Power display system, image processing apparatus, and user interface

• US 10,205,344 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2015
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Katoh, Masaya, Chosokabe, Kiriko, Yamamoto, Kohji
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yoon, Eric J
• Application Number:
  US14/824,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20160062627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/324 Display of status information
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00001 characterised by the display of information or by user interaction, e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition systems [SCADA] or graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/40 Display of information, e.g. of data or controls

Abstract

A power display system includes an electronic apparatus and a server connected to an electronic apparatus group including the electronic apparatus. Further, the power display system includes a calculation unit totaling consumption power by the electronic apparatus group and calculating a ratio of the totaled consumption power to a target value of the consumption power, and a display control unit displaying a display part, which indicates a use status of power, in a display area of the electronic apparatus in a display manner which corresponds to the ratio.

Claims

1. A power display system comprising:

a plurality of electronic apparatuses; and

a server connected to an electronic apparatus group, the electronic apparatus group including the plurality of electronic apparatuses, each electronic apparatus of the electronic apparatus group including a sensor configured to measure a consumption of power by the electronic apparatus, the server including,

a memory having computer readable instructions, and

at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to,

receive power consumption information from each of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group, the power consumption information including an actual amount of power consumed by each individual electronic apparatus of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group,

calculate a total power consumption information from the consumption of power measured by each of the sensors of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group,

calculate a ratio of the total power consumption information to a target value of the power consumption for each of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group, the calculating the ratio of the total power consumption information to the target value of the power consumption including calculating a target value of total consumption power for the entire electronic apparatus group, and

transmit the respective calculated ratio to each of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group; and

each of the electronic apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group are configured to,

receive the calculated ratio from the server,

display a first screen displaying a plurality of functions corresponding to the electronic apparatus,

display in the first screen a user interface element that indicates a power use status in a first display manner that corresponds to the received calculated ratio,

receive a selection of at least one function to be executed from the plurality of functions corresponding to the electronic apparatus via the displayed first screen,

display a second screen for receiving settings of the selected function, and

display in the second screen the user interface element that indicates the power use status in a second display manner that corresponds to the received calculated ratio.

2. The power display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

refer to a use status table storing use status information sets each including the calculated ratio in association with the second screen corresponding to an electronic apparatus type and a display status of the second screen, and

extract a use status information set which corresponds to the calculated ratio,

wherein each of the electronic apparatuses are configured to display the second screen based on the extracted use status information set.

3. The power display system according to claim 2, wherein each of the use status information sets includes a status, which indicates a use status corresponding to the calculated ratio, a plurality of electronic apparatus control settings, which are included in the second screen, display positions of the control settings, display sizes of the control settings, and a display manner of the second screen.

4. The power display system according to claim 3, wherein the at least one processor further configured to:

determine a type of a selected function in the electronic apparatus based on a received message from the electronic apparatus; and

acquire a display control table which corresponds to the selected function from a memory unit storing display control tables,

transmit the acquired display control table to the electronic apparatus, the acquired display control table including the status in association with the display manner of the second screen,

wherein the electronic apparatus is further configured to display the second screen in the display manner which corresponds to the status in the display control table.

5. The power display system according to claim 3, wherein the control settings which are included in the second screen include image data indicating the status, image data indicating the calculated ratio, and image data indicating a message corresponding to the status.

6. The power display system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the electronic apparatuses is an image processing apparatus.

7. The power display system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first execution part configured to execute a process corresponding to a first function among the plurality of functions;

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to display, when the first execution part executes the process corresponding to the first function, a third screen including the user interface element.

8. The power display system according to claim 7, wherein

the first execution part comprises a plotter;

and

the first function comprises a printing function.

9. The power display system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a second execution part configured to execute a process corresponding to a second function among the plurality of functions;

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to display when the second execution part has ended the process corresponding to the second function, a fourth screen including the user interface element.

10. The power display system according to claim 9, wherein

the second execution part comprises a scanner;

and

the second function comprises a reading function of the scanner.

