KR20230062165A - Provision of installation information of peripheral device of image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a processor, a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; and a plurality of connection interfaces to which a plurality of peripheral devices are respectively connected, wherein a processor executes commands to obtain first identification information of a first peripheral device connected to the connection interface and currently installed in the image forming device. Acquire first installation information of the first peripheral device based on the obtained identification information, and obtain second installation information of the second peripheral device that is the same as the first peripheral device and has been installed in the image forming device before the first peripheral device. An image forming apparatus is provided that acquires installation information and displays first installation information of a first peripheral device and second installation information of a second peripheral device.

Description

Provision of installation information of peripheral devices of image forming devices {PROVISION OF INSTALLATION INFORMATION OF PERIPHERAL DEVICE OF IMAGE FORMING DEVICE}

In the image forming apparatus, not only image forming operations such as printing, copying, scanning, faxing, storing, transmitting, and coating, but also various operations are performed. Through various tasks performed by the image forming apparatus, a user may scan a document, and save, copy, and transmit the scanned document. Peripheral devices required for specific tasks may be provided in the image forming apparatus. For example, the image forming apparatus includes a scanner for scanning documents, a finisher for processing outputs, a fax machine for transmitting faxes, a control panel for displaying information for users and interacting with users, It may include peripheral devices such as storage for storing data.

This disclosure may be readily understood in combination with the detailed description that follows and the accompanying drawings, wherein reference numerals denote structural elements.
1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of providing installation information of a peripheral device installed in an image forming apparatus.
2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a user interface for providing installation information of peripheral devices installed in an image forming apparatus.
3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of utilizing installation information and usage information of peripheral devices collected by an image forming apparatus.
4 is a diagram for explaining an operation of providing additional information based on installation information and use information of peripheral devices collected by an image forming apparatus.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of determining additional information to be provided to an image forming apparatus.
6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of acquiring installation information of a peripheral device installed in an image forming apparatus from a server.
7 is a block diagram of an example showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus.
8 is an example diagram for describing instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium.

An image forming apparatus may include various peripheral devices. The user can directly select peripheral devices to be installed in the image forming device according to needs and preferences, and business operators that sell or rent image forming devices select peripheral devices suitable for the user's use environment in consideration of the user's characteristics. can recommend to

Peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus may be replaced with other peripheral devices due to failure or obsolescence or upgraded with new peripheral devices. However, since information on the peripheral device used before replacement is not provided to the user, it is difficult for the user to recognize the effect of the new peripheral device. In addition, when the installation dates of the peripheral devices are different from each other, it may be difficult for the user to calculate the warranty period. In addition, it may be difficult for users to know if there are any peripheral devices that require replacement or maintenance.

The present disclosure provides a processor, a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; and a plurality of connection interfaces to which a plurality of peripheral devices are respectively connected, wherein a processor executes commands to obtain first identification information of a first peripheral device connected to the connection interface and currently installed in the image forming device. Acquire first installation information of the first peripheral device based on the obtained identification information, and obtain second installation information of the second peripheral device that is the same as the first peripheral device and has been installed in the image forming device before the first peripheral device. An image forming apparatus is provided that acquires installation information and displays first installation information of a first peripheral device and second installation information of a second peripheral device.

Accordingly, the user can conveniently check installation information of the replaced peripheral device and installation information of the currently installed peripheral device in the image forming device, and also easily check the usefulness and warranty period of the peripheral device currently installed in the image forming device. In addition, the user can easily check whether there are peripheral devices that require replacement or maintenance.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

Terms including ordinal numbers, such as first and second, may be used to describe various elements, but elements are not limited by the terms. Terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could also be termed a first element, and the first element and The ordinal number in the second element may be omitted.

An "image forming device" may be any type of device capable of performing image forming operations, such as a printer, scanner, fax machine, multi-function printer (MFP) or display device. there is. Also, the image forming apparatus may be a 2D image forming apparatus or a 3D image forming apparatus. The "image forming job performed by the image forming apparatus" may be a job related to printing, copying, scanning, faxing, storing, transmitting, coating, or the like, or may be a combination of two or more of the above jobs.

