IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE, DEVICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20110225321A1
• Filed: 03/10/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: VOROBYEV, Konstantin
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities

Abstract

An image processing device is connected to a device management apparatus via a network and includes device information in accordance with the Common Information Model CIM. In the image processing device, a first transform part transforms, when a query described in a general-purpose language to include a request of data handling of device information with respect to jobs is received, CIM objects, generated from the device information with respect to the jobs, into XML data items. A combining part combines the XML data items into XML data and generates the combined XML data. An extracting part extracts an XML data item associated with the request from the combined XML data. A second transform part transforms the XML data item into a CIM object. The data handling of the CIM object is performed and a result of the data handling is transmitted.

Claims

1. An image processing device which is connected to a device management apparatus via a network, the device management apparatus managing the image processing device based on device information received from the image processing device and described in accordance with the Common Information Model CIM, the image processing device including a processing unit comprising:

a first transform part to transform, when a query described in a general-purpose language to include a request of data handling of device information with respect to jobs is received from a requesting source, CIM objects, generated on a memory unit from the device information with respect to the jobs, into XML data items respectively;

a combining part to combine the XML data items from the transform part into XML data and generate the combined XML data on the memory unit;

an extracting part to extract at least one XML data item associated with the data handling request from the combined XML data from the combining part; and

a second transform part to transform the XML data item from the extracting part into at least one CIM object,

wherein the image processing device performs the data handling of the at least one CIM object and transmits a result of the data handling to the requesting source.

2. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the extracting part searches the content of the combined XML data based on a search condition described in the query for discovering a data handling object, and determines whether a CIM object corresponding to a job associated with the data handling request is found in the combined XML data.

3. A device management system in which a device management apparatus and one or a plurality of image processing devices are connected via a network, the device management apparatus managing each image processing device in a unified manner based on device information received from the image processing device and described in accordance with the Common Information Model CIM, each image processing device including a processing unit comprising:

a first transform part to transform, when a query described in a general-purpose language to include a request of data handling of device information with respect to jobs is received from the device management apparatus, CIM objects, generated on a memory unit from the device information with respect to the jobs, into XML data items respectively;

a combining part to combine the XML data items from the transform part into XML data and generate the combined XML data on the memory unit;

an extracting part to extract at least one XML data item associated with the data handling request from the combined XML data from the combining part; and

a second transform part to transform the XML data item from the extracting part into at least one CIM object,

wherein the image processing device performs the data handling of the at least one CIM object and transmits a result of the data handling to the device management apparatus.

4. The device management system according to claim 3, wherein the extracting part of each image processing device searches the content of the combined XML data based on a search condition described in the query for discovering a data handling object, and determines whether a CIM object corresponding to a job associated with the data handling request is found in the combined XML data.

5. An image processing method for use in an image processing device which is connected to a device management apparatus via a network, the device management apparatus managing the image processing device based on device information received from the image processing device and described in accordance with the Common Information Model CIM, the image processing device including a processing unit, the image processing method comprising:

transforming, by a first transform part of the processing unit, when a query described in a general-purpose language to include a request of data handling of device information with respect to jobs is received from a requesting source, CIM objects, generated on a memory unit from the device information with respect to the jobs, into XML data items respectively;

combining, by a combining part of the processing unit, the XML data items from the transform part into XML data to generate the combined XML data on the memory unit;

extracting, by an extracting part of the processing unit, at least one XML data item associated with the data handling request from the combined XML data from the combining part; and

transforming, by a second transform part of the processing unit, the XML data item from the extracting part into at least one CIM object,

wherein the image processing device performs the data handling of the at least one CIM object and transmits a result of the data handling to the requesting source.

6. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the extracting including:

searching, by the extracting part, the content of the combined XML data based on a search condition described in the query for discovering a data handling object; and

determining, by the extracting part, whether a CIM object corresponding to a job associated with the data handling request is found in the combined XML data.