JP6766941B2 - Monitor program, information processing terminal, monitor system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a monitor program that monitors the status of an image forming apparatus.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus that generates an event message and sends it to a push notification server, a push notification server that receives an event message from the image forming apparatus and pushes the event message to a mobile terminal, and a push. A system including a mobile terminal that displays a notified event message is disclosed. Further, the event message may include, for example, status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-29641

The push notification server having the above configuration may accumulate status information received from the image forming apparatus. The push notification server accumulates status information, for example, when it cannot communicate with a mobile terminal. Then, the push notification server pushes the accumulated status information to the mobile terminal in response to the communication with the mobile terminal becoming possible.

However, the status information accumulated in the push notification server for a long time may be information that is no longer needed by the user of the mobile terminal. In addition, if the mobile terminal and the push notification server can communicate with each other while a large amount of status information is accumulated, a large number of statuses will be continuously displayed on the mobile terminal, which requires a user of the mobile terminal. Information to be used may be buried.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is a monitor program installed in an information processing terminal that receives status information generated by an image forming apparatus through a server, and is an image forming apparatus. The purpose is to provide a monitor program that can properly notify the status.

The monitor program according to one form of the present specification can be read by an information processing terminal including a communication unit, an operation unit, and a display unit. The communication unit is connected to an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming forming operation and a server that receives status information from the image forming apparatus. The monitor program receives the reception process for accepting the user operation through the operation unit and the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation in response to the reception process for receiving the formation instruction operation for instructing the execution of the formation operation. A formation instruction process of transmitting to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit, a status receiving process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus for executing the forming operation from the server through the communication unit, and the above. Among the status information received in the status reception process, the determination process for determining the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal and the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process are determined. The information processing terminal is made to execute the first display process of displaying the status screen including the status screen on the display unit.

According to the above configuration, among the status information received from the server, only the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal is selectively displayed on the status screen. That is, the status of the image forming apparatus can be appropriately notified to the user of the information processing terminal.

The monitor program according to another form of the present specification can be read by an information processing terminal including a communication unit, an operation unit, and a display unit. The communication unit is connected to an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming forming operation and a server that receives status information from the image forming apparatus. The monitor program receives a reception process for accepting a user operation through the operation unit and a formation instruction information for executing the formation operation in response to the reception process for receiving the formation instruction operation for instructing the execution of the formation operation. The formation instruction process of transmitting to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit and the status receiving process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus for executing the forming operation from the server through the communication unit are described. Let the information processing terminal execute it. The status information includes operation identification information that identifies the formation operation. The program determines the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal among the status information received in the status reception process for each operation status information including the same operation identification information. The information processing terminal is made to execute the determination process to be performed and the first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process on the display unit.

The information processing terminal described in the present specification includes a communication unit, an operation unit, a display unit, and a control unit. The communication unit is connected to an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming forming operation and a server that receives status information from the image forming apparatus. The control unit receives a reception process for receiving a user operation through the operation unit and a formation instruction information for executing the formation operation in response to the reception process for receiving the formation instruction operation for instructing the execution of the formation operation. The formation instruction process of transmitting to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit, the status receiving process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus for executing the forming operation from the server through the communication unit, and the said. Among the status information received in the status reception process, the determination process for determining the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal and the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process are determined. The first display process of displaying the including status screen on the display unit is executed.

The monitor system described in the present specification includes an information processing terminal and an image forming apparatus. The information processing terminal includes a first communication unit, an operation unit, a display unit, and a first control unit connected to the image forming device and a server that receives status information from the image forming device. The image forming apparatus includes a forming unit that executes a forming operation for forming an image, a second communication unit connected to the information processing terminal and the server, and a second control unit. The first control unit receives a reception process for receiving a user operation through the operation unit, and a formation instruction for executing the formation operation in response to the reception process for receiving a formation instruction operation for instructing execution of the formation operation. The formation instruction process of transmitting information to the image forming apparatus through the first communication unit and the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus that executes the forming operation are received from the server through the first communication unit. The status reception process, the determination process for determining the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal among the status information received in the status reception process, and the target status determined in the determination process. The first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the information on the display unit is executed. The second control unit performs the formation operation on the formation unit according to the instruction reception process of receiving the formation instruction information from the information processing terminal through the second communication unit and the formation instruction information received in the instruction reception process. The operation control process for executing the above and the status transmission process for transmitting the status information to the server through the second communication unit are executed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the monitor system 100 according to the first embodiment. 2A and 2B are a block diagram of the multifunction device 10 and FIG. 2B is a block diagram of the mobile terminal 50. FIG. 3 is an example of a status list stored in the data storage area 62B. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operations of the multifunction device 10A, the mobile terminal 50, and the server 110 when the multifunction device 10A executes a printing operation according to the instruction of the mobile terminal 50. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the print process. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the status determination process. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of background processing. 8A and 8B show a display example of the display unit 53, in which FIG. 8A shows a data selection screen and FIG. 8B shows a preview screen. 9A and 9B are display examples of the display unit 53, in which FIG. 9A shows a device selection screen and FIG. 9B shows a status screen. FIG. 10 is an example of a status screen displayed on the display unit 53. 11A and 11B are display examples of the display unit 53, in which FIG. 11A shows a status list screen and FIG. 11B shows a menu screen.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. It goes without saying that the embodiments described below are merely examples of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention can be appropriately changed without changing the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the monitor system 100 according to the first embodiment. The monitor system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes multifunction devices 10A and 10B (hereinafter, these may be collectively referred to as "multifunction device 10") and a mobile terminal 50. The monitor system 100 is a system in which the mobile terminal 50 receives the status information generated by the multifunction device 10 via the server 110. The multifunction device 10, the mobile terminal 50, and the server 110 can communicate with each other via a communication network. Specific examples of the communication network are not particularly limited, but may be, for example, the Internet 101, a wired LAN (abbreviation of Local Area Network), a wireless LAN 102, or a combination thereof.

The multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 belong to the wireless LAN 102. Further, the wireless LAN 102 is connected to the Internet 101 through the router 102A. Further, the server 110 is connected to the Internet 101. Then, the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 can communicate with the server 110 from the router 102A via the Internet 101. However, the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 may belong to different communication networks.

For communication between the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50, for example, instead of wireless LAN, NFC (abbreviation of Near Field Communication), TransferJet (registered trademark of TransferJet Consortium), Bluetooth (Bluetooth SIG, Inc.). Registered trademark), Bluetooth LE (abbreviation of Low Energy) and the like may be used. Further, the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 may be connected by a USB cable. In this case, the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 have, in addition to the communication units 25 and 55 described later, a communication unit that performs communication conforming to the above-mentioned standards, or a connection unit to which a USB cable is connected.

[Multifunction device 10]
As shown in FIG. 2A, the multifunction device 10 communicates with the printer unit 11, the scanner unit 12, the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the communication unit 25, the CPU 31, and the storage unit 32. Mainly equipped with a bus 33. The components constituting the multifunction device 10 are connected to each other via the communication bus 33. The multifunction device 10 is an example of an image forming apparatus, the printer unit 11 and the scanner unit 12 are an example of a forming unit that forms an image, and the communication unit 25 is an example of a second communication unit.

