Image forming apparatus and image forming system

Abstract

To transmit setting values of functions of an image forming apparatus to another image forming apparatus and easily apply the setting values to the other image forming apparatus.SOLUTION: In an image forming system Sy, image forming apparatuses 10 are classified and set as the image forming apparatus 10 as one master unit and the image forming apparatus 10 as at least one slave unit. A control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit transmits the setting values of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit to the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit through a short-range communication unit 24. In the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit, when the setting values of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit are received in the short-range communication unit 24, the control unit 31 sets the setting values to the image forming apparatuses 10 as the slave unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for sharing set values among a plurality of image forming apparatus tubes.

Background Art

[0002] An image forming apparatus reads an image of a document and forms the image of the document on a recording sheet. It has many functions and it is necessary to set set values for these functions. Examples of the set values of each function include the type of language displayed on a GUI (Graphical User Interface), an address book, users permitted to log in, and various settings related to image formation or communication. For a user, it is troublesome to perform operations to set the set values of many functions one by one for a plurality of image forming apparatuses.

[0003] For this reason, in an image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses that perform data communication with each other, it has been proposed to transmit and apply the set value of each function of any one image forming apparatus to another image forming apparatus.

[0004] On the other hand, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 describe methods of data communication between terminals. In the device-to-device synchronization described in Patent Document 1, wireless terminals autonomously form a network by a D2D (Device-to-Device) communication method.

[0005] Also, in the network system described in Patent Document 2, a spanning tree (STP: Spanning Tree) system that operates in a network connecting a plurality of nodes constitutes a tree-like link such that logically there is no loop even when there is a physically loop-shaped ring in the network, preventing data from circulating forever.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

[0007] In an image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses as described above, if the setting values of each function of any one of the image forming apparatuses are transmitted to and received by another image forming apparatus and applied, the setting operation of the setting values of each function by the user can be simplified.

[0008] However, although Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe well-known D2D and spanning tree (STP), there is no technical disclosure for transmitting the setting values of each function of any one of such image forming apparatuses to another image forming apparatus.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable the setting values of each function of an image forming apparatus to be transmitted to another image forming apparatus and easily applied. [Means for Solving the Problems]

[0010] An image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that mutually performs data communication with other apparatuses, and includes a communication unit that performs mutual communication with other apparatuses, and a control unit that controls the communication unit. The control unit sets the image forming apparatus as a master apparatus and the other apparatus as a slave apparatus, and transmits the setting values of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus to the other apparatus as the slave apparatus through the communication unit, and sets the setting values in the other apparatus as the slave apparatus.

[0011] An image forming system according to one aspect of the present invention is an image forming system comprising a plurality of image forming devices which communicate data with each other, each of which comprises a communication unit which communicates between the image forming devices and a control unit which controls the communication unit and divides each of the image forming devices into one parent image forming device and at least one child image forming device, the control unit of the parent image forming device transmits the setting values of the parent image forming device to the child image forming device via the communication unit, and when the communication unit receives the setting values transmitted from the parent image forming device, the control unit sets the setting values in the child image forming device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present invention, the setting values of the functions of an image forming apparatus can be transmitted to another image forming apparatus and easily applied to the other image forming apparatus. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention and an image forming apparatus in the system; [Figure 2] 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which setting values of each function of an image forming apparatus serving as a parent apparatus are transmitted and received to a plurality of image forming apparatuses serving as child apparatuses. [Figure 3] 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of a state in which setting values of each function of an image forming apparatus serving as a parent apparatus are transmitted and received to a plurality of image forming apparatuses serving as child apparatuses. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for dividing and setting a plurality of image forming apparatuses into one image forming apparatus as a parent apparatus and at least one image forming apparatus as a child apparatus. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a synchronous operation setting screen displayed on a display unit of an image forming apparatus serving as a parent machine. [Figure 6]It is a diagram showing a list of identification information of image forming apparatuses as child apparatuses displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 7] It is a diagram showing that communication is in progress between the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus and the image forming apparatus as the child apparatus displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 8] It is a diagram showing a time limit setting screen displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 9] It is a diagram showing a display lock setting screen displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 10] It is a diagram showing a schedule setting screen displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 11] It is a flowchart showing a control procedure for a synchronization operation to set the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus in the image forming apparatus as the child apparatus. [Figure 12] It is a flowchart showing a control procedure following FIG. 11. [Figure 13] It is a diagram showing a screen during synchronization operation displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. [Figure 14] It is a diagram showing a dialog box for notifying the success rate (number) of the image forming apparatuses as child apparatuses in which the setting of the setting values of each function displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus has been successful. [Figure 15] It is a diagram showing a dialog box for instructing restart of the image forming apparatus as the child apparatus displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the child apparatus. [Figure 16] It is a diagram showing a dialog box for notifying that the setting of the setting values of each function displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus has failed. [Figure 17] It is a diagram showing a dialog box for notifying interruption of the synchronization operation displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus as the child apparatus.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention and an image forming apparatus in the system. In the image forming system Sy of the present embodiment, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 perform data communication with each other through a short-distance communication network.

