JP2000293464A - Data processing device, display processing method, and storage medium storing computer readable program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To construct a user interface excellent in operability capable of avoiding an erroneous operation instruction by visually recognizing whether processing based on an operation instruction by an icon is valid or invalid. It is to be. SOLUTION: When connection information is acquired and managed from each communicable data processing device or peripheral device and an available system configuration is displayed on a CRT 16 by respective icons, the mouse 13 and the movement source icon are moved. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the relationship with the previous icon is valid as a drag-and-drop operation, and based on the determination result, the CPU 2 changes the display mode of the destination icon during the icon operation instruction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of performing data communication with various data processing apparatuses connected to a predetermined communication medium, a display processing method, and a storage storing a computer readable program. It is about media.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a network system including a network system, various peripheral devices on a network, and a client device, processing is performed by a drag and drop operation on a configuration display screen of available machines and peripheral devices. It has not been recognized from the display state whether or not the combination of the source and destination devices is effective for executing the function.

[0003]

For this reason, when various peripheral devices on a network are used by a client device such as a data processing device, drag and drop using icons on a configuration display screen of available machines and peripheral devices. In the drop operation, the combination of the processing source and the processing destination devices cannot recognize whether or not the operation is valid for executing the function during the operation instruction, and the operation work efficiency by dragging and dropping with each icon is poor. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain and manage connection information from each communicable data processing device or peripheral device, and to use a system which can be used. When the configuration is displayed with the respective icons, it is determined whether the relationship between the source icon and the destination icon is valid as an operation, and based on the determination result, during the icon operation instruction, the destination icon is displayed. By changing the display mode of, the user can visually recognize whether the processing based on the operation instruction by the icon is valid or invalid, and construct a user interface with excellent operability that can avoid an erroneous operation instruction. An object of the present invention is to provide a data processing device, a display processing method, and a storage medium storing a computer-readable program.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication medium (LANs 100, 12 shown in FIG. 1).
0) a data processing device capable of performing data communication with various data processing devices (including the other device 7 shown in FIG. 2 and the like) connected above, and connecting information with each of the data processing devices (A CPU 2 shown in FIG. 2 executes a control program stored therein to perform an acquisition process by a communication process), and a management unit that stores and manages the connection acquired by the acquisition unit (shown in FIG. 2). The CPU 2 executes the stored control program to execute, for example, the hard disk 1
0, a management process is performed via the memory of the PMEM 3), and a system display unit (the CPU 2 shown in FIG. 2 is stored) in which a system configuration is displayed on the display unit by an icon based on the connection information stored and managed by the management unit The control program is executed, for example, displayed on the CRT 16 in the display form shown in FIG. 6), and instruction means for instructing a combination of arbitrary icons displayed on the display unit (on the display screen shown in FIG. 6, A cursor or the like to give an instruction) and determination means (C shown in FIG. 2) for determining the validity of the operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed by the instruction means.
The PU 2 executes a control program stored therein and performs a determination process by a management process via, for example, the hard disk 10 and the memory of the PMEM 3), and performs a movement instruction by the instruction unit based on a determination result by the determination unit. Display control means for displaying icons in different display forms (the CPU 2 shown in FIG. 2 executes a control program stored therein and performs display processing by management processing via the hard disk 10 and the memory of the PMEM 3, for example). is there.

In a second aspect according to the present invention, the data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image input device is a scanner device conforming to predetermined standard specifications.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined standard specification conforms to the TWAIN standard.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the data processing device includes a printer, a facsimile, a digital copying machine, and a scanner.

A sixth invention according to the present invention relates to various data processing devices (including other devices 7 shown in FIG. 2 and the like) connected on a predetermined communication medium (LANs 100 and 120 shown in FIG. 1). A display processing method in a data processing device capable of performing data communication between the data processing device, wherein an acquisition step (not shown) for acquiring connection information through communication with each data processing apparatus, and the connection acquired in the acquisition step are stored. A management step (not shown) for managing, a system display step (not shown) for displaying a system configuration on a display unit with an icon based on the connection information stored and managed in the management step, and an optional display on the display unit (Step S71 shown in FIG. 8) for instructing the combination of the icons, and validating the operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed in the instruction step. The icon is displayed in a different display form based on the determination result of the determination step during the movement instruction in the determination step (step S73 shown in FIG. 8) and the determination step based on the determination information stored. And a display step (step S74 shown in FIG. 8).

In a seventh aspect according to the present invention, the data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device.

