Centrally stored online information methods and systems

• US 20050228869A1
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Published: 10/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Satosi Imago
• Original Assignee: Satosi Imago
• Inventors: Imago, Satosi
• Granted Patent: US 7,836,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

Online information is centrally stored for various devices, and the online information includes reference manual and related information such as related products, new products and maintenance information. The online information is retrieved from a user display unit that is either independent or is incorporated in the device. The online information is selected from a list of devices that is connected to the network. The online information is also further searched based upon a key that a user specifies.

Claims

1. A method of providing online information, comprising the steps of:

connecting devices to a network;

storing predetermined sets of information on the devices in a single server that is connected to the network;

specifying one of the devices by transmitting device information on at least the specified one device to the server;

searching for the information that corresponds to the device information to generate relevant information; and

transmitting to an output location the relevant information.

2-34. -34. (canceled)

35. A method of providing online information on devices connected to a network, predetermined sets of information on the connected devices being stored, comprising the steps of:

requesting from a display unit the devices for which the information is available to compile a first list;

displaying a first list of the devices at the display unit;

selecting one device from the first list at the display unit;

broadcasting device information on at least the selected device from the display unit;

searching for the information that corresponds to the device information to generate relevant information; and

transmitting to an output location the relevant information.

36. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 wherein each of the sets of the information is organized in a reference manual.

37. The method of providing online information according to claim 36 wherein the reference manual further includes predetermined units of information.

38. The method of providing online information according to claim 37 further comprising additional steps of:

specifying a search key for a particular one of the units in the relevant information;

generating partial relevant information based upon the search key; and

transmitting to the output location the partial relevant information.

39. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 wherein the list is generated based upon the device information from each of the devices connected to the network after inquiry is broadcasted to the devices.

40. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 further comprising additional steps of:

displaying a second list of predetermined output locations; and

selecting one of the output locations from the second list.

41. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 wherein the information includes reference information on the devices.

42. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 wherein the information includes related information on the devices.

43. The method of providing online information according to claim 42 wherein the related information includes related products.

44. The method of providing online information according to claim 42 wherein the related information includes maintenance information.

45. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 further comprising an additional step of converting a format of the relevant information based upon the output location prior to said transmitting to the output location.

46. The method of providing online information according to claim 45 wherein the output location includes a printer and a display window.

47. The method of providing online information according to claim 46 wherein reference information and related information on the devices are simultaneously shown in the display window.

48. The method of providing online information according to claim 35 wherein the information on the connected devices is stored at a server, claim 35 further comprising additional steps of:

registering the devices with the server for compiling the first list of the devices for which the information is available as the devices are connected to the network;

displaying the first list of the devices; and

selecting one device from the first list.

49. A system for providing sets of information stored at a predetermined location, comprising:

devices that are connected to a network; and

a manual display unit connected to the network further including a display panel as the output location for displaying relevant information, said manual display unit requesting said devices for which the information is available to compile a first list, said display panel displaying the first list of said devices, said display panel having an input capability for selecting one of said devices from the first list, said manual display unit transmitting device information on at least said selected one device, wherein the relevant information that corresponds to said specified selected device information is searched to generate the relevant information.

50. The system for providing online information according to claim 49 wherein each of the sets of the information is organized in a reference manual.

51. The system for providing online information according to claim 50 wherein the reference manual further includes predetermined units of information.

52. The system for providing online information according to claim 51 wherein said manual display unit further comprises a search key specification unit for specifying a search key for a particular one of the units in the relevant information, the system further comprising a device manual search unit for searching and generating partial relevant information based upon the search key.

53. The system for providing online information according to claim 50 further comprises a manual server for storing the sets of the information.

54. The system for providing online information according to claim 53 wherein said devices each further comprise a device information response unit, said manual server broadcasting an inquiry to said devices, said manual server compiling the list based upon the device information that is sent from each of said device information response unit that is connected to the network in response to the inquiry.

55. The system for providing online information according to claim 53 wherein said devices each further comprise a device information response unit for registering the device information with said manual server, said manual server compiling the list based upon the device information.

56. The system for providing online information according to claim 49 wherein said display unit further displays a second list of predetermined output locations on said display panel for selecting one of the output locations from the second list.

57. The system for providing online information according to claim 49 wherein the information includes reference information on said devices.

58. The system for providing online information according to claim 49 wherein the information includes related information on said devices.

59. The system for providing online information according to claim 58 wherein the related information includes related products.

60. The system for providing online information according to claim 58 wherein the related information includes maintenance information.

61. The system for providing online information according to claim 53 wherein said manual server further comprises a format converter unit for converting a format of the relevant information based upon the output location prior to transmitting to the output location.

62. The system for providing online information according to claim 60 wherein the output location includes a printer and a display window.

63. The system for providing online information according to claim 62 wherein said display panel displays reference information and related information on said devices in the display window.

64. A manual display device connected to a network for interfacing with a manual server storing predetermined sets of reference information on devices, each of the devices being connected to the network for performing a predetermined task, the manual display device comprising:

a device information obtaining unit for sending an inquiry to the devices and for receiving information from the devices;

a device list selection unit connected to said device information obtaining unit for displaying the received information and for selecting one of the devices based upon the displayed information; and

a search condition specification unit connected to said device list selection unit for generating a search condition in identifying a portion of the reference information for the selected device.

65. The manual display device according to claim 64 wherein said search condition specification unit receives natural language for generating the search condition.

66. The manual display device according to claim 65 wherein said search condition specification unit receives condition indicators.

67. The manual display device according to claim 65 wherein the manual server searches for relevant information from the stored reference information based upon the search condition.

68. The manual display device according to claim 65 wherein the search condition includes a product name.

69. The manual display device according to claim 67 further comprising a device manual display unit connected to said search condition specification unit for transmitting the search condition to the manual server and for displaying the relevant information from the manual server.

70. A device for interfacing with a manual display unit on predetermined sets of information, the device and the manual display unit being connected to a network, the device comprising:

a device information response unit for transmitting device information to the manual display unit in response to an inquiry from the manual display unit, the manual display unit compiling a device list based upon the device information; and

a storage unit for storing a search key identifying the device and device selection information.

71. The device for interfacing according to claim 70 wherein each of the sets of the information is organized in a reference manual.

72. The device for interfacing according to claim 71 wherein the reference manual further includes predetermined units of information.

73. The device for interfacing according to claim 71 wherein the search key is used to find a corresponding reference manual.

74. The device for interfacing according to claim 71 wherein the device selection information includes corresponding device description and is used to display to a user for selecting a desired device from a list.