An image forming device may include peripheral devices. For example, the image forming apparatus includes a scanner for scanning documents, a finisher for processing outputs, a fax machine for transmitting faxes, a control panel for displaying information for users and interacting with users, It may include peripheral devices such as storage for storing data.

1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of providing installation information of a peripheral device installed in an image forming apparatus.

In block 110, identification information of a peripheral device currently installed in the image forming apparatus may be obtained. A peripheral device currently installed in the image forming device is a device currently installed in the image forming device and can be used, and may be referred to as a first peripheral device. The first peripheral device may include a peripheral device newly installed in the image forming device.

The peripheral device may be installed in the image forming device through a connection interface of the image forming device. The connection interface may have its own standard depending on the type of peripheral device connected to the connection interface, for example, a scanner, a finisher, a fax machine, a control panel, a storage, etc., but is not limited thereto. For example, the connection interface may be a connection interface having a universal standard to which various peripheral devices may be connected. When a connection interface has an independent standard according to a peripheral device, all peripheral devices connected to the same connection interface may be determined as peripheral devices of the same type. Whether or not the peripheral devices are of the same type may be determined based on identification information acquired from the nearby devices, and may be determined by a server to which the image forming device is connected.

Peripheral device identification information is information assigned to the peripheral device by the manufacturer to identify the peripheral device, such as the model name of the peripheral device, serial number of the peripheral device, MAC address, etc. can include

In block 120, installation information of a nearby device may be obtained from the image forming device based on the obtained identification information. The installation information of the peripheral device may include identification information of the peripheral device. Installation information of the peripheral device includes the date the peripheral device was first used in the image forming device (born on date), the date the peripheral device was first installed in the current image forming device (installed date), and the connection interface to which the peripheral device is connected. etc. may further include information about. The date when the peripheral device was first used in the image forming apparatus may be the date when the peripheral device was unpacked and first installed in an image forming apparatus. Accordingly, the date on which the peripheral device was first used in the image forming apparatus may be the same as or earlier than the date when the peripheral device is first installed in the current image forming apparatus.

The identification information of the nearby device acquired from the nearby device may be compared with the identification information of the nearby device stored in the memory and storage of the image forming device. If identification information matching the identification information of the peripheral device acquired from the peripheral device exists in the memory or storage, that is, if the peripheral device has already been installed in the image forming device, based on the matching identification information in the memory or storage Installation information of the corresponding peripheral device may be acquired. The installation information obtained from the storage, which is a peripheral device of the image forming apparatus, may be stored in the memory of the image forming apparatus. The identification information of the peripheral device and the installation information of the peripheral device are described as being obtained in blocks 110 and 120, but are not limited thereto. For example, identification information and installation information of a nearby device may be obtained simultaneously.

The peripheral device may support plug and play, and installation information of a peripheral device newly installed in the image forming apparatus may be directly acquired from the corresponding peripheral device. If identification information matching the identification information of the peripheral device acquired from the peripheral device does not exist in the memory, that is, if the peripheral device is newly installed in the image forming device, the installation information of the newly installed peripheral device is stored in the image forming device. can be obtained directly. A peripheral device may directly store the model name, serial number, MAC address of the peripheral device, the date the peripheral device was first used on an image forming device, and the date the peripheral device was installed in another current or previous image forming device. In addition, the image forming device may directly acquire not only identification information but also installation information from the peripheral device.

The peripheral device has firmware that operates in its own CPU inside the peripheral device, and the corresponding firmware may provide an interface for transferring information related to the peripheral device to the image forming device. In this way, from a peripheral device having a separate firmware, the image forming device may obtain necessary information from the peripheral device by calling an interface provided by the corresponding firmware.

