JP5063334B2 - Electronic device system and operation screen display program - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device system and an operation screen display program. For example, an electronic device system in which a copier, a multi-function peripheral (MFP), etc. and a computer terminal for operating the same are connected via a network and the same The present invention relates to improvement of an operation screen display program used.

  In recent years, when a document created by a computer application is printed, it is common to connect the computer to a copier or a multifunction peripheral for printing.

  In addition, in order to print a document created on a computer according to a user's request, for example, with a multi-function peripheral, the multi-function peripheral can select, for example, a paper feed tray, a paper size, the number of prints, single-sided / double-sided printing, It is necessary to set detailed setting items such as monochrome / color and further post-processing such as binding after printing.

  For such setting items, a setting utility program is started on the computer, and the operation display information obtained from the multifunction peripheral is displayed on the screen, and the user selects each setting item or inputs a setting value. It is set.

  For example, the printer control method and method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-65780 (Patent Document 1) is also this type of technology.

  In this patent document, a printer driver on a host computer inquires a printer about setting items and setting values that can be operated by the user, and displays the setting items and setting values notified from the printer on a setting screen. The printer driver controls the printer according to the setting value selected by the user above, and various printers can be controlled by one printer driver.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-91209 (Patent Document 2) has also been proposed.

In this patent document 2, a utility on the host device sends a common command unrelated to the model to the printer to inquire about setting information, and the printer that has received the command returns its setting item information data to the host device. The utility displays a screen based on the information, converts the result input / selected by the operator into a setting command included in the setting item information data, and transmits the setting command to the printer. Various settings utilities can be used to make various settings.
JP-A-11-65780 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-91209

  However, in Patent Document 1 described above, the host computer acquires setting items and setting values from the printer and performs printing based on the selected setting items and setting values. However, the printer is changed. Therefore, it is necessary to change the printer driver, and there is a problem that the change work becomes complicated.

  In Patent Document 2, the host device performs bidirectional communication with the printer, and transmits a setting command to the printer based on the setting item information data sent from the printer. Since the display is generally performed using a screen display prepared by a utility in advance, if the printer is changed, it is necessary to change the utility, and the operation is similarly likely to be complicated.

  However, in the above-described conventional configuration, it is possible to create a utility program having an expected display item on the screen in advance so that it can cope with changes in the multifunction peripheral.

  However, if the display data cannot be acquired by the function of the multifunction device, it is necessary to mask the display items that cannot be used and display them inactive, which makes it unnatural on the screen and accurately assumes the expected display items. It was difficult to do and improvement was desired.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an electronic device capable of displaying an operation screen for operating the electronic device on the user terminal device even if the operation display item differs for each electronic device. The purpose is to provide a system and an operation screen display program.

  In order to solve such a problem, an electronic device system according to the present invention is an electronic device system in which an electronic device and a terminal device for operating the electronic device are connected via a network.

  The electronic device receives display request information for requesting operation display information necessary for operation display of the electronic device from the terminal device via the network, and transmits the operation display information from the network to the terminal device. A communication unit, a first storage unit that stores display items relating to the operation of the electronic device, information about the display contents and information about the display positions, and a display unit that receives the display request information. A first control unit that outputs and controls operation display information from the first storage unit and controls transmission from the first communication unit.

  The terminal device transmits display request information to the electronic device via the network, and receives a second communication unit that receives the operation display information from the electronic device via the network, and an operation screen related to the operation of the electronic device. An image display unit for displaying the image, a second storage unit for storing an image creation program for creating the operation screen from the received operation display information, and when the operation display information is received, the image creation program A second control unit that creates and controls an operation screen in which those display items and display contents are arranged at display positions based on display position information in the display information and controls display on the image display unit.

In the electronic device system of the present invention, the first storage unit of the electronic device stores any one of a plurality of preset groups as a display position, and the second storage unit of the terminal device stores the groups. Correspondingly, an image creation program for arranging the display items and display contents of the group in a group display area set in advance in the operation screen is stored, and the second control unit of the terminal device stores the image creation program in the image creation program. based is configured to create control the operation screen.

