Network system, terminal and recording medium
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHiroyuki Funahashi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A network system includes printers as terminals interconnected via a network. Each of the printers can obtain information on the others, and transmit the obtained information together with information on itself to a browser computer as a controller. Therefore, by obtaining the information only from one of the printers, the computer can obtain together with it the information on the others. In this system, it is possible to obtain the information on the printers efficiently without using a server computer.
Claims32
A network system comprising:
- a plurality of terminals interconnected via a network;
- and
- a controller that controls the terminals via the network;
- the controller comprising:
- selecting means for selecting one or the plurality of terminals based on a user's designation;
- and
- requesting means for requesting the selected terminal to transmit, to the controller, information on all the interconnected terminals;
- wherein the selected terminal transmits a request to the other interconnected terminals to obtain the information on the other interconnected terminals, the other interconnected terminals forward to the selected terminal the information on the other interconnected terminals in response to the request, the selected terminal forwards to the controller the information from the other interconnected terminals and information on the selected terminal, and the information on each of the other interconnected terminals includes link information for identifying the each terminal on the network.
A network system comprising:
- a plurality of terminals interconnected via a network;
- and
- a control computer controlling the terminals via the network;
- wherein at least one of the terminals selected by the control computer based on a user's designation transmits a request to the other terminals to obtain the information on the other terminals, the other interconnected terminals forward to the selected terminal the information on the other terminals in response to the request, and the at least one of the selected terminals forwards to the control computer the information from the other terminals and information on the selected terminal.
A terminal for connecting via a network to a plurality of other terminals, the terminal comprising:
- requesting means for requesting the other terminals to obtain information on the other terminals, wherein the other terminals forward the information on the other terminals in response to the request, and to forward the obtained information on the other terminals to the terminal;
- and
- a transmitting means for transmitting to the network information on the terminal and the obtained information on the other terminals based on a request from the network.
A process for controlling by a controller connected to a network a plurality of terminals connected to the network, the process comprising the steps of:
- selecting one of the terminals through the controller based on a user's designation,
- causing the selected one of the terminals to transmit a request to the other terminals to obtain information on the other terminals, and wherein the other terminals forward to the selected terminal the information on the other terminals in response to the request;
- and
- causing the selected terminal to transmit the obtained information on the other terminals and information on the selected terminal to the controller.
A recording medium that stores a program for execution by a controller in a network system including a plurality of terminals interconnected via a network and controlled by the controller via the network,
- at least two of the terminals being each adapted to obtain information on the other terminals therefrom, and transmit the obtained information on the other terminals and information on the each terminal to the controller,
- the program including the steps of:
- selecting one of the at least two terminals through the controller based on a user's designation;
- and
- requesting the selected terminal to transmit a request to the other terminals to obtain the information on the other terminals, the other terminals forward to the selected terminal the information on the other terminals in response to the request, and the selected terminal forwards to the controller the information on the other terminals and information on the selected terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.