Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and control program

• US 7,594,178 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakai, Tetsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh; Ba
• Application Number:
  US11/036,122
• Publication Number:
  US 20050165759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,708 Days
• Field of Search: 715733-739, 358/1.15, 358/1.13, 358/1.14, 709/204, 709/205, 709217-219, 709/223, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229, 709/246
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored has a device searching step of searching for devices serving as administration targets from a plurality of devices connected to a network; and a display control step of display-controlling the device onto which the resource can be downloaded so that the device can be discriminated in correspondence to each resource to be downloaded among the devices searched by the device searching step.

Claims

1. A registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, comprising:

a device searching step of searching for devices to be managed as administration target devices from among a plurality of devices connected to a network;

a display control step of controlling displaying such that from among the devices searched in said device searching step, devices to which respective resources can be downloaded are displayed with correspondence to the respective resources distinguishably from other devices;

a list information holding step of holding list information of the devices searched in said device searching step;

a resource type grouping step of grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held in said list information holding step into resource type groups having respective download resource types, as registration target devices;

a user grouping step of grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held in said list information holding step into user device groups formed by the user, as registration target devices;

a list display switching step of switching, when one of the resource type groups or one of the user device groups is selected as an administration target device registering destination in the device list information held in said list information holding step, to a list of the registration target devices included in the selected resource type group or user device group; and

a device selecting step of selecting one or more devices from the device list based on user instructions, when no group is selected from among the resource type groups and the user device groups as the administration target device registering destination,

wherein information on the devices searched in said device searching step includes resource types of resources which can be downloaded to the devices, and said display control step controls displaying of the device list in accordance with the switching made in said list display switching step.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein, in said display control step, in a case where the device is selected from a displayed device list, if the selected device does not correspond to the resource, the display is controlled so that the resource cannot be downloaded onto that device.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein, in said display control step, in a case where the selected device does not correspond to the resource, a display state of a registering destination folder is displayed in gray, thereby notifying a user that the registration is impossible.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein, in said list information holding step of holding the device list information of the search result, product names of the devices are held.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein, in said list information holding step of holding the device list information of the search result, IP addresses of the devices are held.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary information displaying step of displaying auxiliary information when the device is selected from the displayed device list in a case where no group is selected from among the resource type groups and the user device groups as the administration target device registering destination,

and wherein, in said auxiliary information displaying step, information regarding downloading resource type is displayed.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein, in said auxiliary information displaying step, the resource type which can be registered is normally displayed and the resource type which cannot be registered is displayed in gray.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein, in said auxiliary information displaying step, a resource type group which can be registered is normally displayed and a resource type group which cannot be registered is displayed in gray.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the resource type groups and the user device groups are formed in a layered structure with the user device groups being placed under the resource type groups.

10. An information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, comprising:

device searching means for searching for devices to be managed as administration target devices from among a plurality of devices connected to a network;

display control means for controlling displaying such that from among the devices searched by said device searching means, devices to which respective resources can be downloaded are displayed with correspondence to the respective resources distinguishably from other devices;

list information holding means for holding list information of the devices searched by said device searching means;

resource type grouping means for grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held by said list information holding means into resource type groups having respective download resource types, as registration target devices;

a user grouping means for grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held by said list information holding means into user device groups formed by the user, as registration target devices;

list display switching means for switching, when one of the resource type groups or one of the user device groups is selected as an administration target device registering destination in the device list information held by said list information holding means, to a list of the registration target devices included in the selected resource type group or user device group; and

device selecting means for selecting one or more devices from the device list based on user instructions, when no group is selected from among the resource type groups and the user device groups as the administration target device registering destination,

wherein information on the devices searched by said device searching means includes resource types of resources which can be downloaded to the devices, and said display control means control displaying of the device list in accordance with the switching made by said list display switching means.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, in a case where the device is selected from the displayed device list, if the selected device does not correspond to the resource, said display control means controls the display so that the resource cannot be downloaded onto that device.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, in a case where the selected device does not correspond to the resource, said display control means controls the display so that a display state of a registering destination folder is displayed in gray, thereby notifying a user that the registration is impossible.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein list information holding means for holding the device list information of the search result holds product names of the devices.

14. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said list information holding means for holding the device list information of the search result holds IP addresses of the devices.

15. An apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising auxiliary information displaying means for displaying auxiliary information when the device is selected from the displayed device list in a case where no group is selected from among the resource type groups and the user device groups as the administration target device registering destination,

and wherein said auxiliary information displaying means displays information regarding downloading resource type.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said auxiliary information displaying means normally displays the resource type which can be registered and displays in gray the resource type which cannot be registered.

17. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said auxiliary information displaying means normally displays a resource type group which can be registered and displays in gray a resource type group which cannot be registered.

18. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the resource type groups and the user device groups are formed in a layered structure with the user device groups being placed under the resource type groups.

19. A computer-readable medium storing in executable form a program for causing a computer to perform a registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, wherein said program allows a computer to execute:

a device searching step of searching for devices to be managed as administration target devices from among a plurality of devices connected to a network;

a display control step of controlling displaying such that from among the devices searched in said device searching step, devices to which respective resources can be downloaded are displayed with correspondence to the respective resources distinguishably from other devices;

a list information holding step of holding list information of the devices searched in said device searching step;

a resource type grouping step of grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held in said list information holding step into resource type groups having respective download resource types, as registration target devices;

a user grouping step of grouping the administration target devices included in the device list information held in said list information holding step into user device groups formed by the user, as registration target devices;

a list display switching step of switching, when one of the resource type groups or one of the user device groups is selected as an administration target device registering destination in the device list information held in said list information holding step, to a list of the registration target devices included in the selected resource type group or user device group; and

a device selecting step of selecting one or more devices from the device list based on user instructions, when no group is selected from among the resource type groups and the user device groups as the administration target device registering destination,

wherein information on the devices searched in said device searching step includes resource types of resources which can be downloaded to the devices, and said display control step controls displaying of the device list in accordance with the switching made in said list display switching step.