In the electronic device system of the present invention, the first storage unit of the electronic device also stores the display order information in the group as a display position, and the second storage unit of the terminal device is in the corresponding group display area. Stores an image creation program that arranges display items and display contents corresponding to the display order information in the display order if the display order information exists, and arranges the operation display information in the order of acquisition if there is no display order information. Then, the second control unit of the terminal device is configured to control the creation of the operation screen based on the image creation program.

  In the electronic device system of the present invention, the first storage unit of the electronic device includes a display item storage unit and a display position storage unit that store the display item and the display position in a state of being associated with each other by a unique code. When the display request information is received, the electronic device has a search unit that searches the display item storage unit and the display position storage unit based on the unique code and outputs the operation display information to the first control unit. A configuration having the same is also possible.

In the operation screen display program according to the present invention, the operation display information including the display items related to the operation of the electronic device, the display contents, and the information on the display positions is received from the electronic device via the network, and the operation display is performed. Based on the information, a transmission process for transmitting display request information for requesting operation display information necessary for the operation display of the electronic device to the control computer that controls the display of the operation screen, and the operation display information on the network When the operation display information is received from the electronic device via the reception processing and the operation display information obtained from the electronic device, the operation is performed by an image creation program that creates an operation screen related to the operation of the electronic device. An operation screen is created by arranging these display items and display contents at the display position based on the display position information in the display information. An operation screen generating process for, in which to execute a display process of displaying the created operation screen.

In the operation screen display program of the present invention, the reception process receives operation display information with any of a plurality of preset groups as its display position, and the operation screen formation process corresponds to the group. The control computer is configured to execute the creation of the operation screen based on an image creation program that arranges the display items and display contents of the group in a group display area set in advance in the operation screen .

In the operation screen display program of the present invention, the reception process receives operation display information including display order information in the group, and the operation screen formation process corresponds to the display order information in the corresponding group display area. If there is display order information, the display items and display contents are arranged in the operation display information, and if there is no display order information , the operation screen is displayed based on the image creation program arranged in the acquisition order of the operation display information. Is generated by the control computer .

  In such an electronic device system according to the present invention, when the terminal device transmits display request information to the electronic device via the network, and the electronic device receives the display request information, the first storage unit When the terminal device receives the operation display information, the display items are displayed at display positions based on the display position information in the operation display information by the image creation program. The operation screen with the display contents is created and displayed on the image display section. Even if the operation display items differ for each electronic device, the operation screen for operating this electronic device can be displayed on the user terminal device. It becomes.

In the present invention, the first storage unit of the electronic device stores any one of a plurality of preset groups as a display position, and the second storage unit of the terminal device corresponds to the groups and An image creation program for arranging display items and display contents of the group in a group display area set in advance in the operation screen is stored, and the second control unit of the terminal device operates the operation screen based on the image creation program. since creating control is properly displayable on a predetermined group display area in the operation screen of the operation display information of the electronic device.

In this invention, the 1st memory | storage part of the said electronic device memorize | stores the display order information in the group also as a display position, and the 2nd control part of the said terminal device makes display order information into a corresponding group display area. based corresponding to display items and the display content in the image creation program to order placement, because to create control the operation screen, it is also possible to ranking position the display items and the display content in the group display area.

  In the present invention, the first storage unit of the electronic apparatus includes a display item storage unit and a display position storage unit that store the display item and the display position in a state in which the display item and the display position are associated with each other, and the display request When the information is received, the operation display information is stored in the configuration having the search unit that searches the display item storage unit and the display position storage unit based on the unique code and outputs the operation display information to the first control unit. Therefore, it is possible to save the storage area in the storage unit of the electronic device.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic device system according to the present invention. The operation screen display program according to the present invention will be described in the process of describing the electronic device system.

  In FIG. 1, an electronic device system according to the present invention includes a multi-function device A and a user terminal device B connected via a network 1 such as an in-house LAN (local area network) or the Internet.

