INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR CONTROLING THEREOF AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20090292772A1
• Filed: 05/21/2009
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Uchikawa, Shinichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,230,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a storage unit adapted to store information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a reception unit adapted to receive from an other information processing apparatus a request to acquire information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit, a determination unit adapted to, by comparing an address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit with an address of another information processing apparatus, determine whether the image forming apparatus has the address which another information processing apparatus can access, and a transmission unit adapted to transmit to another information processing apparatus the information of the image forming apparatus having the address which is determined by the determination unit to be accessible from another information processing apparatus.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, comprising:

a storage unit adapted to store information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses;

a reception unit adapted to receive from another information processing apparatus a request to acquire information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit;

a determination unit adapted to, by comparing an address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit with an address of another information processing apparatus, determine whether the image forming apparatus has the address which another information processing apparatus is able to access; and

a transmission unit adapted to transmit to another information processing apparatus the information of the image forming apparatus having the address which is determined by the determination unit to be accessible from another information processing apparatus.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a detection unit adapted to detect an image forming apparatus that satisfies the request received by the reception unit from among the image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit,

wherein the determination unit compares an address of the image forming apparatus detected by the detection unit with an address of another information processing apparatus.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the storage unit stores the addresses of the plurality of the image forming apparatuses and information describing a service offered by each of the image forming apparatuses, and

wherein the search unit searches for the image forming apparatus that is able to offer the service specified by the search request from among the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the determination unit determines whether the address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit is a link local address, and, when the address of the image forming apparatus is the link local address, determines whether the image forming apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork, so as to determine whether the image forming apparatus has the address which another information processing apparatus is able to access.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatuses whose information is transmitted by the transmission unit do not include an image forming apparatus that is not determined by the determination unit to have an address which another information processing apparatus is able to access.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address of the image forming apparatus and the address of another information processing apparatus are an IP address.

7. An information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, comprising:

a storage unit adapted to store addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses;

a transmission unit adapted to transmit to another information processing apparatus the address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit; and

a determination unit adapted to determine whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

wherein the transmission unit transmits the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit when the determination unit determines that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and transmits the addresses excluding a link local address from among the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit when the determination unit does not determine that the information processing apparatus and the other information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

8. An information processing apparatus comprising,

a reception unit adapted to receive addresses of a plurality of image forming apparatuses transmitted from another information processing apparatus;

a determination unit adapted to determine whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

a storage unit adapted to store the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatus received by the reception unit when the determination unit determines that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and store the addresses excluding a link local address from among the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses received by the reception unit when the determination unit does not determine that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

9. An information processing apparatus,

a transmission unit adapted to transmit to another information processing apparatus a search request to search for an image forming apparatus;

a reception unit adapted to receive a search result for the search request from another information processing apparatus;

a determination unit adapted to, by comparing each address of a plurality of image forming apparatuses included in the search result received by the reception unit with an address of the information processing address, determine whether the image forming apparatus has the address accessible from the information processing apparatus; and

a display unit adapted to display the address of the image forming apparatus excluding an address which is determined by the determination unit to be inaccessible from the information processing apparatus.

10. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, comprising steps of:

storing information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in a storage unit;

receiving from another information processing apparatus a request to acquire the stored information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses;

determining, by comparing a stored address of the image forming apparatus with an address of another information processing apparatus, whether the image forming apparatus has the address which another information processing apparatus is able to access; and

transmitting to another information processing apparatus the information of the image forming apparatus having the address determined to be unable inaccessible from another information processing apparatus.

11. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, comprising steps of:

storing addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in a storage unit;

transmitting to another information processing apparatus the address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit; and

determining whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

wherein the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit are transmitted when it is determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and the addresses excluding a link local address from among the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit are transmitted when it is not determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

12. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus comprising steps of:

receiving addresses of a plurality of image forming apparatuses transmitted from another information processing apparatus;

determining whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

storing the received addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatus in a storage unit when it is determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and storing the addresses excluding a link local address from among the received addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in the storage unit when it is not determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

13. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus,

transmitting to another information processing apparatus a search request to search for an image forming apparatus;

receiving a search result for the search request from another information processing apparatus;

determining, by comparing each address of a plurality of image forming apparatuses included in the received search result with an address of the information processing address, whether the image forming apparatus has the address accessible from the information processing apparatus; and

a display unit adapted to display the address of the image forming apparatus excluding an address determined to be inaccessible from the information processing apparatus.

14. A computer program that causes an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses to execute steps of:

storing information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in a storage unit;

receiving from another information processing apparatus a request to acquire the stored information of the plurality of image forming apparatuses;

determining, by comparing a stored address of the image forming apparatus with an address of another information processing apparatus, whether the image forming apparatus has the address which another information processing apparatus is able to access; and

transmitting to another information processing apparatus the information of the image forming apparatus having the address determined to be accessible from another information processing apparatus.

15. A computer program that causes an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses to execute steps of:

storing addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in a storage unit;

transmitting to another information processing apparatus the address of the image forming apparatus stored by the storage unit; and

determining whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

wherein the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit are transmitted when it is determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and the addresses excluding a link local address from among the addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses stored by the storage unit are transmitted when it is not determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

16. A computer program that causes an information processing apparatus to execute steps of:

receiving addresses of a plurality of image forming apparatuses transmitted from another information processing apparatus;

determining whether the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in a same subnetwork;

storing the received addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatus in a storage unit when it is determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork, and storing the addresses excluding a link local address from among the received addresses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in the storage unit when it is not determined that the information processing apparatus and another information processing apparatus exist in the same subnetwork.

17. A computer program that causes an information processing apparatus to execute steps of:

transmitting to another information processing apparatus a search request to search for an image forming apparatus;

receiving a search result for the search request from another information processing apparatus;

determining, by comparing each address of a plurality of image forming apparatuses included in the received search result with an address of the information processing address, whether the image forming apparatus has the address accessible from the information processing apparatus; and

displaying the address of the image forming apparatus excluding an address determined to be inaccessible from the information processing apparatus.