Data processing apparatus, data processing method of data processing apparatus, and computer-readable memory medium storing program therein

• US 20040125145A1
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sano, Tetsuji, Konishi, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,272,796 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• 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 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1232 Transmitting printer device capabilities, e.g. upon request or periodically
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server

Abstract

To freely establish a peripheral equipment selection operating environment of excellent operability which can remarkably reduce an operation burden which is applied until construction information of selectable peripheral equipment can be confirmed and can easily confirm the construction information of the selectable peripheral equipment by everyone by a simple operating instruction, a CPU obtains construction information of a printer that is being selected and default setting on the basis of a selection instructing state relative to a selectable printer candidate on a network and allows them to be caption-displayed at a position near the position indicated by a cursor on a printer selection picture plane displayed on a CRT.

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

obtaining means for obtaining construction information of said plurality of peripheral equipment;

discriminating means for discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated; and

control means for, when it is determined by said discriminating means that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, allowing the construction information relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment obtained by said obtaining means to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining means obtains said construction information by a bidirectional communication from said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining means obtains said construction information from a driver to control said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising set value recognizing means for recognizing a set value of said construction information,

and wherein said control means caption-displays the set value of said construction information so that it can be identified.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising print instructing means for instructing a print of a target file by overlapping said target file onto the icon per peripheral equipment and performing a drag and drop,

and wherein in the case where said dragged target file is overlapped on said icon per peripheral equipment and is in a selecting state as an output destination, said control means allows the construction information relative to said icon per peripheral equipment in the selecting state to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon in the selecting state.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said peripheral equipment includes a printer, a scanner, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and a hybrid apparatus.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein any of said peripheral equipment is connected to said data processing apparatus through a serial interface, a parallel interface, a universal serial bus (USB), an IEEE1394 interface, or a network.

8. A data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

discriminating means for discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated;

obtaining means for, when it is determined by said discriminating means that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, obtaining construction information by a communication from the peripheral equipment relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment; and

control means for allowing the construction information obtained by said obtaining means to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

9. A data processing method of a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

an obtaining step of obtaining construction information of said plurality of peripheral equipment;

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated; and

a display step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, allowing the construction information relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information by a bidirectional communication is obtained from said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information is obtained from a driver to control said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

12. A method according to claim 9, further comprising a set value recognizing step of recognizing a set value of said construction information,

and wherein in said display step, the set value of said construction information is caption-displayed so that it can be identified.

13. A method according to claim 9, further comprising a print instructing step of instructing a print of a target file by overlapping said target file onto the icon per peripheral equipment and performing a drag and drop,

and wherein in the case where said dragged target file is overlapped on said icon per peripheral equipment and is in a selecting state as an output destination, in said display step, the construction information relative to said icon per peripheral equipment in the selecting state is caption-displayed at a position near the icon in the selecting state.

14. A method according to claim 9, wherein said peripheral equipment includes a printer, a scanner, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and a hybrid apparatus.

15. A method according to claim 9, wherein any of said peripheral equipment is connected to said data processing apparatus through a serial interface, a parallel interface, a universal serial bus (USB), an IEEE1394 interface, or a network.

16. A data processing method of a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated;

an obtaining step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, obtaining construction information by a communication from the peripheral equipment relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment; and

a display step of allowing the construction information obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

17. A computer-readable memory medium which stores a program to control a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, wherein said program comprises:

an obtaining step of obtaining construction information of said plurality of peripheral equipment;

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated; and

a display step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, allowing the construction information relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

18. A medium according to claim 17, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information by a bidirectional communication is obtained from said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

19. A medium according to claim 17, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information is obtained from a driver to control said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

20. A medium according to claim 17, wherein said program further comprises a set value recognizing step of recognizing a set value of said construction information,

and in said display step, the set value of said construction information is caption-displayed so that it can be identified.

21. A medium according to claim 17, wherein said program further comprises a print instructing step of instructing a print of a target file by overlapping said target file onto the icon per peripheral equipment and performing a drag and drop,

and in the case where said dragged target file is overlapped on said icon per peripheral equipment and is in a selecting state as an output destination, in said display step, the construction information relative to said icon per peripheral equipment in the selecting state is caption-displayed at a position near the icon in the selecting state.

22. A medium according to claim 17, wherein said peripheral equipment includes a printer, a scanner, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and a hybrid apparatus.

23. A medium according to claim 17, wherein any of said peripheral equipment is connected to said data processing apparatus through a serial interface, a parallel interface, a universal serial bus (USB), an IEEE1394 interface, or a network.

24. A computer-readable memory medium which stores a program to control a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, wherein said program comprises:

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated;

an obtaining step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, obtaining construction information by a communication from the peripheral equipment relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment; and

a display step of allowing the construction information obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

25. A computer-readable program to control a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

an obtaining step of obtaining construction information of said plurality of peripheral equipment;

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated; and

a display step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, allowing the construction information relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.

26. A program according to claim 25, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information by a bidirectional communication is obtained from said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

27. A program according to claim 25, wherein in said obtaining step, said construction information is obtained from a driver to control said peripheral equipment at a predetermined timing.

28. A program according to claim 25, further comprising a set value recognizing step of recognizing a set value of said construction information,

and wherein in said display step, the set value of said construction information is caption-displayed so that it can be identified.

29. A program according to claim 25, further comprising a print instructing step of instructing a print of a target file by overlapping said target file onto the icon per peripheral equipment and performing a drag and drop,

and wherein in the case where said dragged target file is overlapped on said icon per peripheral equipment and is in a selecting state as an output destination, in said display step, the construction information relative to said icon per peripheral equipment in the selecting state is caption-displayed at a position near the icon in the selecting state.

30. A program according to claim 25, wherein said peripheral equipment includes a printer, a scanner, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and a hybrid apparatus.

31. A program according to claim 25, wherein any of said peripheral equipment is connected to said data processing apparatus through a serial interface, a parallel interface, a universal serial bus (USB), an IEEE1394 interface, or a network.

32. A computer-readable program to control a data processing apparatus which can communicate with a plurality of peripheral equipment through a predetermined communication medium, comprising:

a discriminating step of discriminating an overlap state of each icon per peripheral equipment in a peripheral equipment list to display statuses of said plurality of peripheral equipment and a cursor which can be moved and indicated;

an obtaining step of, when it is determined by said discriminating step that said cursor is overlapped on any of the icons per peripheral equipment, obtaining construction information by a communication from the peripheral equipment relative to said overlap-indicated icon per peripheral equipment; and

a display step of allowing the construction information obtained by said obtaining step to be caption-displayed at a position near the icon which is being indicated by said cursor.