Patent Publication Number: US-2011058189-A1

Title: Information processing apparatus, information processing system, image forming apparatus, and information processing method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-208561, filed Sep. 9, 2009. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an image forming apparatus, and an information processing method. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to an aspect of the invention, an information processing apparatus includes a process instruction receiving module, a storage module, and a process state output module. The storage module receives a process instruction from a user. The storage module stores the process instruction and language attribute information to associate with each other, the language attribute information designating a language for outputting a process state of the process instruction. The process state output module outputs information of the process state in the language designated by the language attribute information associated with the process instruction. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus as an example of an information processing apparatus to which a control according to an exemplary embodiment is applied; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of job queue information; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an example of a job state display screen; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an example of a registration sequence of a language attribute on a job; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an example of a sequence of job state outputs; 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating an example of sequence of job state screen displays; and 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating an example of a sequence of job state sound outputs. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows an example of a system including an image forming apparatus as an example of an information processing apparatus to which a control method according to an exemplary embodiment is applied. 
     An image forming apparatus  100  is an apparatus performing a process with input or output of a document image, for example, at least one of, for example, image reading or copying of paper documents, printing of electronic documents (documents represented by electronic data), and transmission or reception of facsimiles. For example, there are a digital copier, a digital multifunctional machine (an apparatus provided with functions of a printer, a scanner, a copier, and the like, and an apparatus further provided with an additional function such as facsimile transmission/reception), a network printer, a network scanner, a facsimile apparatus, and the like. 
     Various buttons  102  of the image forming apparatus  100  are mechanical buttons for inputting instructions of a user to the image forming apparatus  100 . For example, there are a start button for instructing start of a process such as copy, and a ten key numeric keypad for inputting numerical values such as the number of printings. A touch panel  104  is an input/output device provided with a display device such as a liquid crystal screen and a position detecting mechanism detecting a touch position of a user&#39;s finger on the screen. A speaker  106  is a device for outputting sound such as alarm and audio guidance (guidance). 
     A UI (user interface) control unit  108  is means for performing a user interface process of the image forming apparatus  100 . For example, the UI control unit  108  displays an operation screen or a screen representing various kinds of information on the touch panel  104 , or outputs an alarm when an error occurs or guidance sound in an audio guidance (guidance) mode to the speaker  106 . The UI control unit  108  determines contents input by the user from a touch position of a user&#39;s finger with respect to the touch panel  104 , and transmits the input contents to a job managing unit  110 . The UI control unit  108  transmits the input contents from the various buttons  102  to the job managing unit  110 . 
     The job managing unit  110  generates and manages jobs according to the input contents of the user received from the UI control unit  108 . The job is a 1-unit process performed according to the instruction from the user by the image forming apparatus  100 , for example, a copy job, a printing job, a scan job, a facsimile transmission job, and the like. For example, when the user operates the various buttons  102 , the touch panel  104 , or the like to input a type of a job or parameters (e.g., the number of copies or designation of both sides/one side, etc.) and presses the start button, the type of the job is performed according to the parameters. When the job managing unit  110  receives printing instruction data, which is transmitted from a remote PC (personal computer)  200  through a network such as a local area network, through a communication unit  112 , a printing job for printing the printing instruction data is generated and managed. 
     The job managing unit  110  puts the jobs into a waiting queue (job queue) in order of generation, and manages the jobs in first-in first-out order. 
     A storage device  120  is a rewritable storage device of an information processing unit of the image forming apparatus  100 . The storage device  120  includes any one of a volatile recording medium such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a nonvolatile recording medium such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a flash memory, and a hard disk, and the like, or combination of 2 or more of them. In addition, the image forming apparatus  100  may be provided with the other storage devices such as a ROM (Read Only Memory). 
     Apparatus setting information  124  regulating operation parameters of the image forming apparatus  100  is stored in the storage device  120 . 
     The apparatus setting information  124  includes a language setting  126  designating a language used in UI (e.g., various screens displayed on the touch panel  104  or audio guidance output from the speaker  106 ) of the image forming apparatus  100 . That is, the image forming apparatus  100  is an apparatus corresponding to a plurality of languages, and a language selected by the user is stored in the language setting  126 . The UI control unit  108  provides a UI screen or the like with the language corresponding to the language setting  126 . 
     The apparatus setting information  124  may include a sound output setting  128 . The sound output setting  128  is setting information representing whether or not audio guidance by the speaker  106  is performed. This setting may be modified by the user. 
     Various setting items such as the language setting  126  and the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124  are set or modified by the user through the UI screen for setting. The screen for setting is provided by the UI control unit  108 . For example, when the language displayed on the touch panel  104  is different from the language that the user uses, the user calls the UI screen for setting by selecting a menu on the touch panel  104  and modifies the language into the language that the user uses. 
