JP2012105133A - Image forming apparatus, application operating state control method, program, and computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing useless resource consumption considering convenience for a user with respect to a startup state of an application.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 1 comprises: a determination unit 81 which determines whether an application stored in an application unit 10 is a normal-type application which operates according to an instruction input from an operation unit 4 or a service-type application which does not require an instruction input from the operation unit 4; and an operating state control unit 82 which controls the application determined as the normal-type application by the determination unit 81 to be a stop state, and controls to activate the application determined as the service-type application by the determination unit 81 to be a stand-by state.

Description

  The present invention relates to activation of an application in an image forming apparatus connected to a server apparatus via a network.

  In recent years, an image forming apparatus (multifunction peripheral, MFP: Multi Function Peripherals) having a plurality of functions such as a copy function, a scan function, a print function, a FAX transmission / reception function, and an image transmission function has a Web server and a plurality of Web applications. Devices that can be operated are known. In such a multifunction device, in order to process a request from a browser or the outside, it is necessary to activate a Web application and enter a standby state (a state in which an external request can be processed). In this case, it is necessary to secure resources such as an operation memory and a storage area of the multifunction peripheral in order to be in a standby state.

  However, in a multi-function peripheral with a small amount of physical memory, keeping a large number of Web applications in a standby state leads to wasteful consumption of memory, which may lead to a decrease in performance of the multi-function peripheral.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a technique in which application priorities are determined according to usage frequency and usage status in each past time zone, and only the minimum necessary applications are activated. Further, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for allowing a user to select an application to be activated or stopped when the user logs out or logs in via a user interface.

JP 2007-279792 A (released on October 25, 2007) JP 2010-39661 A (published February 18, 2010)

  When an application provides a service that does not have a user interface (UI) (for example, when a request is received from the outside of the multi-function peripheral and information on the number of used sheets is returned), the application needs to be activated at all times. However, in the conventional technology, the type of application to be used is not considered at all, and even an application that needs to be constantly activated may not be activated.

  Even if the priority order is determined according to the usage frequency and usage status and activated as in Patent Document 1, it is unclear whether the application is executed, and the convenience of the user is that an application that has not been activated cannot be executed. Sex remains impaired. In addition, as in Patent Document 2, if the user selects an application to be activated or stopped, a burden is imposed on the user.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing wasteful resource consumption in consideration of user convenience with respect to an application activation state. There is.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an operation unit that receives an instruction input from a user, an application unit that stores an application, and a server unit that operates the application. And determining means for determining whether the application stored in the application unit is a normal application that operates in accordance with an instruction input from the operation unit or a service-type application that does not require an instruction input from the operation unit And a standby state in which the application determined to be a normal type application by the determination unit is controlled to be in a stopped state, and the application determined to be a service type application by the determination unit is started and the application can be accessed Control to be Characterized in that and an operating state control unit.

  A service-type application that does not require instruction input from the operation unit needs to be always activated and kept in a standby state so that it can be accessed from inside or outside the image forming apparatus. On the other hand, a normal application that operates in accordance with an instruction input from the operation unit is used from the operation screen, and thus does not always need to be activated. For this reason, it is not desirable that the memory and resources of the image forming apparatus continue to be secured for the process of starting the normal type application and waiting for execution in the standby state.

  However, according to the above configuration, a service-type application that does not require an instruction input from the operation unit is controlled so as to be activated and enter a standby state in which access to the application is possible. On the other hand, a normal application that operates in accordance with an instruction input from the operation unit is controlled to be stopped.

  Therefore, it is divided into the service type application that always needs to be started and the normal type application that is not necessary, and the service type application is set to the standby state and the normal type application is set to the stop state. Considering user convenience, it is possible to suppress wasteful resource consumption.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the determination by the determination unit and the control by the operation state control unit may be executed when the image forming apparatus is activated.

  According to the above configuration, when the image forming apparatus is activated, the normal type application is stopped and the service type application is set to a standby state. Therefore, such a state can always be maintained from the time when the image forming apparatus is activated. Therefore, wasteful resource consumption can be suppressed at all times in consideration of user convenience.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the above-described configuration, the operation state control unit activates the normal application requested to start and waits when the operation unit receives an instruction input of the normal application start request. When the use of the normal type application ends, the normal type application may be stopped.