In an eighth aspect according to the present invention, the image input device is a scanner device conforming to a predetermined standard specification.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined standard specification conforms to the TWAIN standard.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the peripheral device includes a printer, a facsimile, a digital copier, and a scanner.

An eleventh invention according to the present invention controls a data processing device capable of performing data communication with various data processing devices connected to a predetermined communication medium (LANs 100 and 120 shown in FIG. 1). An acquisition step (not shown) for acquiring connection information through communication with each data processing device, and a management unit for storing and managing the connection acquired in the acquisition step A step (not shown), a system display step (not shown) for displaying a system configuration on a display unit based on the connection information stored and managed in the management step (not shown), and an optional icon displayed on the display unit. An instruction step of instructing a combination (step S7 shown in FIG. 8)
1), a judging step of judging the validity of the operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed in the instructing step based on the stored judgment information (Step S73 shown in FIG. 8), and a movement in the instructing step During the instruction, a display step (step S7 shown in FIG. 8) of displaying icons in different display forms based on the result of the determination in the determination step.
And 4) a computer-readable program stored in a storage medium.

In a twelfth aspect according to the present invention, the data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the image input device is a scanner device conforming to a predetermined standard specification.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined standard specification conforms to the TWAIN standard.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the data processing device includes a printer device, a facsimile device, a digital copying device, and a scanner device.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] <Description of Apparatus> FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the system configuration of a network device including a data processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a printer 102 is a printer having an open architecture, and a network board (N
B) It is connected to the network via 101. N
B101 is an Ethernet interface 10Base-2 having a coaxial connector, and a 1010 having an RJ-45.
Through a local area network interface such as Base-T, a local area network (LA)
N) 100.

PC103, PC104, PCll, P
Multiple personal computers (PC) such as Cl12
Are connected to the LAN 100, and these PCs are controlled by the NB under the control of the network operating system.
101 can be communicated.

Therefore, one of the PCs, for example, the PC 103
Can be used as a PC for network device management. Further, the printer 105 may be locally connected to the PC 104 as a local printer.

A PC functioning as a file server
106 is connected to the LAN 100 and manages access to files stored in a large-capacity (for example, 10 billion bytes) network disk 107.

PC 104 functioning as a print server
Manages printing to a printer such as the locally connected printer 105 or the remote printer 102.

Similarly, the scanner server PC 115 manages scanners such as the locally connected scanner 117 or the remote scanner 110. Scanner 1
Reference numeral 10 is connected to the LAN 100 via a network board or the like. The copier 118 provides a function as a printer or a scanner under the control of the image processing unit 119.

In the network shown in FIG. 1, in order to efficiently communicate between various network members, Nov.
network software such as ell or UNIX can be used. For example, Novell's Net
Software (registered trademark of Novell, hereinafter abbreviated) software can be used. The detailed description of the software package is described in online documentation included in the NetWare package (included in the NetWare package from Novell), and thus the description is omitted.

PC 103 and PC 104 are respectively
Generation of data file, LA of generated data file
This is a general PC that can perform transmission to the N100, reception of files from the LAN 100, and display and / or processing of those files.

Although FIG. 1 shows a personal computer device (PC), other computer devices suitable for executing network software may be used. For example, if UNIX software is used, UNIX workstations may be connected to the network, and these workstations are used with the PC shown.

Normally, the LAN 100 provides a service to a relatively local user group, for example, a user group on one floor or a plurality of consecutive floors in one building.

On the other hand, a wide area network (WAN) may be constructed as the users move away from each other, such as in different buildings or different prefectures. Basically,
A WAN is a collection of LANs formed by connecting several LANs with a high-speed digital line such as an integrated services digital network (ISDN).
For example, as shown in FIG.
0 are connected by the pack bone 140 to form a WAN. LAN100, LAN12
0, the devices respectively connected to the LAN 130 are W
It is possible to access functions of devices connected to other LANs via the AN connection.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A predetermined peripheral device (printer, scanner, modem, (Including a composite image processing apparatus) can be communicated with another locally-connected data processing apparatus by a predetermined protocol.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a system bus, and each unit to be described below is connected to the system bus 1. 2 is a CPU (Central Process)
ngUnit).

3 is a program memory (referred to as PMEM)
Then, the program for this processing is appropriately stored in the hard disk 1
Select / read from 0 and execute with CPU2. Data input from the keyboard 12 is stored as code information in the PMEM 3 which is also a text memory.

