JP2002222128A - Display method of device shared on network and display device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a display with a small display area and easy to see even when a plurality of peripheral devices are connected to a computer. SOLUTION: Information including operation modes of information processing devices 31, 32, 34, 36 connected on a network 30 and connection information of peripheral devices 33, 35, 37, 38, 39 are acquired, and the acquired connection is acquired. It is determined whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the information. If it is determined that there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected, the information processing device Are displayed by connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line in series.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method of displaying a device shared on a network and a display device thereof.
In particular, the present invention relates to a display control and management method of a device shared on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers and peripheral devices such as printers, scanners and digital cameras have become widespread, and networks such as LANs have also become widespread. . By sharing peripheral devices such as printers and scanners over the network,
It has become an environment where all devices on the network can be used.

[0003] These peripheral devices are indicated by a plurality of lines connected to a computer.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, when a plurality of peripheral devices are connected to a computer on a network, the display is performed by connecting the computer with a plurality of lines, so that the display area is limited. Increased,
In addition, there is a disadvantage that it is hard to see.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of displaying a device shared on a network, which enables a display area to be reduced and displayed easily even when a plurality of peripheral devices are connected to a computer. , And a display device thereof.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a display method for controlling display of a device shared on a network, comprising information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network, and Acquiring connection information of peripheral devices connected to each information processing device, and determining whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the acquired information. And when it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, the plurality of peripheral devices are serially connected to one line for the information processing device and displayed. And providing a method of displaying a device shared on a network.

[0007] The present invention relates to a display device for controlling display of a device shared on a network, comprising: means for acquiring information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network; Means for displaying all information processing devices connected on the network, means for obtaining connection information of peripheral devices connected to each information processing device, based on the obtained information, Based on the means for determining whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected, and when it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, Means for serially connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line for display on the information processing device, thereby displaying the display device of the device shared on the network. To provide.

[0008] The present invention is a medium in which a program for controlling display of a device shared on a network by a computer is recorded, and the control program is provided to a computer for each information processing connected to the network. An information processing device to which information including an operation mode of the device and connection information of peripheral devices connected to each of the information processing devices are acquired, and based on the acquired information, a plurality of peripheral devices are connected. Is determined, and if it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, the plurality of peripheral devices are serially connected to the information processing device. A medium in which a display control program is recorded is provided by connecting and displaying two lines.

The present invention is a program for controlling display of a device shared on a network, wherein the program is recorded on a recording medium readable by a computer, and each information connected to the network is recorded. Information including an operation mode of the processing device, and a step of acquiring connection information of peripheral devices connected to each of the information processing devices; and information that a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the acquired information. A step of determining whether or not a processing device exists; and, if determining that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to the information processing device in series. By connecting to a single line and displaying.
Provide a display control program.

According to the present invention, there is provided a system for displaying and controlling a device shared on a network in a management device, wherein the management device transmits information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network. Means for acquiring, means for displaying all information processing devices connected to the network based on the acquired information, and means for acquiring connection information of peripheral devices connected to each information processing device And, based on the acquired connection information,
Means for determining whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected; and determining that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected; Means for serially connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line for display, thereby providing a display control system.

Here, the plurality of peripheral devices are serially connected to one another.
When connecting and displaying the three lines, peripheral devices having the same function may be connected continuously, or the peripheral devices may be sequentially connected with a predetermined priority.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. [First Example] FIGS. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described based on.

(Outline) First, an outline of the present invention will be described.

According to the present invention, in display control of a device shared on a network, means for instructing display of a computer and peripheral devices on the network, communication means for exchanging information data between the computers on the network, Means for reading information on the operating state and connection state of the above computer and connection information of peripheral devices connected to the computer, means for storing the read information, and all information on the network based on the read information. Means for displaying the computer;
Means for connecting and displaying a plurality of peripheral devices connected in each computer in series with one line.

(Specific Example) Hereinafter, a specific example will be described.

(Management Apparatus) The configuration of the management apparatus will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of the management apparatus 100 according to the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a system bus, and the following constituent blocks are connected to the system bus 1.