General-purpose devices such as storage may be controlled through a device driver of an operating system of a main board of an image forming apparatus. Since the operating system provides a universal interface for obtaining information on general-purpose devices, the image forming apparatus can obtain necessary information from general-purpose devices such as storage by calling the general-purpose interface provided by the operating system of the image forming apparatus. can

Installation information obtained from the peripheral device may be stored in the memory of the image forming device. Installation information of the peripheral devices and data necessary for driving the peripheral devices may be backed up in a memory of the image forming device as well as a peripheral device installed in the image forming device, for example, a storage. Since the memory of the image forming apparatus is directly mounted on the main board of the image forming apparatus, when the main board is replaced, data backed up in the storage can be restored to the memory of the replaced main board.

Installation information of the peripheral device may be acquired from a server to which the image forming device is connected, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 6 .

In block 130, installation information of peripheral devices previously installed in the image forming apparatus may be obtained from the image forming apparatus. A peripheral device installed in the past in the image forming device is a device that is not currently installed in the image forming device and thus cannot be used, and may be referred to as a second peripheral device. Installation information of peripheral devices that have been installed in the image forming apparatus in the past may be obtained along with installation information of peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming apparatus, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 .

Identification information and installation information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming device are both stored in a memory of the image forming device, and identification information of a peripheral device newly installed in the image forming device may be compared with identification information of peripheral devices stored in the memory. there is. As a result of the comparison, if identification information, eg, a serial number, of a peripheral device newly installed through a specific connection interface is different from that of a peripheral device previously installed through the corresponding connection interface, the new peripheral device may be recognized as installed.

In block 140, installation information of the currently installed peripheral device and the peripheral device installed in the past may be displayed on the image forming device. The display of installation information will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .

2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a user interface for providing installation information of peripheral devices installed in an image forming apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 2 , installation information 210 of peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming device and installation history 220 of the peripheral devices may be displayed through the graphic user interface 200 of the image forming device. 2 shows a corresponding image forming apparatus in which a 10.1-inch touch screen and a 180 Images Per Minute (IPM) 200 SH (sheet) scanner are currently installed as peripheral devices. The graphic user interface 200 of the image forming apparatus may be displayed on a control panel installed in the image forming apparatus, that is, a 10.1-inch touch screen.

The installation history 220 of peripheral devices may include installation information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus in the past. 2 shows that an 8-inch touch screen and a 120IPM 100SH scanner were installed in the image forming apparatus in the past. Installation information of peripheral devices previously installed in the image forming apparatus and installation information of peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming apparatus may be sorted according to the neighboring apparatus, or may be sorted in order of the date of installation in the image forming apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 2 , installation information of peripheral devices previously installed in the image forming apparatus and installation information of currently installed peripheral devices may be simultaneously displayed within a single graphic user interface 200 . Accordingly, the user can check the history of installation of peripheral devices in the image forming device at a glance. Based on the date the peripheral devices are installed in the image forming device, the warranty period of each peripheral device is automatically calculated (eg, each peripheral device is warranted for 2 years from each date of installation), and the graphical user interface 200 can be displayed in

The image forming apparatus may print a report including installation information of peripheral devices previously installed in the image forming apparatus and installation information of currently installed peripheral devices. Accordingly, the user can check the history of installation of peripheral devices in the image forming apparatus at a glance through the printed report. Users can flexibly replace or upgrade peripherals according to each peripheral's warranty period. In addition, even if the seller or manufacturer of the image forming device or peripheral device does not separately manage the sales history of the peripheral device, the seller or manufacturer can easily inventory the product through the installation information and usage information of the peripheral device collected through the server. Manage and identify peripheral devices whose warranty period has expired to streamline the manpower structure.

2 shows that installation information 210 and installation history 220 of currently installed peripheral devices are displayed on the image forming apparatus, but they may be displayed through an application or web service accessible from a mobile device or desktop. there is.

The control panel may include a graphic menu for calling the graphic user interface 200, a graphic menu for printing a report including installation information of peripheral devices installed in the past and currently installed in the image forming apparatus, and the like. can

3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of utilizing installation information and usage information of peripheral devices collected by an image forming apparatus.

