored in the setting storage unit and the information received by the reception unit is information related to the setting, the update unit stores the setting stored in the setting storage unit. A control unit that updates the setting received by the receiving unit and controls the transmitting unit to transmit the information related to the setting when the information received by the receiving unit is a request for transmitting information related to the setting; Have. According to the present invention, a setting whose operation has been confirmed can be acquired and reflected via a network only by setting another device.

  Preferably, the receiving means receives information relating to the setting before updating and information relating to the setting after updating, and the control means is stored in the setting storing means and the setting before updating received by the receiving means. When the setting matches, the updating means controls to update the setting stored in the setting storage means to the updated setting received by the receiving means.

  A third image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores settings relating to a connected network, an update unit that updates settings stored in the setting storage unit, and a setting updated by the update unit. An operation confirmation means for confirming an operation based on the information, a transmission means for transmitting information relating to the setting stored in the setting storage means, a request means for requesting transmission of information relating to the setting, and a reception means for receiving information When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation means is normally completed, the transmission means transmits information about the setting. When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation means is not normal termination, the request means When control is performed to request transmission and the information received by the receiving means is information relating to settings, the updating means stores information in the setting storage means. The memorized setting is updated to the setting received by the receiving unit, and when the information received by the receiving unit is a request for transmitting information related to the setting, the transmitting unit transmits the information related to the setting. Control means for controlling.

  An image forming system according to the present invention is based on a storage unit that stores settings related to a connected network, an update unit that updates settings stored in the setting storage unit, and a setting updated by the update unit. Operation confirmation means for confirming operation, transmission means for transmitting information relating to settings stored in the setting storage means, request means for requesting transmission of information relating to settings, and operation confirmation by the operation confirmation means being completed normally The transmission means transmits information related to the setting, and when the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation means is not a normal end, the requesting means controls to request transmission of the information related to the setting. A first image forming apparatus including a control unit, the setting storage unit, the update unit, the transmission unit, and the first image forming apparatus. Receiving means for receiving information transmitted from the receiver, and when the information received by the receiving means is information relating to settings, the updating means has received the settings stored in the setting storage means by the receiving means Update to the setting, and when the information received by the receiving means is a request for transmission of information related to the setting, the transmission means controls to transmit the information related to the setting to the first image forming apparatus. And a second image forming apparatus having two control means. According to the present invention, a setting for which operation has been confirmed can be reflected in another device connected to the device via a network simply by setting it in one device.

  In a first program according to the present invention, an image forming apparatus having a computer and a storage unit that stores settings related to a connected network, an update step of updating the settings stored in the setting storage unit; The computer of the image forming apparatus is caused to execute an operation confirmation step for confirming an operation based on the updated setting and a transmission step for transmitting information regarding the setting for which the operation has been confirmed.

  A second program according to the present invention is a reception step of receiving information in an image forming apparatus having a computer and a storage unit that stores settings relating to a connected network, and the received information is information relating to settings. If there is, the setting stored in the setting storage means is updated to the received setting, and if the received information is a request for transmission of information regarding the setting, control is performed so as to transmit the information regarding the setting. And causing the computer of the image forming apparatus to execute the control step.

  According to the image forming system of the present invention, the setting can be reflected in another apparatus connected to the apparatus via a network only by setting in one apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image forming system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming system 1 includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10-1, 10-2,..., 10-n (n is an integer of 2 or more) and a server connected via a network 14. 12-1, 12-2. The image forming apparatuses 10-1, 10-2,..., 10-n are, for example, multi-function machines having a print function, a copier, and a scan function. In addition, in the case where any one of a plurality of constituent parts such as the image forming apparatuses 10-1, 10-2,..., 10-n is not specified, the image forming apparatus 10-1, 10-2,.

