JP4626336B2 - Printing apparatus and reference destination update method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a program for referring to electronic information held in an external control device, and more particularly to a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a reference destination update method that can easily maintain the electronic information to be referred to. Regarding the program.

  Generally, support information, help information, EWS (Engineering WorkStation: computer specialized for technical calculation) guidance information, etc. are installed in the printing device, and it is configured to display necessary information according to user access. However, due to recent technological improvements, it is possible to configure such that a large amount of information is displayed to the user.

  For example, guidance information such as EWS is displayed in a three-dimensional graphical manner, notified by voice guidance, and a plurality of languages are supported and guidance information corresponding to each language is displayed. As a result, convenience is improved for the user, and it is possible to easily deal with when a failure occurs.

  However, handling a large amount of information compresses the storage area, and there is a concern about a decrease in processing speed. On the other hand, when a large-capacity memory (storage area) is mounted, there is a problem that the cost increases and miniaturization becomes difficult.

In order to solve such a problem, in the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the notification information is appropriately provided even if the information storage area of the image forming apparatus is small, and the notification information downloaded once is effective. In order to provide notification information at a low cost and efficiently, it is provided appropriately.
JP 2004-252510 A

  However, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, information is provided to the user even when the remaining capacity of the information storage area is small. However, provision of information stored in the information storage area is provided. If the position is moved and cannot be accessed, there is a problem that information cannot be provided to the user.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a program that can automatically update a reference destination accompanying information movement.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a printing apparatus that refers to support information held in an external electronic device, and a URL holding unit that holds a URL that is address information for accessing the support information; and access means for accessing the support information corresponding to the URL that is held by the URL holding means, determination means for determining whether enables access to the support information by said access means, said support by said determining means Information search means for searching for support information referred to by the same model when it is determined that access to information is impossible, support information holding means for holding support information inside the apparatus, and the support by the determination means When it is determined that access to information is impossible, support by the information search means is provided. When the search of information is successful, the URL held by the URL holding unit is updated to the URL corresponding to the support information that has been successfully searched, and when the search of support information by the information search unit has failed, If the support information holding means holds support information, the URL held by the URL holding means is updated to a URL corresponding to the support information held by the support information holding means, and the support information holding means Is provided with URL update means for stopping the update of the URL if it does not hold the support information .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a reference destination update method in a printing apparatus that refers to support information held in an external electronic device, a URL that is address information for accessing the support information is held in a URL holding unit. The determining means determines whether the access means can access the support information corresponding to the URL held by the URL holding means, and the determining means determines that access to the support information is impossible. If the support information referred to by the same model is searched by the information search means, and the determination means determines that access to the support information is impossible, the information search means searches for support information. If the search is successful, the URL updated by the URL holding unit is updated by the URL updating unit. If the support information holding means for holding the support information in the apparatus holds the support information when the information search means fails to search for support information, and the support information holding means holds the support information. The update means updates the URL held by the URL holding means to a URL corresponding to the support information held by the support information holding means, and the support when the support information search by the information search means fails If the information holding means does not hold support information, the URL updating by the URL updating means is stopped .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reference destination update program for causing a computer to update a reference destination in a printing apparatus that refers to support information held in an external electronic device, wherein the address information accesses the support information. A URL holding process for holding the URL, an access process for accessing support information corresponding to the URL held by the URL holding process, and whether or not the access information can be accessed by the access process Determination processing, information search processing for searching for support information referenced by the same model when it is determined that access to the support information is impossible by the determination processing, and support for holding the support information inside the device Access to the support information is impossible due to the information holding process and the determination process When it is determined that there is a successful search for support information by the information search process, the URL held by the URL holding process is updated to a URL corresponding to the support information that has been successfully searched, If the support information search by the information search process fails, the support information holding process holds the URL held by the URL holding process if the support information holding process holds the support information. The URL is updated to a URL corresponding to the information, and if the support information holding process does not hold the support information, the URL update process for stopping the URL update is executed by the computer .

  According to the present invention, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator: location address) to support information held by an external control device is held, and the URL is updated when it is determined that access to this support information is possible and access is not possible. With this configuration, the support information on the external control device is moved or deleted, and there is an effect that the optimum support information can be referred to even when it does not exist.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In the following embodiment, the URL for referring to the support information (help information) of the printing apparatus is taken as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the printing apparatus, and can be applied to reference of support information of various electronic devices. It is.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing apparatus configured by applying a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a reference destination update program according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, this printing apparatus 100 can display support information to a user by accessing support information stored in a connected external Web server 110, and includes an interface 101, a control unit 102, and a URL control unit. 103, a storage unit 104, a control panel 105, and an output unit 106. The printing apparatus 100 is connected to an external Web server 110 via a communication line. The external Web server 110 has a support information memory that can store support information referred to by the printing apparatus 100.