  First, the MFP A will be described.

  The multifunction device A is an electronic device such as an image forming apparatus having the image reading unit 3, the display panel unit 5, the printing unit 7, the communication unit 9, the storage unit 11, and the control unit 13.

  Note that the communication unit 9, the storage unit 11, and the control unit 13 function as a first communication unit, a first storage unit, and a first control unit, respectively, in relation to the user terminal device B.

  The image reading unit 3 is a known scanner that optically reads an image from a document under the control of the control unit 13 and generates electronic image data that has been subjected to filter processing or the like as a print job. Each page is sequentially stored in the storage unit 11.

  The display panel unit 5 includes a display unit including, for example, a known liquid crystal display disposed in the multi-function device A, and an input unit such as a touch panel switch disposed so as to overlap with the display unit. In addition to displaying, the MFP A has a function of inputting a character code, a document reading instruction, a print execution instruction, and the like to the MFP A. The input code and instruction information are output to the control unit 1.

  The printing unit 7 converts and develops image data based on the image data read by the image reading unit 3 and the document data and print setting information transmitted from the user terminal device B under the control of the control unit 13. This is a known print engine that performs monochrome or color printing on printing paper.

  The communication unit 9 controls display control information, operation display information, document data, and document printing, which will be described later, based on a predetermined data transmission protocol with the user terminal device B via the network 1 under the control of the control unit 13. An interface for transmitting and receiving information and the like.

  The communication unit 9 also has a function of transmitting and receiving a transmission document as a facsimile document or an electronic mail document, and TCP / IP (simple network management protocol) or the like is used as a data transfer protocol.

  The communication unit 9 automatically establishes a connection with the user terminal device B using a predetermined address or the like when the multi-function device A is connected to the network 1.

  The storage unit 11 is a readable / writable memory having a function of storing operation display information, which will be described later, in addition to the operation program, document data, and document print information of the control unit 13 under the control of the control unit 13.

  The operation display information includes display items necessary for the operation of the MFP A, display contents (display values) of the display items, and information on their display positions. For example, as shown in FIG. For each item (printing method, binding method, resolution, color mode), display value (double-sided printing, weekly magazine spelling, 600 dpi, monochromatic (single color)), display position information (group 1, 3, 4, order 10, 100) and a model-specific code (A1, B1, B2, B3).

  In particular, the “group” as the display position information corresponds to the group name of the display area in the operation screen described later in the user terminal device B, that is, the group display area, and the “order” as the display position information corresponds to each group display area. The display order (in ascending order or descending order) is indicated.

  Moreover, the operation display information is stored separately in the display item storage unit 11a in the storage unit 11 for display items and display values and in the display position storage unit 11b for display position information, and is stored in the display item storage unit 11a. The display items and display values and the display position information stored in the display position storage unit 11b are stored in association with each other by the model-specific code.

  Therefore, if a model-specific code is specified for the display item storage unit 11a and the display position storage unit 11b, display items and display value display position information corresponding to the same model-specific code are read at a time.

  Note that the reason why the operation display information is divided and stored in the display item storage unit 11a and the display position storage unit 11b separately for display items and display values and display position information is such as display items, display values and display position information. This is because the storage capacity can be saved by forming a short record rather than forming one long record from a plurality of fields.

  The control unit 13 includes a CPU, a ROM that stores a startup program for the CPU, and the like, and controls the display panel unit 5, the printing unit 7, the communication unit 9, and the storage unit 11 by application programs stored in the storage unit 11. In addition, it has the following functions.

  When the communication unit 9 receives the display request information from the user terminal device B, the control unit 13 outputs the operation display information described above from the storage unit 11 and controls transmission from the communication unit 9 to the user terminal device B. It has a function.

  That is, when the display request information is received, the control unit 13 searches the display item storage unit 11a and the display position storage unit 11b of the storage unit 11 based on the model specific code, and displays the display items and display belonging to the same model specific code. It also functions as a search unit 13a that reads values and display position information, and forms and outputs operation display information.

