Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and control program

• US 20050165759A1
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakai, Tetsuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,594,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored has a device searching step of searching for devices serving as administration targets from a plurality of devices connected to a network; and a display control step of display-controlling the device onto which the resource can be downloaded so that the device can be discriminated in correspondence to each resource to be downloaded among the devices searched by the device searching step.

Claims

1. A registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, comprising:

a device searching step of searching for devices serving as administration targets from a plurality of devices connected to a network; and

a display control step of display-controlling the device onto which said resource can be downloaded so that said device can be discriminated in correspondence to each resource to be downloaded among the devices searched by said device searching step.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a list information holding step of holding list information of the devices obtained by the search in said device searching step;

a list display switching step of switching a registration target device list when an administration device registering destination is selected from the device list information held in said list information holding step; and

a device selecting step of selecting the device from the device list when the registering destinations of said administration target devices are undecided,

and wherein in said display control step, the display of the device list is controlled in accordance with whether or not the devices searched in said device searching step can use the resource.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said display control step, in the case where the device is selected from a displayed device list, if said selected device does not correspond to the resource, the display is controlled so that the resource cannot be downloaded onto said device.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said display control step, in the case where said selected device does not correspond to the resource, a display state of a registering destination folder is displayed in gray, thereby notifying a user that the registration is impossible.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said list information holding step of holding the device list information of said search result, product names of the devices are held.

6. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said list information holding step of holding the device list information of said search result, IP addresses of the devices are held.

7. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said list information holding step of holding the device list information of said search result, a resource type of resource data which can be downloaded onto the device is held.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said list display switching step of switching the registration target device list when said administration device registering destination is selected, a downloading resource type is selected.

9. A method according to claim 2, wherein in said list display switching step of switching the registration target device list when said administration device registering destination is selected, a device administration group which depends on a downloading resource type is selected.

10. A method according to claim 2, further comprising an auxiliary information displaying step of displaying auxiliary information when the device is selected from said displayed device list in the case where the registering destinations of said administration target devices are undecided,

and wherein in said auxiliary information displaying step, information regarding downloading resource type is displayed.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein in said auxiliary information displaying step, the resource type which can be registered is normally displayed and the resource type which cannot be registered is displayed in gray.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein in said auxiliary information displaying step, a group belonging to the resource type which can be registered is normally displayed and a group belonging to the resource type which cannot be registered is displayed in gray.

13. An information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, comprising:

device searching means for searching for devices serving as administration targets from a plurality of devices connected to a network; and

display control means for display-controlling the device onto which said resource can be downloaded so that said device can be discriminated in correspondence to each resource to be downloaded among the devices searched by said device searching means.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

list information holding means for holding list information of the devices obtained by the search by said device searching means;

list display switching means for switching a registration target device list when an administration device registering destination is selected from the device list information held by said list information holding means; and

device selecting means for selecting the device from the device list when the registering destinations of said administration target devices are undecided,

and wherein said display control means controls the display of the device list in accordance with whether or not the devices searched by said device searching means can use the resource.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein in the case where the device is selected from said displayed device list, if said selected device does not correspond to the resource, said display control means controls the display so that the resource cannot be downloaded onto said device.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein in the case where said selected device does not correspond to the resource, said display control means controls the display so that a display state of a registering destination folder is displayed in gray, thereby notifying a user that the registration is impossible.

17. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said list information holding means for holding the device list information of said search result holds product names of the devices.

18. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said list information holding means for holding the device list information of said search result holds IP addresses of the devices.

19. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said list information holding means for holding the device list information of said search result holds a resource type of resource data which can be downloaded onto the device.

20. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said list display switching means for switching the registration target device list when said administration device registering destination is selected selects a downloading resource type.

21. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said list display switching means for switching the registration target device list when said administration device registering destination is selected selects a device administration group which depends on a downloading resource type.

22. An apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising auxiliary information displaying means for displaying auxiliary information when the device is selected from said displayed device list in the case where the registering destinations of said administration target devices are undecided,

and wherein said auxiliary information displaying means displays information regarding downloading resource type.

23. An apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said auxiliary information displaying means normally displays the resource type which can be registered and displays in gray the resource type which cannot be registered.

24. An apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said auxiliary information displaying means normally displays a group belonging to the resource type which can be registered and displays in gray a group belonging to the resource type which cannot be registered.

25. A computer program for a registering method in an information processing apparatus having a recording medium in which a resource downloader for downloading a resource which is used for an image forming apparatus has been stored, wherein said program allows a computer to execute:

a device searching step of searching for devices serving as administration targets from a plurality of devices connected to a network; and

a display control step of display-controlling the device onto which said resource can be downloaded so that said device can be discriminated in correspondence to each resource to be downloaded among the devices searched by said device searching step.

26. A computer-readable recording medium which stores a computer program according to claim 25.