  The servers 12-1 and 12-2 have functions that operate as servers that provide predetermined services to the image forming apparatus 10, such as an authentication server function, a file sharing server function, a Web server function, and a default gateway server function. Have. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 10 establishes a connection with at least one of the servers 12-1 and 12-2 based on, for example, an IP address, and uses a provided service.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 performs data communication with the server 12 and other image forming apparatuses 10 via a CPU 10, a memory 20, a storage device 22 such as a hard disk drive, and a network 14. A communication device 24, a display device 26 such as a liquid crystal display, and an input device 28 such as a keyboard are included. These components are connected by a bus 16 and input / output data. Note that the display device 26 and the input device 28 may be realized by a touch panel having a display function and an input function. The server 12 has a hardware configuration equivalent to the configuration shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a method for reflecting the updated setting contents in the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the server to which the image forming apparatus 10 is connected is changed from the server 12-1 to the server 12-2. Here, the IP address of the server 12-1 is D, and the IP address of the server 12-2 is E.

  FIG. 3A shows a case where the setting information is updated in the image forming apparatus 10-1, and the operation check based on this setting is normally completed. As shown in FIG. 3A, the image forming apparatus 10-1 transmits information (setting information) regarding the setting to the other image forming apparatuses 10-2 and 10-3. When receiving the setting information, the image forming apparatuses 10-2 and 10-3 update the stored setting information to the received setting information.

  The image forming apparatus 10-1 may transmit both the setting information before the update and the setting information after the update. In this case, when the received setting information before update matches the stored setting information, the image forming apparatuses 10-2 and 10-3 use the stored setting information as the received setting information after updating. Update to

  On the other hand, FIG. 3B shows a case where the setting of the image forming apparatus 10-4 has been updated and the operation check based on this setting has not ended normally. As shown in FIG. 3B, the image forming apparatus 10-4 requests the other image forming apparatuses 10-2 and 10-3 to transmit setting information. Upon receiving the request, at least one of the image forming apparatuses 10-2 and 10-3 transmits setting information to the image forming apparatus 10-4 in response to the request. Upon receiving the setting information, the image forming apparatus 10-4 updates the stored setting information with the received setting information. For example, when the image forming apparatus 10-4 is newly added to the image forming system 1, as shown in FIG. 3B, setting information whose operation has been confirmed is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10-4. And set.

  In either case of FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B, the image forming apparatus 10 may transmit setting information or the like to a predetermined transmission destination. More specifically, the image forming apparatus 10 performs a predetermined filtering process and identifies a transmission destination from among apparatuses included in the image forming system 1. For example, the host name, IP address, domain name, and the like of the transmission destination are stored in the image forming apparatus 10, and the image forming apparatus 10 sets the setting information only for the apparatus corresponding to the stored host name. Etc. Further, for example, the image forming apparatus 10 stores a mask different from the subnet mask, and the image forming apparatus 10 only applies to an apparatus to which an IP address specified using the stored mask is assigned. Send setting information.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the setting information management program 30 executed by the image forming apparatus 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the setting information management program 30 includes a setting information storage unit 302, a control unit 304, a setting reception unit 306, an update unit 308, an operation confirmation unit 310, a setting transmission unit 312, a setting request unit 314, and a reception unit 316. Have The setting information management program 30 is received, for example, via the communication device 24, loaded into the memory 20, and executed by the CPU 18. The setting information management program 30 may be supplied to the image forming apparatus 10 from a recording medium such as FD, CD, or DVD.

  In the setting information management program 30, the setting information storage unit 302 stores setting information in a readable / writable manner. The setting information storage unit 302 is realized by at least one of the memory 20 and the storage device 22. The setting information includes, for example, an IP address and a host name of a server that provides a predetermined service, a subnet mask, a domain name, an administrator user name and password, a search condition for filtering processing, and the like regarding a connected network. Contains settings. The setting information storage unit 302 may store setting information before updating and setting information after updating, or may store setting information of a plurality of generations.

  The setting reception unit 306 receives settings input via the input device 28. The setting accepting unit 306 accepts setting information received and received by the communication device 24, which is setting information input and transmitted on a Web basis using an external terminal device. The setting receiving unit 306 outputs the received setting to the control unit 304.

  The update unit 308 updates the settings stored in the setting information storage unit 302. The update unit 308 also performs new registration and deletion of settings.

  The operation confirmation unit 310 performs operation confirmation based on the setting updated by the update unit 308. Specifically, the operation confirmation unit 310 reads the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 under the control of the control unit 304, and performs operation confirmation based on this setting. For example, when information about a server (for example, an IP address) is changed, the operation confirmation unit 310 attempts to establish a connection with the server and confirms whether or not the service can be received from the server. .

