Wake-up processing by network apparatus in response to remotely-transmitted wake-up instruction

• US 9,319,294 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2013
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Mukai, Yuji, Kumagai, Hikaru, Kamijima, Kyoichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Rudolph, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mishra, Richa
• Application Number:
  US13/777,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Provided is a network apparatus that has a function of receiving a wake-up instruction from a terminal apparatus over a network and thereby waking up, including a wake-up instruction receiving unit that receives the wake-up instruction, a wake-up control unit that performs wake-up processing in a case of receiving the wake-up instruction, and a state transmitting unit that transmits a state notification of the wake-up processing to the terminal apparatus in the case of receiving the wake-up instruction.

Claims

1. A network system, comprising:

a network;

a terminal apparatus;

and a network apparatus which wakes up in a case of receiving a wake-up instruction from the terminal apparatus over the network, wherein the network apparatus includes a memory and a processor performing the functions of;

a wake-up instruction receiving unit that receives the wake-up instruction,

a wake-up control unit that performs wake-up processing in a case of receiving the wake-up instruction, and

a state transmitting unit that, in the case of receiving the wake-up instruction, transmits a state notification of the wake-up processing to the terminal apparatus while said network apparatus is not fully operational until the wake-up processing is completed, the state notification including an estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake-up processing; and

wherein the terminal apparatus includes a memory and a processor performing the functions of;

a wake-up instruction transmitting unit that transmits the wake-up instruction;

a state receiving unit that receives the state notification of the wake-up processing;

a state display unit that displays a state of the wake-up processing in a case of receiving the state notification of the wake-up processing, the state of the wake-up processing including a state of progress of the wake-up processing based on the estimated time; and

the network system further comprises a second terminal apparatus, wherein if the second terminal apparatus sends a second wake-up instruction to said network apparatus while said network apparatus is executing said wake-up processing, then the wake-up control unit does not perform a second wake-up processing in response to the second wake-up instruction, and the state transmitting unit does transmit the state notification of the wake-up processing being executed by the said network apparatus to the second terminal apparatus.

2. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein the state transmitting unit transmits a wake-up completion notification to the terminal apparatus in a case where the wake-up processing is completed,

wherein the state receiving unit receives the wake-up completion notification, and

wherein the state display unit displays a state of the wake-up processing until the wake-up completion notification is received.

3. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein the state notification of the wake-up processing includes information indicating starting of the wake-up processing, and

wherein the state display unit displays information indicating that the wake-up processing is started.

4. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein:

the terminal apparatus includes a state display unit;

in response to the terminal apparatus receiving the state notification of the wake-up processing, the display unit displays a state of the wake-up processing, including a state of progress of the wake-up processing based on an estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake-up processing; and

the state transmitting unit assigns a predetermined value as the estimated time, or computes the estimated time based on a predetermined formula.

5. The network system according to claim 1, wherein:

the transmitted wake-up instruction designates a function of the network apparatus,

the wake-up control unit performs the wake-up processing on the function designated by the wake-up instruction, and

wherein the state transmitting unit transmits the state notification of the wake-up processing on the function designated by the wake-up instruction.

6. The network system according to claim 1,

wherein the network apparatus includes,

an authorization determination unit that determines whether or not the terminal apparatus that is a transmitting source of the wake-up instruction has an authorization to wake up the network apparatus,

wherein the wake-up control unit does not perform the wake-up processing in a case where it is determined that the terminal apparatus does not have the authorization, and

wherein the state transmitting unit transmits a notification that wake-up is impossible, as the state notification of the wake-up processing, to the terminal apparatus, in a case where it is determined that the terminal apparatus does not have the authorization, and the state display unit displays the notification that the wake-up is impossible.

7. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the network apparatus further comprises:

a network interface;

a CPU that is a main control unit of the network apparatus; and

a microcomputer or a sub CPU that performs a specific processing relating to a response to the wake-up instruction,

wherein the network interface includes the wake-up instruction receiving unit,

wherein the CPU includes the wake-up control unit, and

wherein the microcomputer or the sub CPU includes the state transmitting unit, and transmits the state notification of the wake-up processing before starting the wake-up processing.