[Printer unit 11, scanner unit 12]
The printer unit 11 executes a printing operation of recording an image represented by image data on recording paper. The recording paper is an example of a sheet or a recording medium. As the recording method of the printer unit 11, a known method such as an inkjet method or an electrophotographic method can be adopted. The scanner unit 12 performs a scanning operation of reading an image recorded on a document to form image data. The printer unit 11 is an example of a recording unit, and the scanner unit 12 is an example of a reading unit. The multifunction device 10 may further perform a fax operation for transmitting and receiving a fax, a copy operation for reading an image recorded on a recording paper and recording it on another recording paper, and the like. The printing operation, scanning operation, faxing operation, and copying operation are examples of forming operations for forming an image.

[Display unit 23]
The display unit 23 includes a display screen for displaying various information. As the display unit 23, a liquid crystal display (abbreviation of Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display (abbreviation of Organic Electro-Luminence Display), and the like can be adopted.

[Operation unit 24]
The operation unit 24 receives an operation of a user who selects an object displayed on the display screen of the display unit 23. Specifically, the operation unit 24 has a button, and outputs various operation signals associated with the pressed button to the CPU 31. Further, the operation unit 24 may have a film-like touch sensor superimposed on the display screen of the display unit 23, and the display unit 23 may be configured as a touch panel display. The "object" refers to an image that can be selected by the user by operating the operation unit 24. The object is, for example, a character string, an icon, a button, a link, or the like displayed on the display unit 23.

The operation unit 24 realized as a touch panel outputs a user operation for touching the display screen of the display unit 23 and position information indicating a position on the display screen touched by the user. The position information is output, for example, as coordinates (x, y) with the display screen on the xy plane. As the touch sensor, a well-known method such as a capacitance method or a resistance film method can be adopted.

The term "touch" in the present specification includes all operations of bringing the input medium into contact with the display screen. In the present embodiment, a tap operation for separating the touched input medium from the display screen within a predetermined time will be described as an example of touch, but it is a so-called long touch operation, slide operation, flick operation, pinch-in operation, pinch-out operation, and the like. You may. Further, the concept of "touch" may include bringing the input medium close to a position where the distance between the input medium and the display screen is very small. Further, the input medium may be a user's finger, a stylus, or the like.

[Communication unit 25]
The communication unit 25 is an interface for communicating with an external device. Specifically, the communication unit 25 can communicate with the mobile terminal 50 and the server 110. The communication unit 25 communicates in a procedure conforming to, for example, the IEEE802.11 standard and Wi-Fi (registered trademark of Wi-Fi Alliance).

[CPU31]
The CPU (abbreviation of Central Processing Unit) 31 controls the overall operation of the multifunction device 10. The CPU 31 acquires and executes various programs described later from the storage unit 32 based on various information output from the operation unit 24 and various information acquired from the external device through the communication unit 25. That is, the CPU 31 and the storage unit 32 form an example of the second control unit.

[Storage 32]
The storage unit 32 has a program storage area 32A and a data storage area 32B. The OS (abbreviation of Operating System) 34 and the device program 35 are stored in the program storage area 32A. The OS 34 and the device program 35 are programs built in binary format. The device program 35 may be a single program or a collection of a plurality of programs. Data or information necessary for executing the device program 35 is stored in the data storage area 32B.

It should be noted that "data" and "information" in the present specification are common in that they are bits or bit strings that can be handled by a computer. "Data" refers to data that can be handled without the computer considering the meaning and content of each bit. On the other hand, "information" refers to information in which the operation of a computer branches depending on the meaning and content indicated by each bit. Further, the "instruction" is a control signal for prompting the destination device to perform the next operation, may include information, and has the property of information itself. There is also.

In addition, "data" and "information" are the same data and information as long as they are recognized as having the same meaning even if the format (for example, text format, binary format, flag format, etc.) is changed for each computer. Treated as. For example, information indicating that there are "two" is retained as text format information "0x32" in ASCII code on one computer, and as binary format information "10" in binary notation on another computer. May be done.

However, the above distinction between "data" and "information" is not strict, and exceptional handling is permitted. For example, the data may be temporarily treated as information, or the information may be temporarily treated as data. Further, what is treated as data in one device may be treated as information in another device. Furthermore, information may be extracted from the data, or data may be extracted from the information.

The storage unit 32 includes, for example, a RAM (abbreviation of Random Access Memory), a ROM (abbreviation of Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (abbreviation of Electrically Erasable Program Read-Only Memory), a CPU (abbreviation of Disk 31), and an HDD (abbreviation of HDD). It is composed of a buffer or the like or a combination thereof.

The storage unit 32 may be a storage medium that can be read by a computer. A computer-readable storage medium is a non-transitory medium. In addition to the above examples, the non-transitory medium also includes recording media such as a CD-ROM and a DVD-ROM. The non-transitory medium is also a tangible medium. On the other hand, an electric signal that carries a program downloaded from a server on the Internet is a computer-readable signal medium, which is a kind of computer-readable medium, but is a storage that can be read by a non-transitory computer. Not included in the medium.

The program stored in the program storage area 32A is executed by the CPU 31. However, in the present specification, the operation of each program may be described by omitting the CPU 31. That is, in the following description, the description to the effect that "the program A executes the process A" may refer to "the CPU 31 executes the process A described in the program A".

Further, the program stored in the program storage area 32A determines an event and operates according to the determination result. However, in the present specification, the operation of each program may be described without making a judgment. That is, in the following description, the description to the effect that "the program executes the process A according to the condition A" is "determine whether or not the program is the condition A. The program is an affirmative judgment." Depending on the situation, the process A may be executed. "

Further, the program stored in the program storage area 32A identifies, extracts, or selects data or the like. When a program specifies data or the like, for example, data that meets the conditions is specified from a plurality of data or the like, and the data or the like or information for identifying the data or the like is stored in a predetermined storage area. Refers to the process of memorizing. The information for identifying the data or the like is, for example, identification information for identifying the data or the like, an index of an array in which the data or the like is stored, a pointer of a storage area in which the data or the like is stored, or the like. The same applies to the process in which the program extracts or selects data or the like.

Further, the program stored in the program storage area 32A acquires data and the like. When the program acquires data or the like, it may refer to, for example, a process of reading data from a storage area in which the data is stored. The acquisition of data or the like by a program may refer to, for example, a process of receiving data transmitted from an external device. The acquisition of data or the like by a program may refer to, for example, a process of requesting an external device to return data and receiving the data returned from the external device. When a program acquires data or the like, it may refer to a process of receiving data output by another program such as an OS. When a program acquires data or the like, it may refer to, for example, a process of requesting another program to output data and receiving the data output from the other program.

The OS 34 provides an API (abbreviation for Application Programming Interface) for controlling the printer unit 11, the scanner unit 12, the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the communication unit 25, and the like, which are the hardware constituting the multifunction device 10. It is a basic program. That is, each of the above programs controls each hardware by calling the API provided by the OS 34. However, in this specification, the operation of each program may be described by omitting OS34. That is, in the following description, the description to the effect that "program B controls hardware C" may refer to "program B controls hardware C through the API of OS34".

The description of the basic operation of the program described above can be similarly applied not only to the program stored in the program storage area 32A but also to each program stored in the program storage area 62A of the mobile terminal 50 described later. ..

