Communication device

• US 9,141,696 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Sasaki, Hiroyuki, Seki, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): Hershley, Mark E
• Application Number:
  US12/537,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20100036855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,237 Days
• Field of Search: 707/628, 707/636, 707/741, 707/752, 725/119, 725/131, 725/133, 725/139, 725/141
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web

Abstract

A communication device may be configured to be connected with an information display device in a communicable manner. The communication device may store address information of summarized content information, wherein the summarized content information includes, for each of a plurality of contents, at least address information of the content and a title of the content. The communication device may acquire the summarized content information from the address information, display the titles of the plurality of contents included in the summarized content information, allow a user to select at least one title from the titles of the plurality of contents, and send information concerning a content corresponding to the selected title.

Claims

1. A communication device configured to connect to a plurality of information display devices in a communicable manner, the communication device comprising:

a display panel;

a processor; and

memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the communication device to perform;

receiving specific information from each of the plurality of information display devices;

storing a plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices from which the specific information is received;

storing a first URL of feed information, the feed information including, for each of a plurality of contents, at least a second URL of a content, a title of the content, and a summarized content letter string, the summarized content letter string being summarized a letter string of the content, a large letter string than a letter string of the title, and a smaller letter string than the letter string of the content;

acquiring the feed information by using the stored first URL;

displaying, on the display panel, the titles of the plurality of contents included in the acquired feed information;

receiving a first instruction selecting a title from the displayed titles of the plurality of contents;

displaying, on the display panel, in response to receiving the first instruction, the summarized content letter string corresponding to the selected title and included in the acquired feed information;

receiving a second instruction while the summarized content letter string is displayed;

displaying, on the display panel, stored the plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices;

receiving a third instruction selecting at least one device information from among the plurality of displayed device information; and

sending, in response to receiving the second instruction, a second URL of a content corresponding to the selected title to selected at least one information display device corresponding to the selected at least one device information, without sending the content corresponding to the selected title, the second URL being accessed for acquiring the content corresponding to the selected title by the selected information display device.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to provide:

specifying, from the feed information, the second URL of the content corresponding to the selected title,

wherein the sending of the second URL includes sending the specified second URL of the content corresponding to the selected title.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein

the sending of the second URL includes sending the specified second URL to the information display device on a condition that the specific information from the information display device is received.

4. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to provide:

storing identification information of the information display device,

wherein the sending of the second URL includes sending the specified second URL to the information display device on a condition that the specific information including the stored identification information is received.

5. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein

the displaying of the device information includes displaying the device information corresponding to one information display device even in a case where the specific information sent only from the one information display device is received, and

the sending of the second URL includes sending the specified second URL to the information display device on a condition that the one information display device is selected.

6. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

displaying an operation portion on the display panel, the operation portion being displayed in a first display pattern or a second display pattern which is different from the first display pattern, wherein the operation portion in the first display pattern is displayed on a condition that the specific information from at least one of the plurality of information display devices is received, and the operation portion in the second display pattern is displayed on a condition that the specific information from any of the plurality of information display devices is not received,

wherein the displaying of the device information includes displaying the device information of the at least one information display device which is the source of the received specific information on a condition that the operation portion displayed in the first display pattern is operated.

7. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

storing identification information of at least one information display device;

determining whether the specific information including stored predetermined identification information is received; and

determining whether the specific information including identification information other than the stored identification information is received,

wherein the sending of the second URL includes sending the specified second URL to the information display device corresponding to the predetermined identification information on a condition that an affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the specific information including stored predetermined identification information is received, and

the displaying of the device information includes displaying the device information corresponding to the information display device which is the source of the received specific information on a condition that a negative determination is made in the determining of whether the specific information including stored predetermined identification information is received and an affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the specific information including identification information other than the stored identification information is received.

8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the storing of the first URL includes storing respective first URLs of a plurality of summarized content information,

the acquiring of the feed information includes acquiring the plurality of feed information from the stored respective first URLs, and

the displaying of the title includes displaying the titles included in the acquired plurality of feed information.

9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

determining whether the information display device is running,

wherein the sending of the second URL includes sending the second URL of the content corresponding to the selected title on a condition that an affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running, and

wherein the sending of the second URL includes not sending the second URL of the content corresponding to the selected title on a condition that a negative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running.

10. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

storing, in response to the feed information being acquired, the feed information,

wherein the storing of the feed information includes replacing stored feed information with the acquired feed information.

11. A communication device configured to connect to a plurality of information display devices in a communicable manner via a LAN, the communication device comprising:

a display panel;

a processor; and

memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the communication device to perform;

receiving specific information from each of the plurality of information display devices;

storing a plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices from which the specific information is received and an electronic mail address;

storing a first URL of feed information, the feed information including, for each of a plurality of contents, at least a second URL of a content and a title of the content;

acquiring the feed information using the stored first URL;

displaying, on the display panel, the titles of the plurality of contents included in the acquired feed information;

receiving an instruction selecting at lease one title from the displayed titles of the plurality of contents;

displaying, on the display panel, stored the plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices;

receiving an instruction selecting at least one device information from among the plurality of displayed device information;

in a first predetermined case, in response to receiving the instruction selecting the at least one title, sending an electronic mail including information concerning the content corresponding to the selected at least one title to the electronic mail address; and

in a second predetermined case which is different from the first predetermined case, in response to receiving the instruction selecting the at least one title, sending a second URL of a content corresponding to the selected at least one title to selected at least one information display device corresponding to the selected at least one device information via the LAN, without sending the content corresponding to the selected at least one title, the second URL of the content corresponding to the selected at least one title being to be accessed for acquiring the content corresponding to the selected at least one title by the selected information display device.

12. A communication device configured to connect to a plurality of information display devices in a communicable manner via a LAN, the communication device comprising:

a display panel;

a processor; and

memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the communication device to perform;

receiving specific information from each of the plurality of information display devices;

storing a plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices from which the specific information is received, and a plurality of electronic mail addresses corresponding to the plurality of device information;

storing a first URL of feed information, the feed information including, for each of a plurality of contents, at least a second URL of a content and a title of the content;

acquiring the feed information using the stored first URL;

displaying, on the display panel, the titles of the plurality of contents included in the acquired feed information;

receiving an instruction selecting at least one title from the displayed titles of the plurality of contents;

displaying, on the display panel, stored the plurality of device information corresponding to the plurality of information display devices;

receiving an instruction selecting at least one device information from among the plurality of displayed device information; and

determining whether the selected at least one information display device is running;

in response to receiving the instruction selecting the at least one title, specifying, from the feed information, a second URL of a content corresponding to the selected at least one title;

acquiring the content from the specified second URL;

sending an electronic mail including the acquired content to the selected at least one information display device corresponding to the selected at least one device information, by using an electronic mail address corresponding to the selected at least one device information, on a condition that a negative determination is made in the determining of whether the selected at least one information display device is running; and

sending the specified second URL to the selected at least one information display device corresponding to the selected at least one device information, via the LAN, on a condition that an affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the selected at least one information display device is running.

13. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein

the acquiring of the content includes acquiring the content from the specified second URL on the condition that the negative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running, and not acquiring the content from the specified second URL on the condition that the affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running.

14. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein

the sending of the specified second URL includes sending, via the LAN, on a condition that the affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running and only one title is selected, the specified second URL to the selected at least one information display device, and

the sending of the information concerning the content includes sending, even in a case where the affirmative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running, an electronic mail including an acquired plurality of contents to the selected at least one information display device on a condition that a plurality of titles is selected.

15. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

receiving an instruction selecting at least one electronic mail address from all of the stored electronic mail addresses on a condition that an electronic mail address does not correspond to the selected device information, and

the sending of electronic mail includes sending the electronic mail including the acquired content by using the selected electronic mail address on the condition that the negative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running.

16. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein

the storing of the plurality of device information and the plurality of electronic mail addresses includes storing a plurality of electronic mail addresses corresponding to one device information,

wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the communication device to perform:

receiving an instruction selecting at least one electronic mail address from the plurality of electronic mail addresses on a condition that the plurality of electronic mail addresses corresponds to the selected device information, wherein

the sending of the electronic mail includes sending the electronic mail including the acquired content to the selected electronic mail address on the condition that the negative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running, and

the sending of the electronic mail includes sending the electronic mail including the acquired content to one electronic mail address on a condition that the negative determination is made in the determining of whether the information display device is running and only one electronic mail address corresponds to the selected device information.