Abstract:
A device registration system includes a network, an image forming apparatus, a mobile terminal communicatively connected to the network via an access point, and a server. The image forming apparatus comprises an image forming apparatus near field communication (NFC) unit configured to perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a mobile terminal NFC unit configured to perform wireless communication with the image forming apparatus. The server is configured to register setting information associated with the image forming apparatus in a search list, wherein the setting information includes (i) position information indicative of a location of the image forming apparatus and (ii) tag information representative of a text label that describes the image forming apparatus.

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
       [0001]    This application is based upon, and claims priority to corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-130817, filed in the Japan Patent Office on Jun. 21, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       FIELD 
       [0002]    Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this field section or the background section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. The present disclosure relates to a device registration system and method in which a device connected to a network is registered in a search list. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    A typical image forming apparatus connected to a network, such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP), a printer, or the like, can be accessed from a variety of computing devices, such as cellular phones, smart phones, or mobile terminals. 
         [0004]    A typical registration method involves a domain manager permitting an external apparatus to operate as a member of an authorized domain—such as a home network—and registering the external apparatus. However, the typical registration method requires a user authentication apparatus to be installed, and the domain manager has to confirm whether the external apparatus is permitted to operate as a member of the authorized domain and whether the external apparatus is registered by using the user authentication apparatus, resulting in a complicated operation of registering the external apparatus. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    The present disclosure relates to a device registration system and method. 
         [0006]    In one embodiment, a device registration system includes a network, an image forming apparatus, a mobile terminal communicatively connected to the network via an access point, and a server. The image forming apparatus comprises an image forming apparatus near field communication (NFC) unit configured to perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a mobile terminal NFC unit configured to perform wireless communication with the image forming apparatus. The server is configured to register setting information associated with the image forming apparatus in a search list, wherein the setting information includes (i) position information indicative of a location of the image forming apparatus and (ii) tag information representative of a text label that describes the image forming apparatus. 
         [0007]    In another embodiment, a device registration method includes the steps of performing, via a near field communication (NFC) unit of an image forming apparatus, wireless communication with a mobile terminal; performing, via an NFC unit of the mobile terminal, wireless communication with the image forming apparatus; and registering, via a server, setting information associated with the image forming apparatus in a search list, wherein the setting information includes (i) position information indicative of a location of the image forming apparatus and (ii) tag information representative of a text label that describes the image forming apparatus. 
         [0008]    In yet another embodiment, a system includes an image forming apparatus, a mobile terminal, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, performs a set of functions. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus near field communication (NFC) unit configured to perform wireless communication. The mobile terminal includes a mobile terminal NFC unit configured to perform wireless communication. The set of functions includes registering setting information associated with the image forming apparatus in a search list, wherein the setting information includes (i) position information indicative of a location of the image forming apparatus and (ii) tag information representative of a text label that describes the image forming apparatus. 
         [0009]    Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from the following Detailed Description and the figures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
         [0010]    All drawings are intended to illustrate some aspects and examples of the present disclosure. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting, and are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a device registration system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the functional block configuration of an image forming apparatus and a mobile terminal in the device registration system; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  are schematic diagrams illustrating example dialog screens displayed on the mobile terminal; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an example search list screen displayed on the mobile terminal; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an example procedure of registering the image forming apparatus in the search list. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Various embodiments are described below with reference to the figures. It should be understood, however, that numerous variations from the depicted arrangements and functions are possible while remaining within the scope and spirit of the claims. For instance, one or more elements may be added, removed, combined, distributed, substituted, re-positioned, re-ordered, and/or otherwise changed. Further, where this description refers to one or more functions being implemented on and/or by one or more devices, one or more machines, and/or one or more networks, it should be understood that one or more of such entities could carry out one or more of such functions by themselves or in cooperation, and may do so by application of any suitable combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software. For instance, one or more processors may execute one or more sets of programming instructions as at least part of carrying out one or more of the functions described herein. 