  The interface 101 of the printing apparatus 110 is an external interface that realizes communication with the external Web server 110. In addition to a network connection using a LAN (Local Area Network) cable, a local connection using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable is used. Is possible.

  The control unit 102 performs main print control in the printing apparatus 100. When it is detected that the power of the printing apparatus has been input, the external Web server 110 is accessed based on the URL stored in advance in the storage area 104.

  Whether the external Web server 110 for the URL exists is determined based on a connection notification from the external Web server 110. If the external Web server 110 does not exist, a printer of the same type is searched for among the printers existing on the network. If the same model exists as a result of the search, the URL for the support information of the same model is acquired and notified to the URL control unit 103. If there is no unit of the same type, the URL control unit 103 is notified to that effect.

  If it is determined that an external Web server exists, it is subsequently determined whether there is support information for the accessed URL. When the support information does not exist, the fact is received from the external Web server and notified to the URL control unit 103. If the support information exists, the URL up to the support information is acquired and notified to the URL control unit 103.

  Note that the URL of an external Web server or printing apparatus that accesses the storage area 104 may be stored as a list, and a search may be performed for the URL in the list.

  When the URL is “http://www.printersupport.com/support/file/home.txt”, first, an external Web server indicated by “http://www.printersupport.com” is accessed. If there is an external Web server specified as the access destination and there is a response to the request, then “home.txt” stored in the “./support/file” directory of the external Web server. Search for.

  That is, the URL for accessing the support information of the external Web server of the URL can be determined, and the URL can be acquired.

  If an external Web server exists and a link to a new URL is indicated in the designated URL, the new URL is accessed and the URL to the support information is acquired.

  When a URL where support information exists can be acquired, the data size of the support information is compared with the free data size of the storage area 104. If it is determined that there is sufficient free space to download the support information, the support information itself can be downloaded.

  Then, display control is performed such that the name of the URL for which support information exists is displayed on the screen shown in FIG. 2, and the URL for which support information does not exist is not displayed on the screen.

  The URL control unit 103 controls the URL on the basis of the notification indicating the presence / absence of the external Web server notified by the control unit 102 and the notification indicating the presence / absence of support information in the presence. For a URL for which support information does not exist, the storage area 104 is updated to the effect that support information for the URL does not exist.

  On the other hand, the URL where the support information exists is stored in the storage area 104 in association with the icon of the screen as shown in FIG. 2 displayed on the client PC. Thereby, the URL where the support information exists is associated with the help icon at the timing when the operation screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed.

  The storage area 104 is configured by an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) or the like, and holds system data and programs necessary for controlling the printing apparatus, various setting information, and URL information to be accessed.

  Further, the support information downloaded by the control unit 102 is stored.

  In addition to the downloaded support information, the support information may be built in in advance. In this case, the built-in support information is support information of a data size that does not impose a disk size of the storage area. That is, it is simple support information and stores support information for the minimum necessary functions. As a result, even if support information does not exist in all external Web servers or the same type of printing apparatus, the minimum support information can be obtained.

  The control panel 105 is a user interface including a display unit that can display various setting information to the user, an input unit that performs input, and the like.

  The output unit 106 is an engine that performs print output.

  With this configuration, the support information stored in the external web server can be referred to, and even when the support information is moved or deleted, the user can access the optimal support information without being aware of it. Can do.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a screen for the user to display support information.

  FIG. 2 is a screen for displaying support information of the printing apparatus on the client PC, and includes a support tab page 201, a help icon 202, a logo icon 203, an OK button 204, and a cancel button 205.

  The support tab page 201 displays a list of URL names to support information (201-A, 201-B). The URL name where the support information exists is displayed, and the URL name where the support information cannot be displayed is not displayed.

  A help icon 202 associates the reference URL with the support information updated by the processing shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 to 6 at the timing when the power of the printing apparatus is input or the network connection status changes. It is the icon that went. The user can access the support information by pressing the help icon 202.

  Note that when there is no link to support information, the help icon itself is not displayed. As a result, the user knows that the support information does not exist because it is moved or deleted.

  The logo icon 203 is a logo linked to the main page of the company that provides the printing apparatus.

  The OK button 204 is a button for validating the contents set on the screen, and the cancel button 205 is a button for invalidating the contents set on the screen.

  By using this screen, even if the support information is moved or deleted, the user can easily access the support information without being aware if there is alternative support information.

  FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing until support information is displayed.

  In FIG. 3, when the power of the printing apparatus is input, the printing apparatus accesses an external Web server with a URL specified in advance (S301). When an external Web server exists, a connection notification indicating that a normal connection has been made is transmitted to the printing apparatus (S302), and the support information indicated by the URL is accessed (S303).

