Information processing apparatus and image forming apparatus

Abstract

This makes it easy to change the settings used by extension applications installed on the information processing device. [Solution] The input receiving unit 12 receives the desired setting value from the user (S11), and the setting value table generation unit 114 generates a setting value table using the setting value (S12). The setting value table storage area 116 stores the setting value table generated by the setting value table generation unit 114 (S13). The control unit 111 reads the setting value table from the setting value table storage area 116, converts it to a predetermined format, and obtains the setting value (S14). The control unit 111 then executes the extended application 113 using the setting value (S15).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] In an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral, a solution platform may be installed. By executing an application corresponding to the solution platform, the system extensibility of the image forming apparatus is realized, and for example, the image forming apparatus is caused to perform (customize) an operation desired by the user.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a technology in which a combination of programs incorporated in an information processing apparatus enables data cooperation between applications and allows printing settings to be changed by incorporating setting values specific to the image processing apparatus. Patent Documents 2 and 5 describe technologies in which an image forming apparatus stores job setting information so that the job can be executed again using the setting information at a later date.

[0004] s Patent Documents 3 and 4 describe a technology in which a user with administrator authority can select for each batch setting whether to permit the use of each batch setting by a user without administrator authority.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Patent Document 4

Patent Document 5

[0006] However, Patent Documents 1, 3, and 4 only describe print settings, and there is no need to specialize in print settings. Furthermore, in the case of the technologies described in Patent Documents 2 and 5, there is a possibility that unintended setting information may also be saved. Moreover, it is difficult to change the setting values ​​used by the application corresponding to the solution platform using any of the technologies described in Patent Documents 1 through 5.

[0007] The present invention aims to make it possible to easily change the settings used by extended applications installed on an information processing device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention has a platform that corresponds to an extended application that realizes functional expansion, and comprises a control unit that executes the extended application on the platform, an input receiving unit that receives input of setting values ​​that determine the behavior of the extended application, and a setting value table generation unit that generates a setting value table which is a data table of setting values ​​received by the input receiving unit, wherein the control unit converts the setting values ​​included in the setting value table into a predetermined data format corresponding to the extended application, and executes the extended application using the converted setting values. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, the input receiving unit receives desired setting values ​​from the user, and the control unit converts the setting values ​​received by the input receiving unit into a predetermined data format corresponding to the extended application for use in the extended application. Therefore, the setting values ​​used by the extended application installed in the information processing device can be easily changed, improving convenience. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the electrical configuration of an image forming apparatus. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating the processing flow when the control unit executes an extended application. [Figure 3] This figure shows the electrical configuration of a modified image forming apparatus. [Figure 4] This flowchart shows the processing flow (modified version) when the control unit executes an extended application. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Hereinafter, an information processing device and an image forming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The image forming apparatus in this embodiment is an image forming apparatus such as a printer or copier, or a multifunction device that also has multiple functions such as a facsimile or scanner.

[0012] Figure 1 shows the electrical configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. The image processing apparatus 1 includes a control unit 11, an input receiving unit 12, an image reading unit 13, an image forming unit 14, a storage unit 15, and a communication unit 16, etc. An apparatus obtained by removing the mechanisms necessary for image forming from the image forming apparatus 1 constitutes one embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[0013] The input receiving unit 12 includes hard keys such as a confirmation key and a start key for confirming various operations and settings, and a display unit 121. The display unit 121 displays operation screens, messages, etc. The display unit 121 may be integrated with a touch panel.

[0014] The image reading unit 13 reads the image of the document and acquires image data. The image forming unit 14 prints the image data acquired by the image reading unit 13, the image data received by the communication unit 16 from an external device or the like, etc. on paper.

[0015] The storage unit 15 is a large-capacity storage device that stores image data, various programs, data tables, etc. The communication unit 16 is composed of a communication module or the like, and performs transmission and reception of various data with an external device such as a server via a network.

[0016] The control unit 11 is composed of a processor, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM, etc. The processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc.

[0017] Also, the control unit 11 functions as a control unit 111, a platform 112, a set value table generation unit 114, and a set value table storage area 115 by the processor executing a control program stored in the ROM or the like. Note that an extended application 113 is stored in the storage unit 15 or the like. The control unit 111 is in charge of overall operation control of the image forming apparatus 1.

[0018] The platform 112 supplies an operating environment for the control unit 11 to read the extended application 113 from the storage unit 15 or the like and operate according to the extended application 113. The extended application 113 is an application for causing the image forming apparatus 1 to execute further extended functions in addition to the existing functions of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 111 operates according to the extended application 113 via the platform 112.

[0019] Here, the above setting value is a value that determines the behavior of the operation by the extension application 113. Basically, the extension application 113 holds a setting value regarding the behavior of its operation. When changing this setting value, it was necessary to change in advance the setting value held by the extension application 113, such as updating the extension application 113 stored in the storage unit with a new extension application 113 having the changed setting value, which was time-consuming.

[0020] Therefore, in this embodiment, a method is adopted in which the extension application 113 is executed using the setting value input by the user without changing the setting value already held by the extension application 113.

