Printing data held on a WWW server

• US 7,616,335 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2004
• Issued: 11/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Yasushi, Yamaguchi, Koutaro, Sato, Hiroyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Haskins; Twyler L
• Assistant Examiner(s): DICKERSON, CHAD S
• Application Number:
  US10/957,865
• Publication Number:
  US 20050219607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,862 Days
• Field of Search: 358 111- 118, 358400-404, 358/442, 709223-226, 709/202, 709/203, 709216-219, 710 22- 28, 710/31, 715/500, 715/500.1, 715/501.1, 715/200, 715/203, 715/205, 707/1, 707/2, 707/10, 707/100
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1204 resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1224 Client or server resources management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1236 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration

Abstract

To enable data in a WWW server on a network to be directly obtained without passing through an information processing apparatus and to reduce a load which is applied to the network when the data obtained from the WWW server is printed, a digital copier has a function, namely, a Web Pull Printing function for actively accessing to the WWW server, obtaining data of an HTML format in the WWW server, and printing by a self printer. A Web print request to the digital copier by the user is executed through a print utility which is operating on a client.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus for printing data held in a WWW server on a network, said image forming apparatus comprising:

a setting unit configured to set, as a periodic print condition for periodically obtaining and printing the data held in the WWW server, a day of the week or a period, according to a user operation;

a determination unit configured to determine whether a day of the week or a period set by said setting unit is satisfied;

an obtaining unit configured to, when said determination unit determines that the day of the week or the period is satisfied, obtain the data held in the WWW server by accessing the WWW server through the network; and

a printing unit configured to convert the data obtained by said obtaining unit into printable image data, and to print the printable image data together with a date when obtaining or printing the image data,

wherein said printing unit does not print the image data in a case where the data held in the WWW server has not updated from the last time that the data was obtained by the obtaining unit, and prints, instead of the image data, a message indicating that the data is not updated and a date when obtaining or printing the data last time.

2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the message data includes URL information of the data which is not updated.

3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmitting unit configured to transmit information indicating a time when the data held in the WWW server was obtained the last time,

wherein said obtaining unit does not obtain the image data held in the WWW server in a case where the data held in the WWW server has not been updated from the last time of obtaining the data.

6. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printing unit prints the date when the data is obtained or printed, to a header or a footer.

4. An image forming method for printing data held in a WWW server on a network, said image forming method comprising the steps of:

setting, as a print condition for periodically obtaining and printing the data held in the WWW server, a day of the week or a period, according to a user operation;

determining whether a day of the week or a period set in the setting step is satisfied;

obtaining the data held in the WWW server by accessing the WWW server through the network when said determining step determines that the day of the week or the period is satisfied; and

convening the obtained data into printable image data and printing the printable image data and a date when obtaining or printing the data,

wherein the image data is not printed in a case where the obtained data held in the WWW server has not updated from the last time that the data was obtained and prints, instead of the image data, a message data indicating that the data is not updated and a date when obtaining or printing the data last time.

5. A computer-readable storage medium which stores therein a program to execute an image forming method for printing data held in a WWW server on a network, said image forming method comprising the steps of:

setting, as a periodic print condition for periodically obtaining and printing the data held in the WWW server, a day of the week or a period, according to a user operation;

determining whether a day of the week or a period set by the setting step is satisfied;

obtaining the data held in the WWW server by accessing the WWW server through the network when said determining step determines that the day of the week or the period is satisfied; and

convening the obtained data into printable image data and printing the printable image data and a date when obtaining or printing the data,

wherein the image data is not printed in a case where the obtained data held in the WWW server has not updated from the last time that the data was obtained and printing, instead of the image data, a message data indicating that the data is not updated and a date when obtaining or printing the data last time.