In block 300 , installation information of peripheral devices may be collected from the image forming apparatus 10 . Installation information of the peripheral devices may be directly collected from peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus 10 or may be collected from a memory of the image forming apparatus 10 . Installation information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus 10 in the past but removed may be collected from a memory of the image forming apparatus 10 .

In block 350, information on the use of nearby devices may be collected from the image forming apparatus 10. The usage information of the nearby device may indicate remaining life information according to use of the nearby device, use history information of the nearby device, and the like. The usage information of the peripheral device may be collected for a predetermined period, eg, from the date the peripheral device is initially installed in the image forming apparatus 10 to the present. The collected installation information and use information of peripheral devices may be stored in a memory or storage of the image forming apparatus 10 .

When there is insufficient space in the memory of the image forming apparatus 10 to store information related to peripheral devices, the image forming apparatus 10 may delete information related to the most recently installed peripheral device to secure storage space. The maximum number of peripheral devices that can be installed in the image forming apparatus 10 and the capacity of the memory of the image forming apparatus 10 may be determined in advance. Accordingly, the number of installation histories to be stored for each peripheral device may also be predetermined based on the maximum number of peripheral devices that may be installed in the image forming device 10 and the capacity of the memory of the image forming device 10 . Information related to the peripheral device may be backed up in a peripheral device installed in the image forming apparatus 10, for example, a storage device. Since the memory of the image forming apparatus 10 is directly mounted on the main board of the image forming apparatus 10, when the main board is replaced, data backed up in the storage can be restored to the memory of the replaced main board.

The remaining life of the peripheral device varies depending on the number of uses or strength of the peripheral device. When a specific peripheral device is used intensively within a short period of time, the remaining life of the peripheral device may rapidly decrease. The image forming apparatus 10 may collect remaining life information of the peripheral devices so that the user can use the peripheral devices for a longer period of time.

The remaining life information of the peripheral devices, for example, the number of pages scanned through the scanner and the maximum number of pages that can be scanned, the number of finished pages performed by the finisher and the maximum number of pages that can be finished finished, the read/write count and maximum read/write of the storage, for example. Information about the number of times, etc. may be included.

The use history of the peripheral device varies according to the user's request. In order to meet the needs of each user and improve productivity of the user, the image forming apparatus 10 may collect use history information of nearby devices.

The usage history of the peripheral device may include, for example, the number of pages scanned per day, the number of fax pages transmitted per day, the number of booklets printed, the number of printed copies of a predetermined number or more, the number of OCR (optical character recognition) performed, It may include information about the remaining capacity of the storage, the size of printed/scanned documents stored in the storage, and the like.

In block 360 , installation information and usage information of nearby devices collected by the image forming apparatus 10 may be transmitted to the server 20 . Installation information and usage information of peripheral devices are transmitted from the image forming device 10 to the server 20 when the server 20 to which the image forming device 10 is connected requests the image forming device 10 through a web service or the like. can be transmitted A web service protocol used between the image forming apparatus 10 and the server 20 may be implemented through a Representational State Transfer (REST)ful API, a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API, or the like, but is not limited thereto. The installation information and usage information of the nearby devices may be periodically transmitted When the image forming apparatus 10 receives a request for installation information and usage information of the nearby devices from the server 20, the image forming apparatus 10 may retrieve data stored in a memory or storage and deliver the data to the server 20. The server 20 may store the transmitted installation information and usage information of the peripheral device.

In block 370, the transmitted installation information and usage information of the peripheral device may be analyzed by the server 20. An operation in which the server 20 analyzes installation information and usage information of a nearby device will be described later with reference to FIG. 5 .

In block 380, additional information according to the analysis result of the server 20 may be provided to the image forming apparatus 10. As a result of the server 20's analysis of the installation information and usage information of the surrounding devices, usage patterns and installation patterns of the nearby devices of users may be identified. Additional information may be provided to the image forming apparatus 10 from the server 20 through a web service. Additional information provided to the image forming apparatus 10 may be stored in a memory of the image forming apparatus 10 or a storage installed as a peripheral device in the image forming apparatus 10 . Additional information provided to the image forming apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 .