  Next, the user terminal device B will be described.

  The user terminal device B includes a communication unit 15, an image display unit 17, an operation unit 19, a storage unit 21, and a control unit 23, and is a terminal device such as a computer that performs a setting operation of the above-described multifunction device A.

  Note that the communication unit 15, the storage unit 21, and the control unit 23 function as a second communication unit, a second storage unit, and a second control unit, respectively, in relation to the MFP A.

  The image display unit 17 and the operation unit 19 may be externally connected to the user terminal device B main body. However, the present invention will be described as a part of the user terminal device B in the present invention.

  The communication unit 15 transmits / receives display request information, operation display information, document data, document print information, and the like to / from the multi-function peripheral A via the network 1 under the control of the control unit 23. When the user terminal device B is connected to the network 1, a connection is automatically established with the multifunction device A by a predetermined address or the like.

  The image display unit 17 is a known display unit such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT display that displays a connection destination selection screen for selecting the multifunction peripheral A or the like and an operation screen described later under the control of the control unit 23.

  The operation unit 19 is an input unit such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel switch arranged on the user terminal device B under the control of the control unit 23. In addition to inputting a selection instruction, a display request information transmission instruction, a print instruction for the multifunction peripheral A, and the like, it has a function of inputting setting information to the operation screen. The input code and instruction information are input to the control unit 23. Is output.

  The storage unit 21 is, for example, a readable / writable hard disk having a function of storing an operation program of the control unit 23 and a function of storing an image creation program for creating an operation screen from received operation display information.

  The control unit 23 includes a CPU, a ROM that stores a startup program for the CPU, and the like, and controls the communication unit 15, the image display unit 17, the operation unit 19, and the storage unit 23 by an application program stored in the storage unit 21. In addition, for example, it has the following functions in addition to the function of creating a document.

  The control unit 23 controls the display of the connection destination selection screen on the image display unit 17. For example, if there is an instruction to acquire display request information specifying the multi-function device A from the operation unit 19, the control unit 23 composites via the network 1 from the communication unit 15. The display request information is controlled to be transmitted to the machine A, and when the communication unit 15 receives the above-described operation display information from the multifunction device A, the operation screen is created and controlled from the operation display information by the image creation program read from the storage unit 23. This has a function of controlling display on the image display unit 17.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the image creation program includes group display areas (groups 1 to 3) corresponding to the above-described groups of operation display information, and control information that is displayed in order in the individual group display areas. ing.

  The control unit 23 assigns them to individual group display areas based on the display items, display contents, and display order information obtained by analyzing the received operation display information by the image creation program, and orders numbers within the corresponding groups. In order, the operation display information is controlled to create an operation image.

  That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 23 controls the display of the printing method in the group 1 in double-sided printing and the binding method in the order of the weekly magazine binding corresponding to the operation display information list in FIG. The display control is performed at a resolution of 600 dpi at 3 and the color mode is controlled to be displayed at a color mode at group 4, and this is controlled by the image display unit 17.

  Then, the control unit 21 creates print setting information based on the setting information input from the operation unit 19 by the user who refers to the operation screen in the image display unit 17, transmits the print setting information together with the document data to the MFP A, and prints it. Control execution.

  Next, the operation of the electronic device system according to the present invention will be briefly described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 shows the operation of the user terminal device B, and FIG. 5 shows the operation of the multi-function device A executed between steps S2 and S3 in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, when the program is started, the control unit 23 displays a connection destination selection screen on the image display unit 17 in step S1, and an instruction to select a connection destination and acquire display request information from the operation unit 19 in step S2. When input, the control unit 23 controls transmission from the communication unit 15 to the multi-function device A.

  When the communication unit 15 receives the operation display information from the multi-function device A in step S3, the control unit 23 classifies the display items of the operation display information for each group in step S4, and the order number in step S5 continues. If the order number is present and step S5 is YES, the control unit 23 rearranges the display items, display values, etc. in ascending order of the order number in step S6, and the control unit 23 in step S7 An operation screen in which operation display information is arranged in the order of group and order number is created, the operation image is displayed on the image display unit 17, and the process ends. There are ascending order and descending order in order number order, depending on the setting of the image creation program.