         [0017]    In an embodiment of the present disclosure, responsive to a user putting a mobile terminal at a position close to an image forming apparatus, the mobile terminal may establish a connection with the image forming apparatus via near field communication (NFC) or the like. Then, the image forming apparatus may transmit its setting information to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal may also display the received setting information of the image forming apparatus. Further, the user may input information representing an installed position of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as “position information”) from the mobile terminal. Further still, the user may also input information attached to identify the image forming apparatus easily (hereinafter, referred to as “tag information”) from the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal may add the “position information” and the “tag information” to the setting information of the image forming apparatus, and may also transmit the setting information to the image forming apparatus. Responsive to receiving the setting information of the image forming apparatus, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” are added, the image forming apparatus may transmit the setting information to a server. The server may register the received setting information of the image forming apparatus, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” are added, in a search list. 
         [0018]    The system configuration of a device registration system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted in  FIG. 1 . A device registration system  10  illustrated in  FIG. 1  includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses  100 , a server  200 , a mobile terminal  300 , an access point  400 , and a network  500 . 
         [0019]    An image forming apparatus  100  may be, for example, a printer, an MFP, or the like. The image forming apparatus  100  may include a near field communication function. 
         [0020]    The server  200  may be configured to register an image forming apparatus  100  in the search list. In addition, the server  200  may be configured to install and/or upgrade security software in the image forming apparatus  100 . Further, the server  200  may be configured to distribute a pattern file. Further still, the server  200  may be configured to set and distribute a policy, which may include authorization information for defining limitations on use of the image forming apparatus  100 . The server  200  may also be configured to monitor and report an operation state of the security software. The server  200  may further be configured to include status information and warnings transmitted by the image forming apparatus  100 . 
         [0021]    The mobile terminal  300  may be portable and may include a near field communication function. The mobile terminal  300  can be connected to a network  500  via the access point  400 . Therefore, the mobile terminal  300  can access any image forming apparatus of the plurality of image forming apparatuses  100  and the server  200  which are connected to the network  500 . 
         [0022]    The access point  400  may function as a relay apparatus to enable the mobile terminal  300  to be connected to the network  500  via a provider or the like. 
         [0023]    The network  500  may be, for example, an IP (Internet Protocol) network, such as the Internet or an intranet, and is connected to the image forming apparatuses  100 , the server  200 , and the access point  400 . 
         [0024]    The functional configuration of an image forming apparatus  100  is depicted in and will be described with respect to  FIG. 2 . The image forming apparatus  100  illustrated in  FIG. 2  may include a controller  110 , a memory unit  120 , a data storage unit  130 , an operation panel  140 , an operation panel processor  150 , a document reading unit  160 , an image processor  170 , a near field communication unit  180 , and a network communication unit  190 , which are connected to each other via a bus or the like. The controller  110  may include a support processor  110   a . The memory unit  120  may include a dialog-screen storage area  120   a  and a setting-information storage area  120   b . The data storage unit  130  may include an image-data storage area  130   a.    
         [0025]    The controller  110  may also include one or more storage devices, such as a random-access memory (RAM) and/or a read-only memory (ROM), and a control device such as a central processing unit (CPU). The controller  110  may be configured to control components of the image forming apparatus  100 , interfaces of the image forming apparatus  100  such as various types of input/output (I/O) and Universal Serial Bus (USB), and a bus controller. 
         [0026]    In order to support the server  200 , the support processor  110   a  may transmit a first dialog screen  610  (illustrated in  FIG. 3A ) for allowing a user to input authentication information and view the displayed setting information of the image forming apparatus  100 . Then, the support processor  110   a  may transmit a second dialog screen  620  (illustrated in  FIG. 3B ) for allowing a user to input the “position information” and the “tag information” to the mobile terminal  300 . The first dialog screen  610  and the second dialog screen  620  will be described in detail below. The support processor  110   a  may transmit the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  received from the mobile terminal  300 , to which the “position information” and the “tag information” are added, to the server  200 . 
         [0027]    The memory unit  120  may be an auxiliary storage device such as a flash memory, and includes programs and data for processes performed by the controller  110 . 
         [0028]    The dialog-screen storage area  120   a  includes data associated with the first dialog screen  610  and the second dialog screen  620 , which may be transmitted to the mobile terminal  300 . 
         [0029]    The setting-information storage area  120   b  may include device information, such as a model name, a host name, an IP address, a serial ID, and the like, any of which may be set for the image forming apparatus  100 . 