A communication control unit 4 controls input / output data at the communication port 5. The signal output from the communication port 5 is transmitted via the communication line 6 to the communication port of another device 7 on the network.

Communication with a printer or an image reading device (scanner) shared on a network is performed via the communication control unit 4. In the present embodiment, a network such as a LAN will be described. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable even when a communication port and a communication line connected to the communication control unit 4 are general public lines.

An external storage device controller 8 controls access to a data file disk, for example, a floppy disk (FD) 9 or a hard disk (HD) 10.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an input control unit, which is a keyboard 1
2. An input device 13 such as a mouse is connected. The operator operates the keyboard 11 to issue a system operation command or the like. Reference numeral 16 denotes a CRT device (CRT).
A pointing device (referred to as a PD) 13 is used to process and instruct the image information, and a mouse is used in the present embodiment.

Thus, the cursor on the CRT 16 is moved to X,
It moves arbitrarily in the Y direction and selects a command icon on the command menu to give a processing instruction, and also gives an instruction on an edit target, a drawing position, and the like.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a video image memory (referred to as a VRAM), in which drawing data (bitmap data) to be displayed on the CRT 16 is developed, read out as appropriate via the display output control section 15, and the contents are displayed on the CRT 16 Is done. A printer control unit 17 controls output of data to the connected printer 18.

Reference numeral 1A denotes an image reading device control section, which controls image reading of the connected image reading device 1B.

Note that the image reading server device according to the present invention requires the components of the image reading device control section 1A and the image reading device 1B, but the client side device has the communication control as described above. The same components shared on the server side via the unit 4 and the communication port 5 can be used.

Further, in the configuration of FIG. 2, even when the image reading device and the image reading device are physically separate components, the image reading device has the same function as one component including the image reading device. And

Note that the program stored in the ROM in this embodiment may be stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy disk (FD) directly connected to the apparatus. Further, it may be stored on another device connected by a network. The program of the present invention can be supplied to a system or an apparatus via a storage medium such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy disk (FD) or a network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the functional configuration of the server apparatus according to the present invention, and corresponds to, for example, an image input server apparatus.

In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a network server module which converts data obtained from a server extension function described below into a data format which can be exchanged on a network compatible with a general-purpose network protocol.

The network server module 21 conversely converts network data sent from a client, which will be described later, into a server extension module 22.
Is converted to an internal data format that can be interpreted.

The server extension module 22 analyzes the data passed from the network server module 21, selects a designated one from a plurality of image service modules under the control of this module, and provides the service. Or transfer of data from one service module to another service module. For example, the image input / output control module is called from the OCR module.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a common interface conversion module. When the server extension module 22 requests the provision of a service of any one of the image input devices, the image input device control module 2 receives the requested data at that time.
6 to convert the control command to a control command corresponding to the control command No. 6. Conversely, it also has a function of converting device-specific control information sent from the image input device control module 26 into a general interface that can be passed to the server extension module 22.

Specifically, one of them is image reading parameter setting information from the client, and the other is image information obtained as a result of the reading instruction and its accompanying information.

Reference numeral 24 denotes an OCR module, which is called from the server extension module 22 when a client requests to convert image data read by an image input device into document data.

An image data format conversion module 25 converts the format of image data obtained from an image input device into an image data format specified by a client.

Reference numerals 26-1 to 26-N denote image input / output device control modules, which are individual image input devices 27-1 to 27-N.
, And input / output control commands / information corresponding to each device, that is, specific to each device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the client device according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes a general application having an image input function. An image input / output device manager 32 provides a general-purpose image input / output interface to the application 31. The image input / output device manager 32 exchanges information with a designated one of the image input / output device control modules under the control of the image input / output device manager in response to the instruction from the input / output interface.

Reference numerals 33-1 to 33-N denote image input device control modules (hereinafter simply referred to as modules) having a general-purpose interface (general-purpose I / O). This module 33-1
33-N are for controlling the image input devices 34-1 to 34-N individually connected by a general-purpose interface negotiated with the image input manager 32.

The modules 33-1 to 33-N provide a general-purpose interface unlike the image input device control module 26 shown in FIG.

That is, functionally, the image input device control module 26 and the common interface conversion module 23
And the general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module 37
It is a combination of

That is, the image input / output device manager 32
For example, TWAIN (Technology With)
out Any Interposed Name) manager, and each of the modules 33-1 to 33-N corresponds to a TWAIN driver corresponding to each device.