4 is a diagram for explaining an operation of providing additional information based on installation information and use information of peripheral devices collected by an image forming apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the graphic user interface 400 of the image forming apparatus may display installation information 410 of peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming apparatus and installation history 420 of the peripheral devices. The graphic user interface 400 of the image forming device may further display additional information 430 about the peripheral device. Installation information 410 of the currently installed peripheral device, installation history 420 of the peripheral device, and additional information 430 on the peripheral device may be implemented to be scrolled.

4 shows that additional information 430 about the scanner is displayed. The additional information 430 provided to the image forming apparatus through the graphic user interface 400 of the image forming apparatus may be determined based on installation information and usage information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus, but is not limited thereto. . The additional information 430 provided to the image forming apparatus may be determined further based on installation information and usage information of peripheral devices installed in other image forming apparatuses.

An operation of determining additional information based on installation information and usage information of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 5 .

5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of determining additional information to be provided to an image forming apparatus.

The operations shown in FIG. 5 may be performed at block 370 of FIG. 3 .

In block 571, the server may analyze installation information and usage information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus. The server may determine information to be added to the additional information through the following operations. The usage information of the nearby device may indicate remaining life information according to use of the nearby device, use history information of the nearby device, and the like.

In block 572, the server may determine whether there is a peripheral device that satisfies a predetermined use condition among peripheral devices installed in the corresponding image forming device. For example, the server may determine whether there is a peripheral device that satisfies the conditions of Table 1 among the peripheral devices installed in the corresponding image forming device. Table 1 is merely an example of conditions for using the peripheral device, and the condition for using may be composed of various variables.

peripheral condition tip information scanner Number of pages scanned > 0.95 * maximum number of scannable pages How to scan efficiently finisher Number of pages to be finished >0.95 * Maximum number of pages that can be finished plain print storage Read/write counts > 0.9 * maximum read/write counts Reduce print document resolution

If there is a peripheral device that satisfies the predetermined usage condition, in block 573, the server may search for tip information meeting the predetermined usage condition and add it to the additional information. The tip information may include information about a method of taking action against an error that may occur in a peripheral device. The tip information may include information on a preliminary action method in preparation for an error that may occur in a peripheral device. For example, if the number of pages scanned by the scanner reaches 95% of the maximum scannable number of pages, the remaining life of the scanner is about to run out, suggesting replacement or upgrade of the scanner, or an efficient scanning method, such as , tip information suggesting how to save the number of scanned pages by listing two sides of A4 paper and scanning them to A3 paper may be provided to the user. Tip information may be provided to the user, suggesting general printing without finishing so that the user can use the finisher and the storage for a longer period of time, or lowering the resolution of the printed document so that the number of reading/writing of the storage is reduced. The user's image forming device is provided with tip information corresponding to the use condition satisfied by the corresponding peripheral device, so that the user can use the peripheral device for a longer period of time.

In block 574, the server may determine whether the image forming device has recommended peripheral devices for new installation or replacement. A recommended peripheral device may be determined based on a usage history of the peripheral device. For example, the server may determine whether there is a peripheral device that satisfies the conditions of Table 2 among the peripheral devices installed in the corresponding image forming device. For example, if there is a peripheral device that the user uses more or more frequently, the server may recommend a higher version or a newer version of the peripheral device to the user, that is, the user's image forming device. Table 2 is merely an example of conditions for using the peripheral device, and the condition for use may be composed of various variables. A recommended peripheral device may be determined based on installation information of the peripheral device. The server analyzes installation information and usage information collected from a plurality of image forming devices, that is, determines installation patterns and usage patterns of users' peripheral devices to be used together with the peripheral devices currently installed in the user's image forming device. At this time, a peripheral device exhibiting higher productivity may be determined, and the determined peripheral device may be recommended to a corresponding image forming device.