         [0030]    The data storage unit  130  may be any computer readable and recordable medium, such as a hard disk drive, and may include data and programs. The image-data storage area  130   a  of the data storage unit  130  includes images scanned by the document reading unit  160  and images received from the mobile terminal  300  via the network communication unit  190 . 
         [0031]    The operation panel  140  may display an operation screen and receive an operation performed by a user. For example, the operation panel processor  150  may display the operation items corresponding to the functions provided by the image forming apparatus  100 , on the operation panel  140 , and may also receive a user&#39;s operations from the operation panel  140 . 
         [0032]    When a user provides an instruction, via operation panel  140 , to perform a read-out operation, the document reading unit  160  scans a document placed on the document plate of the image forming apparatus  100 , converts the read-out data into an image, and outputs it to the image processor  170 . The image processor  170  may then receive the image from the document reading unit  160 , convert the image into a printable image or image data for transmittal by fax or email, and output it to the controller  110 . 
         [0033]    The near field communication unit  180  may perform wireless communication in a short distance with the mobile terminal  300  via Bluetooth™ or infrared communication in compliance with a near field communication standard. 
         [0034]    The network communication unit  190  may include a detachable local-area network (LAN) interface, and is connected to the network  500 . The LAN interface includes a network unit that performs intelligent transmission/reception using various network protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), AppleTalk™, or Server Message Block (SMB), among other network protocols. 
         [0035]    The functional configuration of the mobile terminal  300  is depicted in and will be described with respect to  FIG. 2 . The mobile terminal  300  as illustrated in  FIG. 2  includes a controller  310 , a memory unit  320 , a near field communication unit  330 , an operation panel  340 , an operation panel processor  350 , a global positioning system (GPS) processor  360 , and a network communication unit  370 , which are connected to each other via a bus or the like. The controller  310  may include a registration request processor  310   a.    
         [0036]    The controller  310  may also include storage devices, such as a RAM and/or a ROM, and a control device, such as a CPU. The controller  310  may be configured to control components of the entire mobile terminal  300 , interfaces of the mobile terminal  300  such as various types of I/O and USB, and a bus controller. 
         [0037]    The registration request processor  310   a  may transmit a request to register an image forming apparatus  100  in the search list in the server  200 , to the image forming apparatus  100 . 
         [0038]    The memory unit  320  may be an auxiliary storage device such as a flash memory, and includes programs and data for processes performed by the controller  310 . 
         [0039]    The near field communication unit  330  may perform wireless communication in a short distance with the image forming apparatus  100  via Bluetooth™ or infrared communication in compliance with a near field communication standard. 
         [0040]    The operation panel  340  may display an operation screen and receive an operation performed by a user. For example, the operation panel processor  350  may display the operation items corresponding to the functions provided by the mobile terminal  300  on the operation panel  340 , receive user&#39;s operations from the operation panel  340 , and display the first dialog screen  610  and the second dialog screen  620 . 
         [0041]    The GPS processor  360  may be configured to obtain the current position of the mobile terminal  300  via a GPS unit or the like. 
         [0042]    The network communication unit  370  is connected to the network  500  via the access point  400 . 
         [0043]    The first dialog screen  610  and the second dialog screen  620  are depicted in and will be described with respect to  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B . 
         [0044]    The first dialog screen  610  illustrated in  FIG. 3A  is a screen for displaying the setting information included in the setting-information storage area  120   b  of the image forming apparatus  100 . The first dialog screen  610  may also display input areas designated for inputting information for authenticating a user. For example, the first dialog screen  610  may include a login user name area  611  for inputting a “login user name” and a password area  612  for inputting a “password”. 
         [0045]    The second dialog screen  620  illustrated in  FIG. 3B  is a screen for displaying input areas designated for inputting information to be added to the setting information. For example, the second dialog screen  620  may display, when the user is successfully authenticated from the first dialog screen  610 , areas for inputting the “position information” and the “tag information” that are added to the setting information. The second dialog screen  620  includes a position information area  621  for inputting the “position information” and a tag information area  622  for inputting the “tag information”. In one example, the tag information includes details of the position information. In  FIG. 3B , the tag information includes a floor number (3F) of a building and a cardinal direction (northeast). Then, the setting information may be transmitted to the image forming apparatus  100 . 
