Terminal apparatus and control method thereof

• US 20040088399A1
• Filed: 10/28/2003
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Minari, Makoto
• Granted Patent: US 7,444,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Management information which is transmitted from another terminal apparatus or a management apparatus and contains instructions used to manage terminal apparatuses is received (S200). A process according to the corresponding instruction is executed with reference to the received management information (S210-S290). A terminal apparatus which has not received management information yet is searched for, and the management information is transferred to the found terminal apparatus (S310).

Claims

1. A terminal apparatus in a system which is formed by a management apparatus and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to a network, comprising:

reception means for receiving management information which is transmitted from another terminal apparatus or the management apparatus, and contains instructions used to manage the plurality of terminal apparatuses;

processing means for executing a process according to a corresponding instruction with reference to the received management information;

search means for searching the plurality of terminal apparatuses for a terminal apparatus which has not received the management information yet; and

transfer means for transferring the management information to the terminal apparatus detected by said search means.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said processing means executes at least one of an installation process of a program, a delete process of a program which is held in advance, a launch process of a program which is held in advance or is installed, an execution quit process of a running program, an environment setup process of a program which is held in advance, and a process for acquiring status of a program which is held in advance and sending the acquired status to the management apparatus, in accordance with the corresponding instruction contained in the management information.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information contains a program to be installed.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information contains an installation instruction of a program to the terminal apparatus, and an address of an external apparatus that holds the program on the network, and

said processing means specifies the external apparatus with reference to the address, and downloads the corresponding program from the specified external apparatus.

5. A management system which is formed by a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to a network, and a management apparatus which can make data communications with the plurality of terminal apparatuses and manages the plurality of terminal apparatuses,

said management apparatus comprising:

input means for inputting instructions for one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;

generation means for generating management information that contains the input instructions on the basis of the input instructions;

specifying means for specifying one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses as a transmission destination of the management information; and

transmission means for transmitting the management information to the specified one terminal apparatus, and

each terminal apparatus comprising;

reception means for receiving management information which is transmitted from another terminal apparatus or the management apparatus, and contains instructions used to manage the plurality of terminal apparatuses;

processing means for executing a process according to a corresponding instruction with reference to the received management information;

search means for searching the plurality of terminal apparatuses for a terminal apparatus which has not received the management information yet; and

transfer means for transferring the management information to the terminal apparatus detected by said search means.

6. The system according to claim 5, further comprising:

a server apparatus which holds a program to be installed in each terminal apparatus, and

wherein the management information contains an installation instruction of a program to the terminal apparatus, and an address of the server apparatus that holds the program on the network, and

said processing means specifies the server apparatus with reference to the address, and downloads the corresponding program from the specified server apparatus.

7. A method of controlling a terminal apparatus in a system which is formed by a management apparatus and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to a network, comprising:

a reception step of receiving management information which is transmitted from another terminal apparatus or the management apparatus, and contains instructions used to manage the plurality of terminal apparatuses;

a processing step of executing a process according to a corresponding instruction with reference to the received management information;

a search step of searching the plurality of terminal apparatuses for a terminal apparatus which has not received the management information yet; and

a transfer step of transferring the management information to the terminal apparatus detected in the search step.

8. A program for making a computer execute a control method of a terminal apparatus of claim 7.

9. A computer readable storage medium storing a program of claim 8.

10. A terminal apparatus in a system which is formed by a management apparatus and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to a network, comprising:

reception means for receiving management information which is transmitted from another apparatus via a network, and contains terminal information indicating a target terminal apparatus and processing information indicating processing contents;

processing means for executing a process corresponding to the processing information which is contained in the management information and indicates the processing contents;

appending means for appending completion information indicating completion of the process in the apparatus to the management information; and

transmission means for transmitting the management information appended with the completion information to another terminal apparatus indicated by the terminal information.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said transmission means transmits the management information to the management apparatus when the completion information has been appended by all the terminal apparatuses indicated by the terminal information.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising notification means for, when said transmission means transmits the management information to the other terminal apparatus, notifying the management apparatus of completion of the process based on the management information.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

storage means for storing the management information which has already been processed; and

check means for checking whether or not management information received by said reception means is already stored in said storage means, and

wherein said processing means skips a process based on the received management information when said check means determines that the received management information is already stored.