peripheral condition Recommended information storage Remaining capacity < 15% SSD or HDD with larger capacity Size of saved printed/scanned documents >
(0.5 * user document storage size) SSD or HDD with larger capacity finisher Number of booklets printed > 50 Booklet foldable finisher Number of copies of 10 or more prints > 100 Finisher with offset or staple function image
accelerator Number of OCR runs > 100 Performance improvement through image accelerator mounting scanner Pages scanned per day > 300 pages high end scanner

If there are recommended nearby devices, at block 575, the server may retrieve information about the recommended nearby devices and add them to the additional information. The user's productivity may be improved by providing the user's image forming device with information about a recommended peripheral device that meets the use condition satisfied by the corresponding peripheral device, that is, recommended information. The recommendation information includes a link to a place where the recommended peripheral device is purchased, and when the corresponding link is selected in the image forming device, the purchase of the recommended peripheral device may proceed. Additional information, for example, recommendation information, may be provided through an application or web service accessible from the user's mobile device or desktop as well as the user's image forming device, and the user can view recommended peripheral devices through the mobile device or desktop. The purchase may proceed. In block 576, the server may determine whether there is a newly released image forming apparatus. If there is a newly released image forming device, in block 577, the server may add information about the newly released image forming device to the additional information.

At block 578, the server may complete the analysis of installation information and usage information of the peripheral device. Accordingly, additional information to be transmitted to the user's image forming apparatus may be determined.

A user may use graphics including installation information of peripheral devices previously installed in the image forming device, installation information of currently installed peripheral devices, and additional information such as tip information, peripheral device recommendation information, new image forming device recommendation information, and the like. Through a user interface or a printed report including the corresponding information, an installation history of peripheral devices installed in one's own image forming device, tip information required for the current image forming device, and recommended peripheral devices can be known at a glance.

Since the installation information and usage information of the peripheral devices are managed by the server, the warranty period of the peripheral device is guaranteed based on the date the peripheral device is installed in the image forming device, even if the seller or manufacturer of the peripheral device does not separately manage the sales history of the peripheral device. It can be easily managed and can respond to user needs.

The server may further add marketing information or event information related to the image forming device to the additional information by analyzing the collected installation information and usage information of the nearby devices.

By analyzing the installation information and usage information of the collected peripheral devices, the administrator of the server can figure out which individual peripheral devices or combinations of peripheral devices the users prefer, and implement business strategy, e.g., new product planning, It can be used for inventory management, production and supply planning, etc. Furthermore, the server may further refer to a history of service phone calls generated for each additional device. In this way, the manager of the server may investigate which peripheral devices users experience inconvenience and a correlation between a combination of specific peripheral devices and whether or not a problem occurs.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of acquiring installation information of a peripheral device installed in an image forming apparatus from a server.

Since block 600 is substantially the same as block 300 of FIG. 3 , redundant description will be omitted.

In block 610, identification information of a peripheral device newly installed in the image forming apparatus 10 may be acquired. When a peripheral device is newly installed in the image forming apparatus 10 and the peripheral device supports plug and play, identification information of the peripheral device may be obtained from the image forming apparatus 10 . If the corresponding peripheral device directly stores installation information, installation information may also be acquired from the corresponding peripheral device.

If the corresponding peripheral device does not directly store installation information or if more detailed installation information on the corresponding peripheral device is required, identification information of the corresponding peripheral device is sent to the server 20 in block 620 to obtain necessary information from the server 20. (20).

In block 622 , installation information of the peripheral device corresponding to the transmitted identification information may be identified in the server 20 . The server 20 may store installation information of peripheral devices collected through the method described above in FIG. 3 and may identify installation information corresponding to the identification information transmitted from the image forming apparatus from the stored installation information.

In block 624, the identified installation information may be transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10.

In block 640 , installation information collected by the image forming apparatus 10 may be displayed on the image forming apparatus 10 .

When the peripheral device is first opened and installed in the image forming device 10, the server 20 sets the date when the peripheral device was first opened and installed in the image forming device 10 as the first time the peripheral device was used. It can be recorded and saved by date.

