Information equipment system
AssigneeMinolta Co., Ltd.
InventorTsutomu Yamazaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system where pieces of information equipment are connected via a network, including a memory unit and a compensating means. The memory unit stores position information that represents a physical position of each piece of information equipment. The compensating means compensates a physical distance from one piece of information equipment to another piece of information equipment based on the position information, according to a frequency of information exchange between the former and the latter.
Claims14
A computer connected with a plurality of printers via a network, comprising:
- a memory unit for storing distance information from the computer to each printer;
- and
- a compensating means for compensating the distance information stored in said memory unit according to a number of times each printer received a printing job from the computer.
An information equipment system comprising:
- a plurality of printers and computers connected to a network;
- a setup means for setting up an order of priority based on a distance between each printer and each computer as well as on usage frequency between each printer and each computer;
- and
- a display means for displaying a printer selection screen in a display format based on the order of priority set up when selecting a printer.
An information equipment system comprising:
- a plurality of printers and computers connected to a network;
- a setup means for setting up an order of priority based on a distance between each printer and each computer as well as on usage frequency between each printer and each computer;
- and
- a selection unit for automatically selecting a printer based on the order of priority set up.
A method of allowing a computer to control a printer to output a printing job in a system where a plurality of printers and computers are connected via a network, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining distance information from each computer to each printer;
- compensating the obtained distance information according to a number of times each printer received a printing job from each computer;
- and
- setting up an order of priority for the printers based on the compensated distance information.
A method of allowing a computer to control a printer to output a printing job in a system where a plurality of printers and computers are connected via a network, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining distance information from each computer to each printer;
- compensating the obtained distance information according to a number of times each printer received a printing job from each computer;
- and
- selecting a printer to be used for outputting a printing job from a plurality of printers based on the compensated distance information.
An information equipment system where a plurality of pieces of information equipment are connected via a network, comprising:
- a memory unit for storing position information that represents a physical position of each piece of information equipment;
- and
- a compensating means for compensating a physical distance from one piece of information equipment to another piece of information equipment based on the position information, according to a frequency of information exchange between the former and the latter.
A computer readable recording medium in which a program for controlling a plurality of pieces of information equipment connected via a network is stored, said program causing the computer to executing the processes of:
- storing position information that represents a physical position of each piece of information equipment;
- and
- compensating a physical distance from one piece of information equipment to another piece of information equipment based on the position information, according to a frequency of information exchange between the former and the latter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.