Computer readable medium and recording medium therefor

• US 20070038766A1
• Filed: 07/20/2006
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Hattori, Yuji
• Application Number:
  US11/489,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20070038766A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/725 operating on a secure reference time value

Abstract

A computer readable medium including computer readable instructions is provided. The computer readable instructions cause a computer to execute the steps of obtaining a current time, judging whether the current time is prior to at least one predetermined time, and controlling accessibility of the computer to a piece of device-related data, which is used in cooperation with the computer and is stored in a recording medium, based on a judgment made to determine whether the current time is prior to the at least one predetermined time.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium including computer readable instructions that cause a computer to execute the steps of:

obtaining a current time;

judging whether the current time is prior to at least one predetermined time; and

controlling accessibility of the computer to a piece of device-related data, which is used in cooperation with the computer and is stored in a recording medium, based on a judgment made to determine whether the current time is prior to the at least one predetermined time.

2. The computer readable medium according to claim 1 wherein the piece of device-related data is inhibited from being accessed by the computer when the current time is judged to be prior to the at least one of the predetermined time.

3. The computer readable medium according to claim 1 wherein the piece of device-related data is released to be accessed by the computer when the current time is judged to be one of later than or equal to the at least one of the predetermined time.

4. The computer readable medium according to claim 2,

wherein the recording medium stores a plurality of pieces of the device-related data, each of which is related to one of a plurality of devices being used in cooperation with the computer and corresponds to one of a plurality of the predetermined times,

wherein each of the plurality of the predetermined times is compared to the current time in a counter-chronological order from a time scheduled to be a last-to-come to a time scheduled to be a first-to-come in a time sequence among all the plurality of the predetermined times when the judgment is made, and,

wherein one of the pieces of the device-related data corresponding to the one of the plurality of the predetermined times that is judged to be one of later than or equal to the current time in the judgment is inhibited from being accessed by the computer.

5. The computer readable medium according to claim 3,

wherein the recording medium stores a plurality of pieces of the device-related data, each of which is related to one of a plurality of devices being used in cooperation with the computer and is corresponded to one of a plurality of the predetermined times,

wherein each of the plurality of the predetermined times is compared to the current time in a counter-chronological order from a time scheduled to be a last-to-come to a time scheduled to be a first-to-come in a time sequence among all the plurality of the predetermined times when the judgment is made, and

wherein one of the pieces of the device-related data corresponding to the one of the plurality of the predetermined times that is judged to be prior to the current time in the judgment is released to be accessed by the computer.

6. The computer readable medium according to claim 4 wherein each of the plurality of pieces of the device-related data corresponds to one of a plurality of models that belong to one product series of the devices being used in cooperation with the computer.

7. The computer readable medium according to claim 5 wherein each of the plurality of pieces of the device-related data corresponds to one of a plurality of models that belong to one product series of the devices being used in cooperation with the computer.

8. The computer readable medium according to claim 2 wherein information corresponding to the piece of the device-related data that is inhibited from being accessed by the computer is prohibited from being displayed on a display unit of the computer.

9. The computer readable medium according to claim 2 wherein the piece of device-related data includes at least one of driver-related data, which operates the device through the computer, document data, which displays an operation instruction of the device corresponding to the piece of device-related data on the display unit of the computer, and accompanying application-related data, which runs on the computer when the device corresponding to the piece of device-related data is operated in cooperation with the computer.

10. The computer readable medium according to claim 3 wherein the piece of device-related data includes at least one of driver-related data, which is adapted to operate the device through the computer, document data, which is adapted to display an operation instruction of the device corresponding to the piece of device-related data on the display unit of the computer, and accompanying application-related data, which runs on the computer when the device corresponding to the piece of device-related data is operated in cooperation with the computer.

11. The computer readable medium according to claim 2 wherein the one of the predetermined times includes at least one of a scheduled manufacturing time, a scheduled shipping time, a sales-release time, a press-release time, or a scheduled posting time on an internet site.

12. The computer readable medium according to claim 3, wherein the one of the predetermined times includes at least one of a scheduled manufacturing time, a scheduled shipping time, a sales-release time, a press-release time, or a scheduled posting time on an internet site.

13. A recording medium storing predetermined data and a computer readable medium including computer readable instructions, the computer readable medium causing the computer to execute the steps of:

obtaining a current time;

judging whether the current time is prior to at least one predetermined time; and

controlling accessibility of the computer to a piece of device-related data, which is used in cooperation with the computer and is stored in the recording medium, based on a judgment made to determine whether the current time is prior to the at least one predetermined time.

14. The recording medium according to claim 13, further storing a plurality of pieces of the device-related data wherein each of the plurality of pieces of the device-related data is related to one of a plurality of devices that are used in cooperation with the computer.

15. The recording medium according to claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of pieces of the device-related data corresponds to one of a plurality of models that belong to one product series of the device being used in cooperation with the computer.

16. The recording medium according to claim 13 wherein the piece of the device-related data includes at least one of driver-related data, which is adapted to operate the device through the computer, document data, which displays an operation instruction of the device on a display unit of the computer, and accompanying application-related data, which runs on the computer when the device is operated in cooperation with the computer.