JP2014137669A - Information processing apparatus, program, and information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to use an image forming apparatus without the need to perform complicated settings for using the apparatus.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus installs a device driver on the basis of a detection result of available devices, and includes: specification means for calculating a distance between the detected devices and the information processing apparatus, and specifying one device on the basis of a result of the calculation; acquisition means for acquiring information on the specified one device from the device; transmission means for transmitting an acquisition request of a device driver of the one device based on the acquired information on the device and information on the information processing apparatus; and installation means for installing the device driver acquired in response to the acquisition request.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program, and an information processing system.

Generally, printing is performed by transmitting print data from an information processing apparatus to an image forming apparatus via a network.
However, in order to perform this type of printing, it is necessary to install a device driver suitable for the image forming apparatus that performs printing in the information processing apparatus. In order to perform such processing, an IP (Internet Protocol) address or the like is designated, a network search is performed, a target image forming apparatus is detected, and a model name is selected for installation. However, this operation is complicated, and it is necessary to install it every time when printing is desired at various places in the portable terminal, which is very troublesome.

  Also, if you want to print, you must first install the driver, and you cannot print immediately. Furthermore, it is wasteful to perform driver installation corresponding to all detectable image forming apparatuses existing on the network.

  Various proposals have been made to install device drivers (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  The invention described in Patent Document 1 relates to an “information processing apparatus, a control method, and a control program”, and more specifically, “an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with an image forming apparatus, where the information processing apparatus is installed. Automatic setting for installing the device driver of the image forming apparatus without receiving a user installation instruction when the first attribute information set by the setting means and the first attribute information set by the setting means indicate the first installation location Selecting to execute the installation method, and selecting to execute the manual installation method for installing the device driver according to the user's installation instruction when the first attribute information set by the setting means indicates the second installation location Means ”.

  The invention described in Patent Document 2 relates to “an image processing system, an installation management program, an information processing apparatus, and an image processing apparatus”. Specifically, “a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to a user terminal via a network”. The user terminal changes to a state for installing a driver and notifies the plurality of image forming apparatuses that the state has changed, and at least one of the image forming apparatuses in response to the notification. Information for receiving the device setting information transmitted from the device, installing the driver based on the device setting information, and the image forming apparatus receiving the notification that the state of the user terminal has changed, information for displaying the installation confirmation screen To generate and send device setting information according to user operations on the installation confirmation screen. It is.

However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to set attribute information indicating the installation location of the information processing apparatus and narrow down the target image forming apparatus using the attribute information.
In the invention described in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to send a signal from the information processing apparatus to a plurality of image forming apparatuses and to instruct installation on the screen of the image forming apparatus.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable the user to use the apparatus without making complicated settings for using the image forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an invention according to claim 1 is an information processing apparatus that installs a device driver based on a detection result of an available apparatus, and the information processing apparatus is provided between the detected apparatus and the information processing apparatus. An identification unit that calculates a distance and identifies one device based on a result of the calculation, an acquisition unit that acquires information about the identified one device from the device, an acquired device information, and an information processing device information And a transmission unit that transmits a device driver acquisition request for the one device based on the above, and an installation unit that installs the device driver acquired in response to the acquisition request.

  According to the present invention, the apparatus can be used without complicated settings for the user to use the image forming apparatus.

1 is a block diagram of an information processing system according to an embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is an example of the flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is an example of the driver mapping information shown in FIG.

The present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information processing system according to an embodiment.
The information processing system 10 includes an information processing apparatus 11, an image forming apparatus 13, and a server 15.

The information processing apparatus 11 represents a terminal held by a user, and includes, for example, a personal computer. Based on the communication between the information processing apparatus 11 and the image forming apparatus 13, the image forming apparatus 13 in the vicinity of the information processing apparatus 11 is detected. The user information processing apparatus 11 needs to have a wireless communication module 12.
The information processing apparatus 11 can send a device search request using the wireless communication module 12 and receives a response notification from a device that responds to the search request.

The image forming apparatus 13 is, for example, a multi-function peripheral, and includes a wireless communication module 14 and can communicate with the information processing apparatus 11.
Each of the wireless communication modules 12 and 14 includes a wireless transmission unit and a wireless reception unit. Information is exchanged wirelessly between the wireless communication module 12 of the information processing apparatus 11 and the wireless communication module 14 of the image forming apparatus 13.

  The server 15 is a type of information processing apparatus having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM, RAM, and HDD (not shown). The CPU has a function of controlling the server 15 as a whole. The ROM has a function of storing a control program. The RAM has a function of temporarily storing information for performing control. The HDD has a function of storing image data. In the figure, a communication module 16 is hardware that has a transmitting unit and a receiving unit (not shown) and exchanges information. On the other hand, the driver mapping information 17 and the driver 18 are software, and are stored in an HDD (not shown). The server 15 communicates with the information processing apparatus 11 through the communication module 16. The server 15 receives information on the information processing apparatus 11 and information on the image forming apparatus 13 that is a driver installation target, calculates an appropriate driver using the information and driver mapping information, and transmits the driver to the information processing apparatus 11. To do. RAM is an abbreviation for Random Access Memory. ROM is an abbreviation for Read Only Memory. HDD is an abbreviation for Hard Disc Drive.