[0015] Each of the image forming apparatuses 10 includes a display unit 21, a touch panel 22, an operation unit 23, a short-distance communication unit (NFC communication unit) 24, an image reading unit 26, an image forming unit 27, a storage unit 28, and a control unit 29. These components can transmit and receive data or signals to and from each other through a bus.

[0016] The display unit 21 is composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic EL (OLED), etc.

[0017] The touch panel 22 is arranged on the screen of the display unit 21. The touch panel 22 is a touch panel such as a so-called resistive film method or a capacitance method. It detects a contact (touch) of a user's finger or the like on the touch panel 22 together with the contact position, and outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinates of the contact position to a control unit 31 (described later) of the control unit 29. The touch panel 22 functions as a part of the operation unit 23.

[0018] The operation unit 23 includes physical keys such as a numeric keypad and a start key. The operation unit 23 receives various instructions from the user according to the operations described above.

[0019] The short-range communication unit 24 performs wireless communication over a short distance based on a near-field communication method, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) (Bluetooth: a registered trademark). Alternatively, the communication method of the communication unit 24 for short-range communication may be Wi-Fi (registered trademark) Direct or a method conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0020] The image reading unit 26 has a scanner that optically reads an original placed on the contact glass, and generates image data that represents an image of the original.

[0021] The image forming unit 27 includes a photosensitive drum, a charging device that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure device that exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum to light to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, a developing device that develops the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image, and a transfer device that transfers the toner image (image) on the surface of the photosensitive drum to recording paper as a recording medium, and prints an image represented by the image data generated by the image reading unit 26 on the recording paper.

[0022] The storage unit 28 is a large-capacity storage device such as an SDD (Solid State Drive) or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores various application programs, various information, and the like.

[0023] The control unit 29 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU, an ASIC, etc., and one or more processors are provided. The control unit 29 functions as a control unit 31 when a control program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 28 is executed by the processor.

[0024] The control unit 31 is responsible for overall operational control of the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 29 is connected to the display unit 21, touch panel 22, operation unit 23, short-range communication unit 24, image reading unit 26, image forming unit 27, and storage unit 28. The control unit 31 controls the operations of these components and transmits and receives signals or data to and from each of the components.

[0025] The control unit 31 serves as a processing unit that executes processes according to the operations of the touch panel 22 and the operation unit 23, controls the display operation of the display unit 21, and controls the communication operation of the short-range communication unit 24.

[0026] In the image forming system Sy of this embodiment, the multiple image forming apparatuses 10 are divided into one image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus and at least one image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus. The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus transmits the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus to the image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus via the short-range communication unit 24. When the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus are received via the short-range communication unit 24, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus sets the setting values of each function in the image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus.

[0027] The setting values for each function include, for example, the type of language displayed as a GUI on the display unit 21, an address book, users permitted to log in, and various settings related to image formation or communication.

