INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING INSTALLATION, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE APPARATUS AND CONTROL PROGRAM FOR EXECUTING THE METHOD

• US 20080201714A1
• Filed: 08/13/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Nagashima, Takeyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,689,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/103
• 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 3/1225 Software update, e.g. print driver, modules, plug-ins, fonts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

A server apparatus manages a device driver for enabling any of a plurality of devices to which a plurality of client apparatuses are connected on a network. The server apparatus comprises a storage unit that stores, for each device, a device driver that can be installed to the device in association with the device, a generating unit that generates different tasks for any of the stored device drivers, a creating unit that creates a schedule for executing the generated tasks, and an executing unit that executes the generated tasks based on the created schedule.

Claims

1. A server apparatus that manages a device driver for enabling any of a plurality of devices to which a plurality of client apparatuses are connected on a network, said server apparatus comprising:

a storage unit adapted for storing, for each device, a device driver that can be installed to the device in association with the device;

a generating unit adapted for generating different tasks for any of device drivers stored in the storage unit;

a creating unit adapted for creating a schedule for executing the different tasks generated by the generating unit; and

an executing unit adapted for executing the different tasks generated by the generating unit based on the schedule created by the creating unit.

2. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the different tasks include an adding task for additionally installing the device driver to any of the client apparatuses, a deleting task for deleting a device driver installed to the client apparatus, and an updating task for updating a device driver installed in a client apparatus.

3. The server apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the adding task generated by the generating unit is an agent install task for installing an agent that inquires any of the client apparatuses to install a device driver.

4. The server apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the adding task generated by the generating unit is an agent install task for installing any of the device drivers in response to an inquiry from an agent that is to be installed to any of the client apparatuses.

5. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the executing unit executes an agent install task for installing an agent that inquires any of the client apparatuses to install a device driver.

6. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the executing unit executes an agent install task for installing any of the device drivers in response to an inquiry from an agent to be installed to any of the client apparatus.

7. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the device driver is a printer driver for controlling a printer device connected with the network.

8. A client apparatus for communication with a server apparatus that manages a device driver for enabling any of a plurality of devices connected on a network, said client apparatus comprising

an agent to be installed by a task executed by the server apparatus;

wherein the agent comprises;

an inquiry unit adapted for inquiring whether or not a task for which a device driver is to be installed is registered; and

an install unit adapted for installing a device driver obtained from the server apparatus in response to an inquiry from the inquiry unit.

9. The client apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the agent further comprises an update unit for updating the installed device driver.

10. The client apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the agent further comprises a delete unit for deleting the installed device driver.

11. A driver processing method in a server apparatus that manages a device driver for enabling a plurality of devices to which a plurality of client apparatus are connected on a network, said method comprising:

registering in a storage unit a device driver that can be installed into each device in association with the device;

generating different tasks for any of device drivers registered in the storage unit;

creating a schedule for executing the generated different tasks; and

executing the generated different tasks based on the created schedule.

12. The driver processing method according to claim 11, wherein the different tasks include an adding task for additionally installing the device driver to any of the client apparatuses, a deleting task for deleting a device driver installed to the client apparatus, and an updating task for updating a device driver installed in a client apparatus.

13. The driver processing method according to claim 12, wherein the adding task generated in the generating step is an agent install task for installing an agent that inquires any of the client apparatuses to install a device driver.

14. The driver processing method according to claim 12, wherein the adding task generated in the generating step is an agent install task for installing any of the device drivers in response to an inquiry from an agent that is to be installed to any of the client apparatuses.

15. The driver processing method according to claim 11, wherein the executing step comprises executing an agent install task for installing an agent that inquires any of the client apparatuses to install a device driver.

16. The driver processing method according to claim 11, wherein the executing step comprises executing an agent install task for installing any of the device drivers in response to an inquiry from an agent to be installed to any of the client apparatuses.

17. The driver processing method according to claim 11, wherein the device driver is a printer driver for controlling a printer device connected with the network.

21. A computer readable storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute the driver processing method according to claim 11.

22. A control program stored in a computer readable medium for causing a computer to execute the driver processing method according to claim 11.

18. A driver processing method in a client apparatus for communication with a server apparatus that manages a device driver for enabling any of a plurality of devices connected on a network, said method comprising:

installing an agent by a task executed by the server apparatus;

wherein the agent comprises;

inquiring whether or not a task for which a device driver is to be installed is registered; and

installing the device driver obtained from the server apparatus in response to an inquiry made in the inquiring step.

19. The driver processing method according to claim 18, wherein the agent further comprises updating the installed device driver.

20. The driver processing method according to claim 18, wherein the agent further comprises deleting the installed device driver.

23. A computer readable storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute the drive processing method according to claim 18.

24. A control program stored in a computer readable medium for causing a computer to execute the driver processing method according to claim 18.