Image processing apparatus, management apparatus and image processing method that reduce delays in print job processing caused by rewriting of firmware

• US 7,797,385 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2002
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd. (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd. (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: Tomita, Atsushi, Hino, Hideki, Mae, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDY
• Application Number:
  US10/216,909
• Publication Number:
  US 20030037115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,954 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 382/305, 717/168, 717/171, 717173-174, 717/176, 717/178
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An image processing apparatus checks a next job to be executed, and if the job is a firmware rewriting job, accesses a mail server, downloads e-mail, and obtains a job type of a job attached to the e-mail. If the job is a print job, the image processing apparatus extracts image information pertaining to the job from the e-mail, stores the image information, registers the job in a job management table, and ends processing. If there are no print jobs, the image processing apparatus executes the firmware rewriting job, deletes the job from the job management table, and ends the processing.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a firmware rewriting unit that executes firmware rewriting processing;

an access unit that accesses a mail server to download an email, regularly or irregularly;

an image data obtaining unit that, on detecting that the firmware rewriting unit is to execute the firmware rewriting processing, has the access unit access the mail server to see if there is any email which was sent to the image processing apparatus, and if there is the email, the image data obtaining unit has the access unit download the email form the mail server and obtains image data attached with the email before the firmware rewriting unit executes the firmware rewriting processing;

an image data processing unit that processes the image data obtained by the image data obtaining unit; and

a processing control unit that, after the image data processing unit processes the image data, has the firmware rewriting unit execute the firmware rewriting processing.

2. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a processing prohibition unit that prohibits processing of image data while the firmware rewriting processing is being executed.

3. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of control modules that process the image data in coordination with each other; and

a communication line by which the control modules communicate,

wherein the firmware rewriting unit conveys the firmware via the communication line.

4. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the image data obtaining unit has the access unit download all emails which were sent to the image processing apparatus from the mail server and obtains all image data that is attached with the emails.

5. The image processing apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the processing control unit has the firmware rewriting processing executed after the image data processing unit has processed all the image data.

6. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the access unit accesses the mail server at an interval that is shorter than a time required for the firmware rewriting processing.

9. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a job management table for managing one or more firmware rewriting jobs and print jobs; and

a judging unit that judges whether a job registered in the job management table is a firmware rewriting job or a print job,

wherein the image data obtaining unit obtains the image data when the judging unit judges that a job is a firmware rewriting job.

10. The image processing apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a judgement unit that judges whether a print job is attached to the e-mail downloaded by the access unit.

11. The image processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the job management table manages jobs obtained by the access unit.

7. A management apparatus comprising:

a firmware rewriting instruction unit that instructs rewriting of firmware to the image processing apparatus;

an access unit that accesses a mail server to download an email, regularly or irregularly;

an image data obtaining unit that, on detecting that the firmware rewriting instruction unit is to instruct the rewriting of firmware, has the access unit access the mail server to see if there is any email which was sent to the image processing apparatus, and if there is the email, the image data obtaining unit has the access unit download the email from the mail server and obtains image data attached with the email before the firmware rewriting instruction unit instructs the rewriting of firmware; and

a processing control unit that instructs the rewriting of the firmware after instructing processing of the image data obtained by the image data obtaining unit.

8. An image processing method performed by an image processing apparatus that accesses a mail server to download an email regularly or irregularly, comprising:

a detection step of detecting that firmware rewriting processing is to be executed;

an access step of accessing, on detecting that the firmware rewriting processing is to be executed, the mail server to see if there is any email which was sent to the image processing apparatus, and downloading the email from the mail server if there is the email;

an obtaining step of obtaining image data attached with the downloaded email before the firmware rewriting processing is executed; and

a rewriting step of executing the firmware rewriting processing after the obtained image data is processed.

12. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium containing a computer program causing a computer provided in an image processing apparatus that accesses a mail server to download an email regularly or irregularly, to execute processing comprising:

a detection step of detecting that firmware rewriting processing is to be executed;

an access step of accessing, on detecting that the firmware rewriting processing is to be executed, the mail server to see if there is any email which was sent to the image processing apparatus, and downloading the email from the mail server if there is the email;

an obtaining step of obtaining image data attached with the downloaded email before the firmware rewriting processing is executed; and

a rewriting step of executing the firmware rewriting processing after the obtained image data is processed.