2 is a CPU (Central Pro)
sessing Unit). Reference numeral 3 denotes a program memory (hereinafter, referred to as PMEM), which reads a control program (refer to FIG. 1 described later) for performing display control processing according to the present invention from the hard disk 10 as appropriate and reads the control program.
Executed by PU2. Further, data input from the keyboard 12 is stored in a PMEM, which is also a text memory.
3 is stored as code information.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a communication control unit which controls input / output data at the communication port 5. The signal output from the communication port 5 is transmitted to a communication port of another device on the network via the communication line 6. Communication with a printer or an image input device shared on a network is performed via the communication control unit 4.

In this embodiment, a network such as a LAN will be described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is applicable even if a communication port and a communication line connected to the communication control unit 4 are general public lines. No.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an external storage device control unit. 9, 1
0 is a data file disk. For example, the external storage device control unit 9 is a floppy (registered trademark) disk (hereinafter, referred to as FD), and the disk 10 is a hard disk (hereinafter, referred to as HD).

Reference numeral 11 denotes an input control unit, which is a keyboard 1
2. An input device such as a mouse 13 is connected. The operator operates the keyboard 12 to issue a system operation command or the like.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a pointing device (hereinafter referred to as a PD) for instructing processing of image information on the CRT 16, and in this example, a mouse is used. Thus, in addition to moving the cursor on the CRT 16 arbitrarily in the X and Y directions to select a command icon on the command menu and instruct processing, an instruction of an edit target, an instruction of a drawing position, etc. are also performed.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a video image memory (hereinafter, referred to as a video image memory).
VRAM), 15 is a display output control unit, and 16 is a CRT as a display screen. The data displayed on the CRT 16 is developed on the VRAM 14 as bitmap data.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a printer control unit, which controls output of data to the connected printer 18.

Reference numeral 1A denotes an image input device control unit, which controls the connected image input device 1B. Although the image input server device according to the present invention requires the components 1A and 1B, the classant-side device shares the server-side device via the communication control unit 4 and the communication port 5 as described above. It is not required because the same components can be used.

Further, the configuration of FIG.
Even if the image input device control unit 1A is a physically separate component and the image input device 1B is a single component including the image input device control unit 1A, it has the same function.

(Network Configuration) Next, an example of a network configuration will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a network including the management device 100 of FIG. 4 described above.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a network (communication line). The network 20 includes the management device 10 described above.
0, a server device 22 as an information processing device, and terminal devices 21, 24, and 26 as information processing devices including a personal computer and the like.

A single modem 23 as a peripheral device is connected to the server device 22. One printer 25 as a peripheral device is connected to the terminal device 24. The terminal device 26 is connected to a total of three image input devices 27 and 28 such as scanners and digital cameras as peripheral devices and a printer 29 as peripheral devices. No peripheral device is connected to the terminal device 21. Here, the printers 25 and 29 and the image input devices 27 and 28 include a plurality of terminal devices 21, 24, 26 connected to the network 20.
Let's say it is shared by

(Display Example) Next, a display example will be described.

FIG. 2 shows that the network configuration of FIG. 3 is based on the display control processing according to the present invention.
13 shows a display example displayed on T16.

Here, each display section of FIG. 2 will be described in comparison with each apparatus of FIG.

The network 30 corresponds to the network 20 shown in FIG. The server device 32 corresponds to the server device 22 in FIG. The terminal devices 31, 34 and 36 correspond to the terminal devices 21, 24 and 26 in FIG. 3, respectively.

Reference numeral 33 corresponds to the modem 23 shown in FIG. 3
Reference numeral 5 corresponds to the printer 25 in FIG. 37, 38 are
These correspond to the image input devices 27 and 28 in FIG. 3
Reference numeral 9 corresponds to the printer 29 in FIG.

As can be seen from this display example, the terminal device 3
6, first, the image input device 37 is connected by a line, and then, the image input device 38 is connected to the image input device 37 by a line.
Further, a printer 39 is connected to the image input device 38 by a line and displayed.