     Alternatively, user authentication may be performed when the user uses the image forming apparatus  100 , and a setting corresponding to the user identified by the user authentication may be reflected to the language setting  126 , the sound output setting  128 , or both. The user authentication may be performed, for example, by a authentication method such as reading an IC identification card or inputting a password. The setting contents (kind of language used and whether sound output is necessary or not) corresponding to each user may be registered in the image forming apparatus  100  so as to be associated with identification information of the user, for example. Alternatively, the language corresponding to the user identification information or the setting contents of the sound output is registered in an external apparatus accessible from the image forming apparatus  100  (e.g., through a network such as a local area network), and the image forming apparatus  100  may acquire the setting contents corresponding to the user from the external apparatus. 
     Job queue information  122  that is information of a waiting queue used for the job managing unit  110  to manage job execution is stored in the storage device  120 .  FIG. 2  shows an example of a data structure of management information of a job included in the job queue information  122 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , management information  300  of one job includes a job ID  302  that is identification information of the job. The job ID  302  may be assigned when the job managing unit  110  generates management information of the job according to the instruction of the user. The management information  300  includes job classification  304  representing classification (printing, copy, scan, facsimile transmission, etc.) of the job. The management information  300  may include a user ID  306  that is identification information of the user who instructs the job to be executed. The value of the user ID  306  may be specified, for example, by reading the IC identification card of the user or performing the user authentication on the basis of the input of authentication information such as a user ID and a password. A printer driver  202  installed in the PC  200  incorporates the user ID of the user who is logged into the PC  200  into the printing instruction data input from the remote PC  200 , and the job managing unit  110  may recognize the user ID. In addition, the management information  300  may include the other information at the time when the execution of the job is instructed. 
     A process state  308  included in the management information  300  is information representing a present process state of the job. As the process state  308 , for example, there are “process waiting” of waiting for sequence in the queue, “executing” representing that the job is being executed, “pause” representing that the execution is temporarily paused by interruption or the like, and “error” representing that an error occurs. A progress degree  310  is information representing a progress degree of the execution of the job, for example, a value representing that the process is completed up to any page of the total number of pages. The process state  308  and the progress degree  310  are dynamically changed as the image forming apparatus  100  manages and executes the job. 
     In addition, the management information  300  of the job includes a language attribute  312  of the job. That is, in the exemplary embodiment, the language attribute  312  is registered by a job unit in addition to the language setting  126  regarding the image forming apparatus  100 . The language attribute  312  is set on the basis of an instruction from the user who inputs the job or a setting of the image forming apparatus  100  at the time of the instruction is input. For example, when a user who inputs a job uses English, the language attribute  312  of the job is set to English. The UI control unit  108  controls the UI to display the information about the job in English, without depending on the language setting  126  of the apparatus setting information  124 . 
     The management information  300  of the job includes a sound output attribute  314  of the job. This represents whether or not the information about the job is output by sound. That is, in the exemplary embodiment, it is set whether or not audio guidance is performed by a job unit with respect to the output of the audio guidance, independently from the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124 . The sound output attribute  314  of the job unit is set on the basis of an instruction from the user who inputs the job or a setting of the image forming apparatus at the time of the instruction is input. 
     In addition, the image forming apparatus  100  is provided with a scan mechanism, a printing mechanism, a facsimile mechanism, and the like to execute various jobs, but they are not shown. 
     When the user operating the PC  200  instructs printing of a document drawn by an application such as a word processor, the printer driver  202  converts data of the document into printing instruction data described by page describing language, and transmits the data to the image forming apparatus  100 . 
     In such a system, the UI control unit  108  of the image forming apparatus  100  has a function of displaying the process state in the language according to the language attribute  312  of the job at the time of displaying the list of the process states of the jobs in the job queue (e.g., process waiting or executing). In an example of a list display screen  400  shown in  FIG. 3 , in job state display sections  402  for displaying the process states of the jobs, information (e.g., items of the management information  300 ) of the jobs is displayed such that the job of the document number (job ID) “00016” is displayed in Japanese, the job of the document number “00020” is displayed in English, and the job of the document number “00028” is displayed in Chinese. 