[Mobile terminal 50]
As shown in FIG. 2B, the mobile terminal 50 mainly includes a display unit 53, an operation unit 54, a communication unit 55, a CPU 61, a storage unit 62, and a communication bus 63. The display unit 53, the operation unit 54, the communication unit 55, the CPU 61, the storage unit 62, and the communication bus 63 included in the mobile terminal 50 are the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the communication unit 25, and the CPU 31 included in the multifunction device 10. Since the format is basically the same as that of the storage unit 32 and the communication bus 33, the description thereof will be omitted again.

The mobile terminal 50 is an example of an information processing terminal. The information processing terminal may be, for example, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC (abbreviation of Personal Computer), or the like. Further, the communication unit 55 is an example of the communication unit and the first communication unit, and the CPU 61 and the storage unit 62 form an example of the first control unit.

The program storage area 62A stores the OS 64 and the terminal program 65, which is an example of the monitor program. OS64 may be, for example, Android (registered trademark of Google inc.) OS, iOS (registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc.), Windows Phone (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation) Operating System, and the like. The OS 64 can execute a plurality of programs installed in the mobile terminal 50 in parallel. A plurality of programs are virtually executed in parallel by a time division multiplexing method, for example.

Further, the OS 64 executes one of a plurality of programs executed in parallel in the foreground, and executes the other programs in the background. The foreground is, for example, a state in which a program screen based on the execution of the program is displayed on the display unit 53. The background is, for example, a state in which a program screen based on the execution of a program different from the program is displayed on the display unit 53. That is, the mobile terminal 50 can display only the program screen based on the execution of the program executed in the foreground on the display unit 53 among the plurality of programs executed in parallel.

The terminal program 65 has a user interface that allows the user to specify the execution conditions of the forming operation (for example, designation of image data to be the target of the printing operation, reading resolution of the scanning operation, etc.), and according to the instruction received through the user interface. The compound machine 10 can be made to execute the forming operation. In the present embodiment, a process of causing the user to specify the image data to be the target of the print operation and causing the multifunction device 10A to execute the print operation for the specified image data will be described. Further, the terminal program 65 can receive the status information from the server 110 and notify the user of the status of the multifunction device 10 indicated by the status information. In the present embodiment, a process of displaying the status of the multifunction device 10A that executes the printing operation on the display unit 53 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the data storage area 62B can store the device ID, the job ID, the date and time information, the importance information, and the status ID in association with each other. Hereinafter, the information shown in FIG. 3 may be collectively referred to as a “status list”, and each record shown in FIG. 3 may be referred to as a “status record”. The status list can contain multiple status records. The status record is added to the status list by the terminal program 65 and removed from the status list by the terminal program 65. Various information included in the status record is included in the status information received from the server 110.

The device ID is an example of device identification information for identifying the multifunction device 10. In the present specification, the multifunction device 10A is identified by "MFP-A", and the multifunction device 10B is identified by "MFP-B". The job ID is an example of operation identification information that identifies an operation to be executed by the multifunction device 10. That is, the job ID is issued by the mobile terminal 50 when transmitting the formation instruction information described later. The date and time information indicates the date and time when the multifunction device 10 generated the status information, the date and time when the server 110 received the status information from the multifunction device 10, or the date and time when the server 110 transmits the status information to the mobile terminal 50.

The importance information indicates the importance of the status indicated by the status information. The importance information may be associated with the status ID in advance. The importance information according to the first embodiment indicates "Info" or "Warning" which is more important than "Info". In the first embodiment, the importance information "Warning" is added to the stop status information described later, and the importance information "Info" is added to the other status information. However, the specific example of the importance information is not limited to this, and may be “Caution”, “Alert”, or the like. The status ID is information indicating the status of the multifunction device 10. In FIG. 3, character strings such as "printing (1/2)" and "paper jam" are shown, but any information corresponding to the character strings may be used.

Although not shown, the data storage area 62B can store the designated device ID. The designated device ID is one device ID of the multifunction devices 10A and 10B with which the mobile terminal 50 can communicate. Hereinafter, the multifunction device 10 identified by the designated device ID will be referred to as a "designated device". In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the designated device ID "MFP-A" is stored in the data storage area 62B.

Although not shown, the data storage area 62B stores the terminal ID “abc” that identifies the mobile terminal 50. The terminal ID is an example of terminal identification information for the server 110 to identify the mobile terminal 50. Further, a data folder may be provided in the data storage area 62B. For example, photo data, document data, presentation data, spreadsheet data, and the like may be stored in the data folder.

[Server 110]
The server 110 receives the status information from the multifunction device 10 and transmits the status information to the mobile terminal 50. The server 110 is a push notification server that pushes status information to the mobile terminal 50.

[Operation of monitor system 100]
The operation of the monitor system 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. In the monitor system 100 according to the first embodiment, the multifunction device 10 executes a print operation according to the instruction of the mobile terminal 50, and the mobile terminal 50 receives the status information of the multifunction device 10 that executes the print operation via the server 110. The mobile terminal 50 executes a process of displaying the status indicated by the status information on the display unit 53.

The OS 64 of the mobile terminal 50 starts the terminal program 65 and sets the terminal program 65 in the foreground in response to receiving the designation of the program icon 155 through the operation unit 54, for example, on the menu screen shown in FIG. 11 (B). Execute with. The terminal program 65 executes the print process shown in FIG. 5 in response to being executed in the foreground by the OS 64. First, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the data selection screen (S41). FIG. 8A is an example of a data selection screen. The data selection screen shown in FIG. 8A includes a plurality of data icons 121, 122, 123. The data icons 121 to 123 correspond to various data stored in the data folder, for example.

Next, the terminal program 65 accepts the designation of the icon included in the data selection screen through the operation unit 54 (S42). The terminal program 65 keeps the data selection screen displayed on the display unit 53 until one of the data icons 121 to 123 is specified (S42: No). Then, the terminal program 65 determines, for example, the data "photograph.JPEG" corresponding to the data icon 121 as the designated data in response to receiving the designation of the data icon 121 through the operation unit 54 (S42: Yes). The process of step S42 is an example of the reception process.

Next, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the preview screen (S43). FIG. 8B is an example of a preview screen. The preview screen shown in FIG. 8B includes a preview image 125, a device icon 126, and a print icon 127. Further, the terminal program 65 accepts a user operation for designating an icon included in the preview screen through the operation unit 54 (S44). The process of step S44 is an example of the reception process.

The preview image 125 is an image showing the result of causing the designated device to perform a print operation on the designated data. The preview image 125 according to the first embodiment shows an image in which the image shown in the data “photograph.JPEG” is recorded on the recording paper by the multifunction device 10A. The device icon 126 corresponds to an instruction to switch the designated device. Further, the device icon 126 describes the designated device ID “MFP-A” currently stored in the data storage area 62B. The print icon 127 corresponds to an instruction to cause the designated device to perform a print operation on the designated data.

Next, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the device selection screen in response to the designation of the device icon 126 being received through the operation unit 54 (S44: device icon) (S54). FIG. 9A is an example of a device selection screen. The device selection screen shown in FIG. 9A includes device icons 131 and 132. Then, the terminal program 65 accepts a user operation for designating an icon included in the device selection screen through the operation unit 54 (S55). The process of step S55 is an example of the reception process.