  If there is no order number and step S5 is NO, the process proceeds directly to step S7, where the control unit 23 creates an operation screen in the order of obtaining the operation display information, displays the operation image on the image display unit 17, and ends.

  In FIG. 5, when the communication unit 9 of the MFP A receives the display request information in step S11, the search unit 13a of the control unit 13 prepares a model-specific code, and the search unit 13a is stored in the storage unit 11 in step S12. The display item and the display value are searched from the operation display information storage unit 11a, and the search unit 13a searches the display position information from the position information storage unit 11b of the storage unit 11 in step S13.

  Further, in step S 14, the control unit 13 creates operation display information from the display items, display values, and display position information, and transmits the operation display information from the communication unit 9 to the user terminal device B via the network 1.

  Of these processing procedures, the operation related to the transmission terminal apparatus B in FIG. 4 is executed by the operation screen display program of the present invention.

  As described above, the electronic device system according to the present invention is configured such that the multifunction device (electronic device) A and the user terminal device (terminal device: computer) B that operates the multifunction device A are connected via the network 1. Yes.

  The multi-function device A receives display request information for requesting operation display information necessary for operation display of the multi-function device A from the user terminal device B via the network 1, and uses the operation display information from the network 1. A communication unit (first communication unit) 9 to be transmitted to the user terminal device B, and display items relating to the operation of the user terminal device B, operation display information having information on the display contents and display positions thereof are stored. A storage unit (first storage unit) 11 and a control unit (first control unit) that controls output of operation display information from the storage unit 11 and controls transmission from the communication unit 9 when the display request information is received. 13).

  In addition, the user terminal device B transmits display request information to the multi-function device A via the network 1 and receives the operation display information from the multi-function device A via the network 1 (second communication portion). ) 15, an image display unit 17 that displays an operation screen related to the operation of the multifunction peripheral A, and a storage unit (second storage unit) that stores an image creation program that creates the operation screen from the received operation display information 21 and when the operation display information is received, the image creation program creates and controls an operation screen in which those display items and display contents are arranged at display positions based on the display position information in the operation display information. The display unit 17 includes a control unit (second control unit) 23 that performs display control.

  Therefore, since all the operation display information necessary for display on the user terminal device B is transmitted from the multi-function device A, display items and display contents (display values) are different for each multi-function device A and electronic devices (not shown). However, it is possible to display on the user terminal device B, and it is possible to dynamically reflect the response even if the display item is different every time it is received.

  In addition, since the image creation program on the user terminal device B does not depend on the operation display information of the multifunction peripheral A, even if the multifunction peripheral A is changed, the necessity for changing the image creation program is small and the correspondence is easy.

  Further, the operation display information transmitted from the multifunction device A or the like is completely structured so that the meaning of the data is less ambiguous, and the operation display information has only a display meaning. The multifunction device A and the user terminal The apparatus B has a one-to-one relationship, and reliable print settings and print control are possible.

  Then, the storage unit 11 of the multi-function peripheral A stores any of a plurality of preset groups as a display position, and the storage unit 21 of the user terminal device B corresponds to these groups in the operation screen. An image creation program that arranges display items and display contents of the group is stored in a preset group display area, and the control unit 23 of the user terminal device B creates and controls the operation screen based on the image creation program. Therefore, based on the setting of the image creation program, the operation display information of the multifunction peripheral A can be arbitrarily displayed in the group display area in the operation screen.

  The multifunction device A also stores the display order information in the group as a display position, and the image creation program of the user terminal device B displays the display items and display contents corresponding to the display order information in the corresponding group display area. Since the operation screen is created by arranging the items in order, the display items and the display contents can be arranged in the individual group display areas.