[0028] 2 and 3, the setting values of each function of an image forming apparatus 10 acting as a parent apparatus are transmitted to a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 acting as child apparatuses, and the setting values of each function are received and set by each of the image forming apparatuses 10 acting as child apparatuses. An image forming apparatus 10 acting as a child apparatus can also be set as a parent apparatus. In this case, the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 acting as a parent apparatus are transmitted to an image forming apparatus 10 that is desired to act as a child apparatus (a candidate child apparatus) for the image forming apparatus 10, and the setting values of each function are received and set by the image forming apparatus 10 that is desired to act as a child apparatus for the image forming apparatus 10. The transmission and reception of the setting values is performed by the control unit 31 and the short-range communication unit 24 of each image forming apparatus 10.

[0029] Hereinafter, the operation of transmitting the setting values of each function of the image forming device 10 as a parent device from the image forming device 10 as a parent device to the image forming device 10 as a child device, and receiving and setting them at the image forming device 10 as a child device will be referred to as a synchronous operation.

[0030] Next, a control procedure for dividing and setting up multiple image forming devices 10 into one image forming device 10 as a parent device and at least one or more image forming devices 10 as child devices will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0031] The user selects any image forming apparatus 10 as the parent image forming apparatus and, for example, touches the GUI displayed on the display unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 10 to be set as the parent image forming apparatus, inputting a setting instruction for the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent image forming apparatus into the operation unit 23. The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 sets the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent image forming apparatus in accordance with the setting instruction. Furthermore, when the user inputs a setting instruction for the synchronous operation mode into the operation unit 23, the control unit 31 sets the synchronous operation mode in accordance with the setting instruction (S101), and causes the display unit 21 to display a synchronous operation setting screen G1 such as the one shown in FIG. 5 (S102).

[0032] The synchronous operation setting screen G1 displays a key K11 for instructing the setting of the image forming device 10 as a slave unit, a key K12 for instructing the setting of a time limit, a key K13 for instructing the setting of a display screen lock, a key K14 for instructing the setting of a schedule, and a key K15 for instructing the start of synchronous operation.

[0033] When the user touches the key K11, a setting instruction for the other image forming apparatus 10 as a slave unit is received by the operation unit 23. In accordance with the setting instruction, the control unit 31 causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit a request for transmission of the identification information of the other image forming apparatus 10 to the other image forming apparatus 10 connected to the network (S103).

[0034] In the other image forming device 10, when the above-mentioned transmission request is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S201), the control unit 31 causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit the name, IP address, etc. of the other image forming device 10 to the image forming device 10 as the parent device (S202).

[0035] When the image forming device 10 acting as the parent device receives the names, IP addresses, etc. of the other image forming devices 10 via the short-range communication unit 24 (S104), the control unit 31 of the image forming device 10 acting as the parent device displays a list IR of the names, IP addresses, etc. of all the other image forming devices 10 acting as the child devices on the screen of the display unit 21 (S105), as shown in the example of FIG. 6.

[0036] The user touches the display portion of one or more image forming apparatuses 10 that the user wishes to set as slave units on the list IR displayed on the screen of the display unit 21. By this touch operation, a selection instruction for selecting the image forming apparatus 10 displayed in the touched portion as a slave unit is received by the operation unit 23 (S106). The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit a confirmation request as to whether the image forming apparatus 10 indicated by the selection instruction is equipped with firmware (such as an application program) for synchronous operation with the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit (S107). As shown in the example of FIG. 7, the control unit 31 of the master unit causes the screen of the display unit 21 of the master unit to display that communication is in progress with each of the image forming apparatuses 10 acting as slave units (S108).

[0037] In the image forming apparatus 10 selected as each slave unit in S106, when the short-range communication unit 24 receives a confirmation request for the firmware for synchronous operation with the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit (S203), the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 to be each slave unit determines whether it is equipped with the firmware (S204). When the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 to be each slave unit is equipped with the firmware (S204 “Yes”), it determines whether to permit synchronous operation with the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit (S205). When the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 to be each slave unit permits synchronous operation (S205 “Yes”), it causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit a password transmission request to the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit (S207). As a result, a password transmission request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 acting as the master unit for each image forming apparatus 10 for which synchronous operation is permitted as a slave unit.