The device icons 131 and 132 correspond to the multifunction device 10 with which the mobile terminal 50 can communicate. That is, the terminal program 65 searches for the multifunction device 10 capable of communicating through the communication unit 55 by using, for example, SNMP (abbreviation of Simple Network Management Protocol). Then, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display a device selection screen including the device icons 131 and 132 corresponding to the discovered multifunction devices 10. Further, the device IDs of the corresponding multifunction devices 10 are described in the device icons 131 and 132. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the multifunction devices 10A and 10B have been discovered.

Next, the terminal program 65 uses the device ID “MFP-B” corresponding to the device icon 132 as the designated device ID in response to the reception of the designation of the device icon 132 through the operation unit 54 (S55: Yes). It is stored in the data storage area 62B (S56). If the designated device ID is already stored in the data storage area 62B, it is overwritten with a new designated device ID. Then, the terminal program 65 re-executes the processes after step S43. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the designated device ID has not been changed, and the following description will be continued.

Further, the terminal program 65 adds a status record to the status list in response to receiving the designation of the print icon 127 through the operation unit 54 (S44: print icon) (S45). More specifically, the terminal program 65 issues the job ID "001". Then, the terminal program 65 includes the designated device ID "MFP-A", the issued job ID "001", the date and time information "2015.09.06 10:20:42" indicating the current date and time, and the importance information "Info". Add a status record containing the status ID "Sending" to the status list. The process of issuing a job ID is an example of an issue process, and the process of adding a status record is an example of a second storage process.

Next, the terminal program 65 transmits print instruction information to the multifunction device 10A, which is a designated device, through the communication unit 55 (S46). The print instruction information is information for executing a print operation on the designated data. The print instruction information includes, for example, the designated data “photograph.JPEG”, the job ID “001”, and the terminal ID “abc”. Further, the print instruction information may further include print setting information such as paper size (for example, L version) and number of copies (for example, 2 copies). The process of step S46 is an example of the formation instruction process. Further, the print instruction information is an example of the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation. Further, the user operation for designating the print icon 127 is an example of a formation instruction operation for instructing the execution of the formation operation.

Further, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the status screen (S47). FIG. 9B is an example of the status screen. The status screen shown in FIG. 9B includes a device status display area 135 and an operation status display area 136. The device status display area 135 is an area in which the device status indicated by the device status information described later is displayed. The operation status display area 136 is an area in which the operation status indicated by the operation status information described later is displayed. The process of step S47 is an example of the first display process.

In step S47, which is first executed in the print process, the terminal program 65 causes the operation status display area 136 to display the status indicated by the status record added in step S45. The job ID "001" and the status "sending" are displayed in the operation status display area 136 shown in FIG. 9B, but the information to be displayed in the operation status display area 136 is this. Not limited.

On the other hand, although not shown, the device program 35 of the multifunction device 10A receives print instruction information from the mobile terminal 50 through the communication unit 25. Then, the device program 35 causes the printer unit 11 to execute a print operation according to the received print instruction information. That is, the printer unit 11 records the photograph indicated by the data "photograph.JPEG" included in the print instruction information on each of the two recording sheets of the L version. Further, the device program 35 temporarily stores the job ID "001" and the terminal ID "abc" included in the print instruction information in the data storage area 32B. Further, the device program 35 generates status information at a predetermined timing during the printing operation, and transmits the generated status information to the server 110 through the communication unit 25. The status information generated by the multifunction device 10 includes operation status information and device status information.

The operation status information is information indicating the operation status of the formation operation to be executed according to the formation instruction information received from the mobile terminal 50. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the operation status of the print operation is "printing (1/2)" indicating that the image is being recorded on the first page of the two pages, and the operation status of the two pages. On the second page of the above, "printing (2/2)" indicating that an image is being recorded, "print interruption" indicating that the printing operation has been interrupted, and "printing interruption" indicating that the interrupted printing operation has been resumed are resumed. There are "print resume (2/2)", "print end" indicating that the print operation is completed, "waiting" indicating that the previous print operation is completed, and the like.

The device status information is information indicating the device status of the multifunction device 10. The device status does not have a one-to-one correspondence with each formation operation, for example, and is a status common to a plurality of formation operations being executed by the multifunction device 10. The device status includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, "paper jam" indicating that the recording paper is jammed on the transport path, "paper jam clearing" indicating that the recording paper jammed on the transport path has been removed, and the like. is there.

Although not shown, the device status indicates that the recording paper set in the multifunction device 10 has run out, “no paper”, and the ink in the ink cartridge mounted on the printer unit 11 has run out. It may be "no ink" or the like. Since the method of detecting the state indicated by the device status is already well known, the description thereof will be omitted here. Further, the device status information may not include the job ID or may be set to a value that is not used as the job ID (for example, -1).

Among the above status information, the status information including the status IDs “print interruption” and “paper jam” is an example of the stop status information indicating that the forming operation has stopped. Further, the status information including the status IDs "print restart (2/2)" and "paper jam clearing" is restart status information indicating that the forming operation has been restarted. Further, the stop status information including the status ID "print interruption" and the restart status information including the status ID "print resume (2/2)" are associated with each other. Similarly, the stop status information including the status ID "paper jam" and the restart status information including the status ID "paper jam clear" are associated with each other. Then, the restart status information may further include information for identifying the corresponding stop status information.

Next, the terminal program 65 of the mobile terminal 50 will be described later [! ] It is determined whether or not the designation of the icon 141 is accepted through the operation unit 54 (S48). The process of step S48 will be described later with reference to FIG. 10 (B). Next, the terminal program 65 is [! ] Icon 141 is not displayed on the status screen, or [! ] Icon 141 is not specified (S48: No), and it is determined whether or not the operation status "print end" is displayed on the status screen (S49). Then, the terminal program 65 determines that the operation status "print end" has been displayed (S49: Yes), and after the predetermined display time has elapsed, the terminal program 65 selects a status record including the operation ID "001" from the status list. Delete (S50) and end the print process. The process of step S50 is an example of the deletion process.

On the other hand, the terminal program 65 waits until new status information is received from the server 110 in response to the determination that the operation status "print end" is not displayed (S49: No) (S52). More specifically, the terminal program 65 transmits transmission request information to the server 110 through the communication unit 55. The transmission request information is information for requesting the server 110 to transmit the status information. The transmission request information includes the terminal ID "abc" of the mobile terminal 50.

Next, the terminal program 65 receives the status information from the server 110 through the communication unit 55 as a response to the most recently transmitted transmission request information (S52: Yes). Further, the terminal program 65 retransmits the transmission request information to the server 110 through the communication unit 55 in response to receiving the status information or when a predetermined time has elapsed since the transmission request information was transmitted. .. The process of step S52 is an example of the status reception process.

Next, the terminal program 65 adds a status record indicating the received status information to the status list. Then, the terminal program 65 executes the status determination process (S53). The status determination process is a process of determining the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the mobile terminal 50 among the status information received from the server 110. The process of step S53 is an example of the determination process. Details of the status determination process will be described later. Here, it is assumed that the most recently received status information is determined as the target status information.