11. An image processing apparatus connected to a server configured to calculate total power consumption of each electronic apparatus of an electronic apparatus group, the electronic apparatus group including a plurality of electronic apparatuses and the image processing apparatus, each apparatus of the electronic apparatus group including a sensor configured to measure a consumption of power by the respective apparatus, the image processing apparatus further comprising:

a memory having computer readable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to,

transmit power consumption information related to the power consumption of the image processing apparatus to the server, the power consumption information including an actual amount of power consumed by the image processing apparatus,

acquire, from the server, a use status information set which includes a calculated ratio of a total power consumption information to a target value of the power consumption of the image processing apparatus wherein the ratio is calculated by the server, the ratio calculated using a target value of total consumption power for the entire electronic apparatus group which is calculated by the server, and the total power consumption information includes total power consumption information of the entire electronic apparatus group calculated by the server from the consumption of power measured by each of the sensors of the apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group,

display a first screen displaying a plurality of functions corresponding to the image processing apparatus,

display in the first screen a user interface element that indicates a power use status in a first display manner that corresponds to the calculated ratio,

receive a selection of at least one function to be executed from the plurality of functions corresponding to the electronic apparatus via the displayed first screen,

display a second screen for receiving settings of the selected function, and

display in the second screen the user interface element that indicates the power use status in a second display manner that corresponds to the acquired calculated ratio.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a use status table from the server, the server configured to store use status information sets each including the calculated ratio in association with the second screen and a display status of the second screen associated with a plurality of electronic apparatus types;

extract a use status information set which corresponds to the calculated ratio from the use status table; and

display the second screen based on the extracted use status information set.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of the use status information sets includes a status, which indicates a use status corresponding to the calculated ratio, a plurality of control settings, which are included in the second screen, display positions of the control settings, display sizes of the control settings, and a display manner of the second screen.

14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit a message to the server, the message including an indication of a function of the image processing apparatus selected by a user;

acquire a display control table which corresponds to the selected function from the server, in response to the transmitted message, the display control table including the status in association with the display manner of the second screen; and

display the second screen on a display panel of the image processing apparatus in the display manner which corresponds to the status in the display control table.

15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of control settings correspond to the image processing apparatus and include image data indicating the status, image data indicating the calculated ratio, and image data indicating a message corresponding to the status.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer readable instructions, which when executed by at least one processor of an image processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus connected to a server configured to calculate total power consumption of each electronic apparatus of an electronic apparatus group, the electronic apparatus group including a plurality of electronic apparatuses and the image processing apparatus, each apparatus of the electronic apparatus group including a sensor configured to measure a consumption of power by the respective apparatus, cause the at least one processor to:

transmit power consumption information related to the power consumption of the image processing apparatus to a server, the server configured to connect to a plurality of electronic apparatuses including the image processing apparatus, the power consumption information including an actual amount of power consumed by the image processing apparatus;

acquire, from the server, a use status information set which includes a calculated ratio of a total power consumption information to a target value of the power consumption of the image processing apparatus wherein the ratio is calculated by the server, the ratio calculated using a target value of total consumption power for the entire electronic apparatus group which is calculated by the server, and the total power consumption information includes total power consumption information of the entire electronic apparatus group calculated by the server from the consumption of power measured by each of the sensors of the apparatuses of the electronic apparatus group;

display a first screen displaying a plurality of functions corresponding to the image processing apparatus;

display in the first screen a user interface element that indicates a power use status in a first display manner that corresponds to the calculated ratio;

receive a selection of at least one function to be executed from the plurality of functions corresponding to the electronic apparatus via the displayed first screen;

display a second screen for receiving settings of the selected function; and

display in the second screen the user interface element that indicates the power use status in a second display manner that corresponds to the acquired calculated ratio.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:

receive a use status table from the server, the server configured to store use status information sets each including the calculated ratio in association with the second screen and a display status of the second screen;

extract a use status information set which corresponds to the calculated ratio from the use status table; and

display the second screen based on the extracted use status information set.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein each of the use status information sets includes a status, which indicates a use status corresponding to the calculated ratio, a plurality of control settings, which are included in the second screen, display positions of the control settings, display sizes of the control settings, and a display manner of the second screen.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit a message to the server, the message including an indication of a function of the image processing apparatus selected by a user;

acquire a display control table which corresponds to the selected function from the server, in response to the transmitted message, the display control table including the status in association with the display manner of the second screen; and

display the second screen in the display manner which corresponds to the status in the display control table.