  According to the above configuration, when the activation is requested, the normal type application is set in a standby state, and when the use of the normal type application is ended, the normal type application is set in a stopped state. In this way, wasteful resource consumption can be suppressed by putting the normal application in a standby state only when necessary.

  In addition to the above configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a display unit, and the determination unit has a screen content that provides a user interface to be displayed on the display unit by a determination target application. If the screen content is included, the determination target application may be determined as a normal application.

  According to the above configuration, whether or not to put the application in a standby state can be determined depending on whether or not it has screen content that provides a user interface to be displayed on the display unit. Specifically, when the application to be determined has the screen content, the application is determined to be a normal type application and stopped, and when the application does not have the screen content, the application is determined to be a service type application. And it can be in a standby state.

  Here, the determination means determines whether or not the screen content providing the user interface is present, whether or not the extension of the file constituting the application is for screen content, or You may perform by at least one of the determination whether the identification information which shows a screen content is contained in the file which comprises an application.

  Alternatively, the determination means determines whether the application is a normal application or a service application, and the application stored in the application unit is associated with identification information identifying whether the application is a normal application or a service application, The determination by the identification information corresponding to the determination target application, or the application unit has a normal type application area for storing the normal type application and a service type application area for storing the service type application. You may perform by at least one of the determination by the area | region where the application is stored.

As described above,
By the above-described method, the device control unit automatically determines, so that unnecessary application activation can be prevented.

  In order to solve the above problems, an application operation state control method according to the present invention includes: a user interface that receives an input instruction; an application unit that stores an application; and a server unit that operates the application. A method for controlling an operation state of the application in the apparatus, wherein the application stored in the application unit does not require a normal application that operates according to an input instruction from the user interface or an input instruction from the user interface A determination step for determining whether the application is a service-type application, and control so that an application determined to be a normal-type application in the determination step is stopped, and a service-type application is determined in the determination step. Start is determined that emissions applications controlled to be in a standby state that can be accessed to the application is characterized in that it comprises, an operation state control step.

  According to the above method, the same effect as that of the image forming apparatus can be obtained, and wasteful resource consumption can be suppressed in consideration of the convenience of the user with respect to the application activation state.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention may be realized by a computer. In this case, a program for realizing the image forming apparatus by the computer by operating the computer as the above-described units, and the program are recorded. Computer-readable recording media are also within the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the application stored in the application unit does not require a normal application that operates according to an instruction input from the operation unit or an instruction input from the operation unit. A determination unit that determines whether the application is a service-type application; and an application that is determined to be a normal application by the determination unit is controlled to be stopped, and an application that is determined to be a service-type application by the determination unit is started. Operating state control means for controlling to enter a standby state in which access to the application is possible.

  According to the above configuration, a service-type application that does not require input of an instruction from the operation unit is controlled so as to be in a standby state in which access to the application is possible. On the other hand, a normal application that operates in accordance with an instruction input from the operation unit is controlled to be stopped.

  Therefore, it is divided into the service type application that always needs to be started and the normal type application that is not necessary, and the service type application is set to the standby state and the normal type application is set to the stop state. Considering user convenience, it is possible to suppress wasteful resource consumption.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of control processing of an operation state of an application when the image forming apparatus is activated. It is a figure which shows the flow of a control process of the application operation state when an application is selected from the operation part of the said image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of an application list screen. It is a figure which shows an example of an application information management table. It is an example of the program which describes the screen shown by an application. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed by the said program. It is a figure which shows an example of the file which an application has.

  One embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to FIGS.

(Image forming device)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is assumed to be a multi function peripheral (MFP) having a plurality of functions such as a copy function, a scan function, a print function, a FAX transmission / reception function, and an image transmission function. Note that the image transmission function includes a function (scan to e-mail) for transmitting image data read and generated by the scan function by e-mail, and a function for storing in the usb memory (scan to usb). Note that the functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are not limited to these. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 may not have all of the above functions. That is, you may have one or two or more functions.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image reading unit 2, an image forming unit 3, an operation unit 4, a web browser unit 7, a control unit 8, a communication unit 9, a web server unit 13, and an application unit 10.