Next, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display a status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the status determination process (S47). Then, the terminal program 65 repeatedly executes the processes of steps S47 to S53 until the operation status information including the status ID "print end" is received from the server. That is, the terminal program 65 continues to display the status screen while updating the displayed status until the printing operation according to the print instruction information transmitted to the multifunction device 10 in step S46 is completed.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the operations of the multifunction device 10A, the mobile terminal 50, and the server 110 when the multifunction device 10A executes the printing operation according to the above-mentioned print instruction information will be described. In FIG. 4, the mobile terminal 50 instructs the multifunction device 10A to execute a printing operation for recording an image on each of the two recording sheets, and a paper jam occurs when the image is recorded on the second recording sheet. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow until the paper jam is cleared and the image recording on the 2nd sheet of recording paper is completed normally.

First, as described above, the terminal program 65 of the mobile terminal 50 transmits the print instruction information to the multifunction device 10A through the communication unit 55 in response to the designation of the print icon 127 being received through the operation unit 54 (S11). (S12). The print instruction information in the example of FIG. 4 includes designated data "photograph.JPEG", job ID "001", paper size "L version", and number of copies "2 copies". Further, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the status screen shown in FIG. 9B (S13).

The device program 35 of the multifunction device 10A causes the printer unit 11 to execute a print operation according to the print instruction information in response to receiving the print instruction information from the mobile terminal 50 through the communication unit 25 (S12). First, the printer unit 11 starts a printing operation of recording the image indicated by the designated data "photograph.JPEG" on the first L-size paper (S14). Further, the device program 35 generates operation status information including the status ID “printing (1/2)”, and transmits the generated operation status information to the server 110 through the communication unit 25 (S15). The operation status information includes the device ID "MFP-A" of the multifunction device 10A, the job ID "001" and the terminal ID "abc" included in the print instruction information, the date and time information indicating the date and time when the operation status information was generated, and the date and time information. It further includes the importance information "Info" corresponding to the status ID. The same applies to the operation status information described later.

Next, the server 110 receives the status information from the multifunction device 10A, and stores the received status information in the storage unit. Further, the server 110 determines whether or not the status information including the terminal ID "abc" included in the received transmission request information is stored in the storage unit in response to receiving the transmission request information from the mobile terminal 50. To do. Then, the server 110 transmits the status information to the mobile terminal 50 as a response to the transmission request information in response to the determination that the status information including the terminal ID "abc" is stored (S16).

In addition, the server 110 carries the status information with the oldest date and time indicated by the date and time information among the plurality of status information in response to the determination that a plurality of status information including the same terminal ID is stored. It may be transmitted to the terminal 50. Then, the server 110 returns the status information having the oldest date and time indicated by the date and time information to the transmission request information repeatedly received from the mobile terminal 50, so that the status information stored in the storage unit is arranged in chronological order. Can be transmitted to the mobile terminal 50. Further, the server 110 may return a plurality of status information stored in the storage unit to one transmission request information received from the mobile terminal 50.

Next, the terminal program 65 of the mobile terminal 50 receives the status information from the server 110 through the communication unit 55 as a response to the transmission request information (S16). Then, the terminal program 65 updates the status screen with the operation status "printing (1/2)" indicated by the received status information (S17). That is, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the status screen shown in FIG. 10A instead of the status screen shown in FIG. 9B.

Hereinafter, processing for the operation status information including the status ID "printing (2/2)" (S18 to S21), processing for the operation status information including the status ID "print interruption" (S22 to S25), status ID "print restart" The processing for the operation status information including "(2/2)" (S26 to S29) and the processing for the operation status information including the status ID "print end" (S30 to S33) are executed in the same manner as in steps S14 to S17. .. It is assumed that the mobile terminal 50 according to the first embodiment receives the status information from the server 110 in the order of the status records shown in FIG.

Further, the device program 35 of the multifunction device 10 responds to the occurrence of a paper jam (S22), and in addition to the operation status information including the status ID “print interruption”, the device status information including the status ID “paper jam”. May be generated. Similarly, the device program 35 includes the status ID “paper jam clear” in addition to the operation status information including the status ID “print resume (2/2)” according to the paper jam clearing (S26). Device status information may be generated. Further, the device program 35 receives the print instruction information including the job ID "002" from the mobile terminal 50 through the communication unit 25 before the print operation identified by the job ID "001" is completed. Operation status information including the status ID "waiting" may be generated.

Next, the process when the terminal program 65 cannot receive the status information from the server 110 during steps S14 to S24 of FIG. 4 will be described. When the terminal program 65 cannot receive the status information from the server 110, for example, when the power of the mobile terminal 50 is turned off, when the terminal program 65 is shut down, between the communication unit 55 and the router 102A. It is conceivable that the communication is disconnected, the communication between the router 102A and the Internet 101 is disconnected, and the like. When the communication between the mobile terminal 50 and the server 110 is restored, the server 110 has the status IDs "printing (1/2)", "printing (2/2)", "paper jam", and "printing". It is assumed that status information including "suspended" and "waiting" is accumulated.

First, the terminal program 65 of the mobile terminal 50 transmits transmission request information to the server 110 through the communication unit 55, and receives status information from the server 110 through the communication unit (S52: Yes). However, the terminal program 65 does not execute the status determination process immediately after receiving the status information, but transmits the transmission request information to the server 110 again through the communication unit 55. That is, in step S52 while displaying the status screen, the terminal program 65 executes the status determination process until a predetermined period elapses in a state where the status information can be further received in response to receiving the status information from the server 110. Wait without.

More specifically, the terminal program 65 may transmit the transmission request information again without executing the status determination process in response to receiving the status information within the waiting period after transmitting the transmission request information. On the other hand, the terminal program 65 may execute the status determination process according to the fact that the status information is not received within the waiting period after the transmission request information is transmitted. That is, the above-mentioned predetermined period may be a period that varies depending on the number of status information stored in the server 110. As a result, the terminal program 65 can sequentially receive all the status information receptions stored in the server 110. Note that this process may be executed each time in step S52, or may be executed only in step S52 immediately after the communication with the server 110 is restored.

Next, the details of the status determination process will be described with reference to FIG. The terminal program 65 executes the status determination process for each status information including the same device ID and the same job ID. That is, in the first embodiment, the operation status information including the device ID "MFP-A" and the job ID "001", the operation status information including the device ID "MFP-A" and the job ID "002", and the device ID "MFP". The status determination process is executed individually for each device status information including −A ”.

First, the terminal program 65 determines whether or not a plurality of status information has been received in step S52 (S61). Next, the terminal program 65 determines that it has received a plurality of status information (S61: Yes), and therefore describes the status information including the importance information “Warning” (in FIG. 6, it is referred to as “Warning information”). ), That is, it is determined whether or not the stop status information has been received (S62). Next, the terminal program 65 determines whether or not the status indicated by the stop status information has already been resolved in response to the determination that the stop status information has been received (S62: Yes) (S63).

More specifically, the terminal program 65 determines whether or not the restart status information corresponding to the stop status information has already been received. Then, the terminal program 65 determines that the status indicated by the stop status information has been resolved according to the fact that the restart status information corresponding to the stop status information has already been received (S63: Yes). On the other hand, it is determined that the status indicated by the stop status information has not been resolved according to the fact that the restart status information corresponding to the stop status information has not been received yet (S63: No).