  If the support information exists, a URL for accessing the support information is transmitted to the printing apparatus (S304). The received printing apparatus acquires the URL to the support information (S305), and associates the acquired URL with the help icon as shown in FIG. 2 (S306).

  When the user sends a screen display request allowing access to the support information as shown in FIG. 2 from the client PC to the printing apparatus (S307), the printing apparatus responds to the screen display request (S308). Is displayed on the screen of the client PC (S309).

  When the user presses the help icon associated with the URL, the external web server indicated by the associated URL is accessed (S310), and support information is acquired from the external web server (S311). The acquired support information is displayed on the client PC (S312).

  As a result, the user can refer to the support information.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a support information display flow configured by applying the printing apparatus, reference destination update method, and program according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 4, processing is started when the power of the printing apparatus is input or when the network connection status changes, and the connection is confirmed with the external web server designated in advance and supported when connected. The URL to the information is acquired (S401). Next, it is determined whether a URL capable of accessing the support information has been acquired (S402). When the connection with the external Web server is confirmed and the support information exists and the URL can be acquired (YES in S402). Checks the free space of the internal storage area for storing the support information (S403).

  On the other hand, when the connection to the external Web server cannot be established or the connection to the support information cannot be obtained because the support information does not exist even if the connection can be established (NO in S402), The support information of the same type machine as the printing apparatus is searched and the URL to the support information is acquired (S404). Also in this case, it is determined whether or not the URL to the support information of the searched same type machine has been acquired (S405), and if the same type machine exists and the URL to the support information can be acquired (S405), the same support as above. The free space in the internal storage area for storing information is checked (S403).

  If the same model does not exist or if the URL to the support information cannot be acquired even if the same model exists (NO in S405), it is determined whether the support information previously installed in the printing apparatus exists (S406). ).

  If the free space is checked when the URL to the support information can be acquired because the support information exists on any device (S403), it is determined whether there is enough free space to store the support information. (S407) If free space exists (YES in S407), the support information is downloaded to the internal storage area (S408). Then, the reference destination of the support information held by the printing apparatus is updated to the address of the internal storage area where the support information has been downloaded (S409).

  If there is not enough free space to store the support information in the internal storage area (S407), the reference destination (URL) of the support information is updated to the address of the external Web server or the same type machine that stores the support information. (S409).

  Further, when it is determined that support information installed in the printing apparatus exists (YES in S406), the URL to the support information is updated to the address of the internal storage area in which the support information is stored (S409). .

  If the support information does not exist inside the printing apparatus (NO in S406), the URL update process for the support information is stopped (S410).

  Thereby, when the user performs an operation of displaying support information using the screen as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to provide appropriate support information even if the existing support information is deleted or moved.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of acquiring a URL storing support information and connection with the external Web server in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, when the power of the printing apparatus is input or when the network connection state is changed, the HTTP client function is started on the external Web server described in the URL list to be accessed held in the printing apparatus. (S501), it is determined whether or not the connection has been made normally (S502). If there is an external Web server that has attempted connection and the connection has been made normally (YES in S502), it is confirmed whether support information for the URL exists (S503). If the support information can be confirmed with the accessed URL (YES in S503), the accessed URL is acquired as an address to the support information (S504).

  On the other hand, when connection to the external Web server described in the URL list cannot be made or is not found (S502), there is an external Web server for the URL described in the URL list, but the designated address is If the support information does not exist (NO in step S503), whether all external Web servers in the URL list have been accessed in order to access the next URL described in the URL list Judgment is made (S505).

  If all external Web servers have been accessed (YES in S505), the process ends without obtaining a URL for support information. If there is an external Web server that has not been accessed yet (NO in S505), the process is repeated from the connection process (S501) using the HTTP client function to access the external Web server at the next URL. .

  Thereby, when the support information exists in the designated URL, the URL to the support information can be acquired.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the same model search and URL acquisition processing (S405) in FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the process is started when a URL to the support information cannot be acquired when there is no support information when there is no pre-designated external Web server, and an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) client. Using the function, all the printing apparatuses existing on the network are searched (S601), and an access list that lists the printing apparatuses that have responded within a predetermined time is created (S602).

  It is determined whether a valid URL for indicating support information is present in the printing device of the created access list (S603). If there is no valid URL (NO in S603), the process is terminated. That is, the process returns to the process shown in FIG. 4 in a state where the URL cannot be acquired.

  If there is a valid URL for the support information of the printing apparatus (YES in S603), connection is made to the support information of the URL indicated in the access list by using an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) client function ( S604).