     Next, an example of a process sequence of the image forming apparatus  100  will be described. First, an example of a registration process of the language attribute  312  of the job performed by the job managing unit  110  will be described. As a background of the process, the image forming apparatus  100  has two methods of automatic registration and manual registration as a registration method of the language attribute  312  of the job unit, for example, a manager sets the method to be used, to the image forming apparatus  100 . When the user presses the start button of the image forming apparatus  100  to start generating a job (S 10 ), the job managing unit  110  determines whether the setting value of the registration method is automatic or manual (S 12 ). When the registration method is automatic, the value of the language setting  126  of the present apparatus setting information  124  is registered in the item of the language attribute  312  of the generated job (S 14 ). That is, when the user inputs a type of the job or parameters, it is thought that the language of the screen displayed on the touch panel  104  or of the audio guidance is generally set to the language which the user uses. Accordingly, the value of the language setting  126  representing the setting is registered as the language attribute  312  of the job. In Step S 12 , when it is determined that the registration method is the manual registration, the job managing unit  110  displays a job attribute registration change screen on the touch panel  104  through the UI control unit  108 , receives the relevant designation of the language from the user, and registers the designated language as the language attribute  312  of the job (S 16 ). 
     The registration sequence of the language attribute  312  of the job has been described above, and the same may be applied to the sound output attribute  314 . That is, when the automatic registration is selected as the registration method, the value of the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124  at the job starting time is registered in the sound output attribute  314  of the job. When the manual registration is selected, the designation regarding the sound output which is input to the job attribute registration change screen by the user may be registered in the sound output attribute  314  of the job. 
     The setting sequence of the language attribute  312  about the job generated by allowing the user to directly input the instruction to the UI of the image forming apparatus  100  has been described above. Meanwhile, the language attribute  312  of the job may be set to the job generated according to the instruction (e.g., printing instruction) input from the external apparatus such as the PC  200  to the image forming apparatus  100 . In this case, the program (e.g., printer driver  202 ) in the PC  200  acquires the setting of the language used in the operating system or the printer driver  202  of the PC  200 , and the language setting may be incorporated as the language attribute in the instruction data for the image forming apparatus  100 . The job managing unit  110  of the image forming apparatus  100  sets the language attribute included in the instruction data output from the external apparatus, as the language attribute  312  of the job corresponding to the instruction data. Similarly, in the case of the sound output attribute  314 , the sound output setting of the external apparatus is incorporated as the attribute into the instruction data transmitted to the image forming apparatus  100  by the external apparatus such as the PC  200 , and the job managing unit  110  of the image forming apparatus  100  may set the attribute as the sound output attribute  314  of the job. 
     Next, an example of the process sequence of the UI control unit  108  at the time of outputting information of the job state will be described with reference to  FIG. 5  to  FIG. 7 . In this sequence, when the user instructs display of the job state from, for example, the touch panel  104  or the like (S 20 ), a job state screen display process (S 30 ) and a job state sound output process (S 40 ) are performed on a job, state information of which is not yet output. The processes are repeated until the output process of the state information is completed for all the jobs (e.g., non-processed job, job under processing, and job interrupted by error or the like) of display targets in the job queue information  122  (S 22 ). 
     In the job state screen display process (S 30 ), as shown in  FIG. 6 , the UI control unit  108  determines whether the language for displaying and outputting the job state set in the image forming apparatus  100  is the language designated in the language attribute  312  (language of job attribute) of the job or the language designated in the language setting  126  (language of the apparatus setting) of the apparatus setting information  124  (S 32 ). That is, in this example, a manager or the like sets in advance whether language designated in the language attribute  312  is used or language designated in the language setting  126  is used, in the image forming apparatus  100 . In Step S 32 , when the setting represents the language designated in the language attribute  312 , the UI control unit  108  displays information (e.g., job ID, user information, process state, progress degree, etc. of the management information  300 ) of the process state of the display target job as a list on the display screen in the language designated in the language attribute  312  of the job (S 34 ). In this case, the list display screen of the job state shown in  FIG. 3  by way of example is obtained. In Step S 32 , when the setting represents the language designated in the language setting  126 , the UI control unit  108  displays information of the process state of the display target job as a list on the display screen in the language designated in the language setting  126  (S 36 ). 
     In the job state sound output process (S 40 ), the UI control unit  108  performs, for example, the process shown in  FIG. 7 . That is, in this process, first, when any one of the following jobs is satisfied: the job that is the target of the state output process is an error job (S 41 ), the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124  is set as “valid” (sound output is performed) (S 42 ), or the sound output attribute  314  of the job is set as “valid” (sound output is performed) even when the sound output setting  128  is “invalid” (S 43 ), the information of the process state of the job is output from the speaker  106  by sound. In this case, the UI control unit  108  determines whether the language for displaying and outputting the job state set in the image forming apparatus  100  is the language designated in the language attribute  312  (language of job attribute) or the language designated in the language setting  126  (language of the apparatus setting) (S 44 ). In the case of the former, the information of the process state of the job is output in the language designated in the language attribute  312  of the job by sound (S 46 ). In the case of the latter, the information of the process state of the job is output in the language designated in the language setting  126  of the apparatus setting information  124  by sound (S 48 ). 