Then, the terminal program 65 determines the status information as the target status information (S64) in response to the determination that the status indicated by the stop status information has not been resolved (S63: No). On the other hand, the terminal program 65 excludes the status information from the candidates for the target status information (S65) in response to the determination that the status indicated by the stop status information has been resolved (S63: Yes), and steps S62 and subsequent steps. Execute the process of. That is, the terminal program 65 determines the status information different from the status information as the target status information according to the determination that the status indicated by the stop status information has been resolved (S63: Yes).

Further, the terminal program 65 determines that the status information including the importance information "Warning" has not been received (S62: No), and the status information including the importance information "Info" (in FIG. 6). Of the "Info information"), the date and time indicated by the date and time information specifies the latest status information (S66). Next, the terminal program 65 determines whether or not the specified status information is within the expiration date (S67). The expiration date may be included in the status information, or may be stored in advance by the terminal program 65 in association with the status ID or importance information.

Then, when the terminal program 65 determines that the status information specified in step S67 is within the expiration date (S67: Yes), the terminal program 65 determines the status information as the target status information (S68). On the other hand, the terminal program 65 excludes the status information from the candidates of the target status information according to the determination that the status information specified in step S67 has passed the expiration date (S67: No) (S67: No). S69), the processes after step S66 are executed again. That is, the terminal program 65 determines the status information different from the status information whose expiration date has passed as the target status information.

Further, the terminal program 65 determines the status information as the target status information in response to the determination in step S52 that only one status information has been received (S61: No). That is, in the status determination process (S53) when only one status information is received in one status reception process (S52), the status information is determined as the target status information.

In the status determination process according to the first embodiment, the operation status information including the device ID “MFP-A”, the job ID “001”, and the status ID “print interruption”, the device ID “MFP-A”, and the job ID “002” are included. , And the operation status information including the status ID “Waiting” and the device status information including the device ID “MFP-A” and the status ID “paper jam” are determined as the target status information. Then, as shown in FIG. 10B, for example, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display a status screen including the status indicated by the target status information (S47).

On the status screen shown in FIG. 10B, the status "paper jam" is displayed in the device status display area 135, the job ID "001", the status "print interruption", and the job ID "" in the operation status display area 136. 002 "and the status" Waiting "are displayed. Further, the terminal program 65 associates one of the plurality of status information with the status "print interruption" of the job ID "001" determined as the target status information, and [! ] Icon 141 is displayed on the status screen. [! ] Icon 141 is an example of a list object corresponding to an instruction for displaying a list of statuses indicated by each of a plurality of status information including the job ID "001".

Then, the terminal program 65 is [! ] In response to the designation of the icon 141 being received through the operation unit 54 (S48: Yes), the status list screen is displayed on the display unit 53 (S51). The status list screen is [! ] This is a screen for displaying a list of statuses indicated by the status information that has become a candidate for the target status information in the latest step S53, among the status information including the job ID corresponding to the icon 141. The process of step S48 is an example of the reception process, and the process of step S51 is an example of the second display process. Also,[! ] The user operation for designating the icon 141 is an example of the designated operation.

FIG. 11A is an example of the status list screen. The status list screen shown in FIG. 11A includes the statuses “printing (1/2)”, “printing (2/2)”, “print interrupted”, and the [back] icon 142. Further, on the status list screen shown in FIG. 11A, the date and time indicated by the date and time information and the importance indicated by the importance information are displayed in association with the status, but the display items are not limited to these. .. Then, the terminal program 65 causes the display unit 53 to display the status screen again in response to the designation of the [return] icon 142 being received through the operation unit 54 (S47).

[Action and effect of embodiment 1]
According to the status determination process according to the first embodiment, among the plurality of status information received in one status reception process, the stopped status information that has already been resolved and the status information whose expiration date has passed are the target status information. Excluded from candidates. Then, if there is stop status information that has not been resolved, the stop status information is determined as the target status information. On the other hand, if there is no status information of the importance information "Warning", the latest status information of the importance information "Info" is determined as the target status information.

In this way, the status information indicating the status useful for the user of the mobile terminal 50 is determined as the target status. Then, among the status information received from the server 110, only the status to be notified to the user of the mobile terminal 50 is selectively displayed on the status screen. That is, the status of the multifunction device 10 can be appropriately notified to the user of the mobile terminal 50. However, the method of determining the target status information in the status determination process is not limited to the example of FIG.

Further, according to the first embodiment, the status indicated by the operation status information and the device status information can be notified individually, and the operation status indicated by the operation status information can be notified for each job ID. As a result, it is possible to appropriately notify the progress status of the forming operation for each job ID and the status of the multifunction device 10 common to a plurality of jobs.

Further, according to the first embodiment, the status determination process is not immediately executed in response to the receipt of one status information in the status reception process. As a result, for example, at the timing when the state of being unable to communicate with the server 110 is switched to the state of being able to communicate, a plurality of status information stored in the server 110 is collectively received, and the mobile phone is selected from the plurality of status information. Only the status useful to the user of the terminal 50 can be notified. That is, it is possible to suppress the troublesomeness that the status screen is updated rapidly.

Further, according to the first embodiment, when the target status information is determined from a plurality of status information, it is associated with the status indicated by the target status information [! ] Icon 141 is included in the status screen. And [! ] Depending on the designation of the icon 141, a list of statuses indicated by each of the plurality of status information candidates for the corresponding target status information is displayed. As a result, the user of the mobile terminal 50 can be made to recognize the process leading to the status displayed on the status screen.

In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which a status record indicating the status information received in step S52 is added to the status list, and the status information indicated by one of the plurality of status lists is determined as the target status information. .. However, the processing timing of steps S52 and S53 is not limited to this. For example, the terminal program 65 may execute the status determination process each time the status information is received in step S52. Then, the terminal program 65 may add only the status record indicating the target status information to the status list among the plurality of status information candidates for the target status information. That is, the status list may be overwritten in the status determination process.

Further, on the device selection screen displayed in step S54, the display mode of the device icons 131 and 132 may be changed based on the device status information included in the status list. For example, the terminal program 65 may determine whether or not there is a status record including a status ID in which the formation operation cannot be executed among the status records including the device IDs of the discovered multifunction devices 10A and 10B. The status ID in which the forming operation cannot be performed refers to, for example, "paper jam", "no paper", "no ink", or the like.

Then, the terminal program 65 may display a device icon in a mode that can be selected through the operation unit 54 in response to the determination that there is no status record including the status ID in which the formation operation cannot be executed. On the other hand, if the terminal program 65 determines that there is a status record including a status ID in which the formation operation cannot be executed, the terminal program 65 displays a device icon in an unselectable (for example, grayed out) mode through the operation unit 54. Good.

Further, the forming operation executed by the terminal program 65 on the multifunction device 10 is not limited to the printing operation, and may be a scanning operation, a fax operation, a copy operation, or the like. The operation status of the scanning operation is, for example, "scanning (xth sheet)" indicating that the xth document is being read, and that the document is jammed in an ADF (abbreviation of Auto Document Feeder) (not shown). There is a "paper jam" etc. shown. Further, the operation status of the FAX operation is, for example, "dialing" indicating that a call is being made to an external device, and "transmitting (xth sheet)" indicating that the xth image data is being transmitted. , "Receiving" indicating that the image data is being received, and the like. The operation status of the copy operation may be the same as the operation status of the scan operation and the print operation, for example.