  First, it is determined whether or not the connection to the searched printing apparatus is normally performed (S605). If the connection is not normally performed (NO in S605), reconnection is performed. If the connection is normally made (YES in S605), it is next determined whether or not support information for the URL exists (S606).

  If the support information exists (YES in S606), the URL for accessing the support information is acquired (S607). If the support information does not exist (NO in S606), the process ends. That is, the process returns to the process shown in FIG. 4 in a state where the URL cannot be acquired.

  Thereby, even if the support information does not exist in the external Web server, the support information can be referred to if the support information exists in the same type printing apparatus on the network.

  Through the above processing, the URL that is the reference destination of the support information can be changed in the printing apparatus of the present invention.

  This makes it possible to change the reference destination of the support information without the user being aware of it.

  The processing shown in the flowchart can also be realized by a reference destination update program that can be executed by a computer.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range not changing the gist thereof.

  For example, FIG. 4 of the above embodiment shows an example in which support information is associated with a URL, but the support information specified by the URL is composed of a URL indicating the support information stored in another location. In that case, the URL is accessed. When support information exists in the accessed URL, the URL to the support information of the printing apparatus may be updated to a URL linked twice.

  As a result, the link can be traced even when the accessed URL is indicated to access another URL instead of the support information, and the URL to the support information can be acquired.

  The present invention is applicable to a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a program that refer to support information on an external apparatus, and in particular, even when the reference destination support information is moved, the support information of the movement destination This is useful for enabling dynamic control of the reference destination so that it can be referred to.

1 is a configuration diagram of a printing apparatus configured by applying a printing apparatus, a reference destination update method, and a reference destination update program according to the present invention. The figure which shows the screen for a user to display support information. The sequence diagram which shows an example until it displays support information. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a display flow of support information configured by applying the printing apparatus, the reference destination update method, and the program according to the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a process for acquiring a URL storing connection information and support information with an external Web server in FIG. 4. The flowchart which shows the detail of the search of the same model machine in FIG. 4, and acquisition processing of URL.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Printing apparatus 101 Interface 102 Control part 103 URL control part 104 Storage area 105 Control panel 106 Output part 110 External Web server

Claims (3)

In a printing device that references support information held by an external electronic device,
URL holding means for holding a URL that is address information for accessing the support information;
Access means for accessing support information corresponding to the URL held by the URL holding means;
Determining means for determining whether or not the access means can access the support information;
Information retrieval means for retrieving support information referred to by the same model when it is determined by the determination means that access to the support information is impossible;
Support information holding means for holding support information inside the device;
If it is determined by the determination means that access to the support information is impossible, if the support information search by the information search means is successful, the URL held by the URL holding means is searched. Updated to the URL corresponding to the successfully supported support information, and if the search of the support information by the information search means fails, if the support information holding means holds the support information, it is held by the URL holding means A URL updating unit that updates the URL corresponding to the support information held by the support information holding unit, and stops updating the URL if the support information holding unit does not hold the support information. The printing apparatus characterized by performing. In a reference destination update method in a printing apparatus that refers to support information held in an external electronic device,
The URL that is the address information for accessing the support information is held by the URL holding means,
The determination means determines whether the access means can access the support information corresponding to the URL held by the URL holding means,
When the determination means determines that access to the support information is impossible, the information search means searches for support information referred to by the same model,
When it is determined by the determination means that access to the support information is impossible, if the search of the support information by the information search means is successful, it is held by the URL holding means by the URL update means. Update the URL to the URL corresponding to the support information that has been successfully searched,
When the support information search by the information search means fails, if the support information holding means holding the support information in the apparatus holds the support information, the URL update means holds the support information by the URL holding means. Updated to the URL corresponding to the support information held by the support information holding means,
If the support information holding means does not hold the support information when the information search means fails to search for support information, the URL update by the URL update means is stopped . Update method. A reference destination update program that causes a computer to update a reference destination in a printing apparatus that refers to support information held in an external electronic device,
URL holding processing for holding a URL which is address information for accessing the support information;
An access process for accessing support information corresponding to the URL held by the URL holding process;
A determination process for determining whether or not the support information can be accessed by the access process;
An information search process for searching for support information referred to by the same model when it is determined by the determination process that access to the support information is impossible;
Support information holding processing for holding support information inside the device,
When it is determined by the determination process that access to the support information is impossible, if the search of support information by the information search process is successful, the URL held by the URL holding process is searched. Updated to the URL corresponding to the successfully supported support information, and when the support information retrieval by the information retrieval process fails, if the support information retaining process retains the support information, the URL is retained by the URL retaining process. A URL update process that updates the URL corresponding to the support information held by the support information holding process and stops updating the URL if the support information holding process does not hold the support information;
A reference destination update program in a printing apparatus, which causes a computer to execute .

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