[0038] The determination as to whether to permit synchronous operation in S205 is made by the control unit 31 based on permission or non-permission information stored in advance in the control unit 31, or a permission or non-permission instruction input by the user to the operation unit 23.

[0039] In the image forming apparatus 10 functioning as the parent machine, a request to send a password is received by the short-range communication unit 24 from each image forming apparatus 10 that is to be a child machine and that is permitted to operate synchronously in S205 (S109). Every time a request to send a password is received from an image forming apparatus 10 that is to be a child machine, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 functioning as the parent machine causes the display unit 21 to display a password input screen (S110). When a preset password is input by the user on the input screen, the control unit 31 causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit the password to the corresponding image forming apparatus 10 that is to be a child machine (S111).

[0040] In each image forming device 10 that is to be a slave device and that sent a password transmission request in S207, when the password is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S208), the control unit 31 determines whether the received password is true or false (S209). If the password is determined to be true (S209 "true"), the control unit 31 permits pairing as a slave device to the image forming device 10 as a master device (S210), and causes the short-range communication unit 24 to transmit a pairing permission notification to the image forming device 10 as a master device (S211).

[0041] In the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent apparatus, the short-range communication unit 24 receives a pairing permission notification for each image forming apparatus 10 that is permitted to be paired with the child apparatus in S210 (S112). The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent apparatus determines each image forming apparatus 10 that is permitted to be paired with the child apparatus, that is, each image forming apparatus 10 that is permitted to be paired with the child apparatus and that is the target to which the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent apparatus will transmit setting values for each function (S113).

[0042] Also, when the control unit 31 of each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit selected in S106 does not have the firmware for synchronous operation with the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit (S204 “No”), or when the synchronous operation with the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit is not permitted (S205 “No”), the pairing of the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit with the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit is prohibited (S212), and a pairing prohibition notice is transmitted from the short-range communication unit 24 to the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit (S213).

[0043] Also, when the control unit 31 of each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit that transmitted a password transmission request in S207 determines that the password is false (S209 “false”), the pairing of the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit with the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit is prohibited (S212), and a pairing prohibition notice is transmitted from the short-range communication unit 24 to the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit (S213).

[0044] In the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit, for each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit whose pairing is prohibited in S212, a pairing prohibition notice is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S112). The control unit 31 determines the image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit whose pairing is prohibited, that is, the image forming apparatus 10 that is not the target for receiving the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit (S113).

[0045] The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit sets each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit whose pairing is permitted as a slave unit with respect to the own apparatus (S114). Further, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master unit displays a list of each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit whose pairing is permitted and each image forming apparatus 10 to be a slave unit whose pairing is prohibited on the screen of the display unit 21.

[0046] In this way, the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus and the image forming apparatuses 10 to be each desired child apparatus are set as shown in Figures 2 and 3. When the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus further sets itself as a parent apparatus and sets other image forming apparatuses as child apparatuses to the image forming apparatus 10, the control unit 31 similarly performs the control procedure shown in Figure 4 between the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus and each image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus to set the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent apparatus and set the image forming apparatus 10 as a child apparatus to the image forming apparatus 10.

[0047] On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the parent machine, when the user touches the key K12 on the display unit 21 to instruct setting of a time limit on the synchronization operation setting screen G1 shown in Fig. 5, the instruction to set the time limit is received by the operation unit 23. In accordance with the instruction to set the time limit, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the parent machine causes the display unit 21 to display the time limit setting screen G2 as shown in Fig. 8.

[0048] The time limit setting screen G2 displays a display field DR11 that displays the time limit tout, a plus key K21 and a minus key K22 for instructing to increase or decrease the time limit tout, and an OK key K23.