         [0046]    A search list screen  700  of the server  200  is depicted in and will be described with respect to  FIG. 4 . As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the search list screen  700  is a screen for displaying the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100 , in which the “position information” and the “tag information” have been added as a result of a request by the mobile terminal  300  for the “position information” and the “tag information” to be registered in the search list of the server  200 . As one example, the setting information included in the setting-information storage area  120   b  of the image forming apparatus  100  includes the model name of “k5”, the host name of “n5”, the IP address of “a5”, and the serial ID of “s5”. These pieces of information are displayed on the search list screen  700 . In one example, when the user inputs “x5, y5” as the “position information” and “3F-north east” as the “tag information” from the mobile terminal  300 , these pieces of information are also displayed on the search list screen  700 . 
         [0047]    The procedure in which the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100 , to which the “position information” and the “tag information” received from the mobile terminal  300  are added, is registered in the search list of the server  200  is depicted in and will be described with respect to  FIG. 5 . 
         [0048]    In step S 101 , the registration request processor  310   a  of the mobile terminal  300  establishes connection with the server  200  by using the network communication unit  370  via the access point  400 , and receives administrator information, such as a user name and a password, of the server  200 . 
         [0049]    In step S 102 , the registration request processor  310   a  of the mobile terminal  300  obtains identification information, such as an IP address or a host name, with which the server  200  can be uniquely identified in the network  500 , from the server  200 . 
         [0050]    In step S 103 , when a user puts the mobile terminal  300  that stores the identification information obtained in step S 102  at a position close to the image forming apparatus  100 , the mobile terminal  300  may establish a connection with the image forming apparatus  100  via near field communication. 
         [0051]    In step S 104 , the support processor  110   a  of the image forming apparatus  100  may obtain the data of the first dialog screen  610  from the dialog-screen storage area  120   a , obtain the setting information from the setting-information storage area  120   b , and may also include the data of the first dialog screen  610  and the setting information in a support message for transmission to the mobile terminal  300 . 
         [0052]    In step S 105 , upon receiving the support message transmitted from the image forming apparatus  100 , the registration request processor  310   a  of the mobile terminal  300  may obtain the first dialog screen  610  data included in the support message, and may also display the first dialog screen  610  on the operation panel  340 . In the support message storing the first dialog screen  610  data, the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  may be included. Therefore, the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  is displayed on the first dialog screen  610 . 
         [0053]    In step S 106 , the user inputs the “login user name” in the login user name area  611  and the “password” in the password area  612  on the first dialog screen  610  illustrated in  FIG. 3A , which may be displayed on the operation panel  340  of the mobile terminal  300 . When the user selects the “YES” button  613 , the registration request processor  310   a  transmits the “login user name” and the “password” to the image forming apparatus  100  by using the near field communication unit  330 . 
         [0054]    In step S 107 , the image forming apparatus  100  receives the “login user name” and the “password”, and determines whether or not the authentication has been successfully performed. If the authentication has been successfully performed (“YES” in the step S 107 ), the process proceeds to the step S 108 . If the authentication has not been successfully performed (“NO” in the step S 107 ), the user of the mobile terminal  300  is not permitted to register the image forming apparatus  100  in the search list of the server  200 , and the process ends. 
         [0055]    In step S 108 , if the determination result in step S 107  is “YES”, the support processor  110   a  of the image forming apparatus  100  obtains the data of the second dialog screen  620  from the dialog-screen storage area  120   a , obtains the setting information from the setting-information storage area  120   b , and includes them in a support message to transmit it to the mobile terminal  300 . 
         [0056]    In step S 109 , upon receiving the support message transmitted from the image forming apparatus  100 , the registration request processor  310   a  of the mobile terminal  300  may obtain the second dialog screen  620  data included in the support message, and may display the second dialog screen  620  on the operation panel  340 . In the support message storing the second dialog screen  620  data, the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  is included. Therefore, the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  may be displayed on the second dialog screen  620 . 
         [0057]    In step S 110 , the user may input the “position information” that is obtained by the GPS processor  360  in the position information area  621 , and the “tag information” that is attached by the user to identify the image forming apparatus  100  in the tag information area  622  on the second dialog screen  620  illustrated in  FIG. 3B , which may be displayed on the operation panel  340  of the mobile terminal  300 . When the user selects the “OK” button  623 , the registration request processor  310   a  adds the “position information” and the “tag information” to the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100 , and the setting information may be transmitted it to the image forming apparatus  100  via the near field communication unit  330 . 