If the peripheral device has been opened for the first time and installed in another image forming device, the server 20 may record and store the date the peripheral device was first used as the date the device was installed in the other image forming device. That is, the server 20 may transmit, to the image forming device 10 , installation information including a date when a corresponding peripheral device is installed in another image forming device in response to the identification information transmitted from the image forming device 10 .

In this way, the user can safely purchase a used peripheral device, and the seller or manufacturer of the peripheral device can easily extend the warranty period of the peripheral device based on the date the peripheral device is installed in the image forming device, even if the sales history of the peripheral device is not separately managed. Managed properly, it can promote sales of used peripheral devices.

7 is a block diagram of an example showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 7 , an image forming device 700 may include a communication device 710 , a user interface device 720 , a memory 730 and a processor 740 . However, the illustrated components are not essential components. The image forming apparatus 700 may be implemented with more components than those illustrated, or the image forming apparatus 700 may be implemented with fewer components. The image forming apparatus 700 may include various peripheral devices.

The communication device 710 may communicate with an external device. Specifically, the communication unit 1010 may communicate with an external device by being connected to a network by wire or wirelessly. Here, the external device may be another image forming device, a mobile device, or a server.

The communication device 710 may include a communication module supporting one of various wired/wireless communication methods. For example, the communication module may be in the form of a chipset, or may be a sticker/barcode (e.g. a sticker including an NFC tag) including information necessary for communication. Also, the communication module may be a short-distance communication module or a wired communication module.

For example, the communication device 710 may include wireless LAN, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct (WFD), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wired Lan, NFC ( Near Field Communication), Zigbee Infrared Data Association (IrDA), at least one of 3G, 4G, and 5G may be supported.

The user interface device 720 includes an input unit for receiving an input for controlling the operation of the image forming device 700 from a user and a result of the operation of the image forming device 700 or a state of the image forming device 700 . It may include an output unit for displaying information of. For example, the user interface device 720 may include a manipulation panel for receiving a user input and a display panel for displaying a screen.

Specifically, the input unit may include, for example, devices capable of receiving various types of user inputs, such as a keyboard, a physical button, a touch screen, a camera, or a microphone. Also, the output unit may include, for example, a display panel or a speaker. However, the user interface device 720 is not limited thereto and may include a device supporting various input/output.

Memory 730 may store software or programs. For example, the memory 730 of the image forming apparatus 700 may include storage, which is a peripheral device installed in the image forming apparatus 700, but is not limited thereto. For example, the memory 730 of the image forming apparatus 700 may be distinguished from storage, which is a peripheral device. For example, the memory 730 of the image forming apparatus 700 may be a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory mounted on a main board of the image forming apparatus 700, and the storage has a larger capacity than the flash memory. The branch may be an external storage such as an embedded multi media card (eMMC), a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SDD).

The memory 730 acquires identification information and installation information of the peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus 700, and displays installation information of the peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming device 700 and the peripheral devices installed in the past. You can save commands for . The memory 730 may store instructions for performing various operations described in FIGS. 1 to 6 . Since other functions of each command are substantially the same as those described above, redundant descriptions are omitted.

The memory 730 may be a flash memory type, but is not limited thereto. For example, the memory 730 may be a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (eg SD or XD memory, etc.), RAM (RAM, Random At least one of SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic memory, magnetic disk, and optical disk It may include one type of storage medium.

The processor 740 controls overall operations of the image forming apparatus 700 and may include at least one processor such as a CPU. The processor 740 may include at least one processor specialized for each function or may be an integrated processor.

The processor 740 may execute programs stored in the memory 730, read data or files stored in the memory 730, or store new data or files in the memory 730. The processor 740 may perform various operations described in this disclosure by executing instructions or programs stored in the memory 730, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

8 is an example diagram for describing instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium.

As shown in FIG. 8 , the computer readable storage medium 800 includes instructions 810 for obtaining identification information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus and installation information of peripheral devices installed in the image forming apparatus. Commands 820 and commands 830 for displaying installation information of peripheral devices currently installed in the image forming apparatus and peripheral devices installed in the past may be stored, but are not limited thereto. The computer readable storage medium 800 may store more or less commands than the commands shown in FIG. 8 . The computer readable storage medium 800 may store instructions for performing various operations described in FIGS. 1 to 6 . Since other functions of each command are substantially the same as those described above, redundant descriptions are omitted.