[0049] When the user touches the plus key K21 or minus key K22, an instruction to increase or decrease the time limit tout displayed in the display field DR11 is received by the operation unit 23. After this reception, when the user operates the OK key K23 and a confirmation instruction is received by the additional operation unit 23, the control unit 31 sets the time limit tout displayed in the display field DR11 at this time as the time limit for performing the above-mentioned process for setting up a slave unit between the master unit and the candidate slave unit.

[0050] Also, when the user touches the key K13 for instructing the setting of the display screen lock on the synchronization operation setting screen G1 shown in FIG. 5, a lock instruction for locking the display of the display unit 21 in the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the slave unit is received by the operation unit 23 while the above processing for the slave unit setting is being performed. The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master unit causes the display unit 21 to display a display lock setting screen G3 as shown in FIG. 9 in accordance with the lock instruction.

[0051] On the display lock setting screen G3, an on key K31, an off key K32, and an OK key K33 for instructing the off and on of the display screen lock are displayed.

[0052] When the user touches the on key K31 or the off key K32, a confirmation instruction corresponding to the on key K31 or a cancellation instruction corresponding to the off key K32 is received by the operation unit 23. When the confirmation instruction is received, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master unit receives an instruction from the communication unit 24 to transmit a lock command for locking the display unit 21 during the above processing to the image forming apparatus 10 that is a candidate for the slave unit. When the cancellation instruction is received, the control unit 31 cancels the lock instruction.

[0053] Also, when the user touches the key K14 for instructing the setting of the schedule on the synchronization operation setting screen G1 shown in FIG. 5, a display instruction for the schedule setting screen is received by the operation unit 23. The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master unit causes the display unit 21 to display a schedule setting screen G4 as shown in FIG. 10 in accordance with the display instruction for the schedule setting screen.

[0054] On the schedule setting screen G4, an on key and an off key for switching the application of the schedule on or off, a time display field DR21 for inputting the start time of the synchronization operation between the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master unit and each image forming apparatus 10 serving as the slave unit, seven day-of-week selection fields CH11 for designating the day of the week, twelve month selection fields CH12 for selecting the month, and a date display field DR22 for inputting the date in the month are displayed.

[0055] When the user touches the up / down button in the time display field DR21, the control unit 31 receives an increase instruction or a decrease instruction for the time corresponding to the up / down button in the time display field DR21 at the operation unit 23. The control unit 31 increases or decreases the time according to the increase instruction or the decrease instruction, sets it, and causes it to be displayed in the time display field DR21. Further, in response to operations on the up / down buttons of the seven-day selection fields CH11 and 12, the month selection field CH12, and the date display field DR22 by the user, the control unit 31 sets the execution schedule of the synchronization operation according to each instruction received at the operation unit 23.

[0056] Therefore, by a touch operation on the schedule setting screen G4, on or off of the application of the schedule is set, the time to start the synchronization operation is set, the day of the week to start the synchronization operation is set, or the month and date to start the synchronization operation are set.

[0057] Next, a control procedure for the synchronization operation for transmitting the set values of the respective functions of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master apparatus from the image forming apparatus 10 as the master apparatus to the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave apparatus and setting them in the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave apparatus will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 and the like.

[0058] The synchronization operation starts when the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master apparatus receives an instruction to start the synchronization operation based on an operation of the key K15 when the synchronization operation setting screen G1 shown in FIG. 5 is displayed by the user, or when the start time indicated by the schedule set when the schedule setting screen G4 is displayed arrives.

[0059] The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the master apparatus waits for an instruction to start the synchronization operation to be received at the operation unit 23 (S301 "No"), and also waits for the check timing of the schedule at a cycle of a fixed time Δt (S302 "No").

[0060] When the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent machine receives an instruction to start a synchronous operation from the operation unit 23 (S301 "Yes") while waiting for the timing to check the schedule at a fixed time Δtt cycle (S302 "No"), it determines whether or not it is possible to start the synchronous operation (S303), and if it is possible to start the synchronous operation (S303 "Yes"), it proceeds to S306.