9. The network system according to claim 1, wherein:

the state notification transmitted by the state transmitting unit includes an estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake up processing; and

the state of the wake-up processing displayed by the state display unit includes a state of progress of the wake-up processing based on the estimated time.

10. The network system according to claim 1, wherein prior to sending the wake-up instruction, the terminal apparatus transmits an operation instruction to the network apparatus for execution by the network instruction, and transmits the wake-up instruction to the network apparatus in response to the network apparatus failing to respond to the transmitted operation instruction.

11. The network system according to claim 10, wherein the network apparatus is disabled from storing the transmitted operation instruction while the network apparatus is not fully operational.

12. The network system according to claim 10, wherein:

the network apparatus transmits a wake-up completed notice in response to finishing the wake-up processing; and

the terminal apparatus transmits another operation instruction to the network apparatus in response to receiving the transmitted wake-up completed notice.

13. The network system according to claim 10, wherein the network apparatus is a printer, and the operation instruction is a print instruction.

14. The network system according to claim 1, wherein:

the network apparatus wakes up from a sleep mode in the case of receiving the wake-up instruction from the terminal apparatus, the sleep mode being characterized by said network apparatus not being fully operational; and

said wake-up processing transitions said network apparatus from said sleep mode to a normal mode characterized by said network apparatus being fully operational, and said network apparatus achieves said normal mode when the wake-up processing is completed.

15. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the state transmitting unit transmits the state notification upon the wake-up control unit starting to perform wake-up processing.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a program that causes a computer to function as a first terminal apparatus which transmits a wake-up instruction to a network apparatus which wakes up in a case of receiving the wake-up instruction over a network, the program causing the first terminal to execute steps comprising:

using a wake-up instruction transmitting unit to transmit the wake-up instruction to the network apparatus while the network apparatus is in a process of waking up in response to a previous wake-up instruction previously received from a second terminal apparatus;

using a state receiving unit to receive the state notification of the wake-up processing from the network apparatus while the network apparatus is not fully functional, the received state notification of the wake-up processing from the network apparatus including an estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake-up processing of the previous wake-up instruction;

wherein the network apparatus does not perform the second wake-up processing in response to wake-up instruction transmitted by the first terminal apparatus;

using a state display unit to display a state of the wake-up processing, the state of the wake-up processing including a state of progress of the wake-up processing based on the estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake-up processing of the previous wake-up instruction, in a case of receiving the state notification of the wake-up processing; and

a print indicating section that transmits a print indication to the network apparatus that has completed the network apparatus that has completed the wake-up processing.

16. A network system, comprising:

a network;

a first terminal apparatus;

a second terminal apparatus; and

a network apparatus that wakes up from a power-saving mode in response to receiving a first wake-up instruction from the first terminal apparatus or receiving a second wake-up instruction from the second terminal apparatus over the network, said power-saving mode being characterized by said network apparatus not being operational, wherein the network apparatus includes a memory and a processor performing the functions of;

a wake-up instruction receiving unit that receives the first wake-up instruction on said network while the network apparatus is in said power-saving mode, a wake-up control unit that performs a wake-up processing in response to receiving the first wake-up instruction, said wake-up processing transitioning said network apparatus from said power-saving mode to a normal mode characterized by said network apparatus being operational; and

a state transmitting unit that transmits a state notification indicative of an execution progress of the wake-up process to the first terminal apparatus while said network apparatus is not in said normal mode, the state notification including an estimated time required for the network apparatus to complete the wake-up processing; and

wherein the first terminal apparatus includes a memory and a processor performing the functions of;

a wake-up instruction transmitting unit that transmits the first wake-up instruction; and

a state receiving unit that receives the state notification from the network apparatus over the network; and

a state display unit that displays a state of the wake-up processing in a case of receiving the state notification of the wake-up processing, the state of the wake-up processing including a state of progress including the state of progress of the wake-up processing based on the estimated time;

wherein if the second terminal apparatus sends the second wake-up instruction to the network apparatus while the network apparatus is executing said wake-up processing, then the wake-up control unit does not perform a second wake-up processing in response to the second wake-up instruction, and the state transmitting unit starts transmitting the state notification of the wake-up processing being executed by the said network apparatus to the second terminal apparatus.

17. The network system of claim 16, wherein the state transmitting unit transmits said state notification when the wake-up control unit starts performing the wake-up process.