  The operation unit 4 is a block that provides a user interface (UI) that notifies the user of various types of information and receives input from the user. The operation unit 4 includes an input unit 5 including various input keys or buttons, and a display unit 6 such as a liquid crystal display. The input unit 5 receives an operation input for a setting or operation instruction of the image forming apparatus 1 from the user. The display unit 6 displays various screens.

  The operation unit 4 may be realized as a touch panel in which the display unit 6 and the input unit 5 are integrated. In that case, in addition to various screen displays, various operation buttons and the like are displayed, and operation input signals for setting and operation instructions of the image forming apparatus 1 input from the user via the displayed various operation buttons are displayed on the control unit. 8 to send.

  The image reading unit 2 is a block that optically reads a document, converts the read optical signal, generates image data, and outputs the image data to the image forming unit 3. The image reading unit 2 includes a scanner and a document transport unit that transports the document to the position of the scanner. The image reading unit 2 reads an image with a predetermined resolution.

  The image forming unit 3 processes the image data read by the image reading unit 2 or the image data received from an external device (not shown) according to an operation input from the operation unit 4 (not shown). This block performs image processing in accordance with instructions received from an external device and performs output processing. Here, the output process is any one of printing, FAX transmission, image data transmission, and display on the display unit 6. The output process may include storing image data.

  Here, the image forming unit 3 has been described as performing the output process, but an image output unit that performs the output process may be separately provided. In that case, the image forming unit 3 performs image processing on the image data, and transmits the image data subjected to the image processing to the image output unit. Then, the image output unit outputs the received image data.

  The control unit 8 is a block that comprehensively controls operations of various configurations and various functions in the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 8 controls the image forming apparatus 1 based on information stored in a storage unit (not shown) in response to an operation input from the operation unit 4 or an instruction received from an external device (not shown). . For example, the control unit 8 controls each block of the image forming apparatus 1 to execute a copy function, a scan function, a print function, a FAX transmission / reception function, an image transmission function, and the like. In addition, a well-known method can be used as an execution method of these functions.

  In addition, a control unit 8, a determination unit (determination unit) 81, and an operation state control unit (operation state control unit) 82 are provided.

  The determination unit 81 determines whether the application stored in the application unit 10 is a normal type application 12 that operates according to an instruction input from the operation unit 4 or a service type application 11 that does not require an instruction input from the operation unit 4. To do.

  The operation state control unit 82 controls the application that is determined to be a normal application by the determination unit 81 so as to be stopped, and controls the application that is determined to be a service type application by the determination unit 81 to enter a standby state. To do. Further processing of the determination unit 81 and the operation state control unit 82 will be described later.

  The communication unit 9 is an interface for performing communication with an external device (not shown) via a network. The communication unit 9 can also access the web server unit 13 inside the image forming apparatus 1 when the IP address of the own apparatus is indicated as the access destination. As the network, a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark), the Internet, a telephone line, a serial cable, or another communication line such as a wired line or a wireless line can be used.

  The web browser unit 7 makes a request to the web server unit via the communication unit 9 and receives a response to the request. Here, the web server unit that is the request destination may be provided by an external device or may be the web server unit 13 provided in the image forming apparatus 1. That is, the web browser unit 7 can communicate with the web server unit 13 inside the image forming apparatus 1 as well as the web server unit of the external device via the communication unit 9.

  The web browser unit 7 performs an operation in accordance with commonly used web browser software.

  The web server unit 13 receives a request (HTTP request) from the web browser unit 7 or an external device, executes an application corresponding to the request, and responds to the web browser unit 7 or the external device (HTTP response). ) Is a block to perform.

  The web server unit 13 operates in accordance with web server software. Here, the web server is software that provides a function of a server device constituting a WWW (World Wide Web) which is an information system on the Internet.

  The application unit 10 is a block that stores an application that runs on the web server unit 13. The application stored in the application unit 10 is activated by a user operation from a service-type application 11 that receives a control request from an external device and transmits the result to the control unit 8 and returns the result, and the operation unit 4 of the image forming apparatus 1 itself. And a normal application 12.

  As for the normal application 12, when an activation request from the user is received from the operation unit 4, the request is transmitted to the control unit 8. The control unit 8 makes an activation request for the web browser unit 7 and transmits the URL information of the requested application to the web browser unit 7. The web browser unit 7 makes a connection request to the URL acquired from the control unit 8 using the HTTP protocol. The connection is transmitted from the web browser unit 7 to the normal application 12 via the communication unit 9 and the web server unit 13.