Further, as other display examples, peripheral devices having the same function may be connected continuously, or peripheral devices may be sequentially connected with a predetermined priority.

For example, three scanners and twenty printers
In the case where two or more printers are connected, 20 printers with a large number of connected printers may be connected consecutively first, or the printers used most frequently among the printers may be connected in order.

(Display Control Processing) FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the display control processing according to the present invention.

In step S51, if there is an instruction to display computers and peripheral devices on the network,
Proceed to step S52.

In step S52, information such as connection status and use status of all computers and peripheral devices on the network is obtained.

In step S53, an icon and a name representing a computer are connected to a network line and displayed based on the obtained information.

In step S54, it is determined whether there is a peripheral device connected to the computer. If there is a connected peripheral device, the process proceeds to step S55; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S59.

In step S55, the peripheral devices are connected to the computer by lines, and icons and names representing the peripheral devices are displayed on the screen.

In step S56, it is determined whether there is another peripheral device. If there is a connected peripheral device, the process proceeds to step S57. If not, the process proceeds to step S59.

In step S57, the peripheral device is connected to a previously connected peripheral device by a line, and icons and names representing the peripheral device are displayed on the screen.

In step S58, it is determined whether there is another peripheral device. Here, if you have other peripherals,
Returning to step S57, the peripheral device in front of the peripheral device is connected and displayed. If not (if all the peripheral devices connected to the computer are displayed), the process proceeds to step SS59.

In the step S59, it is determined whether or not there is a computer to be displayed next.
Returning to 53, if not, the process is terminated.

[Second Example] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 shows that the network configuration of FIG. 3 is based on the display control process according to the present invention.
13 shows a display example displayed on T16.

Here, each display section of FIG. 5 will be described in comparison with each apparatus of FIG.

The network 40 corresponds to the network 20 shown in FIG. The server device 42 corresponds to the server device 22 in FIG. The terminal devices 41, 44, and 46 correspond to the terminal devices 21, 24, and 26 in FIG. 3, respectively.

The modem 43 corresponds to the modem 23. The printer 45 corresponds to the printer 25. The image input devices 47 and 48 correspond to the image input devices 27 and 28 in FIG. 3, respectively. Reference numeral 49 corresponds to the printer 29 in FIG.

At this time, first, the image input device 47 is connected to the terminal device 46 by a line, and then the image input device 48 is connected to the image input device 47 by a line.
A printer 49 is connected to 8 and displayed.

According to such display control, by connecting a plurality of peripheral devices connected to each computer in series, the number of display lines can be reduced and the display can be easily viewed.

The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.).
The present invention may be applied to an apparatus including one device (for example, a small image processing device such as a PDA (personal information management) device, a copying machine, and a facsimile device).

It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus. Then, a storage medium storing a program represented by software for achieving the present invention is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or M) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
(PU) reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium, so that the effects of the present invention can be enjoyed.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card (IC memory card), ROM (mask ROM, flash EEP)
ROM etc.) can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When performing display control of a device shared on a network, information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network and connection information of a peripheral device connected to each information processing device are obtained. Then, it is determined whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the obtained connection information, and when it is determined that there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected, Since the plurality of peripheral devices are connected to one line in series and displayed on the information processing device, the peripheral devices shared on the network are reduced in display area, and It can be displayed in an easy-to-read manner, and devices on the network can be used efficiently.

