Web server and method to provide web-pages to manage devices

• US 7,779,046 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2007
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HP Printing Korea Co., Ltd. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Hwang, Ki-young
• Primary Examiner(s): LeRoux; Etienne P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cindy
• Application Number:
  US11/705,442
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010369A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,281 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/219, 707/100
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications

Abstract

A web server and a method to provide web-pages to manage devices. A storage stores data for a web-page setting attributes and attribute values related to at least one device. A web-page generator generates a basic web-page based on the stored data of the web-page if to display of the web-page is requested from a user terminal. A communicator transmits the generated basic web-page to the user terminal. A server controller controls the web-page generator to generate a first web-page to display at least one attribute and attribute values of the at least one attribute on the basic web-page displayed on the user terminal. Thus, only attributes and attribute values, which can be supported by a device, can be displayed on a user interface (UI) screen. As a result, a user can easily write a workform.

Claims

1. A web server to provide web-pages to manage devices, comprising:

a storage to store data of a web-page to set attributes and attribute values related to at least one device;

a web-page generator to generate a basic web-page based on the stored data of the web-page if displaying of the web-page is requested from a user terminal;

a communicator to transmit the generated basic web-page to the user terminal; and

a server controller to control the web-page generator to generate a first web-page to display at least one attribute and attribute values of the at least one device on the basic web-page displayed on the user terminal,

a workform writer to write a new workform comprising the attribute values of each of the attributes which are completely set through the first web-page displayed on the user terminal; and

a workform storage to store the written new workform.

2. The web server of claim 1, wherein the storage stores the attribute values of each of the attributes, which can be supported by the at least one device, at least one by one, and the web-page generator generates the first web-page to display the attribute values of each of the attributes stored in the storage, wherein the first web-page displays the attribute values on an each attribute basis.

3. The web server of claim 2, wherein the server controller controls the communicator and the storage to receive the attribute values of each of the attributes from the at least one device and update the stored attribute values.

4. The web server of claim 3, wherein the server controller periodically receives the attribute values of each of the attributes from the at least one device.

5. The web server of claim 1, further comprising a parser to parse

the stored new workform if editing of the stored new workform is requested from the user terminal,

wherein the server controller controls the web-page generator and the communicator to generate a second web-page to display the parsed new workform and provide the second web-page to the user terminal and then if at least one attribute value of the new workform displayed on the user terminal is changed, controls the workform writer to re-write a workform reflecting the changed attribute value.

6. The web server of claim 1, wherein the storage stores an image necessary to generate the web-page using a plug-in method.

7. The web server of claim 1, wherein an image necessary to generate the web-page is written to be dragged and dropped on the web-page displayed on the user terminal.

8. The web server of claim 1, wherein the new workform is written in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format.

9. A method of providing web-pages to manage devices, comprising:

storing data of a web-page to set attributes and attribute values related to at least one device in a web server;

generating a basic web-page based on the stored data of the web-page if displaying of the web-page is requested from a user terminal;

transmitting the generated basic web-page to the user terminal;

generating a first web-page to display at least one attribute and attribute values of the at least one device on the basic web-page displayed on the user terminal; and

writing a new workform comprising the set attribute values of each of the attributes if the attribute values of each of the attributes are set through the first web-page displayed on the user terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first web-page to display the attribute values of each of the attributes, which can be supported by the at least one device, is generated.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the attribute values of each of the attributes are periodically provided from the at least one device.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing the written new workform.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

parsing the stored new workform if editing of the new workform is requested from the user terminal; and

generating a second web-page to display the parsed new workform and providing the second web-page to the user terminal.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

re-writing a workform to reflect the changed attribute value if the second web-page is displayed on the user terminal, and then at least one attribute value of the new workform is changed on the second web-page.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the storage store an image necessary to generate the web-page using a plug-in method.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein an image necessary to generate the web-page is written to be dragged and dropped on the web-page displayed on the user terminal.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the new workform is written in an XML format.

18. A method to generate user interfaces from a server to manage a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

storing attribute data and attribute values of each of the plurality of devices and workforms corresponding to the attribute data and attribute values in the server;

generating a basic user interface to display the stored data and transmitting the basic user interface to a user terminal;

generating a first user interface to display at least one attribute and corresponding attribute values and to request one of a signal to set the at least one attribute and corresponding attribute values and a signal to edit the workforms corresponding to the at least one attribute data and corresponding attribute values; and

writing a new workform comprising the set of attribute values of each of the attributes if the attribute values of each of the attributes are set through the first user interface,

wherein the user interface is a web-page.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

editing the workform corresponding to at least one attribute and corresponding attribute values and storing the editing workform if the signal is to edit the workform;

parsing the stored edited workform; and

generating a second user interface to display the parsed edited workform.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing the set at least one attribute data and attribute values of the plurality of devices.

21. A web server to manage a plurality of devices, comprising:

a storage unit to store a plurality of attribute and attribute values corresponding to the plurality of devices;

a web-page generator to generate a first webpage to display the stored plurality of attribute and attribute values of at least one of the plurality of devices, and to generate one of a web-page to allow a user to enter attribute values for the at least one of the plurality of devices and a web-page to allow a user to edit the attribute and attribute values corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of devices, and

a workform writer to write a new workform corresponding to the entered attribute values of the web-page; and

a workform storage unit to store the workform.

22. The web server of claim 21, wherein the entered attribute values and/or the edited attribute and attribute values are stored in the storage unit.

23. The web server of claim 21 wherein the storage unit periodically updates the attributes and/or attribute values of the plurality of devices.

24. The web server of claim 21, further comprising:

a workform writer to write a new workform corresponding to the edited attributes and/or attribute values of the web-page; and

a workform storage unit to store the workform.