(Control of application operating status)
Next, processing when the image forming apparatus 1 is started will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of control processing of the operation state of the application at the time of activation.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on (S201), the determination unit 81 determines whether the application stored in the application unit 10 is a service-type application (S202) (determination step). If it is not a service type application, it is a normal type application, so in S202, it may be determined whether it is a service type application or a normal type application.

  If it is determined that the application is a service-type application (YES in S202), the operation state control unit 82 causes the application determined by the determination unit 81 to transition to a standby state (S203) (operation state control step). Here, the standby state refers to a state in which the application is activated on the web server unit 13 and can be accessed from the external device or the web browser unit 7 at any time.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the application is not a service application (or a determination that the application is a normal application) (NO in S202), the operation state control unit 82 causes the application determined by the determination unit 81 to transition to a standby state. It is determined that it is not necessary, and a transition is made to a stop state (S204) (operation state control step). The stopped state refers to a state in which an application is arranged on the web server unit 13 but cannot be accessed from the external device or the web browser unit 7 of the image forming apparatus 1.

  As described above, in S204, a transition is made to the stopped state, but if the application is originally in the stopped state, the stopped state is maintained (the stopped state is kept).

  When the power is turned on in step S201, all functions of the image forming apparatus are stopped, and the functions of the web server unit 13 are also stopped. Therefore, neither the service-type application nor the normal-type application can be used. .

  Next, processing when an application activation request is made from the operation unit 4 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that an application activation request is issued from the operation unit 4 for a normal application. As described above, the service-type application is activated when the image forming apparatus 1 is activated. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of control processing of an application operation state when an application is selected by the operation unit 4.

  When a normal application is stored in the application unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 1, an application list screen is displayed on the display unit 6 of the operation unit 4. FIG. 4 is an example of an application list screen. Here, as an example, it is assumed that “identification document copy application” and “form printing application” are displayed on the application list screen.

  Therefore, the user selects an application to be used from the application list screen displayed on the display unit 6 of the operation unit 4. With this selection, the control unit 8 accepts an activation request from the operation unit 4 (S301). The control unit 8 identifies the normal type application that has received the activation request, and the operation state control unit 82 sets the identified normal type application in a standby state (S302). In order to identify the application received as the activation request, the control unit 8 refers to registration information registered in the application information management table as shown in FIG. 5, for example. Here, the application information management table is a table for managing applications stored in the application unit 10 by the image forming apparatus 1.

  For example, when “identification document copy application” is selected on the application list screen, the normal application 12 (here) is stored in the application unit 10 from the registered address information (URL information) indicating where it is stored. Then, “identification document copy application”) is specified and put into a standby state.

  When the normal application 12 that has received the activation request enters a standby state, the control unit 8 activates the web browser unit 7 (S303). At the same time, the URL information of the application that accesses the web browser unit 7 is passed. The URL information is information registered in the application information management table as shown in FIG.

  The activated web browser unit 7 accesses the designated URL (S304). In this access, a request based on the HTTP protocol is issued and access to the normal application 12 is performed.

The normal application 12 that has received the request from the web browser unit 7 returns a response. When the activated normal type application is the “identification document copy application”, for example, the screen content that responds is based on HTML as shown in FIG.
The web browser unit 7 displays the acquired HTML on the display unit 6 of the operation unit 4 (S305). FIG. 7 is a screen example when the web browser unit 7 displays the screen data of FIG. 6 on the display unit 6.

  When the user performs an operation such as executing a copy on the screen of FIG. 7 to terminate the application (S307), the operation state control unit 82 causes the operation of the normal application 12 to transition to the stop state (S308).

(Judgment part)
Next, a method for the determination unit 81 to determine whether the determination target application is a normal application or a service application will be described.

  Since the normal application is an application that operates in accordance with an input instruction from the operation unit 4, the determination is made based on whether or not the application has screen data (screen content that provides a user interface) displayed on the display unit 6 of the operation unit 4. Is possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, since the screen data is described in html, there is an html tag (identification information indicating screen data, identification information indicating screen content) in the application (in a file constituting the application). You may determine by no.

  The determination unit 81 refers to the file structure of the determination target application, and an application having a file with an extension of html or htm (screen data extension, screen content extension) has screen data. It may be determined that If the example of FIG. 8 is used, it can be determined that default.html is a file for screen data because the extension is html.

