JP2010211266A - Output apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an output apparatus, which is configured to encourage self-management and self-suppression of each user and to reduce a network manager's burden. <P>SOLUTION: The output apparatus includes a use history storage unit for storing IP addresses of devices which transmit output data to the output apparatus. The storage means stores, together with the IP address of a device which transmits output data to the output apparatus, the transmission date of the output data. The storage means stores, together with the IP address of a device which transmits output data to the output apparatus, only the latest date of transmission of the output data. The storage means stores, together with the IP address of a device which transmits output data to the output apparatus, the transmission frequency of output data to the output apparatus by the device. The output apparatus also includes a notification information creation unit which creates a notification for the apparatus which transmits output data to the output apparatus based on the information stored in the storage means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an output device that is connected to and used by an information processing device such as a personal computer via a network.

  If you want to connect information processing devices such as personal computers over the network, or if you want to share output devices such as multifunction devices and printers over a network with multiple information processing devices, It is necessary to perform management settings such as network protocol settings (for example, IP address settings for mutual identification on the network), user registration, and access condition settings. For example, when an output device is connected, this management setting process uses dedicated management software (management tool) or an operation panel of the output device, which is different from application software related to the use of the function of the output device. It is done. The management setting process is performed by a user registered as a network administrator who is given authority for the management setting process. The network administrator is permitted access by inputting the administrator ID and password, and is permitted to perform the management setting process in an integrated manner.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-92761 discloses an output device that is set with an IP address and can be used from an information processing device such as a personal computer on a network.
JP 2001-92761 A

  By the way, as a network administrator, it is necessary to manage the entire network system, including whether the resources on the network are operating correctly. Especially for output devices such as printers on the network, too many Check management must be performed, including whether or not print output has been made. However, due to security issues in network systems, and sophistication and complexity of network systems, the burden on network administrators is increasing, and management of the number of printed output of output devices is an extra burden. It was a problem.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the output device according to the present invention is characterized in that it has storage means for storing the IP address of the device that has transmitted output data to itself.

  Further, the output device according to the present invention is characterized in that the storage means stores the date and time when the output data was transmitted together with the IP address of the device that transmitted the output data to the own device.

  Further, the output device according to the present invention is characterized in that the storage means stores only the latest date and time when the output data is transmitted together with the IP address of the device that transmitted the output data to the own device.

Further, the output device according to the present invention stores the number of times that the device has transmitted the output data to the own device together with the IP address of the device that has transmitted the output data to the own device. Features.

  In addition, the output device according to the present invention includes a notification information creating unit that creates a notification to the device that has transmitted the output data to the device based on information stored in the storage unit.

  The output device according to the present invention is characterized in that the device is a device connected to the same local area network as the local area network to which the output device is connected.

  The output device according to the present invention is characterized in that the device is a device connected to the same subnetwork as the subnetwork to which the output device is connected.

  As described above, according to the output device of the present invention, the storage device stores the IP address or the like of the device that has transmitted the output data to the own device. Therefore, it is possible to construct a system that promotes self-control, and it is possible to reduce the management burden on the network administrator.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the output device (multifunction machine) which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and its periphery. It is a figure which shows an example of the address setting of the output apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and a personal computer. It is a figure explaining the information memorized by use history storage part 173 of an output device concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the notification information produced in the notification information creation part 174 of the output device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the process regularly performed with the output device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates typically processing and operation of an output device concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically the operation | movement at the time of the notification information reception of the information processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a multi-function device will be described as an example of an output device. However, the present invention is not limited to such a multi-function device, but can be applied to a facsimile machine having a printer unit and a scanner unit.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an output device (multifunction device) and its surroundings according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a network such as a LAN, 20 is a telephone line, 100 is a multifunction device, 110 is a control unit that performs main control of the multifunction device, 120 is a facsimile unit that transmits and receives facsimile documents, and 130 is a recording medium. A printer unit that performs printing, 140 a scanner unit that reads a document, 150 an operation panel unit that serves as an interface with a user, 160 a communication unit, 170 a management unit, 173 a use history storage unit, and 174 create notification information , 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,... Indicate personal computers (information processing devices), respectively. In this specification, the facsimile unit 120, the printer unit 130, the scanner unit 140, and the operation panel unit 150 may be referred to as devices.

In the system around the output device (multifunction machine) shown in FIG. 1, personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,... It becomes the composition which is done. Further, the facsimile unit 120 of the multifunction peripheral 100 is configured to be connected to the telephone line 20.