[Embodiment 2]
The target status is determined in the status determination process not only when the mobile terminal 50 and the server 110 cannot communicate with each other. The operation of the monitor system 100 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7. The detailed description of the common points with the first embodiment will be omitted, and the differences will be mainly described. The process shown in FIG. 7 is executed by the background terminal program 65.

It is assumed that the OS 64 of the mobile terminal 50 executes the terminal program 65 in the background and displays the menu screen on the display unit 53. FIG. 11B is an example of a menu screen. The menu screen shown in FIG. 11B includes a plurality of program icons 151, 152, 153, 154, 155. The program icons 151 to 155 correspond to the programs installed in the mobile terminal 50. For example, the program icon 155 corresponds to the terminal program 65. Then, the OS 64 executes the program corresponding to the program icon in the foreground in response to receiving one designation of the program icons 151 to 155 through the operation unit 54. At this point, it is assumed that the pop-up icon 156 has not been displayed yet.

On the other hand, the terminal program 65 running in the background monitors the reception of status information from the server 110 through the communication unit 55 (S71). That is, the terminal program 65 repeatedly transmits the transmission request information to the server 110 through the communication unit 55 at predetermined time intervals even when the terminal program 65 is executed in the background. Then, the terminal program 65 adds a status record indicating the received status information to the status list in response to receiving the status information from the server 110 through the communication unit 55 (S71: Yes) (S72). The process of step S71 is an example of the status reception process, and the process of step S72 is an example of the first storage process.

Next, the terminal program 65 determines whether or not the status information received in step S71 is generated by the multifunction device 10 executing the forming operation instructed by the mobile terminal 50 (S73). More specifically, the terminal program 65 identifies the device ID included in the status information received in step S71, and determines whether or not the status record including the specified device ID is included in the status list (S73). .. The process of step S73 is an example of the determination process.

Then, the terminal program 65 determines that the status record including the specified device ID is included in the status list (S73: Yes), for example, as shown in FIG. 11B, the pop-up icon. 156 is displayed on the main screen (S74). A message such as "3 new messages from MFP-A" is described in the pop-up icon 156. The pop-up icon 156 is an example of a notification object that notifies that status information has been received. Further, the pop-up icon 156 corresponds to an instruction to display the status screen. The process of step S74 is an example of the third display process.

The pop-up icon 156 may be displayed as a so-called pop-up message in which a message appears upward from the lower end of the display area of the display unit 53, or a message appears downward from the upper end of the display area of the display unit 53. It may be displayed as a so-called head-up message, or it may be displayed as a so-called toast message in which a message appears in the center of the display area of the display unit 53 and the message is automatically hidden after a predetermined time has elapsed. Alternatively, an icon for accepting a user operation indicating that the message has been confirmed may appear together with the message, and may be displayed as a so-called dialog message in which the message is hidden by selecting the icon. These are all examples of pop-up displays.

Next, the terminal program 65 executes the status determination process (S76) in response to the reception of the designation of the pop-up icon 156 through the operation unit 54 (S75: Yes), and displays the status screen on the display unit 53 in the foreground. Display (S77). The user operation for designating the pop-up icon 156 is an example of a display instruction operation for displaying the status screen. The process of step S75 is an example of the reception process. Further, the process of step S76 may be the same as the process of step S53, and the process of step S77 may be the same as the process of step S47. In the status determination process of step S76, the target status information is determined from the status information received from the server 110 while the terminal program 65 is being executed in the background.

Hereinafter, the terminal program 65 executed in the foreground executes the processes after step S48 in FIG. On the other hand, the terminal program 65 determines that the status record including the specified device ID is not included in the status list (S73: No), or after displaying the pop-up icon 156, the predetermined notification time. By the time the elapse has passed, the reception of the status information is monitored again (S71) in response to the fact that the designation of the pop-up icon 156 is not accepted through the operation unit 54 (S75: No).

[Action and effect of embodiment 2]
According to the second embodiment, for example, from among the plurality of status information received while the terminal program 65 is being executed in the background, only the status useful for the user of the mobile terminal 50 can be notified. Further, the reception of the status information is notified by the pop-up icon 156, and the status screen is displayed by the designation of the pop-up icon 156. This facilitates access to the status indicated by the received status information.

Further, in the second embodiment, the pop-up icon 156 is displayed only when the status information generated by the multifunction device 10A executing the forming operation instructed by the mobile terminal 50 is received. That is, for example, even if the device status information including the status ID “no ink” is received from the multifunction device 10B that has not transmitted the formation instruction information, the pop-up icon 156 is not displayed. In this way, by not notifying the user of the mobile terminal 50 of the reception of status information that is less urgent, it is possible to prevent the user from being disturbed.

The processing shown in FIG. 7 is not limited to the case where the terminal program 65 is executed in the background. For example, even when the terminal program 65 executed in the foreground displays a screen other than the status screen such as the data selection screen or the preview screen, the processes shown in FIG. 7 may be executed in parallel. ..

Further, in the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 of each embodiment, various programs stored in the program storage areas 32A and 62A of the storage units 32 and 62 are executed by the CPUs 31 and 61, whereby the control unit of the present invention can be used. An example in which each process to be executed is realized has been explained. However, the configuration of the control unit is not limited to this, and a part or all of the control unit may be realized by hardware such as an integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC (abbreviation of Integrated Circuit)).

Further, the present invention can be realized not only as a multifunction device 10 and a mobile terminal 50, but also as a program for causing the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 to execute a process. Then, the program may be recorded and provided on a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium may include a storage unit mounted on a server that can be connected to the multifunction device 10 and the mobile terminal 50 via a communication network, in addition to a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and the like. Then, the program stored in the storage unit of the server may be distributed via a communication network such as the Internet as information or a signal indicating the program.

10 ... Multifunction device 11 ... Printer unit 12 ... Scanner unit 31, 61 ... CPU
23, 53 ... Display unit 24, 54 ... Operation unit 25, 55 ... Communication unit 32, 62 ... Storage unit 35 ... Device program 50 ... Information processing terminal 65 ... Terminal Program 110 ・ ・ ・ Server

Claims (16)

