Device search system
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMasato Ochiai, Yoshito Maekawa, Noboru Hamada
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to the present invention, a search condition can be moderated to easily understand a desired device without performing re-search, even if there is no device completely matching the search condition. An attribute of an object class is extracted out of the search condition designated by an operator to search a device meeting the attribute. A matching state of each attribute of the search condition first designated by the operator for a result obtained from the above search is visibly displayed.
Claims36
A device search system comprising a server unit for controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on a network and information for various attributes of the device are registered and for executing the search of the device in accordance with a search request, and a client unit for outputting the search request to the server unit, said client unit comprising:
- first generation means for generating a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network,
- second generation means for extracting a certain attribute from the first condition to generate a second condition,
- search means for requesting the server unit to search in accordance with the second condition to obtain the information for a device matching the second condition as a result of the above search,
- first control means for sorting and outputting only the information for the device matching the first condition as first result information in accordance with the obtained search result, and
- second control means for outputting the information for the device matching the second condition as second result information in accordance with the obtained search result and the information showing presence or absence of each attribute designated by the first condition for each device.
A system including a client unit for requesting search of a device on a network and a server unit for executing search of the device in accordance with a search request from the client unit, wherein the server unit comprises;
- control means for controlling a database in which the information for identifying a device on the network and the information for various attributes of the device are registered,
- reception means for receiving a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network from the client unit,
- generation means for extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition,
- first search means for searching a device matching the first condition from the database and outputting first result information, and
- second search means for searching a device matching the second condition from the database and outputting second result information.
A device search system for requesting a server unit for controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on a network and information for various attributes of the device are registered to search the device and processing a search result, comprising:
- first generation means for generating a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network;
- second generation means for extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition;
- search means for outputting a search request to the server unit in accordance with the second condition and obtaining information for a device matching the second condition as a search result;
- first control means for sorting and outputting information for only a device matching the first condition as first result information in accordance with the obtained search result;
- and
- second control means for outputting information for a device matching the second condition and information showing presence or absence of each attribute designated by the first condition for each device.
A device search system for executing device search in accordance with a search request from a client unit for requesting search of a device on a network, comprising:
- control means for controlling a database in which information for identifying the device on the network and information for various attributes of the device are registered;
- reception means for receiving a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network from the client unit;
- generation means for extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition;
- first search means for searching a device matching the first condition out of the database and outputting first result information;
- and
- second search means for searching a device matching the second condition from the database and outputting second result information.
A device search method for requesting a server unit for controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on a network and information for various attributes of the device are registered to search a device and processing a result of the search, comprising the steps of:
- generating a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network;
- extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition;
- requesting the server unit to perform search in accordance with the second condition and obtaining information for a device matching the second condition as a result of the search;
- sorting and outputting only information for a device matching the first condition as first result information in accordance with the obtained search result;
- and
- outputting the information for the device matching the second condition and information showing presence or absence of each attribute designated by the first condition for each device.
A device search method for searching a device in accordance with a search request from a client unit for requesting search of a device on a network, comprising the steps of:
- controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on the network and information for various attributes of the device are registered;
- receiving a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network from the client unit;
- extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition;
- searching a device matching the first condition from the database and outputting first result information;
- and
- searching a device matching the second condition and outputting second result information.
A storage medium storing a computer program to be executed by a computer of a device search system for requesting a server unit for controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on a network and information for various attributes of the device are registered to search a device and processing a result of the search, wherein the program comprises the steps of;
- generating a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network;
- extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition;
- requesting server unit to perform search in accordance with the second condition and obtaining information for a device matching the second condition as a result of the search;
- sorting and outputting only information for a device matching the first condition as first result information in accordance with the obtained search result;
- and
- outputting information for the device matching the second condition as second result information and information showing presence or absence of each attribute designated by the first condition for each device in accordance with the obtained search result.
A storage medium storing a computer program to be executed by a computer of a device search system for executing search of a device in accordance with a search request from a client unit for requesting search of a device on a network, wherein the computer program comprises the steps of;
- controlling a database in which information for identifying a device on the network and information for various attributes of the device,
- receiving a first condition designating one or more attributes in order to search a desired device on the network from the client unit,
- extracting a certain attribute from the first condition and generating a second condition,
- searching a device matching the first condition from the database and generating first result information, and
- searching a device matching the second condition from the database and generating second result information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.