Meanwhile, the method of operating the image forming apparatus described above may be implemented in the form of a computer readable storage medium storing instructions or data executable by a computer or processor. It can be written as a program that can be executed on a computer, and can be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that operates such a program using a computer-readable storage medium. Such computer-readable storage media include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), flash memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD+Rs, CD-RWs, CD+RWs, DVD-ROMs , DVD-Rs, DVD+Rs, DVD-RWs, DVD+RWs, DVD-RAMs, BD-ROMs, BD-Rs, BD-R LTHs, BD-REs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, magneto-optical data storage devices, An optical data storage device, hard disk, solid-state disk (SSD), and may store instructions or software, related data, data files, and data structures, and may cause the processor or computer to execute instructions or It may be any device capable of providing software, related data, data files, and data structures.

Claims (15)

processor;
a memory storing instructions executable by the processor; and
An image forming apparatus including a plurality of connection interfaces to which a plurality of peripheral devices are respectively connected,
The processor, by executing the instructions:
Acquiring first identification information of a first peripheral device connected to a connection interface and currently installed in the image forming apparatus;
obtaining first installation information of the first peripheral device based on the obtained identification information;
obtain second installation information of a second peripheral device of the same type as the first peripheral device and installed in the image forming apparatus before the first peripheral device;
and displays the first installation information of the first peripheral device and the second installation information of the second peripheral device. According to claim 1,
wherein the first installation information and the second installation information are simultaneously displayed within one graphical user interface. According to claim 1,
wherein the processor prints a report including the first installation information and the second installation information by executing the commands. According to claim 1,
wherein the first installation information and the second installation information include a first installation date and a second installation date at which the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device were installed in the image forming device, respectively. According to claim 4,
wherein the processor displays a warranty period of the first peripheral device, starting from the first installation date, by executing the instructions. According to claim 5,
Warranty periods of first peripheral devices connected to the plurality of interfaces and currently installed in the image forming device start from first installation dates of the first peripheral devices, respectively. According to claim 1,
wherein the first installation information and the second installation information include a first first use date and a second first use date when the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device were first used, respectively. According to claim 1,
wherein the first installation information and the second installation information are recorded in the memory and a server to which the image forming apparatus is connected. According to claim 1,
The processor, by executing the instructions:
and displaying recommendation information recommending a peripheral device that can replace the first peripheral device based on at least one of a use pattern of the image forming device and an installation pattern of peripheral devices. According to claim 1,
The processor, by executing the instructions:
and displaying tip information applied to the first peripheral device based on at least one of a use pattern of the image forming device and an installation pattern of a peripheral device. According to claim 10,
The tip information includes a method of taking action for an error that may occur in the first peripheral device. According to claim 1,
wherein the second peripheral device has been installed in the image forming device via the connection interface to which the first peripheral device is currently connected. According to claim 1,
wherein the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device are identified as the same type by a server to which the image forming device is connected. When executed, it causes the processor to:
Acquire first identification information of a first peripheral device connected to the connection interface and currently installed in the image forming apparatus;
obtaining first installation information of the first peripheral device based on the obtained identification information;
obtain second installation information of a second peripheral device of the same type as the first peripheral device and installed in the image forming apparatus before the first peripheral device;
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions for displaying the first installation information of the first peripheral device and the second installation information of the second peripheral device. receiving installation information about a peripheral device installed in the plurality of image forming devices from the plurality of image forming devices;
receiving first identification information of a first peripheral device installed in the image forming device from the image forming device;
retrieving first installation information of the first peripheral device corresponding to the first identification information from the installation information;
transmitting the first installation information to the image forming apparatus; and
Providing, based on the installation information, at least one of recommendation information for recommending a peripheral device that can replace the first peripheral device or tip information applied to the first peripheral device to the image forming device. , method.

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