[0061] Furthermore, while waiting for an instruction to start a synchronous operation to be received from the operation unit 23 (S301 "No"), when the timing for checking the schedule at a fixed time period Δtt arrives, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent machine determines whether the current date and time has reached the date and time of the day of the week or month scheduled when the schedule setting screen G4 was displayed (S304), and if the current date and time has not reached that date and time of the day of the week or month (S304 "Yes"), the control unit 31 repeats S301 and S302. Furthermore, if the current date and time has reached that date and time of the day of the week or month (S304 "Yes"), the control unit 31 determines whether the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent machine is ready to start a synchronous operation (S303), and if the synchronous operation is ready to start (S303 "Yes"), the process proceeds to S306.

[0062] If the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 as the parent machine is not in a state where it is possible to start a synchronous operation (S303 "No"), it waits until it is in a state where it is possible to start a synchronous operation (305), and then proceeds to S306.

[0063] A state in which synchronous operation can be started is, for example, a state in which no other communication is being performed by the short-range communication unit 24 of the image forming device 10 as the parent device, and the image forming device 10 as the parent device does not have insufficient processing capacity for image formation processing, etc.

[0064] The control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master device causes the start of the synchronization operation to be displayed on the screen of the display unit 21 (S306), and causes a request for the start of the synchronization operation to be transmitted from the short-range communication unit 24 to each image forming apparatus 10 serving as a candidate slave device permitted for pairing in S113 of FIG. 4 (S307). At this time, when the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master device has received the lock command at this point, the control unit 31 causes the lock command to be transmitted from the short-range communication unit 24 to each image forming apparatus 10 serving as a paired slave device. Further, the control unit 31 causes the above-mentioned limit time tout to be transmitted to each image forming apparatus 10 serving as a paired slave device.

[0065] Then, the control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master device causes a screen G5 during the synchronization operation between the image forming apparatus 10 serving as the master device and each image forming apparatus 10 serving as a slave device, as shown in the example of FIG. 13, to be displayed on the screen of the display unit 21 (S308).

[0066] On the screen G5 during the synchronization operation shown in FIG. 13, an interrupt key K51 for instructing the interruption of the synchronization operation is displayed.

[0067] In each image forming apparatus 10 serving as a slave device permitted for pairing in S1 in FIG. 4, when a request for the start of the synchronization operation is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S401), its control unit 31 determines whether or not the synchronization operation of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as a slave device can be started (S402). If the synchronization operation can be started (S402 “Yes”), the process proceeds to S404. Further, if the control unit 31 determines that the synchronization operation cannot be started (S402 “No”), it waits until the synchronization operation can be started (S403), and then proceeds to S404. At this time, if the synchronization operation cannot be started within the limit time out received together with the request for the start of the synchronization operation by the short-range communication unit 24, the control unit 31 may interrupt the synchronization operation of the image forming apparatus 10 serving as a slave device.

[0068] In each image forming apparatus 10 of the candidate slave device permitted to be paired, if the lock command is received by the short-range communication unit 24 together with a request to start a synchronous operation (S404 "Yes"), the control unit 31 of each candidate slave device displays a dialog box indicating that a synchronous operation is in progress on the screen of the display unit 21 and prohibits the reception of input operations on the screen of the display unit 21 (S405). Also, if the lock command is not received by the short-range communication unit 24 together with a request to start a synchronous operation (S404 "No"), the processing of S405 is not performed.

[0069] If the user does not touch the interrupt key K51 on the synchronization operation screen G5 shown in Figure 13, and the request to interrupt the synchronization operation based on the operation of the interrupt key K51 on the synchronization operation screen G5 is not accepted by the operation unit 23 of the parent unit (S309 "No"), the control unit 31 of the image forming device 10 as the parent unit will transmit the setting values of each function of the image forming device 10 as the parent unit from the short-range communication unit 24 to each image forming device 10 as a child unit with which pairing is permitted (S310, S311 "Yes").