Further, according to the present invention, when a plurality of peripheral devices are connected to one line in series and displayed, the peripheral devices having the same function are connected continuously, or a predetermined number is connected to the peripheral devices. And prioritized connection, so that the utilization efficiency of devices on the network can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a display control process according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a network configuration example according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a management device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the display screen according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1A image input device control unit 1B image input device 1 system bus 2 CPU 3 PMEM (program memory) 4 communication control unit 5 communication port 6 communication line 7 other device on network 8 external storage device control unit 9 FD (floppy · Disk) 10 HD (hard disk) 11 Input control unit 12 Keyboard 13 PD (pointing device) such as mouse 14 Video image memory 15 Display output control unit 16 CRT 17 Printer control unit 18 Printer 19 External device control Unit 20 network 21 terminal device 22 server device 23 modem 24 terminal device 25 printer 26 terminal device 27, 28 image input device 29 printer 30 network 31 terminal device 32 server device 33 modem 34 terminal device 35 printer 36 terminal Devices 37, 38 Image input device 39 Printer 40 Network 41 Terminal device 42 Server device 43 Modem 44 Terminal device 45 Printer 46 Terminal device 47, 48 Image input device 49 Printer 100 Management device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B021 AA01 BB04 CC07 EE04 5B069 AA01 BA03 DD03 FA03 KA06 LA03 5B089 GA11 GB02 JA35 JB15 KA02 KB04 LB16 LB17 5E501 AA06 AA07 AA08 AA13 AC15 AC25 AC35 BA04 DA02 FA46

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A display method for controlling display of a device shared on a network, comprising: information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network; and connection to each information processing device. Acquiring the connection information of the peripheral device being connected; determining whether there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the acquired information; and When it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the device is connected, the information processing device includes a step of connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line in series and displaying the peripheral device. Characteristic display method of devices shared on the network. 2. When connecting and displaying a plurality of peripheral devices in series on one line, peripheral devices having the same function are connected continuously or a predetermined priority is assigned to the peripheral devices. 2. The display method according to claim 1, wherein the connection is made sequentially. 3. A display device for controlling display of a device shared on a network, comprising: means for acquiring information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected on the network; Means for displaying all information processing devices connected on the network, means for acquiring connection information of peripheral devices connected to each information processing device, based on the acquired connection information. Means for determining whether or not there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected; and when determining that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, Means for serially connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line for display to a processing device and displaying the peripheral devices. 4. When connecting and displaying a plurality of peripheral devices in series on one line, peripheral devices having the same function are connected continuously or a predetermined priority is assigned to the peripheral devices. 4. The display device according to claim 3, wherein the display device is connected sequentially. 5. A medium recording a program for performing display control of a device shared on a network by a computer, wherein the control program stores the program in a computer for each information processing device connected to the network. The information including the operation mode and the connection information of the peripheral device connected to each information processing device are acquired. Based on the acquired information, there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected. If it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, the plurality of peripheral devices are serially connected to the information processing device by one line. A medium in which a display control program is recorded so as to be connected to a computer and displayed. 6. A method for connecting a plurality of peripheral devices to one line in series and displaying the peripheral devices having the same function continuously or assigning a predetermined priority to the peripheral devices. 6. A medium in which the display control program according to claim 5, wherein the medium is connected sequentially. 7. A program for controlling display of a device shared on a network, wherein the program is recorded on a recording medium readable by a computer, and each information processing device connected to the network. Acquiring information including the operation mode of the information processing device and connection information of peripheral devices connected to each of the information processing devices; and an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the acquired information. Judging whether or not there is, and when it is determined that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected, the plurality of peripheral devices are serially connected to the information processing device. A display control program comprising the steps of: connecting to one line for display; 8. When displaying a plurality of peripheral devices connected in series to one line, peripheral devices having the same function are connected continuously, or a predetermined priority is assigned to the peripheral devices. 8. The display control program according to claim 7, wherein the display control program is connected sequentially. 9. A system for controlling display of a device shared on a network by a management device, wherein the management device acquires information including an operation mode of each information processing device connected to the network. Means, based on the acquired information, means for displaying all information processing devices connected on the network, means for acquiring connection information of peripheral devices connected to each information processing device, Means for determining whether or not there is an information processing device to which a plurality of peripheral devices are connected based on the acquired connection information; and determining that there is an information processing device to which the plurality of peripheral devices are connected. In this case, the information processing apparatus includes means for serially connecting the plurality of peripheral devices to one line for display. Temu. 10. When connecting and displaying a plurality of peripheral devices in series on one line, peripheral devices having the same function are connected continuously, or a predetermined priority is assigned to the peripheral devices. 10. The display control system according to claim 9, wherein the display control system is connected sequentially.