  The multifunction device 100 scans and reads a document / image in color by a control unit 110 that performs main control of the multifunction device main body including an information processing device, an operation panel unit 150 that is an input / output device that receives a user's input operation, and the like. A scanner unit 140, a printer unit 130 that performs printing on printing paper or the like, and a facsimile unit 120 that performs facsimile transmission / reception are provided. That is, the multi-function device 100 includes a scanner function, a print function, a copy function combining the scanner function and the print function, and a facsimile transmission / reception function.

  Each of the information processing mechanisms of the multifunction peripheral 100 is configured by, for example, a general-purpose computer system, and each component or function is realized by, for example, executing a computer program written in a storage unit.

  The scanner unit 140 includes a document table (not shown) on which a document can be placed and an optical system that reads the document table. The document table of the scanner unit 140 is provided with a document size detection sensor that can detect the size of the document placed on the document table. Further, the multifunction peripheral 100 may be provided with an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) that automatically and continuously feeds documents to the scanner unit 140.

  The data read by the scanner unit 140 is once stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the control unit 110. The control unit 110 outputs the document image data read by the scanner unit 140 from the printer unit 130 as it is or at a set magnification according to the designation from the operation panel unit 150 or the like (copy function of the MFP 100). , Transmitted from the facsimile unit 120 through a telephone line (facsimile function of the multifunction machine 100), and transmitted to the personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,. To be transmitted (scanner function of the multifunction device 100).

The mode of the MFP 100 when using the copy function is defined as “copy mode”, the mode of the MFP 100 when using the facsimile transmission function among the facsimile functions is defined as “facsimile transmission mode”, and the scanner function The mode of the multi-function device 100 when using is defined as “scan mode”. In particular, personal computers 200 and 200 ′.
, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,... Is defined as a “PCFAX mode” that transmits data such as a document created by an application operating on a personal computer by facsimile.

  The printer unit 130 forms an image on a recording sheet. The printer unit 130 employs a method of forming a latent image on a photoconductor with a laser or an LED line head, or directly ejects ink onto a recording sheet. A well-known hardware configuration such as an ink jet method employing the method can be used. The control unit 110 causes the printer unit 130 to perform predetermined paper output based on instructions from the operation panel unit 150 and the personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,. . That is, the printer unit 130 operates on image data read by the scanner unit 140, facsimile data received by the facsimile unit 210, and personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,. The data from the application software is output on paper.

The facsimile unit 120 is connected to the telephone line 20 and is received by a facsimile transmission / reception unit (not shown) that performs facsimile transmission / reception, a transmission buffer that temporarily stores transmission data to be transmitted by the facsimile transmission / reception unit, and a facsimile transmission / reception unit. And a facsimile unit memory for constituting a reception buffer for temporarily storing received data.

  Further, when the facsimile unit 120 receives data transmitted by facsimile from the telephone line 20, it temporarily stores the received data. The stored received data is sent to the control unit 110 and printed by the printer unit 130. The facsimile unit 120 performs facsimile transmission / reception independently of other components in the multifunction peripheral 100. In other words, when the facsimile unit 120 receives transmission data from the multifunction device 100, the facsimile unit 120 performs facsimile transmission independently of the multifunction device 100. If facsimile data is transmitted from the telephone line 20, the facsimile unit 120 receives the facsimile data.

  The copy function of the multifunction peripheral 100 is set in the control unit 110 by the user operating the operation panel unit 150. From the operation panel unit 150, a copy magnification setting, a document image size setting, and an output paper size setting related to the copy function can be set. Based on these settings, the control unit 110 can copy the MFP 100. Perform the function. The copy function of the multifunction peripheral 100 performs copy magnification processing on the original image data read by the scanner unit 140, and outputs the result to paper of a size specified by the printer unit 130.

  The hardware of the operation panel unit 150 is roughly composed of a display unit composed of an LCD for displaying operations, a button switch that can be input by pressing with a finger, and a cross key. The user refers to the display on the display unit. Various settings of the multifunction device 100 can be performed by operating these button switches and cross keys. The operation panel unit 150 can be used to select various functions such as a facsimile function, a printer function, and a copy function of the multifunction peripheral 100, and to set an apparatus such as an IP address.

  The management unit 170 manages information related to the user of the multifunction peripheral 100, and includes various units such as a usage history storage unit 173 and a notification information creation unit 174. The usage history storage unit 173 stores information related to the user who uses the multifunction device 100, and the notification information creation unit 174 creates information to be notified to the user who uses the multifunction device 100.

