US 8,948,047 B2Granted

Device managing apparatus and program thereof

AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorSunao Kawai

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Abstract

A device managing apparatus that can easily communicate under a proper communication configuration, through a network may be provided. A managing apparatus is provided with a storage and a controller (management program). The storage stores multiple different communication configurations. The controller controls the communication with the device. The controller carries out the following processes: (1) repeating a communication trial toward the device using one of stored communication configurations that are stored in the device managing apparatus, in which the communication configuration to be used is changed for each communication trial; (2) monitoring a response which is sent to the device managing apparatus from the device in a case where the communication trial has succeeded; and (3) displaying a plurality of areas, each of which is linked to each of the stored communication configurations; and displaying a symbol image representing the device in the area that is linked to the communication configuration with which the communication trial has succeeded. By using the device managing apparatus, the user can easily recognize, at a glance of the screen, devices at which the same communication configurations are set.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A device managing apparatus comprising:

a storage configured to store different communication configurations;
and
a controller for communicating with each of a plurality of devices,
wherein the device managing apparatus, upon execution of one or more computer readable instructions, performs steps of:
repeating a communication trial toward each of the plurality of devices using one of the stored communication configurations, wherein a communication configuration to be used is changed for each repetition of the communication trial;
monitoring a response sent to the device managing apparatus from each of the plurality of devices when a repetition of the communication trial has succeeded;
displaying a plurality of visually delineated areas, each of the plurality of visually delineated areas being linked to a corresponding one of the stored communication configurations;
automatically arranging, without user input, each of a plurality of symbol images into a corresponding visually delineated area wherein:
the each of the plurality of symbol images corresponds to a device that has responded to a repetition of the communication trial;
and
the corresponding visually delineated area is linked to the communication configuration used for a corresponding successful repetition of the communication trial;
receiving a request to move a symbol image representing one of the plurality of devices from a first visually delineated area to a second visually delineated area, wherein the first visually delineated area is linked to a first communication configuration and the second visually delineated area is linked to a second communication configuration;
in response to the request, sending a command to the one of the plurality of devices represented by the symbol image to be moved, the command requesting the one of the plurality of devices to set the second communication configuration;
and
adding the symbol image representing the one of the plurality of devices to the second visually delineated area,
wherein each of the plurality of visually delineated areas indicates that all devices within the respective visually delineated area is set with a corresponding one of the communication configurations linked to the respective visually delineated area.

13 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a device managing apparatus to perform:

repeating a communication trial toward each of a plurality of devices using one of a plurality of communication configurations stored in the device managing apparatus, wherein the one of the communication configurations to be used is changed for each repetition of the communication trial, and wherein the device managing apparatus is configured to manage the device through a network;
monitoring a response sent to the device managing apparatus from each of the plurality of devices when a repetition of the communication trial has succeeded;
displaying a plurality of visually delineated areas, each of which is linked to a corresponding one of the stored communication configurations;
automatically arranging, without user input, each of a plurality of symbol images into a corresponding visually delineated area wherein:
the each of the plurality of symbol images corresponds to a device that has responded to a repetition of the communication trial;
and
the corresponding visually delineated area is linked to the communication configuration used for a corresponding successful repetition of the communication trial,
wherein each of the plurality of visually delineated areas indicates that all devices within the respective visually delineated area is set with a corresponding one of the communication configurations linked to the respective visually delineated area;
receive a request to move a symbol image representing one of the plurality of devices from a first visually delineated area to a second visually delineated area, wherein the first visually delineated area is linked to a first communication configuration and the second visually delineated area is linked to a second communication configuration;
in response to the request, send a command to the one of the plurality of devices represented by the symbol image to be moved, the command requesting the one of the plurality of devices to set the second communication configuration;
and
add the symbol image representing the one of the plurality of devices to the second visually delineated area.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.