  Furthermore, the multi-function device A has a display item storage unit 11a and a display position storage unit 11b that store the display items and the display positions in a state of being associated with each other by a unique code. Since the storage unit 11 of the multifunction peripheral A stores the storage area for storing the operation display information, the storage unit 11 of the multifunction peripheral A has the search unit 13a that searches the display unit 11a and the display position storage unit 11b and outputs the operation display information to the control unit. Easy.

  In the electronic device system of the present invention, the electronic device is not limited to the above-described multi-function device A, but can be widely applied to various electronic devices such as a copying machine, a computer server, a PDA (personal digital assistant).

  The operation screen display program according to the present invention has the same effect as the electronic device system described above.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the electronic device system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the list of the operation display information in this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation screen in the image display part of the user terminal device which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic device system in this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic device system which concerns on this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network 3 Image reading part 5 Display panel part 7 Printing part 9 Communication part (1st communication part)
11 Storage unit (first storage unit)
11a Operation display information storage unit 11b Position information storage unit 13 Control unit (first control unit)
13a Search unit 15 Communication unit (second communication unit)
17 Image display unit 19 Operation unit 21 Storage unit (second storage unit)
23 Control unit (second control unit)
A MFP (electronic equipment)
B User terminal device (terminal device, computer)

Claims (3)

An electronic device system in which an electronic device and a terminal device for operating the electronic device are connected via a network,
The electronic device receives display request information for requesting operation display information necessary for operation display of the electronic device from the terminal device via the network, and transmits the operation display information from the network to the terminal device. The first communication unit, the first storage unit that stores the display items related to the operation of the electronic device, the display contents, and the operation display information including the information on the display positions, and the display request information are received. A first control unit that outputs and controls the operation display information from the first storage unit and performs transmission control from the first communication unit,
The terminal device transmits the display request information to the electronic device via the network and receives the operation display information from the electronic device via the network; and the operation of the electronic device An image display unit that displays the operation screen according to the above, a second storage unit that stores an image creation program that creates the operation screen from the received operation display information, and the image when the operation display information is received A second control unit configured to create and control the operation screen in which the display item and the display content are arranged at a display position based on the display position information in the operation display information and to control display on the image display unit by a creation program; Have
The first storage unit of the electronic device stores any of a plurality of preset groups as the display position and also stores display order information within the group as the display position. The second storage unit arranges the display items and display contents of the group in the display order if there is the display order information in a group display area preset in the operation screen corresponding to the group. If there is no display order information, the image creation program arranged in the order of acquisition of the operation display information is stored, and the second control unit of the terminal device creates the operation screen based on the image creation program An electronic device system characterized by controlling . The first storage unit of the electronic device includes a display item storage unit and a display position storage unit that store the display item and the display position in a state associated with each other by a unique code, and the display request information is received. The electronic device includes a search unit that searches the display item storage unit and the display position storage unit based on the unique code and outputs the operation display information to the first control unit. Electronic equipment system. From the electronic device via the network, the display items related to the operation of the electronic device, the display contents and the operation display information having the information of the display position are received, and the display of the operation screen is controlled based on the operation display information. For the control computer
Transmission processing for transmitting display request information for requesting the operation display information necessary for operation display of the electronic device from the network;
A receiving process for receiving the operation display information from the electronic device via the network;
When the operation display information is received, based on the display position information in the operation display information by an image creation program for creating an operation screen related to the operation of the electronic device from the operation display information obtained from the electronic device An operation screen creation process for creating the operation screen by arranging the display items and display contents at a display position;
Display processing for displaying the created operation screen;
Is an operation screen display program that executes
The reception process receives the operation display information including any of a plurality of preset groups as the display position and also includes display order information within the group, and the operation screen formation process is performed on the group. Correspondingly, in the group display area set in advance in the operation screen, the display items and display contents of the group are arranged in the display order if there is the display order information, and if there is no display order information. Based on the image creation program arranged in the acquisition order of the operation display information, causing the control computer to execute creation of the operation screen,
An operation screen display program characterized by that.

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