Reference numerals 34-1 to 34-N denote image input devices which are locally connected to the apparatus. Reference numeral 35 denotes a client function control module which performs overall management of modules constituting individual client extended functions described below.

Reference numeral 36 denotes an image input device connection information generation module which obtains attribute information of the image input / output device connected to the server device obtained by using the network client module 38 and information necessary for network connection. And individual image input device connection information 40-1 to 40-
Generate N.

At this time, the virtual image input device control modules 39-1 to 39-N are automatically generated at the same time. The generation of this module allows the image input device manager 32 to handle devices on the network as if they were virtually connected.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module.
6 for converting the control information for the image input device on the server side, which is obtained by using the image input device 6, into a general-purpose interface corresponding to the image input device manager 32.

The general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module 37 does not directly provide functions having these interfaces to the image input device manager 32,
As described later, each virtual image input device control module 3
Provided via 9-1 to 39-N.

Reference numeral 38 denotes a network client module, which converts the data into a data format that can be exchanged on a network compatible with a general-purpose network protocol so that these modules and the server-side module can communicate with each other.

Reference numerals 39-1 to 39-N denote virtual image input device control modules, which are generated one-to-one with image input devices on the set network. The virtual image input device control modules 39-1 to 39-N basically return the information of the corresponding image input device connection information 40-1 to 40-N, or convert the information to a general-purpose image input / output interface conversion. Only intermediate processing such as passing the result to the module 37 and passing the result to the image input device manager 32 is performed.

As described above, since most of the actual processing is performed by the general-purpose image input / output interface providing module 37, the size of the module is small, and modules for image input devices on a plurality of networks are created. Even so, the overhead is small.

In this example, as the image input device,
This corresponds to a case where the image input devices 34-1 and 34-N are to be controlled.

FIG. 5 shows the image input device 34- shown in FIG.
It is a figure explaining the 1st data structure example of the connection information of the peripheral device with respect to 1-34-N.

In the figure, reference numeral 401 denotes connection destination server information in which information for identifying a connection destination server on the network, that is, a machine name or a network address on the network is set. 402
Is network information of the device, in which a network name of the device for identifying a device available on the network is set. Reference numeral 403 denotes other network connection information in which information necessary for network connection other than the above is set.

Reference numeral 404 denotes device identification information, which includes, for example, information such as “image input device such as scanner” and “output device such as printer”. 405 is device name information, and 406 is other identification information.

Note that 401 to 406 are the first device connection information among various available peripheral devices. These pieces of information are read from the server device with respect to the devices shared in the network, and are the connection information of the machines connected to the own machine.

Also, 407 to 412 are the same as 401 to 406, and the difference is the Nth device connection information (information obtained by searching the connection status of various machines and peripheral devices on the network). There is a point.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of system equipment displayed on the CRT 16 shown in FIG. 2. The CPU 2 displays the configuration of the equipment on the screen of the CRT 16 based on the information of the data structure shown in FIG. Corresponds to the case where is displayed.

In the figure, reference numeral 501 denotes a menu icon which designates a function for performing processing using various peripheral devices on the network. For example, a specific image reading device is used for a specific output device. Is performed by selecting one icon.

An icon 502 indicates a network domain to which the operator belongs. Reference numeral 503 denotes an icon indicating the client device, which indicates its own device. Reference numeral 504 denotes an icon corresponding to an image reading device as a peripheral device locally connected to the client device.

Reference numeral 505 denotes a network name, which is displayed based on the device name 405 shown in FIG. 4 or the like. The image reading device name "ABC-345" corresponding to the icon 504 shown in FIG. Corresponds to the example.

Reference numeral 506 denotes an icon, which corresponds to an output device such as a printer locally connected to the icon 503 indicating the client device. Reference numeral 507 denotes a network name, which is displayed based on the device name 405 or the like shown in FIG. 5, and corresponds to the printer name "ABC-123" corresponding to the icon 506 shown in FIG.

An icon 508 corresponds to a machine other than the user on the network. 509 is a server name,
The name of the machine corresponding to the icon 508 is recognized on the network, for example, “SNPC00”.

Reference numerals 510 to 512 denote network names, which are names corresponding to the “image reading device”, the “communication device”, and the “output device” connected to the server device whose machine name is “SNPC03”. MULTIXXX ". An icon 513 corresponds to a scanner device as an input device.

