Image forming apparatus, control method of image forming apparatus, program, and storage medium

• US 9,009,275 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Fujikawa, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): FABBRI, ANTHONY E
• Application Number:
  US12/101,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20080256630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,560 Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00411 the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00464 using browsers, i.e. interfaces based on mark-up languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00915 Assigning priority to, or interrupting, a particular operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0098 User intervention not otherwise provided for, e.g. placing documents, responding to an alarm

Abstract

An image forming apparatus for executing a processing flow including a plurality of steps, includes a determination unit which determines whether or not a processing flow to be executed includes an instruction required step that requires an instruction of a user, a selection unit which selects, when the processing flow to be executed includes the instruction required step, a notification destination of information required to display an operation window for accepting the instruction of the user, a notification control unit which notifies the notification destination selected by the selection unit of the operation window, and an execution unit which executes processing of the instruction required step according to instruction contents input via the operation window.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus for executing a processing flow including a plurality of steps, said apparatus comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more memory devices communicatively connected to the one or more processing devices and storing instructions configured to be executed by the one or more processing devices, the instructions comprising instructions for;

acquiring definition information of the processing flow;

identifying, if a step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is an instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, a user required to complete the instruction-required step;

displaying a first operation window on a display unit of the image forming apparatus, the first operation window configured to receive an instruction from the user at the image forming apparatus to complete the instruction-required step;

measuring a duration of a waiting period where the instruction has not been received via the first operation window;

if the duration of the waiting period exceeds a predetermined time period, (a) determining a pre-registered remote notification address for the user, and (b) transmitting remote execution information to the pre-registered remote notification address, the remote execution information configured to cause a second operation window to be displayed on a display unit of a remote device that is remote from the image forming apparatus, and the second operation window configured to receive the instruction from the user at the remote device to remotely complete the instruction-required step to be executed by the image forming apparatus; and

if a particular step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is not the instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, controlling execution of the particular step without displaying the first operation window and without transmitting the remote execution information.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

monitoring whether the processing of the instruction-required step is completed or in an instruction-waiting state; and

when said monitoring determines that the processing of the instruction-required step is in the instruction waiting state, and the user does not input an instruction within a predetermined period of time, setting the processing of the instruction-required step in a suspended state, generating a URL required to input an instruction for restarting the processing of the instruction-required step, and notifying an information processing apparatus of the URL.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

storing, in the one or more memory devices, suspend identification information used to identify the instruction-required step in the suspended state, user identification information used to identify the user, and data required to restart execution of the instruction-required step.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

authenticating the user based on the user identification information and a password;

specifying the instruction-required step in the suspended state based on the user identification information and the suspend identification information;

displaying data required to restart execution of the specified instruction-required step; and

accepting an instruction from the authenticated user.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for allowing the information processing apparatus to access the URL using a Web browser, and wherein the URL indicates an address of the image forming apparatus.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

determining that the processing flow to be executed includes a plurality of instruction-required steps; and

selecting, for each instruction-required step, whether the user inputs an instruction from an information processing apparatus connected via a network or from a console of said image forming apparatus.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

determining that the processing flow to be executed includes a first instruction-required step and a second instruction-required step;

selecting, for the first instruction-required step, a notification destination of an operation window required to accept the instruction of the user; and

selecting, for the second instruction-required step, a notification destination of the operation window based on the notification destination selected for the first instruction-required step.

8. A method of controlling an image forming apparatus for executing a processing flow including a plurality of steps, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring definition information of the processing flow;

identifying, if a step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is an instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, a user required to complete the instruction-required step;

displaying a first operation window on a display unit of the image forming apparatus, the first operation window configured to receive an instruction from the user at the image forming apparatus to complete the instruction-required step;

measuring a duration of a waiting period where the instruction has not been received via the first operation window;

if the duration of the waiting period exceeds a predetermined time period, (a) determining a pre-registered remote notification address for the user, and (b) transmitting remote execution information to the pre-registered remote notification address, the remote execution information configured to cause a second operation window to be displayed on a display unit of a remote device that is remote from the image forming apparatus, and the second operation window configured to receive the instruction from the user at the remote device to remotely complete the instruction-required step to be executed by the image forming apparatus; and

if a particular step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is not the instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, controlling execution of the particular step without displaying the first operation window and without transmitting the remote execution information.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

a monitor step of controlling a monitor unit to monitor whether the processing of the instruction-required step is completed or in an instruction waiting state,

wherein when the monitor step determines that the processing of the instruction-required step is in the instruction waiting state, and the user does not input an instruction within a predetermined period of time, the method further includes the step of setting the processing of the instruction-required step in a suspended state, generating a URL required to input an instruction for restarting the processing of the instruction-required step is generated, and notifying an information processing apparatus of the URL.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

a storage step of storing, in a storage unit, suspend identification information used to identify the instruction-required step in the suspended state, user identification information used to identify the user, and data required to restart execution of the instruction-required step.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

controlling an authentication unit to authenticate the user based on the user identification information and a password;

controlling a specifying unit to specify the instruction-required step in the suspended state based on the user identification information and the suspend identification information;

displaying data required to restart execution of the specified instruction-required step; and

accepting an instruction from the authenticated user.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the image forming apparatus allows the information processing apparatus to access the URL using a Web browser, and wherein the URL indicates an address of the image forming apparatus.

13. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

determining that the processing flow to be executed includes a plurality of instruction-required steps and

selecting, for each instruction-required step, whether the user inputs an instruction from an information processing apparatus connected via a network or from a console of the image forming apparatus.

14. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

determining that the processing flow to be executed includes a first instruction-required step and a second instruction-required step;

selecting, for the first instruction-required step, a notification destination of an operation window required to accept the instruction of the user; and

selecting, for the second instruction-required step, a notification destination of the operation window based on the notification destination selected for the first instruction-required step.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to execute a method of controlling an image forming apparatus for executing a processing flow including a plurality of steps, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring definition information of the processing flow;

identifying, if a step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is an instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, a user required to complete the instruction-required step;

displaying a first operation window on a display unit of the image forming apparatus, the first operation window configured to receive an instruction from the user at the image forming apparatus to complete the instruction-required step;

measuring a duration of a waiting period where the instruction has not been received via the first operation window;

if the duration of the waiting period exceeds a predetermined time period, (a) determining a pre-registered remote notification address for the user, and (b) transmitting remote execution information to the pre-registered remote notification address, the remote execution information configured to cause a second operation window to be displayed on a display unit of a remote device that is remote from the image forming apparatus, and the second operation window configured to receive the instruction from the user at the remote device to remotely complete the instruction-required step to be executed by the image forming apparatus; and

if a particular step to be executed by the image forming apparatus in the processing flow is not the instruction-required step as determined by reference to the definition information, controlling execution of the particular step without displaying the first operation window and without transmitting the remote execution information.