     When the target job is not in the error state (S 41 ), the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124  is “invalid” (S 42 ), and when the sound output attribute  314  of the job represents that the sound output is not performed, the sound output of the process state is not performed on the job. 
     As described above, in the job state sound output process (S 40 ), even when the sound output setting  128  of the image forming apparatus  100  is invalid, the process state of the job is output by sound when the sound output attribute  314  of the individual job designates the sound output. In this example, even when both the sound output setting  128  of the apparatus setting information  124  and the sound output attribute  314  of the job are set so as not to perform the sound output, when the job is erroneous, the audio guidance representing that the job is erroneous is output to prevent oversight of notification of the error, for example, on the list display screen. 
     The example of the list display of the process state of the job or the sound output has been described above, but the language switching in the job unit in the exemplary embodiment may be applied at the time when the other information regarding the job is suggested. For example, as for the job in the state of waiting for the process or processing in the job queue, there is an image forming apparatus having a function of receiving a change instruction of the process parameters. In such an apparatus, for example, when the user selects one job by touching the list display screen of the job state displayed on the touch panel  104 , the change screen of the parameters of the job is displayed. The language of the menu or the guide message displayed on the change screen may be considered as the language represented by the language attribute  312  of the job. 
     When the user completes the change operation on the change screen and the screen displayed on the touch panel  104  returns to the list display screen, in one example, the returning list display screen is displayed in the language of the language attribute  312  of the job corresponding to the job state display sections  402  in the same manner as the original list display screen (see  FIG. 3 ). The common parts (indexes of items of job state information, operation buttons such as “print output”, etc.) which do not depend on the job except for the job state display sections  402  may be displayed in the language of the language setting  126  of the apparatus setting information  124 . In another example, the returning list display screen may be displayed in the language represented by the language attribute  312  of the job selected by the user. In this example, only the common parts except for the job state display sections  402  on the returning list display screen may be displayed in the language represented by the language attribute  312  of the job selected by the user, and the job state display sections  402  may be also displayed in the language of the language attribute  312  of the job as well as the job state display sections  402 . When the display language of the common parts of the returning list display screen as described above is changed into the language (i.e., the language corresponding to the job selected by the user) different from that of the language setting  126  of the apparatus setting information  124 , a button for returning the display language to the language of the apparatus is displayed on the list display screen. When the button is pressed, the UI control unit  108  may return the display language of the list display screen to the language of the language setting  126 . Instead of the button provided to return the language as a software button on the list display screen on the touch panel  104  as described above, or in addition thereto, when a predetermined button (e.g., a clear button) of the hardware keys of the image forming apparatus  100  is pressed, the display language of the list display screen may be returned to the language of the language setting  126 . Instead of such a button, or in addition thereto, the display language of the list display screen may be controlled to be automatically returned to the language of the language setting  126  when a predetermined time elapses from the time when the display language of the common parts of the list display screen is changed to the language different from that of the language setting  126  of the apparatus setting information  124 . 
     The control of the display language of the change screen for receiving the change instruction of the process parameters or the execution sequence with respect to the job selected on the list display screen has been described above, but the display language of the screen representing a different kind of information with respect to the job selected on the list display screen can also be controlled in the same manner. For example, there is a detail screen for displaying detail information (information, the entirety of which cannot be displayed on the state display sections  402  of the list display screen) of the process state of the selected job, or a screen for deleting the selected job or changing the execution sequence (priority of execution). 
     When the user selects a job on the list display screen  400  (see  FIG. 3 ), the display language of the whole list display screen  400  or a part (common parts which do not depend on the individual job) of the list display screen  400  except for the job state display sections  402  may be switched to the language of the language attribute  312  of the selected job. 
     The audio guidance may be output from the speaker  106  to instruct the change of process conditions of such a job, and the language of the sound output may be the language represented by the language attribute  312  of the job. For example, when the user performs the user authentication using the IC identification card with respect to the image forming apparatus  100 , the process-waiting or processing job of the user remains in the job queue, and the sound output attribute  314  of the job represents that the sound output is to be performed, the audio guidance for the process condition change operation with respect to the processing job is performed in the language of the language attribute  312  of the job. 