  Further, when the application is stored in the application unit 10 (when registered in the image forming apparatus 1), identification information indicating which type of application is the service type or the normal type is used as the image forming apparatus 1. You may register with. In this case, a column indicating identification information of the application type is added to the application information management table for managing the applications stored in the application unit 10 by the image forming apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the determination unit 81 can determine with reference to the application information management table.

  Further, when the application is stored in the application unit 10 (when registered in the image forming apparatus 1), if the application can be identified, the application unit 10 is used as a service-type application unit that stores the service-type application ( Service-type application areas) and normal-type application units (normal-type application areas) that store normal-type applications may be divided and stored in corresponding areas. Therefore, the determination unit 81 can determine from the information on the location where the application is stored (service type application unit or normal type application unit).

(Program / Recording medium)
Each block of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, particularly the control unit 8, may be configured by hardware logic, or may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  That is, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a CPU (central processing unit) that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program, and a RAM (random access memory) that expands the program. And a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data. An object of the present invention is a recording medium on which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the image forming apparatus 1 which is software for realizing the above-described functions is recorded so as to be readable by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying the image forming apparatus 1 and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. Card system such as IC card, IC card (including memory card) / optical card, or semiconductor memory system such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  The image forming apparatus 1 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication. A net or the like is available. Also, the transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, even in the case of wired such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL line, etc., infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth ( (Registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, and the like can also be used. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible. The technology of the present invention is also applied to embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the respective technical means disclosed in the above-described embodiments. Included in the scope.

  The present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus that operates an application, for example, a printer, a copier, a facsimile, a multi function printer (MFP), and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Image reading part 3 Image forming part 4 Operation part 5 Input part 6 Display part 7 Web browser part 8 Control part 9 Communication part 10 Application part 11 Service type application 12 Normal type application 13 Web server part 81 Determination part ( Judgment means)
82 Operation state control unit (operation state control means)

Claims (9)

An image forming apparatus including an operation unit that receives an instruction input from a user, an application unit that stores an application, and a server unit that operates the application,
A determination unit that determines whether the application stored in the application unit is a normal type application that operates according to an instruction input from the operation unit or a service type application that does not require an instruction input from the operation unit;
The application determined to be a normal application by the determination unit is controlled to be in a stopped state, and the application determined to be a service type application by the determination unit is activated to enter a standby state in which the application can be accessed. An image forming apparatus comprising: an operation state control unit configured to control the operation state.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination by the determination unit and the control by the operation state control unit are executed when the image forming apparatus is activated. The operating state control means includes
When the operation unit receives an instruction input of a normal type application startup request, the normal type application requested to start is put into a standby state,
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the use of the normal type application in the standby state ends, the normal type application is brought into a stopped state. The operation unit includes a display unit,
The determination unit determines whether the determination target application has screen content that provides a user interface to be displayed on the display unit. If the determination target application has the screen content, the determination target application is determined to be a normal type. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is determined as an application. The determination means determines whether to have screen content that provides the user interface.
Judgment whether the extension of the file that constitutes the application is for screen content, or
Determining whether or not the identification information indicating the screen content is included in the file constituting the application,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image forming apparatus is performed by at least one of the methods. The determination means determines whether the application is a normal application or a service application.
The application stored in the application unit is associated with identification information for identifying whether the application is a normal application or a service application, and determination by identification information corresponding to the determination target application, or
The application unit has a normal type application area for storing a normal type application and a service type application area for storing a service type application, and determination by an area in which a determination target application is stored,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is performed by at least one of the methods. A method for controlling an operation state of the application in an image forming apparatus including an operation unit that receives an instruction input from a user, an application unit that stores an application, and a server unit that operates the application,
A determination step of determining whether the application stored in the application unit is a normal type application that operates according to an input instruction from the operation unit or a service type application that does not require an input instruction from the operation unit;
The application determined to be a normal type application in the determination step is controlled to be in a stopped state, and the application determined to be a service type application in the determination step is activated to enter a standby state in which the application can be accessed. An operation state control step for controlling the operation state of the application.   The program for functioning a computer as said each means with which the image forming apparatus of any one of Claim 1 to 6 is provided.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 8 is recorded.

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