Also, using this screen display and icons indicating various devices, drag and drop from a specific icon to a specific icon using a pointing device.
It is assumed that a specific function can be realized by performing a drop operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of a judgment table managed by the data processing device according to the present invention.
As will be described later, this corresponds to an example of a data structure of a determination table for determining whether or not a function according to the type of icon designated by a drag-and-drop operation in the client device is valid.

In the figure, reference numeral 801 denotes information indicating the type of the processing source device. Reference numeral 802 denotes a type (identification information) of a processing destination device, and information such as “image input device” and “output device such as a printer” is set therein.

Reference numeral 803 denotes determination information for determining whether or not the combination of the information 801 and the identification information 802 is valid. Whether the drag and drop operation is valid based on the determination information 803 is determined. Is determined.

Reference numeral 804 denotes information indicating the type of the function for executing the processing. If the judgment information 803 indicates "processing is valid", it means that there is, for example, the information 80
1 is “image input device” and identification information 802 is “output device”
When the determination information 803 is “processing is valid”, the information 804 is set with information meaning “function of outputting data to an output device using an image input device”. Is done.

Note that 801 to 804 are the first determination information of the device combination, and 805 to 808 are the n-th determination information of the device combination, as in the case of 801 to 804. Reference numerals 801 to 808 denote a series of information for determining whether the function to be processed is valid when the types of the peripheral devices of the processing source and the processing destination are determined by the drag and drop operation in the present embodiment. Here, a case is shown in which there are N pieces of information depending on the combination of types of peripheral devices, and 801 to 804 and 805
808 indicate that the information is a set of information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a data processing procedure in the data processing apparatus according to the present invention, and corresponds to the internal processing procedure on the client device side relating to the processing in the drag and drop operation shown in FIG. The procedure is realized by the CPU 2 executing the program stored in the PMEM 3.

First, in step S71, a drag operation of an icon representing a processing source device is started on the display screen shown in FIG. Next, in step S72, information on the processing source device is obtained from the above-described data structure example shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, it is particularly necessary to acquire information on the type of the device, which indicates the type of the device.

In step S73, using the information obtained in step S72 and the information in the above-described determination table of FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not the drop processing for each type of device is valid. so,
Based on the determination result in step S73, the screen display is changed to distinguish between the display of the device icon for which the process is valid and the icon of the device for which the process is not valid.

Examples of the screen display include means for inverting, blinking, or enlarging the icons of valid devices while performing a drag operation, and displaying icons of invalid devices in gray. It is clearly and visually distinguished by means such as displaying or not displaying.

In step S75, the user performs a drop operation on the device icon to complete the operation during the drag, and determines a device to be processed.

Next, in step S76, it is determined whether or not the processing is valid based on the information of the processing destination device determined in step S75 and the processing source device and the determination table shown in FIG. If it is determined that the process is not valid, the process ends without doing anything.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S76 that the processing is valid, the flow branches to step S77, and FIG.
The corresponding function is executed according to the determination table shown in FIG.

Thus, for example, when the icon 504 is dragged and dropped on the icon 506 on the display screen shown in FIG. 6, the judgment information indicates that the operation instruction is valid, and the step S77 shown in FIG. Then, a function process (image input / output process) according to a series of operation instructions of printing out image data input as an image is executed.

On the other hand, when the icon 504 is dragged and dropped on the icon 508, when the client device of the icon 508 is not operating, or when the drag and drop operation from the icon 504 to the icon 513 is performed, The judgment information is invalid (icon 5
04 and the icon 513 are invalid because both are input devices.
08 is displayed in gray (displayed in a form different from other icon displays), and the user can recognize that the operation is not valid during the operation.

According to the above embodiment, in a network system composed of various peripheral devices on a network, a server device thereof, and a client device, drag-and-drop on a configuration display screen of available machines and peripheral devices. During the operation of dragging the icon of the processing source device during the operation, by identifying and displaying the icon display of the processing destination where the processing is enabled or disabled, the operation can be made more efficient.

Hereinafter, the configuration of a data processing program that can be read by the data processing device according to the present invention will be described with reference to a memory map shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a memory map of a storage medium for storing various data processing programs which can be read by the data processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Although not shown, information for managing a group of programs stored in the storage medium, such as version information and creator, is also stored, and information dependent on the OS or the like on the program reading side, such as a program, is stored. An icon or the like for identification display may also be stored.

Further, data dependent on various programs is also managed in the directory. Also, a program for installing various programs on a computer, and a program for decompressing a program to be installed when the program to be installed is compressed, may be stored in some cases.