  An example of the network configuration of the multifunction peripheral 100 and the personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,... Will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of address setting of the output device and the personal computer according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, for each device connected to the network, an IP address, a subnet mask, a gateway address, and the like are set by a person who is authorized as a network administrator. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, an example in which a subnetwork is configured by devices within a dotted line will be described, but the present invention is not limited to such a setting situation.

  Next, the usage history storage unit 173 in the management unit 170 will be described in more detail. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating information stored in the use history storage unit 173 of the output device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 3A is an example of a reception history of print output data received by the multi-function device 100 from the personal computers 200, 200 ′, 200 ″, 200 ′ ″,... In the use history storage unit 173 according to the present invention, at least “source IP address”, “latest use date / time”, and cumulative “number of receptions” of the print output job are extracted from the print history data as described above. Are set to be stored. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure stored in the usage history storage unit 173. The data stored in the use history storage unit 173 is a storage means having an unnecessarily large capacity by keeping the minimum data such as “source IP address”, “latest use date / time”, “number of times received”, etc. Is not used.

Next, the notification information creation unit 174 in the management unit 170 will be described in more detail. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the notification information created by the notification information creation unit 174 of the output device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The notification information creation unit 174 creates information to be notified to a user who uses the multifunction device 100. The notification information creation unit 174 acquires the transmission source user address, the latest use date and time, and the number of receptions from the use history storage unit 173.

  As shown in FIG. 5, items included in the notification information created by the notification information creation unit 174 are set to “destination IP address”, “notification contents”, “latest use date”, “number of receptions”, and the like. Can do. In FIG. 5, notification information for informing the personal computer (PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, PC5) that regularly transmits print output data to the multifunction peripheral 100 such as “latest use date”, “number of receptions”, and the like. The image to create is shown.

  Next, a processing operation in the multifunction peripheral 100 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart of processing periodically executed by the output device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The process according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 is executed about once a month, for example, to notify each user of the usage status of the multifunction device 100.

  In FIG. 5, when the process is started in step 100, the process proceeds to step S <b> 101, and usage history data (shown in FIG. 3B) is acquired from the usage history storage unit 173. In step S102, the transmission source IP address is extracted from the usage history data. In step S103, the notification information creation unit 174 creates notification information (shown in FIG. 4) using the extracted IP address as a transmission destination. In step S104, the communication unit 160 is requested to transmit the notification information created by the notification information creation unit 174. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the communication unit 160 transmits the usage status of the multifunction peripheral 100 to each transmission destination designated by the IP address. The process ends in step S105 following step S104.

Next, a processing operation when each personal computer (information processing device) receives the notification information created by the notification information creation unit 174 will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing an operation at the time of receiving notification information of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 210 denotes notification software. The notification software 210 is software that operates on a personal computer and is used when the multifunction peripheral 100 is used from the personal computer.

When the personal computer (information processing device) receives the notification information from the multifunction peripheral 100, the notification software 210 displays a message on a display unit (not shown) of the personal computer. An example of the message at this time is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, in the present invention, a window is displayed on the display section, such as “The latest use date is 2009/01/31 17:40:10. The message is now to be.

  As described above, the multifunction peripheral 100 (output device) includes the usage history storage unit 173 that stores the IP address of the information processing device (personal computer) that has transmitted the output data to the own device. Based on this, a message as shown in FIG. 7 is notified to each information processing device user, so that it is possible to construct a system that encourages each user to perform self-management and self-control. It is possible to reduce the administrative burden of

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Network, 20 ... Telephone line, 100 ... Multifunction machine, 110 ... Control part, 120 ... Facsimile part, 130 ... Printer part, 140 ... Scanner part, 150. ..Operation panel unit, 151... Display unit, 152... Button switch, 153
... Cross key, 160 ... Communication unit, 170 ... Management unit, 173 ... Usage history storage unit, 174 ... Notification information creation unit, 200, 200 ', 200'',200''', ... Personal computer, 210 ... Notification software

Claims (7)

An output device comprising storage means for storing an IP address of a device that has transmitted output data to the own device. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores the date and time when the output data is transmitted together with the IP address of the device that transmitted the output data to the own device. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores only the latest date and time when the output data is transmitted together with the IP address of the device that transmitted the output data to the own device. 4. The storage unit stores the number of times the device has transmitted output data to the device, together with the IP address of the device that has transmitted output data to the device. The output device according to any one of the above. 5. A notification information creating unit for creating a notification for a device that has transmitted output data to the own device based on information stored in the storage unit. The output device according to Item 1. The output device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the device is a device connected to the same local area network as a local area network to which the output device is connected. The output device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the device is a device connected to the same subnetwork as the subnetwork to which the output device is connected.

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