         [0058]    In step S 111 , the support processor  110   a  of the image forming apparatus  100  includes the setting information, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” have been added, that is received from the mobile terminal  300 , in the setting-information storage area  120   b . Thus, the setting information included in the setting-information storage area  120   b  is updated. 
         [0059]    In step S 112 , the support processor  110   a  of the image forming apparatus  100  may transmit the setting information, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” have been added, that is received from the mobile terminal  300 , to the server  200  by using the network communication unit  190 . 
         [0060]    In step S 113 , responsive to receiving the setting information, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” have been added, from the image forming apparatus  100 , the server  200  may register it in the search list. Thus, the setting information, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” of the image forming apparatus  100  have been added, is registered in the search list, whereby the setting information included in the image forming apparatus  100  and the “position information” and the “tag information” which are input from the mobile terminal  300  may be displayed on the search list screen  700  illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0061]    As described above, when a user registers the image forming apparatus  100  that is in near user, in the search list, the user puts the mobile terminal  300  at a position close to the image forming apparatus  100 , whereby the mobile terminal  300  establishes connection with the image forming apparatus  100  via the near field communication, and the image forming apparatus  100  may transmit the setting information included in the image forming apparatus  100  to the mobile terminal  300 . When the user inputs the “position information” and the “tag information” of the image forming apparatus  100  from the mobile terminal  300 , the mobile terminal  300  adds the “position information” and the “tag information” to the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100 , and transmits it to the image forming apparatus  100 . The image forming apparatus  100  may update the included setting information by adding the “position information” and the “tag information”, and may also transmit it to the server  200 . Responsive to receiving the setting information of the image forming apparatus  100  that includes the additional information, the server  200  may register it in the search list. Thus, the user can register the image forming apparatus  100  that is in front of the user, in the search list of the server  200  by putting the mobile terminal  300  at a position close to the image forming apparatus  100 . The displaying of the search list screen  700  on the mobile terminal  300  allows the user to easily select the image forming apparatus  100  by using the “position information” and the “tag information”. 
         [0062]    While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments are possible. Other designs may be used in which the above-described components are each present. Note that near field communication may involve hardware that uses magnetic induction to send and receive information between two computing device. 
         [0063]    In the device registration system  10  according to the above-described embodiment, the procedure of registering an image forming apparatus  100  in the search list is described. The device is not limited to the image forming apparatus  100 , and various types of devices may be registered in one search list. 
         [0064]    In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, a user inputs the position obtained by the GPS processor  360  of the mobile terminal  300  in the position information area  621  of the second dialog screen  620 . For example, when the second dialog screen  620  is displayed on the mobile terminal  300 , the “position information” may be automatically displayed. 
         [0065]    Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the example in which the data “3F-north east” which represents the location where the image forming apparatus  100  is installed is used as the tag information is described. For example, the name of the management group that manages the image forming apparatus  100  may be used as the “tag information”. 
         [0066]    In addition, the position of the image forming apparatus  100  selected by a user may be displayed on a map screen, a floor map screen, or the like by using the “position information” added to the search list. The display thus performed allows the user to easily specify the position where the image forming apparatus  100  is installed. 
         [0067]    In addition, either one of, not both of, the “position information” and the “tag information” may be added to the search list. 
         [0068]    Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the procedure in which the mobile terminal  300  transmits the setting information, to which the “position information” and the “tag information” are added, to the server  200  via the image forming apparatus  100  is described. The setting information may be transmitted directly from the mobile terminal  300  to the server  200 . 
         [0069]    In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, the setting information included in the setting-information storage area  120   b  is transmitted from the image forming apparatus  100  to the mobile terminal  300 . The setting information is not transmitted to the mobile terminal  300 . In this case, the setting information is transmitted from the image forming apparatus  100  to the server  200 ; the user operates the image forming apparatus  100  in front of the user so as to check the setting information of image forming apparatus  100 ; and the “position information” and the “tag information” are transmitted from the mobile terminal  300  to the image forming apparatus  100  and the server  200 . 
         [0070]    It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.