     In addition to displaying the process state of the job on the display screen such as the touch panel  104  associated with the image forming apparatus  100 , for example, the process state of the job may be printed out as a report, or may be transmitted to a remote device such as the PC  200  and a server managing the image forming apparatus  100  to display the process state on the remote device. In the latter case, there is a case where only the data of the process state of the job is transmitted, and there is a case where information (e.g., a web page) representing the display screen displaying the process state of the job is transmitted. As described above, when the image forming apparatus  100  prints out the information of the process state of the job or transmits the information to the other apparatus or when the image forming apparatus  100  transmits the information representing the screen displaying the process state of the job, the language for displaying the process state of the job or the display language of the screen for the display thereof may be controlled to be the language represented by the language attribute  312  of the job. 
     The part taking charge of the function of the operation process of the image forming apparatus  100  and the PC  200  exemplified above are realized, for example, by causing a general-purpose computer to execute a program representing the processes of the functional modules. For example, the computer has a circuit configuration in which a microprocessor such as a CPU, a memory (first memory) such as a random access memory (RAM) and a read only memory (ROM), a HDD controller controlling a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), various I/O (Input/Output) interfaces, a network interface performing a control for access to a network such as a local area network, and the like, as hardware, are connected through, for example, a bus. The bus may be connected to a disk drive for reading and/or writing on a portable disk recording medium such as a CD and a DVD, a memory reader/writer for reading and/or writing on a portable nonvolatile recording medium based on various standards such as a flash memory, and the like through, for example, the I/O interface. The program describing the whole process contents of the functional modules exemplified above is stored in a fixed storage device such as the hard disk drive and is installed in the computer through the recording medium such as the CD or DVD or through communication means such as the network. The program stored in the fixed storage device is read out to the RAM and is executed by the microprocessor such as the CPU, thereby realizing the functional module group exemplified above. A part or the whole of the functional module group may be configured as a hardware circuit such as a dedicated LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, on-demand integrated circuit for specific use), and a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). 
     In the above described examples, the case where the image forming apparatus  100  is provided with the job managing unit  110  and the image forming apparatus  100  performs the execution management of the job has been described, but the application of the control of the display language or the sound output in the exemplary embodiment is not limited to such a case. For example, even when the print server connected to the image forming apparatus  100  through a network  250  or a communication cable performs the management of the job to be executed by the image forming apparatus  100 , the control of the exemplary embodiment can be applied. In this case, the screen related to the job such as the list display screen of the process state of the job to be executed by the image forming apparatus  100  may be displayed on the display device to be associated with the print server, and the image forming apparatus  100  receives the information of the process states of the jobs or the information of the screen related to the job from the print server to display it. The display language of the screen display related to the job such as the list display screen in the printer server or the image forming apparatus  100  may be controlled according to the language attribute  312  of the job by the control of the exemplary embodiment. In this case, the print server has the function of the job managing unit  110  and stores the language attribute  312  of the jobs (of course, the print server may store the job queue information  122 ), and the process state or the display language of the screen related to various jobs such as the list display screen may be controlled to be switched in the same manner as the exemplary embodiment. Even when the report of the process state of the job is printed out from the image forming apparatus  100 , the print server may create data of the report representing the process state in the language of the language attribute  312  of the job and may transmit the data to the image forming apparatus  100  to print the data. The print server may store the sound output attribute  314  of the jobs, and it may be controlled according to the sound output attribute  314  whether or not the guidance sound is output for the job selected by the user with respect to the print server or the image forming apparatus  100 . The language of the guidance sound may be controlled according to the language attribute  312  of the job stored in the print server. 
     In the examples, the case where the user interface screen such as the list display screen of the process states of the jobs, the detail display screen of the job process state, and the change screen of the process parameters, the execution sequence, or the like is displayed on the display device such as the touch panel  104  of the image forming apparatus  100  has been described, but this case is no more than an example. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, such a user interface screen may be displayed on a remote device such as the PC  200 . The instruction input from the user to such a user interface screen may be received by the remote device and may be reported to the image forming apparatus  100  (or the print server managing it). The display language of the screen display in such a remote device may be controlled to be switched in the same manner as the exemplary embodiment. In this case, the job managing unit  110  of the image forming apparatus  100  (or the print server managing it) may, when the screen information representing the user interface screen such as the list display screen is generated, generate the screen information displayed in the language of the language attribute  312  of the job with the information (process state), or the screen, related to the job, and may provide screen information to the remote device. 
     The image forming apparatus  100  has been described above by way of example, but the configuration and the method of the exemplary embodiment are not limited to the image forming apparatus, and can be applied to an information processing apparatus which receives and performs the process instruction and outputs the process state of the instructed process. Particularly, it is conceivable to apply them to an information processing apparatus receiving process instructions from a plurality of users. 
     The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been provided for the purpose of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and various will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling other skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.