  The operation confirmation unit 310 outputs a result of whether or not the operation confirmation has been normally completed to the control unit 304. For example, when the connection with the server cannot be established, the device or the user is not authenticated, a predetermined HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) error code is received, the operation check unit 310 determines that the operation check is not successful. .

  The setting transmission unit 312 reads the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 and transmits the setting information to the other image forming apparatus 10 via the communication device 24. The setting transmission unit 312 may transmit the setting information before update and the setting information after update. In addition, the setting transmission unit 312 may transmit to the image forming apparatus 10 specified by a predetermined filtering process.

  The setting request unit 314 transmits (that is, broadcasts) information requesting transmission of setting information to other devices connected to the network 14 via the communication device 24. The setting request unit 314 receives setting information transmitted in response to the transmitted request via the communication device 24 and outputs the setting information to the control unit 304. Note that the setting request unit 314 may request transmission of information related to the updated attribute among the attributes of the setting information.

  The receiving unit 316 receives the transmitted information via the communication device 24. This information is either information related to settings transmitted from another device or a request for transmission of information related to settings. The receiving unit 316 outputs the received information to the control unit 304.

  The control unit 304 controls other components of the setting information management program 30 and inputs / outputs data between these components. More specifically, when the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit 310 is normally completed, the control unit 304 transmits the setting information when the setting transmission unit 312 transmits the setting information. Control 314 requests transmission of setting information. In addition, when the information received by the receiving unit 316 is setting information, the control unit 304 updates the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 to the setting received by the receiving unit 316. When the information received by the receiving unit 316 is a request for transmitting setting information, the setting transmitting unit 312 controls the setting information to be transmitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation (S10) of the image forming apparatus 10 whose settings have been changed in the image forming system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
First, for example, the user operates the input device 28 of the image forming apparatus 10-1 included in the image forming system 1, and the server to which the image forming apparatus 10-1 is connected is changed from the server 12-1 to the server 12-2. change.

In the image forming apparatus 10-1, as shown in FIG. 5, in step 100 (S100), the setting reception unit 306 of the setting information management program 30 receives the input setting and outputs it to the control unit 304. .
In step 102 (S102), the control unit 304 controls the update unit 308 to update the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 to the setting received by the setting reception unit 306.

In step 104 (S104), the control unit 304 controls the operation confirmation unit 310 to confirm the operation based on the new setting, and accepts the result from the operation confirmation unit 310.
In step 106 (S106), the control unit 304 determines whether or not the operation check has been normally completed. The control unit 304 proceeds to the process of S108 when the operation check is normally completed, and proceeds to the process of S110 otherwise.

  In step 108 (S108), the control unit 304 controls the setting transmission unit 312 to transmit the setting information whose operation has been confirmed to the image forming apparatuses 10-2 to 10-n via the network 14, End the process.

On the other hand, in step 110 (S110), the control unit 304 controls the setting request unit 314 to broadcast a request to transmit setting information.
In step 112 (S112), the setting request unit 314 receives setting information transmitted from any of the image forming apparatuses 10-2 to 10-n in response to the request, and outputs the setting information to the control unit 304.

  In step 114 (S114), the control unit 304 controls the update unit 308 to update the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 to the setting accepted by the setting request unit 314, and ends the process. .

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation (S20) of the image forming apparatus 10 other than the image forming apparatus 10 whose settings have been changed in the image forming system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the image forming apparatus 10-2 receives the information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10-1 as an example.

As shown in FIG. 6, in step 200 (S <b> 200), the receiving unit 316 of the setting information management program 30 receives the information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10-1 and outputs it to the control unit 304.
In step 202 (S202), the control unit 304 determines whether the information received by the receiving unit 316 is updated setting information or a setting information transmission request. When the information is updated setting information, the control unit 304 proceeds to the process of S204, and when the information is a setting information transmission request, the control unit 304 proceeds to the process of S206.

  In step 204 (S204), the control unit 304 controls the update unit 308 to update the setting stored in the setting information storage unit 302 to the setting received by the receiving unit 316, and ends the process.

  On the other hand, in step 206 (S206), the control unit 304 controls the setting transmission unit 312 to send the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 302 to the request source (image forming apparatus 10-) via the network 14. 1), and the process ends.