The trigger for starting wireless communication between the information processing apparatus 11 and the image forming apparatus 13 and the trigger for starting wireless communication between the information processing apparatus 11 and the server 15 are when these devices are on standby, for example, in a power saving state. And the timing of printing.
The determination as to whether or not the driver is to be installed is, for example, the distance between the information processing apparatus 11 and the device, and the distance of the relative distance is measured by the electric field strength when the information processing apparatus receives radio waves. However, this also depends on the antenna power or field strength of the source. For this reason, it is possible to calculate a stricter relative distance by acquiring information such as the electric field intensity from an image forming apparatus as a transmission source and performing correction.
An example of information processing apparatus information transmitted to the server 15 is OS (Operating System) information such as Windows (registered trademark) 7 64bit.
An example of the device is a projector. The acquisition source may be from not only the server 15 but also a device.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG.
The information processing apparatus 11 includes a wireless communication module 12, a CPU 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, an I / O (Input / Output) 44, a display unit 45, an operation unit 46, a bus line 47, a microphone 48, and a speaker 49.
CD-ROM is an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. CD-R is an abbreviation for CD Recordable.
The CPU 41 has a function of performing overall control of the client terminal, and for example, a microprocessor is used.
The ROM 42 stores a control program, and for example, a mask ROM is used.
The RAM 43 temporarily stores data, and for example, a flash memory is used.
The I / O 44 is for exchanging information with an external circuit, and for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus line) terminal is used.

FIG. 3 is an example of a flowchart showing the operation of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG.
The information processing apparatus 11 receives wireless communication result information from the image forming apparatus 13. In this case, information may be actively acquired from the server to the image forming apparatus (step S1).

  The information processing apparatus 11 calculates the distance to the image forming apparatus 13 based on the wireless communication result information. It is determined whether or not the driver is to be installed. An example of the condition for the installation target is “image forming apparatus with the shortest distance” (step S2).

  When the image forming apparatus 13 to be installed with the driver is found (step S2 / Yes), the information of the image forming apparatus 13 and the information of the information processing apparatus 11 to be installed are transmitted to the server 15. If the image forming apparatus 13 that is a target for driver installation is not found (step S2 / No), the process ends.

  The server 15 calculates an appropriate driver based on the received information and the driver mapping information, and transmits the calculated driver to the information processing apparatus 11 (step S3).

  The information processing apparatus 11 installs the received driver (step S4).

  The driver mapping information is, for example, information indicating what the specific OS of the information processing apparatus 11 and the driver for the specific model of the image forming apparatus 13 are and where they are stored on the server 15.

In the present embodiment, the case of automatic installation has been described, but it is also conceivable that the user confirms whether or not to install and the user selects it. At that time, the image forming apparatuses 13 to be installed may be displayed as a list.
Furthermore, the user may be able to set conditions for selecting the image forming apparatus 13 to be installed.

FIG. 4 is an example of the driver mapping information shown in FIG.
In the figure, for example, when the ID is “1”, the image forming apparatus model name is “imageoC7501”, and the OS name of the information processing apparatus is Windows 7 32 kbit, the driver URL is as follows.
http: //support.r****.com/driver/download/imageomp c7501 / Windows7 32.exe
The server 15 accesses based on the driver mapping information in response to a request from the information processing apparatus 11, sends the driver to the information processing apparatus 11, and the information processing apparatus 11 sends the driver to the image forming apparatus 13.

<Program>
The information processing apparatus according to the present invention described above can also be realized by a program that causes a computer to execute processing.

<Storage medium>
Such a program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium.
Here, examples of the storage medium include computer-readable storage media such as CD-ROM, flexible disk, and CD-R, semiconductor memories such as flash memory, RAM, ROM, and FeRAM, and HDD.

<Effect>
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to measure the distance between objects by using wireless communication such as Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark). Further, it is possible to consider that an image forming apparatus in the vicinity of the information processing apparatus is an image forming apparatus that may be used, and it is possible to automatically install drivers for them. That is, there is no need to set position information in the information processing apparatus.

  The above-described embodiment shows an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. is there.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Information processing system 11 Information processing apparatus 12, 14 Wireless communication module 13 Image forming apparatus 15 Server 16 Communication module 17 Driver mapping information 18 Driver

JP 2009-104592 A JP 2012-113423 A

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus that installs a device driver based on the detection result of an available device,
A means for calculating a distance between the detected device and the information processing apparatus and identifying one device based on a result of the calculation;
An acquisition means for acquiring information of the identified one device from the device;
Transmitting means for transmitting a device driver acquisition request for the one device based on the acquired device information and the information processing apparatus information;
Installation means for installing the device driver acquired in response to the acquisition request;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus having the closest distance to the information processing apparatus is specified as the one apparatus.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a device search request is transmitted.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a response notification is received from a device that responds to the search request.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a device driver corresponding to the acquisition request is acquired. A program that causes a computer to function as an information processing device that installs a device driver based on the detection result of an available device,
A procedure for calculating a distance between the detected device and the information processing apparatus and identifying one device based on the calculation result;
A procedure for acquiring information about the identified device from the device;
A procedure of transmitting a device driver acquisition request for the one device based on the acquired device information and the information processing apparatus information;
A procedure for installing a device driver acquired in response to the acquisition request;
A program that causes a computer to execute. An information processing system that installs device drivers based on the detection results of available devices,
Calculate the distance between the detected device and the information processing device, identify one device based on the result of the calculation,
Obtain information about the identified device from the device,
Sending a device driver acquisition request for the one device based on the acquired device information and the information processing apparatus information,
Acquire the device driver of the one device in response to the acquisition request,
An information processing system that installs an acquired device driver.

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