Apparatus and method for remote control of an image forming device using wireless data communication

An apparatus for remotely controlling an image forming device using wireless data communication, the apparatus comprising:

• an image forming device selector for selecting an image forming device to be remotely controlled from among a plurality of image forming devices;
• a wireless interface for providing a wireless communication interface used to transmit and receive image data to and from the selected image forming device;
• a display unit for displaying an image and the image data received from the image forming device;
• and
• a user input unit for selecting at least one of a plurality of pieces of image data information received through the wireless data communication, and selecting image activity information comprising at least one of the activities of printing, editing, transferring, deleting, television outputting, and printing option setting up with respect to the image displayed on the display unit;
• wherein the wireless interface requests from the image forming device file system information stored in a storage medium that is installed in or is directly connected to the image forming device, receives the file system information from the image forming device, transmits the image data information selected through the user input unit by using the file system information to the image forming device, receives image data corresponding to the transmitted image data information from the image forming device, and transmits a signal to the image forming device requesting the activity corresponding to the image activity information selected by the user input unit;
• and receives information on a proceeding state of activity corresponding to the signal from the image forming apparatus;
• wherein the display unit displays a current activity proceeding state of the image forming device using the received proceeding state information;
• and
• wherein the wireless interface, the display unit and the user input unit are integrated in one device, the device being portable.

A method of remotely controlling an image forming device using wireless data communication through a wireless interface, the method comprising:

• requesting from the image forming device file system information stored in a storage medium that is installed in or is directly connected to the image forming device through wireless data communication, and receiving the file system information from the image forming device;
• requesting the image forming device for image data corresponding to an image to be displayed by using the file system information and receiving the requested image data from the image forming device;
• displaying the image corresponding to the received image data on a display unit;
• selecting image activity information comprising at least one of the activities of printing, editing, transferring, deleting, television outputting, and printing option setting up with respect to the displayed image, through a user input unit;
• and
• transmitting the selected image activity information to the image forming device through the wireless data communication;
• and
• receiving information on a proceeding state of activity corresponding to the transmitted image activity information from the image forming apparatus;
• wherein the display unit displays a current activity proceeding state of the image forming device using the received proceeding state information;
• and
• wherein the wireless interface, the display unit and the user input unit are integrated in one device, the device being portable.

A method of remotely controlling an image forming device using wireless data communication, the method comprising:

• requesting from the image forming device file system information stored in a storage medium that is installed in or is directly connected to the image forming device through a wireless communication interface, and receiving the file system information from the image forming device, under control of a remotely control apparatus;
• requesting the image forming device for image data corresponding to an image to be displayed by using the file system information and receiving the requested image data from the image forming device, under control of a remotely control apparatus;
• displaying the image corresponding to the received image data on a display unit, under control of a remotely control apparatus;
• selecting image activity information comprising at least one of the activities of printing, editing, transferring, deleting, television outputting, and printing option setting up with respect to the displayed image, through a user input unit under control of a remotely control apparatus;
• transmitting the selected image activity information to the image forming device through the wireless data communication;
• and
• receiving information on a proceeding state of activity corresponding to the transmitted image activity information from the image forming apparatus;
• wherein the display unit displays a current activity proceeding state of the image forming device using the received proceeding state information;
• and
• wherein the wireless interface, the display unit and the user input unit are integrated in one device, the device being portable.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing a computer readable program and providing remote control of an image forming device by using wireless data communication, comprising:

• a first set of instructions for controlling a wireless interface that requests from the image forming device file system information stored in a storage medium that is installed in or is directly connected to the image forming device through wireless data communication, and receives the file system information from the image forming device;
• a second set of instructions for controlling the wireless interface that requests the image forming device for image data corresponding to an image to be displayed by using the file system information and receives the requested image data from the image forming device;
• a third set of instructions for controlling display unit that displays an image corresponding to the received image data;
• a fourth set of instructions for controlling a user input unit that selects image activity information comprising at least one of the activities of printing, editing, transferring, deleting, television outputting, and printing option setting up with respect to the displayed image;
• and
• a fifth set of instructions for controlling the wireless interface that transmits the selected image activity information to the image forming device by using wireless data communication and receives information on a proceeding state of activity corresponding to the transmitted image activity information from the image forming apparatus;
• wherein the display unit displays a current activity proceeding state of the image forming device using the received proceeding state information;
• and
• wherein the wireless interface, the display unit and the user input unit are integrated in one device, the device being portable.

An image forming apparatus for performing an image forming activity using wireless data communication with a remote control apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

• an image data transmission and reception module for, if the remote control apparatus requests for file system information stored in a storage medium in which image data is stored, transmitting the file system information to the remote control apparatus in response to the request, if the remote control apparatus selects image data using the file system information and requests for the image data, obtaining the image data stored in the storage medium and transmitting the image data to the remote control apparatus;
• and
• an image activity unit for receiving image activity information comprising at least one of the activities of printing, editing, deleting, television outputting, and printing option setting up with respect to the image data from the remote control apparatus, performing an activity on the image data according to the image activity information, and forming an image;
• wherein the remote control apparatus receives information on a proceeding state of activity corresponding to a signal, transmitted by the remote control apparatus to the image forming device requesting the activity corresponding to a selected image activity information, from the image forming apparatus;
• and
• wherein a display unit of the remote control apparatus displays a current activity proceeding state of the image forming device using the received proceeding state information.