[0070] Each image forming device 10 as a slave device for which pairing is permitted determines whether the interruption request from the parent device is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S407). If the interruption request is not received (S407 "No") and the setting values of each function of the image forming device 10 as a parent device are received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S408, S409 "Yes"), the setting values of each existing function of the image forming device 10 as a slave device are saved and stored in the storage unit 28 (S410), and the control unit 31 of each candidate slave device sets the setting values of each function of the image forming device 10 from the parent device in its own image forming device 10 (S411). The control unit 31 of each candidate slave device determines whether the setting values of each function have been successfully set and transmits this determination result from the short-range communication unit 24 to the image forming device 10 as a parent device (S412).

[0071] In the image forming device 10 as a parent device, when the short-range communication unit 24 receives the determination result as to whether the setting value of each function has been successfully set for each image forming device 10 as a child device for which pairing is permitted, the control unit 31, based on the determination result, displays on the screen of the display unit 21 a dialog box DL2 indicating the success rate (number) of each image forming device 10 as a child device for which the setting value of each function has been successfully set, as shown in an example in Figure 14 (S312).

[0072] If the setting values of each function are successfully set (S413 "Yes"), the control unit 31 of each image forming device 10 as a slave device for which pairing is permitted displays a dialog box DL3 on the screen of the display unit 21 to instruct the image forming device 10 as a slave device to restart, as shown in an example in Figure 15 (S414).

[0073] Here, when a restart instruction is received by the operation unit 23 of the candidate slave unit, the control unit 31 immediately restarts the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit (S416). When an instruction not to restart is received by the control unit 31, the control unit 31 does not restart the image forming apparatus 10 as the slave unit (S416). After this, the process ends.

[0074] Furthermore, if the setting of the setting values for each function of the image forming device 10 as a slave device permitted for pairing is not successful (S413 "No"), the control unit 31 of the image forming device 10 displays a dialog box DL4 indicating that the setting of the setting values for each function has failed on the screen of the display unit 21 (S417), as shown in the example of FIG. 16, and reads out the setting values for each existing function of the image forming device 10 as a slave device from the memory unit 28 and resets them (S418).

[0075] On the other hand, when the user operates the interrupt key K51 on the synchronization operation screen G5 and the operation unit 23 receives an instruction to interrupt the synchronization operation (S309 "Yes"), the control unit 31 of the parent device transmits a request to interrupt the synchronization operation from the short-range communication unit 24 to each image forming device 10 that is a child device permitted to pair (S313), and displays the interruption of the synchronization operation on the screen of the display unit 21 of the parent device (S314).

[0076] In each image forming device 10 as a slave device for which pairing is permitted, when a request to interrupt the synchronization operation is received by the short-range communication unit 24 (S407 "Yes"), the control unit 31 interrupts the synchronization operation (S419) and displays a dialog box DL5 indicating the interruption of the synchronization operation on the screen of the display unit 21 (S420), as shown in an example in Figure 17.

[0077] In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, if the image forming device 10 as a slave device is also set as the image forming device 10 as a parent device, when the image forming device 10 as a slave device receives a request to start a synchronous operation from the image forming device 10 as a parent device (S401), the image forming device 10 as the slave device executes the processing from S303 in parallel as the parent device.

[0078] In this manner, in this embodiment, the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent machine are transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10 as a child machine, and the image forming apparatus 10 as a child machine sets the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as a parent machine in the image forming apparatus 10 as a child machine, thereby simplifying the operation of the user to set the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 as a child machine. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the setting values of each function of the image forming apparatus 10 can be transmitted to another image forming apparatus 10 and easily applied.

[0079] In the above embodiment, a multifunction peripheral is used as an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, but this is merely an example, and other image forming apparatuses such as a copier, printer, facsimile machine, etc. may also be used.

[0080] Furthermore, the configuration and processing of the embodiment described above using FIGS. 1 to 17 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not intended to be limited to these configurations and processing. [Explanation of symbols]

[0081] 10 Image forming device 21 Display section 22 Touch Panel 23 Control section 24 Near-field communication unit 26 Image reading unit 27 Image forming unit 28 Memory unit 29 Control unit 31 Control section Sy Image forming system

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus that mutually performs data communication with other apparatuses, comprising: a communication unit that performs mutual communication with other apparatuses; a control unit that controls the communication unit, wherein the control unit sets the image forming apparatus as a master apparatus and the other apparatus as a slave apparatus, and transmits setting values of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus to the other apparatus as the slave apparatus through the communication unit to set the setting values in the other apparatus as the slave apparatus.

