METHOD AND DEVICE TO SET DEVICE CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20090100155A1
• Filed: 10/10/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S-Printing Solution Co., Ltd. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Jong-nam
• Granted Patent: US 8,745,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• 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

Abstract

A device to set device configurations, and a method thereof. The method includes requesting a server for address information to be used by a device and cloning information for setting configurations, and receiving the cloning information from the server according to the address information to be used by the device and setting configurations for the device. Accordingly, when a new device is installed, the method can receive device configuration information previously stored in a server that manages devices, and can automatically set configurations for the new device.

Claims

1. A method of setting device configurations, the method comprising:

requesting a server for address information to be used by a device and cloning information for setting configurations for the device; and

receiving the cloning information from the server according to the address information to be used by the device and setting one or more configurations for the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting the server further comprises:

broadcasting a request signal requesting the address information and the cloning information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the cloning information and the setting of the configurations for the device comprises:

receiving the address information;

setting the received address information;

transmitting the set address information to the server;

receiving the cloning information according to the set address information; and

setting at least one of the one or more configurations for the device using the received cloning information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the receiving of the cloning information and the setting of the configurations for the device comprises:

receiving assignment instructions for the address information from the server; and

receiving the address information assigned to the device according to the received assignment instructions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving of the address information assigned according to the received assignment instructions comprises:

receiving the address information assigned by a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying an error message when an error occurs.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether power is supplied to the device or a network cable is connected to the device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

when it is determined that the power is supplied to the device or the network cable is connected to the device, automatically requesting the address information and the cloning information for the device from the server.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the cloning information includes basic configuration information, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) configuration information, simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) configuration information, server message block/file transfer protocol (SMB/FTP) configuration information, or user authentication configuration information for the device, or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising

transmitting the set configurations to the server.

11. A device to set device configurations, the device comprising:

a request signal generating unit to generate a request signal that requests address information to be used by the device and cloning information for setting configurations of the device;

an interface unit to transmit the generated request signal to a manager server, and to receive the address information and the cloning information from the manager server; and

a configuration setting control unit to control configuration setting for the device using the received address information and the cloning information.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the interface unit broadcasts the request signal.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the interface unit receives assignment instructions for the address information from the manager server, and

the configuration setting control unit controls setting of the address information assigned according to the received assignment instructions.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the configuration setting control unit receives the address information assigned by a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the cloning information includes basic configuration information, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) configuration information, simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) configuration information, server message block/file transfer protocol (SMB/FTP) configuration information, or user authentication configuration information for the device, or any combination thereof.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the configuration setting control unit transmits set configurations of the device to the server.

17. The device of claim 11, further comprising an event determining unit to determine whether power is supplied to the device and a network cable is connected to the device, wherein, when it is determined that the power is supplied to the device and the network cable is connected to the device, the request signal generating unit automatically generates the request signal.

18. The device of claim 11, wherein the device is an image forming apparatus.

19. The device of claim 11, further comprising an error message display unit to display an error message when an error occurs during the configuration setting for the device.

20. A computer readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute a method of setting device configurations, the method comprising:

requesting a server for address information to be used by a device and cloning information for setting configurations for the device; and

receiving the cloning information from the server according to the address information to be used by the device and setting one or more configurations for the device.

21. A method of setting configurations for a device, the method comprising:

coupling the device to a communications network;

transmitting a request signal requesting address information and cloning information for the device;

receiving the address information to be used by the device from a server communicatively coupled to the communications network;

receiving the cloning information from the server based at least in part on the received address information for the device; and

setting one or more configurations for the device based at least in part on the received cloning information.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting the one or more set configurations for the device to the server.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the receiving the address information further comprises:

receiving address assignment instructions from the server; and

assigning an address for the device based at least in part on the received address assignment instructions.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

determining if the assigned address for the device is valid.

25. A computer readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute a method of setting configurations for a device, the method comprising:

coupling the device to a communications network;

transmitting a request signal requesting address information and cloning information for the device;

receiving the address information to be used by the device from a server communicatively coupled to the communications network;

receiving the cloning information from the server based at least in part on the received address information for the device; and

setting one or more configurations for the device based at least in part on the received cloning information.