A monitor program that can be read by an information processing terminal including a communication unit, an operation unit, and a display unit, wherein the communication unit obtains an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming operation and status information. It is connected to the server that receives from the image forming device,
The monitor program
Reception processing that accepts user operations through the operation unit,
In response to receiving the formation instruction operation instructing the execution of the formation operation in the reception process, the formation instruction process for transmitting the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit, and the formation instruction processing.
A status reception process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus that executes the forming operation from the server through the communication unit, and
Of the status information received in the status reception process, a determination process for determining target status information indicating a status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal, and a determination process.
The first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process on the display unit ,
It was performed to the information processing terminal,
The monitor program further
The information processing terminal is made to execute an over-determination process for determining whether the status information received from the server in the status reception process has passed the expiration date.
In the determination process, a monitor program is characterized in that status information different from the status information for which the expiration date is determined to have expired in the excess determination process is determined as the target status information . The monitor program according to claim 1, wherein the status information includes date and time information. The monitoring program, in the determination processing, among a plurality of the status information received by the status reception process, the said status information date date indicated by the date and time information, claim to determine the target status information 2 The monitor program described in. The status information includes importance information indicating the importance of the status.
In the determination process, the monitor program determines the status information having the highest importance indicated by the importance information among the plurality of status information received in the status reception process as the target status information. The monitor program according to any one of items 1 to 3 . The status information is
Stop status information indicating that the formation operation has stopped, and
Includes restart status information indicating that the formation operation has been restarted.
A claim that the monitor program determines the status information different from the stop status information as the target status information when the restart status information corresponding to the stop status information has already been received in the determination process. The monitor program according to any one of 1 to 4 . The monitor program
In response to the reception of the status information in the status reception process while displaying the status screen, the determination process is not executed and waits until a predetermined period elapses in a state where the status information can be further received.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the determination process after the predetermined period has elapsed, one of the plurality of the status information received within the predetermined period is determined as the target status information. Monitor program. The information processing terminal is provided with a storage unit.
The monitor program
In response to the reception of the status information in the status reception process when the status screen is not displayed, the information processing terminal is made to execute the first storage process for storing the status information in the storage unit.
Any of claims 1 to 6 for causing the information processing terminal to execute the determination process for the status information stored in the storage unit in response to receiving the display instruction operation for displaying the status screen in the reception process. The monitor program described in the information processing. The monitor program
In the first display process when one of the plurality of status information is determined as the target status information in the determination process, the status screen further including a list object corresponding to the status list display is displayed on the display unit. Display,
In response to the reception of the designation operation for designating the list object in the reception process, the information processing terminal executes a second display process for displaying a list of the statuses indicated by the plurality of status information on the display unit. The monitor program according to any one of claims 1 to 7. The status information includes operation status information indicating the status of the formation operation.
The operation status information is
The operation identification information that identifies the formation operation and
Includes device identification information that identifies the image forming device that executes the forming operation.
The monitor program according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the monitor program causes the information processing terminal to execute the determination process for each operation status information including the same operation identification information and the same device identification information. .. The status information includes device status information indicating the status of the image forming device.
The device status information includes the device identification information that identifies the image forming device.
The monitor program according to claim 9, wherein the monitor program causes the information processing terminal to execute the determination process for each device status information including the same device identification information. The information processing terminal is provided with a storage unit.
The monitor program
In response to receiving the formation instruction operation in the reception process
The issuance process for issuing the operation identification information and
The second storage process of storing the operation identification information issued in the issuing process and the status record including the device identification information for identifying the image forming device to which the formation instruction information is transmitted is stored in the storage unit. Let the information processing terminal execute
In the formation instruction processing, the formation instruction information including the operation identification information issued in the issuance process is transmitted to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit.
In response to receiving the operation status information indicating the end of the formation operation in the status reception process, the storage unit stores the operation identification information included in the operation status information and the status record including the device identification information. The monitor program according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the information processing terminal executes a deletion process for deleting from. The information processing terminal can execute one of a plurality of programs in the foreground and the other programs in the background in parallel, and in the foreground, a screen depending on the execution of the program is displayed on the display unit. The background is a state in which a screen based on the execution of the program different from the program is displayed on the display unit.
The monitor program running in the background
A determination process for determining whether or not the status record including the device identification information included in the status information is stored in the storage unit in response to the reception of the device status information in the status reception process.
The information processing includes a third display process of displaying a notification object for notifying that the status information has been received in a pop-up display on the display unit in response to the determination in the determination process that the status record is stored. The monitor program according to claim 11, which is executed by a terminal. The monitor program executed in the background processes the determination process and the first display process in the foreground according to the reception process of the designated operation for designating the broadcast object. The monitor program according to claim 12, which is executed by a terminal. A monitor program that can be read by an information processing terminal including a communication unit, an operation unit, and a display unit, wherein the communication unit provides an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming operation and status information. It is connected to the server that receives from the image forming device,
The monitor program
Reception processing that accepts user operations through the operation unit,
In response to receiving the formation instruction operation instructing the execution of the formation operation in the reception process, the formation instruction process for transmitting the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit, and the formation instruction processing.
The information processing terminal is made to execute the status reception process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus for executing the forming operation from the server through the communication unit, and the status information is the status information of the forming operation . The operation status information including the operation status information indicating the status includes the operation identification information for identifying the formation operation.
The program
Among the status information received in the status reception process, the determination process of determining the target status information indicating the status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal for each operation status information including the same operation identification information. ,
The information processing terminal is made to execute the first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process on the display unit.
The monitor program further
In the status reception process, the information processing terminal is made to execute an over-determination process for determining whether the status information received from the server has passed the expiration date.
In the determination process, a monitor program is characterized in that status information different from the status information for which the expiration date is determined to have expired in the excess determination process is determined as the target status information . With the communication department
Operation unit and
Display and
An information processing terminal equipped with a control unit
The communication unit
An image forming device capable of performing an image forming operation,
It is connected to a server that receives status information from the image forming apparatus.
The control unit
Reception processing that accepts user operations through the operation unit,
In response to receiving the formation instruction operation instructing the execution of the formation operation in the reception process, the formation instruction process for transmitting the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation to the image forming apparatus through the communication unit, and the formation instruction processing.
A status reception process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus that executes the forming operation from the server through the communication unit, and
Of the status information received in the status reception process, a determination process for determining target status information indicating a status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal, and a determination process.
The first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process on the display unit is executed.
The information processing terminal further
In the status reception process, an over-judgment process for determining whether the status information received from the server has passed the expiration date is executed.
The information processing terminal is characterized in that, in the determination process, the status information different from the status information for which the expiration date is determined to have passed in the excess determination process is determined as the target status information. .. A monitor system including an information processing terminal and an image forming apparatus.
The information processing terminal is
The image forming apparatus, and the first communication unit connected to the server that receives the status information from the image forming apparatus.
Operation unit and
Display and
Equipped with a first control unit
The image forming apparatus
A forming part that executes a forming operation that forms an image,
The information processing terminal, the second communication unit connected to the server, and
Equipped with a second control unit
The first control unit
Reception processing that accepts user operations through the operation unit,
In response to the reception of the formation instruction operation instructing the execution of the formation operation in the reception process, the formation instruction process for transmitting the formation instruction information for executing the formation operation to the image forming apparatus through the first communication unit. ,
A status reception process of receiving the status information indicating the status of the image forming apparatus that executes the forming operation from the server through the first communication unit, and
Of the status information received in the status reception process, a determination process for determining target status information indicating a status to be notified to the user of the information processing terminal, and a determination process.
The first display process of displaying the status screen including the status indicated by the target status information determined in the determination process on the display unit is executed.
The second control unit
An instruction receiving process for receiving the formation instruction information from the information processing terminal through the second communication unit, and
An operation control process for causing the forming unit to execute the forming operation according to the forming instruction information received in the instruction receiving process.
A status transmission process for transmitting the status information to the server through the second communication unit is executed.
The first control unit further
In the status reception process, an over-judgment process for determining whether the status information received from the server has passed the expiration date is executed.
The monitoring system is characterized in that, in the determination process, status information different from the status information for which the expiration date is determined to have expired in the excess determination process is determined as the target status information .

Images