The functions shown in FIG. 8 in this embodiment may be performed by a host computer by a program installed from the outside. In this case, the present invention is applied even when a group of information including a program is supplied to the output device from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or an FD, or from an external storage medium via a network. Things.

As described above, the storage medium storing the program codes of the software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to the system or the apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MP) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
It goes without saying that the object of the present invention is also achieved when U) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, 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, C
DR, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, RO
M, EEPROM and the like 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. ) And the like perform part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes 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 instruction of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0107]

As described above, the first embodiment according to the present invention is described.
According to the inventions of (1) to (15), when the connection information is acquired and managed from each of the communicable data processing devices or peripheral devices and the available system configuration is displayed by each icon,
It is determined whether the relationship between the source icon and the destination icon is valid as an operation, and the display mode of the destination icon is changed during the icon operation instruction based on the determination result. It is possible to visually recognize whether the processing based on the instruction is valid or invalid, and to achieve an effect that a user interface with excellent operability capable of avoiding an incorrect operation instruction can be constructed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a network device including a data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a client device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a first data structure example of connection information of a peripheral device with respect to the image input device shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of system devices displayed on the CRT shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a determination table managed by the data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a data processing procedure in the data processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the data processing device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 system bus 2 CPU 3 program memory 4 communication control unit 5 communication port 6 communication line 7 other device on network 8 external storage device control unit 9, 10 disk for data file 12 keyboard 13 mouse 14 video image memory 15 display output Control unit 16 CRT 17 Printer control unit 18 Printer 19 External device control unit 1A Reading device control unit 1B Image reading device

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A data processing device capable of performing data communication with various data processing devices connected on a predetermined communication medium, comprising: an obtaining unit configured to obtain connection information by communicating with each data processing device; A management unit that stores and manages the connection acquired by the acquisition unit; a system display unit that displays a system configuration on a display unit with an icon based on the connection information stored and managed by the management unit; Instructing means for instructing a combination of displayed icons, determining means for determining the validity of an operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed by the instructing means, and moving instruction by the instructing means, Display control means for displaying icons in different display forms based on a result of the determination by the determination means. Equipment. 2. The data processing device according to claim 1, wherein said data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device. 3. The image input device according to claim 2, wherein the image input device is a scanner device conforming to a predetermined standard.
The data processing device according to claim 1. 4. The data processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said predetermined standard specification conforms to TWAIN standard. 5. The data processing device according to claim 1, wherein the data processing device is a printer device,
2. The data processing device according to claim 1, further comprising a facsimile device, a digital copying device, and a scanner device. 6. A display processing method in a data processing device capable of performing data communication with various data processing devices connected on a predetermined communication medium, wherein connection information is obtained by communication with each data processing device. Acquiring step, a managing step of storing and managing the connection acquired in the acquiring step, and a system displaying step of displaying a system configuration on a display unit with an icon based on the connection information stored and managed in the managing step, An instruction step of instructing a combination of any icons displayed on the display unit; and a determination step of determining the validity of an operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed in the instruction step based on stored determination information. And displaying an icon in a different display form based on the determination result in the determination step during the movement instruction in the instruction step. And a display step. 7. The display processing method according to claim 6, wherein the data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device. 8. The image input device according to claim 7, wherein the image input device is a scanner device conforming to a predetermined standard.
Display processing method described. 9. The display processing method according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined standard specification conforms to the TWAIN standard. 10. The display processing method according to claim 6, wherein said data processing device includes a printer device, a facsimile device, a digital copying device, and a scanner device. 11. A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a data processing apparatus capable of performing data communication with various data processing apparatuses connected to a predetermined communication medium, wherein each of the data processing apparatuses An acquisition step of acquiring connection information through communication with a device; a management step of storing and managing the connection acquired in the acquisition step; and displaying a system configuration by an icon based on the connection information stored and managed in the management step. A system display step to be displayed on the display unit; an instruction step to instruct a combination of arbitrary icons displayed on the display unit; and the validity of an operation instruction by the combination of the data processing devices instructed in the instruction step. A determination step of determining based on the determination information; and during the movement instruction in the instruction step, the determination result in the determination step is And a display step of displaying icons in different display forms based on the storage medium. 12. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein said data processing device is an image input server device connected to an image input device. 13. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the image input device is a scanner device conforming to a predetermined standard specification. 14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the predetermined standard specification conforms to the TWAIN standard. 15. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein said data processing device includes a printer device, a facsimile device, a digital copying device, and a scanner device.