2. An image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses that mutually perform data communication, wherein each of the image forming apparatuses includes a communication unit that performs mutual communication between the apparatuses, and a control unit that controls the communication unit and divides each of the image forming apparatuses into an image forming apparatus as one master apparatus and at least one image forming apparatus as a slave apparatus, wherein the control unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus transmits setting values of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus to the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus through the communication unit, and in the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus, when the setting values transmitted from the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus are received by the communication unit, the control unit sets the setting values in the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus.

3. The image forming apparatus as the master apparatus includes an operation unit to which an instruction is input by a user, and the control unit of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus sets the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus according to an instruction received by the operation unit from among the image forming apparatuses that perform communication by a communication method of communicating at a short distance by the communication unit. The image forming system according to claim 2.

4. The image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus includes an operation unit to which an instruction is input by a user, and the control unit of the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus permits or prohibits the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus from becoming a slave apparatus with respect to the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus based on an instruction by an operation of the operation unit. When permission to become an image forming apparatus as a slave apparatus is permitted, a permission notification is transmitted from the communication unit to the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus, and in the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus, when the permission notification is received by the communication unit, it is determined that the image forming apparatus as the slave apparatus that transmitted the permission notification can receive setting values of the image forming apparatus as the master apparatus. The image forming system according to claim 2.

5. When the control unit of the image forming apparatus as the slave unit prohibits the image forming apparatus from becoming the slave unit, the control unit transmits a prohibition notice from the communication unit to the image forming apparatus as the master unit. In the image forming apparatus as the master unit, when the prohibition notice is received by the communication unit, the image forming apparatus as the slave unit that has transmitted the prohibition notice determines that it is impossible to receive the set values of the image forming apparatus as the master unit. The image forming system according to claim 4. **Claim 6** The image forming apparatus as the master unit includes an operation unit for receiving an instruction input by a user. The control unit of the image forming apparatus as the master unit transmits the password input to the operation unit from the communication unit to the image forming apparatus as the slave unit. In the image forming apparatus as the slave unit, when the password is received by the communication unit, the control unit determines the authenticity of the password, and depending on the authenticity of the password, the image forming apparatus as the slave unit permits or prohibits the image forming apparatus from becoming the slave unit with respect to the image forming apparatus as the master unit. When the image forming apparatus is permitted to become the slave unit, a permission notice is transmitted from the communication unit to the image forming apparatus as the master unit. In the image forming apparatus as the master unit, when the permission notice is received by the communication unit, the image forming apparatus as the slave unit that has transmitted the permission notice is determined to be able to receive the set values of the image forming apparatus as the master unit. The image forming system according to claim 2. **Claim 7** When the control unit of the image forming apparatus as the slave unit prohibits the image forming apparatus from becoming the slave unit, the control unit transmits a prohibition notice from the communication unit to the image forming apparatus as the master unit. In the image forming apparatus as the master unit, when the prohibition notice is received by the communication unit, the image forming apparatus as the slave unit that has transmitted the prohibition notice determines that it is impossible to receive the set values of the image forming apparatus as the master unit. The image forming system according to claim 6. **Claim 8** The control unit of the image forming apparatus as the slave unit sets its own apparatus as another master unit and sets the other apparatus as the slave unit with respect to its own apparatus. When the image forming apparatus as the slave unit receives the set values from another image forming apparatus as the master unit through the communication unit, the received set values are transmitted by the communication unit to the slave unit with respect to its own apparatus. In the image forming apparatus as a slave device with respect to the master device, when the set value is received by the communication unit, the control unit sets the set value to be set in the image forming apparatus as the slave device, according to the image forming system of claim 1.

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