1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the outline of the reflection method of the setting content updated in the image forming apparatus 10 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a setting information management program 30 executed by the image forming apparatus 10. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation (S10) of the image forming apparatus 10 in which settings have been changed in the image forming system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation (S20) of the image forming apparatus 10 other than the image forming apparatus 10 whose settings have been changed in the image forming system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming system 10 Image forming apparatus 12 Server 14 Network 18 CPU
20 memory 22 storage device 24 communication device 26 display device 28 input device 30 setting information management program 302 setting information storage unit 304 control unit 306 setting reception unit 308 update unit 310 operation confirmation unit 312 setting transmission unit 314 setting request unit 316 reception unit

Claims (11)

Setting storage means for storing settings related to the connected network;
Updating means for updating the settings stored in the setting storage means;
Operation confirmation means for performing operation confirmation based on the setting updated by the update means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit information related to a setting whose operation has been confirmed by the operation confirmation unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits information regarding settings to another image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits information regarding settings to a predetermined transmission destination. A request means for requesting transmission of information on settings;
When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is normally completed, the transmission unit transmits information about the setting. When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is not normal termination, the request unit transmits the information about the setting. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a control unit that performs control to request The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit updates the setting stored in the setting storage unit to a setting transmitted in response to a request from the request unit. Setting storage means for storing settings related to the connected network;
Receiving means for receiving information;
Updating means for updating the settings stored in the setting storage means;
Transmitting means for transmitting information on settings stored in the setting storage means;
If the information received by the receiving means is information related to settings, the updating means updates the settings stored in the setting storage means to the settings received by the receiving means and received by the receiving means An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to control the transmission unit to transmit the information related to the setting when the information is a request for transmission of the information related to the setting. The receiving means receives information related to settings before update and information related to settings after update,
The control means receives the setting stored in the setting storage means when the setting before update received by the receiving means matches the setting stored in the setting storage means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image forming apparatus is controlled to update to the updated setting received by the means. Setting storage means for storing settings related to the connected network;
Updating means for updating the settings stored in the setting storage means;
Operation confirmation means for performing operation confirmation based on the setting updated by the update means;
Transmitting means for transmitting information on settings stored in the setting storage means;
A request means for requesting transmission of information on settings;
Receiving means for receiving information;
When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is normally completed, the transmission unit transmits information about the setting. When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is not normal termination, the request unit transmits the information about the setting. If the information received by the receiving means is information relating to a setting, the updating means updates the setting stored in the setting storage means to the setting received by the receiving means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to control the transmission unit to transmit the information related to the setting when the information received by the reception unit is a request for transmission of the information related to the setting. Setting storage means for storing settings related to the connected network;
Updating means for updating the settings stored in the setting storage means;
Operation confirmation means for performing operation confirmation based on the setting updated by the update means;
Transmitting means for transmitting information on settings stored in the setting storage means;
A request means for requesting transmission of information on settings;
When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is normally completed, the transmission unit transmits information about the setting. When the operation confirmation by the operation confirmation unit is not normal termination, the request unit transmits the information about the setting. First control means for controlling to request
A first image forming apparatus comprising:
The setting storage means, the update means, the transmission means,
Receiving means for receiving information transmitted from the first image forming apparatus;
If the information received by the receiving means is information related to settings, the updating means updates the settings stored in the setting storage means to the settings received by the receiving means and received by the receiving means A second control unit configured to control the transmission unit to transmit the information regarding the setting to the first image forming apparatus when the information is a request for transmission of the information regarding the setting;
A second image forming apparatus comprising:
An image forming system. In an image forming apparatus having a computer and setting storage means for storing settings related to a connected network,
An update step of updating the settings stored in the setting storage means;
An operation check step for performing an operation check based on the updated setting;
A program for causing a computer of the image forming apparatus to execute a transmission step of transmitting information related to the setting whose operation has been confirmed. In an image forming apparatus having a computer and setting storage means for storing settings related to a connected network,
A receiving step for receiving information;
If the received information is information related to settings, update the settings stored in the setting storage means to the received settings, and if the received information is a request for transmission of information related to settings, A program for causing the computer of the image forming apparatus to execute a control step of controlling to transmit information relating to the setting.

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