[0021] The setting value table generation unit 114 generates a data table (setting value table) consisting of the setting values desired by the user received by the input reception unit 12. The setting value table storage area 115 stores the setting value table generated by the setting value table generation unit 114.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing flow when the control unit 111 executes the extension application 113. First, the input reception unit 12 receives an input of a desired setting value from the user (S11), and the setting value table generation unit 114 generates a setting value table using the input setting value (S12).

[0023] Then, the setting value table storage area 115 stores the setting value table generated by the setting value table generation unit 114 (S13). The control unit 111 reads the setting value table from the setting value table storage area 115 and converts the setting value included in the setting value table into a predetermined data format (S14). The predetermined data format is a predetermined data format that can be read by the extension application 113. When the control unit 111 performs an operation according to the extension application 113 via the platform 112, the control unit 111 reads the setting value from the setting value table and applies it to the operation (S15). [[ID= Furthermore, the extended application 113 may, for some settings, use settings that it already possesses, rather than using settings stored in the above setting table, and for other settings different from the above some settings, use settings stored in the above setting table.

[0025] In this way, the input receiving unit 12 receives desired setting values ​​from the user, and the control unit 111 converts the setting values ​​received by the input receiving unit 12 into a predetermined data format compatible with the extended application 113 for use in the extended application 113. Therefore, the setting values ​​used by the extended application 113 installed in the image forming apparatus 1 can be easily changed, improving convenience.

[0026] Here, the setting value table storage area 115 may store multiple setting value tables with different setting values ​​(for example, setting value table A, setting value table B, setting value table C, etc.), and the control unit 111 may select a setting value table from the setting value table storage area 115 in a predetermined manner. A predetermined manner might be that the input receiving unit 12 receives input such as a user ID, and the control unit 111 selects a setting table for each user and reads it from the setting value table storage area 115. This allows, for example, different setting value tables to be applied to the extended application 113 for each user, further improving convenience.

[0027] The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment and various modifications are possible. Figure 3 is a diagram showing a modified example of the electrical configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. Here, a configuration different from the one shown in Figure 2 will be described. The control unit 11 has a setting value storage area 116 instead of a setting value table storage area 115.

[0028] The setting value storage area 116 stores the setting values ​​after they have been converted from the setting values ​​included in the setting value table into the predetermined data format described above. Specifically, for example, the setting value storage area 116 stores setting value group A obtained from setting value table A, setting value group B obtained from setting value table B, and setting value group C obtained from setting value table C.

[0029] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the processing flow (modified version) when the control unit 111 executes the extended application 113. First, the input receiving unit 12 receives the desired setting values ​​from the user (S21), and the setting value table generation unit 114 generates a setting value table using the input setting values ​​(S22).

[0030] Then, the control unit 111 converts the setting values ​​included in the setting value table created in process S22 into a predetermined data format (S23), groups the setting values ​​according to the setting value table, and stores them in the setting value storage area 116 (S24). The control unit 111 reads the group of setting values ​​from the setting value storage area 116 according to the predetermined method described above, and executes the extended application 113 using the setting values ​​included in that group (S25).

[0031] As a result, when the control unit 111 performs operations according to the extended application 113 via the platform 112, it can quickly perform operations according to the extended application 113 using setting values ​​that have already been converted to a predetermined format and stored in the setting value storage area 116.

[0032] In the above embodiment, an image forming apparatus 1 is shown as one embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus. For example, other information processing devices that do not have an image forming mechanism, such as ticket vending machines, order receiving devices, and image reading devices, are also one embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiments and various modifications are possible. Furthermore, the configuration and process shown in the above embodiments using Figures 1 to 4 are merely one embodiment of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention to such configuration and process. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0034] 1. Image forming apparatus 11 Control Unit 111 Control Unit 112 platforms 113 Extended Applications 114 Setting Value Table Generation Unit 115 Setting value table storage area 116 Setting value storage area 12 Input reception section 121 Display section 13 Image reading unit 14 Image forming unit 15 Storage section 16 Communications Department

Claims

1. A control unit that has a platform that supports extension applications for extending functionality and that executes the extension applications on the platform, An input receiving unit that receives input of setting values ​​that determine the behavior of the aforementioned extended application, The system includes a setting value table generation unit that generates a setting value table which is a data table of setting values ​​received by the input receiving unit, The control unit is an information processing device that converts the setting values ​​included in the setting value table into a predetermined data format corresponding to the extended application, and executes the extended application using the converted setting values.

2. The system further includes a setting value table storage area for storing multiple setting value tables generated by the setting value table generation unit, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit selects and reads the setting value table from the setting value table storage area in accordance with a predetermined method, converts the setting values ​​contained in the read setting value table into the predetermined data format, and executes the extended application using the converted setting values.

3. For each of the setting value tables generated by the setting value table generation unit, the control unit converts the setting values ​​included in the setting value table into the predetermined data format. The system further includes a setting value storage area that stores the setting values ​​converted to the predetermined data format, grouped according to the setting value table. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads a group of setting values ​​from the setting value storage area in a predetermined manner and executes the extended application using the setting values ​​included in the group of setting values ​​read.

4. An information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium.

Images